It's an outrage! America's once-proud corporations--the giants who drill her oil, mine her gold, chop her
forests, build her malls, and grow her beefsteak--are being forced to operate under (gulp) legal constraints!
Twenty-five years of protecting the public's air, water, lands, and health--it has to stop! But industry
can't stop it alone. No, all the polluter PAC money in the world can't turn back the clock on
environmental protection--it takes revolutionaries like Newt Gingrich . . . Dick Armey . . . Tom DeLay . .
. "Citizen" Bob Dole. And they need soldiers to reach the finish line!
Are you ready? Then get set to grab those campaign checks, and go straight to the floor of Congress with
your sponsors' pet bills. But remember: there's only so much cash to go around.
So start moving--forward, into the past. Time to play REVOLUTION! Taking Capitol Hill was only the
first step . . .
(But first . . . )
As you wend your way through the game of REVOLUTION, you'll pass through a number of fantasy-
lands, where the voices of the Gingrichite faithful can be heard, baying for an end to environmental
protections. Welcome to
REPUBLICAN THEME PARKS: LAW-OF-THE-JUNGLE LAND
House Resources Chair Don Young, regretting his 1973 vote for the Endangered Species Act: "We
envisioned trying to protect, you know, pigeons and things like that. We never thought about mussels and
ferns and flowers and all these subspecies of squirrels and birds."
In November 1995, Young and a member of his committee, Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), introduced H.R.
2275, which would have effectively gutted the ESA. The bill was so radical that Speaker Gingrich
prevented it from coming to a vote on the floor of the House.
The Senate's endangered species bill was authored, ostensibly, by Slade Gorton (R-Wash.). But a leaked
memo from a Gorton aide revealed its real source: "The [industry] coalitions delivered your ESA bill to
me on Friday. It is important that we have a better than adequate understanding of the bill prior to
introduction. . . . The bill takes some getting used to."
Under a measure by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), the Fish and Wildlife Service was barred
from adding any species to its "endangered" list for over a year.
LAND OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
The House not only moved to slash the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement budget by one-
third, but attached 17 EPA riders to critical budget bills--including provisions to bar new groundwater
safeguards and to allow cancer-causing pesticides in our food.
A medley of "takings," "cost-benefit," "risk-assessment," and "regulatory reform" measures offered by
Republicans in both houses had one thing in common: they added costs and red tape that would have
made it difficult for the federal government to pass new environmental laws, or to enforce existing ones.
The House passed a version of the Clean Water Act that would have lowered treatment standards for
thousands of pollutants and opened roughly half of the nation's wetlands to development.
CANDOR LAND
Tom DeLay (R-Texas), majority whip, on the perks of power:
"We're in charge. We don't have to compromise with the Senate. We don't have to compromise with the
President. We're only going to fund the programs we like."
Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), one of California's two "surfing congressmen," defending his vote to trash
the Clean Water Act:
"Clean water is good enough. We don't have to have pristine water."
Sonny Bono (R-Calif.), freshman problem-solver, on endangered species:
"Give them all a designated area and then blow it up."
Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), House speaker,on where the revolution went wrong:
"We clearly are strategically out of position on the environment. We approached it the wrong way with the
wrong language."
Linda DiVall, Republican pollster:
"Our party is out of sync with mainstream American opinion."
Don Young (R-Alaska), chair of the House Resources Committee, on where he went wrong:
"What I should have done is repealed the whole [Endangered Species] Act. . . . Right quick. Before
anybody realized what had happened."
FRONTIER LAND
Led by Utah Congressman James Hansen, House Republicans offered a bill to close some national parks
and historic sites. Unlike most such GOP proposals, which bogged down in the Senate or were vetoed by
the White House, this one was too extreme even for the lower chamber.
The all-Republican Alaska delegation, having failed in previous Congresses to open the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil-and-gas exploration, tried to sneak in via the federal budget process. Their drilling
provision would have allowed the oil industry into the 1.5-million-acre coastal plain of the refuge, the
springtime calving ground for the 160,000-strong Porcupine caribou herd and the ecological heart of the
refuge.
Hansen and fellow Utah Republicans introduced legislation to open most of the state's wilderness to
development. Ignoring a "citizens' proposal" to protect 5.7 million acres of southern Utah's redrock
country, the delegation offered to designate just 1.8 million acres as "wilderness"--replete with dams,
roads, power lines, and a gas pipeline--and permanently bar protection for the rest.
In the War on the Environment's one significant victory, Congress passed the "logging without laws"
rider, which suspended environmental laws, giving the timber industry free rein in national forests. The
provision led to massive clearcutting of publicly held forests, including old growth in the Pacific
Northwest.
THE LAND OF MILK AND MONEY
From 1991 to 1994, the 166 cosponsors of a bill to gut the Safe Drinking Water Act received nearly $10
million in campaign contributions, or an average of $60,000 each, from industries wanting to weaken
federal drinking-water standards.
In 1994, Newt Gingrich raked in $78,000 from 267 "dirty water" PACs, more than anyone else in
Congress. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.)--the nominal author of the polluter-penned "Dirty Water Act"--got
$44,600 from the same group.
In 1995, House majority whip Tom DeLay accepted $75,000 in campaign contributions from corporate
PACS intent on weakening the Clean Air Act. DeLay promptly introduced eight separate pieces of
legislation to that end, including a bill to repeal all the improvements made to the act in 1990.
From January through July of 1995, polluter PACs contributed $5.6 million to members of Congress. Of
the top 20 recipients, 19 were Republicans, with DeLay and Gingrich topping the list at $93,000 and
$90,000 respectively.
REVOLUTION!--THE
GAME
The town is yours. No one's actually read the Contract With America. Make your own rules.
George Will, Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts all like your "grit." Advance one square.
Disguise anti-environment bills as anti-Washington. Advance 2 squares.
Lunch with mining lobbyist. Enviros hold a press conference. Ignore it--everyone else does. Editorial slams your "War on the Environment." An aberration, but still. Proceed with caution.
Pass your first industry-sponsored bill in the House. Advance one square.
NBC runs 12-part series on struggling dirt farmer unable to feed, clothe 14 children. Blames Endangered
Species Act. Children agree. Advance 2 squares.
Enviros discover "dirt farmer" owns half of California. Story buried near funeral notices. Relax and roll again.
Most of Contract sails through House. Roll again. Enviro radio spots identify you as a friend to polluters. Miss a turn.
Bills bog down in Senate. Miss a turn.
Introduce bill to gut Clean Water Act. Charge ahead one square.
Enviros dub your bill "Dirty Water Act." Press picks up theme. Go back 3 squares.
Citizens flood your office with angry calls and letters. Miss 2 turns.
Slow news day. Several reporters finally read Contract. Miss a turn.
Dinner with timber lobbyist. Constituents learn Contract ravages the environment. Go back 2 squares.
Contract declared DOA in Senate. Miss 2 turns.
Introduce budget rider to raze public forests. President vetoes, then signs. Advance 6 squares.
Lunch with oil lobbyist. Head of key committee, unclear on the concept, offers bill to endanger species. Miss two turns due to embarrassment.
Newt hits on new strategy: Load anti-enviro agenda onto budget bills! Cheer up and roll again.
President vetoes budget bills. Go back 3 squares.
Shut down government. Get blamed by voters. Shut down government again. Go back to drawing board.
Newt hits on newest strategy: Act green until election day. Miss one turn trying.
Election Day! TIME FOR THE BIG SPIN...
You win Congress and the White House!
Polluters rule!
You win Congress, lose White House!
Play game over.
You lose Congress, win the White House!
(Not a chance--spin again.)
You lose Congress and the White House!
Environment wins!
