Cheney and the Sierra Club: Of One Mind?

Jan. 29, 2002 -- 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.

"Since we both mentioned fuel economy standards, we both now agree," Willett said of Cheney's remarks.

Another example: The Sierra Club wants 20 percent of power to be derived from wind and solar sources by the year 2020. By that same year, according to the draft of the administration's energy plan, wind and solar power would account for much less. (The administration's plan, however, does advocate a research plan to remove economic and technological barriers holding back these types of energy.)

"If the Bush administration really thinks their energy plan includes 11 of 12 Sierra Club solutions, then Arthur Andersen must be checking their math," Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said in a statement.

Jennifer Millerwise, a spokesperson for Cheney, said this afternoon she'd look into the matter.

The Sierra Club also notes that it didn't consult with the full energy task force and that it only met them and Cheney after a draft of the report had been released — and after the administration was knocked for not seeking the advice of environmentalist groups. Last Friday, the group filed suit against the task force, asking a federal judge in San Francisco for access to its records under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. A similar lawsuit is expected to be filed later this week by the Government Accounting Office, which has sought those records since last July.

A senior White House official said today, in reference to the GAO comptroller general, David Walker, "Mr. Walker, he better find the best damn lawyer he can."

The administration has said that revealing the names of the meeting attendees would hamper the president's ability to discretely seek advice and properly formulate policy.