Show Tile The Ire Inferior ta f rf r IY iy Democracy and 1 L i r t F bureaucracy J B By Kenneth L L. L Gray Ph D D. D Article No 9 Under a democratic system citizens have the right to petition their elected officials when public policies affect their lives and to expect appropriate action to redress significant grievances Elected officials may may authorize the formation of bureaucracies to implement 1 l specified public policies yet f fail il to eradicate those which prove to be extraneous The public may become subject to arbitrary arbitrary arbitrary ar ar- ar- ar regulations imposed by bureaucrats as agencies seek to establish and enlarge their sphere of influence As federal agencies are aree all allowed wed to usurp state responsibilities the citizenry increasingly loses control over ov r public policies which affect their lives For example state wildlife agencies are frequently beleaguered by federal officials who become involved in wildlife management programs Yet if state agencies could proceed unhampered needed programs programs' could be implemented for a fraction of the cost which is c currently expended tN IN AN effort to Pep Department menh officials representatives of the White WhiteRiver WhiteRiver WhiteRiver River Oil Shale Project of eastern Utah embarked on an an environmental research program and hired a at Colorado based engineering firm to study the impacts of oil shale development on several fact factors rs including wildlife This firm subcontracted with the Utah State Division of Wildlife Resources to do do dothe the study When the study is completed it will be returned to the Colorado firm who will then submit it to the White River Oil Shale Project who will relinquish it to its final desti destination the Interior Department However since the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has primary responsibility responsibility responsibility for management i in the state the Interior Department may return the study to this agency Each of the participating organizations must duplicate research expenses despite the fact that the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources actually did all the research and are most competent to use the results IN A further effort to please the Interior Department White WhiteRiver River Oil Shale Project officials hired yet another engineering firm to duplicate much of the environmental research This time a California firm was was hired and they too sought help from individuals closer to the project They obtained help from a a Utah based engineering firm which in turn also obtained obtained ob oh- tamed help from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Again four levels of cost and administration were involved only to ultimately have the work done tormore lormore accurately redone by the state agency These Thes two studies of the same topic involved one oil shale company three e engineering firms in three states two State of Utah agencies and two An Anterior Interior In- In Department agencies agencies The circular administration of this work was was c carried out in three states despite the fact that the Utah agency was was actually responsible for the res research arch ENVIRONMENTAL policy decisions decrease ase in soundness du due to o the e ability of agencies to the pass-the-buck to other agencies Under a a. a dem democratic rati system elect elected d officials are account accountable accountable ac ac- count countable ble to the public As fed federal ral agencies amass p power decision decision making within those agencies is less likely to reflect the will of the public Citi Citizens ens justifiably expect t that millions spent on environmental environmental environmental en en- research will produce answers to critical questions For example a consideration of utmost import importance importance im im- port nce to the arid west concernS concerns the conservation of the limited water supply t Since industrial plant designs c can can n be altered to consume more or less water one might expect a thorough consideration of alternative water water cooled cooled in industrial industrial industrial in- in plant designs by environmental environmental environmental en en- impact researchers researchers researchers chers yet little consideration was given n to this critical problem when the environmental environmental environmental en en- impacts of the Project were studied s See e table above No Noone Noone Noone one has seriously challenged the company's intent to use the construction design which consumes the most water INTERIOR colonialism detracts from the ability of state officials to deal with critical problems now facing the the western states Elected officials als must be given sufficient sufficient suf suf- auth authority rity and power to act In in the best interest of oc th their ir constituents However the Interior Department usurps much of the power n needed eded by state and local officials making it difficult to run an effective government responsive to the needs of the people Colonialism Coloni refers to a condition in which some citizens receive discriminatory treatment by the central government because of the fact th that t they live in a particular locale Before the Revolutionary War citizens of the thirteen en American colonies colonies' complained because English subjects two thousand miles away in the British Isles were granted rights withheld from their coun counterparts counterparts' across the sea Today citizens of the thirteen western states complain complain com com- plain lain corn because they do not share with citizens east of the Rocky Mountains self-determination self for the gov governance of lands within their state boundaries s. s ABOUT FIFTY southern Utah citizens recently traveled to Washington D. D C C. C to petition the Secretary of Interior for approval of a land transfer allowing construction of the fired coal electricity electricity electricity elec elec- generating plant in southern Utah Ironically Secretary Kleppe called the journey a great example of democracy in action Actually the fact that citizens citizens' had to travel two thousand miles to petition a non elected d official for approval of development in n their home state is a dramatic indication that some portion of the American heritage has been lost to the Bureau of Land Management Copyright Kenneth L L. L Gray 1976 Next weeks week's article The Public Interest deals with the failure of to serve the public i interest nt eres t. t |