[greenyes] Pres. Bush's Plans on the Environment

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      November 8, 2004
      G.O.P. Plans to Give Environment Rules a Free-Market Tilt
      By FELICITY BARRINGER and MICHAEL JANOFSKY

      ASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - With the elections over, Congress and the Bush 
administration are moving ahead with ambitious environmental agendas that 
include revamping signature laws on air pollution and endangered species and 
reviving a moribund energy bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge to energy exploration.

      In addition, the administration intends to accelerate conservation 
efforts by distributing billions of dollars to private landowners for the 
preservation of wetlands and wildlife habitats. The White House also plans 
to announce next month a new effort to clean up the Great Lakes.

      The groundwork for the push was laid down in the past four years even 
as environmental groups, Congressional moderates and the courts put the 
brakes on major changes. But the election returns that gave Mr. Bush a clear 
victory and expanded the Republicans' majorities in Congress have emboldened 
those determined to hard-wire free-market principles into all environmental 
policy.

      "The election is a validation of our philosophy and agenda," Michael 
O. Leavitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in an 
interview. "We will make more progress in less time while maintaining 
economic competitiveness for the country. That is my mission."

      Representative Joe L. Barton of Texas, chairman of the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, said he was eager to get the process started and 
encouraged the environmental groups and Democrats who typically oppose 
Republican initiatives "to come out of the trenches and meet me halfway."

      But with industry groups anticipating relaxed regulations and 
environmental groups fighting to retain stiff regulations, the environmental 
debate over the next four years could be contentious.

      "What you're going to see is an administration focused on setting 
broad goals and then letting states and companies and individuals work to 
achieve those, within an economic framework," said Charles Wehland, a lawyer 
for Jones Day in Chicago who represents clients like the OGE Energy 
Corporation and the Great Lakes Chemical Corporation. But Phil Clapp, 
president of the National Environmental Trust, a nonprofit group, warned the 
White House and Congressional leadership that it would be risky to further 
push the agenda of the last four years.

      "George Bush doesn't have to run again, but Republican lawmakers do," 
Mr. Clapp said. "They know there is a cost to their political association 
with rolling back environmental laws."

      Nationally, the environment was a sleeper issue that never awoke. But 
concern for environmental and conservation issues was sometimes visible at 
the local level. Montana voters, for instance, rejected an initiative to 
overturn a ban on a form of mining cyanide, effectively blocking a large new 
mine on the Blackfoot River.

      "..."


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