I don’t know whose idea it was to make Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore the lead signatory on an opinion essay aimed squarely at Vermont’s environmental community, but… it’s… a choice, that’s for sure.

The Moore op-ed, co-signed by Public Service Commissioner Kerrick Johnson, is entitled “Vermont’s Housing Needs Require Decisive Action – Step Up or Step Away.” The unfortunate echo of Donald Trump’s infamous “Stand Back and Stand By” remark aside, the essay is a direct attack on the environmental groups that Moore frequently interacts with — and hopefully cooperates with. I guess not, eh?

The essay posits environmental advocates as The Enemy in Gov. Phil Scott’s effort to ease Vermont’s housing crisis. I mean, “Step Up or Step Away” comes across as a very thinly veiled threat.

Before I go on, I must point out an inadvertent admission in Moore and Johnson’s essay. It’s right there in the second sentence: “The cost of housing has skyrocketed with median home prices in Vermont more than doubling in the last 10 years, putting both homeownership (sic) and rentals out of reach for many.”

To which I immediately thought, well, who’s been governor of Vermont for almost the entire last decade? Oh yeah, Phil Scott, that’s who.

It’s one of the more remarkable features of the Scott regime: Just about every single one of our issues and crises has gotten worse during his tenure, and yet somehow the guy in charge of state government gets away with pointing fingers in every direction but his own.

Oh, here’s another inadvertent admission. In the fifth paragraph, Moore and Johnson describe the measures in Scott’s executive order on housing as “modest but concrete.” I guess I agree they’re “modest,” having previously written that they were unlikely to move the needle significantly on housing. Nice to see that two of Scott’s top officials agree with me.

Yes, I know they don’t actually. Their use of “modest” is meant to paint the executive order, not as ineffectual, but as reasonable and unworthy of opposition. But c’mon, the purpose of environmental advocacy groups is to, well, advocate on behalf of the environment. DId you expect them to wave the pom-poms for letting the governor loosen regulations on development without the Legislature’s buy-in?

I’m honestly not sure what audience Moore and Johnson are hoping to reach. They’re not going to make the likes of VPIRG and VNRC change course, nor did they seriously think they would. Maybe they’re aiming to convince moderate voters — but to do what? Cancel their donations to Vermont Conservation Voters?

Really, it’s immaterial what Moore and Johnson might have been hoping to accomplish with this, because it’s not going to accomplish a damned thing. Nobody reads op-eds, aside from sickos like me. Nobody believes press releases from a politician except those who are already in line. Having the Scott administration’s top environmental official be lead author on this thing is a bland bit of greenwashing, nothing more.

And it comes with the potential cost of alienating the environmental community, something you’d think a “moderate” governor would care about. I guess not. Fortunately for him, those advocacy groups have thick skins and are used to getting the back of the governor’s hand. I bet they’d still work with the administration on housing if they were offered a seat at the table. Given the tone of this essay, I trust they’re not holding their breath.