theoriginalblurker | Bush on the Environment

The Environmental Protection Agency agreed to weaken an important part of its new smog requirements after being told at the last minute that President Bush preferred a less stringent approach, according to government documents.

The memos and documents indicate that EPA officials had wanted to make the public welfare standard more stringent than the health standard, although still not as protective as some scientists had recommended.

But the White House insisted on making both standards identical, according to the documents. When EPA officials balked, the issue went to Bush, who sided with his budget office.

The White House defended Bush's action.

"This is not a weakening of regs (regulations) or standards," White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday. "But it was an effort to make the standards consistent. There's no question we have an interest in how federal regs impact communities."

"Never before has a president personally intervened at the 11th hour, exercising political power at the expense of the law and science, to force EPA to accept weaker air quality standards than the agency chief's expert scientific judgment had led him to adopt," said John Walke, clean air director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a private advocacy group. "It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference."

I've been whining about GWB's record on the environment since his 2002 State of the Union address in which he proposed the ironically named Clear Skies legislation which "reduced" pollution levels by allowing industry to police themselves, effectively destroying the Clean Air Act . I have refused to watch any SotU speech since.

Let's just take a look at the environmental records for the top three potential presidents (from the League of Conservation Voters):

Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
John McCain

Any questions?