Moonbats in the way of progress...AGAIN!

As you may or may not know, Arctic Cat is planning to build a new plant for ATV engines here in St. Cloud. This is a boon to St. Cloud, which has heretofore had its share of economic setbacks. Well, along comes a company willing to provide good-paying jobs, food on the table, and a roof over the head of 50 area workers and their families. Everything is hunky-dory, right? Not so fast, weedhopper:

Arctic Cat announced last summer that it had chosen St. Cloud for its $8.5 million engine assembly factory, which will provide 50 jobs.

St. Cloud officials wooed the snowmobile and ATV manufacturer with tax incentives, waived fees and made a promise to find a site for the test track.

The track would consist of groomed, unpaved trails for testing ATV engines, according to the application for a conditional-use permit submitted by Arctic Cat and the St. Cloud Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

"We made a proposal and a commitment to Arctic Cat to attract them and their new jobs to St. Cloud, and we need to honor that commitment," said Bruce Thielman, HRA executive director.

The HRA proposed some city-owned sites near the business park, and Arctic Cat prefers the one near the river, he said. The company would buy or lease the land from the city.

In the application, Arctic Cat states that the track will have no adverse effects on the general public and will actually reduce erosion compared to the previous use of farming.

A "small amount" of erosion may still occur, it states, but pollution could be reduced because no fertilizers or pesticides will be used.

A fence would be built along the site's south and west sides to keep out other ATV riders. The track would be used between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., and actual test runs are expected to be "relatively infrequent," the application states.

But a NIMBY enviro whacko has other ideas:

"I'm just absolutely aghast that they would even consider this," said Don Dinndorf, president of the Izaak Walton League's Central Minnesota chapter. He lives about a half-mile from the site. (emphasis added)

What??? He's absolutely aghast that a place that builds ATV engines would actually have the gaul to want to test those engines??!? Of all the nerve!

But Dinndorf said ATVs don't belong so close to the river, where noise could disturb migratory wildlife and erosion could affect water quality. That stretch of the Mississippi is home to some of the best smallmouth bass fishing in the world, he said.

"The river is a little piece of wilderness right in our back yard ... It's just a wonderful place," Dinndorf said. "It's totally inappropriate (where's Soucheray's foghorn when you need it?) to use it this way."

...par for the course for enviro-whacko libs, who constantly put "mother earth" in front of the quality of human life.




(Filed under enviro-whackism)