This is another reason I dislike the direction the Republicans ...especially this administration, has taken.

A lot of us remember living in a time of mass pollution, yes we "protested" and demanded solutions, rules were made and laws enacted to clean the air we breath., and keep it clean. Now this administration is once again reversing the progress made over the past 30 years. The coal fired plants were supposed to be phased out, that is why they were allowed-exempt from the pollution laws. Now this administration not only NOT going along with the phase out of the coal energy plants, but are allowing them to expand without implementing stronger pollution safeguards, and allowing new plants to be built, with huge amounts of money provided by the "Bush energy plan" while exempting them from the pollution laws that were put in place which would have forced them to use the cleaner air technologies, cutting down on pollution.

WHY?

There is no logical reason to do this.

Only political.

Or more to the point, financial benefit for the coal industry, you know, bottom line, profits for the industry and stockholders. Which boils down to gaining votes for the administration and their party.

On top of that, these plants who did not make any effort to "clean up their act" for the past 30 years, are being given the responsibility of policing themselves.

Liberal tree hugger? How many people honestly want to start breathing more of that crap pouring out of coal fired smokestacks? Republicans-right wingers as well as liberal-left wingers will have their children sucking up that crap.
What's next, raw factory waste getting dumped into our lakes and rivers again? After all, it cuts into the "profits" of the industries for them to dispose of their waste in an environmentally safe manner, when it would increase profits to dump it into the lake or river that runs by your property. Here in Washington State, one small town has had it's water supply cut off because of mercury draining out of mines seeping into the underground water supply. It was only months after Bush removed the regulations Clinton had put in place forcing mines owners to restrict the amount of runoff from mining. The reason given by the administration was that forcing the minimum standards had a negative effect on the profits of those companies. There! I wrote it in my own words, convoluted and repeating and not at all within the correct standards of how a person is supposed to "write". I admit it is not my strong suit, never has been, and is best left to cutting and pasting those who are talented in this area. I have made a major effort to improve my spelling over the past 6 years, it was pretty horrid, I admit, but it wasn't a high priority in the type of work where my strengths reside. *grin*.

CHOKING ON A BUSH POLICY

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

June 17, 2002

CHOKING ON A BUSH POLICY

Owners of the nation’s dirtiest coal fired power plants just want a chance to clean up their act. And gosh darn it, basic clean air standards prevent them from doing it. And if only the tobacco industry could sell their products to minors, cancer rates in this country would vanish. Poof.

We don’t need to delve into the administration’s secret meetings with energy executives to uncover a conspiracy foisted on the public through double speak and fuzzy logic. A great big loop-hole in the Clean Air Act has always exempted the oldest and dirtiest power plants from meeting modern standards. Until now, however, the dirtiest coal fired power plants in this country had to meet modern clean air standards if they chose to expand operations. In other words, they couldn’t use their special exemption to build new or super-sized dirty power plants, thus creating an empire of dirty power plants.

If they wished to make more money by making more energy, they needed to pay the price and clean up their act. Respiratory illnesses and acid rain caused from air pollution could no longer be excused when modern technology offers a cleaner alternative.

That was then. Now, freed from the Clean Air Act by President Bush, the administration proclaims that power plants will do the right thing and install cleaner technology on their own. Trust in the corporations, pleads the administration.

By the administration’s logic, if industry were forced to use the most modern technology, they wouldn’t expand at all. And therefore, they’d continue their dirty old ways. In reality, many companies were sitting down with the EPA, ready to comply. But the administration said wait, stop thinking like this is a democracy. Pretend you’re king. (An actual White House memo told industry executives to ask for whatever they wanted, as if they were "kings.") Ahhh, we get it, said the industry. We’ll clean up on our own and at our own pace, wink, wink.

Of course, the logical remedy would be to close the loop-hole. Don’t let the dirty power plants wait until they expand to clean up, clean up now. But that was tried. Industry fought it and a compromise was made. The compromise was (we’re now back to the beginning) if industry chooses to expand, then they must meet the clean air standards. Now, twenty plus years after the Clean Air Act, Bush has torched that compromise. Winner takes all.

It is a game of political stakes. Most of the dirty old power plants are located in battle ground states, in the mid-west. But it is the north-east, because of prevailing winds, that sits at the wrong end of the nation’s tail pipe. This unfortunate chunk of real estate is mostly liberal. In other words, votes Bush can’t count on anyway.

Power seems to have its own logic. After corrupt corporations take their toll on the population, we’re implored by Bush to give them a second, third, and fourth chance. Corporations will get their act straight. Just remove all the rules, and then we’ll be able to trust them to do the right thing.

Follow Bush’s logic, and you’re liable to get lost in a world of smog.

-- Cherri (whatever@who.cares), June 16, 2002

Answers

Power seems to have its own logic. After corrupt corporations take their toll on the population, we’re implored by Bush to give them a second, third, and fourth chance. Corporations will get their act straight. Just remove all the rules, and then we’ll be able to trust them to do the right thing.

-- Cherri (whatever@who.cares), June 17, 2002.