Another true Republican has his name scrawled on the
John O'Neill Wall of Heroes...
Erik Stetson, Associated Press: One of the
Environmental Protection Agency’s earliest leaders,
flanked by Republican state politicians, blasted the
president’s record on the environment Monday during a
news conference organized by an anti-Bush
environmental group.
Russell Train, a Republican, was the EPA’s second
chief under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
But he said Bush’s record is so dismal he’s casting
his presidential vote for Democrat John Kerry in
November.
"It’s almost as if the motto of the administration
in power today in Washington is not environmental
protection, but polluter protection," he said. "I find
this deeply disturbing."
Save the Environment, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
Republicans Blast President Bush on Environment
By Erik Stetson
The Associated Press
Tuesday 20 July 2004
Concord, New Hampshire - One of the Environmental
Protection Agency’s earliest leaders, flanked by
Republican state politicians, blasted the president’s
record on the environment Monday during a news
conference organized by an anti-Bush environmental
group.
Russell Train, a Republican, was the EPA’s second
chief under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
But he said Bush’s record is so dismal he’s casting
his presidential vote for Democrat John Kerry in
November.
"It’s almost as if the motto of the administration
in power today in Washington is not environmental
protection, but polluter protection," he said. "I find
this deeply disturbing."
Bush supporters defended the president’s record.
Tom Thomson, owner of Thomson Family Tree Farm in
Orford, praised the Healthy Forests Initiative as good
legislation that protects loggers as well as forests.
He predicted current policies would have positive
long-term effects.
Bush "has made progress over the last four years
giving us cleaner air, water and land," Thomson said
in a statement.
Officials with the state’s Bush-Cheney campaign
said sulfur dioxide emissions are down 9 percent,
while nitrogen oxide emissions are down 13 percent.
They added that the 2002 Farm Bill set aside more than
$40 billion in conservation funding.
Environment2004, the environmental group, released
a report Monday titled "Damaging the Granite State."
It criticizes presidential policies on energy, global
warming, toxic waste and air and water pollution.
"It is the worst record in modern history,
unfortunately," said Aimee Christensen, the group’s
executive director. "They are systematically weakening
our keystone public health protections and undermining
decades of bipartisan leadership on the environment."
The report faults Bush’s energy policy, for
example, for slashing renewable energy funding.
According to the report, the cuts are holding back New
Hampshire, which could produce 43 percent of its
energy from wind power. The report also claims the
state could add 5,000 jobs by 2020 with more renewable
energy and efficiency investments.
The report cites such sources as federal and state
agency reports as well as newspaper articles and
advocacy-group studies.
The two Republican state politicians who spoke -
Rep. Jim Pilliod, a pediatrician, and former Sen. Rick
Russman, who once headed the Senate Environmental
Committee, did not endorse Kerry. They said they
participated to stress the importance of environmental
issues.
Russman said funding was cut for cleanup work at
two of the state’s 19 Superfund sites. He also said
the administration’s standards would delay mercury
emissions cleanup until at least 2018. Pilliod added
that mothers and children are particularly vulnerable
to mercury pollution.
Train also accused Bush of letting weakening the
Clean Air Act. The record, he added, falls short of
those set by former Republican presidents ranging from
Theodore Roosevelt, who advocated creating national
parks and forests, to George H.W. Bush, who supported
new anti-air-pollution standards.
The Bush record is "appalling, with very, very few
exceptions," Train said. He described presidential
policies as "geared to rolling back environmental
protections."
Environment2004 has been actively campaigning
against Bush policies and has released a national
report on its Web site criticizing them.
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