2004-09-30

Editorial

America! America! God shed his grace on thee.

O beautiful for halcyon skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the enameled plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee, till souls wax fair as earth and air and music-hearted sea!

As We The People have been focusing on 9/11 and its aftermath and on the subsequent illegal and deadly "shock and awe" escapades overseas undertaken by our irresponsible president and his band of overzealous crackpots, another disaster has been occurring right under our noses. It is a disaster with more far reaching consequences than the 3000 civilians killed in 9/11, the 1000+ U.S. soldiers killed so far in Iraq and, I dare say, the thousands of civilians so far killed in Iraq by both the U.S. and Saddam Hussein.

One could go on at great length about each instance of environmental rape. However, it is only when viewing the entire obscene picture at once that you can really grasp the magnitude of what has been going on. These are not random activities by know-nothings. You can bet that they were all planned before this administration took office.

The information comes from the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and other sources separately identified in the Fiatlux Environment archive. It is presented for educational purposes only (see our Fair Use statement).

Bush Partial Environmental Record 2001-2004

2001

1/20: White House freezes all rules set at end of Clinton term including tougher ones for raw sewage. Bush (B.) proposes opening Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. 2/12: Energy Dept. delays enforcement new efficiency standards for air conditioners. 2/15: EPA delays new rule protecting wetlands from mining and development. 3/7: Fish & Wildlife Service withdraws report calling for protection of endangered salmonids. 3/9: B. appoints oil and mining lobbyist as Secretary of Interior. 3/13: B. reneges on campaign promise to reduce CO2 emissions. 3/16: B. refuses to defend in court rule protecting 58 million acres of wild forest. 3/20: B. withdraws proposed stricter limits on arsenic in drinking water. 3/28: B. rejects Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. 4/9: B. budget proposal cuts $500 million from EPA. B. again pushes to open Arctic Refuge to oil drilling. 5/10: B. administration refuses to name industry participants in Cheney energy task force. 5/12: Bureau of Land Mgt. (BLM) allows continued grazing on endangered-tortoise land in Calif. 5/17: B. releases energy plan heavily favoring fossil fuels and nukes. Forest Service reduces citizen and scientific participation in decision-making. 5/22: EPA officially suspends stricter limits for arsenic in drinking water. 6/19: States and others sue Energy Dept. over air-conditioner rules. 6/21: Timber lobbyist Mark Rey appointed to key post in Forest Service. 7/2: Oil drilling off Florida coast proposed by B. Admin. 7/6: B. reduces funding for greenhouse gas reductions in developing countries. 7 /23: B. budget proposes cutting 270 EPA inspector jobs. 8/2: Army Corps of Engineers kills plan to protect Missouri River wildlife by changing stream flows. Aug 8: Army Corps of Engineers weakens wetlands protections by slackening permit requirements. 8/12: National forests opened to road building and logging by Forest Service rule change. 8/14: EPA delays tougher rules for toxic power-plant emissions. 8/17: Federal judge's decision to ban drilling off Calif. coast appealed by administration. 8/27: Cattle still grazing on tortoise habitat in Calif. despite BLM agreement to move them. 8/28: Bush admin. proposes missile-defense test installation in Pacific; environmentalists sue. B. admin. reconsiders ban on recycling radioactive metals into consumer products. 9/ 13: EPA lies about Manhattan hazards after 9/11, calls area safe despite extreme toxic pollution. 9/20: Forest Service proposes further reduction in citizen participation in policymaking. 9/ 21: B. uses terrorist attacks as excuse to weaken protection of wetlands. 10/ 25: Interior Dept. weakens mining protections on federal lands. 10/ 31: Arsenic flip-flop. Under public pressure EPA adopts higher standard. 11/ 2: Army Corps of Engineers retreats from policy of "no net loss" of wetlands. 11/ 5: B. signs bill to boost spending on national forests but with harmful logging rules. 11/ 29: Minnesota's Voyageurs National Park reopens winter lakes to snowmobiles. 12/ 3: Army Corps of Engineers decides not to decommission Snake River dams in Pacific Northwest. 12/ 14: Administration announces weaker standards for nuclear waste storage at Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Forest Service announces more road building on undeveloped forest lands.

2002

1/9: Admin. backs hydrogen car research but most hydrogen to come from fossil fuels. 1/10: Study shows big drop in enforcement of environmental laws under Bush. Admin. fights in court for new oil drilling off California coast. 1/14: Report shows interior secretary squelched her own agency's criticism of weaker wetlands rules. Wetland protections weakened nationwide in flip-flop from B. campaign promise. Park service okays more oil drilling in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve. 1/21: BLM preliminarily approves gas drilling in Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, Montana. 1/22: Forest Service sues to overturn ban on salvage logging in Montana's Bitterroot National Forest. 1/ 28: B. supports Cheney's refusal to release secret energy-task-force records. 2/4: B. Slashes environmental education spending. B. budget proposes cutting $1 billion from environmental spending. B. budget proposes $404 million to support timber sales in national forests. 2/11: Environmentalists sue Park Service for allowing motorized vehicles in Georgia wilderness. 2/14: B. gives power plants ten more years to cut mercury and sulfur dioxide emissions. B. unveils global-warming plan that lets CO2 emissions continue at present rate. 2/15: B. endorses plan to store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Forest Service approves mining exploration in Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest. 2/16: B. admin. asks court to delay endangered species protection in California. 2/18: Eric Schaeffer, a top EPA official, resigns in protest of Bush policies. 2/19: Phaseout of snowmobiles in national parks delayed. 2/ 22: BLM proposes to let states allow vehicles in previously off-limits federal lands. 2/23: B. budget asks that taxpayers pay for Superfund cleanups instead of polluters. 2/27: Federal judge orders B. admin. to release Cheney's secret energy-task-force records. 3/12: B. Admin. belatedly complies with court order to protect desert tortoise. 3/18: EPA exempts large category of power plants from lawsuits for Clean Air Act violations. 3/25: Discovery that White House spent $135,612 of clean energy funds to print its energy plan. 3/29: Pentagon seeks exemption from environmental laws. 4/ 1: Admin. misses deadline to boost automobile fuel efficiency. 4/11: Army Corps of Engineers approves mining limestone in 5,400 acres of Florida's everglades. 4/14: B. kills program that funded environ. research for graduate students. 4/22: EPA citizen "watchdog" resigns in protest, charging agency officials muzzled him. 5/3: New EPA rules allow mining operations to dump waste in waterways. 5/13: Admin. asks judge not to limit waste-dumping from mountaintop mines. B. signs farm bill that pays big subsidies to polluting agricultural operations. 5/21: Ban on mining in and around Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest ends. 5/23: Admin. rolls back air-conditioner energy efficiency standards. 5/24: Bush-Putin summit produces nuclear treaty that puts no long-term limit on nuclear weapons. Admin. drops plan for contractors to put environmental protection into projects. 6/3: Oil-drilling leases on more than 500,000 acres in Alaska signed by Interior Dept. 6/7: Interior secretary rejects proposal to limit offshore oil drilling in California. 6/13: Missouri River restoration halted indefinitely by Army Engineers. EPA proposes weakening cleanup rules for 17,000 power plants. Judge halts B. admin. move to end habitat protection on 500,000 acres in Calif. 6/17: Judge rejects Army Engineers plan to allow mine-waste dumping. 6/24: EPA abandons plan to clean up storm-water pollution. 6/25: B. admin. blames wildfires on environmentalists. Snowmobiling allowed to continue in national parks, though with some restrictions. EPA ombudsman testifies B. admin. pressured him to halt study of radiation standards. 7/1: B. admin. cuts funding for toxic cleanups to half of that requested by EPA. B. kills corporate tax on polluters that funds cleanup of toxic waste sites. 7/2: B. admin. rescinds 4 million acres of protection for endangered Calif. frog. 7/10: Judge orders admin. to protect 400,000 Calif. acres for endangered Alameda whipsnake. 7/15: Navy given permit to use low-frequency sonar, a known threat to whales. 7/17: B. opposes Senate bill to require 10% renewable energy by 2020. 7/25: Another top EPA official quits in protest. 7/26: Admin. backs congressional proposal to exempt companies from disclosing hazards. 8/7: EPA proposes weakened water cleanups; asks for "voluntary" efforts. 8/15: Conservatives praise B. for skipping UN World Summit on Sustainable Development. 8/22: Interior Dept. claims new power plant won't harm air at Mammoth Cave National Park, KY. B. calls for increased logging in name of fire prevention. 8/26-9/4: B. only major leader not at UN Summit on Sustainable Development. 8/27: U.S. opposes targets for renewable energy use at UN World Summit. 8/29: Interior Dept. approves billion-dollar plan to store water under Mojave Desert. 8/30: Foe of ecological restoration Alan Fitzsimmons named head of federal wildfire prevention. 9/3: White House asks exemption from Freedom of Information Act in energy-task-force suit. 9/4: Fed. officials reject call to add white marlin to endangered list. 9/9: States EPA air-quality inspections shown to have dropped by 34%. 9/13: EPA weakens proposed pollution standards for off-road vehicles. 9/15: EPA deletes global warming section from pollution report. 9/17: B. replacing most scientists on chemical-hazard panel with those tied to chemical industry. 9/18: B. executive order cuts citizen involvement in review of road and airport projects. 9/21: killing of 34,000 salmonids results from federal diversion of Klamath River water in Oregon. 9/27: Interior secretary okays gold mining on sacred Indian site in CA. 9/30: New EPA water-quality report shows U.S. waters are getting dirtier. 10/1: Fish and Wildlife Service reverses order to increase Missouri River flow to protect species. 10/3: Conservatives urge White House to release $35.5 million in conservation funds for farmlands. 10/4: BLM approves largest oil and gas drilling exploration ever in Utah. 10/8: EPA water administrator says war on terror leaves little money for water cleanup. B. stacks panel on lead poisoning with people tied to the lead industry. Federal workers reveal memo from EPA chief encouraging them to support president when off-duty. 10/9: B. admin. sides with auto industry in suit against CA emission rules. 10/10: Admin. failed to assess vulnerability of chemical facilities to terrorists, GAO says. 10/15: Superfund cleanups drop to 42% per year from average of 76% under Clinton, report shows. 10/16: Judge finds Forest Service violates Endangered Species Act by not protecting spotted-owl habitat. 10/17: B. admin. told by federal judge to release energy documents in Sierra Club lawsuit. 10/31: EPA halts funding at seven Superfund sites. 11/2: B. threatens withdrawal from historic UN population accord. 11/5: Polluters paid 64% less in fines under Bush than in last two Clinton years, report shows. 11/11: B. admin. supports renewed elephant-ivory trade. 11/12: National Park Service proposal would allow 1,100 snowmobiles a day in Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks. 11/21: Natural-gas drilling at Padre Island National Seashore in Texas approved. 11/22: Admin. repeals rules requiring older factories to cut pollution emissions. 11/27: Forest Service proposes rule changes to increase logging, grazing, mining in 192 million acres. 12/2: Admin. defers action on global warming. Admin. plan for oil drilling off CA coast ruled illegal by federal judge. 12/4: B. asks for 5 more years of study before acting on global warming. 12/12: Fed. court rules against admin.; upholds roadless rule for 58.5 million acres. Admin. propoes tiny increase in auto fuel economy- 1.5 mpg in five years. 12/13: Fed. judge blocks Army Engineers Snake River dredging plan in Pacific Northwest. 12/16: EPA's new factory-farm rule favors big agribusiness polluters. 12/20: Fed. judge blocks Interior Dept. from permitting oil exploration in eastern Utah. 12/30: EPA proposes two-year exemption of oil and gas industry from storm-water pollution rules.

2003

1/6: BLM rule change gives states leeway for new roads in wildlands. 1/10: B. budget requests

$56.4 billion for Energy Dept. nuclear weapons activity. B. admin. proposes pulling federal safeguards from 20% of U. S. wetlands. 1/13: Pentagon plans to ask for exemption from environmental laws on millions of acres. 1/16: Environmental personnel scratched from USAID policy bureau. 1/17: Interior Dept. proposes oil exploration on up to 9 million acres of Alaska's North Slope. 1/21: EPA refuses to ban weed-killer atrazine, a possible carcinogen. 1/22: EPA retains unsafe limits for toxic perchlorates. 1/24: Manatees get federal protection thanks to lawsuit settlement. 1/27: B. proposes privatizing thousands of National Park Service jobs. Calif. giant sequoia threatened by Forest Service proposal to resume logging nearby. 1/29: B. admin. wins court ruling that legalizes mountaintop-removal mining permits. 1/30: BLM proposes rollback of Clinton-era restrictions on grazing. Exemptions to phaseout of ozone-destroying methyl bromide planned by B. admin. 2/11: EPA drafts new rules to relax toxic-air pollution standards. 2/20: National Park Service finalizes rules allowing snowmobiles in national parks. 2/25: National Academy of Sciences panel strongly criticizes B. global warming plan. 2/27: B. "Clear Skies" plan allows much more pollution than if Clean Air Act were enforced. Transportation Dept. speeds up environmentally harmful road projects. 2/28: Oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge his "greatest wish" says high-ranking interior official. Wilderness protection for millions of acres of Alaska's Tongass forest rejected by Forest Service. 3/4: National Park Service slaughters 231 Yellowstone bison. 3/7: Paul

Wolfowitz tells military leaders to find reasons to exempt military from environmental rules.

3/10: EPA exempts oil and gas industry from Pres. Clinton's tighter water-pollution rules. 3/13: EPA withdraws another Clinton-era water-pollution cleanup rule. EPA official testifies in Congress in favor of exempting military from environmental laws. 3/18: EPA allows sludge dumping in Potomac River to continue for seven more years. Fish and Wildlife proposes removing protections from endangered wolves. Fed. judge orders Interior Dept. to continue protecting manatees. GAO again criticizes B. admin. for failing to reduce security risks at chemical plants. 3/25: Park Service adopts plan for Yellowstone/Teton allowing 1,100 snowmobiles a day. 4/1: B. admin. drops court battle to allow CA offshore drilling. B. admin. barely raises SUV gas mileage requirements to 1.5 mpg by 2007. 4/3: Bureau of Reclamation again diverts water from Klamath River where salmonid kill occurred. 4/4: New U.S.-Mexico pollution treaty signed, but lacks funding. 4/7: B. admin. asks UN to remove Yellowstone from endangered world heritage status. 4/8: Protection plan for 76-mile stretch of CA coast abandoned by National Park Service. 4/9: Interior Dept. paves way for new roads on federal lands in Utah. 4/10: U.S. Fish and Wildlife signs off on plan to reopen Imperial Sand Dunes to off-road vehicles. 4/20: Toxic cleanups still lagging; 41% fewer Superfund sites cleaned up by EPA, report says. 4/21: Sharp criticism of B. admin. air-pollution policies by independent panel. 4/24: White House unveils pro-industry chemical security bill. 4/28: White House bans EPA from discussing perchlorate pollution. 5/2: Vehicle fuel economy drops to 22-year low of 20.8 mpg says EPA report. Permits for cross-border power lines from Mexican power plants illegal, says Fed. judge. 5/5: Navy's use of sonar causes "stampede"- and possibly death - of marine mammals in Puget Sound. 5/13: Fish & Wildlife signs off on mining in Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. 5/14: B. $247 billion transportation plan slashes environmental protection.

EPA proposes easing, delaying smog-control rules. 5/21: Christine Todd Whitman, embattled EPA chief, resigns. 5/30: Park Service opens Maryland and Virginia's Assateague Island National Seashore to jet skis. Forest-fire plan eliminates environmental review of logging projects under 1,000 acres. 6/2: Energy Dept. announces $2 billion to $4 billion plan to build new "mini" nukes.

6/3: Energy Dept. funds study on how to ease effects of global warming for Alaska oil drillers.

6/5: Forest Service plan would triple logging limits in CA Sierra Nevada. 6/9: USDA reverses Clinton ban on most logging and road building on 58.5 million acres. 6/20: Defense Dept. reneges on plan to test for perchlorate pollution at U.S. bases. 6/23: B. admin. again deletes references to dangers of global warming in EPA report. 6/27: Fed. judge halts timber sale in Montana's Kootenai National Forest. 7/1: Autopsies link Navy sonar to porpoise deaths, environmentalists charge.

7/8: Fed. court rejects Cheney's argument for keeping energy-task-force records secret. 7/12: EPA won't regulate perchlorate and other drinking-water contaminants. 7/17: Energy Dept. lobbies Congress for law to get around court ruling on nuke waste. Fed. judge rules admin. must redo water plan for Oregon/CA Klamath River. 7/22: Army Engineers ruled in contempt for defying order to change Missouri River flows. 7/24: B. admin. softens demand for outsourcing of fed. jobs, including at national parks. 8/8: B. admin. settlement of timber suit could double logging in Northwest. 8/11: B. taps anti-environmental Utah governor Mike Leavitt to head EPA. 8/26: New EPA rules ignore mercury pollution from chlorine plants. 8/27: EPA excludes 17,000 facilities from upgrading pollution controls when installing new equipment. 8/29: U.S. court rules against EPA's loopholes in mountaintop-removal-mining regulations. 9/2: EPA weakens ban on selling polluted sites by reinterpreting law. EPA refuses to regulate ballast-water discharges from ships. 9/4: EPA finds 274 violations of laws for dumping mountaintop-mining debris. 9/22: White House's own study concludes benefits of environmental regulations far outweigh costs. 9/23: Forest Service estimates $2 million lost in timber sale from Alaska's Tongass. 9/24: White House recommendations would undermine public participation in environmental planning. 9/25: EPA proposes deal that would let polluting factory farms avoid prosecution. 10/1: B. fails to renew energy conservation program that saved government $300 million a year. 10/6: EPA rules that farmers can't sue pesticide makers if chemicals fail to meet stated claims. 10/10: Interior Dept. overturns limits on acreage where gold mines can dump waste. Judge orders Interior Dept. to stop stalling on owl habitat protection. EPA proposal to allow warmer waters behind Oregon dams threatens salmonids. EPA inspector general criticizes agency for lax enforcement. 10/13: B. admin. proposes lifting ban on importing endangered species. $18.6 million Forest Service study says outsourcing jobs would rarely be cost-effective. 10/17: EPA announces it will not regulate dioxins in sewage sludge dumped on land. 10/31: EPA declines to restrict use of pesticide atrazine. 11/4: Superfund cleanups lag for third straight year. Environmentalists criticize revised everglades-recovery plan for failing to ensure natural water flow. 11/13: Park Service workers charge that Bush policies will "destroy the grand legacy of our national parks." 11/14: B. admin. loses bid to increase ozone-depleting methyl bromide. 11/18: Admin. admits blame for killing of 34,000 salmonids in Klamath River. EPA proposes looser regulations on dumping low-level radioactive waste in landfills.

12/3: Bush signs "Healthy Forests" bill: more logging, less species protection on millions of acres.

12/4: EPA seeks to reclassify mercury as "nontoxic." 12/5: BLM proposes weakening rules for grazing livestock on federal land. 12/9: Federal violation notices to polluters down almost 60%; almost 30% fewer fines. 12/16: White House abandons plans to weaken Clean Water Act protections for wetlands. 12/17: Fed. judge overturns admin. decision not to protect orcas in Puget Sound. 12/19: Forest Service opens grizzly bear habitat to snowmobiles in Montana's Flathead National Forest. 12/23: Forest Service continues to allow logging in Alaska's Tongass, world's largest temperate rainforest. 12/24: Fed. court blocks EPA plan to weaken Clean Air Act by exempting power plants from review.

2004

1/1: Only 50 companies agree to B. admin. voluntary plan to cut global warming emissions.

1/7: White House proposes overturning ban on mining near streams. 1/8: $175 million Superfund shortfall prevents cleanups at 11 sites, slows down others. 1/9: Pentagon to seek more environmental exemptions. Forest Service limits citizens' right to challenge logging plans by appeal or in court.

1/11: Fed. court overturns admin. weakening of energy efficiency for air conditioners.

1/21: Interior secretary asks to triple number of gas-drilling permits in Wyoming. 1/22: EPA scales back monitoring of smokestack pollution. Interior Dept. opens 9 million acres on Alaska's North Slope to oil drilling. 1/23: Forest Service plans to boost logging on up to 3.2 million acres of Appalachian forests. 1/27: White House says EPA doesn't have to study pesticide effects on imperiled wildlife. 1/29: Bush admin. proposes letting contractors police federal nuclear-plant safety. 1/30: Parts of EPA's mercury-pollution plan lifted verbatim from industry memos. 2/2: B. budget proposes $10 million cut in funds for endangered species. 2/5: EPA says 630,000 children, twice as many as previously thought, in danger from mercury exposure. 2/6: Clean Air Act changes undermining enforcement, says former EPA official. 2/9: Energy development allowed inside Colorado and Utah's Dinosaur National Monument. 2/11: Forest Service plan allows mining, drilling in Alabama's national forests. 2/13: EPA no longer to require "worse case" scenarios from industry. 2/15: Forest Service allows poisoning of prairie dogs in four states. 2/16: White House ignores threat from gasoline additive MTBE. 2/18: U.S. Navy plans to dredge endangered turtle habitat in Key West. 20 Nobel-winning scientists say admin. distorts science for political gain.

2/24: Fed. mine-safety official demoted after questioning mine accident investigation. 2/27: Missouri River mgt. plan ignores fish protections. 3/3: Bush admin. proposes to relax rules on killing wolves in Idaho and Montana. 3/9: 358 conservation scientists urge admin. to halt plan to import endangered species. 3/10: Forest Service hires PR firm to promote Sierra Nevada plan that would triple logging. 3/11: EPA inspector says agency's rosy drinking-water assessment used false data. 3/12: Forest Service relents: no snowmobiles in grizzly habitat in Montana's Flathead National Forest. 3/15: Court rules BLM illegally opened Montana area to off-road vehicles. 3/16: EPA approves plan to inject toxic waste underground in Michigan wells. 3/19: FDA warnings on mercury in tuna not strong enough, scientists charge. 3/24: NRDC sues B. admin. for withholding records on perchlorate in drinking water. 3/25: BLM suspends plans for energy devel. of Colorado and Utah's Dinosaur National Monument. 3/26: Delay in phaseout of dangerous methyl bromide pesticide negotiated by U.S. 3/30: Fed. court orders B. admin. to release forest-planning documents.

3/31: Fed. judge orders Energy Dept. to release more Cheney energy-task-force records. EPA prosecution of environmental crimes even weaker under new administrator. 4/1: B. admin. working behind scenes to weaken European Union chemical safety rules. Mining whistleblower accuses B. admin. of cover-up in huge coal-sludge spill. 4/2: B. admin. sells 155 acres in Colorado to Phelps Dodge Corp. for $875. 4/6: EPA weakens safety rules for rat poison at industry's behest. 4/7: White House downplays effects of mercury from coal-fired power plants. 4/8: Interior secretary allows aerial hunting of Alaska wolves to continue. 4/9: Interior Dept. blocks release of data on oil drilling to Environmental Working Group. 4/11: B. admin. budget asks for $35 million cut in lead-poisoning prevention. 4/13: B. admin. spending more on nuclear weapons research than in Cold War, report says. 4/15: Fish & Wildlife Service rejects protection for Yellowstone trumpeter swans. 4/19: 39 state attorneys general urge denial of Pentagon's request for environmental exemptions. 4/20: Yellowstone Park employees advised to wear ear protection from snowmobile noise. 4/22: National Council of Churches strongly criticizes B. air-pollution policies. 4/28: USDA weakens organic food standards, allowing hormones, feed raised with pesticides. Interior Dept. proposes limits on designation of critical habitat for endangered species. 4/29: Report shows that more than half of all Americans live in areas with hazardous levels of smog. 5/12: Scientists say Yucca Mountain nuclear facility could leak far sooner than Energy Dept. claims. 5/21: Whistle-blowing Fed. biologist quits over politicized decision-making. EPA officials with timber ties weaken toxic formaldehyde standards for plywood industry. 5/26: USDA backs down, keeps organic food standards. 5/27: U.S. Army retracts order to cut some environmental-protection practices. 5/28: Army Engineers lets sewers, ditches "mitigate" loss of streams to mountaintop-removal mining. A dozen major national parks hit by cutbacks to visitor services and staffing. 6/1: Fed. court rejects EPA's proposed snowmobile standards. Admin. delays greater protection to marbled murrelet to benefit timber industry. 6/2: Exemption of military from migratory-bird-protection rules proposed by admin. New EPA rules allow more fine-particle pollution from 1,000 industrial plants. 6/3: B. 2005 budget zeroes out funding for research on abrupt climate change. 6/7: B. wins ruling to allow Mexican trucks into U.S. without meeting clean-air standards. 6/8: Reduction in Snake and Columbia River water releases, harming Northwest salmon, announced. 6/15: Admin's pro-nuke, pro-oil energy proposal stalled in Congress. 6/23: Executive Order 12958 gives EPA authority to classify documents. 6/24: Supreme Court ruling allows Cheney to keep energy-task force secrets until after election. 7/4: Bush follows demands of donors on Global Warming. 7/8: B. team pushes one of the biggest timber sales in U.S. history under guise of fire protection. 7/12: Admin. to eliminate Clinton era roadless rule, ending protections for 58.5 million acres. 7/16: Fish & Wildlife Service to end protection for eastern wolves and abandon reintroduction plans.

Enough said. A number of people seem to admire Bush's leadership. If the environment is any indication, leadership into oblivion, perhaps. I feel that this is intolerable and that if not stopped, the future of our country, meaning of today's children, will be very dark indeed. If you feel the same way, you know what to do. Election Day is Nov. 2nd.