Good Start on the Environment

The United States will not just be a kinder, gentler nation if George Bush diligently pursues the environmental initiatives that he has launched. It will be a cleaner, healthier nation. In the long run that will mean a stronger America both in economic vitality and in moral standing as it seeks solutions to global environmental problems.

Bush’s most dramatic announcement is of particular importance to California: his decision to postpone indefinitely a proposed oil-lease sale in federal waters off the Northern California coast and to delay for more study a second lease offering off Southern California beaches. The Reaganites never seemed to grasp the unity of California in opposition to the plan that put a virgin stretch of the North Coast at risk for a minimal amount of oil. In the south the new Administration will take the realistic course of assessing the oil potential against real national energy needs and energy gains from other sources--something that the Reagan Interior Department always refused to do.

The President should be applauded for his other initiatives as well, like support for a new Clean Air Act with a strong acid-rain component. He noted that environmental progress must be achieved without stifling the economy. Certainly. But the Bush Administration at least seems to understand that environmental progress is worth pursuing for its own value, not something to be abandoned any time it conflicts with private exploitation of public resources. This is a welcome and critical change in attitude from the recent past.