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For violating the Clean Air Act at its refinery in El
Segundo, Calif., Chevron
was fined $443,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency;
for violating the
Clean Water Act at various California sites, Shell Oil was
slapped with fines
totaling $2 million. For obvious reasons, these and other
corporate polluters in
the Golden State have no special fondness for the EPA, which
is responsible for
ensuring compliance with many U.S. environmental laws
throughout the
nation.
They do have a fondness for anti-environment politicians,
however. Many, for
instance, gave generously to the re-election campaign of
freshman Rep. Bill
Baker (R-Calif.), who in his first term voted to slash the
agency's funding by
one-third, and to exempt oil refineries and other plants -
which spew cancer-causing
chemicals like benzene, xylene, dioxin and toluene -
from toxic-emission standards.
Baker learned the game from a couple of masters: House
Speaker Newt
Gingrich (R-Ga.) and his majority whip, Tom DeLay (R-Texas),
both of whom
qualify for most-favored-donation status in the eyes of
polluter PACs, or
political action committees. From November 1993 through June
1996, these
leaders of the 104th Congress' War on the Environment accep
ted more than $489,000 and $466,000 respectively from 660
polluter PACs -
more than any other members of Congress.
Although environmentalists blocked most of their agenda, we
always knew
that polluter PACs were getting plenty of bang for their
bucks in the zealously
anti-regulatory Gingrich/Dole Congress. Now, though, it's
clear that the
hitmen and -women charged with carrying out the contract on
America's
environment were acting only partly from ideological zeal.
In most cases, the record shows, they were hired
guns.
It shows how
elected officials
like Reps. Dick Chrysler (R-Mich.), Peter Blute (R-Mass.),
Andrea Seastrand (R-Calif.)
and others not only took polluters' money, but voted
polluters' interests
instead of the public in terest. Specifically, Club
researchers tracked campaign
contributions between November 1993 (before the 104th
Congress) and June
1996 from 660 PACs associated with companies intent on
rolling back
environmental laws. They then examined how the recipients of
this corporate
largesse voted on four key pieces of anti-environmental
legislation in the Gingrich Congress.
Few will be shocked to learn that Big Business has a
disproportionate influence
on our servants in Washington. But in the GOP-led 104th
Congress, notes Carl
Pope, the Club's executive director, "It's the blatant
connection between
dollars from polluters and votes cast against environmental
protection that is
so shocking."
Using figures from the Federal Election Commission, the
study confirms that
"PAC contributions from anti-environmental special interests
were closely
associated with votes in favor of those special interests'
pet legislation." In
particular, Club researchers followed the money trail to
four major anti-environmental measures introduced in the House during this
Congress: so-called regulatory reform, the clearcut logging rider,
clean-water "reform"
(a.k.a. the "Dirty Water Act") and the infamous EPA riders
aimed at restricting
the agency's enforcement powers.
"Not only did these PACS spend big money," the study says,
"they spent it well.
The 229 representatives (37 Democrats and 192 Republicans)
who voted in
favor of the special interests' anti-environmental bills at
least three out of
four times received a total of $29 million" - nearly 75
percent of the $46
million the PACs handed out to members of the 104th
Congress.
Here's the breakdown, bill by bill:
--"Regulatory reform." More than 400 PACs associated with
two industry
coalitions pushing for rollbacks of environmental standards
- the Alliance for
Reasonable Regulation and Project Relief - gave more than
$32 million in
campaign donations. Seventy-five percent of that money went
to House
members who voted for their version of Sen. Bob Dole's
"regulatory reform,"
which would have blocked or effectively repealed an array of
environmental
safeguards.
--Dirty Water Act. House members took almost $19 million
from 272 PACs intent
on gutting the Clean Water Act. More than $13 million went
to representatives
who voted for the 104th Congress' "Dirty Water Act," which
would have
lowered pollution standards for thousands of pollutants and
opened roughly
half of the nation's remaining wetlands to development.
.
--EPA riders. The effort to cripple the Environmental
Protection Agency was
funded by 212 PACs who gave some $18 million in
contributions - $11.4 million
of which went to 209 members who favored 17 legislative
riders to limit the
agency's ability to carry out its mission.
--Logging without laws. Of the nearly $1.2 million in
donations from 51 PACs
affiliated with the nation's largest timber companies, more
than $1 million -
nearly 90 percent - was traced to representatives who voted
in favor of the
devastating "logging without laws" clearcut rider.
"When forced to choose between special interests with cash
and voters with
concerns," concludes the report, "too many members of
Congress decided to
take the money and run from their responsibility to protect
America's
environment for our families, for our future. With elections
just around the
corner, it will be the voters' chance to choose."
For more information: The report is available on the Club's
World Web Site at
http://www.sierraclub.org/politics/
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