THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506230009
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
At a time when staunch conservatives consider ``environmentalist'' to be a derogatory word, Virginians, though generally conservative, favor strong government protection of the environment.
A poll by the non-partisan Virginia Environmental Endowment showed that by huge margins voters reject reducing government regulation of wastes, water, wetlands, coastal areas and historic sites.
Some of the findings may drive Democrats to drink. Of the 1,000 ``likely Virginia voters'' polled, 69 percent approved of the job Governor Allen is doing and 73 percent agreed there should be less government regulation. In Allen's quest for more Virginia jobs, he has treated government regulation like the anti-Christ.
Jinks Holton, president of the Virginia Environment Endowment and wife of former Republican Gov. Linwood Holton, was unsurprised by the poll results. ``I have always thought,'' she said, ``that Virginians are conservative and want to hold on to what they've got and resent anybody trying to take away the beautiful climate and atmosphere they have here.''
Some of the poll findings:
Currently, Virginia doesn't let citizens sue a government agency when the agency permits a business to discharge wastes into the air or water. Sixty-two percent of those polled said they should be free to do so.
Seventy-two percent reject less regulation of toxic and hazardous wastes and 71 percent reject less regulation of water pollution. Sixty-three percent reject less regulation of wetlands and coastal areas, and 61 percent reject less regulation of historic sites.
Somewhat surprisingly, 51 percent oppose legislation ``compensating property owners when we limit their development rights'' to protect the environment.
The questions were not loaded. They did not ask, ``Which do you favor, Bambi or a bulldozer?''
What role environmental protection will play in the legislative elections this fall, we don't know. But clearly Virginians want their environment protected. by CNB