Sunday, Jul 20, 2008
With industry henchmen in complete control of Washington, the Clean Air Act, wilderness preserves and environmental enforcement are all endangered species.
Nov 27, 2002 | When Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christie Whitman loosened clean-air rules for power plants and factories last week, it seemed like the first bold move of a White House newly empowered by its midterm election victory to reward its industry friends. In fact, Whitman had the power to make the change unilaterally, and she'd been moving to do so before the GOP took back the Senate -- and there was little the Democrat-controlled Senate could have done to stop her.
But the GOP takeover means there will be no Senate hearings to review the new policy, and Democrats who had planned to subpoena EPA documents related to Whitman's decision -- documents they believe would reveal the shoddy science as well as the influence of industry folks lobbying for the move -- are now powerless to do so. Thus Whitman's move is the symbolic opening of a new phase in the battle over the environment: Between an administration that no longer has to worry about Senate oversight when making the regulatory changes its business constituency demands, and an advocacy community that will now have only lawsuits as weapons to battle such changes.
And now, not only is the White House in the symbolic hands of the oil and gas industries, thanks to President Bush and Vice President Cheney's corporate ties, but so is the Senate. With the GOP takeover, the chairs of key environmental oversight committees went to senators from Western states who owe their political fortunes to those same constituencies.
With Republicans controlling both houses of Congress, expect a new push for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, new cuts to the EPA enforcement budget and a major move to weaken the Clean Air Act when it comes up for reauthorization next year. But the real battle over the environment probably won't come through legislation. Senate rules mean that 60 votes are needed to pass most controversial legislation out of the chamber (should opponents attempt a filibuster), so the administration will still have trouble passing extreme anti-environment bills given the slim GOP margin in the Senate and the power of some pro-environment Republican senators. ANWR, for instance, clearly does not have a filibuster-proof majority. Advocates on both sides of the issue say the chances are about 50-50 whether it would even be able to garner the 50 votes needed for passage. (In the event of a tie, Cheney, who supports drilling in ANWR, would cast the tie-breaking vote.)
Advocates say the Democrats' loss of the Senate will be felt most keenly when it comes to oversight over the regulatory and administrative changes the administration can make on its own. The White House now has carte blanche to make huge regulatory changes -- which almost always means relaxing regulation -- without a skeptical Senate to try to keep it in check.
"Our concern is that [Whitman's] clean-air rule rollbacks have been cooked up without any real data," says Eric Schaeffer, former head of the EPA's Office of Regulatory Enforcement who resigned last spring to protest Bush administration cuts in the agency's enforcement budget. "The decision was made off an industry wish list as opposed to trying to understand what the impact on the environment is. Where's your analysis? Where's the data? You say you're the sound science administration, where's your science?"
The regulations Whitman relaxed were Clinton-era modifications to the Clean Air Act. The act had required that new factories and power plants use the best pollution-fighting technologies available, but exempted existing facilities. Industries got around the rules by simply expanding old plants rather than building new ones, and so the regulations were strengthened to require anti-pollution upgrades along with any significant renovation of existing facilities. Whitman's decision returned to the old standard.
Before the midterm elections, Schaeffer notes, Sens. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., outgoing chairmen of the Environment and Governmental Affairs committees respectively, were moving to hold hearings on the impending Whitman rule changes, and to subpoena documents relating to the agency's move. Incoming Environment Committee Chairman Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., has already said he will do neither.
"Today's announcement on New Source Review culminates a lot of work and analysis by both the Clinton and Bush administrations," Inhofe said Friday. He added he had "long been concerned about the impacts that layers of regulations have had on energy producers and refiners," not exactly a strong vote for environmental protection.
Inhofe's rise may be the most dramatic single change in the new GOP Senate. A self-described "extreme radical right-wing conservative," Inhofe is widely considered a conservative extremist especially on environmental issues, even within the Republican caucus. Inhofe will take the chairman's gavel from Jeffords, who was seen as a champion of environmental causes. The Oklahoma senator has called for an overhaul of the Clean Air Act, when it comes up for reauthorization next year, saying it puts unnecessary regulations on energy producers who are required to abide by emissions limits in the law. While Jeffords received a score of 76 percent on a recent League of Conservation Voters score card, Inhofe received a zero.
Get Salon in your mailbox!