Spinning the Environment
Bush Calls His Policy Effective, Activists Call it Disastrous

Listen to John Nielsen's report.

President Bush and EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman at a White House awards ceremony that honored youth involved in environmental projects. Photo: Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited

The Issues Environmental groups give their view of some contentious Bush administration policies: Air • Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) • Bush's Clear Skies Initative Global Warming • NRDC • Bush Global Climate Change Policy Energy • NRDC • Bush Energy Policy Fuel Efficiency • NRDC • EPA Programs Army Corps of Engineers • PEER • The Corps Superfund • U.S. PIRG • EPA Superfund Program New Source Review (NSR) • NRDC • EPA NSR Site

July 29, 2002 -- Environmentalists have complained about the Bush administration "since the day it took office," says NPR's John Nielsen.

Among the issues listed by environmental advocate Greg Wetstone: limestone mining in the Everglades, energy development on public lands, dumping mining waste in lakes, an energy bill with subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. "That's the short list," says Nielsen.

For Morning Edition, Nielsen reports on how the White House and advocacy groups put their very different spins on the administration's environmental policy.

Environmentalists say the Bush administration's environmental policy amounts to major rollbacks in protection laws. Yet others say the administration should be applauded for trying to create order and sense out of a complicated and hard-to-enforce environmental program.

The new regulatory models call for industry compliance that's affordable, and in some cases, voluntary. Such a system will make it easier for businesses to obey environmental laws without going broke, say White House spokesmen. These proposals have strong support in the business community.

Environmental activists maintain they smell a rat. The changes being proposed will only encourage corporate irresponsibility, they claim, by making it easier to log, mine, drill for oil, and pollute the air and water.

Wetstone, chief political strategist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, says the Bush administration is the worst he's dealt with in more than 20 years as an environmental advocate.

Wetstone says controversial issues have emerged so frequently that it's like working in a fire station where the alarm is stuck on.

In Depth

Browse for more NPR coverage of the president's environmental policy.

Other Resources

• The Natural Resources Defense Council produces the Bush Record Web site, an up-to-date list of Bush administration environmental actions.

• The White House Council on Environmental Quality

• The Environmental Protection Agency

• The Department of Energy

• The Department of the Interior

• The Clean Air Trust. Former Senators Edmund Muskie (D-Maine) and Robert Stafford (R-Vt.) founded the Trust, a nonprofit organization, to educate the public and policymakers about the Clean Air Act.

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