Environment & Energy

James Watt, sharp-tongued interior secretary under Reagan, dies at 85

JUNE 9, 202311:23 AM ET
By
The Associated Press
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In an administration divided between so-called pragmatists and hard-liners, few stood as far to the right at the time as Watt, who once labeled the environmental movement as "preservation vs. people" and the general public as a clash between "liberals and Americans."

In that sense, Watt foreshadowed combative Interior secretaries like Ryan Zinke and David Bernhardt, who, like Watt, aggressively pushed to grant oil, gas and coal leases on public land, increase offshore drilling and limit expansion of national parks and monuments.

"While no one's death should be celebrated, he was the worst of MAGA before it was invented," tweeted David Donger of the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, referring to former President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.

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Cutting regulations was his primary mission. Between the time he was confirmed as Interior secretary in 1981 until he resigned under pressure in 1983, Watt implemented an offshore leasing program that offered virtually the entire U.S. coastline for oil and gas drilling and held the largest coal lease sale in history, auctioning off 1.1 billion tons (1 billion metric tons) of coal in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming.

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Trump: ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan ‘was made up by me’

BY BROOKE SEIPEL - 04/02/19 8:23 PM ET

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Trump’s now iconic “Make America Great Again,” or MAGA, slogan was inspired by former President Reagan’s “Let’s Make America Great,” which Trump acknowledged earlier in his speech.

“We ran on a theme: ‘Make America Great Again.’ And a lot of people are saying that may have been the greatest theme ever in politics. Ronald Reagan had a small thing called ‘Let’s Make America Great.’ That was good,” Trump said earlier in the evening. “I don’t like it as much. And he sure as hell didn’t use it as much.”

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