NYT: G.O.P. Plans to Give Environment Rules a Free-Market Tilt

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - With the elections over, Congress and the Bush administration are moving ahead with ambitious environmental agendas that include revamping signature laws on air pollution and endangered species and reviving a moribund energy bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration.

In addition, the administration intends to accelerate conservation efforts by distributing billions of dollars to private landowners for the preservation of wetlands and wildlife habitats. The White House also plans to announce next month a new effort to clean up the Great Lakes.

The groundwork for the push was laid down in the past four years even as environmental groups, Congressional moderates and the courts put the brakes on major changes. But the election returns that gave Mr. Bush a clear victory and expanded the Republicans' majorities in Congress have emboldened those determined to hard-wire free-market principles into all environmental policy.

"The election is a validation of our philosophy and agenda," Michael O. Leavitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in an interview. "We will make more progress in less time while maintaining economic competitiveness for the country. That is my mission."

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/politics/08enviro.html?oref=login

[Pirate Smile]

1. Like Bobby Kennedy Jr. said on Al Franken's show on Thursday,

"Day 2 of the Apocalypse". Here we go.

[LisaLynne]

2. They are all "on message" with this ...

"the election has validated all the insane crap we've been doing" meme. It's so frustrating, scary, and sickening!

[grannylib]

6. "validation???" that's almost as bad as "mandate." Good night.

There is neither validation nor mandate with a 'victory' measured in less that 5 percentage points. Holy shit, that's BARELY a "winning" margin.
Putrid. Absolutely putrid. But I guess nothing surprises me from these morons.
:mad: :puke: :wtf: :argh: :grr: :scared:

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

7. "the election validated..."

is just like "9-11 changed everything". A bunch of crap to justify their shitty agenda.

[papau]

18. Business Groups Invested in Races, Now Wait for Returns

Business Groups Invested in Races, Now Wait for Returns


Seems business thinks that the $1.2 billion donated in 2000 and again in 2004, plus the soft money via trade associations/Washington lobbyists running GOTV in 2004 battleground states, meaning "businesses urged their employees to vote...", means the GOP owes the rich and corporate even more - beyond the first term tax cuts, loosened rules on clean-air standards and workplace safety, and Medicare reforms emphasizing private sector solutions - from the public treasury - be it more public land, lower air quality, or just plain money- perhaps disguised as tort "reform", social security "reform", and tax "reform". So I do not expect Medicare to bargain for lower drug prices in the near future, and I expect pensions and health care will be pay it yourself if you can via private investment accounts with their fees and disaster prone health savings account strcture and pension investment risk transfer. I hope mercury and other pollutants taste good and do not destroy too much life, as I look forward to oil and gas drilling on once-protected land on Colorado's Roan Plateau, New Mexico's Otera Mesa, and ANWR.

sigh....



http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-invest8nov08...

Business Groups Invested in Races, Now Wait for Returns
After a hefty push for Republican candidates, industry organizations form their wish lists.
By Tom Hamburger Times Staff Writer

November 8, 2004

WASHINGTON — Lobbyists for the nation's leading business groups have been toasting the success of what they describe as an unprecedented effort this year to help elect President Bush and Republican congressional candidates. Now they plan to collect on that investment.<snip>

The list, according to interviews with lobbyists and trade associations, includes making tax cuts for capital gains and dividends permanent, limiting liability lawsuits, changing bankruptcy laws and opening previously restricted land in Alaska and elsewhere for energy exploration.

Business groups also count on more narrow shifts, such as changing health insurance rules in a way that benefits some of the GOP's most ardent allies, easing corporate government reform measures at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and making specific adjustments to the tax code.<snip>

In short order, the coalition raised half a million dollars for Thune from corporate contacts. By election day, it had funneled 200 volunteer lobbyists and lawyers from Washington to South Dakota, matching the labor organizers and Democratic lobbyists supporting Daschle. Similar business teams were organized to support the successful GOP Senate candidates in South Carolina and North Carolina.<snip>

[NVMojo]

19. put mining interests in the West on that list, for public lands

[Straight Shooter]

3. Yes, and let's watch the asthma rates soar in the children

along with respiratory disease in the elderly.

Validation of your philosophy, you effin' jackass! You guys are all over the scale with claiming validation for every evil matter on your agenda.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Damn, looks like I wasted my time taking Environmental Law in law school.

Everything I learned will be invalid within a matter of months.

[Blue_Tires]

5. pretty soon the water supply won't be fit enough to bathe in

much less drink

[enough]

9. It already isn't

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/11/07stateswatersare.html

"STATE'S WATERS REEK WITH SEWAGE"

snip>

In towns such as Harrington, Milton, Bridgeville, Seaford, Millsboro and Rehoboth Beach, treated sewage continues to flow into rivers and canals despite the federal mandates that the practice eventually be stopped. In Wilmington, sewage and runoff during rainstorms combine to overload the state's largest treatment plant, which relies on an antiquated system that collects both sewage and stormwater. Even after light rains, the surge overwhelms the pipes, some of which are wooden, and untreated human waste goes directly into the Christina River and the Brandywine.

"You can go out on the Christina any day of the week and see human waste floating by," said Susan Regis Collins, a member of the Wilmington River-City Committee, a civic group that monitors environmental issues. "I think it's a case of: You can run, but you can't hide. It has to be addressed, and it has to be addressed head-on."


snip>

Under pressure from the courts and federal regulators, Delaware has spent millions of dollars studying pollution control over the past decade, so far with little effect. State officials have created a loan program to help replace failing septic systems and a revolving fund to provide low-cost loans and grants to upgrade or provide new sewer service.

However, state spending for oversight of septic systems has not increased.
Two decades ago, the state assumed responsibility for regulating septic systems. Today, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has just four inspectors for an estimated 80,000 septic systems. And the state still has no explicit, enforceable requirements for periodic inspections of home septic systems despite studies suggesting the systems often break down.

snip>

from Hatrack's thread.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=16254

[tlcandie]

12. Yet another reason to move UP stream .. to the BLUE states

:+

[NVMojo]

20. check first to see if your state is in an airshed occupied by a

coal fired plant.

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. People voted for chimp on "morals"

Gays and Abortions. The environment isn't important to these shit kickers, they would just as soon live knee deep in it.

[flygal]

15. I naively hoped sportsmen would rally against * on

environmental issues. But, they had to go with the "cool" people who hate "tree huggers". Enjoy your mercury tainted fish - enjoy not being able to afford to hunt on privately managed land - enjoy your nuclear wastes :hi:

[Kimber Scott]

10. I guess 49% of this country doesn't matter anymore. They've got their

"mandate." The people have spoken.

I pray to God the Democrats in Congress don't roll over for this stuff. If they do, the party is dead.

[Nordic]

11. I'm so glad the environment can fight back!

not.

This is, and always has been, my #1 reason to be an "anything-but-republican".

Makes me sick.

[Amigust]

16. Mother Nature will strike back, but she will be indiscriminate

in who she hits. Too bad, though, it's the shits causing the problem who will probably have the wherewithall to be the last to go.

[Democat]

13. This is one issue where I don't think Kerry hit Bush hard enough!

Does anyone else think that Kerry let Bush have too much of a pass on the environment during the campaign?

[OneBlueSky]

14. the environment doesn't matter, don'tcha know . . .

because what with the Apocalypse about to happen and all, there's simply no need to protect that which is about to be destroyed . . . in fact, we might as well just go ahead and help destroy it if we can line our pockets and those of our corporate friends in the process . . . is that so hard to understand? . . .

[JPace]

17. I've decided the repugs are suicidal....

they must breath the air and drink the water yet support
politicians that pass legislation in which everything is
open to poisons and filth. They wave their little flags
and cheer these people who are slowly killing them and
their children.

Go figure!

[Just Me]

21. The "rape the earth, poison the people, laugh all the way to the bank",...

,...Republican party.

I congratulate them on their victory. May they reap the moral and environmental poison they spread.

[Magleetis]

22. I am sure glad

I don't have any kids because there won't be much left after the BFEE gets finished.