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Other actions that bode ill for our environment include attempts to open up oil exploration on the continental shelf (where the majority of our seafood is currently harvested), a partial dismantling of the agencies that oversee strip mining, and a drastic curtailment of government efforts to protect endangered species from extinction (both in our country and abroad).

For these reasons (and others which are being added to the list daily . . see the Ecoscience column, page 148. for a more extensive discussion), Mr. Watt has inspired widespread criticism, which has led to requests from many groups for his resignation . . . and even to the circulation of a recall petition, sponsored by Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, and others.

A DENTIST TO EXTRACT ENERGY

All of the skills that James Edwards brought to his new job as Secretary of Energy resulted from his working as an oral surgeon and later serving as governor of South Carolina. He's been a relatively quiet administrator so far . . . although he did suggest—in a controversial interview published by his hometown paper—that the antinuclear movement includes "subversive" elements, "manipulated" by unnamed sinister forces that "want to bring this country to its knees". When pressed for specifics, Secretary Edwards would not elaborate. He has also stated that nuclear power is "the cleanest, safest. and cheapest" source of electricity available ... which, particularly with respect to "cheapest", shows an astonishing ignorance of dozens upon dozens of recent analyses from sources as diverse as Wall Street and the government itself.

A LOGGER TO DEFEND THE FORESTS

For years, conservation—minded critics of the U.S. Forest Service have worried that trees are being cut more rapidly than they're being replaced in our national forests. However, John Crowell, the new Agriculture Department official in charge of the national forests, wants to double the amount of timber cut from those woodlands . . . just as he did when he was General Counsel of the Louisiana Pacific Lumber Company.

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