Dear HCN,
I read Ed Marston’s
article, titled “Bush administration faces a reborn Interior,” and
got a funny feeling in my stomach.
I believe Ed
is way off base believing the Bush administration will not succeed
in using the so-called “reborn Interior” as the typical exploiters’
treasure trove. I see no evidence from the choices made for people
to lead Interior and the obvious hunger for oil/gas that permeates
the new administration that anything has changed for this group.
Seems a lot like the Reagan administration.
I
also disagree that Interior is fundamentally changed, “reborn.”
Remember, Bruce Babbitt helped destroy the effectiveness of the
Endangered Species Act. Babbitt allowed Habitat Conservation Plans
that legally approved massive take of endangered species and their
habitats, did not require that private citizens and corporate
entities shoulder their share of society’s responsibility to
protect endangered species, implemented a Safe Harbor Act that
ensures endangered species have nowhere to go on private lands,
stopped virtually all listings and recovery plan activities unless
forced to complete these by lawsuits, and asked Congress to defund
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service budget so no listings could be
made. This does not sound like a guardian of the Endangered Species
Act to me.
Sure, Babbitt did some good things and
I appreciate national monuments as much as the next person. But
what he gave us with his right hand, he took away and made worse
with his left hand.
Remember how grazing reform
cratered? Remember his threats to environmental groups if they did
not support the Northwest Forest Plan debacle? Remember his all-out
support for clear-cutting disguised as forest restoration by Dr.
Covington and company in Arizona?
Sorry, Ed, that
dog won’t hunt!
Brandt
Mannchen
Bellaire,
Texas
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Reborn Interior? That dog won’t hunt.
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