-Caveat Lector-
www.investors.com
1/10/01
Clinton Grabs Lots Of Land For Gov't As Clock Ticks Down On
Presidency
By Daniel J. Murphy
Investor'S Business Daily
Friday's order putting vast tracts of national forests off limits
to further timber, energy and other development may not he
President Clinton's last touch to his green legacy.
Environmentalists inside and out-side the administration are
urging him to do even more.
The incoming Bush team vows to review Clinton's orders. At the
moment, though, it's keeping quiet about what it might do.
Members of Congress are speaking up in defense of their states'
economic interests.
Last week's announcement blocking nearly 60 million acres of
national forests especially incensed Alaska lawmakers. Some 9
million roped-off acres come from that state alone.
The state's lawmakers, along with others, want to have that and
other moves checked.
Indeed, Clinton has come under heavy criticism in recent months
for unleashing a wave of new rules on the economy and environment
using his executive powers to go around Congress.
Last-Minute Orders
But if Clinton is worried about the anger, he isn't showing it.
Asked last month about the flurry of last-minute orders, Clinton
answered, "I think we should just do what we think is right, and
then when they get in, they'll do what they think is right.
That's what democracy is all about."
The usual press of last-minute business got rolling this fall.
Knowing his pipeline-safety legislation would not pass Congress,
Clinton ordered the Transportation Department just before
Election Day to issue new rules on inspection and repair of more
than 500 miles of hazardous liquid pipelines.
In early December, Clinton signed an executive order to preserve
coral reefs off the Hawaiian Islands.
Later that month, he set guidelines for environmental impact
reviews of trade deals with other countries.
Just before Christmas, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt urged his
boss to add five national monuments. On Monday, he added two more
to his wish list (see chart).
The president could act on the other proposals any day.
Maker Of Monuments
Clinton has created national monuments before.
In 1996, he named southern Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante
region as a national monument, against the wishes of many in the
state. He has based his decisions on the Antiquities Act of
1906. That law permits the president to effectively wall off
areas for reasons of historic or scientific value.
Right now, the tally of Clinton-declared national monuments
stands at 12. He also has expanded two others. taking his
additions to existing monuments up to nearly 4.6 milli6n acres.
Major green interests want Clinton to do more.
The Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council want
Clinton to stop conversion of an airfield at the edge of the
Everglades from military to civilian use.
Activists in the Northwest seek to breach dams to protect the
Snake River salmon.
Most of all, environmentalists want Clinton to declare the
coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildljfe Refuge a national
monument.
Surprisingly to some, Babbitt didn't suggest Alaska's 19-million
acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as one of the areas slated
to become national monuments.
The Alaska wildlife refuge holds billions of barrels of oil, and
oil companies have eyed the region as one of the last great
oil-rich sites in North America.
But any thought of developing it has been met with angry
opposition by environmental groups.
And last week White House spokesman Jake Siewert said Clinton
believes current law already protects the region from oil
exploration.
Angry Oil Companies
Still, the push for more executive orders makes up a hunk of the
beef that the lumber, mining and energy industries have with the
outgoing Clinton administration.
Bush can reverse such edicts easily. But there would be an
outcry.
"I guess it would depend on how much political capital he wants
to expend undoing his predecessor's legacy vs. establishing his
own," said Jay Cochran, fellow at George Mason University's
Mercatus Center.
Not all of the 11th-hour moves, though, are executive orders.
Some involve more formal regulatory matters. Because in theory
such rules are grounded in laws Congress passed, they will prove
harder to change.
Clinton stressed that some of these issues had been in the works
a long time.
A case in point would be the rules for cleaner-burning diesel
fuel . that had been mulled and feared for years.
It hasn't been so long with the energy efficiency standards the
Energy Department is trying to rush out the door.
First proposed in early October, the rules call for upping the
efficiency of household appliances as well as air conditioners
and heat pumps by up to 30%.
The agency would like final action on the latter two before Jan.
20. even though the law does not require new standards.
A Bush Reversal?
The next president could stall any new rules. He could impose a
60-day delay on them as President Reagan did soon after assuming
office 20 years ago.
"That would be probably the less confrontational step for
President Bush to take," said Cochran.
Bush might also task the Office of Management and Budget with
reviewing and approving all new rules coming from the executive
branch.
Such an action would require tweaking an already-existing
executive order that Clinton himself tweaked soon after entering
office.
"Everything that Bush talked about during the campaign would
indicate that he would do something with that executive order,"
said Bill Kovacs, vice president of environment, technology and
regulatory affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Help From Congress
Congress could play ball with Bush, too.
It enacted a law several years ago to let lawmakers overturn
agency rules within 60 days. They have yet to use the law,
though, largely because Clinton has held the veto pen.
"The difference is you have a president who would sign it,"
Kovacs said.
Incoming House Resources Committee Chairman James Hansen, R-Utah,
pushes a broad review, if not rollback, of long-standing and
short-lived Clinton policies.
Hansen wrote Bush and Cheney on Dec. 27 urging that the national
monuments, mining restrictions and National Park Service limits
on snowmobiles and jet skis, among other issues, be halted or
slowed down.
At the same time, he said he was "confident, that we can manage
our resources and public lands through good stewardship while
maintaining their ecological integrity."
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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