By H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX –
Heading into his second term, President Bush has earned a tremendous amount of political capital that he can spend on big goals abroad and here at home. Often overlooked in the discussion of his domestic agenda is the environment. Bush has the opportunity to put forward a bold vision for progress on environmental issues under the rubric of his overarching policy ideal: the ownership society.
One bold move that could garner the support of conservatives and environmentalists alike would be to end all energy subsidies. This would please conservatives who decry tax breaks for costly renewable energy boondoggles and environmentalists who claim that the fossil fuel industry gets unnecessary public subsidies. The government saves money and consumers get to decide what fuels will meet their energy needs.
Another energy idea comes in the area of exploration. America's remaining large deposits of oil and natural gas lie under public lands and off-shore, but these areas have been placed off-limits to oil production due to environmental concerns. Yet oil and gas exploration is not necessarily incompatible with environmental quality. On the public's lands which are not wilderness, roadless areas and national parks, environmentally sensitive exploration should at least be an option. And, the revenues earned from oil and gas leases on public lands could be used to pay down the deficit or pay for environmental programs.
Speaking of public lands, the Bush administration's efforts to allow states to have more input into forest planning should improve the health of the nations public lands by moving to a more flexible, site specific management regime. The administration should go further, allowing states that have demonstrated both superior economic and environmental performance with their forests to take over the management of select public lands within their borders. After a set number of years, any state that showed both improved economic and environmental performance should be granted those forests outright. Forests that did not improve could revert to federal management and new experiments could be tried.
Another change in direction would be to end federal incentives that lead to environmental harm. A perfect example of this is the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA creates incentives to destroy species and their habitat. Over 75 percent of the listed species depend on private land for all or part of their habitat requirements, yet if property owners actually provide a suitable habitat for them, they become subject to severe regulation if not outright confiscation. To improve this situation, when the government imposes land use restrictions on private property to preserve species, the property's owner should be compensated - just as he or she would be if their land were taken any other public purpose.
The Bush administration could go farther and pay "bounties" to property owners who manage their lands in ways that encourage endangered species to take up residence on their land.
Agricultural subsidies also cause environmental harm is agriculture subsidies. Subsidies lead to the overproduction of crops which depress the price for farm products, keeping many farmers in a near perpetual state of dependency. Environmentally they are a disaster, encouraging farmers to press marginal, environmentally valuable lands into crop production and to over use pesticides and fertilizers to increase crop yields.
While environmental policy is unlikely to be prominently mentioned in President Bush's state of the union speech, improved incentives for environmental protection could be part of the lasting Bush legacy.
Sterling Burnett is a senior policy analyst with the National Center for Policy Analysis, based in Dallas. If you have opinions or rebuttals about this commentary, call (214) 740-9338 or email us.