Hey, give the guy a break. Being from a D.C. suburb, he thinks night sky is orange.
Yes! The organization is primarily astronomers and illumination engineers. The focus of the engineers is elimination of light trespass (e.g., blasting lights into neighbors' windows all night), glare reduction (e.g., filling stations lit up like the sun that wipe out the dark adaptation of passing motorists), and energy conservation. Astronomers benefit from all of this because it means fewer megawatts into the sky.
It should be noted that environmental wackos are generally not involved in this issue.
At the last annual IDA meeting I attended, only one vocal eco-freak was present. She admitted she was there not to further our cause but to promote hers. I was impressed at the way the IDA leadership (including a world-famous astronomer who was also present) tactfully put her in her place.
I live in a sea of environmental extremists, including a city council that blocks practically everything for environmental reasons. Yet the local environmentalists (and the city council) have no interest in light pollution issues. At a recent city council meeting discussing the lighting issues for a new sports complex, the only people who showed up to express concern were a couple of amateur astronomers (myself included) and pilots who are concerned about being blinded by the glare as they land at the local airport. (The complex is at the end of the runway.)
I am a libertian "with a lower-case L" who understands that there really are some things you don't want your neighbors doing. This is not a matter of right vs. left, but simply a matter of common courtesy, awareness, and common sense.
There is a need for national and/or state codes, since most people who are responsible for designing outdoor lighting have no background in illumination engineering, are not aware of recommendations by engineering standards bodies, and can usually be counted on to do the opposite of these recommendations. Our city engineer, with whom I have spoken, is an example of this. In fact, the worst sources of light pollution and light trespass in this area are installations run by the city government and school boards, not private business.