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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: microhoogle! who wrote (47520)	10/17/2000 9:08:32 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 769667

Report: Texas is nation's worst air polluter DALLAS (AP) — Texas leads the nation in the number of smog polluters in violation of federal air standards, an environmental group said in a report released late Monday that was based on Environmental Protection Agency figures. Of 556 polluters in areas of Texas that don't meet basic clear air standards, 93 are violating laws established by the federal Clean Air Act, according to the report by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group. Texas has 2 times as many violators as the second worst state, Illinois, where 38 out of 367 polluters are reportedly violating federal standards. Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign immediately dismissed the report as ''bogus.'' ''They may have taken EPA data but they have manipulated it and reworded it to suit their needs,'' said campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan. He defended Bush's environmental record, saying industrial emissions fell under his leadership and two laws strengthening clean air enforcement were passed. Sullivan said the state recently submitted plans to the EPA to reduce industrial emissions in Dallas and Houston by 90%. The EPA released the information to the environmental group on Monday, group spokesman Richard Wiles said. The figures reflect the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30, he said. The group was promoting the figures as a warning about the possible environmental consequences of a Bush presidency, and say they indicate why Houston surpassed Los Angeles last year as the nation's smoggiest city. California has 611 polluters in areas that don't meet clean air standards, but only four are violating the federal standards, according to the figures. ''I think it's a very poor indicator of the attitude of environmental law enforcement of a national basis,'' group spokeswoman Laura Chapin said of Texas. Group members say the contrast indicates the culprit is not Texas being a large industrial state, as Bush has claimed in the past, but his administration's failure to enforce laws. ''It's important that we set the record straight on what the fact of the matter is in Texas,'' Wiles said. Telephone messages left Monday with rival Al Gore's campaign were not immediately returned. Last week, when Gore running mate Joseph Lieberman toured Bush's former hometown of McAllen, he criticized the governor's environmental record, saying Texas has ranked worst in the country for releases of air pollutants during Bush's 5{ years in office. Sullivan called the report ''a fatally flawed document which was leaked in the middle of the night using false data to score partisan political points.'' Wiles denied politics was the main reason behind the report's release, given Tuesday's third and final presidential debate in St. Louis. But he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the motive was political. ''People need to know what a Bush EPA would look like,'' Wiles told the newspaper. ''Texas is the smoggiest state in the country and Houston is the smoggiest city because, under Bush, Texas doesn't enforce clean air laws against big industrial polluters.'' Wiles said the EWG does not endorse presidential candidates. In the last presidential debate, Bush said states should have more control in enforcing federal pollution guidelines. ''But that's exactly what we don't need right now - the states are out of control,'' Wiles said. usatoday.com