There's a funny thing I've discovered about the Obama administration, which is that there's literally nothing they can do right, in the eyes of conservatives and anti-environmentalists. 

I've been thinking this for a while. A good example came up recently when President Obama opened up more of our coastline to offshore drilling -- essentially adopting some of President Bush's proposals on the issue -- and conservatives have rushed to the media talking about how it's a phony move, doesn't mean anything, and so on. 

So here's the thing. If he's GOING to catch hell for making big environmental moves, why doesn't he just make them? 

Right now, the Office of Surface Mining is redoing some of their rules around mountaintop removal mining. And sure, there's some good stuff in there, but there's also some bad stuff. And needless to say, the mining industry is running around talking about the sky falling and such. 

What the environment needs is a ban on the practice of blowing up mountains to get at coal. There's no real 'compromise' when it comes to MTR. Blow up part of the mountain? Level the top off and turn it into a mall? 

Doesn't really work. So, Mr. President, since you're going to piss off the mining industry, why not piss them off while making a huge step forward on protecting our air, water, and open spaces?