LETTERS: A NEW LEAF FOR GOP?

To the editor:

I find it impossible to believe, after more than a year of incessant attacks on our nation's environmental-quality laws, that the leaders of the GOP are ready to turn over a new, greener leaf. But that is exactly what Gary Lee ("GOP buffs environmental image," The Washington Post, June 17) seems to think.

I am not saying that the tide is turning. My family, friends, neighbors and colleagues did not spend in vain the past year diligently informing our representatives and senators that their anti-environmental tactics were not acceptable. For example, after Congress attempted (but failed) to pass a "dirty" water bill last year, we just might see a satisfactory Safe Drinking Act come out of the same Congress this summer.

While our efforts have begun to bear some fruit, we cannot allow the gloss of an improved environmental image blind us to reality. Behind much of the GOP's green spit and polish looms another Stealth bomber. Congress is again using the budget process to undermine environmental protections. Back are anti-environmental riders, including efforts to block protection of endangered species, and the 1997 Budget Resolution once again seeks to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Congress is also considering so-called forest health legislation that would extend the clearcut rider and suspend the environmental laws protecting America's national forests. And attempts at grazing reform would continue to subsidize the destruction of our federal rangelands.

Let us hope that in this election year, conservatives in Congress will realize what the word "conserve" means and vote for what is right for the environment.

FRANK DIETIKER JR.

Cape Girardeau