The National Center’s Peyton Knight is not joining the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. fan club (assuming there is one):

Hurricane Katrina has wrought tragedy and human suffering like few of us can even imagine. Disasters of this magnitude have a way of separating the good from the bad and downright ugly.Heroes are emerging in the form of rescue teams and volunteer relief efforts. These selfless Samaritans remind us of what is inherently beautiful about human nature.

Regrettably, villains have also made their way to the scene. Looters are running rampant. Scammers are hitting the phone lines and the Internet falsely posing as representatives of legitimate charities to rob unsuspecting folks who simply want to help in any way they can.

So, it is hardly surprising that environmental opportunists are clamoring to make political hay out of death and destruction.

Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in a vain attempt to exploit tragedy and score political points, is blaming Katrina’s devastation on President Bush, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, and the absence of the Kyoto global warming treaty.

Citing Barbour’s opposition to the Kyoto global warming treaty and mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions, Kennedy sneered: “Perhaps it was Barbour’s memo that caused Katrina, at the last moment, to spare New Orleans and save its worst flailing for the Mississippi coast.”

Despicable.

I’ll add my two cents, as usual: Haley Barbour and others oppose both Kyoto and CO2 caps because of their disproportionate negative economic impact on the poor and minorities (science is another reason). We’ve all heard repeatedly on the news that poverty was a reason why many hurricane victims failed to evacuate as Katrina approached. So, poverty-promoting policies are not the way to avoid hurricane pain.You know, if the Luddites always had their way, we wouldn’t have satellites orbiting the Earth – and we wouldn’t even have seen Katrina coming.

Addendum: Cooper Republic has a good take on this. I’m a Benny Peiser fan, too.