I’ve heard rumors that the White House realizes that it’s political vulnerable to charges of being anti-environment and is prepared to vigorously defend Bush’s environmental policies during the ’04 campaign.
I just can’t figure out how they’ll be able to defend this record.
The latest in a long line of attacks on the environment made the front page of the Washington Post and New York Times today, this time it’s the administration’s proposal to loosen standards for mercury emissions.
“The Bush administration is working to undo regulations that would force power plants to sharply reduce mercury emissions and other toxic pollutants, according to a government document and interviews with officials,” the Post reported.
Near the end of Clinton’s presidency, Bill called for mandatory reductions in mercury, requiring power plants to meet a “maximum achievable control technology” (MACT) standard to sharply reduce toxic pollutants. As the Post noted, the Clinton administration move was aimed at reducing mercury and nickel emissions, “which can cause severe neurological and developmental damage in humans.”
Bush, under political pressure from his allies in the industry, is proposing a reversal of this policy to make the regulations on power plans less onerous and the enforcement of environmental standards more flexible.
Noting the threats to public health, the Post explained, “Coal-fired power plants are the nation’s largest source of unregulated airborne mercury pollution, sending an estimated 48 tons into the atmosphere annually. The mercury can enter the food chain and threaten public health, especially for children and pregnant women who eat tainted fish. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found that 8 percent of women of childbearing age had mercury in their blood exceeding levels deemed safe by the EPA.”
“It looks as if the administration is going totally in the tank with the utility industry, in a flat-out violation of the law,” David Hawkins of the Natural Resources Defense Council told the Post. “We know this stuff is bad for kids, but they don’t care.”
S. William Becker, executive director of two bipartisan associations of state environmental officials, called the administration proposal “an insult to public health and the environment.”
If Bush is a “compassionate” conservative, I don’t think I want to see the uncompassionate ones.