Whitman defends her environmental record

Former New Jersey governor rebuts critics during talk at university.

By: Amy Sennett
   Refuting claims that President Bush is rolling back environmental protection legislation, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman emphasized the administration’s policy of putting environmental progress over the process by which regulations are met.
   "It’s time we judge success by results," Ms. Whitman said in a speech at Princeton University’s McCosh 50 lecture hall Thursday night. "It is not enough to measure process by fines levied or corporations subpoenaed."
   While assuring that enforcement is still a key aspect of the administration’s approach, Ms. Whitman outlined a new take on environmental policy that will benefit from an alliance of public and private interests.
   "The command-and-control model employed by the past administration is no longer the best way," she said. "The federal government is no longer alone in working for environmental progress."
   Citing a belief that economic progress comes from the ground up, Ms. Whitman, the former governor of New Jersey, said the EPA also would take advantage of environmental progress at state and local levels.
   Ms. Whitman focused her speech on the Clean Air Act, a subject that has aroused much controversy in regard to the Bush administration’s economic policy. She asserted that classic command and control from Washington relied on punishment for compliance. Recent years, however, have shown diminishing returns and led to a lack of technological innovation, she said.
   The Bush administration proposes instead to directly address pollution caused by old, deteriorated facilities with a two-step approach. Ms. Whitman explained that President Bush first plans to reform the New Source Review rules that require upgrades in factories to the most modern pollution-control devices when doing any sort of routine repair. She said that policy was vague and claimed it was inhibiting manufacturers and utilities from making necessary updates. The former governor said the law’s ambiguity made it hard to enforce and produced more litigation than environmental progress.
   The second step, part of President Bush’s Clean Air Act, calls for the reduction by 70 percent of the three most noxious industrial emissions. The proposal is aimed directly at old coal power plants that have escaped regulation in the past 30 years.
   Ultimately, Ms. Whitman said, the Bush environmental policy will impose stricter government regulations while giving companies more freedom in the way they comply.
   "If the government sets tough standards and lets industry determine how to achieve them on their own, we will see huge returns," Ms. Whitman said.
   She acknowledged the Bush administration has continued to come under attack for a "roll-back" of the Clean Air Act, but added, "That conclusion can only be reached by looking at the process instead of the progress."
   Ms. Whitman pledged to continue the EPA’s fight for environmental conservation.
   "I don’t know anyone who will be satisfied by a polluted environment for themselves, their children and their future," she said.