President Bush's controversial environmental agenda has been making headlines lately.

One of his most debated policies concerns his desire to drill for oil and gas in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, land set aside specifically for wildlife conservation. Bush has argued that such a step is necessary for America to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.

Bush is also reviewing land preservation efforts undertaken by former President Clinton. Clinton currently comes in second of all U.S. presidents for land preservation if you count acres saved. He falls short only of Jimmy Carter, who saved 55,975,000 acres.

Before leaving office, Clinton created 22 National Monuments. National Monument status protects land—6,080,343 acres in this case—from most forms of development. Bush may reduce Clinton's numbers, however. He is currently reviewing the National Monuments and could nullify or downsize them by using his executive authority. Several of the monuments are also in danger of being overturned due to organized opposition.

Also under careful scrutiny is the Clinton Administration's ban on new roads and logging in 58.5 million acres of national forest.

The most recent controversy occurred when President Bush decided to drop out of the Kyoto Treaty. This pact between 110 nations was formed to cut by 2012 the greenhouse gases (which contribute to global warming) of industrialized nations by an average of 5.2% from 1990 levels. Bush opposes the treaty because he believes it would hurt the American economy, and it wouldn't curtail the amount of greenhouse gases being produced by developing nations.

Bush is also in favor of strengthening property rights. He supports a legal theory called "takings," by which the federal government would reimburse landowners if public policy prevented them from exploiting their property for economic gain.

For example, if a law prevented someone from logging on their land because it served as a habitat for an endangered bird, the government would pay that landowner the profits he was missing out on.

One public policy that currently keeps landowners from developing property is the Endangered Species Act, which makes it illegal to damage or develop ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend. The act was created in 1973 when the US government realized that many of America's native plants and animals were in danger of extinction.

• Learn more about the US Endangered Species Act. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download now.)

Will Bush's environmental policies receive public support or outcry? A recent Gallup poll showed that most Americans—83%—support the goals of the environmental movement. And environmentalists are not happy with Bush's plans. In fact, many consider his administration to be anti-environment.

Critics oppose the philosophy of takings, and consider it odd that the government would pay citizens simply for obeying the law. They also say that the proposed drilling in Alaska would hurt endangered species for little gain. They point to a US Geological Survey that estimates there is only about a five-month supply of oil in the area targeted for drilling.

• Poll your class: How many people believe that Bush may have to modify his environmental programs in the future to sustain public approval?

Learn More

Read the following Riverdeep stories, all of which highlight various environmental concerns:

• "Ghost Roads Haunt US Forests"
  
  
• "Saving the Sequoias"
  
  
• "Global Warning on Global Warming"

More Links

• Look at before and after diagrams of potential oil development in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
  
  
• View animals from caribou to polar bears, all of which are found in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Related Resources

• Concerned about doing your part to help the environment? Get The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists by Michael Brower and Warren Leon.