When Bush praises his Environmental actions in SOTU, will media note lie?

[papau]

When Bush praises his Environmental actions in SOTU, will media note lie?

The American Progress report on Halting Toxic Cleanups shows Bush to be the worst environmental president in recent history, http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=6228 yet we know he will in 04, as he has done in prior SOTU speeches, claim to be helping the environment. The press has let Bush get away with equating Bush's speaking on morals as his actually being a moral person. Will it do the same on the environment?

A new report by the EPA shows that "cleanup work at 11 of the worst toxic dumps in the country hasn't started because the Superfund program doesn't have enough money." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=513&ncid=691&e=4&u=/ap/20040109/ap_on_go_ot/superfund_shortfall The Bush Administration has played a direct part in creating the funding problem, ending the tax on corporate polluters that funded the program, http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/02/24/bush.superfund/
at the behest of the oil/chemical companies that have funded its campaigns.

Bush broke his PROMISE to not choke off Superfund's funding. As a candidate for Vice President, Dick Cheney was asked on the 7/30/00 edition of Meet the Press whether he "would support authorizing funding for Superfund to clean up toxic waste?" He replied "I would." Less than 19 months later, the White House announced its decision to end the corporate tax that funds the Superfund. And then led the rejection of the EFFORTS TO REINSTATE the TAX as the White House and its allies in the Senate voted down an attempt by progressives to reinstate the Superfund tax, http://www.enn.com/news/2003-03-26/s_3539.asp despite dwindling resources for cleanups, and increased concerns over the public health effects of toxic dumps.

The Asheville, NC Citizen, a newspaper that covers an area with a Halliburton-owned toxic site, pointed out in a 12/5/02 editorial that the Administration's elimination of the Superfund tax is a major gift to polluters like Halliburton and its other financial backers, with the result being "taxpayers left holding the bag" for cleanups. Knight-Ridder reports that "the chemical, oil and gas industries have donated more than $158 million to political candidates since 1996." See http://www.opensecrets.org/payback/issue.asp?issueid=SF1&congno=108 and http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=38
Because of the Administration-backed funding shortfall, a Knight-Ridder http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/5665841.htm "analysis of EPA data shows that over the past two years, the EPA has designed fewer cleanup plans, started less waste-removal work and finished far fewer jobs than it did during the Clinton administration and some years before that." Specifically, the number of Superfund cleanups completed in fiscal years 2001 and 2002 plummeted 41 percent compared with the annual average over the previous eight years. In calendar year 2002, 39 sites were cleaned up - the fewest since 1991. So far this year, only three cleanups have been finished. And "according to three EPA Inspector General reports, seven ready-to-clean Superfund sites last year received no money to start removing waste."

Will the media note how this affects the average person - the U.S. Public Interest Research Group notes, " one fourth of Americans live within four miles of a Superfund site, http://www.pirg.org/enviro/superfund/superfund.asp?id=324&id3=superfund& the nation's worst toxic waste sites. Superfund sites are contaminated with dangerous substances and linked to cancer, birth defects and learning disabilities." In Libby, Montana, where 200 workers have already died from toxic exposure, http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jun/06152003/Arts/66038.asp
Lee Newspapers reports "federal efforts to clean up the sites is being delayed by a lack of money." http://www.montanaforum.com/rednews/2004/01/09/build/pollution/libby.php?nnn%20=%205

Or we will we only hear Bush say Hydrogen car, and economical job producing regulations, followed by the media saying Hydrogen car and economical job producing regulations?

:-)

[Supormom]

1. American Media? Yeah, right.

They still haven't acknowledged that he lied about the WMD's in Iraq.

[hatrack]

2. Given that his convention speech in 2000 devoted about 15 words to it;

and given that everybody went all googly-eyed over his "visionary" hydrogen car proposal last year;

and given that most environment stories re. ChimpCo, Inc. are lucky if they see the light of day on page 18A, don't look for a lot of hard-eyed analysis from the star-struck Beltway hos.