George Bush is reversing thirty years of environmental policies that have protected America's public health and safety.

The Bush Administration has crippled provisions in the landmark Clean Air Act, rolled back important regulations, and proposed drilling in the pristine Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

George Bush Rolled Back The Clean Air Act Causing Premature Deaths and Illness.
It is estimated that pollution from power plants causes over 30,000 premature deaths, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks, and millions of days of illness and lost work each year. Years of scientific evidence have shown that the effects of pollutants spewed by dirty power plants are more widespread and more hazardous than we first thought. In addition to cutting visibility in our national parks and contaminating our rivers and streams with acid rain, emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides create concentrations of fine particles and smog that are literally killing Americans.

Instead of protecting public health, George Bush rolled back and undermined our most important safeguard from industrial air pollution, the Clean Air Act. Breaking a campaign promise to clean up the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants, the Bush Administration has fought to weaken protections that would require the use of modern pollution control technology and has undercut pending lawsuits against polluters. George Bush's so-called "Clear Skies" proposal, will result in over 21 million tons more pollution than if he simply enforced the Clean Air Act. Compared to an alternate EPA plan, rejected by the White House, the Bush plan will result in over 100,000 more premature deaths and millions of added cases of asthma and other serious illnesses.

George Bush's Mercury Plan Endangers The Health Of Mothers And Children.
1 of every 12 women of childbearing age has enough mercury in her bloodstream from eating contaminated fish to threaten fetal health. The EPA estimates that every year, more than one child in six could be at risk for developmental disorders because of mercury exposure in the mother's womb. These neurological problems include attention and language deficits, impaired memory, inability to process and recall information, and impaired visual and motor function. Since the primary sources of mercury in fish are power plant emissions that contaminate our water, regulation of utility emissions is essential to protecting the health of our children.

George Bush has an inadequate plan for dealing with mercury contamination and has not been forthcoming about the health effects of mercury. The Clinton Administration took this threat seriously and proposed a responsible cut of 90 percent in mercury emissions by 2008, but the Bush Administration's proposal requires only a 70 percent reduction, and not until 2018 jeopardizing women and children. Even worse, the Administration lifted crucial paragraphs of the mercury regulation from memos written by corporate polluters. And EPA drafts show that the White House edited the regulation to downplay the health effects of mercury. In fact, five EPA staffers recently revealed that they were instructed not to undertake routine studies of the plan's economic and health impacts.

George Bush Allowed Dangerous Toxins To Remain In Our Communities.
The chemical MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), which has been added to gasoline since the late 1970s, has contaminated drinking water in at least 28 states. Having shown that MTBE causes cancer in animals, the EPA considers it a potential human carcinogen. Small amounts of MTBE are enough to make water undrinkable because of a harsh odor and a turpentine-like taste. A 2003 study found MTBE in 86 percent of wells sampled in industrial areas nationwide and 23 percent of wells in residential areas.

In 2001, the EPA proposed banning MTBE because the "use of MTBE as an additive in gasoline presents an unreasonable risk to the environment." Many states already banned MTBE while others have sued oil and chemical companies for cleanup costs. The Bush Administration, in yet another action to put the interests of big oil over the interest of public health, shelved the nationwide ban. Bush has strongly supported legislation that would delay the ban on MTBE for at least 10 years and would shield manufacturers of the chemical from having to pay the clean up costs forcing taxpayers to pick up the $30 billion tab.

George Bush Passed The Burden Of Cleaning Toxic Sites From Polluters To Taxpayers.
One fourth of Americans live within four miles of a superfund site, the nation's worst toxic waste sites. (US PIRG) George W. Bush has refused to reauthorize the tax on polluting industries to fund the cleanup of toxic waste sites, effectively slowing the pace of waste site cleanups and letting polluting industries off the hook. Since the Superfund tax expired in 1995, industry has saved $10 billion, shifting the burden to citizen taxpayers. (Sierra Club) The Superfund program has completed cleanup work on about 86 contaminated sites per year since 1996. However, in just the first year of the Bush administration, the number of completed cleanup sites has dropped by almost 40 percent and may decrease by half, to less than 40 completed sites per year. The EPA estimates that more than 112,000 sites still need cleanups. Cleaning up these toxic sites will cost billions of dollars.

George Bush Slashed Funding For The States To Reduce Sources Of Pollution And Clean These Lakes And Streams.
45 percent of the nation's lakes and 40 percent of the nation's streams remain too polluted for fishing or swimming. George Bush has made it harder for states to address this problem.

Bush has also failed to take responsibility for the growing national needs of communities to protect and restore their watersheds. His budget also reduces the funding available to states and municipalities for improving storm water systems and reducing pollution in the rivers and streams. The budget cuts include deep cuts from the non-point source pollution control program, which deals with pollution running off of farms, feedlots, parking areas, and other sources. The Bush Administration is ignoring its own research and denying federal responsibility for the hundreds of billions of dollars that are needed to update aging infrastructure in order to keep our streams and rivers clean and disease-free.

George Bush Broke His 2000 Election Campaign Promise To "Restore And Renew" America's National Parks.
According to a recent report by the National Parks Conservation Association, under funding our parks is forcing severe cuts that threaten resources and undermine visitors' enjoyment.