On Wednesday's All Things Considered, NPR's Elizabeth Shogren
blasted the Republican congressional majority led by Newt Gingrich
during the 1990s. Shogren spotlighted a MIT professor's assertion that
former President Bill Clinton "stood up for the EPA when it faced the most frightening attack it had ever had. Congressional Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, wanted to gut regulations...some even wanted to do away with the EPA."
The correspondent made this over-the-top statement as she covered the
EPA renaming its headquarters after the two-term president. Shogren also
hit the Democrat from the left by claiming that "Clinton's record on the environment was mixed."
All but one of the soundbites that the NPR journalist featured during her report [1]
came from Clinton's remarks at the Wednesday dedication ceremony in
Washington, DC. The sole exception came from MIT's Judy Layzer, who
posited that the Democrat distinguished himself in his defense of the
EPA: "Instead of backing down the way liberals often do and the way environmentalists sometimes do, and the way Clinton sometimes did, he really reared up and said...we're going to protect these environmental laws. We are not going to let Congress gut them."
Shogren
gave her "most frightening line" just before the clip from Layzer, and
followed it by outlining the supposed "mixed" environmental record of
the former president:
ELIZABETH SHOGREN: But President Clinton's record on the environment was mixed. He supported trade deals that were criticized for hurting the environment.
And although he signed the international climate change treaty called
the Kyoto Protocol, he didn't even send it to Congress to be ratified,
because the Senate warned him with a vote.
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: It is the only bill I ever lost in
Congress before I sent it to them – and an astonishing example of
bipartisan cooperation in the Senate, which voted against it 98 to
nothing.
Back in May 2013 [2],
Shogren likened a student-led anti-coal initiative at Brown University
to the anti-apartheid campaigns on college campuses in the 1980s.
The full transcript of Elizabeth Shogren's report from Wednesday's All Things Considered:
MELISSA BLOCK: Today, the headquarters of the Environmental Protection
Agency got a new name. It's now the William Jefferson Clinton Federal
Building. The environment may not top the list when people think about
Clinton's accomplishments in office. But today, at a naming ceremony,
Clinton defended his legacy on the issue, as NPR's Elizabeth Shogren
reports.
ELIZABETH SHOGREN: The building that's been renamed after President
Clinton is one of those imposing limestone structures near the National
Mall. It's right next to the Ronald Reagan Building. President Clinton
accepted his new honor in an elaborate hall inside the EPA complex. He
said he'd just read an article where someone wondered whether it's
appropriate to name the EPA headquarters after him.
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: I think it more than sort of fits – not
for me, but for what we did – for what our administration did. (audience
applauds)
SHOGREN: President Clinton outlined efforts that protected wildlands,
coral reefs, and old-growth trees. He stressed that his administration
put in place rules to clean up the exhaust from factories and vehicles,
and set the first air quality standards for soot.
CLINTON: When I left office, there were 43 million more Americans
breathing air that met federal standards, which means less asthma among
young people and fewer senior citizens dying because of air pollution.
SHOGREN: He credited his team for doing much of the work, including his
interior secretary, Bruce Babbit; his EPA chief, Carol Browner; and
especially his vice president, Al Gore.
Judy Layzer is an associate professor of environmental policy at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She says unlike Gore, President
Clinton wasn't an environmentalist, but he stood up for the EPA when it
faced the most frightening attack it had ever had. Congressional
Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, wanted to gut regulations. Layzer
recalls some even wanted to do away with the EPA.
JUDITH LAYZER, PROFESSOR, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY:
Instead of backing down the way liberals often do and the way
environmentalists sometimes do, and the way Clinton sometimes did, he
really reared up and said – you know, we're going to protect these
environmental laws. We are not going to let Congress gut them.
SHOGREN: But President Clinton's record on the environment was mixed.
He supported trade deals that were criticized for hurting the
environment. And although he signed the international climate change
treaty called the Kyoto Protocol, he didn't even send it to Congress to
be ratified, because the Senate warned him with a vote.
CLINTON: It is the only bill I ever lost in Congress before I sent it
to them – and an astonishing example of bipartisan cooperation in the
Senate, which voted against it 98 to nothing.
SHOGREN: President Clinton said these days, leaders no longer have the
option of ignoring climate change if they want to build jobs and strong
economies.
CLINTON: That is what the whole 21st century world is going to be about.
SHOGREN: Elizabeth Shogren, NPR News, Washington.