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TODAY Thursday 8 May 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
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TODAY Thursday 8 May 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
TODAY IN THE WORLD: Sherry Boehlert, Republican
Yesterday was a big day for the enviros on Capitol Hill. Up for a vote in the House was a proposal that would waive the requirements of the Endangered Species Act if those requirements got in the way of flood control. The proposal said that the ESA would not apply in cases of the "...maintenance, rehabilitation, repair, or replacement of a federal or non-federal flood control project, facility, or structure." (You have to like the phrase "federal or non-federal" as a synonym for "anybody's.")
The backers of the proposal, mostly western Republicans who never met a developer they didn't like, tried hard in 1995 to eviscerate the ESA, but couldn't attract enough support from Democrats and eastern Republicans. This year they hoped to capitalize on the floods in California, the Upper Midwest and the Ohio River Valley to enlist new allies to the proposition that absurd federal bureaucrats were placing the welfare of unattractive little animals over that of hardworking American families. "Laws of the beetle, by the beetle, and for the beetle," sniffed Helen Chenoweth. The Irish say you should always be grateful for a reliable enemy.
Well, the short news is that they lost, and that the ESA stands. And the person most responsible for yesterday's win is the same person who many insiders say was most responsible for derailing the anti-environmentalist juggernaut of 1995: Sherwood Boehlert, Republican congressman from upstate New York. Yesterday Representative Boehlert patched together the bipartisan coalition that defeated the new proposal, on the novel grounds that it was a very bad idea.
According to this morning's New York Times, Boehlert said that the proposal would "...prevent any specific wildlife considerations from being taken into account in managing such areas as the Everglades, the Columbia River Basin and the Colorado River." Besides, he pointed out, "Most endangered species live along or in waterways." He carried the day by bringing with him 53 Republicans, many more than the 27 Democrats who crossed party lines to back the proposal.
Much has been written about the environmental dilemma of the Republican Party. But it boils down to this: candidates and campaign contributions in western and southern states come from the worlds of real estate development and resource-extraction to a much greater degree than they do in the Middle Atlantic and Northeast (although Lord knows it's not pretty around here). And popular opinion in many congressional districts in the West and the South, though nominally pro-environment, can be so profoundly anti-government (except when it comes to subsidies for local projects) that an anti-environment Member of Congress needn't worry about re-election. Sherwood Boehlert and his eastern colleagues don't have that luxury. In their districts, money comes from people and interests that probably don't care much one way or another about dams on the Columbia and are perfectly happy when one-tenth of Utah gets roped off as wilderness. And the voters in these districts are much more dedicated to environmental protection, and much less worried about an over-reaching role for the federal government to enforce it. If Boehlert or, say, Olympia Snow follows the party line on the environment, they're out of office come next election.
In the park down the street from this office -- Madison Square Park -- there is an assortment of neglected statues of some of the great and powerful dead white men of the 19th Century New York State Republican Party. Chester Alan Arthur, least-remembered President of the United States; William H. Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State and the prime mover in the purchase of Alaska; Roscoe Conkling, the brilliant, venal party boss who built and ran the political machine that answered to no one. Strange to think that New York Republicans once ran the republic. Interesting to realize that a New York Republican is now the most important figure in the legislative politics of environmentalism.
TODAY ON THE SITE
Is there such a thing as sustainable tropical forestry? If so, how do you do it? What good things, if any, happen when you "certify" that wood products come from well-managed stands? How can you protect ecosystems and offer landowners a competitive return at the same time? Today we're posting an interesting discussion about these and other forestry questions between John Reid of Conservation International and Richard Donovan of SmartWood. They both agree and don't agree; check out the Forests "On the Other Hand..." feature of our In The Trenches section for a thoughtful exchange on a critical topic.
5/07: Fort Davis, West Texas
5/06: Europe (yawn)
5/05: Divorce, Mothers, Equality
5/02: Killer Grannies and the Highway Bill
5/01: China
4/30: Pity the Mangrove
4/29: Grizzlies off Battery Park
4/28: Mighty Monsanto
4/25: Growth
4/24: Refrigerator Wars
4/23: The Day the Earth Day Stood Still
4/22: Doorman Ecology
4/21: Toyota Steps Out
4/18: Victims of Extremism
4/17: Our White Guy Problem
4/16: Coca-Cola and the Merrit Parkway