Editorial: Regaining fragile ground

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006 | 7:37 a.m.

With Democrats in charge, there is hope for the future of our land, water and air

Environmentalists are hoping that the overwhelming wins by Democrats last week will result in a Congress that reverses the damage done by Republican-supported environmental policies.

Those who support habitat protection for endangered species, strict environmental reviews before development occurs and other conservation-driven policies were ecstatic when California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo was ousted by his Democratic opponent.

Pombo, a rancher, had worked to dismantle the habitat protections provided under the Endangered Species Act. He supported horse slaughter, commercial whaling, the trapping of animals in wildlife refuges and oil-drilling in such places as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

According to a Las Vegas Sun story Monday by reporter Launce Rake, Pombo, former House Resources Committee chairman, worked closely with Rep. Jim Gibbons, a Republican and former congressman who is now Nevada's governor-elect. The pair co-wrote a pamphlet two years ago that said the federal government exaggerated the toxic dangers of mercury, which is emitted from mining operations and coal-fired power plants.

But Pombo's defeat is not the only win. With Democrats in charge of both the House and Senate, support should unravel for the Bush administration's promotion of some of the most backward and damaging environmental policies in recent history.

Bush has promoted drastic budget cuts that have left the entire National Park System in near-total disrepair. The president and his formerly Republican Congress have so often failed to increase funding for the Bureau of Land Management that a report released earlier this year shows that the agency could not adequately manage the 262 million acres under its care. Bush also shifted the BLM's focus away from conservation and cultural resource protection and mandated an increase in drilling permits for natural gas and oil.

From ignoring the problems created by greenhouse-gas emissions and global warming to cutting funding for water conservation programs to continued support for building a high-level nuclear waste repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, Bush and the Republican-led Congress have been on the wrong side of every issue.

Their poorly conceived regulations and laws will be difficult to reverse, as logging, mining and other industrial interests aren't going away. They will fiercely fight any reversal of Bush's industry-friendly environmental policies. But Congress should be the protector of the nation's water, air, wildlife and natural resources. Those Democrats entering, or returning to, Congress must work diligently and quickly to reverse six years of disastrous environmental policy.