THE ENVIRONMENTALIST CRITIQUE

THE POLICY:

The Reagan Administration found itself under constant attack from the American public in terms of its environmental policies. Efforts were made during the Reagan years to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air Act, and the adminstration's rhetoric was openly hostile toward regulatory controls of the EPA on big business, energy production, and industry.. The controversy enlivened as Reagan continued to appoint industrialists and officials with no environmental experience to top posts in the EPA and the Department of the Interior. Ruckelhaus, whom Reagan appointed to the head of the EPA in 1983 was the first head of the EPA, and then went on to be a lawyer who defended clients in trouble with the regulatory agency and then senior vice president of a corporation known for making paper and "a mess of the environment" (Washington Post, March 24, 1983). Environmental activism in America increased in the 1980Õs, and some say this increase was due to the failure of the Reagan administration to support environmental protection in favor of economic advancement and the protection of business. Public opinion leaned heavily against the Reagan rhetoric of free-enterprise and decentralization of environmental regulation. While businesses and industry wanted fewer controls, farmers, fishermen, environmentalists and scientists were concerned about the acid rain caused by coal burning and various other pollutants caused by industry and business. A Newsweek poll conducted by The Gallup Organization in June 1983 found that the environment ranked ninth, after the federal deficit and relations with the Soviet Union, among the concerns of the 800 American polled.


In 1966, while governor of California, Reagan made his famous remark in reference to the proposed expansion of Redwood National Park, often touted by environmentalists:
ÒA tree is a tree. How many more do you need to look at?Ó
Carl Pope, a Sierra Club official, assessed ReaganÕs environmental policies:
Ò... it is one thing to promise to get the government off the taxpayersÕ backs. It is an altogether different proposition- and an unacceptable one to most Americans- to relieve polluting industries of the burden of complying with environmental laws.Ó (1988)

THE LEFT vs THE RIGHT

Science
November 28, 1980
ÒThe Reagan Years: Environmentalists TrembleÓ
By Constance Holden

Holden criticizes the Reagan treatment of environmental issues on many levels. He rejects the administrationÕs stance that environmental protection is an action against business and economic recovery. He further rejects the Reagan policy to decentralize environmental policies in order to protect employment and the energy supply.
Holden points out that ReaganÕs record on environmental issues while governor of California were mixed. As governor, ÒReagan tried to prevent the state Political Cartoon 5 The Report supports the findings of a study done by three prominent environmentalist groups that "More than 10 million US workers are exposed daily to cancer-causing substances while the Reagan administration continues its 'shocking record of neglect in the face of an environmental problem that is literally a killer.'"
The environmentalist groups' study found that, "As with environmental protection in general, efforts to protect the workplace environment that were once moving slowly forward have been halted, and in many areas retreat has begun.
Sierra
November/December 1988
ÒThe Politics of PlunderÓ
By Carl Pope

The Sierra Club is a leading national environmentalist lobby. Carl Pope, an official in the Club, assessed the impact of the Reagan years in terms of the environment. He found that, ÒReaganÕs zealous and often hard-edged political appointees have openly displayed their contempt for the environmental values and programs that have long since become an accepted part of American life.Ó
With his Òanti-environment ethicÓ, Pope argues, ÒReagan, in effect... reinvented the national environment movement...with appointments and policy initiatives that have offended and alarmed the American people...Ó Membership in the Sierra Club increased from 180,000 during the Carter years to 480,000 in 1988. ÒIronically, Ronald Reagan has motivated far more people to join the Club and other environmental organizations than all of his predecessors combined.Ó
Pope contends, Ò... it is one thing to promise to get the government off the taxpayersÕ backs. It is an altogether different proposition - and an unacceptable one to most Americans - to relieve polluting industries of the burden of complying with environmental laws.Ó
He ends by saying, Ò...we should not forget that on mountaintops and beaches, in small woodlands and majestic rainforests, in cities and playgrounds, in the oceans and the atmosphere itself, reminders of the Reagan Era will linger for decades...Ó

The Washington Post
September 25, 1984
"Bush Reassures Miners About Acid Rain"

Vice President Bush, while campaigning in an Illinois coal mine, reassured miners that the Reagan administration would not adopt a proposal to control acid rain. The proposal would put coal miners out of work until research is exhausted on reducing pollution produced by burning coal.
Bush assured the miners that Reagan had a responsibility to protect "both the environment and jobs." The Democrats, Bush said, would "throw a lot of miners out of work."

Time
February 2, 1983

In 1981, the Clean Air Act came up for renewal. President Reagan, during his campaign for re-election, echoed the concerns of the automotive, chemical, and steel industries that the Clean Air Act, and the EPA regulations in general, needed substantial changes.
Reagan charged that the law had damaged productivity, discouraged new investment, and eliminated jobs.

The National Journal
March 14, 1981
The Jounal champions the Reagan administration for ousting group activists from federal regulatory agencies. The article points out that during the Carter years, organizations founded by Ralph Nader, a well-known environmental and political activist, contributed half a dozen people as well as key posts in the administration.
Business, the Journal points out, is cheering the Reagan administration. The Chamber of Commerce of the US prepared a list of dozens of regulations it said should be revised or repealed, and outlined qualifications for desirable appointees to regulatory agencies. The chamber and three leading business groups formed a Coalition on Regulatory Reform to provide joint views on legislation to alter the regulatory process.

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