Gina Telaroli
May 16, 2008 | 8:31 am EST
I know lame duck Presidents like to sweep dirty things under the rug when they think no one is looking, but by allowing coal mining companies to dump debris into rivers and valleys, Bush has reached a new filthy low. While I’m not entirely surprised Bush and his team would continue to protect their industry friends at the expense of environmental degradation and human health, but I’m dumbfounded once again that the Environmental Protection Agency scurries behind them. The New York Times reports:
The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to finish work on a rule that would make it easier for utilities to put coal-fired generating stations near national parks. It is working on another rule that would allow utility companies to modify coal-fired power plants and increase their emissions without installing new pollution-control equipment.
As if there aren’t enough messes for President-Elect Obama to clean up when he steps into office, Bush (despite claiming otherwise) wants to make sure that the air, water and sky are blackened thoroughly so no one will see him run for the hills. Unfortunately for him, those hills will be leveled for coal mining. Oy.
takepart by telling your representative to not to reverse protections against dirty coal tricks.
Related: Inconvenient Truth of the Day
It’s May 16th, I’m Gina Telaroli and this is TakePart.com’s look at the week in social action…
The Interior Department has decided today to protect the polar bear population under the Endangered Species Act. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne says that polar bears are threatened because the Arctic ice is melting. And faster than we imagined.
This is the first time that the Endangered Species Act has been used to protect a species threatened by the impacts of climate change. But the New York Times reports, this ruling may not have the impact many are hoping for:
But the long-delayed decision to list the bear as a threatened species may prove less of an impediment to industries along the Alaskan coast than many environmentalists had hoped. While further protecting the polar bear from direct or immediate threats like hunting the Interior Department added stipulations, seldom invoked under the act, that will make it relatively easy for oil and gas exploration and development activities to proceed.
