How 'green' is your pot?

In Humboldt County, money does in fact grow on trees -- or, more precisely, closer to the soil, indoors or out. It's what's being done by some to cultivate the North Coast's cash crop that should give anyone pause.

The evidence confronts North Coast residents every day. Forests are being trashed. Trees clear-cut. Waters polluted. Wildlife poisoned.

While it would be irresponsible to lay these offenses at the feet of conscionable mom-and-pop pot growers, no one with an Internet connection and five minutes of spare time spent looking at Humboldt County from a bird's eye view can say with a straight face that things haven't long since spun out of control. Beyond whatever problems are born of marijuana's quasi-legal status in California, there is a price being paid for the plant that powers, at an extremely conservative estimate, a fourth of our local economy: trash, toxins and scars left behind.

And so we welcome the news that North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman recently introduced a bill that calls for new penalties for damaging the environment while growing marijuana on federal public lands or while trespassing on private lands.

The Protecting Lands Against Narcotics Trafficking Act -- or the PLANT Act -- would seek additional penalties for anyone convicted of growing marijuana on federal land or trespassing on private land who:

-- uses poisons, chemicals or hazardous substances;

-- creates a serious hazard to humans or wildlife;

-- harms natural resources;

-- pollutes a body of water;

-- diverts, redirects or obstructs a body of water;

-- or removes substantial amounts of vegetation or clear-cuts timber.

While more than the concoction of new punishments can and should be done to address the serious environmental damage wreaked upon Humboldt County by unscrupulous growers chasing the almighty dollar, Huffman's bill is a step in the right direction -- and an acknowledgment that pot cultivation isn't just an economic, social or a medical issue.

The bill, co-sponsored by Congressmen Mike Thompson, Doug LaMalfa and Doug Lamborn, is now in the hands of the House Judiciary Committee, where we hope it receives due consideration.