by Alan Journet
“Conservation is Conservative” is more than an idle phrase; it is the trade name under which REP America operates. For many years the leadership of the Republican Party (both at the federal and state levels) has given the clear impression that they consider that environmental and human health protection are not issues about which their party should care. As a result, they have abdicated these areas, leaving them to the Democratic Party – sometimes more by default than as a result of positive actions on the part of the latter. However, the Republican Party does, indeed, contain some members with a more enlightened and sensitive view than is possessed by its leadership when it comes to issues of critical importance to Sierra Club members. These folks have joined under the banner of Republicans for Environmental Protection – hence REP America which offers the disclaimer that it is an independent organization that has no affiliation with the Republican National Committee or any state or local political party. The defection of Senator Jim Jeffords from the Republican Party should serve as a warning to the Republican Party leaders that they are out of step with many rank and file members within their Party.
Echoing the views of many environmentalists, the REP America brochure states, “Conservation is as American as Apple Pie. But, too often, the environment suffers from partisan bickering.” The group regrets that self-proclaimed conservatives have labeled environmental protection a “liberal cause” leaving “liberals to lay claim to the environment as a private political preserve.”
A recent brochure quotes Republican leaders at the forefront of the conservation movement, using them to illustrate the principle that this is not a partisan issue. Not surprisingly, Theodore Roosevelt is one of the more quoted of these: “Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuity of the nation. When I hear of the destruction of a species, I feel just as if the works of some great writer had perished.”
The list of conservation-minded Republican leaders includes:
· President Abraham Lincoln who protected Yosemite Valley (1864).
· President Ulysses S. Grant who signed a bill establishing Yellowstone National Park (1872).
· President Benjamin Harrison who signed the Forest Reserve Act (1891).
· President Theodore Roosevelt who established Pelican Island as the first National Wildlife Refuge (1903) and established the Grand Canyon in 1908 as one of his 18 Monuments.
· The Republican Congress of 1906 which gave presidents the authority to National Monuments.
· President Herbert Hoover who established the second Grand Canyon National Monument in 1932.
· President Eisenhower who protected the Arctic National Wildlife refuge in 1960.
· The list continues to the Presidency of Richard M. Nixon, which saw the establishment of the Clean Air Act setting auto emission limits and standards for cleaning up the air, the National Environmental Policy Act requiring federal agencies to study the environmental impact of projects and examines less harmful alternatives, the Environmental Pesticide Control Act authorizing health and environmental standards for farm chemicals, and the Endangered Species Act mandating science-based actions to prevent the extinction of wildlife. Nixon stated in 1970 “The 1970s must be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its waters, and our living environment. It is literally now or never.”
The loss of conservation as a Republican issue seems to have occurred during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, and especially the term of his Interior Secretary, James Watt. Evidently both Republican leaders failed to see the connection between a healthy environment and a strong economy. The Newt Gingrich-led resurgence in Republicanism in Congress followed the Reagan view. It was not until 1995 that Newt Gingrich himself finally realized the error of his ways when he stated “We blew it. Give us low marks. We messed up on the environment.”
However, despite the ascendance of the Reagan forces and their anti-environmental views, a core of Republicans with environmental concerns continued to hold office. Even President George H.W. Bush signed Clean Air Act re-authorization in 1990. Meanwhile during the period 1995-1999, when the Republican-led Congress mounted all manner of assaults on the environment through such actions as anti-environmental riders attached to funding bills, a small group of representatives, led by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert led the resistance.
REP America lists the worst ideas of these Anti-Environmental years as:
· “Riders” – unpopular bills tacked on to must-pass legislation to cripple EPA and other environmental programs.
· Prohibiting EPA from studying climate change science.
· Exemption of national forest logging from environmental laws.
· A commission to close national parks.
· Federalization of local land-use decision-making.
· Rollbacks in clean water standards.
· Weakening of the Endangered Species Act.
· Taxpayer subsidies for timber, mining, and grazing on public lands.
· Legalization of chemicals that harm the protective ozone layer.
· Repeal of 1990 Clean Air Act.
· Blocking efforts to increase vehicle fuel efficiency.
What the REP America group recognizes is that our natural resources constitute the Natural Capital from which our economic health flows. Conservatism, therefore, demands that these resources be subjected to wise stewardship; this does not include the plunder and mismanagement of these resources for short-term economic profit.
The group identifies the following current issues as critical:
· The growing scientific consensus that Climate change is real and present, and must be addressed.
· The increasing rate of species extinctions.
· The vast number of persistent chemicals introduced into the environment, many of which interfere with vital life processes by serving, for example, as “endocrine disruptors.”
REP America offers a series of Conservative Solutions for environmental issues, many of which are coincident with the views of those in the environmental community:
Wildlife and Resource Management:
· Abolition of subsidies for logging, mining, and grazing on public lands.
· An end to wasteful and harmful road building on federal lands and permanent protection of roadless areas.
· Full funding for the Land And Water Conservation Fund, half going to state and localities.
· Incentives for brownfields reclamation and wildlife conservation on private property.
Clean, Efficient Energy:
· End all forms of fossil fuel subsidies and strengthen efficiency standards for vehicles, lighting, appliances, and motors.
· Provide tax credits for buildings and equipment that exceed energy efficiency standards.
· Convert federal fleets to hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles. Use solar and wind power at federal facilities.
· Develop a fair, effective carbon trading system for real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Learning from Nature:
· Increase research into bio-based and “bio-mimicking” design and manufacturing.
· Phase out persistent, bio-accumulative toxins; clean up hazardous waste sites.
· Set a precautionary standard requiring safety testing before chemicals are marketed.
· Reform regulatory structures to set high standards, encourage innovation, and prevent environmental harm before it occurs.
Over the last few decades it has become increasingly difficult for environmentalists to find members of the Republican Party that they can endorse. It is for this reason that organizations such as the non-partisan League of Conservation Voters have frequently found themselves endorsing a vast number of Democratic candidates but few Republicans. However the platform articulated by REP America constitutes an illuminating document. Clearly, environmentalists have much in common with this group. From amongst their membership, we undoubtedly will find many politicians who we can comfortably endorse. For more information, you might wish to contact marREP@aol.com or http://www.repamerica.org/
You can reach Alan at ajournet@biology.semo.edu.