Word: watt
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...Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.) yesterday attacked the Reagan administration's environmental policies and called for the resignation of Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt...
Speaking at a public meeting of the Sierra Club in Faneuil Hall, Kennedy denounced Watt as "an embarassment to the nation and an enemy of the environment" in a speech that called upon liberals to oppose the Republican party with "new answers, new beliefs and new arrangments...
That sort of empty gesture used to be a hallmark of conservation groups, but no more. Not only are environmentalists clamoring for Watt's ouster, they are trying to draw and quarter him in the courts for what they view as his efforts to turn back the environmental clock. "He's being sued right and left," crows Craig Van Note, executive vice president of the environmental group Monitor Consortium. And Patrick Parenteau, legal counsel for the National Wildlife Federation, predicts an "explosion of litigation" as Watt's plans for developing the nation's natural resources take...
...defense, Watt claims that he is only following the laws as set down by Congress, not as they have been selectively interpreted by past departmental officials. "In recent years we have seen programs administered by those who do not respect the law but feel, 'Oh well. Congress did not know what they were doing,' " says Watt. But Watt's critics claim he is doing precisely that-selectively interpreting the laws to suit his own policies. Says Lewis Regenstein, executive vice president of the Fund for Animals: "Someone has got to stand up and say, 'This...
...most important suit brought against Watt so far centers on his plan to offer for lease a billion acres for offshore oil and gas exploration over the next five years. As an initial step, Watt announced last April that he planned to auction 31 tracts off the California coast near Santa Barbara. A coalition of groups, including the state of California and the Natural Resources Defense Council, immediately sued to stop the sale. The plaintiffs' lawyers argued that the proposed drilling threatened the coastline as well as the area's sea otters and other endangered species. More persuasively...