Gore Outlines Plan for Environmental Spending

Vice President Al Gore stood at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains on Sunday and pledged that, as president, he would spend $2 billion over the next 10 years to create new parklands and preserve open spaces.

Promising to “put protection of the environment at the center of my presidency,” Gore proposed offering $1 billion in tax cuts to landowners who transfer private land to conservation, and an additional $1 billion to cities and states to create local parks.

Gore said he would pay for these programs by changing a 127-year-old mining law that allows companies to extract minerals from federal lands without paying royalties. The 1872 Mining Law lets these companies buy mining rights at prices set in the last century.

“We will turn minerals we already own into new parklands and protection of open spaces and smart growth initiatives to make our communities more livable,” said Gore, speaking Sunday morning at a fund-raiser held at the Malibu estate of music producer David Foster. “It is ridiculous for us to give away those minerals for practically nothing--pennies a year.”

Gore’s pledge drew enthusiastic applause from about 200 environmental activists and celebrities who paid $1,000 each to munch on quiche and chat with the vice president. California Gov. Gray Davis, one of several elected officials who attended the event, said Gore would be “the most environmentally friendly president ever to sit at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

David Beckman, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said creating more public land helps give people a personal connection with the environment.

“National parks and state parks, in California especially, have been neglected for many years,” he said. “It’s crucial to provide those resources for people.”

Gore’s plan would provide a 50% reduction in capital gains taxes on the transfer of private property into conservation, and an increase in tax incentives for landowners who transfer properties near cities or reforest private lands. The program, he said, would supplement an earlier proposal from the White House called the Better America Bonds initiative, which would give $9 billion for communities to preserve parks, redevelop brownfields and protect water.

Former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley’s rival Democratic campaign responded to Gore’s announcement Sunday by pointing voters toward their candidate’s environmental record. “Sen. Bradley’s record speaks for itself,” said campaign spokesman Tony Wyche.

The vice president also contrasted his environmental record with that of the Republican front-runner, Texas Gov. George W. Bush. “The state of Texas is No. 1 in the pollution of water, air and ground,” he said.

Later, changing into a dress suit for a Los Angeles interview at Spanish-language KMEX television studios, Gore vowed to fight any efforts to renew Proposition 187, California’s 1994 ballot measure that sought to end public benefits for illegal immigrants. He also promised to continue to build a strong relationship with Mexico.