Defenders Magazine
Get Defenders Headlines
Get the latest wildlife conservation news and information... right when we post it online.
Defenders Magazine
Capital Accounts: The Stealth War Here At Home
Visit the White House Web site and you will find a section titled, “Protecting Our Nation’s Environment." Recently this section featured presidential speeches on restoring salmon, saving forests and improving national parks, along with photos of George W. Bush walking in the mountains and touring a salmon hatchery.
What the Web site doesn’t show are the details of policies that are wreaking havoc on our wildlife and natural resources. Indeed, this administration is engaged in a radical, wide-ranging campaign to roll back environmental protections.
Realizing that environmental assaults are not popular with voters, many attacks have been launched behind the scenes. When an environmental initiative is announced, it is often cloaked in a laudable-sounding goal.
Take the “Healthy Forests Initiative." We keep hearing that we need more logging to clear the undergrowth that fuels forest fires. What we don’t hear is that many areas designated for “fire prevention" in this initiative are far from the communities that need protection. And we don’t hear that this plan weakens safeguards for wildlife or largely exempts forest plans from environmental review and public comment.
The pattern is similar with the move to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We hear that we need oil from this pristine wilderness to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and win the war on terrorism. What we don’t hear is the fact that the refuge contains only enough oil to satisfy America’s needs for six months. We don’t hear about other methods to cut our foreign-oil dependence—such as raising fuel-economy standards on cars, which the President opposes.
The same holds true with the Department of Defense, which is now attempting to exempt itself from provisions in the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We hear the ESA is preventing the military from conducting training exercises. What isn’t mentioned is that the military can already obtain exemptions from ESA, that the Pentagon hasn’t bothered to ask for these exemptions or that a recent report showed the Defense Department failed to produce any evidence that ESA was hampering military readiness.
Whether it is allowing snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park, overturning regulations on “dolphin-friendly" tuna or managing water flow in Oregon’s Klamath River, corporate interests come first at the expense of protecting our environment in this White House. But the stealthy nature of these policies masks a deliberate assault on our country’s environmental laws.
Those who care about wildlife and natural resources should take the time to assess this administration’s environmental record. What you see on the White House Web site and read in the media is not necessarily what you get.
