<<...George W. Bush is the No. 1 threat to the environment...>>
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Robert Kennedy's book criticizes Bush's policy
By Ryan Kelley
The Lantern - Campus
Issue: 9/23/04
thelantern.com
George W. Bush is the No. 1 threat to the environment, said Robert Kennedy Jr., environmental lawyer and author of the new book "Crimes Against Nature."
The book attacks Bush's environmental policy on many fronts, including his appointments of former timber, mining and petroleum industry lobbyists into key Environmental Protection Agency and cabinet positions. Kennedy will bring that message to Ohio State next Wednesday in Campbell Hall in an event sponsored by the Campus Democrats.
Kennedy said OSU students who care about the environment should elect John Kerry over Bush.
"He's the worst environmental president in American history," Kennedy told the Lantern yesterday by phone. "We're living in a science fiction nightmare and the people of Ohio are living in a science fiction nightmare."
Kennedy said that rather than taking a grassroots approach to helping the environment, OSU students should focus all their energy on the upcoming presidential election.
"There is no issue now except the election. If we lose the election there's little you can do on a grassroots level," Kennedy said. "Nothing matters except this election. This is one of those elctions where every single vote counts."
Kennedy, the senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper, and president of Waterkeeper Alliance, said environmental groups understand the problem they face in Bush. He said environmental groups five years ago would have given a variety of answers when asked what the major problem the environment faces.
"Today they'll all tell you one thing: It's George W. Bush," Kennedy said.
Kennedy said Ohio faces many environmental problems brought on by the Bush administration's repeal of Clinton-era environmental regulations.
"One out of every six American women has so much mercury in her womb that her children are at risk," Kennedy said. "The mercury is coming from coal-burning power plants."
Kennedy said the mercury has lasting effects on waterways in Ohio.
"Ohio is one of the states where its unsafe to eat any of the freshwater fish," he said. "They ripped the heart out of the Clean Water Act."
With such a closely contested election this fall, Kennedy said the state of Ohio and Ohio State students will have an important role to play in the outcome.
"A few hundred votes in Florida determined the national election (in 2000)," Kennedy said. "Really, the state of Ohio will elect this president. If Bush wins Ohio, it will almost impossible for Kerry to win the White House."
Kennedy is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, brother of President John F. Kennedy. In the presidential campaign of 1968, Robert Kennedy was assasinated in California.
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