Bush Orders New 'Cooperative' Environmental Policy [View All]

[Nambe]

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

President Bush ordered five federal agencies on Thursday to give state, local and tribal governments, private institutions and individuals more of a say in environmental policy.

In what some environmentalists rejected as a campaign ploy, Bush signed an executive order instituting a policy of "cooperative conservation" between the federal government and local parties on the broad issues of environmental protection and use of natural resources. ..

Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope, one of Bush's environmental critics, dismissed the measure as an election-year stunt.

"This executive order, issued at a campaign appearance in a battleground state, will do about as much for conservation as George Bush's 'compassionate conservatism' has done for compassion," Pope said. ..

"It seems like another way to allow unfettered access to lands by private industries," Rob Perks, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council. ..