Editorial: White House wages a scorched-earth policy

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002 | 9:04 a.m.

Last week the Bush administration announced it plans to roll back Clinton-era regulations that limited logging in national forests. The new regulations would give managers of national forests more authority to approve logging and other commercial endeavors without having to give as much consideration to what kind of harm these activities may pose for the environment.

There is no need, however, to change the Clinton regulations, which were intended to protect national forests from unnecessary logging by timber companies. But President Bush is determined to implement policies that benefit large corporations at the expense of the environment. For instance, the logging announcement followed by just one week the White House's decision to weaken federal mandates that are supposed to limit pollution from coal-fired power plants and oil refineries.

All in all, it's been pretty dismal for the environment following the GOP's romp in midterm elections. But that shouldn't be too surprising. After all, this is the same White House that since inauguration day has gutted regulations that benefit the environment, an effort to pay back handsomely its big campaign contributors who represent energy interests. The GOP victories in Congress were impressive, due in large part to Bush's campaigning, but the president's popularity quickly will be put to the test if he insists on taking away environmental protections that are favored across the board by the public, no matter their party or ideology.