President moves to imperil the planet and pronto

November 22, 12:11 AMDC Corporate Ethics ExaminerJim Cunningham

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the DC Corporate Ethics Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Conservative contempt for the environment is reaching a crescendo in the final days of the Bush administration.

George Bush is working at a breakneck pace to dismantle at least 10 major environmental safeguards protecting America's wildlife, national parks and rivers before he leaves office in January.”

I can’t say that I’m surprised. This administration has never failed to rule in favor of big business. That’s quite a feat. I understand that Democrats knee-jerk in favor of the environment and Republicans knee-jerk in favor of big business. It would be understandable – still unforgivable – but understandable if a Republican administration merely leaned in favor of big business. But this is, and has been, much more than a lean. I’ll use the word again: contempt. They have utter contempt for anything environmental.

They’ve hated the Endangered Species Act. Bush has added fewer species to the list than any other president in history, and not just by a little. Many of the species he did add to the list he did so only when forced to do so by litigation.

And now they’re trying to sneak in all they can before they’re out of power.

From truthout:

The last-minute rules passed during the "midnight hours" of the George Bush presidency differ from his predecessors because they are basically a project of deregulation - not regulation. Among the most far-reaching:
•  Industrial-size pig, cow and chicken farms can disregard the Clean Water Act and air pollution controls.
•  The interior department can approve development such as mining or logging without consulting wildlife managers about their impact.
•  Restrictions will be eased so power plants can operate near national parks and wilderness areas.
•  Pollution controls on new power plants will be downgraded.
•  Mountain-top mine operators could dump waste into rivers and streams.
•  2m acres of land in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado opened to development of oil shales, the dirtiest fuel on Earth.

See more John Sherffius cartoons at Slate Magazine.