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Report details weakened environmental protections
The Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental
advocacy group with more than 500,000 members and headquarters in Washington,
released its annual report covering the year 2002 in late January.
Titled “Rewriting the Rules: The Bush Administration’s
Assault on the Environment,” the report details in its 53 pages a list of
“continuing environmental retreats by the Bush administration over the
past year, and especially the escalating assault in the few short months since
the 2002 congressional elections.”
According to the report, environmental programs around the country
have been “peppered with more than 100 weakening changes, affecting every
program that protects our air, water, forests, wetlands, public health,
wildlife and pristine wild areas.”
Some of the most troubling examples of these changes include the
Forest Service proposals to reduce public involvement in forestry planning and
the announcement in January by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of new
policies that will greatly reduce the number of wetlands and waterways
protected by the Clean Water Act.
In addition, the “grandfather of envi-ronmental
statutes,” the National Environmental Policy Act, is also threatened,
according to the report. The act requires public participation in key
environmental decisions, and mandates the preparation of environmental impact
statements for federal moves with potentially significant en-vironmental
consequences. In recent proposals, the White House has scaled back
long-standing requirements for reviews and participation applying to highway
construction, offshore oil development and logging in national forests.
It’s obvious, says the report, “that every federal
agency with authority over environmental programs has been enlisted in a
coordinated effort to help oil, coal, logging, mining, chemical and auto
companies, and others promote their short-term profits at the expense of
America’s public health and natural heritage.” The agencies mentioned
include the Department of the Interior, EPA, U.S. Forest Service, Energy
Department and Army Corps of Engineers.
“This onslaught is being quietly coordinated through the
White House,” Robert Perks, coauthor of the report, told NCR.
Moreover, the White House seems fully aware of how unpopular its environmental
agenda is, timing its major environmental announcements, Perks said, “to
make it as difficult as possible for the news media to report on them, usually
releasing information late on Friday afternoons. Especially important
pronouncements are saved for big holidays when reporters are unavailable.
“For example, the EPA announced its recent changes in clean
air regulations on the afternoon before Thanksgiving and on New Year’s
Eve.”
The Resources Defense Council report lays out its case in page
after page of witty subheads, like “Mine Your Own Business,”
“Ever (Failing) Glades Restoration,” “Bird-Killing Pesticide
Back from the Dead,” “Drill First, Ask Questions Later” and
“Preventing Forests, Not Fires.”
In the same pithy language, the report summary declares:
“It’s clear the cop is off the beat where enforcement of our
environmental laws is concerned.” Penalties for violations of these laws
have decreased drastically, says the report, since Bush took office, “with
the amount of the average penalty dropping by more than half.”
Our government should be addressing important problems such as
global warming, sprawl and the loss of wildlife and natural areas now more than
ever, the report concludes, but “another year has passed during which the
Bush administration has directed its time and energy to moving America
backwards on our most basic safeguards.”
Perks said, “Bush seems to be paying a low political price
for these moves against the environment, but I don’t think he’s
getting a free pass. It’s actually one of his biggest liabilities. He was
on the ropes prior to Sept. 11. He even reversed his announced decision on
loosening arsenic standards in drinking water. Now the terrorism war and
looming conflict in Iraq make it easier for his administration to gets its way
in other areas. And the sheer number of these low-key attacks on environmental
regulations and legislation keep us, his opponents, reeling and off
balance.”
Perks said that 2004, an election year, would probably show some
change. “The administration will continue to placate its corporate
benefactors, but there will be less talk of undermining environmental laws and
regulation, more talk about fuel cell cars. They won’t reverse the
reversals, but they will throw out some bones, continuing their sleight of
hand, deflecting and confusing the electorate.”
-- Rich Heffern
National Catholic Reporter, March 14,
2003
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