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Politics can aid environmental policy
by Emily D. Johnson
Traditionally Richard Nixon has not been viewed as an environmental
leader, but long-time environmentalist Russell Train says that he
should be. Train, who has served as president of the World Wildlife
Fund, undersecretary of the interior under Nixon, and head of the
EPA under both Nixon and Ford, told his AU audience that much of
the structure of the U.S. environmental program was put into place
during the Nixon administration. He also said that while the current
administration has sacrificed good environmental policy to political
goals, the public should not see that as standard Republican procedure.
In his talk titled “Politics, Pollution, and Pandas: Once Strong,
U.S. Environmental Leadership Is Missing,” Train described
himself as a lifelong Republican and asked the audience to contrast
the environmental record of the Nixon administration with the George
W. Bush administration. “I hope that by seeing and understanding
what went on in a Republican administration 30 years ago, you will
make up your mind that the way we are doing things today is not
the way we should be doing things,” he said.
Train rattled off a list of Nixon’s environmental measures,
actions including the creation of the EPA and the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration; the National Environmental Policy
Act international initiatives; a leading role in the U.N. Conference
on the Human Environment at Stockholm; and the initiation of the
Ocean Dumping Convention, Convention on Trade and Endangered Species,
and World Heritage Trust.
He also lauded what he saw as Nixon’s personal support of environmental
issues. In one State of the Union address, Nixon focused heavily
on the environment, said Train, “not only the nuts and bolts
of air and water pollution, but he talked about the quality of life
and the need for a national growth policy. These are things that
a president doesn’t usually talk about.”
As for the Bush administration, Train had no kind words. “This
administration, as far as I know, is not interested in any positive
way in protecting the environment,” he said. “This administration
has appointed a large number of former lobbyists for special interest
groups like mining and paper industries into key policy positions.”
He decried the destruction of the credibility of organizations like
the EPA, which, he said, needs to be allowed to fulfill its role
as an independent executive branch agency. Train gave an example
of a 2002 EPA annual report in which the Bush White House asked
the EPA to distort facts on climate change. Rather than do so EPA
took the entire section out of the report. “The administration
has injected itself into regulatory policy at the EPA,” he
said. “But you shouldn’t take for granted that the White
House makes regulatory decisions as a matter of course. It doesn’t
have to happen that way.” An audience member who works at the
EPA agreed with Train and described morale at the EPA as “low
as it has ever been.”
Train’s talk was cosponsored by the Department of Biology,
the Student Organization for African Studies, the International
Development Student Associ-ation, EcoSense, and the Movement for
Global Justice.
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