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Environmentalists Target Watt:'A Prodevelopment Extremist'A coalition of environmentalistgroups led by the Sierra Clublaunched a national campaign thisspring to oust Interior Secretary JamesG. Watt, and hopes to collect 1 millionsignatures demanding his resignation.With no identifiable legislative goal,and given the assassination attempton President Reagan, the "oust Watt"campaign could well create the climatein which the prodevelopmentInterior Secretary himself becomes anassassination target, sources in the intelligencecommunity have warned.A second flank in the campaignagainst Watt is the "Seaweed Rebellion"in California, which is protestingWatt's efforts to expedite the longstalledleasing of promising oil andgas tracts off the coast. Citing theplight of California sea otters andother coastal marine life—which neednot be uprooted by the stepped-upoil development—environmentalistgroups and California Governor JerryBrown filed twin suits in late Aprilcharging that Watt "has taken an unbalancedand unsupported view" ofthe national interest in recommendingsome 34 tracts for leasing.Other lawmakers lining up with theenvironmentalists are California SenatorAlan Cranston and RepresentativePhillip Burton, both Democrats,who claim that Watt has declared"unconditional war" on their state'snatural resources. In his first speechas secretary, Watt emphasized that hein fact advocates the "orderly development"of energy resources andgreater access to public parks andwilderness.Behind the 'Oust Watt'ers'A look at the roster of environmentalistgroups protesting Watt suggeststhat the motives behind their campaignare other than preserving untouchednature. The "oust Watt" coalitionincludes the WildernessSociety, the Friends of the Earth, theInterior Secretary lames Watt (right) and Energy Secretary James Edwardsrespond to questions at the press conference at which they announced anaccelerated five-year leasing program for offshore oil and gas.National Resources Defense Council, tions also had major input into thethe Audubon Society, the Environ- drafting and promotion of the Globalmental Policy Center, and Environ- 2000 Report, whose recommendamentalAction.tions on world population control andLike the Sierra Club, these groups resource conservation hinge on theare all heavily funded with tax- premise of finite, dwindling redeductiblegrants from the Rockefel- sources. Watt's stance—that there areler, Ford, and Atlantic Richfield foun- plenty of resources there, if we willdations, on whose boards sit members only develop them—pulls the rug outof top ranking Eastern Establishment from under the arguments of theinstitutions like the New York Council Global 2000 crowd,on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral The Sierra Club's chief criticism ofCommission, and the U.S. Association Secretary Watt, in fact, is that he isfor the Club of Rome. These institu- "a prodevelopment extremist."14 FUSION