NEW YORK CITY — Critics of President Bush's environmental policies might beg to differ that former Utah governor and current Environmental Protection administrator Mike Leavitt is an environmentalist.

But at least he recycles.

In a campaign speech Wednesday in Central Park, Leavitt recycled some old lines from his speeches as governor, in particular the lines about the air being cleaner, the water being more pure and the land better cared for.

Leavitt was preaching to the choir, or in this case the Council of Republicans for Environmental Quality, who warmly embraced Leavitt and Secretary of Interior Gayle Norton and their policies.

Protesters have criticized Republicans throughout the convention for what they say has been a GOP strategy of destroying the environment in favor of business.

"We want it done in a way that maintains economic competitiveness," Leavitt insisted.

While Republicans have been playing defense on the environment, Leavitt and Norton exhorted the faithful to be proud of the GOP record and to take back the initiative from their opponents.

It was a Republican president, after all, who created the position of EPA administrator and who signed into law the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and a host of other environmental protection laws. And Republicans were at the forefront of the creation of Earth Day, Leavitt said.

"There is no reason whatsoever to concede those issues to our opponents," he said during a CREQ reception attended by the Utah delegation and others. That reception was followed by another for the delegation, this one sponsored by the National Mining Association.

"Republicans are doing great things for the environment and getting very little credit for it," added Norton, who said there have been 4,000 environmental projects during the Bush administration.

Leavitt, who resigned as Utah governor almost a year ago to become EPA administrator, told the Deseret Morning News he is still learning all the intricacies of his job and the full scope of environmental battles being fought all over the nation.

He spends much of his time traveling from one hot spot to another. And he has spent very little time campaigning for the president.

"The president wants his Cabinet out there doing their jobs," he said.

And one of the toughest parts of the job has to be convincing critics that Republicans are doing a good job.

"I am proud to be a Republican," he said.

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E-mail: spang@desnews.com