Organized labor isn’t the only target of newly-elected Republican governors this year. Environmental laws also are within the GOP sights.

 

Maine’s governor, Paul LePage, has crafted a 63-point plan to cut environmental regulations, which includes opening up for development three million acres of forest lands and suspending a law designed to keep toxic chemicals out of children’s products.

 

In Florida, Governor Rick Scott wants to eliminate millions of dollars in funding for land conservation, drastically cut back on support for restoring the disappearing Everglades and decimate staffing for the Department of Community Affairs, which regulates land use to minimize urban sprawl.

 

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey has criticized the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act that preserves 800,000 acres of open land supplying drinking water to more than half of the state’s population, saying it infringes on property rights. Christie also has worked to shift power from planning boards and government agencies to administrative judges and political appointees who have been accused of favoring developers’ interests.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

G.O.P. Push in States to Deregulate Environment (by Leslie Kaufman, New York Times)