NEWS: Republicans blast Bush for environmental policies
Tom Meersman, Star Tribune
September 15, 2004
Several Republican conservationists criticized the Bush administration Tuesday for weak enforcement of air pollution laws, rollbacks in wetland protection, broken promises on global climate change and a misguided approach to energy.
Russell Train, head of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Nixon and Ford administrations,
called President Bush's environmental policies an "abomination."
"As a lifelong Republican, I find the Bush administration's attack on the environment profoundly disturbing," Train said. "It has tarnished the environmental legacies of Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and this president's father, George H.W. Bush."
Train, who served as chairman of Conservationists for Bush in the senior Bush's 1988 campaign for president, said that his party has become radical, not conservative, in terms of environmental protection.
"Sadly, the Bush administration decided to promote the interests of its polluting campaign contributors from the energy, mining and timber industries over the interests of common citizens," he said.
Evan Rice, Minnesota coordinator for REP America, a national grass-roots organization of Republicans for Environmental Protection, said that air and water quality are too important to swing on a pendulum every four years, attached to a political party or to a liberal or conservative label. Referring to the red states that vote Republican and blue states that go Democratic, Rice said that "our 'red' and 'blue' Americas drink from the same well and breathe the same fall air."
Rice said that the environment was "notably absent" as a topic at the Republican National Convention and that increasing numbers of party members are distraught about the "wrong balance" in decisions that increase pollution and neglect cleanup.
Rice and Train spoke at a news conference in Bloomington organized by Environment2004. The political group, not authorized by any candidate, has produced ads and reports critical of the Bush administration's environmental policies.
Its leaders released an analysis Tuesday called "Poisoning the Land of 10,000 Lakes," which outlines how federal actions are affecting public health and resources in Minnesota.
They also previewed two ads about Superfund sites in Minnesota and mercury in fish. They said the spots will be broadcast on cable channels next month.
Peter Hong, communications director in Minnesota for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said he could not comment on the statements, the new report or the TV ads without further information.
But a White House report issued in July says the Bush administration has made progress with several environmental initiatives. It lists accelerated cleanup of urban polluted sites, or brownfields; increased conservation of wetlands and wildlife habitat under the Farm Bill; reductions of mercury and other pollutants from coal-fired power plants during the next 15 years; increased funding for climate change research; reductions of soot, sulfur and other emissions from off-road diesel engines; and tax incentives for renewable energy and hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles.
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