Analysis: Congressional elections cause for cautious optimism

Democrats have claimed, perhaps rightly so, to have been playing defense on the environment since the rise to power of the Newt Gingrich-led Republicans of the 104th Congress in 1994. With Democrats now taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, they will take the lead in the congressional committees that set much of the nation's environmental agenda. While it remains to be seen whether they will support strong environmental legislation with their new leadership roles, many environmentalists view the election as a major victory for the environment. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife campaigned heavily to ensure the defeat of Richard Pombo (R-CA), chairman of the House Resource Committee (HRC), who will be replaced by Nick Rahall (D-WV). As head of the HRC, Pombo worked to overhaul the Endangered Species Act (ESA), supported legislation to circumvent the National Environmental Policy Act and was in favor of the privatization of public lands, including 23 percent of the national park system, for resource extraction. James Inhofe (R-OK), the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, will be replaced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Inhofe, who is heavily funded by the oil and gas sector, has famously called global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," and compared Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" to Mein Kampf. As EPW chairman, Inhofe has called the Environmental Protection Agency a "Gestapo bureaucracy," fought against the ESA and worked to weaken provisions of the Clean Air Act. Environmentalists are thrilled that the leadership positions of these and other congressional committees will shift from the anti-regulatory Republican leadership. Betsy Loyless, a senior vice president of the National Audubon Society, has said that the elections will mean "extractive and polluting industries won't be setting the agenda for the next two years." However, while congressmen like Pombo and Inhofe are major recipients of industry funds, the Democrats are not without their agenda-setting industry ties as well. Representative John Dingell (D-MI), the upcoming chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is the top recipient of campaign funds from automobile manufacturers. Dingell, who is perceived as staunchly pro-environment, has fought against increased fuel economy standards and contradictorily calls nuclear energy "one of the most promising and necessary courses that we can take in terms of weaning ourselves off foreign oil." Still, many environmentalists are highly optimistic of the election results, and have high hopes of what the new Congress can accomplish. However, the message that many Democrats, such as the new chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), have sent so far is that "there's a danger of trying to overreach" because the Democrats only hold a narrow margin. While the change in leadership makes the potential for stronger environmental legislation immense, it remains to be seen whether the Democrats' self-made image, as "eco-friendly" underdogs, is well-deserved, or merely a successful political strategy.