'Greens' take aim at Leavitt

WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt hasn't even rolled out his environmental agenda for the next four years.

But already, prominent conservation organizations are taking a "sky-is-falling" approach to their predictions for the next Bush administration, and they have the former Utah governor firmly in their sights — that is, if they can see him through all the dirty air caused by what they fear will be a dismantling of the Clean Air Act and an across-the-board rollback of environmental protections.

"The presidential race clearly was not a referendum on the environment, it was not a mandate to roll back environmental protections," said Deb Callahan, president of the League of Conservation Voters, who raked Leavitt for claiming it was a mandate.

The doom-and-gloom forecasts were made last week at a joint press conference by leaders of the National Environmental Trust, Union of Concerned Scientists and the League, all of whom were trying to put a brave face on an election that saw the House and Senate become even more conservative and potentially more inclined to steer away from government-mandated environmental regulations.

There is already optimism — or pessimism, depending on your point of view — on Capitol Hill that lawmakers will take action on the stalled Energy Bill. And some are predicting lawmakers will finally take up Bush's "Clear Skies" initiative.

Leavitt spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said Leavitt will announce in January his priorities for the next four years. She said they are "pretty aggressive."

But Bergman is clearly frustrated at the nature of the environmentalists' diatribes against the Bush administration — and the EPA in particular — for what they say is a decline in environmental protections.

"I don't know what they are referring to," Bergman said, "and yes, I am frustrated. These are broad-based allegations that aren't substantiated by the facts. They are scare tactics."

Bergman rattled off a list of EPA accomplishments, all of which involve tougher environmental protections, during Leavitt's short tenure. Among them are the first-ever emissions restrictions on mercury, new standards on pollutants called PM2.5 and tough enforcement of new ozone standards.

"Air quality continues to improve and improve dramatically," she said.

Leavitt has visited 43 states in the past year on different environmental initiatives. He has visited the Great Lakes states about a dozen times to forge bipartisan partnerships on a comprehensive plan to clean up the lakes.