Bush's newest attack on air quality and national parks
In one stroke, the Bush administration has launched fresh attacks on two of its favorite targets -- air quality and the national parks:
The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing new air-quality rules that would make it easier to build coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters near national parks and wilderness areas, even though half of the EPA's 10 regional administrators formally dissented from the decision and four others criticized the move in writing.
Documents obtained by The Washington Post show that the administration's push to weaken Clean Air Act protections for "Class 1 areas" nationwide has sparked fierce resistance from senior agency officials. All but two of the regional administrators objecting to the proposed rule are political appointees.
Note that last paragraph; even Bush's own appointees think this administration has gone too far.
Mark Wenzler, of the National Parks Conservation Association, said this:
"The administration's staunch commitment to coal is so deep that they're willing to sacrifice our national parks on the way out the door."
January 20, 2009 cannot come soon enough.