This memo provides background information on the Western States Coalition and touches on some highlights from its Summit held in Spokane, Wash. 10-12 July 1997. No effort has been made to provide a complete report on conference proceedings. For more information, contact the Western States Center.

Background

The Western States Coalition is an anti-environmental lobby group founded in 1993 that emphasizes the participation of elected officials. Since January of 1996 the Coalition has had an official partnership with People for the West!, a mining industry front group. The organizations have interlocking boards of directors and share mailing lists.

The emergence of the Western States Coalition reflects, in part, the growing political influence of natural resource and reactionary political interests in the West. The Coalition's executive board includes the Speakers of five western Houses of Representatives: Alaska (Gail Phillips), Utah (Melvin Brown), Washington (Clyde Ballard), Wyoming (Bruce Hinchey), and Oregon (Lynn Lundquist); as well as New Mexico's Lt. Governor (Walter Bradley), a past Speaker of the Arizona House (Mark Killian), a past Speaker of the Utah House (Rob Bishop, also a cofounder of the Coalition), and the Coalition's cofounder and director Met Johnson (formerly head of the Utah House's "cowboy Caucas").

According to conference materials, the Spokane event was hosted by the Northwest Mining Association, People for the West! and the states of Montana, Idaho, Alaska and Washington. Washington Lt. Governor Brad Owen gave welcoming remarks at the conference. Owen lauded the importance of natural resources and agriculture to the state's economy and lamented that the industries that built Washington state - as a matter of fact they built most of the Northwest if not the western states - is no longer a factor in that equation. Natural resources, specifically timber and fishing... are not factors - not in my words, but in the words of our own economic forecaster. Owen decried overregulation of these industries, claiming, for instance, that "we have mining companies who spend millions of dollars to get permits and millions of dollars to deal with community concerns and still can't push a pound of dirt." He later noted, "In this room are the greatest minds of government, of the public, and of business that can and have to come up with positive solutions to these serious issues."

Environmental Education Bad, Industry Education Good

A key focus of the conference was environmental education, a major preoccupation of many anti-environmental groups and leaders. The official conference theme was, "Responsible Legislation Through Education: Solutions That Work." Michael Sanera, co-author of a book lambasting environmental education (Facts Not Fear), had been scheduled to deliver the keynote address. But Sanera canceled and was replaced by Kathleen deBettencourt of the Independent Commission on Environmental Education (funded by the Bradley and Olin foundations). deBettencourt derided environmental education courses on the grounds that they promote advocacy at the expense of environmental literacy. Other speakers on environmental education included Arizona state representative Joe Hart, who told of his success at de-funding that state's environmental education program, and Janet Dobry, principal of Gordon McCaw Elementary School in Henderson, NV, which operates a program that promotes the mining industry to grade school students.

Ironically, while much of the conference focused on the alleged indoctrination of school children by environmentalists, the event featured a "trade show" of industry K-12 curricula and materials (see attached inventory). Bringing anti-environmental perspectives into the public schools has been a recurring topic at similar industry/activist conferences in recent years. The implication was that environmental bias is a problem that should be eliminated and replaced with industry bias.

Participants: From Margins to Mainstream

While the Western States Coalition includes a significant number of elected officials, providing the group with a mainstream veneer, the Coalition also embraces extremist groups and figures. Alongside various anti-environmental tracts available on conference literature tables were even more disturbing documents, including books by Eugene Schroder. A leader of the violently racist Posse Comitatus active in the 1980s, Schroder trained his followers in the art of bomb-making. More recently, Schroder has been propagating the claim that Franklin Roosevelt overthrew the Constitution in 1933 and that the nation has existed under martial law ever since. Other literature promoted the theory, popular with militias, that the United Nations is implementing a plot to "rule the world." One group staffing a literature table, the National Federal Lands Conference, openly promotes armed militias, including the Militia of Montana, and holocaust deniers such as Eustace Mullins.

A Coalition disclaimer that appears repeatedly in conference materials reads, "Any materials, comments and/or handouts that do not support, complement, educate and/or promote either Western States Coalition's Mission Statement in a positive or pro-active way and/or Statement of Values will not be permitted at the Western States Coalition Summit VIII, at any strategy meetings or other meetings." However, the type of literature described above was distributed and sold at Summit VIII and has been distributed and sold at previous Western States Coalition conferences. Moreover, the National Federal Lands Conference is a standard fixture at Coalition events.

Although the Western States Coalition claims legitimacy on the basis of the involvement of elected officials, it should be noted that some of these officials themselves endorse extremist views and behavior. For instance, Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-ID), who addressed the Summit, is notorious for her defense of militia groups and theories; County Commissioner Dick Carver (Nye, NV), who has frequented past Summits, is a hero in extremist circles. Its embrace of such leaders and groups demonstrates that the Western States Coalition recognizes extremists as part of its constituency.

Aside from the involvement of extremists, any real legitimacy for the anti-environmental Western States Coalition is fatally compromised by the dominance of natural resource industries with a vested interest in eliminating environmental laws. Among the approximately 220 who people attended the event were representatives from the following businesses and industry groups:

Marathon Oil Company, Montana Petroleum Association, People for the West!, Western Resource Association, Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc., Alaska Miners Association, Golden Sunlight Mines, National Association of Realtors, Thomas Chapman Real Estate, Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Coeur The Precious Metals Co., National Mining Association, Potlatch Corporation, Malheur Timber Operators, Orvana Minerals Corp., Mineral Information Institute, Washington Cattlemen's Association, TVX Hill Mine, Interior Logging Association, Alaska Women in Timber, Battle Mountain Gold, Western States Realtors , Douglas Timber Operators, Minerals Exploration Coalition, Independent Forest Products Association, Washington Contract Loggers Association, Western Washington Farm Crops Association, Okanogan Mining Association, Montana Association of Realtors, Tubafor Mill, Alaska Forest Association, Oro Nevada Exploration Co., Alaska Pipeline Service, Northwest Mining Association, Arctic Power, Echo Bay Minerals, Washington Association of Realtors

The event was well-attended by elected officials, and particularly state legislators. Western States Center analyzed the campaign contributions of thirteen of the state legislators who registered for the conference. In their most recent election campaigns, these politicians raised, on average, more than 20% of their contributions from resource companies, some of which were represented at the conference.

In addition to politicians and resource company representatives, a third distinct constituency at the conference consisted of professional anti-environmental advocacy groups and leaders. Notable examples include Ron Arnold (Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise) and Chuck Cushman (American Land Rights Association). Conservative policy centers such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Heartland Institute also participated, circulating their materials at literature tables.

For more information about the Summit, the Western States Coalition or the anti-environmental lobby, contact the Western States Center.

Trade Show of K-12 Materials:
A Partial Inventory

• American Farm Bureau Federation (847-685-8600), "Farm Facts," a twenty-six page full-color book promoting the agriculture industry.

• Idaho Forest Products Commission (208-334-4061), "Sources of Information." A thirty page catalog of "tools, workshops and other neat stuff that's available for natural resource education in Idaho." Resources include business, government agencies and environmental groups.

• McCaw School of Mines (702-799-8930) promotional brochure . The mission of the McCaw School of Mines is "to provide transportation free of charge for over 200,000 students to visit McCaw School of Mines where they can learn about mining and its importance to the state of Nevada."

• Mineral Information Institute, Inc.(303-297-3226) distributed two separate packets of classroom materials. Packets contained posters, free video offers, lesson guide, coloring pages and other activities. The Institute claims to have served nearly 20,000 teachers in the 1991-92 school year. Other materials advertised by the Institute included:

"Go Kit for Classroom Speakers," a curriculum guide for mining industry employees to use on visits to grade school classrooms ($25).

Global Science: Energy, Resources, Environment, a full-year high-school science curriculum. The advertisement for this curriculum contains a plug from Denver Public Schools Assistant Principal R. L. Johnston that suggests an advocacy orientation: "[T]he materials provided the type of classroom activities necessary to maintain interest and provide our students with a background with which they, as voting citizens, can make critical decisions."

• "Mining, Minerals & Me," a curriculum for K-6. Originally developed by the Arizona Mining Association at a cost of $900,000, this revised edition is applicable anywhere in the country.

• Monsanto (800-332-3111) video tape, "Paradise Found: Protecting the Galapagos Archipelago."

• National Agricultural Aviation Association (202-546-5722) video tape, "Agricultural Air Force." Jacket reads, in part, "You may not realize it, but the men and women of agricultural aviation are environmentalists. Yes, they use pesticides during the normal course of the work, but they care deeply about utilizing the safest means of ridding the country's food and fiber crops of insects, weeds and diseases."

• National Agricultural Aviation Association (202-546-5722), "Elementary Level Education Curriculum Guide (reprinted by the Federal Aviation Administration). A fifty-five page curriculum guide. Goals include: "To ensure people understand the environmental and safety concerns of agricultural aviators."

• Northwest Mining Association (509-624-1158), Mighty Minerals: A teaching unit for the 4th grade classroom. A fifty page activities book.

• Northwest Natural Resources Institute (509-459-4112) video tape, "Natural Resources Teacher's Workshops." Promotes the Institute's training courses for grade school teachers. The group's mission is, "To provide educational programs, information and activities which facilitate balanced, constructive dialogue concerning management of the region's natural resources."

• Rhone-Poulenc Ag Company (919-553-4651), "A Kid's Guide to Farms and Our Food." A twenty-four page coloring/activities book that contains several pages of serious content towards the end, including a reassuring answer to the question, "What about pesticides? Is the produce I buy really safe to eat?"

Other Publications

• Competitiveness Enterprise Institute: The anti-environmental Competitive Enterprise Institute distributed a variety of other "educational" materials at the event, including some from its "Environmental Studies Program."

The Yellowstone Affair: Environmental Protection, International Treaties and National Sovereignty (Jeremy Rabkin, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Environmental Studies Program, May 1997)

Environmental Audits: State Carrots Versus Federal Sticks in Environmental Enforcement (Ben Lieberman, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Environmental Studies Program, March 1997)

Environmental Briefing Book 1996 (Competitive Enterprise Institute, 1996)

Global Warming: Messy Models, Decent Data, Pointless Policy (Dr. Robert C. Balling, Jr., Competitive Enterprise Institute, November 1994)

• Independent Commission on Environmental Education (800-992-0671), Are We Building Environmental Literacy? Attacks current environmental education curricula as ungrounded in science. The Commission is a project of the George C. Marshall Institute and receives funding from the Olin and Bradley foundations, among others.

Selected Participants