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President Bush has revealed his willingness to risk American's health and wild places for the sake of appeasing industry. Consider these actions he took in March:
March 13: Bush's abrupt flip-flop on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants broke a campaign promise, undercut Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Whitman, damaged relations with European allies and seriously impaired progress on global warming.
March 15: Bush pushed for more oil drilling in recently designated national monuments, ignoring vast potential for energy conservation and development of clean energy sources.
March 16: Bush announced his decision to suspend rules on roadless areas in national forests, possibly signaling his intention to reverse the regulations entirely.
March 20: Bush announced his decision not to tighten standards on arsenic in drinking water, thereby exposing 12.7 million Americans to additional risks for cancer and other diseases. The EPA said further public comment is needed, despite the past 25 years of study, public comment and missed statutory deadlines.
March 21: President Bush's Interior Department announced its intention to reverse requirements that mining operations post a bond equal to estimated cleanup costs. That means more mining companies will be allowed to go bankrupt, leaving taxpayers to clean up their messes.
March 27: Bush's EPA stated it opposes the 1997 Kyoto global-warming treaty, under which the United States would have to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other pollutants by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. In a letter to four conservative senators, Bush said the agreement would harm the U.S. economy.
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