WASHINGTON — Minnesota environmentalists will taunt and jeer from a block away when President Bush unveils his national energy strategy in St. Paul. A coalition of green groups is expected to purchase TV time to attack the administration manifesto in key markets. Congressional Democrats temporarily commandeered a Capitol Hill gas station to plug their competing energy initiative.
For the environmental community--and the Democrats in Congress who support their causes--Thursday's roll-out of the Bush administration's comprehensive energy plan will be the political equivalent of D-day.
"The environmental community is going to put more money into this than any other campaign in its history because there is so much at stake," said Phil Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust. "What they are assembling is an all-out attack on environmental protections."
Opponents of the administration's energy policies say they are preparing to wage a ferocious battle with the energy industry and its congressional allies to prevent what they fear could be the potential reversal of decades of hard-won gains.
Even before it has been released, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called the Bush energy plan a "recipe for disaster" and stressed that "Democrats will throw themselves on the train tracks" to stop it.
The energy policy showdown is shaping up as a critical test of the political muscle and marketing savvy of environmental lobbyists. The outcome will depend in large part on their ability to maintain alliances with Capitol Hill Democrats--and some Republicans who face tough reelection battles--who can help them kill the provisions they consider most harmful.
House and Senate Democrats have already produced alternate energy plans that place more emphasis on protecting the environment and promoting energy efficiency. That contrasts with an administration plan that is expected to emphasize increased production of energy.
"We're not willing to kick the environment over, as the Bush administration seems willing to do, to get more supply," said House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.).
Groups Coalesce in Opposition
Environmental groups, which are presenting a united front against the administration plan, oppose many of its basic elements, including:
* Drilling for oil and gas on public land where extraction is now prohibited or discouraged, such as on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska.
