Talking Points on the Environment #20

Speaker Gingrich and the Environmental Movement: Two Peas in a Pod -- Part I

In a cynical attempt to damage efforts for environmental common sense, the environmental movement has been linking these efforts to the widely-unpopular House Speaker. But the truth is the Speaker and the environmental movement are like two peas in a pod:

• Gingrich has given the environmental establishment veto power over all environmental legislation... Speaker Gingrich has established a House Task Force on the Environment that will serve as a Rules Committee for all environmental legislation. He has decided that no environmental bill will go to the floor of the House without the approval of the Task Force. The Task Force is co-chaired by Representative Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), who led the opposition to the Clean Water Act Amendments. Boehlert received a 92% in the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) National Environmental Scorecard and a 13% in the League of Private Property Voters (LPPV) scorecard. His LCV rating was higher than 53% of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, including such well-known enemies of private property rights as David Bonior (D-MI), Vic Fazio (D-CA), Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Louis Stokes (D-OH). Even though environmental establishment Republicans comprise a small minority of the Republican caucus, the Speaker has granted some of the most green Republicans half the seats on the Task Force's Steering Committee. Among them: Florida's Porter Goss (LCV Rating - 54%; LPPV - 47%), Michigan's Vernon Ehlers (LCV Rating - 62%, LPPV - 33%), and New York's Sue Kelly (LCV Rating - 54%, LPPV - 33%).

• Gingrich supports the National Biological Survey... Speaker Gingrich has not only supported but fought to protect Bruce Babbitt's National Biological Survey, which has been used to expand government regulation and acquisition of private property. At an April 24, 1996 conference hosted by the National Environmental Policy Institute, Gingrich said: "And good science also means, I think -- and this is one of the reasons I worked very hard last year to protect funding for the biological survey -- ...we need an inventory of the biodiversity of the planet..."

• Gingrich views rural Americans as backward, environmental Neanderthals... In an interview with Greenwire published on April 30, 1996, Speaker Gingrich said: "I have to say on [Representative] Pombo's behalf that he has been one of the most patient and open to growth of any of the House subcommittee chairs. As we have met with world-class biologists and botanists... Rick has really tried to bridge the world of the rural Westerner to the world of the scientist who deals with this." The implication of the statement is that Representative Pombo -- the architect of an Endangered Species Act reform bill -- needs to "grow" on environmental issues and that rural Westerners are hicks who know little or nothing about the environment.

• Gingrich supports federalizing vast amounts of private land... Newt Gingrich co-sponsored the American Heritage Trust Act (H.R. 4127) -- the single greatest threat to private property during the 101st Congress -- which would have made $1 billion in government funds available each year for the acquisition of private land for conversion to federal land for conservation purposes.

Issue Date: June 1996

Talking Points on the Economy: Environment #20, published by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct NE, Washington, D.C. 20002 Tel. (202) 543-4110, Fax (202)543-5975, [email protected], http://www.nationalcenter/inter.net. For more information about Talking Points on the Economy: Environment #20 contact Bob Adams at 202/543-4110 or [email protected]

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