As if we didn't need anymore proof. But the Boston Globe put up an editorial today outlining another way Bush has kowtowed to his corporate base.
Ever since DDT was blamed for nearly wiping out the bald eagle population, the federal government has tried to protect plant and animal species from the unintended effects of powerful pesticides. One safeguard was to have the Environmental Protection Agency seek expert advice from the Fisheries and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service before approving new pesticides.The Bush administration has just decided to wipe out that layer of protection. Under a rule that will take effect in the next few months, the EPA will conduct its own evaluation of a new pesticide's impact on threatened or endangered species. It will be required to consult with the other agencies only if its own research indicates that a new substance might prove harmful.
I'm happy to see Bush is finally getting back to his Republican roots with the "smaller government" idea. A diamond in the rough these days, wouldn’t you say?
Pesticide manufacturers, timber companies, and farm organizations favor the new rule, saying the old process was too cumbersome.
And it's such a good idea to have the EPA directly approve pesticides.
Critics such as the National Wildlife Federation point to EPA's approval of pesticides that threaten salmon in Northwestern rivers as an example of why such decisions cannot be entrusted to that agency alone. Earlier this year a federal judge in Seattle imposed a temporary ban on pesticides slated for use near thousands of miles of salmon streams in the Northwest. Environmentalists had argued that the EPA did not consult with Fisheries and Wildlife or National Marine Fisheries. Critics of pesticide use have made the same case in other suits challenging EPA approvals that did not included evaluations by the other agencies. Under the new rule, no such reviews would be required.In the salmon case, environmentalists released a letter from National Marine Fisheries Service scientists in April saying that EPA had not used the best available science in approving the pesticides. Scientists have traced reproductive problems of some Pacific Coast salmon to genetic deformities that pesticides and other chemicals are suspected of causing.
Much in the way conservatives have demonized liberals, citizens concerned with the environment have been labeled "environmental wackos." Of course, the environmentalists have their own fringe weirdos (as many movements do; take the radical violent anti-abortion thugs), but it does not mean normal people put the environment low on their priority list. Just ask any family in a pollution filled city with four kids who have bad asthma.
The EPA is a shell of what it was designed for. Conservatives won't rest until it becomes a veritable clearing house for polluters and industry.