Reply #99: Here's a Vermonter [View All]

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Dean's environmental record is mixed. He supported Act 60, our environmental permitting law, but at times may have helped others skirt it. It is a tough and contraversial law. Noted environmentalist Donatella Meadows, who died last year, also had sharp words for certain aspects of Act 60. Dean's admnistration did not do enough about storm water runoff. On the plus side, Dean fought ferociously for the Champion Land Deal, which includes a large core conservation area, so that scientists and environmentalists can compare, over the long term, an area that is left completely to nature, with areas that are preserved from development but used for recreational and other purposes. The fight around this was ugly. I went to several of the open hearings. In general, Dean fought successfully to preserve a great deal of undeveloped land. He was anti-sprawl, working with preservation groups to maintain Vermont's small town character.

I want to say a couple of words about Michael Colby and Wild Matters. MC, who I've met on several occasions, is a demagogue. He's charming, good looking and intelligent. He's also a raving nut, and a joke to almost all the liberals I know. This is a guy who thought it would be a good thing to vote Bush into office instead of Gore because Bush would mobilize all the enviromental groups.