Environmental Discussion: Bush Vs Kerry

October 27, 2004

October 22, 2004, in a room packed with Capital University Law School students, professors, staff and others from the Columbus community, Professor Jonathon Adler and Roger Ballentine debated the environmental stances of President Bush and Senator Kerry and discussed national environmental issues.

Heather Haynes, president of the Capital University Law School Environmental Law Society, presented the speakers and Professor Dennis Hirsch moderated the discussion.

The program began with comments from each of the main participants. Representing the Kerry-Edwards campaign, Ballentine spoke first. He critiqued the Bush administration and reviewed ways in which a Kerry administration would serve the environment better than the Bush administration has. He also spoke about how the government can play a role in nurturing environmentally-friendly technology.

Following Ballentine, Adler spoke about the Bush administration’s environmental policies, although he was not representing the Bush campaign or the administration in an official capacity. Adler reviewed errors typically made by critics of the Bush administration. He also re-positioned some of the charges against the Bush administration as exaggerations and presented the case for free-market methods of environmental stewardship.

After each of the presenters finished, Professor Dennis Hirsch opened up the floor to questions. Questions included the possible effects of proposed legislation; how a market-oriented approach could result in pollution clean up; and the status of carbon dioxide in the Clean Air Act. (In 2003, carbon dioxide was excluded from regulation as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.)

Jonathan Adler is a law professor at Case Western Reserve University Law School and the former director of environmental studies for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an environmental think tank focused on the development and promotion of free-market approaches to environmental policy. He has written three books and many scholarly articles on the topic, along with articles published in such well-respected publications as Environmental Law, Supreme Court Economic Review, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

Roger Ballentine is the founder and president of Green Strategies, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in energy and environmental matters for corporations, entrepreneurs, investors, associations, foundations, individuals and non-profit organizations. Ballentine also formerly chaired the White House Climate Change Task Force and served as deputy assistant to the President for environmental initiatives during the Clinton administration.

The Capital University Law School Environmental Law Society organized and hosted the discussion.