Bush Trashing the Environment

[CountArach]

Is there anyone still willing to defend this man? This is what he wants his legacy to be?
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2...et-to-low.html

Among the Bush administration's final environmental legacies will be a decision to exempt perchlorate, a known neurotoxin found at unsafe levels in the drinking water of millions of Americans, from federal regulation.

The ruling, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency in October, was supposed to be formalized on Monday. That deadline passed, but the agency expects to announce its decision by the year's end, before president-elect Barack Obama takes office. It could take years to reverse.

Critics accuse the EPA of ignoring expert advice and basing their decision on an abstract model of perchlorate exposure, rather than existing human data.

"We know that breast milk is widely contaminated with perchlorate, and we know that young children are especially vulnerable. We have really good human data. So why are they putting a model front-and-center?" said Anila Jacobs at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. "And they used a model that hasn't yet gone through the peer-review process."

The ruling is one of dozens planned for the final days of the Bush administration. Others include a relaxing of air pollution standards for aging power plants, and a reduction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's traditional role in evaluating the impact of federal projects on endangered species.

These have received more attention than the status of perchlorate, a chemical found mostly in jet rocket fuel and detected in 35 states and 153 water public water systems. It is known to lower thyroid hormone levels in women; it poses a particular threat to pregnant women and breast-feeding children, whose long-term neurological development can be stunted by youthful hormone imbalances.

[...]

If the rulings go through, Congress may still take action. California congresswomen Barbara Boxer and Hilda Solis, both Democrats, have each drafted legislation that would force the EPA to regulate perchlorate, though it could take years to go into effect.

I just can't fathom what goes through the minds of these bastards. They seriously want to exempt a chemical that has negative side-effects on the hormones of children from regulation? WHY!?!? I can't understand it - can someone please help me to figure this one out?

[Rhyfelwyr]

Wow. How can that man live with himself?

Killing trees is one thing, but putting people in danger like this...

[Fragony]

Beats me

[PBI]

Bush has fallen into the trap that many on the right seem to fall for; because many of those among the environmentalist movement are clearly barking mad or extreme lefties (or both), he assumes that all environmental issues are essentially leftist agitation and do not present a genuine threat.

To be fair I suppose I do something similar. If I hear the Daily Mail is outraged about something, I tend to be less worried about it.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I can't understand it - can someone please help me to figure this one out?

*cough*


I suggest Americans bring their case before a Quebec court in ten years time. Bush may make it legal, but there might be a civil case nevertheless.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Is there anyone still willing to defend this man? This is what he wants his legacy to be?
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2...et-to-low.html

I just can't fathom what goes through the minds of these bastards. They seriously want to exempt a chemical that has negative side-effects on the hormones of children from regulation? WHY!?!? I can't understand it - can someone please help me to figure this one out?

Your article is full of misinformation. This is a ruling by the EPA, not Bush, alright?

Perchlorates occur naturally, in addition to industrial sources, and it has been suggested that sunlight and lightning cause them, among other reasons.

And research suggests its not nearly as harmful as the fear-mongering Wired article suggests:
http://www.thyroid.org/professionals...rchlorate.html

(VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 1, 2004)—A chemical, perchlorate, that is increasingly turning up in soil and water may not be as harmful as previously thought when people ingest it or are exposed to it, according to three new studies being presented on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 2004, at the 76th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

CR

[Louis VI the Fat]

Your article is full of misinformation. This is a ruling by the EPA, not Bush, alright?

Perchlorates occur naturally, in addition to industrial sources, and it has been suggested that sunlight and lightning cause them, among other reasons.

And research suggests its not nearly as harmful as the fear-mongering Wired article suggests:
http://www.thyroid.org/professionals...rchlorate.html


CR

This is one of those instances where even your pompous truly is reluctant to bluff his way into a conversation. I simply lack the medical and chemical insight to critically evaluate your studies.

What I do know, is that 'percholrate' is a highly controversial subject, with lots of law suits, looming lawsuits, and nervous companies and the military fearing lawsuits. Naturally, these business interests have formed a a powerful lobby. Sponsored 'medical research'. Tried to influence legislation.

For example, they were seeking legal immunity in California.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

According to http://www.acwanet.com/legislation/legis/99prior.html, theAssociation of California Water Agencies is asking the California legislature to protect perchlorate-impacted water utilities from personal injury suits. Specifically, this protection would apply to the water purveyors affected by the Aerojet perchlorate/tce/nitrosodimethylamine plumes in Rancho Cordova and the San Gabriel Valley. No California legislator offered to sponsor this resolution. Recently a California appellate court has held that the water utilites cannot be held liable for "unknown" contaminants as long as they followed the regulations of the state Public Utilities Commission. No word on whether the personal injury attorneys will appeal to the state supreme court.

One defendent, the Southern California Water Company, owned wells in Irwindale immediately downgradient from the Aerojet Azusa site, and then purchased Rancho Cordova's wells in 1964 when the state water board reported these wells contained 1000-2000 ppb perchlorate.

Seeking legal immunity at the state level won't be necessary anymore. Bush will pull a 'Bill Clinton' before leaving office and will pass a 'get out of jail free card' to all his political friends.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Your article is full of misinformation. This is a ruling by the EPA, not Bush, alright?

It is a political agency. The Environmentla Protection Agency is led by administrator Stephen L. Johnson. He was appointed by Bush in 2005.

Edit: Marcus C. Peacock (born March 21, 1960) is the current Deputy Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He was sworn in to office August 8, 2005. Within a month of being sworn in, Mr. Peacock was appointed the lead for coordinating EPA’s response to Hurricane Katrina.

You couldn't trust these two guys to run a hotdog stand properly. They are there for one thing only: to see to it that environmental peotection does not interfere with the business interests of companies priviliged by the Bush administration.



Good old Ike, speaking way back in 1961:
(=Eisenhower)

"Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together...Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by the task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiousity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded."

[Vladimir]

It is a political agency. The Environmentla Protection Agency is led by administrator Stephen L. Johnson. He was appointed by Bush in 2005.

Edit: Marcus C. Peacock (born March 21, 1960) is the current Deputy Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He was sworn in to office August 8, 2005. Within a month of being sworn in, Mr. Peacock was appointed the lead for coordinating EPA’s response to Hurricane Katrina.

You couldn't trust these two guys to run a hotdog stand properly. They are there for one thing only: to see to it that environmental peotection does not interfere with the business interests of companies priviliged by the Bush administration.



Good old Ike, speaking way back in 1961:
(=Eisenhower)

Poppycock!

That’s rather ignorant to assume that everyone appointed by a president is his puppet. Does everyone Sarkozy appoints go around squeezing breasts in public? Does everyone Putin appoints randomly kiss the stomachs of young boys? I think not! *harrumph*

I’d also like to know what you believe the function of the EPA is after a natural disaster. Not to mention the functions of the state and local governments. I’d also like to see how any branch of government runs a hotdog stand.

[Louis VI the Fat]

1 That’s rather ignorant to assume that everyone appointed by a president is his puppet.

2 I’d also like to know what you believe the function of the EPA is after a natural disaster.

3 I’d also like to see how any branch of government runs a hotdog stand.

1 A judge is appointed, but independent. The administrator of the EPA is not independent. He is part of the...administration. It is a political position, at near cabinet level. 31st of January, 2001, the Democratic administrator of the EPA was replaced by a Republican.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrator_of_the_Environmental_Protection_AgencyThe Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States federal government's Environmental Protection Agency, and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other environmental statutes. The Administrator is nominated by the President of the United States and must be confirmed by a vote of the Senate. The office of Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970 in legislation that created the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA Administrator is customarily accorded Cabinet rank by the President and sits with the President, Vice President, and the 15 Cabinet Secretaries. Since the late 1980s, there has been a movement to make the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency a Cabinet Secretary, thus making the EPA a 16th Cabinet department, dealing with environmental affairs. The Administrator of the EPA is equivalent to the position of Minister of the Environment in other countries.

2 The EPA assesses the environmental effects of a natural disaster. Which they pretty much botched up after both 9-11 and Katrina.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hurricane Katrina presented not only a human tragedy, but also one of the biggest environmental stories of the new millennium. Even after days of criticism that the federal government didn't do enough to help hurricane victims, federal agencies compounded the problem by failing to respond adequately to journalists' environmental questions.

The event gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a chance to show that it had learned lessons from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when the agency was broadly criticized for withholding information and downplaying risks. Instead, EPA appears to have taken the same tight-lipped approach in responding to Katrina, denying the public crucial information collected with taxpayers' money on behalf of taxpayers in the first place.

3 In the case of the EPA under Bush, the hotdogs will be toxic, mock scientific reports will show that they are not, your child will get cancer from eating it, Bush will pardon the people responsible shortly before leaving office


Edit: What am I saying!? It is much worse than this. Bush will not pardon them, he goes one better. He will make it perfectly legal to sell toxic hotdogs, to prevent even civil lawsuits.

[Louis VI the Fat]

This is pretty damning:

An extensive online questionnaire responded by 1600 EPA staff scientists who have worked in the agency for more than 10 years has determined that they have been pressured to skew their findings. The survey included chemists, toxicologists, engineers, geologists and experts in other fields of science. About 40% of the scientists have reported that the interference has been more prevalent in the last five years compared to previous years.

To quote DD: Bush! Bush! Bush!

[Vladimir]

Yes we can!

Hey, um. Can I have that Senior Membership when you're done with it? Just asking.

[Devastatin Dave]

Yes we can!

Hey, um. Can I have that Senior Membership when you're done with it? Just asking.

Hope and change my friend, pray to the One and it can be yours!!! yes you can!!!!

Sorry, I've been drinking to much of the poisonous George Bush water today....

[Xiahou]

Your article is full of misinformation. This is a ruling by the EPA, not Bush, alright?

Perchlorates occur naturally, in addition to industrial sources, and it has been suggested that sunlight and lightning cause them, among other reasons.

And research suggests its not nearly as harmful as the fear-mongering Wired article suggests:
http://www.thyroid.org/professionals...rchlorate.html


CR

Huh, and I had thought that BPA was the environmentalists chemical du jour... Regardless, they'll never let a lack of evidence stop them from trying to whip people into a frenzy.

Edit: I agree with DD.

[CrossLOPER]

Looking at this, I can't say I'm surprised. Looks like gross mismanagement, if you could call it that.