|
|
Bush League Team
In a move that will surprise no one, President George W. Bush has chosen people the New York Times describes as “industry insiders” to fill key environmental posts in his administration.
If he has his way, J. Steven Griles, a mining industry lobbyist who previously worked in the Interior Department under the notorious James Watt, will be the number two person in that Department.
Linda J. Fisher, until recently a Monsanto lobbyist, is Bush’s choice for deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
William Geary Myers III, a lobbyist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council, has been picked by Bush to serve as solicitor for the Interior Department.
James Conaughton, whose law firm has represented GE and Atlantic Richfield in fights with the EPA over toxic waste cleanups, will be nominated to serve as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Bush’s choice for assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources is Thomas Sansonetti, a lawyer who specializes in mineral and energy questions and is a member of the libertarian Federalist Society.
Other Interior nominees include Bennet William Raley, a lawyer who currently represents farm interests, as assistant secretary for water and science, and Lynn Scarlett, president of the Reason Foundation, a libertarian group, as assistant secretary for policy, management and budget.
According to the Times, “Many of these candidates share a pro-property rights philosophy as well as a libertarian leaning, and conservatives find this just the right approach...‘We’re real happy with the team that Bush is putting in,’ said Mike Hardiman, legislative director of the American Conservative Union. ‘After eight years of the extremist, anti-people, anti-access policies of the Clinton administration and its overzealous application of the Endangered Species Act, and the shutdown of recreational access to public land, we’re now going to have more of a balance.’”
Watch out!
|
|
