Elections and the Environment

Environmentalists were justifiably jubilant at the Democrats’ big victory in the U.S. Senate on Nov. 4. The Senate winners included some with strong environmental records, such as Gov. Bob Graham of Florida, who has battled to preserve the Everglades from developmental pressures.

With a 55-45 majority in the Senate, Democrats will control committees that make critical decisions over a wide range of environmental issues, including the regulation of pesticides, revision of the Clean Air Act, creation of parks and wilderness areas and planning of national forests.

Another effect of the election is to cement strong California leadership over water-resource development in the House of Representatives. Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) is expected to continue as chairman of the Interior subcommittee on water and power resources, and will be the second-ranking Democrat on the full Interior Committee. Miller is in line to become chairman whenever Rep. Morris K. Udall (D-Ariz.) decides to retire. Reps. Tony Coelho (D-Merced) and Richard H. Lehman (D-Sanger) both gain seniority on the full committee and the water subcommittee, should they remain there.

A retiring House member who will be particularly missed by environmentalists is Rep. John Seiberling (D-Ohio), who has served as chairman of Interior’s public lands subcommittee, which oversees federal lands run by the Bureau of Land Management. This is a position of considerable importance to California and the West.

Also in the House, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) will remain a key figure on the crucial Energy and Commerce Committee, which will attempt again to rewrite the Clean Air Act and to pass legislation dealing with acid rain.

There are some environmental question marks in the Senate, however. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) will take over chairmanship of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee from Sen. James A. McClure (R-Ida.), and Quentin N. Burdick (D-N.D.) will assume the gavel of the Environment and Public Works Committee from Robert T. Stafford (R-Vt.), who has been popular with environmental organizations. Johnston’s pro-energy development position is not dissimilar to McClure’s, and Burdick is a relative unknown when it comes to major environmental issues--although he has been a senator since 1960.

Without question, however, environmentalists will cheer the reelection of Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who takes over the chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee from Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). This puts the committee in a position to closely critique the long-range timber-cutting plans developed by the U.S. Forest Service for every forest in the nation. Examination of the 50-year forest plans has been a priority of several environmental organizations in the past year.

The 1986 vote demonstrated that the strength of the environment as a popular, bipartisan electoral issue. The major threat to a positive environmental record from the 100th Congress is the Reagan veto. The President generally has acceded to congressional environmental initiatives so long as they did not involve major amounts of money. But before the President wields his veto again, as he did with the Clean Water Act this month, Republicans might want to remind the White House of the possible effect that it could have on GOP members who have to seek election in 1988.