Group tries to revive GOP conservation legacy

Like a faint voice in the wilderness, a small group of Republicans is rising to the call for protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“Our overall mission is to restore the Republican Party’s historic leadership on conservation issues,” said Jim DiPeso, policy director for Republicans for Environmental Protection. “The Arctic Refuge is a timely, high-profile issue and Republicans have a good pedigree for environmental protection that we’re trying to protect.”

DiPeso, who’s based in Seattle, was in Spokane last week to speak following a presentation at Mountain Gear by photographers who had visited ANWR.

“Rivers aren’t Republican and the air isn’t Democrat,” he said. “Protecting our environment is in the best interest of all of us.”

REP disagrees with the Bush administration’s argument that drilling for oil in ANWR is necessary for national security.

“With only 3 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, the U.S. will never be able to drill its way to energy security,” according to the position paper DiPeso handed out at the presentation. “Effective solutions to America’s energy security do not lie in ANWR. They lie in balanced policies that address oil demand and promote energy diversification. Unlike oil fields, efficiency savings persist and deliver saved energy indefinitely.”

“Unfortunately,” DiPeso said, “I don’t see any improvement in automobile mileage standards coming during this administration.”

DiPeso said REP has only about 2,000 members nationwide, but he listed several notables among the ranks, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona. “There’s none from Washington (state),” he said.

Former governors Dan Evans of Washington and Mark Hatfield of Oregon are examples of many Republicans with impressive environmental protection credentials at the state level, DiPeso said.

“But in the last 20-some years that legacy has got away from us and environmental issues have become more partisan,” he said, noting that the consequence is gridlock and a reluctance to look at the details of environmental issues in order to stay the party line.

REP was organized in the spring of 1995, when the 104th Congress was being led by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

“There was a lot of talk among the Republicans to repeal the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and close national park units and a whole series of outlandish proposals,” said DiPeso, who describes himself as a traditional Republican rather than a dogmatic party loyalist.

“A lot of what that Congress proposed didn’t happen because a lot of people spoke up, including moderate Republicans in Congress who said those proposals weren’t consistent with mainstream American thinking.”

REP does not chime in on issues beyond the subject of the environment, he said.

“Our members are all over the map on other issues like tax policy, gun rights, abortion and so on, but if you’re concerned about conservation and you’re a Republican, we have a home for you.

“The party has a long tradition of environmental leaders,” he said. “Even though Herbert Hoover became known for other things, he expanded the national park system by 40 percent. President Eisenhower signed the legislation that set aside the land that became ANWR. President Nixon signed the Clean Air and National Environmental Policy Act and other national policy forming the framework for our national system of environmental protection.

“Theodore Roosevelt set the gold standard for Republicans,” DiPeso said. During Roosevelt’s presidency, the national forest system was increased 400 percent to 194 million acres and Gifford Pinchot was named the first Forest Service chief.

Roosevelt, an ardent hunter, ushered in 51 federal bird reservations. Among them was Pelican Island, the forerunner of the National Wildlife Refuge System and the first case in which the federal government protected land for the conservation of wildlife.

Roosevelt also signed in four national game preserves and five national parks and 18 national monuments.