"Enlibra": EPA’s New Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

anxiety center ^ | September 3, 2003 | Alan Caruba

[Maria S]

As Christie Whitman’s mercifully brief tenure as Director of the Environmental Protection Agency came to an end, the hope was that President Bush would appoint someone who would reform an agency that has done everything in its power to cripple the nation’s economy. The EPA has done everything it could to restrict access to energy and other natural resources, has put Americans at risk by banning or forcing beneficial pesticides off the market, and has attacked property rights in every way it could.

The appointment of three-term Utah Governor Mike Leavitt, if confirmed, would be worse than the bumbling of Whitman. Leavitt would come to the job as a dedicated one-worlder who would destroy the ability of local communities to protect themselves against the endless Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). These organizations dictate environmental policy in the halls of the United Nations and play havoc with development of any kind here in the US. It is the NGOs that still struggle to impose the Kyoto Treaty on Climate Control on the US, despite a unanimous Senate resolution that rejected it.

Gov. Leavitt’s supporters point to his effort to extend a highway that would unsnarl a major commuter bottleneck near Salt Lake City. Utah environmentalists (Greens) have fought that effort and at present a 10th Circuit US Court of Appeals has blocked most of the work citing, of course, inadequate environmental studies. It is publicly conjectured that, as EPA Director, Leavitt might seek to rewrite wetlands regulations, part of the Clean Water Act. All this gives the appearance of a man who would seek to remove or revise many of the environmental laws that block development.

The truth is quite different. Rodney Stubbs, an investigative reporter, has dug into the story behind Gov. Leavitt's embrace of "Enlibra"; a name attached to "the establishment of Principles for Environmental Management in the West. In Oregon, these principles include Smart Growth and Sustainable Development." In reality, Smart Growth means no growth and Sustainable Development means no development. They are the ultimate environmental Big Lies.

Enlibra is based on the United Nations Agenda 21 that would strip local, state and even federal government bodies of the right to represent their constituents whenever environmental restrictions and controls are imposed. It goes right to the heart of the concept of national sovereignty at every level. It seeks to destroy it and put the NGOs in charge.

Along with Gov. Leavitt, Enlibra was embraced by the former Governor of Oregon, Dr. John Kitzhaber, who pushed through the Oregon Sustainability Act. Thus, in Oregon, environmental governance removes the role of elected representatives and replaces them with power granted to NGOs such as the Sierra Club, 1000 Friends of Oregon, the World Wildlife Federation, and the Audubon Society. Nobody elected these people! As Stubbs points out, Enlibra is a policy designed "to destroy capitalism, consumption, and the American free enterprise system. The process changes the fundamental purpose of having elected officials represent their constituents and forever forecloses the option to change the rules if found to be unworkable."

Now, think about Enlibra as a policy applied at the federal level by the Environmental Protection Agency? Think about Gov. Leavitt as the EPA Director, knowing that he endorsed the reauthorization and amendment of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, one of the worst pieces of environmental legislation ever imposed on this nation. Think about Gov. Leavitt as a leading advocate of the Conference of States resolution to institute a Constitutional Convention whose purpose was to radically change our Constitution.

Think of former Governor and EPA Director Christie Whitman as Mary Poppins and Governor Leavitt as Darth Vader! His appointment needs to be defeated and some serious questions need to be asked why President Bush selected this man.