Cheney and the Sierra Club: Of One Mind?

Jan. 29 -- Environmental groups were fluttering after Vice President Dick Cheney's appearance on NBC's Today Show Tuesday morning.

Responding to an accusation that the administration's energy plan was fashioned by corporations and business interests the vice president told an interviewer that "11 out of 12" suggestions proffered by the Sierra Club, the liberal environmental activist organization, were accepted by his energy task force.

In recent days, Cheney has also defended keeping private the roster of his task force gatherings by invoking the Sierra Club. They too, met with him and his committee, Cheney said. So why do they complain that Enron received too much access?

For one thing, said David Willett, a Sierra Club spokesperson, these 12 recommendations were really just bullet points on a Web fact sheet — one released, in part, to point out the differences between Sierra's position and the administration's proposal.

As Sept. 11 grows more distant, the Sierra Club and other, traditionally liberal interest groups, are increasingly aggressive about being critical of the White House, amid suspicions that they are using the war to try to push an agenda that these groups deem as anti-environment.

That Cheney and the Sierra Club have dissimilar ideas — the reasons being both principle and politics — isn't a surprise. But environmental groups have been a little piqued that the administration has used them to promote a plan they don't agree with, and to ward the media off an impeding lawsuit they support.

Sierra Club Wants 40 mile-per-Gallon Fuel Standard

For example: The Sierra Club wants a 40 mile-per-gallon fuel economy standard for passenger vehicles. The Bush energy plan advocates studying the issue. A draft of the task force recommends that the secretary of transportation consider "responsibly crafted" standards based on an analysis of harm to the economy, the efficiency of transportation networks, the environment, and the market.