Assignment #3 Op-Ed

Now that we are facing the next presidential election, I believe it is important to review the environmental policy that has been enacted in the last 4 years with President Obama. I consider it especially prudent to view these policies in the context of the last 40 years, when the environment became a priority in the United States.

The 1st Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970, ushering in a new era of environmental policy. There was an affluent and well educated public that found they had the time and inclination to care about quality of life issues, such as the environment.

It was with this sentiment that Nixon declared the 1970’s the “environmental decade” and signed the National Environmental Policy Act as his 1st official act in 1970. This was just the first of what was to be 19 pieces of environmental legislation passed during 1970’s, a level that has not been reproduced in any decade since. This was a unique time in that partisan politics was not yet so deeply ingrained in government and Congress was able to come to agreement on many issues.

The 1980’s produced an about face on environmental policy from the previous decade. Ronald Reagan was elected President and brought with him a focus on industry, less government and a general disregard for environmental issues. Reagan appointees to environmental related positions left much to be desired, for instance Anne Burford, EPA administrator and James Watt, Secretary of the Interior. Both were attorneys who spent their careers litigating against environmental regulation and made clear their intent to continue that agenda during their time in office. One of the most noteworthy environmental aspects of Reagan’s term was his propensity to value politics over science and take questionable means to push his policies through. During Reagan’s administration environmental budgets were drastically cut. By the early 80’s the EPA had already lost 1/3 of their operating budget and 1/5 of their personnel, a blow from which they have never been able to fully recover.

By the end of his second term Reagan’s environmental stance, or lack thereof, was no longer popular and George H.W. Bush took advantage of this opportunity to position himself as a more environmentally friendly president. He labeled himself, “a conservationist” in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt. However, his environmental appointees were selected more in the Reagan tradition, to the chagrin of environmentalists. While the 1st half of his term began in a positive direction, with Bush gravitating towards a moderate stance, the 2nd two years found a return to the Reagan years of antiregulation and even secret dealings. During the last 18 months of his administration Bush appointed Vice President Dan Quayle to head up the Council on Competitiveness, and initiative meant to respond to and analyze industry regulation. The Council dealt in secrecy and applied pressure to the EPA and other organizations, a direct throwback to Reagan era environmental procedure.

The election of Clinton brought in a new attitude towards environmental policy. Environmentalists were encouraged by Vice President Al Gore, with one of the strongest environmental records in the House. Both Clinton and Gore professed a strong desire to implement new, innovative policies and to return to a time where environmental policies were based on science. Notably, they rejected the long held posture that the environment and the economy had to be competing priorities, believing that both could be improved upon simultaneously. While Clinton presumably had the best of intentions, these intentions ended up being paralyzed by Republican control of Congress. He found many of his objectives for the environment went by the wayside, although he was able to make some progress, such as preservation of the Florida Everglades and some policy reformation.

Environmentalists look back on the George W. Bush days as a dark time. Bush’s pro-industry, antiregulatory, antiscience outlook makes and easy comparison to the Reagan administration. In fact analysts viewed Bush’s environmental appointees as more conservative than Reagan’s, many calling it a “political restoration” in that so many of the appointees had worked for previous administrations. Bush quickly went to work reviewing and reversing many of Clinton’s policies, for instance reviewing his administrations recommended maximum level of arsenic in drinking water and suspending regulation to ban road construction on almost 60 million acres of national forest.

In what can be seen as a trend with recent Republican presidents, Bush also dealt in secrecy and valued politics over science. Early in his administration he appointed Vice President Dick Cheney to work with a task force to write a national energy plan. They consulted mostly industry experts and the recommendations were indicative of this strategy, focusing on increasing the nation’s future energy supplies, including gas, domestic oil, nuclear, and “clean coal” developments. They also recommended environmental regulations be streamlined to accelerate new energy production and improve the national electricity grid. In dealing with the EPA the Bush administration did not put a priority on science. Through leaks the public learned that Bush’s team had edited many scientific documents to bend the recommendations into alignment with his policies. This outraged environmentalists and scientists alike, but Bush felt he had enough “political capital” to do as he wanted.

The election of Barack Obama electrified much of the country and gave hope to environmentalists, a feeling that had been painfully absent over the last 8 years. His appointment of Lisa Jackson to EPA Administrator was encouraging as she pledged, “Science must be the backbone for EPA programs” ( http://www.mswmanagement.com/the-latest/epa-lisa-jackson.aspx). President Obama really set the tone when one of his first acts as President was to order a review, which eventually became a reversal of the Bush’s refusal to let states set their own standard for fuel efficiency.

When looking back over the past 4 years it would seem as if Obama had been channeling Clinton on many key environmental issues, with 2 notable differences in effectiveness. First, Obama was not blocked by a Republican Congress as Democrats took control during his 2008 election. In addition to this helpful factor Obama has made good on his promise to usher in a new era of bipartisanship, leading to a more collaborative attitude in Congress. It was in this atmosphere that Obama was able to pass his New Energy for America plan in 2010, which succeeded in adding millions of “green collar” jobs and begin moving America towards energy independence with renewable sources. This act was in direct opposition to the Regan and Bush belief that improving the economy and the environment had to be competing priorities.

In a marked difference from his predecessor Obama also recognized the role of greenhouse gases in climate change and implemented new measure including a cap and trade program to reduce emissions, with a goal of reducing them 80% by 2050. Obama implemented programs that began retrofitting federal buildings and placed new building standards into effect so that federal buildings became role models in the effort to reduce carbon emissions.

In recognition of the role that agriculture has on the environment Obama answered the request by proponents of local food systems and planted a garden on the lawn of the White House. He also worked with Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture to begin reforming the Farm Bill of 2008. In a surprising move he called for a reduction in subsidies to agribusiness and announced his intent to increase funding for local food programs.

While there is still much that needs to happen to positively shape environmental policy in the United States the past 4 years with President Obama have been simultaneously a refreshing change from the Bush years and also a welcome throwback to the 70’s when environmental policy made leaps and bounds in America. It is my hope we can re-elect Obama so he can continue the environmental progress he has made.