Bush Administration's Assault on the E

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FWD: from RTK

http://www.mapcruzin.com/news/bush042402a.htm for links to full

report

Rewriting the Rules: The Bush Administration's Assault on the

Environment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press contact: Greg Wetstone or Rob Perks at 202-289-6868

If you are not a member of the press, please write to us at

nrdcinfo@... or see our contact page.

Earth Day Report Documents Sweeping Rollback of Environmental

Protections by Federal Agencies

Major Polluters Given Carte Blanche in Washington

WASHINGTON (April 22, 2002) -- Under the Bush administration,

federal agencies have quietly launched the worst attack on key

environmental safeguards in modern history, according to a report

released today by NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council).

The agency rollbacks span the spectrum of the nation's most

important environmental programs, including those protecting the

nation's air, water, forests, wildlife, and public lands.

In its report, NRDC documents more than 90 environmental

assaults at six federal agencies, noting that the attack on

environmental protections intensified after September 11, when

public attention was diverted by the war on terrorism.

" It is now painfully clear that this is the most anti-environmental

presidential administration ever, " commented Wetstone,

NRDC's director of advocacy. " There is no mistaking the trend. On

issue after issue, federal agencies have been promoting the agenda

of corporate polluters at the expense of our clean air, clean water,

protected lands and forests, and even our planet's climate. "

The NRDC report, Rewriting the Rules: The Bush Administration's

Assault on the Environment, provides a detailed review of more

than 30 recent or continuing federal agency actions, along with an

appendix of more than 90 environmentally destructive actions since

January 2001. The report also details the White House Office of

Management and Budget's efforts to weaken environmental

safeguards by twisting the regulatory process to benefit industry at

the expense of public health and the environment.

Some of the most glaring examples documented in the report

include:

A pending Environmental Protection Agency proposal that would

undermine the fundamental Clean Air Act requirement directing

older power plants, refineries and other major air pollution sources

to

A recent Army Corps of Engineers proposal that would reverse the

" no net loss " of wetlands policy issued under the first Bush

Administration, which has been the cornerstone of America's

approach

Bush administration's efforts to shift Superfund hazardous waste

clean up costs from polluters to taxpayers, dramatically slowing

the pace of clean ups.

An Interior Department rulemaking that undermines the minimal

environmental safeguards for private mining company operations on

public lands, and renounces the agency's own authority to deny an

operating permit to a mine causing " irreparable harm " to the

environment.

White House intervention to block a key EPA program to stem the

discharge of raw sewage into America's waters.

The report also documents efforts to promote clear-cutting in

pristine national forests, roll back safeguards for storing nuclear

waste, weaken controls on untreated livestock waste from factory

farms, and undermine protections for national parks and national

monuments.

" The Bush Administration actions to subvert the vital federal rules

that translate environmental laws into specific requirements for

industry poses the gravest challenge ever to our landmark

environmental laws, " concluded Wetstone.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, non-profit

organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists

dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded

in 1970, NRDC has more than 500,000 members nationwide,

served from offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and

San Francisco.