EPA chief hits town stumping for Democrats

Friday, Nov. 3, 2000 | 10:59 a.m.

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency traveled to Las Vegas on Thursday, gathering Democrats and environmentalists together to roast Republicans.

Administrator Carol Browner's message was that Republicans will be bad for the environment, nationwide and in Nevada.

Browner, a political appointee of the Clinton administration, spoke to a room crowded with several hundred environmentalists at UNLV. With her to emphasize the message were a bevy of Nevada Democratic officials from the federal, state and local levels.

Master of ceremonies Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced his colleague, Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., Senate aspirant Ed Bernstein, Clark County Commissioners Dario Herrera and Yvonne Atkinson Gates, former Gov. Bob Miller and state Sen. Dina Titus, before turning the podium over to Browner.

Browner echoed Reid and Bryan, calling for more Democrats in Congress and Vice President Al Gore in the White House to protect the environment.

"We need a Democratic Congress," she said to applause. "We need Ed Bernstein in the United States Senate."

Bernstein is running behind his Republican opponent, former Rep. John Ensign, in statewide polls.

"We need to be about building on the progress we've made in this country" by electing Gore, Browner said.

Pointing out that studies have put Houston as the country's most polluted city, Browner said Texas Gov. George Bush, the Republican candidate for president, has failed to protect the environment by getting close to polluters.

She rejected arguments that Bush could do little to affect state law in Texas.

"Gov. Bush simply chose not to be a leader in his state on public health and environmental protection," Browner said.

Browner also promised that the EPA, under a Democratic administration, will set tough standards for the federal government to meet before any storage of nuclear waste will occur in Nevada.

The EPA will develop "standards based on science and will defend them once they state them," she said.

While nary a Republican nor Green Party supporter spoke out at Browner's appearance, Nevada Republican Party Executive Director Ryan Erwin said the comments were expected.

"It's traditional Democratic scare tactics," Erwin said. The Democrats will lose in Nevada unless they "get enough people to believe these fabricated stories."

The Democrats have focused on Gore's statement that he would accept nuclear waste in Nevada only if EPA scientists said it is safe, and have accused Bush of a willingness to accept lesser standards.

Erwin, however, said there is no difference between the stands on the nuclear waste issue between the two candidates.