Today the nation’s governors, at their annual summer meeting, will adopt a made-up word as their new environmental doctrine: Enlibra, a term used by Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R) and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) to describe their doctrine of resolving environmental conflicts through negotiation. The Enlibra policy statement, expected to be approved unanimously by the National Governors Association, calls for, among other things, federal mandates to be replaced with economic incentives, full cost-benefit analyses of environmental decisions, and additional leeway for non-federal governments to find their own solutions to environmental problems.
