Oh, sure, Martin Sorenson has seen the incredulity on people’s faces and he understands why some people think “Republicans for the Environment” is an oxymoron.
But it isn’t, he insists. Lincoln encouraged Congress to protect Yosemite. Grant established Yellowstone as a national park in 1872. According to a recent Time magazine article, Teddy Roosevelt was a “linchpin” in protecting the environment. Eisenhower set up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. And in 1970, Nixon signed into law NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act, which resulted in establishment of policies related to toxic wastes, pesticides and clean water.
And all those presidents, he points out, were Republicans.
“Historically, Republicans have been in the forefront of environmental legislation. Conservation has been a Republican issue for over 100 years,” says Sorenson, a retired Colorado Department of Transportation engineer and chair of the local chapter of Republicans for the Environment, whose name sometimes raises eyebrows.
“Only lately has the leadership of the Republican Party abandoned its roots of conservation,” Sorenson, a resident of Lakewood, says. “Instead, the current administration has tried to torpedo existing environmental laws, open public lands to oil and gas drilling and other development, and undermine important rules like those that protect wetlands.”
REP is made up of Republicans who believe that the environment has value, he says, and that “we shouldn’t just torch it for short-term gains, but should take a much longer view of conservation and environmental protection.”
Martha Marks is the founder and national president of REP. A former 10- year commissioner from Lake County, Ill., she now lives in Santa Fe. Marks says she ran for office in a strong Republican district, and was always successful with the voters. She founded REP in 1995 when she saw the “upper levels of the Republican Party becoming increasingly anti-conservationist.” A self-described life-long Republican and conservationist, Marks says it used to be that protecting the environment was a bipartisan issue. “Now,” she says, “there’s the public perception that only Democrats care about the environment.”
The Bush administration “just dismisses Republican environmentalists,” she says, “as if only wackos care about public health, clean air and water, and the protection of public lands. But these are not liberal issues. They represent conservative values.”
Marks admits it is a challenge to convince not only the Bush administration but leaders of both parties that environmental issues should not be partisan issues. “Our [Republican] leaders have become so polarized that anyone who tries to reach across the aisle as we do is called a RINO – Republican In Name Only,” she says.
Sorenson, who says he voted both times for George W. Bush but who is “very disappointed” with the administration’s attitude toward the environment, thinks Republican leaders at the local, state and national level should understand that voters from both parties care about preserving the Earth. He points to national polls indicating that “conservation and the environment are strongly favored by the American people.”
REP has approximately 2,000 members from across the U.S. (one lifetime member is Theodore Roosevelt IV). The organization is bringing its annual conference to the Denver Marriott West Sept. 15-16. The theme is energy, global warming, national security and “how we can do a better job of using our resources instead of just blowing through oil and gas,” Sorenson says.
On Sept. 15, the 100-plus participants will tour the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where cutting-edge alternative energy research and development are conducted. They will also visit Dinosaur Ridge, where they will be acquainted with the “initial development of fossil fuels, better known as the dinosaur,” Sorenson quips.
On Sept. 16, the conference will feature speakers discussing advances in biomass, biodiesel, wind and solar power. (For more information or to sign up for the conference, go to www.rep.org.)
“We live with the environment 24/7,” Sorenson says. “We can’t run away from it; we need to do a better job of protecting it. As I think Teddy Roosevelt would say, ‘Let’s not ruin the very thing we enjoy the most.”‘
Susan Thornton (smthornton@aol.com) served 16 years on the Littleton City Council, including eight years as mayor. She writes on suburban issues on alternate Thursdays.
