The United States - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 45

words, cut down trees. As an incentive to do this, the Forest Service would
reward loggers with the right to harvest more trees. The Tongass in south-
east Alaska is the country's largest forest, encompassing 17 million acres,
virtually all of it old growth and much of it steep mountainsides. Under
previous rules, logging was not permitted in areas without roads. Besides
giving access to equipment, the roads themselves damage the land due
to erosion. Logging is not profitable there without subsidies. The Bush
administration removed those restrictions and encouraged harvesting.
To succeed Whitman at EPA, Bush named the governor of Utah, Michael
Leavitt, praising him for his ability to work cooperatively between the
national and state levels. One instance was negotiating an agreement to
build the Legacy Highway across a wetland near Salt Lake City. The other
was a deal with the Department of the Interior to reduce the amount of
land that was eligible for reclassification as wilderness. The method was to
argue that Utah and its counties were entitled to rights of way across these
lands, including national parks, monuments, and wildlife refuges. The
legal basis was the 1866 mining law that was designed to promote mining
and settlement in the Old West. The Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976 repealed this provision but grandfathered in existing highways.
Governor Leavitt and Secretary of the Interior Norton claimed that these
existing highways were very extensive, including on their list many hiking
trails, cow paths, off-road vehicle tracks, and dry stream beds. Thus, these
regions could not qualify as wilderness areas. Once in office, Leavitt was
likeable and moderate, but little seemed to happen. He announced a plan
to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired plants by capping the level
and allowing trading and sales of allowances like the sulfur allowances
in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. This was aligned with the Bush
administration's desire to use economic principles rather than command
and control. Leavitt called it “markets before mandates.” 5 Critics pointed
out that the reduction in mercury would actually be from 50 tons a year
only to 34 tons rather than the 5 tons under the latter. They also argued
that EPA policies were fitting another Bush desire, which was to give
industry major influence. Earlier EPA announced it would drop investi-
gations into 50 electric-generating plants for violating the Clean Air Act.
This had been a recommendation of the Energy Task Force headed by Vice
President Cheney. Little more than a year after being appointed, Leavitt
resigned to become Secretary of Health and Human Services. Bush next
appointed a career civil servant to head the agency, the first ever. Stephen
Johnson had served 24 years, chiefly in the pesticides division. In spite of