Re: [pf] Whitman for EPA, Prec Principle

by Vicki Madden

21 December 2000 14:35 UTC

At 6:12 AM -0800 12/21/2000, David A wrote:
>From today's NY Times:
>"Republicans close to the Bush campaign said that the president-elect
>was close to naming several fellow Republican governors to cabinet
>posts, perhaps on Friday. Christie Whitman, the moderate governor of New
>Jersey, would be named to head the Environmental Protection Agency, the
>officials said."
>http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/politics/21BUSH.html
>
>As I noted in my Scientific American article,
>http://www.sciam.com/2001/0101issue/0101scicit1.html, Christine Todd
>Whitman advocated the precautionary principle in an October speech at a
>National Academy of Sciences speech:
>
>"...policymakers need to take a precautionary approach to environmental
>protection.... We must acknowledge that uncertainty is inherent in
>managing natural resources, recognize it is usually easier to prevent
>environmental damage than to repair it later, and shift the burden of
>proof away from those advocating protection toward those proposing an
>action that may be harmful."
>
>As far as I know she's the highest elected official in the US to openly
>do so.
>
>David
>

That is good news.