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The Worst of Times: Bush's Environmental Legacy Examined
With four days to go until president-elect Barack Obama takes is inaugurated, history is documenting George Bush's environmental record at home and abroad.
The document released by the White House to commemorate George Bush's exit from the most powerful job on the planet describes a president who spent much of the last eight years as a careful steward of the planet. "Throughout his administration, President Bush made protecting the environment for future generations a top priority," says the booklet, Highlights of Accomplishments and Results.
U.S. President George W. Bush laughs during his final news conference in the Brady press briefing room at the White House in Washington, January 12, 2009. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/United States) "If only" - went the near-universal response from green organisations. They see the Bush years as a concerted assault, from the administration's undermining of the science on climate change to its dismantling of environmental safeguards to its support for mining and oil interests.
"He has undone decades if not a century of progress on the environment," said Josh Dorner, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, one of America's largest environmental groups.
"The Bush administration has introduced this pervasive rot into the federal government which has undermined the rule of law, undermined science, undermined basic competence and rendered government agencies unable to do their most basic function even if they wanted to. We're excited just to push the reset button."
The tone was set in the first 100 days when Bush reneged on a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants, the biggest contributors to global warming. Days later, the White House announced that America would not implement the Kyoto global climate change treaty.
The two moves at the time were seen as a sign of surrender from Bush, a former oil man, to America's coal and oil industries.
Christine Todd Whitman, who was the head of the Environmental Protection Agency at the time, later described the exit of Kyoto as "the equivalent to 'flipping the bird,' frankly, to the rest of the world".
But it was the manner of Bush's exit from Kyoto that provided the most sustained damage, say environmentalists, with the administration injecting doubt on the science that demonstrated an urgent need to deal with climate change.
"The idea of a head of state putting the science question on the table in the way that he did was horrifying to most of the rest of the world," said Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change.
The disinformation campaign became a defining element of the Bush era - and was perhaps the most damaging.
"Certainly the most destructive part of the Bush environmental legacy is not only his failure to act on global climate change, but his administration's covert attempt to silence the science alerting us to the urgency of the problem," said Jonathan Dorn of the Earth Policy Institute (EPA) in Washington.
The campaign to keep the public unaware of the evidence on climate change came to light in October 2004 when the Nasa scientist, James Hansen, accused the Bush administration of trying to block data showing an acceleration in global warming.
The full extent of the White House efforts to downplay, distort and outright censor the science on climate change remains unclear - but such efforts continued even after Hansen accused the Bush administration of censorship.
In July 2008, Jason Burnett, a former official at the EPA, wrote a letter to the Senate describing efforts by the office of the vice-president, Dick Cheney, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality to censor discussion of the consequences of climate change.
Burnett said the White House tried to circumvent a 2007 Supreme Court decision compelling the EPA to regulate car emissions by doctoring scientific findings on the costs of fuel-efficiency standards. The White House objected to a study showing the benefits of raising fuel standards outweighed the costs.
In 2008, officials from Cheney's office sought to doctor testimony prepared for a Senate hearing on California's efforts to impose stricter fuel efficiency requirements than the national standard.
Meanwhile, Bush officials began a concerted effort to strip away a regulatory regime that had been decades in the making.
"Every effort has been made to weaken existing law and there has been no effort to advance regulatory solutions to the most important issue we face, which is climate change," said Frances Beinecke, president of the National Resources Defence Council.
A particular target of the Bush administration's project of deregulation was the Endangered Species Act. The campaign was driven in part by the administration's concern that the act - with its protections for polar bears - could be used to force limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
As with the science on climate change, the Bush Administration has been accused of interfering with scientific findings on wildlife protection for political reasons.
An official report last month found widespread political interference in the management of endangered species. The inspector general's report said that the deputy secretary of the interior, Julie MacDonald, intervened repeatedly to prevent new additions to the endangered species list.
The report said MacDonald, who headed the endangered species protection programme at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, intervened improperly in 13 of the 20 cases under investigation, overruling the recommendations of field biologists that species be protected.
It described MacDonald's dealings with the field biologists as "abrupt and abrasive if not abusive".
MacDonald resigned in 2007. Dale Hall, a biologist who headed the service, called MacDonald's conduct "a blemish on the scientific integrity of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior".
Other controversial actions included:
• Gutting key sections of the Clean Water and Clean Air acts
• Dismantling the protections of the Endangered Species Act
• Opening millions of acres of wilderness to mining, oil and gas drilling, and logging
• Defunding programmes charged with the clean-up of toxic industrial wastes such as arsenic, lead and mercury
• Reducing the enforcement effort in the Environmental Protection Agency
• Removing grizzly bears and wolves from the endangered species list
• Endorsing commercial whaling
• Approving mountain-top removal for coal mining
Bush pursued the grand plan of deregulation to his last days in the White House, with a series of last-minute rule changes. Under the new rules, oil companies will be able to drill within sight of the Arches national park in Utah. Federal agencies will no longer be compelled to consult with government wildlife experts when they open up new areas for logging or road construction, and he also barred the EPA from looking at the effects of global warming on protected species.
Some positive changes in the past eight years were inadvertent. The Bush administration's refusal to cap carbon dioxide emissions acted as a catalyst, with 24 states acting on their own to put in place regional cap and trade networks. Some 27 states enacted renewable portfolios, mandating local power companies to produce more of their electricity from sun, wind and solar power. "A lot of things happened because the Bush Administration was so negative about a lot of things," said Claussen.
Bush expanded on a programme launched by Bill Clinton to reduce diesel exhaust, extending the rules to tractors, trains and small ships.
The administration did have one last-minute surprise in store for the green lobby though, by demonstrating a late commitment to ocean conservation. Just two weeks before leaving office, Bush designated nearly 200,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean as national monuments.
"We and others in the environmental community have been at odds with this administration on lots of things, but if one looks at this one event it is a significant conservation event," said Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group.
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20 Comments so far
Show AllFINAL SELLOUTS BY A DANGEROUS LAME DUCK
Still not satisfied with his unprecedented sellouts to special interests, this arrogant zealot is now concluding the final chapter of his destructive presidency by surging his war against our planet. Sadly, our congress has defaulted their duties by tolerating these abuses, as an apathetic populace stood by and watched.
These final environmental crimes can be checked by expedient and persistent action from a concerned and motivated citizenry. This can be done--remember the 9/11 investigation that Bush so vehemently opposed while an intiminated congress balked. This happened only because of the perservence of the victim's relatives, albeit the inquiries were impaired by resistance from the Bush team.
The returning legislators, who had been complacent during these outrages, should be denied re-election.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has an A-Z list of lies, misinformation, and abuses of scientific information:
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/interference/a-to-z-alphabetical.html
Moreover, many agencies now have people in place to ensure that the agency's operation and announcements follow political idealogy. This was done in Stalin's time. How can we change the agencies (supported by our taxes) back to ones that support people and the enviroment?
He also persecuted green groups and animal activists with grand jury trials and ridiculous assertions that they were terrorists(special thanks to the publicity seeking Southern poverty Law Center which actually had the gall to back up the assertion, comparing such groups to neo nazis and anti abortionist extremists--shame on them for lining up with Bush).
What' Obama doing to reverse the mess Bush left in his midnight laws?
Curse on pelosi and the Democrats for not impeaching Bush--would have kept him distracted.
"To be humane is to be cruel, vicious and unrestrained, like humans.
To be inhumane is to be compassionate, restrained, moderate, like non humans."
Maybe Obama should get Pelosi into the cabinet or some other spot out of the House. She's been top dog Demo for a long time, and he might have major "not invented here" and special interest problems with her.
Webber, I've tried to search for the origin of this quote, but can't find it. Is it yours?
"To be humane is to be cruel, vicious and unrestrained, like humans.
To be inhumane is to be compassionate, restrained, moderate, like non humans."
I've tried to come up with something similar, but yours (the above) beats it all hollow. May I use it from time to time?
Whoa, we're getting extreme here with the quote. By human standards, the animal kingdom is often cruel, viscious and unrestrained." Yes, there is a kind of moderation in animal behavior, in that they tend to remain true to their nature, whereas humans can become violated from what Abraham Maslow called "instinctoid tendencies." Yes, humans are very malleable. I understand the point you're trying to make. Humans can go off the deep end in terms of cruelty, evil, with no relation to, say, the hunting instincts of predators.
So, this is a political attempt to separate vegan/vegetarian groups like PETA from "humane," "animal welfare" organizations that support "humane sustainable livestock" systems?
But try these quotes: "When I look at history I'm a pessimist. When I look at prehistory I'm an optimist." I believe that's Jan Christian Smuts. I saw it in the front of Erich Fromm's "The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness." Or this little ditty quoted by Ashley Montagu in a footnote in "The Direction of Human Development:" "What a crazy world/ It's wonders never cease/ All the civilized at war/ All the savages at peace." These too make a point, and one less extreme than Webber's quote, I would say. I strongly recommend Fromm and Montagu for abundant evidence on the general point about human nature, and Mumford (below).
Historians like Arnold Toynbee (Mankind and Mother Earth) and Lewis Mumford (Transformations of Man; The Myth of the Machine: Technics and Human Development;) point out that a key spiritual change came with civilization (the power complex, "bronze age"), a change from organic gods to "the sky gods" (Thor, Atum Re?, absolute monarch's by "divine right" like "The Sun King"). Unfortunately, the consequences, (the four horsemen of the apocalypse) are often blamed on the agricultural revolution (neolithic "plowshares"), in spite of its organic gods and relatively peaceful nature (source of myths of paradise, peace).
On the Southern Poverty Law Center: who are the green groups and animal activists and what did they do. By the way, have you seen SPLC's book "The Terrorist Next Door," on Christian terrorist hate groups? Or is that what you are talking about? The civilized atrocities of agribusiness have sometimes led rural people into despair and toward hate groups. We're fighting that with real organizing for justice.
Sorry, the Union of Concerned Scientists I referred to above is no longer on. They still have a site on scientific integrity at:
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/
Bush always used the lame excuse that signing on to the Kyoto Accords would cost American jobs. Actually, he was right. It cost hundreds of thousands of jobs in solar, wind and geothermal R&D, manufacturing, sales and installations. Other countries embraced these renewable resources and now Germany, Japan, China, Spain (solar) and Denmark (wind) have a major leg up on these technologies and are reaping the benefits.
How could a country that put man on the moon in 1969 reject science in the 21st century? Bush is just four years older than me; he's seen the same scientific advancements that I have. To have obfuscated and outright rejected well-researched data is as Orwellian as it gets. Last night he said he always put the well-being of the American people first. The fact is he always put corporate interests first to the detriment of the common citizen.
For our own preservation, things must change drastically beginning this Tuesday.
http://freesolaradvice.blogspot.com
Check out this essay by Mark Lynas, British climate writer. He is going gaga over Obama! He also reports the EU is dropping the ball on GW with cheap, easy out cap & trade offsets for big industry. (Climate Progress calls them "rip-offsets".) With China delaying and the EU playing with itself, its time for some American leadership.
http://www.newstatesman.com/environment/2009/01/lynas-obama-economy-green
"Throughout his administration, President Bush made protecting the environment for future generations a top priority" so says the propaganda published by the criminal Bush. The criminal Bush is now embrarking on his post-presidential phase: Lying to distort the truth, and more importantly, history. That quotation is a lie that can thorouly refuted. He is going to be concentrating on re-writing history to cover his sorry ass.
Its what Carl "Pigpen" Rove does best!
These morons spend more money fighting environmental regulations, than they would if they simply accepted them and moved on. Next Tuesday is a good day, whether Obama is a good President or not. Let's hope he will be at least a good one, if not a great one. Of course, the only way he can be great, is if he directly deals with the endless crimes of the Bush League. Let's hope he protects and defends the Constitution...unlike his predecessor who lied when he took the oath of office...TWICE.
President Bush is only the natural choice to lead a country obsessed with money.He,more than any other president, has helped establish as NORMAL a goal long sought by leaders and a good many citizens alike.The unfettered pursuit of money.This is the freedom of fame found here.I agree with Mr.Pinter, America is the greatest show on earth,its commitment to meaningless democracy is without parallel.You can not possibly fulfill the needs of the obscenely greedy or those that hope to prosper in their wake and be democratic.The only course is to fake it,and what a show it is.Now after the murder rape and pillage phase you might expect the reign of the "good cop",after all, the coffers have been looted now we have to calm everyone down by giving them back a small fraction of the take.Gotta love democracy!
Bush is a toxic terrorist ! http://www.wisecountyissues.com Appalachia has been bombed, blasted and bulldozed right into Third World America.
Christine Todd Whitman, head of the EPA at the time, later described the exit of Kyoto as "equivalent to 'flipping the bird,' to the rest of the world"... Meanwhile, I assume, she has 'no comment' as to whom she collectively 'flipped off' when she issued statements that the air was safe to breath... water safe to drink following 9/11/01 ~~~ ~ something about glass houses comes to mind. Someone explain to me where they get the audacity.
I don't think for a minute the legacy is fulfilled yet. There are a couple days left. With all their well-laid plans, I expect anything and none of it good.
peace, truth, love and mercy... pass it on.
wanda o'
Maybe Karla Faye Tucker Brown had the last laugh after all.
The Bush regime has been a curse to people, animals and plants, air, fresh water and ocean. They are responsible for more death and poisoning than any other group in the history of the earth. They have endangered us and many future generations of all beings.
The only thing that surpassed them was a giant meteor that once hit the earth and wiped out most life. But then the meteor had no intention or capacity for thought.
PS - don't name the Pacific Ocean monument after Bush or anyone associated with him. That is probably why he did that.
Joe
That's a laugh? George is emotionally exhausted. He wants to go home. Maybe somebody can teach him genuine emotion once he gets to Crawford.
That ugly grimace could never appear on a happy, mature human face.
Look at his eyes. He is not laughing.
There must be a reason "The dumb one" ordained a bunch of deep ocean off-limits: perhaps it's the only stretch of water without any geo-oil intrests at all, or perhaps he's been secretly dumping nuclear waste there for years and doesn't want samples of the ocean floor brought up for anaylisis.
Shrub signing a conservation measure's a little like Jack-the-Ripper helping a lady into a carriage without ripping out her throat first.
This article fails to provide examples of the Bush approach to farm policy and its impact on the environment.
For example, he gutted the Conservation Stewardship Program, now called Conservation Security Program.
CSP was touted by Democrats like Harkin, Wellstone, Gephardt, Daschle, as a huge victory in 2002, a justification for switching sides (when Harkin become Ag Chair) to support a greened up version of the Republican Freedom to Farm Act which ended the New Deal farm program. It was passed as a major entitlement for all farmers, but not funded in that way, grossly underfunded, and limited to only a few watersheds. So far they've had a couple of watersheds in it in eastern Iowa. This was a huge gutting of environmental policy. The Land Stewardship has a series of factsheets documenting the history of this fight and the decline of the program, http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/programs_csp.html.
Then there's EQIP, which funds massive changes toward unsustainable livestock factories and feedlots. The Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment recently released a study (by Elanor Starmer), "Industrial Livestock at the Taxpayer Trough: How Large Hog and Dairy Operations are Subsidized by the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program." They were able to get up to $450,000 over five years under the program. The specific uses of this money have been hidden from public view. "Although industrial hog operations comprise only 10.7% of all hog operations nationally, they receive an estimated 37% of all EQIP contracts to the hog sector. In contrast, mid-sized hog farms represent roughly 15% of all operations but receive only 5.4% of EQIP hog contracts." Likewise, "industrial dairies make up only 3.9% of all dairy operations nationally, yet they receive an estimated 54% of all EQIP dairy contracts. Meanwhile, mid-sized
dairies, which account for 13% of all dairies nationally, receive only 7% of EQIP dairy contracts." "This report estimates that between 2003 and 2007, roughly 1,000 industrial hog and dairy operations have captured at least $35 million per year in funding through the EQIP program."
As I recall, prior to the 2002 farm bill, The Environmental Working Group, part of Common Dreams progressive community, supported the use of EQIP funds for these CAFOs, on grounds that it would improve the environmental performance of CAFOs.
I almost forgot to mention that Bush has pushed the smokescreen of farm subsidy caps and payment reform and done nothing in the way of farm price floors and supply management, (or price ceilings and reserves). So he's favored the big billions to CAFOs via below cost gains. Meanwhile EWG has praised Bush and also totally missed this issue, advocating loudly on the wrong side of it, as the leading smokescreen organization.