Delay, deny, delete and destroy: American conservatism and environmental protection

Abstract

In the American political lexicon, the term NIMBY has become quite prominent. To it should be added, NIMEY and NIMTO; i.e. not in my election year and not in my term of office. The current U.S. federal administration is dominated in all three branches by ideological and pragmatic conservatives. Hostility toward the national environmental agenda which they inherited has been masked by subtle rhetoric and skilful use of the levers of power. The Bush administration has used the powers of the Executive to delay implementation of pending environmental initiatives, deny access of traditional environmental players to the process, delete from public access critical information and destroy environmental protections via use of the regulatory authority, control of the budget and cooperation with a mostly compliant Congress. This paper explores the skillfully crafted big picture of the Bush agenda toward the environment and their efforts at de–legitimizing the American environmental movement. Special emphasis will be paid toward the Bush administration efforts at: 1) delaying implementation of national and international policies with regard to climate change in the name of science; 2) opening up military lands and bases from compliance with environmental laws in the name of military preparedness; 3) removing information vital to action in the courts and in the field with regard to environmental hazards in the name of national security; 4) development of national energy plans with no legitimate input from the environmental community; 5) delaying implementation of vital air quality initiatives while waiting on Congress to pass their Clean Skies initiative; 6) shrinking the budgets of key environmental agencies and sources of environmental information including EPA, NASA, NOAA, OSHA and others.