The United States - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 37

He was, nevertheless, quite conservative. At EPA, Reagan persuaded
William Ruckelshaus, the first administrator under Nixon, to return, and
later appointed Lee Thomas.
Ater Reagan: In the 1988 presidential election George H. W. Bush
made environmental protection a campaign issue, promising to be “an
environmental president.” He accused his opponent, Michael Dukakis,
governor of Massachusetts, of ignoring the pollution right in front of him.
Specifically, he challenged the governor to explain why he had not even
bothered to apply for EPA grants to clean up the Boston Harbor. Bush
made a television advertisement showing him in a boat sailing around the
dirty harbor. Once in office, however, Bush did not do much. While he did
not return to the hostility of the early Reagan administration, he did not
push forward. Business concerns usually trumped environmental ones.
To head EPA, Bush appointed his friend and head of the World Wildlife
Fund, William Reilly. Reilly proved a good manager and advocate for
nature. On the other hand, opposition came from elsewhere in govern-
ment. The Interior Department, under Secretary Manny Luhan, contin-
ued policies of helping industry, mining, and ranching. Business interests
found access by way of a newly created Council on Competitiveness. This
was a cabinet-level group chaired by Vice President Dan Quayle that was
supposed to monitor any government action that would harm exports.
EPA regulations were often the target because they make production and
transportation more expensive.
The brightest spot for the Bush administration was its support of the
Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. In this area, the president made good
on his campaign pledge. The law had not been changed for 13 years. The
amendments dealt with acid rain. The problem occurs when coal-burning
plants, many in the Ohio Valley, emit sulfur high into the atmosphere,
where it forms sulfuric acid that blows east and north, finally falling as
rain or snow on upstate New York, New England, and eastern Canada.
Soils in those regions lack natural buffering, so the rain contaminates lakes
with the acid, killing fish. The amendments adopted a technique from the
marketplace to establish a cash value on each ton of sulfur emitted. All
electric plants and factories received a fixed number or tons for each year.
If they emitted fewer, they could sell their excess for a profit, and if they
were short, they could buy sulfur emissions from others. Additionally,
EPA got a number of tons it could sell. Each year, the total tonnage for the
country decreases, so the air will get cleaner. For the first time, all sources
emitting air pollution were required to get individual permits, something