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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1970)
■ „ . w _.- . . "..-V'." "»V.. ..V.'. . • • V. v v . Page 2 College Station, Texas Wednesday, February 11, 1970 THE BATTALION AP News Special Politics of Pollution By Lawrence L. Knutson Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (A>> — With a blitz of rhetoric, action and pub licity, the Nixon administration has taken a giant step forward in the undeclared war to deprive Democrats of a favorite and po tent issue — the deteriorating American environment. State of the Union pledge to mount the “most comprehensive and costly program in this field ever in the nation’s history.” The latest move in the Presi dent’s environmental drive is a 37-point message sent to Con gress Tuesday, including 23 pro posals for new legislation. Nixon’s proposals have drawn immediate counterfire from con gressional Democrats, many of whom were identified with the issue long before It acquired po litical glamor. Members of both parties ac knowledge that public concern— based on scientific cries of alarm and buttressed by personal expe rience—has made the question of environmental quality an issue translatable in votes. Up to the time of Nixon’s mes sage, Democrats sounded the theme that his program involved more talk than action and lacked the muscle and money needed to reverse the tide of polluted streams, toxic air and indispo»- able garbage. But many now concede pri vately the new competition to be identified as proenvironment will help generate the motion needed to pass and fund effective anti pollution programs. The possible political impact of the issue which for years was the concern mainly of a group of scientists, was forecast in a 1966 staff study of the Senate Republican Policy Committee: “Clean air means votes. Just how many votes are involved and where they may be found is only now becoming fully appreciated.” Placing an exclamation point on that estimate. Interior Secre tary Walter J. Hickel said recent ly the political party with the best record on environment “is going to be the party that wins the most elections.” Partisan issue or not, the en vironment in the last several months has spawned new agen cies, offices and programs to a degree not matched since Presi dent Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty. As his first official act of the decade Nixon signed the Envi ronmental Quality Act of 1969, legislation which for the first time made protection of air, wa ter and land national policy. He used the words “now or never” in declaring the time had come to stop environmental pol lution. A few days later he made his After initial reluctance, the ad ministration also promised to spend all of the $800 million ap propriated by Congress last year to build city waste treatment plants. By executive order the Presi dent decreed a three year, $359 million drive to halt pollution by federal installations. The President’s budget for fis cal 1971, although criticized by Democrats for not providing enough antipollution funds, ap peared to surpass previous spend ing levels in the field. Nixon journeyed to the Mid west last week at the head of a delegation of cabinet officers and pollution experts to emphasize the federal commitment to up grading the environment. Tuesday, in his comprehensive message to Congress, Nixon call ed for action on a wide front, including proposed $10,000-a-day fines for industry failure to meet established water quality stan dards. Even before this flurry of ac tivity the White House had been hiring experts to work on envi ronmental research, plans and messages. A Washington news paper reported more White House specialists were concentrating on the subject than on Vietnam. The President formed a Cabi net-level environmental panel and appointed three men to fill a Council on the Environment established by the Environmental Quality Act. Not all the environment inter est was in the White House. The Legislative Reference Serv ice of the Library of Congress reported sharply increased de mand by members of Congress caused expansion of environmen tal services and researchers. In the past year the Congres sional Record has printed more matter on the environment than ever before. Scores of bills have been in troduced in the field, including proposals to establish a joint, House-Senate Committee on the Environment. Aware that Nixon may be steal ing their thunder, the Democrats, including some considered pos sible presidential aspirants in 1972, are fighting back, branding the Nixon program—particularly his 1971 budget — “a ruse,” “a charade,” and “just plain bull.” One of these is Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, the Democrat’s 1968 vice presidential candidate, who quickly branded the Nixon pro gram “slogan-rich and action- poor” and his 1971 environmental budget request as a step back. And Muskie asserted that many of the President’s Tuesday pro- ; posals are similar to those he made last month. Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wis consin, who proposed a constitu tional amendmenti to guarantee a clean environment as a right of the people, said the nation needs “more than a few million dollars here, a new commission there, or proclamations of concern . . .” Sen. William Proxmire, also of Wisconsin, included in some dark- horse presidential lists, criticized the administration for what he said is its late discovery of the issue. He said that since the begin ning of the Nixon administration there have been far more meet ings of the National Security Council and the Urban Affairs Council than the environmental group. But Nixon administration offi cials deny heeldragging. “For the President, the prob lem was one of choosing priori ties,’’.-Herb Klein said the presi dent’s communications director, said. “We couldn’t get to it on any significant scale during the first year of the administra tion because of the need to re vamp existing programs. There was not the time to develop pro grams and analyze techniques and scientific capabilities. “But now we are in the sec ond phase,” he said. “Simply speaking, that is the need to build the country better in the decades ahead.” But Democrats indicate Nix on’s new interest is a reflection of the population. Jfohn Heritage, environmental specialist for Sen. Nelson, says antipbllution, “like motherhood, is nearly impossible to attack politically.” He said “the issue is penetrat ing the great and silent middle class. For the students, its the hottest thing since Vietnam.” And Nixon administration of ficials, in a move some Demo cratic political figures said is aimed at taking over the cam pus movement, are planning to involve the students in volunteer groups to combat pollution. In what may be an exercise of wishful thinking, some Demo crats say Nixon may be heading for a political fall by suddenly promising more than he can de liver. The state of the air, water and land is so bad now it will take decades to show improvement, they say, and the nation won’t be satisfied with words. “The question,” one congres sional pollution specialist said, “is, who means what?” Cbe Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the student writers only. The Battalion is a non-tax- supported, non-profit, self-supporting educational enter prise edited and operated by students as a university and community newspaper. LETTERS POLICY MEMBER The Associated Press, Texas Press Association The Associated Collegiate Press Letters to the editor should be typed, double-spaced, and no more than 300 words in length. They must be signed, although the writer’s name will be withheld by arrangement with the editor. Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester: $6 per school 1 year. All subscriptions subject 1 furnished on requesi irvices Building, College Station ful sales tax. Advertisi The Battali year; $6.50 pei sales tax. Ad' ion, 77843. ng rati Room 217, ! to 4%% request. Address: The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneoi origin published herein. Rights of republication of all othi matter herein are also reserved. 1969 TP A Award Winner Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. embers of the Student Publications Board are: y, chairman ; H. F. Filers, College of Liberal A White, College of Engineering; Dr. Asa B. Childers, Membe: Lindse; F. S. W College of Veterinary College of Agriculture. , College of Engineering; Dr. Asa Jt Veterinary Medicine; and Dr. Z. Jim Arts : Jr., L. Carpenter, The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is r en 3ept< May, and once a week during summer school. me tsattalion, published in College Station, Texas, daily except Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods, September through Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. EDITOR DAVE MAYES Managing Editor David Middlebrooke Sports Editor Richard Campbell Assistant Sports Editor Mike Wright Staff Writers Pam Troboy, Payne-Harrison, Hayden Whitsett, Clifford Broyles, Bob Robinson, Tony Huddleston, Chancy Lewis, Janie Wallace, George Scott Columnist ' Roger Miller Photographer Jim Berry Sports Photographer Mike Wright GOLF CLUB SNACK BAR LORD JEFF Best Selection of Beer on any Texas Campus Ginger (Imported) 45£ Apple 30^ mil Root 10£ OPEN DAILY FROM 10:30 A. M. to 4:30 P. M. TOWN SHIRE / BRYAN. TEXAS 77SOI Petroleum Engineering Shamrock EMPLOYMENT SERVICE OCCUPATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AWAIT YOU, THE 70 GRADUATE ★ ^EMPLOYERS PAY FOR OUR SERVICES.” • College Division • North Gate 331 University Dr. 846-3737 A division of ERC Read " " Classifieds CALLING ALL AGGIES! FREE $25.00 box of King Candy DRAWING — LUCKY FRIDAY, 13th King Candy Heart $1.00 to $25.00 Also Cologne CHANEL No. 5—ARPEGE—IMPRfiVU and Others EXTRA SPECIAL SERVICE! 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Scholl 1HE I v*t Api All 1 to appl; professi erinary meet at torium < Science Memt mittee \ question process, of stuck cuss loa able to sional c Li 1 Wi The Team a in the s ing the Exposit last we Eight dividual universi judging Iowa first, U third, Nebrasl A&M Ion Pat my Eel Young i of Med Temple toria. Coacl A&M ment si were fi dividual Patters* Quarter ert was As a first in sheep, 1 2 I Two puter ci A&M tl