Dick Cheney on Environment

	Dick Cheney on Environment Vice President of the United States under George W. Bush

OpEd: Staffed federal MMS with oil industry cronies

Have you noticed how the same names keep up popping again and again? Dick Cheney was a congressman, then secretary of defense, then CEO of Halliburton, then the most powerful vice president in history--helping to lead America into a war with Iraq that ends up netting his former company billions in sweet-heart contracts. During the Bush-Cheney years, Halliburton became the poster child in crony capitalism, which is why it was both surprising and utterly predictable when the company came roaring back into the headlines during the BP oil spill fiasco.

You thought it was over when the Justice Department brought the civil fraud suit against a Halliburton subsidiary in 2010 for charging for government for tens of millions on unauthorized security services in Iraq? Well, they're baaa-aaack! And their work sealing the bottom of the BP oil well will very likely be found to be at least a contributing factor in the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon blowout.

Source: Third World America, by Arianna Huffington, p.147-148 , Sep 2, 2010

Allow snowmobiles in National Parks

Dick Cheney said he disagrees with a decision by the National Park Service to ban snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. But he stopped short of saying he’d work to overturn the ban if elected. He said he hadn’t yet raised the issue with Bush. But a new administration might look into the issue if asked. Cheney said he opposes the National Park Service’s plan to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks by the winter of 2003-2004. An environmental study says the machines are noisy, polluting and are not allowed by federal regulations. Instead, Yellowstone should be visited by snowcoaches, the plan says.

“I disagree with the decision,” Cheney said. “I think it’s a great way for people to see the park,” he said of snowmobiling. “A lot of people will be denied access.” “Over time technology will let us mitigate some of these impacts,” he said. Yellowstone has enough room for skiers and snowmobilers, Cheney said.

Source: Angus M. Thuermer, Jackson Hole News , Oct 24, 2000

Don’t designate national monuments without local input

Cheney said he might review the recent designation of several national monuments made by President Clinton. “There are places in the West where Clinton has used his authority without regard” to what area residents think, Cheney said. As a result, monuments were designated with “none of the rigors of negotiation and compromise” that marked other conservation efforts, like the Wyoming Wilderness Act which Cheney shepherded into law in 1984. “There is resentment in various places,” Cheney said. Source: Angus M. Thuermer, Jackson Hole News , Oct 24, 2000

Don’t drill off California coast; but do drill ANWR

CHENEY [to Lieberman]: We support the moratorium on drilling off the coast of California, but there are places where we ought to develop those resources. The Arctic National Wildlife Reserve is one of them. It’s right next to Prudhoe Bay. The infrastructure is there to be able to deliver that product to market. We think we can do it, given today’s technology, in a way that will not damage the environment, will not permanently mar the countryside at all. We’re looking for balance with respect to environmental policy and energy policy.

LIEBERMAN: I’m against drilling in the Arctic refuge. This is one of the most beautiful, pristine places that the good Lord has created on Earth. It’s just not worth it to do that for what seems to be the possibility of six months worth of oil 7 to 12 years from now. That’s not much of a response to the immediate problem that gasoline consumers & home heating oil customers are facing this winter. There are more resources within the US that we can develop.

Source: Vice-presidential debate , Oct 5, 2000

Voted against Clean Water Act and air pollution sanctions

[In Congress in the 1980s], On the environment, Cheney opposed refunding the Clean Water Act. He voted to postpone sanctions slapped on air polluters that failed to meet pollution standards. And he voted against legislation to require oil, chemical and other industries from making public records of emissions known to cause cancer, birth defects and other chronic diseases. Source: CNN.com coverage , Jul 24, 2000

OK to hunt, trap, & ski in National Parks & Forests

144. H.R.4489 (1986):A bill to provide for ski areas on national forest lands, and for other purposes.
H.R.1493 (1984):A bill to redesignate public land in Alaska to allow hunting.
H.R.4962 (1984):A bill to specifically permit trapping in certain units of the national park system, subject to such reasonable rules and regulations as may be prescribed.
H.R.2837 (1984):A bill to establish a National Outdoor Recreation

Resource Review Commission to study and recommend appropriate policies and activities for government agencies at the Federal, state, and local levels and for the private sector, to assure the continued availability of quality outdoor recreation experiences in America to the year 2000, and for other purposes.

H.R.1675 (1984):A bill to require the protection, management, and control of wild free-roaming horses and burros on public lands. Source: Thomas Register of Congressional Votes , Jan 1, 1986

User fees in National Parks & Forests; drill ANWR

H.R.5481 (1986):A bill to amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act to permit the use of park entrance, admission, and recreation use fees for the operation of the National Park System.
H.R.1082 (1988) & H.R.49 (1989):A bill to authorize the leasing, in an expeditious and environmentally-sound manner, lands in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration, development, and production.
H.R.1662 (1988):A bill to provide for a clarification of the receipt-sharing of amounts received from the National Forest System, geothermal leasing, mineral lands leasing, and oil and gas royalties.
H.R.5277 (1988):A bill to provide for the exchange and transfer of certain public lands; to establish certain new components of the national wild and scenic rivers system, the national trails system, the national park system, and the national wilderness preservation system.

Source: Thomas Register of Congressional Votes , Jan 1, 1986

Co-sponsored bills on acid rain & unleaded fuel

H.R.2795 (1986):A bill to provide for a study of the use of unleaded fuel in agricultural machinery, and for other purposes.
H.R.5370 (1984) & H.R.2679 (1986):A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to control certain sources of sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides to reduce acid deposition.
H.R.2124 (1984):A bill to repeal the highway use tax on heavy trucks and to increase the tax on diesel fuel used in heavy trucks.

Source: Thomas Register of Congressional Votes , Jan 1, 1986

Added 671,000 acres to Wyoming wilderness despite objections

On the House Interior Committee, Cheney is a major player and an able conciliator between the more aggressive pro-development forces and the environmentalist majority. Although originally favorable toward Interior Secretary James Watt’s proposal to open up wilderness areas to oil and gas leasing, Cheney joined his Demcratic colleagues in opposing the Secretary after learning of several leases pending near Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Cheney introduxed legislation in the 97th Congress banning oil and gas leasing in Wyoming wilderness areas and added 480,000 additional wilderness acres. Unlike the Democrats, though, Cheney would release potential wilderness areas for development. Democrats had proposed to extend the ban to potential areas as well as current ones.

Although the Senate passed the Wyoming wilderness measure, the House failed to act. Cheney reintroduced his measure in the 98th Congress, adding another 171,000 acres to be designated wilderness.

Source: Poltics in America, Alan Ehrenhalt, ed., 1984, p. 1681 , Jan 1, 1984

Co-sponsored bills to limit water lawsuits & construct dams

H.R.1570 (1984):A bill to restrict federal jurisdiction over the discharge of dredged or fill material to those discharges which are into navigable waters.
H.R.4480 (1984):A bill to establish a Water Project Insurance Fund to assist in the financing and construction of reclamation, irrigation, and other water-related projects.
H.R.3075 (1988):A bill to make it unlawful to spike timber.

Source: Thomas Register of Congressional Votes , Jan 1, 1984

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