INTRODUCTION During his tenure as governor of Utah, Mike Leavitt was also a member of the Western Governors’ Association whose members governor 19 states and three U.S.-flag islands in the Pacific. WGA works on policy issues affecting the American West. Leavitt served as vice chair in 1994 and as chair in 1995. During this time, Leavitt applied one of his core philosophies – federalism – to his policies as he argued for a more centralized approach to governance, putting more control in the hands of the states. Among the initiatives he led were: 1) Enlibra: A New Shared Doctrine for Environmental Management 2) The Western States Primary Enlibra: A New Shared Doctrine for Environmental Management When Leavitt was elected governor of Utah in 1992, he was appointed vice chair of the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission – a federally-appointed task force charged with cleaning up the haze over the Grand Canyon. The federal government gave the members of the task force five years to come up with a plan. If they failed, the EPA would do it for them. As Leavitt met with other governors, leaders of Native American nations and representatives from the private sector who were all serving (more…)
