Dubya's Anti-Environmental Legacy

George W. Bush will forever been known as America's worst President when it comes to environmental concerns.

Let's put aside for one moment (a brief one, please) that he was and is utterly incompetent and, how can I put this? A pioneer in the “dumbassery”.

The Bush administration by 2003, just three years into the presidency, initiated more than 200 major rollbacks of America's environmental laws, disregarding the importance of the protection of the country's and the world's air, water and wildlife. Clouded in carefully chosen rhetoric (obviously engineered by someone far more literate than 'Dubya' himself) designed to deceive the public.

Under the guidance of Republican Frank Luntz, the White House actively hid anti-environmental programs behind misleading and deceitful rhetoric, screcy, stalling and the undermining and discreditting of scientist and environmentalists.

Should this have come as a surprise?
Georgie had the grimmest environmental track record of any governor during his tenure in good ol' oil-rig ridden Texas. The state became the most air and water polluting state and released the most toxic chemicals. He also excused a whole host of coal-burning power plants from complying with the Clean Air Act. The act, set up in 1990, is the law that defines America's Environmental Protection Agency's responsibilities for protecting and improving the nation's air quality and the ozone layer.

Furthermore, the former President's ignorance and the administrations avoidance of the matter has led to other problems not just concerning climate change:
The reliance on fossil fuels that his White House policies encouraged squandered the treasury, entangled the country in foreign was, diminishing international prestige and any moral high-ground and made the USA a target for attacks. It increased the reliance on the Middle East thus empowering his enemies.

When right-wing Republicans won the election of 2000, it marked the start of a dismantling of the infrastructure of the laws and regulations that protect the environment. Bush had barely stepped foot in the White House when lobbyists began work on getting every federal agency that oversees environmental programs to relax the rules aimed at the oil, coal, logging, mining and chemical industries. Penalties imposed for environmental violation plummeted under Bush. His “Healthy Forest” initiative promoted the destructive logging of old-growth forests. His “Clear Skies” program repleated key provisions of the Clean Air Act and allowed more emissions.

Someone clearly wasn't paying attention in their science lessons...

Frank Luntz, on the other hand, must have got an A in bullshitting.

During the Bush administration he urged that “'Climate Change' is less threatening than 'Global Warming'. While global warming has catastrophic connotations attatched to it, climate change suggests a more contollable and less emotional challenge.”

Bullshit by any other name is still bullshit and this shit don't smell so sweet, Mr. Luntz.



I for one am excited to see what changes Obama will bring to the eco-friendly table.

S.Alzuria