The United States - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 39

the laws vigorously. It put a moratorium on toxic waste incineration.
The president signed an order to restrict logging in old growth forests.
Difficulties followed, however, after the 1994 congressional elections,
when Republicans won control of both the House and the Senate for the
first time in 42 years. The Republicans, especially in the House, did not pass
any pro-environmental bills, of course, but were frustrated because EPA
continued to implement existing laws from a green perspective. The next
fall presented a target when the annual appropriations bill came up. The
Republicans simply refused to vote funds for the agency to do its routine
work. Without money, the agency was forced to shut down, and send its
employees home without pay. After a few weeks, the Republicans relented,
to give temporary funding to reopen, but after a few more weeks again shut
the agency down. This happened a third time, but now the Republicans had
read public opinion polls showing that the American people supported
EPA and wanted it to continue its work. Rather quickly the House passed
the appropriations bill. The remaining years of the Clinton administration
were a stalemate for the environment. The Republicans were hostile but
feared direct attacks. No important bills about environmental protection
were passed.
Clinton and his administration proceeded in areas that did not need new
legislation by the Republican Congress. A dramatic one was to give a huge
area in southern Utah protection under the authority of the Antiquities
Act. The Grand Staircase Escalante region is a spectacular desert with
high cliffs, deep canyons, bright sun, and dozens of endangered plants
and animals. Paleontologists can find rare fossils. The proclamation that it
was a Monument greatly irritated many local people who would have pre-
ferred economic development. The Kaiparowits Plateau has rich deposits
of coal. The proclamation was motivated by the politics of the 1996 presi-
dential race. Clinton hesitated for a long time, but in September decided
he was never going to win the votes of Utah but could pick up votes among
pro-environmental voters in California, Arizona, and elsewhere. Clinton
did not even go to Utah for the ceremony, but signed it at the Grand
Canyon in Arizona. On Election Day, he got only 34% of the vote in Utah.
Clinton used the technique of proclaiming national monuments to protect
other areas as well, for a total of 58 million acres during his two terms.
Furthermore, he ordered protection for eight million acres of forests.
After the Rio Earth Summit, not much happened regarding global warm-
ing policy as far as the public was aware. Now it was time for the experts
to work quietly to draft specific provisions. Five years later they were ready