518 ChaPter^10
ly supported commodity extraction. Soon, environmental policy went down-
hill. Restrictions on logging were lifted, mining regulations disappeared,
wetlands lost their protection, and endangered specie habitats were turned
over to private investors for development. National forests that had been
protected were re-opened to large-scale logging. The Forest Service opened
600 million feet of the Olympia National Forest to loggers, for example.
Logging at just this one site tripled the amount of all cuts from the previous
5 years. The administration did see a public backlash and ultimately made
some concessions to appease the people, such as refusing to open the ANWR
to oilers and restricting the building of roadway in national forests.
Perhaps the biggest indication of the Clinton administration’s weak inter-
national environmental policy was the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.
Global warming caused by fossil fuel combustion worsened as the forces of
globalization increased industrial output across the world. Global warming,
then, had become an international environmental concern. Major industrial
countries met in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 to discuss the emergency and developed
the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol was simply an international treaty to
commit industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6 to 8
percent below 1990 levels during 2008-2012. The treaty acknowledged the
existence of global warming [despite the persistence of global warming
deniers then and today] and required industrial leaders to assert responsibility
to deal with the effects of such. Clinton instructed U.S. negotiators to sign
the Kyoto Protocol and accept it as an international regulation on global
warming. However, Clinton’s endorsement of the Kyoto Protocol was mere-
ly superficial. He never sent the treaty to the U.S. Senate for ratification,
where it would have likely failed anyway. Clinton, who had earlier promised
to reduce greenhouse gasses, actually witnessed an increase during his admin-
istration.
The Clinton administration lacked strength in environmental policy, but
the George W. Bush administration actively dismantled what it could of
remaining national regulations. During the presidency of Bush, business lob-
byists essentially re-wrote environmental law as they pleased. The results were
truly startling. During this time, Bush and Congress committed themselves
to increasing domestic oil and gas exploration and production. The admin-
istration, heavily supported by the biggest oil companies, seemed obsessed
with the unrestrained use of energy and focused on increasing the supply of