Bush takes quiet aim at 'green' laws

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.

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