Liberal Repercussion

NRDC's Timeline of the Bush Environmental Record

Dateline: April 22, 2004

2004
April

Bush budget cuts lead poisoning prevention funding
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_04.asp (04/11/04)
White House altered scientific findings on mercury
threat
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_04.asp (04/07/04)
Pentagon again seeking immunity from environmental laws
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_04.asp (04/06/04)
Investigator resigns in protest over Interior's
cheating Native Americans out of energy royalties
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_04.asp (04/06/04)
Mining company gets price break on federal land
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_04.asp (04/02/04)

March

Court orders Energy Department to release more Cheney
task force records
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_03.asp (03/31/04)
EPA chief Leavitt failing to lay down the law
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_03.asp (03/31/04)
Yellowstone bison slaughtered to please ranchers
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_03.asp (03/31/04)
EPA letting Clean Water Act violators off the hook
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_03.asp (03/30/04)
EPA uses utility company memos to craft controversial
mercury policy
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_03.asp (03/30/04)
Interior Dept. defends loosening of ESA import ban
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_03.asp (03/29/04)
Montreal Protocol shirked for U.S. pesticide interests
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_03.asp (03/26/04)
Army Corps bends to pressure on Missouri River
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_03.asp (03/26/04)

February

More drilling slated for Padre Island
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_02.asp (02/27/04)
DOE holds nuke cleanup funds hostage
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_02.asp (02/26/04)
More industry materials borrowed by EPA for its mercury rule
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_02.asp (02/26/04)
Missouri River management plan ignores fish protections
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_02.asp (02/26/04)
Fish and Wildlife Service gives sucker fish a break
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_02.asp (02/25/04)
Bush cuts funding for endangered species
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_02.asp (02/25/04)
Federal mining whistleblower silenced, demoted
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_02.asp (02/24/04)
Get the lead out: EPA fails to protect D.C.
drinking water
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_02.asp (02/23/04)

January

EPA's mercury pollution plan mirrors industry's recommendations
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_01.asp (01/30/04)
Bush administration leaves nuclear plant safety up to contractors
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_01.asp (01/29/04)
Energy Department promoting carbon sequestration
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_01.asp (01/27/04)
White House wants to let EPA ignore pesticide
consultations
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_01.asp (01/27/04)
EPA touts new, cleaner cars
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_01.asp (01/26/04)
White House offers small funding boost for
Northwest salmon recovery
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_01.asp (01/26/04)
(((Hey wait a minute == those sound like two
rather nice things there. What gives?)))


Forest Service to boost logging in Appalachian forests
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_01.asp (01/23/04)
Forest Service drops "survey and manage" rule for
loggers
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2004_01.asp (01/23/04)

2003
December

Federal court blocks EPA plan to cripple Clean Air Act
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_12.asp (12/24/03)
Court blocks Bush administration's Clean Air Act
changes
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_12.asp (12/24/03)
EPA revs up motorcycle pollution plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_12.asp (12/23/03)
Another senior EPA official resigns in protest
to Bush administration policies
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_12.asp (12/23/03)
Forest Service clears way for logging in Tongass
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_12.asp (12/23/03)
Bush administration streamlining oil and gas permits
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_12.asp (12/23/03)
Forest Service opens grizzly bear habitat
to snowmobiles
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_12.asp (12/22/03)
New EPA mercury rule fails to account for
'lost' emissions
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_12.asp (12/19/03)

November

Bush administration finally takes blame for Klamath
fish kill
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_11.asp (11/18/03)
Judge criticizes White House pro-industry
mining rules
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_11.asp (11/18/03)
EPA moves to fill landfills with radioactive waste
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_11.asp (11/18/03)
Bush administration seeks increase in use of
ozone-depleting pesticide
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_11.asp (11/14/03)
Park Service workers speak out against Bush policies
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_11.asp (11/13/03)
EPA considers exempting small business from
toxic release reporting
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_11.asp (11/12/03)
Revised Everglades recovery plan not worth the wait
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_11.asp (11/04/03)
Superfund cleanups lag for third straight year
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_11.asp (11/04/03)

October

White House considers dropping some fish
protections to promote logging
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_10.asp (10/31/03)
EPA tricks public, treats industry on
dangerous pesticide
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_10.asp (10/31/03)
Bush administration ignores damming evidence
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_10.asp (10/29/03)
EPA refuses to tackle rising mercury pollution
in Great Lakes region
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_10.asp (10/29/03)
EPA may allow continued phosphate dumping in
Gulf of Mexico
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_10.asp (10/28/03)
Costly USFS and BLM outsourcing studies prove unhelpful
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_10.asp (10/23/03)
EPA changes rule to exempt hazardous waste
requirements
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_10.asp (10/23/03)
EPA developing ways around the Clean Water Act
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_10.asp (10/22/03)

September

EPA to issue daily air quality alerts
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_09.asp (09/30/03)
White House study: benefits of environmental
regulation far outweigh costs
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_09.asp (09/29/03)
BLM opens millions of acres of wilderness
to energy development
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_09.asp (09/29/03)
EPA strikes deal with polluting factory farms
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_09.asp (09/25/03)
White House recommendations could shut the public
out of environmental review
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_09.asp (09/24/03)
GAO finds that energy production pollutes
wildlife refuges
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_09.asp (09/24/03)
Corps of Engineers violates judge's ruling,
won't lower Missouri River flows for wildlife
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_09.asp (09/24/03)
Forest Service to sell Tongass timber at a loss
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_09.asp (09/23/03)

August

EPA passes the buck on regulating global
warming pollution from cars
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_08.asp (08/28/03)
EPA on global warming gases: Bring 'em on!
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_08.asp (08/28/03)
EPA officially rolls back Clean Air Act protections
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_08.asp (08/27/03)
New EPA rules ignore mercury pollution from
chlorine plants
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_08.asp (08/27/03)
Corporations shaped Bush energy policy, GAO says
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_08.asp (08/25/03)
Park Service spending less than promised
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_08.asp (08/21/03)
Oily deal on offshore drilling rights
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_08.asp (08/21/03)
President making empty promises on parks funding,
critics say
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_08.asp (08/15/03)

July

EPA hides research on Senate clean air plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_07.asp (07/30/03)
Bush administration taking on illegal logging abroad
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_07.asp (07/29/03)
U.S. Forest Service exempts some logging projects
from environmental review
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_07.asp (07/29/03)
Forest Service rewriting Yellowstone plans
with a grizzly ending
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_07.asp (07/26/03)
Out with outsourcing, Bush administration decides
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_07.asp (07/25/03)
EPA reconsidering proposal to weaken Clean Air Act
rule
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_07.asp (07/25/03)
Criticism forces NPS not to raid Mount Rainier
repair funds
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_07.asp (07/24/03)
Bush climate plan all study, no action
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_07.asp (07/24/03)

June

EPA rejects temporary ozone waiver for power plants
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_06.asp (06/26/03)
Bush administration calls for more gas drilling
on public lands
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_06.asp (06/24/03)
White House whitewashes EPA environment report
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_06.asp (06/23/03)
Fish and Wildlife Service reduces protected
habitat for threatened mouse by half
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_06.asp (06/23/03)
EPA concerned about Yellowstone snowmobiles
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_06.asp (06/21/03)
DOD reneges on plan to test for perchlorate
pollution at U.S. bases
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_06.asp (06/20/03)
BLM vows to fix maligned land appraisal process
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_06.asp (06/19/03)
Bush administration undermines critical
habitat designations
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_06.asp (06/18/03)

May

White House buries mountaintop mining regulation
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_05.asp (05/30/03)
White House forest-fire plan axes
environmental protections
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_05.asp (05/30/03)
Park Service opens Maryland seashore to Jet Skis
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_05.asp (05/30/03)
Interior giving up on endangered species protection
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_05.asp (05/29/03)
EPA failing to keep track of water quality
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_05.asp (05/27/03)
BLM opens fragile dunes ecosystem to
off-road recreation
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_05.asp (05/23/03)
BLM vows to fix flawed land-exchange program
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_05.asp (05/23/03)
Bush administration cuts wildlife protection,
boosts logging in Northwest forests
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_05.asp (05/23/03)

April

EPA reports record drop in fuel economy
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_04.asp (04/30/03)
BLM approves Powder River Basin development
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_04.asp (04/30/03)
White House bans EPA from discussing
perchlorate pollution
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_04.asp (04/28/03)
EPA Administrator Whitman misusing agency
investigators
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_04.asp (04/26/03)
White House says "ready, aim, shoot" on wilderness
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_04.asp (04/25/03)
Fish and Wildlife Service holds the line on
habitat protection plans for imperiled wildlife
in California
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_04.asp (04/24/03)
White House unveils its pro-industry chemical
security bill


http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_04.asp (04/24/03)
Forest Service permits grazing in violation of
federal law, says judge
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_04.asp (04/24/03)

March

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes
stream protection in Alabama
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_03.asp (03/28/03)
Whitman changes her tune on Pentagon
environmental exemptions
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_03.asp (03/26/03)
Interior Department favors boosting offshore
drilling by reducing corporate costs
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_03.asp (03/26/03)
National Park Service officially adopts
snowmobile plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_03.asp (03/25/03)
EPA backtracks on pledge to close loophole
for California air polluters
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_03.asp (03/25/03)
EPA cooks fish data to allow more pollution
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_03.asp (03/21/03)
GAO slams Bush administration for stalling on
chemical security
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_03.asp (03/18/03)
Interior ordered to continue protecting manatees
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_03.asp (03/18/03)

February

Interior officials escalate rhetoric over
Arctic Refuge
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_02.asp (02/28/03)
Bush administration rejects wilderness protection
in Alaska's Tongass
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_02.asp (02/28/03)
Department of Transportation to expedite
more environmentally harmful road projects
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_02.asp (02/27/03)
Bush administration to build world's first
emission-free power plant (((Wow!)))
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_02.asp (02/27/03)
U.S. EPA seeks to weaken endangered-species
protections
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_02.asp (02/27/03)
Bush air pollution plan weakens current law,
threatens public health
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_02.asp (02/27/03)
Bush administration flunking on salmon recovery
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_02.asp (02/26/03)
Bush administration sets sights on drilling
in Western Arctic Reserve
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_02.asp (02/26/03)

January

New EPA air rules for ocean vessels too weak
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_01.asp (01/31/03)
GAO faults EPA oversight on factory farms
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_01.asp (01/31/03)
Bush administration seeks waiver on
ozone-destroying pesticide
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_01.asp (01/30/03)
BLM putting grazing restrictions out to pasture
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_01.asp (01/30/03)
Bush snowmobile decision defies logic,
not to mention scientific findings
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_01.asp (01/30/03)
Polluting industries getting off easier
under Bush administration
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_01.asp (01/29/03)
Sierra Nevada forest protections under fire
by Bush administration
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_01.asp (01/29/03)
Bush administration wins court victory on
mountaintop removal mining
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003_01.asp (01/29/03)
2002

December

EPA exempts oil and gas industry from stormwater
pollution rules
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_12.asp (12/30/02)
Bush administration backtracking on policy of
'no net loss" of wetlands
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_12.asp (12/26/02)
Judge deals setback to Bush oil drilling plans
in Utah
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_12.asp (12/23/02)
Bush administration weakens federal program
for cleaning up dirty waters
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_12.asp (12/21/02)
Judge slaps restraining order on plan to dredge
Snake River
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_12.asp (12/20/02)
BLM denies drilling access in Colorado
wildlife range
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_12.asp (12/20/02)
Judge gives Department of Interior extension
on manatee plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_12.asp (12/19/02)
White House begins process of relaxing
government regulations for industry
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_12.asp (12/19/02)

November

Forest Service rewriting rules to increase
logging, remove wildlife safeguards
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_11.asp (11/26/02)
Bush administration wants to expedite logging
at expense of fish in Northwest forests
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_11.asp (11/25/02)
EPA proposes weakening of Clean Air Act
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_11.asp (11/22/02)
Bush administration opens national park to
drilling
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_11.asp (11/22/02)
Interior plans to limit environmental reviews
for grazing
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_11.asp (11/18/02)
EPA agrees to clean up smog pollution
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_11.asp (11/14/02)
Bush administration outlines steps for
nuclear security
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_11.asp (11/14/02)
Bush administration reverses snowmobile ban
for national parks
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_11.asp (11/12/02)

October

EPA halts funding at several Superfund sites
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_10.asp (10/31/02)
Bush administration doles out political treats
on Halloween
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_10.asp (10/31/02)
EPA set to launch new study on causes of asthma
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_10.asp (10/31/02)
Interior Department finally designates
manatee-protection zones
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_10.asp (10/31/02)
Interior Department joining fight for Nevada
cat litter mine
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_10.asp (10/31/02)
Energy Task Force: Tsk, Tsk, Tsk
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_10.asp (10/30/02)
Interior Department to oppose commercial whaling
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_10.asp (10/30/02)
EPA approves Louisiana's controversial
pollution-trading program
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_10.asp (10/29/02)

September

New EPA water quality report shows U.S. waters
are getting dirtier
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_09.asp (09/30/02)
Bush administration rewriting rules to boost
logging in Northwest
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_09.asp (09/30/02)
Bush administration relinquishing federal
water rights
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_09.asp (09/30/02)
Bush administration revives controversial California
gold mine
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_09.asp (09/27/02)
Bush administration plans to lift federal protection
on wolves
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_09.asp (09/25/02)
Bush administration to reconsider Clean Water Act
protections
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_09.asp (09/19/02)
Forest Service smoothing the rails for Bush's
logging proposals
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_09.asp (09/19/02)
Bush orders agencies to streamline environmental
review of transportation projects
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_09.asp (09/18/02)

August

Bush's new wildfire expert no friend of forests
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_08.asp (08/30/02)
Interior Dept. approves water storage under
Mojave Desert
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_08.asp (08/29/02)
U.S. undermines renewable energy proposal at
World Summit
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_08.asp (08/27/02)
White House Utah drilling plans under fire from
local businesses
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_08.asp (08/26/02)
Bush administration abandons California water plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_08.asp (08/23/02)
Bush calls for increased logging in the name of
fire prevention
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_08.asp (08/22/02)
Interior Department allows more air pollution at national park
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_08.asp (08/22/02)
Bush administration weakens whale protections
that hindered oil and gas industry
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_08.asp (08/22/02)
(((This must surely be the ultimate such headline)))

July

Bush administration supports protecting
endangered foreign fish
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_07.asp (07/31/02)
EPA seeks cleaner motorbikes, boats
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_07.asp (07/29/02)
Bush uses national security to gain
corporate secrecy and immunity
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_07.asp (07/26/02)
Another EPA official resigns in protest over
Bush policies
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_07.asp (07/25/02)
Bush administration plans to give away oil
and coal holdings in Utah
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_07.asp (07/25/02)
Fish and Wildlife Service reneges on
manatee protection plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_07.asp (07/24/02)
Bush's revised Everglades plan falls short
of restoration goals
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_07.asp (07/23/02)
EPA restores some Superfund monies
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_07.asp (07/21/02)

June

Bush slashing EPA funding for toxic cleanups
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_06.asp (06/30/02)
FWS flip-flops on trout protection
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_06.asp (06/26/02)
EPA stymied investigation of Yucca Mountain
radiation standards
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_06.asp (06/25/02)
Snowmobiles to be restricted, not banned
in parks
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_06.asp (06/25/02)
Bush administration blames wildfires
on environmentalists
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_06.asp (06/25/02)
EPA backs off mandatory plan to clean up
stormwater pollution
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_06.asp (06/24/02)
Bush administration backtracks on land preservation
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_06.asp (06/19/02)
Judge rejects Corps request to lift ban on
mining pollution
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_06.asp (06/17/02)

May

Bush blocks Florida Gulf, Glades drilling

http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_05.asp (05/29/02)
Bush administration lets construction companies
off the hook for protecting environment
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_05.asp (05/24/02)
Bush-Putin Summit Produces Deeply Flawed
Nuclear Arms Treaty
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_05.asp (05/24/02)
Bush administration rolls back air conditioner
energy efficiency standards
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_05.asp (05/23/02)
Army Corps of Engineers' flip-flops on project
reviews further damage its credibility
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_05.asp (05/23/02)
Bush administration sends conflicting signal
on Clean Air Act enforcement
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_05.asp (05/21/02)
Bush administration lifts ban on mining in
Oregon national forest
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_05.asp (05/21/02)
Federal scientists say Columbia dredging won't
hurt salmon
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_05.asp (05/20/02)

April

Powder River drilling leases ruled illegal
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_04.asp (04/30/02)
Huge win in the battle over snowmobiles
in national parks
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_04.asp (04/30/02)
NRDC issues subpoena to former head of White House
energy task force
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_04.asp (04/29/02)
White House rejected more stringent EPA air-pollution
proposal before issuing so-called "Clear Skies" plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_04.asp (04/28/02)
Bush administration debates management of monuments
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_04.asp (04/24/02)
Administration establishes habitat protections
for endangered kangaroo rat
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_04.asp (04/23/02)
Norton vows to limit Florida oil drilling
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_04.asp (04/23/02)
EPA watchdog resigns in protest over Bush policies
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_04.asp (04/22/02)

March

BLM proposal could doom California dunes
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_03.asp (03/29/02)
Forest Service reverses mine approval
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_03.asp (03/29/02)
Pentagon seeks exemption from environmental laws
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_03.asp (03/29/02)
Bush administration revisiting Rocky Mountain
Front protections
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_03.asp (03/28/02)
BLM sets sights on drilling Powder River basin
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_03.asp (03/27/02)
Energy Department papers show industry is the
real author of administration's energy policy
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_03.asp (03/27/02)
White House misuses clean energy funds to print
dirty energy plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_03.asp (03/25/02)
Endangered species habitat under attack
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_03.asp (03/19/02)

February

Energy Dept. ordered to release task force
records to NRDC
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_02.asp (02/27/02)
Top EPA official resigns in protest of
Bush's pro-polluter policies
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_02.asp (02/27/02)
Bureau of Reclamation Klamath plan endangers fish
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_02.asp (02/27/02)
EPA official admits that Bush clean air plan
is weak
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_02.asp (02/26/02)
Bush administration intends to shift Superfund
cleanup from polluters to taxpayers
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_02.asp (02/23/02)
BLM rule could block federal land protection
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_02.asp (02/22/02)
Corps doesn't give a dam for Snake River salmon
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_02.asp (02/21/02)
Snowmobile ban dealt another blow
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_02.asp (02/19/02)

January

Court asked to force immediate release of
secret energy task force details
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_01.asp (01/30/02)
Bush administration refusing to release
energy task force records
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_01.asp (01/28/02)
Agency pushes oil exploration near Utah park
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_01.asp (01/24/02)
New NRDC report documents sweeping rollback
of environmental protections by federal agencies
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_01.asp (01/23/02)
Forest Service appeals salvage logging legal decision
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_01.asp (01/22/02)
BLM backs gas drilling in national monument
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_01.asp (01/21/02)
Interior proposes spending boost for refuges
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_01.asp (01/21/02)
Coming Soon: More logging in the Pacific Northwest
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2002_01.asp (01/18/02)
2001

December

Sierra Nevada plan limits logging, grazing
activities in California national forests
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_12.asp (12/27/01)
Forest Service won't allow drilling in
New York's Finger Lakes
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_12.asp (12/18/01)
EPA enlists National Academy of Sciences on
issue of human pesticide studies
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_12.asp (12/14/01)
DOE weakens standards for Yucca nuclear storage
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_12.asp (12/14/01)
NRDC sues Department of Energy to expose
Cheney energy task force secrets
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_12.asp (12/11/01)
Interior calls for fiscal reform of mining law
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_12.asp (12/10/01)
Snowmobile ban unlikely to be implemented
in Yellowstone and Grand Teton
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_12.asp (12/10/01)

November

Voyageurs National Park reopening areas to snowmobiles
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_11.asp (11/29/01)
EPA may lift ban on human testing of pesticides
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_11.asp (11/28/01)
White House plans deep cuts in environmental spending
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_11.asp (11/28/01)
Forest Service makes hasty salvage logging decision,
forces court battle
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_11.asp (11/27/01)
Bush administration shutting down Everglades
restoration office
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_11.asp (11/06/01)
Bush signs Interior bill that boosts spending,
but includes harmful riders
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_11.asp (11/05/01)
Corps of Engineers ignores "no net loss"
wetlands policy
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_11.asp (11/02/01)

October

EPA issues an arsenic-in-tap-water standard
higher than that recommended by public health
advocates
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_10.asp (10/31/01)
Norton Guts Tough Mining Protections
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_10.asp (10/25/01)
EPA considers standards that could slow cleanup
of PCBs in the Hudson River
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_10.asp (10/04/01)
Forest chief asks Norton to end Oregon
mining ban
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_10.asp (10/02/01)
GAO slams Forest Service for poor fiscal management
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_10.asp (10/01/01)

September

White House rule change could inflict
"paralysis by analysis" on regulatory process
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_09.asp (09/24/01)
Corps official uses terrorist attacks as
excuse to weaken environmental protection
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_09.asp (09/21/01)
USFS to reduce public participation
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_09.asp (09/20/01)
DOE to fund biomass research
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_09.asp (09/19/01)
Bush administration wants farm policy overhaul
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_09.asp (09/19/01)
Bush backing away from pledge to clean up
federal facilities
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_09.asp (09/07/01)

August

Bush administration considers disposing of
radioactive waste in consumer products
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_08.asp (08/28/01)
Bush administration seeks to fast-track
missile defense program, but coalition sues
to force drafting of environmental impact statements
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_08.asp (08/28/01)
Norton reneges on agreement to protect endangered
desert tortoise
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_08.asp (08/27/01)
Forest Service stalls roadless protection,
allows logging to continue
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_08.asp (08/22/01)
Bush administration appeals federal judge's
decision to ban drilling off California's coast
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_08.asp (08/17/01)
EPA postpones action on power plants, expected
to favor limited approach
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_08.asp (08/14/01)
Tongass and other forests open to roadbuilding,
logging
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_08.asp (08/12/01)
Army Corps of Engineers to weaken wetlands
protections
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_08.asp (08/08/01)

July

George W. Bush, the "vampire" slayer
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_07.asp (07/31/01)
EPA wants to scrap air pollution regulations
for power plants
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_07.asp (07/26/01)
Bush unlikely to offer alternative global
warming plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_07.asp (07/26/01)
NRDC praises global warming agreement;
calls on Bush to reconsider
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_07.asp (07/23/01)
Norton balks at defending wildlife in the face
of local opposition
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_07.asp (07/23/01)
Bush seeking to weaken federal environmental
enforcement
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_07.asp (07/23/01)
White House favors limiting president's authority
to protect federal lands
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_07.asp (07/17/01)
Bush outlines an 'all talk, no action'
approach to global warming
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_07.asp (07/13/01)

June

President Bush's visit to Department of Energy
a vain attempt to shore up his energy
conservation credentials
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_06.asp (06/28/01)
The Bush-Cheney Energy Plan: Players, Profits
and Paybacks
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_06.asp (06/20/01)
U.S. Department of Energy sued over final rule
on air conditioners
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_06.asp (06/19/01)
Bush will not change fuel efficiency standards
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_06.asp (06/19/01)
NRDC Calls on Bush Administration to Abolish
Current U.S. Nuclear War Plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_06.asp (06/18/01)
BLM upholds "non-controversial" portion of
hard rock mining rules
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_06.asp (06/15/01)
NRDC to President Bush: Get serious about
global warming
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_06.asp (06/11/01)
EPA announces final radiation standards for
Yucca Mountain waste repository
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_06.asp (06/06/01)


May

Bush pledges improvements to maintenance of
national parks
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_05.asp (05/31/01)
EPA moves ahead with Clinton-era rule that
will reduce haze over wildlands
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_05.asp (05/29/01)
Bush administration formally suspends
arsenic-in-drinking-water protections;
NRDC rips decision
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_05.asp (05/22/01)
President Bush releases his energy plan;
NRDC offers a responsible alternative
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_05.asp (05/17/01)
Agriculture secretary undercuts forest management
process
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_05.asp (05/17/01)
BLM fails to comply with agreement to
protect threatened desert tortoises
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_05.asp (05/12/01)
Bush administration won't release information
on industry participants in Cheney energy
task force
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_05.asp (05/10/01)
NRDC's John Adams to President Bush:
Don't take the teeth out of the Clean Air Act
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_05.asp (05/07/01)

April

Cheney sketches out a misguided energy policy
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_04.asp (04/30/01)
Bush administration marks 100 days in office
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_04.asp (04/29/01)
EPA drops objections to Florida rule that
undermines Clean Water Act protections
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_04.asp (04/26/01)
Interior will not reintroduce grizzly bears
into Idaho, Montana wildlands
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_04.asp (04/25/01)
Gale Norton nominates William G. Myers III
as solicitor for Department of the Interior
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_04.asp (04/24/01)
Yellowstone snowmobile ban goes into effect,
but perhaps not for long
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_04.asp (04/23/01)
Bush seeks to relax requirements of
Endangered Species Act
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_04.asp (04/09/01)
Bush supports U.N. treaty on Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs)
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_04.asp (04/09/01)

March

Bush administration suspends the
"contractor responsibility rule"
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_03.asp (03/30/01)
Bush administration rejects Kyoto Protocol
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_03.asp (03/28/01)
Bush administration delays hard-rock mining
regulations that protect watersheds
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_03.asp (03/21/01)
Bush withdraws new arsenic-in-drinking-water
standard
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_03.asp (03/20/01)
Bush administration settles pesticides lawsuit
brought by NRDC against EPA
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_03.asp (03/19/01)
Bush administration seeks to roll back
Roadless Area Conservation Plan
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_03.asp (03/16/01)
Bush retreats from campaign promise to reduce
carbon pollution
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_03.asp (03/13/01)
President nominates J. Steven Griles as
deputy secretary of Interior
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_03.asp (03/09/01)

February

EPA upholds Clinton decision to clean up
diesel pollution
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_02.asp (02/28/01)
Bush administration to try to adjust the
boundaries of 19 new national monuments
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_02.asp (02/20/01)
EPA delays, then upholds, new rule protecting wetlands
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_02.asp (02/15/01)
Administration seeks to weaken efficiency
standards for air conditioners
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_02.asp (02/12/01)

January

Bush seeks to open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to oil development
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_01.asp (01/20/01)
New raw-sewage rules delayed by Bush regulatory freeze
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_01.asp (01/20/01)
White House announces regulatory freeze
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2001_01.asp (01/20/01)

posted by Rei Toei @ 11:15 p.m.

http://www.gregpalast.com

VANISHING VOTES
Nation Magazine, May 17, 2004 Issue

On October 29, 2002, George W. Bush signed the Help America Vote Act
(HAVA). Hidden behind its apple-pie-and-motherhood name lies a nasty
civil rights time bomb...

------------
BOOK TOUR 2004
Fri., May 7 - L.A. @ Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 7 PM
Sun., May 9 - San Diego @ First Unitarian Universalist Church, 7 PM
Wed., May 12 - D.C. @ Univ. of D.C., 7 PM
------------

First, the purges. In the months leading up to the November 2000
presidential election, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, in
coordination with Governor Jeb Bush, ordered local election supervisors to
purge 57,700 voters from the registries, supposedly ex-cons not allowed
to vote in Florida. At least 90.2 percent of those on this "scrub" list,
targeted to lose their civil rights, are innocent. Notably, more than
half--about 54 percent--are black or Hispanic. You can argue all night
about the number ultimately purged, but there's no argument that this
electoral racial pogrom ordered by Jeb Bush's operatives gave the White
House to his older brother. HAVA not only blesses such purges, it
requires all fifty states to implement a similar search-and-destroy mission
against vulnerable voters. Specifically, every state must, by the 2004
election, imitate Florida's system of computerizing voter files. The law
then empowers fifty secretaries of state--fifty Katherine Harrises--to
purge these lists of "suspect" voters.

The purge is back, big time. Following the disclosure in December 2000
of the black voter purge in Britain's Observer newspaper, NAACP lawyers
sued the state. The civil rights group won a written promise from
Governor Jeb and from Harris's successor to return wrongly scrubbed citizens
to the voter rolls. According to records given to the courts by
ChoicePoint, the company that generated the computerized lists, the number of
Floridians who were questionably tagged totals 91,000. Willie Steen is
one of them. Recently, I caught up with Steen outside his office at a
Tampa hospital. Steen's case was easy. You can't work in a hospital if
you have a criminal record. (My copy of Harris's hit list includes an
ex-con named O'Steen, close enough to cost Willie Steen his vote.) The
NAACP held up Steen's case to the court as a prime example of the voter
purge evil.

The state admitted Steen's innocence. But a year after the NAACP won
his case, Steen still couldn't register. Why was he still under
suspicion? What do we know about this "potential felon," as Jeb called him?
Steen, unlike our President, honorably served four years in the US
military. There is, admittedly, a suspect mark on his record: Steen remains an
African-American.

If you're black, voting in America is a game of chance. First, there's
the chance your registration card will simply be thrown out. Millions
of minority citizens registered to vote using what are called
motor-voter forms. And Republicans know it. You would not be surprised to learn
that the Commission on Civil Rights found widespread failures to add
these voters to the registers. My sources report piles of dust-covered
applications stacked up in election offices.

Second, once registered, there's the chance you'll be named a felon. In
Florida, besides those fake felons on Harris's scrub sheets, some
600,000 residents are legally barred from voting because they have a
criminal record in the state. That's one state. In the entire nation 1.4
million black men with sentences served can't vote, 13 percent of the
nation's black male population.

At step three, the real gambling begins. The Voting Rights Act of 1965
guaranteed African-Americans the right to vote--but it did not
guarantee the right to have their ballots counted. And in one in seven cases,
they aren't.

Take Gadsden County. Of Florida's sixty-seven counties, Gadsden has the
highest proportion of black residents: 58 percent. It also has the
highest "spoilage" rate, that is, ballots tossed out on technicalities: one
in eight votes cast but not counted. Next door to Gadsden is
white-majority Leon County, where virtually every vote is counted (a spoilage
rate of one in 500).

How do votes spoil? Apparently, any old odd mark on a ballot will do
it. In Gadsden, some voters wrote in Al Gore instead of checking his
name. Their votes did not count.

Harvard law professor Christopher Edley Jr., a member of the Commission
on Civil Rights, didn't like the smell of all those spoiled ballots. He
dug into the pile of tossed ballots and, deep in the commission's
official findings, reported this: 14.4 percent of black votes--one in
seven--were "invalidated," i.e., never counted. By contrast, only 1.6 percent
of nonblack voters' ballots were spoiled.

Florida's electorate is 11 percent African-American. Florida refused to
count 179,855 spoiled ballots. A little junior high school algebra
applied to commission numbers indicates that 54 percent, or 97,000, of the
votes "spoiled" were cast by black folk, of whom more than 90 percent
chose Gore. The nonblack vote divided about evenly between Gore and
Bush. Therefore, had Harris allowed the counting of these ballots, Al Gore
would have racked up a plurality of about 87,000 votes in Florida--162
times Bush's official margin of victory.

That's Florida. Now let's talk about America. In the 2000 election, 1.9
million votes cast were never counted. Spoiled for technical reasons,
like writing in Gore's name, machine malfunctions and so on. The reasons
for ballot rejection vary, but there's a suspicious shading to the
ballots tossed into the dumpster. Edley's team of Harvard experts
discovered that just as in Florida, the number of ballots spoiled was--county by
county, precinct by precinct--in direct proportion to the local black
voting population.

Florida's racial profile mirrors the nation's--both in the percentage
of voters who are black and the racial profile of the voters whose
ballots don't count. "In 2000, a black voter in Florida was ten times as
likely to have their vote spoiled--not counted--as a white voter,"
explains political scientist Philip Klinkner, co-author of Edley's Harvard
report. "National figures indicate that Florida is, surprisingly, typical.
Given the proportion of nonwhite to white voters in America, then, it
appears that about half of all ballots spoiled in the USA, as many as 1
million votes, were cast by nonwhite voters."

So there you have it. In the last presidential election, approximately
1 million black and other minorities voted, and their ballots were
thrown away. And they will be tossed again in November 2004, efficiently,
by computer--because HAVA and other bogus reform measures, stressing
reform through complex computerization, do not address, and in fact
worsen, the racial bias of the uncounted vote.

One million votes will disappear in a puff of very black smoke. And
when the smoke clears, the Bush clan will be warming their political
careers in the light of the ballot bonfire. HAVA nice day.


* based on the new expanded election edition of Best Democracy Money
Can Buy, New York Times bestseller, released this week by Penguin Books.
For more information about the book and boook tour events, visit
http://www.gregpalast.com

posted by Rei Toei @ 12:03 p.m.