Landmark environmental legislation passed during Republican administrations

Here's what's happened under the GOP* in the last half-century:

1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
1970 Creation of EPA
1970 Clean Air Act extension
1972 Federal Water Pollution Control amendments to the Clean Water Act
1974 Safe Drinking Water Act
1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
1986 Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)
1990 Clean Air Act Amendments

In comparison, the list of major environmental legislation passed during Democratic administrations is short and unimpressive.

The lesson for environmentalists:

if you want to pass major environmental legislation, your odds are poor under Democrats and much much better under Republicans

*Don't get me wrong. I acknowledge that Democrats played key roles -- many many key roles -- in conceiving these laws and shepherding them through Congress.

Photo source: World in My View

How the GOP can start fixing itself

Step #1: "Admit it screwed up."

Jonah Goldberg lays it out:

For too long Republicans confused supporting big business with supporting free markets, when big business is often the biggest impediment to fair competition. Other fresh new ingredients would almost surely include pro-family tax policies and the de-linking of legal and illegal immigration as interchangeable terms.

But first, the GOP needs to admit it screwed up.

UPDATE: John Stossel underscores Jonah's point about big business:

[businessmen] are not natural friends of free markets. They are often first in line for privileges bestowed by the state. That's called "crony capitalism"