Will we survive George W. Bush’s presidency? Not if you think clean air is necessary for your life and the life of the planet. Last week, Bush overruled the EPA’s efforts to set lower smog-forming ozone limits. Bush actually ordered the agency to increase the limit!
According to the Grist, “the EPA set both the ‘public health’ standard (how much ozone is permitted in one place at one time) and the ‘public welfare’ standard (consideration of the long-term effect of ozone) at the same level.” Before Bush’s command, the EPA had planned to make the “public welfare” standard more stringent, though not as low as their scientists were recommending. Bush’s orders sent the agency scrambling to avoid conflict with past EPA statements on the harmful effects of ozone. As quoted in the Washington Post, John Walke, clean-air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, explained:
It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference for the president personally to override a decision that the Clean Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA’s expert scientific judgment.
So the next time you take a deep breath of smog filled air, responsible for heart and respiratory illnesses, thank the president for once again protecting the “public welfare” of big business.
Image source: noezbuckets
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