WLJ regularly publishes excellent articles about environmental regulations imposed on ranchers, farmers, loggers, miners and oilmen. Greenhouse gases, water allocations, wildlife and endangered species, grazing and other issues are under increasing regulation. Of course, environmental impacts are caused by everyone, but the natural resource industries and agriculture seem to be the focus of government regulations and environmental group lawsuits.
It is obvious to an unbiased observer that the root cause of environmental impacts is the number of people in the population: the more people, the more impacts. This was the common-sense reasoning of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in a lawsuit in 2021 claiming that federal border policies violate the National Environmental Policy Act because of environmental impacts of population growth from illegal immigration. The lawsuit was apparently dismissed, but the point is that immigration increases population which increases environmental impacts. President Joe Biden recently proposed an executive order to limit immigration when it reaches 4,000 people per day and former President Donald Trump’s policies limited immigration, so the government can control immigration if it wants to (see the References at wlj.net).
What is the status of the U.S. population now? I reported data from the Census Bureau previously (WLJ Sept 25, 2023, and March 12, 2021) showing that about eight months ago on Sept. 7,the U.S. population was 335,376,874 people. As of this writing, on May 20 at 7:18 a.m., the U.S. population is 336,459,141, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau statistics also show that in the U.S. there is one birth every 9 seconds, one death every 11 seconds, one international migrant every 28 seconds, and a net gain of one person every 19 seconds.
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Credible science requires documentation of data, so I provide numbers on population and immigration. The following calculations might seem a little complicated and it would be a good exercise for you and your kids in high school or college to check my numbers. I calculated the U.S. population increase two ways. First, using the census numbers there was an increase of the U.S. population of 1,082,267 people in the eight months since September 2023 to May 2024. At that rate of 135,283 people per month, the population is increasing by 1,623,400peopleper year. Second, considering the Census Bureau’s estimate of a net increase of one person per 19 seconds, there are86,400 seconds in a day, and there’s a net gain of 4,547 people in the U.S. per day, or 1,659,655people per year. The two calculations give similar results and indicate the U.S. population is increasing by about1.65 million people per year. Because the number of immigrants is not known with certainty, this might be an underestimate.
It’s interesting that the birth and death rates almost balance each other with 1.2 people born every 11 seconds minus 1 deaths every 11 seconds, which equals 0.2 more people are born than die every 11 seconds. Immigration must make up the difference of the population growth. This can be summarized as follows.
Every 19 seconds the U.S. population has a net population increase of 1 person. Every 19 seconds there are 2.1 births and1.7 deaths, which is a net increaseof0.4 (40%) due to births. With a net increase of 1 per 19 seconds, and births accounting for 0.4 of that increase, 0.6 of the increase is from immigration (that is, 60% of our population increase is from immigration). Using the estimate of an increase in the U.S. population of 1.65 million per year, excess births over deaths account for 660,000 people and immigration accounts for 990,000 people per year. Another way to calculate the number of immigrants is with the Census Bureau’s estimate of one immigrant per 28 seconds, which equals 3,086 people per day and 1,126,286 people per year. These estimates indicate immigration adds about 1 million people per year. These numbers are not exact, but I think they are reasonable estimates derived from the Census Bureau data. News reports suggest considerably larger numbers of immigrants (see the References).
Immigration increases the population, increases in population cause environmental impacts, and the government regulates environmental impacts while allowing a significant amount of immigration, legal and illegal. These policies are not consistent. I think environmental groups should acknowledge the relationship between population and environmental impacts and oppose the current government immigration policies. As I noted in previous WLJ articles, the government cannot and should not regulate population numbers but should regulate immigration in accordance with the law. The impact of immigration on population numbers and the associated impacts on the environment need to be addressed empirically for sound science-based policies.— Dr. Matt Cronin
(Matthew Cronin was a research professor at the University of Alaska and is now at Northwest Biology Company LLC [www.northwestbiology.com] in Bozeman, MT. He can be reached at croninm@aol.com. A full list of references can be found at wlj.net)
