Three years ago, in a rare moment of harmony, a coalition of liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans in Congress approved what it hoped would be a guaranteed stream of revenue for a range of environmental purposes. The Conservation Trust Fund, as it was called, would increase spending in increments over six years, from $1.6 billion in 2001 to $2.4 billion in 2006, and would be used, among other things, to buy open space, protect endangered species and restore damaged coastlines and estuaries. No new taxes would be needed — the program would rely on the same offshore oil royalties that had long underwritten federal land acquisition. President Bill Clinton eagerly signed on to what was hailed as the most important conservation bill in years.

That was then. Earlier this month, the House of Representatives cut the program almost in half, to $1.2 billion from the $2.1 billion originally authorized for the 2004 fiscal year. The major land acquisition programs suffered most of the damage, in particular the venerable Land and Water Conservation Fund, which President Bush had grandly promised during his 2000 campaign to "fully fund" at $900 million. The House, in full nose-thumbing mode, cut that figure to a measly $198 million.

This massacre was largely the handiwork of a House subcommittee led by Charles Taylor of North Carolina and dominated by people who share his belief that far too much of the country is already in public hands. Democrats labored in vain to honor Congress's original promises and to defend the environment. They tried to block the administration from gutting a Clinton-era rule protecting 58 million acres of national forest from development. They tried to prevent state roads across pristine federal land. They tried to ban snowmobile use in Yellowstone, which the administration supports. In all these efforts they were no more successful than they were in their fight to replenish the trust fund.

One would at least have expected some annoyance from Mr. Bush at the contempt with which Mr. Taylor and the Republicans treated his campaign pledge on open space. So far, however, there has not been a murmur from the White House.