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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Al Gore used Earth Day to unleash his harshest criticism of President Bush since losing the White House to him, saying the administration’s environmental policies serve “special interests instead of public interests.” 

“America is only as healthy as the air our children breathe, the water they drink and the earth they will inherit,” Gore told about 200 Vanderbilt University students and environmental activists Monday. 

“But instead of embracing the bipartisan national consensus to improve our environment, the Bush administration has chosen to serve the special interests instead of the public interests and to subsidize the obsolete, failed approaches of the past instead of the exciting new solutions of the future.” 

The speech countered one given earlier in the day by Bush, who briefly hiked the snowy Adirondack Mountains in New York before calling for mandatory limits on the power plant emissions that cause the acid rain that plagues the picturesque region. 

The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments were a start, “now we should do more,” Bush said. 

Gore said Bush’s “clean skies” initiative would ultimately allow more emissions than permitted under current law. 

“What kind of world are we building when parents of little leaguers have to be more worried about them catching their breath than catching a fly ball?” Gore said. “Yet instead of working to reduce air pollution, the Bush administration’s so-called ‘clean skies’ initiative actually allows more toxic mercury, nitrogen oxide and sulfur pollution than if we enforce the laws on the books today.” 

Gore, who was joined on stage by his wife, Tipper, also criticized the Bush administration for favoring increased domestic oil production over conservation. 

“We need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil so that America can not be held hostage to global chaos and tinhorn tyrants like Saddam Hussein,” Gore said. “But what’s their solution? Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.” 

Gore, who has not said whether he will challenge Bush again in 2004, has spent much of his time in Tennessee, teaching at two Nashville area colleges and campaigning on behalf of Democratic candidates. 

He wrote the environmental book “Earth in the Balance” while vice president under Bill Clinton.