Vision of Abundance

CHAPTER TWO:
Visions of Abundance

EXCERPT FROM PAGE 55

“In the 1980s, as conservatives gravitated toward the Republican Party and set in motion what would become the Republican reversal, they gave new life to an old theme in American history: the nation’s freedom depended on aggressively developing its abundant, God-given natural resources, not exercising conservation and restraint. Such a vision of abundance was a potent tonic for the emerging coalition that helped propel the Republican Party’s conservative ascendancy in the last quarter of the twentieth century...”

Primary Sources

1981

Source: C-SPAN

Confirmation Hearing of Secretary of the Interior, James Watt [video]| Watt’s Testimony | Thomas Kimball’s Testimony
During the confirmation hearing of President Reagan’s Secretary of the Interior James Watt, Thomas Kimball, an executive of the National Wildlife Foundation, questioned Watt’s dedication to protecting public lands and the wildlife within them. His testimony, along with dozens of others, raised questions about Watt’s background and goals for the Interior.

“WE ARE ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT MR. WATT’S CONNECTIONS TO THE VERY RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT INTERESTS HE WILL BE REQUIRED TO REGULATE” - KIMBALL

1982

Click to download

The Case Against President Reagan’s Environmental Record, published by Friends of the Earth et al.
During his first few years in office, President Reagan made significant changes to the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. In 1982, Friends of the Earth, along with several other environmental groups, published a report documenting Reagan’s attempts to weaken environmental regulations.

1992

Photo: Tom Kogutus (USFWS)

Public hearings on Northern Spotted Owl: Evelyn Badger’s Testimony | Mark L. Shaffer’s Testimony
At the hearing on the Northern Spotted Owl Preservation Act, Evelyn Badger, the executive vice president of the Oregon Lands Coalition, testified in favor of the Preservation Act which would reduce the protected area of the Northern spotted owl. Badger gave a passionate testimony describing how she and dozens of others in the lumber industry had been affected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) restrictions.

Source: Naval Photographic Center (DoD)

President George H.W. Bush talking to Lumber workers in Oregon about the environment
In front of a crowd in Medford, Oregon, President George H. W. Bush described the environmental accomplishments of his administration. He highlighted the renewal of the Clean Air Act in 1990 and the protection of public lands and monuments. He was, however, critical of the ESA and its effects on the lumber industry.

“YET AMERICANS TODAY REALIZE THAT WE CAN PROTECT OUR LANDS WHILE ALSO USING THEM FOR THE PEOPLE’S BENEFIT” - BUSH

1994

Source: Patricia Duncan (EPA DOCUMERICA Project, NARA)

Testimonies from Richard Pombo’s hearings on the Endangered Species Act: Mike Ahrens | Leeona Klippstein
Richard Pombo, a Congressional representative from California, sought to weaken the ESA. To build support for his agenda, he held a series of hearings on the law in rural communities across the country. These hearings attracted a variety of people and industries affected by it.

1995

Robert Smith, Competitive Enterprises Institute, on Endangered Species Act | PDF
In 1994, a government report found that 90 percent of the species listed and protected under the ESA depended on habitats on private property. Many conservative think-tanks published reports supporting private ownership, including one by Robert Smith at the Competitive Enterprises Institute. Smith argued that public land use causes “overuse, waste, and extinction,” while private ownership promotes “sustained-yield use and preservation.“

1996

Source: C-SPAN

American Petroleum Institute Prayer Breakfast [video]
Since 1971, the American Petroleum Institute has hosted an annual prayer breakfast for evangelical Christian-minded businesspeople and legislators. In 1996, the prayer breakfast echoed a strong anti-environmental sentiment. Archie Dunham, the President and CEO of CONOCO started the event off with a prayer, stating “we are in awesome wonder when we consider the creative power that has provided the hydrocarbon resources of this world.”

Source: USFWS

Coverage on Noah Congregations in The Washington Post | The New York Times
Unlike evangelicals who championed dominion theology, members of “Noah Congregations“ believed in the protection and preservation of the ESA. The expansion of the Noah Congregations campaign throughout the late 1990’s helped stifle efforts to roll back the ESA.

2001

Source: USFWS

Kimberley A. Strassel on “Rural Cleansing” in The Wall Street Journal
After drought conditions depleted wildlife in the Klamath River Basin, the Fish and Wildlife Service acted to protect the endangered Coho salmon. The agency decided to limit water supplies for local farmers to protect the river and fish. In response to this incident, Kimberley Strassel published an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal claiming that the proposal aimed to “expunge humans from the countryside.“ This incident contributed to the controversy over the ESA and its impact on rural communities.

“FEDERAL AUTHORITIES WERE FORCED TO CUT OFF WATER TO 1,500 FARMS... BECAUSE OF THE ‘ENDANGERED’ SUCKERFISH” - STRASSEL

Source: DoD

Cheney Energy Plan
In 2001, President George W. Bush’s Vice President, Dick Cheney, led a policy group that produced a report on a new national energy policy. In the report, the group outlined a 21st century approach to environmental regulations with a strategy that incorporated ”energy, environmental and economic policy” and echoed Republicans’ longstanding belief in resource abundance.

Click to download

2017

President Trump announcing the reduction of Bears Ears National Monument [video] | PDF
During a visit in Salt Lake City, Utah, President Trump announced the reduction of two national monuments in Utah. The decision to reduce Bears Ears National Monument marks one of the largest rollbacks of federally protected land in United States history.

Discussion Questions

Why did Reagan’s message resonate so powerfully in the West during the 1980 election?
How did Republicans and environmentalists view the public lands in the West in the early 1980’s?
What was the Sagebrush Rebellion? Why did it gain strength in the late 1970’s?
To what extent did Watt’s approach to natural resources and energy production consolidate a new approach to resource management in the United States?
What is the significance of the Powder River Basin? How did the coal leasing act lead to government subsidized coal on the market?
Describe how the Reagan and Nixon administrations had different approaches to environmental reforms and protections (based on Chapters 1 & 2).
Why did Republicans gain strong support from the rural West in the 1994 midterm elections?
What made Clinton’s use of the Antiquities Act to protect national monuments so controversial in the mid-1990’s?
Explain why the Endangered Species Act and the spotted owl case a became a lighting rod for controversy during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
How did Richard Pombo proposal to reform the Endangered Species Act to ease the burden on private land holders? Why did his proposals fail?
In what ways did the beliefs of evangelical Christians both contribute to and pose challenges for advancing environmental reform?
Why do the authors call the Republican Party the ”modern [party] of extraction?” To what extent might that label be applied to the Democratic Party?

Additional Readings

Public Lands

"Strip Mining Control Bill Signed"
CQ Almanac | Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1978

The Other Rights Revolution: Conservative Lawyers and the Remaking of American Government
Jefferson Decker | New York: Oxford University Press, 2016

Public Lands and Political Meaning: Ranchers, the Government, and the Property Between Them
Karen R. Merrill | Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002

“Summary of Information Concerning the Ecological and Economic Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Disaster”
National Resources Defense Council |NRDC issue paper, June 2015

The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics since 1964
James Morton Turner | Seattle: University of Washington, 2012

“The Specter of Environmentalism”: Wilderness, American Politics, and the Evolution of the New Right
James Morton Turner | Journal of American History, June 2009 | Website with teaching and research materials

The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future
Paul Sabin | New Haven, CT: Yale, 2013 | Additional sources on Sabin’s website

The Powder River Basin and Federal Coal Policy

Analysis of the Powder River Basin Federal Coal Lease Sale: Economic Valuation Improvements and Legislative Changes Needed
Comptroller General | Report to Congress, Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, 1983

“The Great Giveaway: An Analysis of the Costly Failure of Federal Coal Leasing in the Powder River Basin”
Tom Sanzillo | Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, June 2012

“America’s Incoherent Coal Policy”
James Surowiecki |The New Yorker, 7 December 2015

“The Making of Federal Coal Policy: Lessons for Public Lands Management from a Failed Program, an Essay and Review”
A. Dan Tarlock |Natural Resources Journal, 1985

“Federal Coal Leasing in the Powder River Basin: A Bad Deal for Taxpayers”
Nidhi Thakar and Michael Madowitz | Center for American Progress, 29 July 2014

Endangered Species Act

Beyond the Grizzly: Endangered Species and the Politics of Place in California
Pete Alagona | Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013

“The Endangered Species Act at Thirty”
Dale Goble, J. Michael Scott, and Frank W. Davis | Renewing the Conservation Promise, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2006

Acting for Endangered Species: The Statutory Ark
Shannon Petersen | Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002

Other

“Unintentional Gerrymandering: Political Geography and Electoral Bias in Legislatures”
Jowei Chen |Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 27 June 2013

“How Rural Resentment Helps Explain the Surprising Victory of Donald Trump”
Katherine Cramer | The Washington Post, 13, November 2016

American Environmental Policy: Beyond Gridlock
Christopher McGrory Klyza and David J. Sousa | Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013

The Republican War on Science
Chris Mooney | New York: Basic Books, 2005

CHAPTER TWO:Visions of Abundance