May 6, 2004
STUDY FINDS TOP AIR POLLUTERS CLOSELY TIED TO BUSH
ADMINISTRATION
The nation's top 50 polluting power plants are owned by
corporations that are tightly allied with the Bush
Administration both as major campaign contributors and in
conducting pollution policymaking, according to a new study
released yesterday. Conducted by two nonprofit, nonpartisan
groups--the Environmental Integrity Project and Public
Citizen--the study utilized data from the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).
Ranking the polluters based on their emissions of mercury,
sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, the report finds that sulfur
dioxide and carbon dioxide pollution actually increased from
2002-2003, thereby expanding risks of asthma attacks and lung
ailments.
According to the report, America's Dirtiest Power Plants:
Plugged into the Bush Administration, the firms cited in the
study, along with their trade associations, met at least 17
times with Vice President Cheney's energy task force.
The report found that since 1999, the 30 largest utility
companies owning the majority of the 89 dirtiest power plants in
the study have contributed $6.6 million to the Bush
presidential campaigns and the Republican National Committee.
The 30 companies also hired at least 16 lobbying or law firms
that have raised at least $3.4 million more for the Bush
campaigns.
"It is no coincidence that a wholesale assault on the Clean Air
Act is taking place today," said Eric Schaeffer, who founded EIP
after resigning in early 2002 from his post as director of EPA's
Office of Regulatory Enforcement, in protest of the
administration's rollback of environmental protections. "This is
a well-connected industry that is absolutely intent on
preserving its 'right' to foul the air regardless of the
consequences to the American people."
The study ranked the top 50 polluters for each of the three
emissions (mercury, SO2, CO2). Because several companies were in
the top 50 for more than one pollutant, the list totaled 89
power plants. Of those 89, some 47 have either been sued or
placed under investigation by the EPA for violating the Clean
Air Act's New Source Review requirement, under which plants that
upgrade or expand must add expensive new clean technology.
Last August the EPA stirred a huge controversy by relaxing
requirements for New Source Review, exempting many plants from
the law's pollution control requirements. A federal court stayed
the new rules, but as the report notes, "The result of the
administration's policy, coupled with the program's current
status in legal limbo, is that many of these companies have
either had the cases against them undermined or simply dropped
by the Bush Adminstration."
The study lists five former executives or lobbyists for the
electric utility industry who have been placed in important
regulatory posts in the Bush administration. One is assistant
administrator of EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, another is
counsel to that office, and a third is deputy administrator of
EPA. A fourth is now in charge of all government lawsuits
against coal-fired power plants, and the fifth helped write
national energy policy as assistant secretary at the Department
of Energy.
The full report is available at
ga3.org. |
