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Sorry this is pretty hard to read, but Dan has done a really good job here of wrapping up a bunch of bits and pieces and turning it into a coherent indictment of Governor Davis enviro record to date. Thanks Dan. Looks like you've been working on this for quite a while! See sfgate.com for more readable version. Go to the Chronicle part of the site, then Sunday paper. <<>>>> Who's Protecting California's Environment? Gov. Davis campaigned on the promise that he would preserve forests and fish habitats and safeguard schools from toxics, but the Democratic governor has done little to reverse the neglect by four Republican administrations Dan Hamburg Sunday, November 14, 1999 c1999 San Francisco Chronicle </chronicle/info/copyright> URL: <http://www.sfgate.com Most environmentalists, weary after four consecutive Republican administrations in Sacramento, were eager to hear those words and to believe that once in the governor's office, Davis would bring renewed commitment to solve the environmental problems of California. But with only minor exceptions, this has not come about. Davis started out on the right foot with several solid appointments, including Mary Nichols as state Resources Secretary, Tom Hannigan as director of Water Resources and Rusty Arieas as director of Parks & Recreation. These people had credentials with the mainstream environmental community, and it was hoped that they would bring significant positive changes to their respective departments. What no one foresaw was that Gov. Davis, a renowned micro-manager, would sabotage any significant changes by keeping them on very short leashes. DAVIS' REBUKE For example, one of Nichols' first official acts as Resources Secretary was to withdraw a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Wilson administration to block implementation of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. This 1992 law, steered through Congress by Martinez Democrat George Miller and then-Sen. Bill Bradley aimed to create a restorative balance between agricultural and other uses of freshwater flowing through the San Francisco Bay and Delta. In a move that shocked environmentalists, Davis ordered Nichols to rescind her action and then not-too-privately called her on the carpet for acting without his direct instruction. Davis' penchant for micro-management is being blamed for his slowness in filling scores of key positions in his new administration. The result is that many state regulatory agencies continue to function as if this were the third administration of Pete Wilson. Earlier this month, Davis was reproached for his failure in articles that ran in both The Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times. ``Many of the enforcement decisions are still being made by Wilson holdovers,'' said Bill Magavern of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a Los Angeles-based organization that focuses on environmental protection and nuclear safety. Magavern complained that polluters are still being protected, not public health. The regional water quality control board responsible for the sensitive Lake Tahoe area completely ceased to function when Davis failed to appoint new members. Other boards are functioning only because members have agreed to serve beyond the expiration dates of their terms. MTBE DEADLINE In March, Davis took what appeared to be a strong step when he imposed a Dec. 31, 2002, deadline for the phaseout of the gasoline additive MTBE that the governor called ``a significant threat to public health.'' At the same time, he asked refiners to supply MTBE-free gasoline to service stations in Lake Tahoe ``as soon as possible'' to appease a region up in arms over losing nearly half of its drinking water to tainted wells. Six months later, 11 of 15 Tahoe stations were still selling MTBE-laced fuel. Meanwhile, the governor pressured Sen. Byron Sher, D-Palo Alto, into dropping the 2002 deadline from his bill. Critics charged that Davis is ``flip-flopping on his promise to protect California's environment, embarrassing the Legislature and harming his own credibility.'' One of Davis' selling points to environmentalists when he ran for governor was his opposition, as a member of the state Lands Commission, to a proposed radioactive waste dump in the Mojave Desert at Ward Valley. As governor however, Davis has been agonizingly slow in reversing the pro-Ward Valley stance of the Wilson administration. When the project seemed to implode over the summer, Davis packed the Nuclear Waste Advisory Group with industry executives, and commissioned the group to find a replacement site. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has raised concerns about the group's composition and has questioned the need to locate any new nuclear waste facility in California. One watchdog group claims that Davis has still not given up on locating a waste dump in Ward Valley, despite overwhelming public opposition that culminated in a 103-day occupation by environmentalists and local Indian tribes last year. SCHOOL PORTABLES Recently, Davis inexplicably vetoed the Healthy Schools Act, a bill that would have required the state to study problems with air quality in portable classrooms. There are currently more than 86,500 of these portables across the state, housing more than a third of all California public school students. Studies have shown that portables can expose children to toxic chemicals at unacceptably high levels. The bill also called for better notification of pesticide spraying around schools and the training of school personnel in environmental health standards. The governor's veto is especially hard to understand in light of recent surveys that have identified high levels of toxic substances in California schools, both in portables and traditional classrooms. In the governor's hometown of Los Angeles, a $200 million high school sits half-built on top of an abandoned oil field while seismologists try to determine the extent to which petroleum-based toxins are leeching upward. FORESTRY PRACTICES The governor also has been slow in overseeing the Board of Forestry, which has long been a focal point for environmentalists concerned about sustainable logging. Ultimately, it's the board that has to address problems such as overharvesting, cutting on steep slopes and in unstable areas, disruption of watersheds and water quality. Failure to address these issues adequately has led to ongoing struggles, including civil disobedience in places like Headwaters Forest and Jackson State Forest. Many have charged that the board does a poor job of enforcing existing forest-practice rules and has failed to prevent practices that lead to property degradation and violations of clean water standards. Under Gray Davis, the board remains a quagmire, unable to take even modest steps toward reform. On July 7, timber industry executives feted Davis at a reception in Anderson (Shasta County), headquarters of timber giant Sierra Pacific Industries. The event was held on the same day that his administration proposed stricter regulations for timber harvesting on private lands in order to protect rivers and wildlife. Curiously, Davis claimed to be unaware of the new rules, even though they had just been issued by two of his own cabinet officials! The reception was just one of several half-policy, half-fund-raising sessions with industry that would be a Davis trademark if Bill Clinton hadn't already perfected the genre. According to a recent article in Time magazine extolling him as ``the most fearless governor in America,'' Davis has already raised $7 million for his 2002 campaign war chest, an amount that dwarfs previous first-year efforts by any sitting governor anywhere on the planet. Voters will ultimately have to decide whether Davis' fund-raising is skewing his policy judgment or not. But it's clear that timber industry prerogatives are being well tended under the guidance of his administration. COHO SALMON Last month, the Board of Forestry again delayed a vote on new rules to protect coho salmon habitat, rules most conservation and fisheries organizations already felt were too weak. The board's lack of will caused Joe Blum, a representative of the National Marine Fisheries Service, to warn that a listing of steelhead trout may be necessary. Listing of steelhead as a threatened or endangered species could help restore the coho as well, but would also devastate the sport fisheries (and their attendant industries of fishing guides and outfitters) of Northern California, including some relatively healthy rivers such as the Trinity and the Smith. To his credit, Davis didn't veto two measures on the March 2000 ballot that could have significant benefit to the environment. A $1.97 billion water bond would finance improvements in flood protection, water quality, levees and conservation. The governor also signed a $2.1 billion park bond act that would begin to address the severe state of dilapidation in our state parks, beaches and historical sites. However, to call allowing these measures on the ballot a ``bold step,'' as Davis did at his signing ceremony, is disingenuous if not plain deceptive. If there is to be a bold step taken, it will be by the state's taxpayers, not its governor. NOT AN INNOVATOR In the recent Time puff piece, Davis is praised for his advances in gun control, HMO reform and education. There is no mention of the environment whatsoever. No serious environmentalist would call this governor an innovator. Most of the environmental bills he has signed, such as Democrat Assemblywoman Carole Migden's bill to allow the nine regional water quality control boards to sanction repeat offenders, have sat around the capital for years waiting for a Democrat governor to sign them. In fact, Gray Davis has proposed no bold steps to deal with the imminent collision of the state's human population with its battered natural resource base. Most environmentalists have thus far been reluctant to criticize the governor publicly. After all, given the rapacious tilt of California's Republican politicians on environmental issues, what choice is there? But at least a few think it's time to take off the gloves. Ted Nordhaus, executive director of Next Generation, an Oakland environmental consultant, is one. ``There is increasing trepidation among environmentalists that Davis isn't very serious about protecting the state's environment,'' Nordhaus says. Nordhaus recently surveyed leaders in the mainstream environmental community throughout California and found that there was a general consensus that Davis had put good people in place in state government but that ``at the larger policy level, there hasn't been much in the way of new initiatives.'' Kathy Bailey, state Forest Conservation chairwoman for the Sierra Club, is blunt about the administration's handling of endangered species. ``From what we have seen in the past few months, it has become increasingly clear that the Davis administration is not committed to saving coastal salmon (coho, chinook and steelhead) from extinction in California. We're facing a crisis of extinction, and the Davis administration is doing nothing.'' CRITICS MUST SPEAK UP The governor needs to be taken to task more vigorously by the environmental community. The stakes are too high to wait. Another three, or possibly seven years, of Davis neglect will certainly make our challenges that much more difficult to meet. Some environmentalists are proposing ways to go around the governor, such as appealing directly to sympathetic ears within the business community. While commendable, this tactic seems unlikely to yield a high level of success. After all, business runs on the principle of the bottom line, not the more subjective criterion of the public good. That criterion is supposed to be the province, and indeed the purpose of government. A turnaround in California's approach to its environment would be a powerful signal to the rest of country and the world. It would also be the best gift we could give ourselves and future generations of Californians. Based on the evidence of nearly a year, we will have to make it happen without a great deal of support, let alone leadership, from Gov. Davis. Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="Picture" Attachment converted: Darryl's Computer:Picture (????/----) (000098D1)
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