Wilson Rated Mediocre on Environment : Politics: Conservation group says the governor has lacked the will to follow through on campaign promises. His office says gains have been made, citing water issues.

A major conservation group Monday issued a report card on Gov. Pete Wilson, saying the Republican chief executive has demonstrated a lack of political will while compiling a mediocre record on environmental issues.

The 30,000-member California League of Conservation Voters said Wilson, who campaigned as a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican” dedicated to protecting the environment, merits no better than a C grade after three years in office.

The group said the former U.S. senator and mayor of San Diego has done best on the issues of coastal protection, wetlands and transportation. But Wilson’s poor handling of water issues, forestry and recycling have been a drag on his record, the league said.

“Wilson promised, above all else, leadership,” said Sam Schuchat, executive director of the environmental advocacy group. “That is what he has failed to deliver.”

In response, Wilson’s resources secretary, Douglas Wheeler, said the group failed to take into account the governor’s success at forming a partnership with the federal government on several critical environmental issues, including the restoration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. At Wilson’s urging, he said, federal officials have agreed that water quality and endangered species problems in the delta should not be attacked piecemeal but should be worked out by coordinating the efforts of four federal agencies with that of the state.

“There is clear disagreement (with the league’s report),” Wheeler said. “We are making substantial progress on most of these elements (in the report card) including wetlands and the bay-delta.”

But the league gave Wilson a D--his worst grade--on water policy, reflecting environmentalists’ disappointment with his record on protecting the delta, which is at risk because of water shipments to Central Valley farms and Southern California urban users.

In general, the league said, Wilson has tipped the balance in favor of business at the expense of the environment. It said many of his decisions catered to big campaign contributors in the agriculture and timber industries.

“His policy initiatives, while nicely packaged with meaningful symbols, fail largely due to the lack of political will to make them succeed,” the league said in its report, which covered 11 subject areas. “His record is replete with missed opportunities, broken promises and frequent lapses into scapegoating California’s environmental laws as the cause of the state’s economic problems.”

Wilson’s highest grade was a B for coastal protection, an issue that he has championed since his days in the state Assembly 25 years ago. The league commended him for protecting funding for the Coastal Commission and enhancing the powers of that regulatory panel.

On wetlands and transportation issues, the league said Wilson deserved a B-minus.

But he got another D for waste reduction and recycling, an area on which the group said Wilson was doing worse than his predecessor, former Gov. George Deukmejian, who was never a favorite of environmentalists.

The group gave Wilson a D-plus on forestry issues, largely because he vetoed a compromise bill intended to preserve ancient redwood forests and then failed to get his own alternative through the Legislature.