Babbitt Calls Out Obama on Wilderness
Bruce Babbitt, Bill Clinton’s Interior Secretary for eight years, gave a speech attacking the current GOP Congress for its anti-environmental jihad. That’s not news. But he also told the Obama administration it wasn’t doing enough to protect western wildlands, and laid out a blueprint for positive steps the president could take to be an environmental champion. That’s news. …
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Bruce Babbitt, Bill Clinton’s Interior Secretary for eight years, gave a speech attacking the current GOP Congress for its anti-environmental jihad. That’s not news.
But he also told the Obama administration it wasn’t doing enough to protect western wildlands, and laid out a blueprint for positive steps the president could take to be an environmental champion. That’s news. And it’s welcome news.
Obama did take one great step for wilderness in signing an omnibus wilderness bill way back in March of 2009, in his first few months in office. Interior, however, has recently flip-flopped on wilderness policy at the Bureau of Land Management. Babbitt’s critique is well-deserved, and his call to action is one the president should heed.
Here’s hoping someone in the current administration is listening.
Ted was an attorney in the Rocky Mountain regional office from 2003–2018. He protected wilderness, roadless areas and the planet's climate on behalf of conservation groups in the Four Corners' states.
Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain office protects the region’s iconic public lands, wildlife species, and precious water resources; defends Tribes and disparately impacted communities fighting to live in a healthy environment; and works to accelerate the region’s transition to 100% clean energy.
