A few months back I reported that Gale Norton (Secretary of the Interior) had announced that her department would no longer inventory and classify vast tracts of land as federally-designated wilderness. Actually, Norton didn’t so much as announce her decision, as allow it to leak out in a few letters sent to conservative congressmen. It was a fairly typical move from an administration that has taken great steps to cut back regulations designed to protect the environment. Back in Reagan’s day, there’d have been a press release explaining how the proposed deregulation would give power back to local governments and...