Wednesday, December 15, 2004
The presidency of George W. Bush has been terrible for the environment
Except maybe for the air.
It is interesting that an administration accused of politicizing everything did not release this data before the election. Nevertheless, the curious post-election release of this data confirmed for some environmentalists that the EPA's motives were political:
I confess that I know next to nothing about the condition or regulation of the environment. But isn't it possible that the delay in implementing the rule relating to power plant cleanup derives from the significant progress that we are making without the rule? And isn't the pending report about counties that are not complying with particulate limits precisely the sort of tattling that the activists demand from government agencies? What am I missing here?
Maybe some of my lefty blog friends will fill me in.
The deadliest form of particulate pollution, the soot emitted by tailpipes and smokestacks, fell 10% during the four-year period, the EPA reported. Particulate kills tens of thousands of people each year by triggering heart and lung problems, EPA reports have said.
It is interesting that an administration accused of politicizing everything did not release this data before the election. Nevertheless, the curious post-election release of this data confirmed for some environmentalists that the EPA's motives were political:
Environmentalist John Stanton warned that there's still a long way to go in fighting the pollution problem, noting that he believes the EPA's message seems to have been politically motivated.
"Clearly, this was good news they could tell," said Stanton of the environmental group Clear the Air. "And it was sandwiched between two pieces of bad news on the same topic," referring to a recent decision by EPA to delay a federal rule relating to power plant cleanup and an EPA announcement due Friday that will say which counties fail to comply with particulate limits.
I confess that I know next to nothing about the condition or regulation of the environment. But isn't it possible that the delay in implementing the rule relating to power plant cleanup derives from the significant progress that we are making without the rule? And isn't the pending report about counties that are not complying with particulate limits precisely the sort of tattling that the activists demand from government agencies? What am I missing here?
Maybe some of my lefty blog friends will fill me in.
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