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Sunday, September 24, 2000
By Ann McFeatters, Post-Gazette National Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader has made environmental protection a major focus of his campaign, giving Al Gore headaches as the two have battled for endorsements and support from environmentalists.
Environment
Pat Buchanan of the Reform Party represents almost the antithesis of what he calls "the modern environmental movement," which he contends has been "co-opted by globalists who use international treaties to regulate our industries, shut down our production centers and violate property rights by converting private holdings into public 'habitats.'"
Buchanan says there is a "biblically based obligation to be good stewards of the land" and concedes that "everyone has an interest in preventing pollution and preserving the natural beauty" of America. But he would abolish the U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management and give the 500 million acres of land it oversees back to the states. He vigorously opposes international environmental treaties, such as the Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming, which calls for limits on emissions of industrial pollutants.
Nader's environmental to-do list is long and complicated. He advocates ending commercial logging in national forests, spending $9 billion more on national parks, ending U.S. reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power plants in favor of solar and wind power, putting new curbs on all motor vehicles, spending more on public transportation, and slowing scientific research on genetic manipulation.
