A proudly biased and one-sided voters guide: Ripped from the headlines

By: Hardly J Tweakle

I got to thinking recently about the upcoming election. No, actually, I guess I started to think about this election just a few minutes after the Supreme Court decided the last one. Of course the environment was a non-issue in the 2000 debates, but this is Hardly J Tweakle speaking here, and the environment IS my issue. OK then. Well, no sooner had the last egg been thrown during the Bush inauguration parade than he started to take his revenge on the earth huggers, and man, did he get down and DIRTY. This is just a little of the stuff I dredged up for the Hardly Report (I only wish I had a cool name like Drudge)

A few headlines from THIS PAST WEEK -- mind you, this is while Bush is campaigning, when most presidents-to-be would try NOT to offend millions of reasonably minded eco-voters:

National forest fees may be permanent If the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act passes Congress this month, the so-called recreational demo fee — requiring people to pay to use some public lands — will become permanent.

Bush gives wild places the shaft After almost four years of an unprecedented assault on the wildest places in America, the Bush administration is pulling out the greenwashing brushes so that it can paint a more palatable picture of its environmental policies. But you cannot simply gloss over the scope and magnitude of the Bush administration's assault on America's wild heritage. It's time for a reality check.

Wildlife Protection Standards Waived The Bush administration has set aside Reagan-era rules aimed at protecting wildlife in national forests, rules that environmentalists had used to block logging projects in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.

Wildlife protections on hold Under a temporary rule issued Wednesday by the Bush administration, national forest managers won't have to adhere to strict wildlife protections that have been in place for more than two decades.

Decision to pull protection for bull trout brings lawsuit threat Environmental groups say they will sue the federal government over its decision yesterday to remove critical habitat designation for the threatened bull trout in 90 percent of the Columbia and Klamath river basins

After Bush took the reigns in 2000, nobody expected a green prez. The little ‘R’ next to the name gave it away. Enviro journalists were quick to get a taste of a new reality called Black Friday, the after-the-newscycle announcement of new anti-enviro initiatives announced on Friday, so that people would drown the news in a PBR haze and forget about it by Saturday. Here’s a few Black Fridays related to the Pacific Northwest:

01/23/04-- Forest Service drops "survey and manage" rule for loggers 01/09/04-- Pentagon to seek more environmental exemptions 01/09/04-- Forest Service curtails logging appeals process 10/10/03-- New EPA dam proposal threatens salmon 10/10/03-- EPA further delays long overdue Clean Water Act enforcement upgrade 09/12/03-- Private contractors to determine endangered species' future 08/08/03-- Bush administration offers to double logging in Northwest 07/18/03-- Bush asks Supreme Court to overturn roadless protections 05/23/03-- Bush administration cuts wildlife protection, boosts logging in Northwest forests 04/11/03-- Bush administration rolls back wilderness protections 08/23/02-- Bush administration abandons California water plan

Key to understanding where W stands on enviro issues are his appointment choices. This list could go on and on, but here’s a few for starters. Never heard of these guys? Well, they’re not exactly the hiking, trekking, let’s-have-some-clean-water-to-roll-around –in-crowd:

James Connaughton—Chair of Council on environmental Quality:
The CEQ is an advisory agency to the executive office of the president

*Connaughton Represented General Electric and ASARCO in their Superfund fights with EPA. General Electric is potentially responsible for more toxic Superfund sites than any other corporation in the nation. Lobbied on behalf of major corporate interests including the Aluminum Company of America, ASARCO, Atlantic Richfield, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, and General Electric

Mark Rey—Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment

*Rey spent nearly twenty years (1976-1994) in the employ of various “big timber” trade associations, including the National Forest Products Association, the American Paper Institute, and the American Forest Resources Alliance

*Authored the infamous “salvage rider, ” which enacted a suspension of all environmental laws to give logging interests the green light to clear-cut old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest.

*Defended clear-cut logging as “compatible with rain forest ecology.”

Ann Veneman—Secretary USDA
USDA oversees the Forest Service, which manages 191 million acres in 44 states and also is responsible for protecting soil, water, and forests
*Veneman assured California farmers that they would no longer be subjected to unnecessary and burdensome" environmental regulations
*Sat on the board of Calgene, the biotech corporation that developed the Flavr-Savr tomato--a tomato produced with fish genes

John Paul Woodley—Assistant Secretary for the Army, Office of Civil Works

*John took the lead in pursuing DoD’s 2002 effort to win broad exemptions for the military from environmental laws, including sonic testing in Puget Sound that sent whales washing up on the shore as they took their last breath.

John Ashcroft—Attorney General (beat by a Dead guy in the Missouri Senate Race, AND he was an old fashioned nature-hater):

*Mr. Ashcroft voted against every major environmental bill or amendment considered by the US Senate . He also co-sponsored S. 2417, an attack on a key enforcement component of the 1972 Clean Water Act.

*In responding to two legal challenges concerning the Roadless Policy, the Department of Justice chose not to defend the law in court. After having been denied their request for a filing extension - wherein they offered to further suspend the rule - the brief the government submitted scrupulously avoided defending the case on its merits.

Thomas Sansonetti—Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources
The Assistant Attorney General for the Environment is responsible for defending the nation’s environmental laws and defending legal challenges to the government’s environmental programs.

*Sansonetti lobbied on behalf of corporate mining interests, including Arch Coal, and Peabody Coal.

*He said of Gale Norton: "She understands the system. She is very good on national park issues and on Endangered Species Act law. There won't be any biologists or botanists...to come in and pull the wool over her eyes."

James E. Cason—Associate Deputy Secretary, Dept. of Interior (the national parks folks)

*In 1987, when the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed adding the spotted owl to the endangered species list, Cason reportedly said that such a move would be made "over my dead body," and the FWS recommendation was reversed.

J. Steven Griles—Deputy Secretary

*Griles served as a lobbyist for the coal and oil industry. The National Mining Association said: "He's an ally of the industry...[t]his will hopefully be a breath of fresh air."

Gale Norton—Interior Secretary

*Secretary Norton was a lead attorney for the Mountain States Legal Foundation, an anti-environmental nonprofit law firm that was the “litigating arm of the Wise Use movement.” The Wise Use movement is a loosely knit network of anti-environmental organizations that seeks to roll back or weaken laws that protect wildlife, habitat, and public lands, as well as health and safety standards for our water, food, and air.

*As Attorney General of Colorado, Secretary Norton argued before the Supreme Court that the Endangered Species Act could not and should not be used to prevent the destruction of essential habitat even if that destruction would lead to the death of endangered animals. The Supreme Court rejected this view.

Patricia "Lynn" Scarlett—Assistant Secretary, Policy, Management, and Budget

*Scarlett has gone on record opposing mandatory curbside recycling, a national bottle bill, campaign finance limits, consumer "right to know" laws, mandatory nutritional labeling, and pesticide use restrictions

Rebecca W. Watson—Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management

*Watson has spent almost her entire legal career defending extractive industries--specifically, the mining and timber industries--and has been an outspoken advocate on their behalf. Her clients have included Plum Creek Timber Company (the second largest private timberland owner in the U.S.), Redstone Gas Partners (coal bed methane), Seven-Up Pete Joint Ventures (open pit gold mining), and the Western Environmental Trade Association, an industry trade group

This paddler is peeved, and can’t imagine more of the same…… so guess who he’s voting for? —ANYBODY BUT BUSH.

Hardly J Tweakle