The reality of what's happened in the states is much different. Yet just as Michigan is a model for predicting how the White House will reward its industrial friends and unravel environmental safeguards, the state also is a laboratory for understanding the political consequences, and a warning for Mr. Bush. In recent months, Gov. Engler has come under significant grassroots pressure from voters upset by the state's tilt towards economic development at the expense of clean air and water. Public hearings on disputed air, water, and hazardous waste permits are attracting hundreds of citizens who call on state regulators to enforce state environmental laws. The Sierra Club's membership in Michigan is now 18,000, up from 10,000 at the start of the 1990s.
More attention is paid to environmental issues in the state media.
And prominent Democrats preparing to run for governor next year, among them U.S. Representative David Bonoir, have called strengthening the state's environmental programs one of the top campaign issues. Gov. Engler spent a decade writing a new compact with citizens and his industrial allies that put jobs, profit, and growth ahead of any other social value. That compact shows signs of being rejected in Michigan. Environmental leaders and others intent on protecting public health and America's resources will be equally successful in Washington by better understanding what happened in the states, opposing bad ideas at every turn, and rallying public support for environmentally sensitive alternatives.