TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/020590/0205330.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 3.8 KB | 84 lines

                                                                                ENVIRONMENT, Page 65

Promotion to the Highest Level


The pollution fighters will gain the clout of Cabinet status


    The U.S. is currently the only industrialized nation that
has not raised its environmental agency to ministerial status.
That has not only caused diplomatic awkwardness at many
international meetings on such topics as global warming and
ozone depletion but has also raised skepticism about George
Bush's promise to be "an environmentalist" in the Oval Office.
Last week, after months of wrangling within the Administration,
Bush joined the movement to elevate the Environmental
Protection Agency to a Cabinet-level department. Said the
President: "The environmental challenges that face America and
the world are so important that they must be addressed from the
highest level."

    Supporters of Bush's action, including environmentalists and
many leaders in both political parties, believe it could be
much more than a symbolic gesture. Says William Ruckelshaus,
an EPA chief under Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan: "There's
no department immune from EPA's imprint, and when you're there
at the same table, it's a little easier to get things done than
if you're a notch below." The department could be an important
step in elevating the environment to the ranks of the nation's
major concerns, along with defense and the economy.

    Several members of Congress have been drafting legislation
to create a Department of Environmental Protection, and they
plan to give it significant capabilities, broader than those
of EPA. It would probably have a bureau of environmental
statistics that would monitor the earth's vital signs and help
settle disputes about the state of the planet's health. Says
Senator John Glenn, an Ohio Democrat: "One of the difficulties
in environmental issues is getting data you can rely on." The
department would also be encouraged to streamline the tangle
of environmental statutes and promote energy conservation.

    Still, it remains to be seen whether Bush's move is mainly
political, designed to satisfy an important constituency, as
was Reagan's creation of the Department of Veterans' Affairs,
or whether the President means to take a real Executive
initiative. Observes Senator Albert Gore, a Tennessee Democrat:
"It's not enough just to pull an extra chair to the Cabinet
table. The Administration has to prove that this represents a
substantive commitment to policy action."

    After a year as President, Bush is getting generally low
marks on the environment. His clean-air proposal, which is
working its way through Congress, addresses some important
domestic problems, especially acid rain. But he was slow to
respond to the Alaskan oil-spill disaster and has yet to
develop a strategy on such international issues as the
extinction of species and global warming. He seems unshakable
in his opposition to a higher gasoline tax, which could be an
important step toward controlling the greenhouse effect.

    To help him assert leadership in these areas, Bush needs a
strong Secretary of the Environment. The obvious candidate is
William Reilly, the EPA chief. A longtime conservationist,
Reilly has been forceful in environmental causes, but he has
sometimes been thwarted by White House chief of staff John
Sununu and other Administration officials. Sununu, for example,
has been skeptical about the threat of global warming, an issue
that deeply concerns Reilly. The White House now needs to pull
together on the environmental front. With broad support in
Congress for an Environmental Department, advocates hope it can
be created by April 22, which happens to be Earth Day 1990.



By Dick Thompson/Washington.