http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1108-10.htm
Published on Saturday,
November 8, 2003 by the Christian Science Monitor
Bush Takes Quiet Aim at 'Green' Laws
Methods Range From Easing Regulations to Siding
with Industry in Lawsuits
by Brad Knickerbocker
ASHLAND, OREGON - Slowly but surely, the Bush administration
is using courts and spending legislation to reverse Clinton-era
trends in environmental protection.
From the administration's
point of view, this serves to:
provide balance to the conflict between protecting nature
and advancing the economy; give states and localities more
say in such decisions; and reduce the "analysis paralysis"
that can hinder federal government land managers from doing
their job.
This is being done
in several ways.
- Regulatory decisions
by agencies such as the Environmental
Protection Agency and the Interior Department, now headed
by Mike Leavitt and Gale Norton instead of Carol Browner
and Bruce Babbitt (present and former heads of the EPA and
Interior, respectively). Changing regulations doesn't
necessarily require new legislation.
- Siding with industries
in federal lawsuits, such as the
one accepted this week by the US Supreme Court regarding
off-road vehicles in wilderness areas. Or, in the case of
roadless areas in national forests, not defending Clinton
- imposed regulations when those were challenged by the
timber industry.
- And, as happened
this week, attaching environmental waivers
to the Interior Department's appropriations bill.
Critics say this amounts
to the piecemeal dismantling of
important environmental laws like the Clean Water and Clean
Air Acts by appointees who include former timber and mining
lobbyists. Administration officials say they're merely adjusting
the excesses of the Clinton administration, which included
environmental activists in senior posts.
Mr. Leavitt, the former
Utah governor who took over Thursday
as head of the EPA, says, "I accepted this responsibility
because I believe the president is committed to substantially
more progress on the environment, and doing it in such a way
that does not compromise our place in the world competitively."
In any case, the politics
of such trends are complicated
and potentially important and reflect the long-standing
conflict between eastern lawmakers and those from the West.
Among recent actions:
Bush appointees at
the EPA have sided with the Pentagon
in seeking exemption for military facilities from federal
laws governing hazardous waste, air quality, and endangered
species.
The Interior Department
now says that off-road vehicles
should be allowed in wilderness areas, even though agency
experts had reported that such vehicles cause environmental
damage. What's more, the administration argues in a legal
case accepted this week by the US Supreme Court, the public
does not have the right to challenge such decisions.
The Los Angeles Times
reported Thursday that "Bush
administration officials have drafted a rule that would
significantly narrow the scope of the Clean Water Act,
stripping many wetlands and streams of federal pollution
controls and making them available to being filled for
commercial development.
"If implemented,
the change would represent one of the
most consequential of the actions the Bush administration
has taken to ease environmental regulations," the newspaper
reported.
In southern Oregon,
the US Forest Service wants to salvage up
to 1 billion board-feet of lumber from last year's 499,965-acre
"Biscuit Fire," including logging in 12,000 acres of
roadless
areas.
What particularly gripes
local environmentalists is that
the usual period for public comment on the plan (90 days)
has been cut in half.
Appropriations bills
are a key vehicle in the effort.
This week, Congress sent to the president a $20-billion
Interior Department spending bill that includes
administration-supported amendments effecting environmental
policy. For example, the bill would expedite logging of
national forests in Alaska and Montana. Next week,
the Senate takes up the appropriations bill that includes
funds for the EPA; that, too, can be expected to include
amendments involving environmental regulation, including
one that deals with small engine emissions.
There's a risky dimension
to shifting federal environmental
policy - even in the name of "balance" - that leaves
the
administration open to criticism. In a memo to Republican
leaders earlier this year, GOP pollster Frank Luntz warned
that "the environment is probably the single issue on which
Republicans in general - and President Bush in particular
- are most vulnerable."
One indicator: Last
week, 13 states and 20 cities sued
the Bush administration for its plan to adjust Clean Air
Act regulations in a way critics say will increase the
emission of harmful pollutants. EPA officials this week
acknowledged that investigations of several dozen power
plants thought to be in violation of the Clean Air Act
will be dropped, confirming suspicions for critics of
the administration plan allowing power plants to upgrade
without reducing emissions.
While Democrats are
more likely to be considered "green"
than Republicans, much of the support for increased
environmental protection is bipartisan.
Sen. John McCain (R)
of Arizona was the lead sponsor
of legislation to reduce climate-changing greenhouse
gases, which won a respectable 43 votes in the Senate
last week. Eight Republican Senators joined Democrats
in blocking new oil drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. California Gov.-elect Arnold
Schwarzenegger (R) named the leader of a conservation
group to head the California Environmental Protection
Agency. He also promises to retrofit his Hummer
to run on clean-burning hydrogen.
Copyright © 2003
The Christian Science Monitor
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