RobertBuzzanco-TheStruggleForAmerica-NunnMcginty(2019)

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dent had to do something to save his reputation. Although Reagan’s political
ideologies remained the same, the pressure of environmentalists convinced
him to dismiss and replace over 30 of his EPA employees and place William
Ruckelshaus as its new director. Ruckelshaus, who help found the EPA,
became a new symbol of policy enforcement as well as a tacit acknowledge-
ment from Reagan that his deregulation attack had failed. Although the EPA
suffered irreparable damage, Ruckelshaus and a pro-environment Congress
gave the EPA a facelift, extending statutes and strengthening enforcement.
From 1982 to 1985, the EPA indicted 40 major industries for violation of pol-
lution laws and over $500,000 [a relatively tiny amount] in fines were paid by
violators each year. By 1989, over 100 indictments were handed down while
fines increased to more than $12 million per year. Other achievements
included the Asbestos Hazardous Emergency Response Act of 1986 that
ordered every school to make plans for asbestos removal and management,
subjected them to federal inspection, and required that parents be told of
conditions. Pesticide laws improved in 1988 when the EPA required more
than 50,000 products be subjected to safety and testing laws.
However, this revitalization of the EPA and environmental policy at the
end of the Reagan years was short lived as an insurgence of conservative
Republicans seized control of Congress and removed activist leaders in the
EPA. Although the EPA retained public support, it was politically under fire
in the 1990s by politicians who considered environmental policies hindrances
to global Capitalism. Meanwhile, countries across the globe—particularly
Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands—emerged as environmentally progres-
sive nations with new and innovative practices and ecological agendas that
merged business with environmental protection. They took seriously global
environmental issues such as global warming, urbanizing populations, world-
wide fuel and mineral extraction, acid rain, and water pollution. The United
States, however, remained in a political gridlock and resisted even moderate
reform measures.
Ironically, George H.W. Bush campaigned in 1988 as an “environmental
president.” He did do a few positive things early on in his presidency: he
supported international ozone protection, negotiated acid rain issues with
Canada, and allowed the EPA to promote international research. But, by 1991,
the Bush administration made an about-face and began to lead opposition
against domestic and international environmental protection. Bush wanted his
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