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Crist Leads Party To Conservation Path

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 23, 2008

Last week, when Gov. Charlie Crist was inducted into the Florida Wildlife Federation Conservation Hall of Fame, he told the audience that his environmental activism should not be considered unusual for a Republican.

"I am just returning to the party's roots, to the conservation ethic of Teddy Roosevelt," Crist said.

Roosevelt, who started the National Wildlife Refuge System and preserved 230 million acres of land in national parks, forests, preserves or other federal sanctuaries, is considered the nation's greatest environmental president. And there have been plenty of other Republican environmental champions, including even President Richard Nixon, who established the Environmental Protection Agency and put an end to the Cross Florida Barge Canal.

Yet too many Republicans on the national stage forget the party's past environmental commitment and fail to realize that there is nothing liberal about protecting the public, preserving natural resources and holding polluters accountable.

Crist is pointing out the right direction to a party that should take to heart Roosevelt's directive: "The nation behaves well if it treats natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value."

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