SECTION B
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Environmental Record for Bush
Worsens With Every Move

Senate Moments...

First Two Senators Were "Odd Couple"

Washington, D.C. (April 19, 2002) --- On the eve of Earth Day (April 22), the Bush administration continues to take its marching orders from the oil and gas industry and other corporate interests and is compiling an abysmal environmental record that worsens by the day, according to a new Wilderness Society report.

"Hardly a day goes by without another move by this administration to exploit our land, air, and water for the benefit of one industry or another," said William H. Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. "The result is a growing environmental deficit that we are going to be passing on to future generations. Earth Day should be a celebration, but under these circumstances, we are urging Americans to tell their representatives in Congress to derail this anti-environmental agenda."   

The report identified 39 environmentally harmful actions taken or proposed since this administration took office 15 months ago. They include efforts to undermine a policy safeguarding roadless national forest land, allow oil and gas drilling at some of the most stunning places in the Rockies, cripple plans that would protect public lands from off-road vehicle traffic, and turn the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into a sprawling oil complex. The document also catalogued decisions that threaten wetlands, clean air, the California coastline, and the national monuments created over the past five years.

The Wilderness Society's report was issued as part of a coordinated effort by hundreds of the nation's conservation groups. From April 4 to April 22, these organizations are releasing information dealing with the Bush administration's moves to weaken environmental protection on behalf of corporate interests. The organizations are touching on a range of environmental subjects, and today's report focuses on issues involving the public lands.

"The Bush administration has loaded up with appointees whose careers have been spent representing the interests of the mining, logging, and oil and gas industries and other corporate entities, and the results are exactly what you would expect," Meadows said. "Profits come first, and the environment comes last. We are counting on the American people to send them the same message that they sent to James Watt and Newt Gingrich: No way."

The Wilderness Society said that the Bush administration had make a few good environmental decisions but mostly has tried to take credit for merely allowing policy to stand rather than taking it apart. "I don't think they should be able to score points for finally agreeing to leave the Clinton arsenic standard in place or for not dismantling clean water treatment plants," Meadows remarked.

"The president has said that he would like to emulate Theodore Roosevelt," Meadows noted. "Unfortunately, as of his Earth Day in office, he is the polar opposite. The president needs to re-read Theodore Rex."

When the necessary ninth state ratified the U.S. Constitution in June 1788, the Congress under the Articles of Confederation began planning the transition to the new federal government. On September 13, 1788, that soon-to-expire Congress issued an ordinance giving states authority to begin conducting elections for their senators and representatives.

Less than three weeks later, on September 30, Pennsylvania became the first state to elect its two United States senators. By a vote of 66 to 1, its legislature accorded William Maclay the distinction of being the first person elected to the Senate and, by the closer margin of 37 to 31, gave the second seat to the more controversial Robert Morris. The two men stood at polar extremes from one another. Robert Morris was a wealthy Philadelphia merchant who distrusted governments based on popular choice. By contrast, Maclay was an agrarian "small d" democrat from upstate Harrisburg who distrusted Philadelphia aristocrats in general and Morris in particular. Each man savagely undercut the other, for example, in campaigns to have their respective cities chosen as the national capital.

Of William Maclay, one biographer has written that he was "reserved, pessimistic about human nature, and Calvinistic in his morality. Analytical and introspective, he was also self-assured, proud, self-conscious, and quick to take offense." Maclay vigorously fought what he considered to be the Senate's willingness to strengthen the presidency and soon became an outspoken anti-administration senator. Perhaps as an outlet to his growing frustrations, he kept a diary of Senate proceedings, which in his day were conducted entirely behind closed doors. Although Maclay served for only two years, his diary is indispensable for understanding the early Senate. 

In the early 1780s, Robert Morris had served as superintendent of finance, making him the chief administrator of the Confederation government and the nation's second most powerful figure after George Washington. He had nominated Washington to serve as president of the Constitutional Convention and later loaned him the use of his finely appointed Philadelphia mansion when Washington resided in that city. One of the nation's richest men, Morris saw nothing wrong with using privileged government information to shape his personal investment strategy. While a senator, he became entangled in disastrous land speculation schemes, which led to his financial ruin. Several years after leaving the Senate in 1795, he entered into another term of service--three years in a debtors' prison.

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