Posted on 09/16/2004 9:23:30 PM PDT by The Bandit
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is currently promoting a new book, Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy. Kennedy argues that the Bush administration is rolling back decades of environmental laws and regulations. Yet according to the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), this accusation is patently untrue.
"While it is true the Bush administration is not trying to ram through a host of new environmental regulations, it is absurd to suggest they are rolling anything back," said NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett.
According to Jonathan Adler, an assistant professor of law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, no major environmental statute has been revised and there have been no serious legislative proposals to scale back existing environmental laws. In an article for National Review Online, Adler points out that:
-- The federal air-quality standards all metropolitan areas are required to meet are intact.
-- Limits to pollution discharges into rivers and streams put in place by the Clean Water Act are the same now as they were when Bush took office.
-- There have been no changes to the restrictions on private property imposed on landowners under the Endangered Species Act.
-- The drinking-water standards imposed under the Safe Drinking Water Act have not been touched.
-- The regulatory requirements imposed on the transportation, storage and disposal of hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act remain in effect.
In addition, on a recent appearance joint appearance with Adler on National Public Radio, Kennedy claimed the Bush Administration is promoting "takings" legislation that would provide "constitutional protection to the right to pollute." Adler notes that once again, Kennedy's rhetoric is at odds with reality. Such legislation has not been seriously debated in Congress for over six years. And even then, these bills would not have the impact Kennedy suggests since they include exceptions that make clear landowners are not entitled to compensation when federal regulations prevented them from engaging in polluting activities.
The NCPA also noted that the Bush administration has approved several new regulations, including:
-- A regulation limiting lead in drinking water
-- A regulation increasing the efficiency of home appliances
-- And they have pushed to impose restrictions of emissions of certain air pollutants, including a first-time restriction on the emission of mercury from power plants.
Kennedy pollutes the environment everytime he opens his mouth.
The expression "Crime against nature" [used in the title of the book] traditionally was used to denote sodomy. How on Earth can GWB and/or his friends promote it is a bit difficult to understand.
Jeez, not another book hawking. Now days, you're just nobody unless you've done a book tour.
Like Dan Rather, it is time the too long in the tooth Kennedy was retired also, the man is so vile - surely the Senate should do something - we are at War and this demented senator is trying to divide the country when he should be calling for the nation to stand shoulder to shoulder.
I'll sleep on it and try to think of something - at any rate Freepers, it is time we pulled the chain on Ted Kennedy!
The forests in Northern Az have been a mess due to the Bark Beetle and with the bad fires a couple of years ago Bush got the clean forest initiative passed. You cannot imagine how much better the forest up there looks, already. And Kerry would stop it...
ping
I call dumping an Oldsmobile and a dead body in the Bay polluting...Bobbie, tell that to your Uncle Ted.
Presumably, the clean forest initiative you mention allows the Forest Service to spray for parasites. Here in Oregon, about 8 years ago, the enviros put some looney measure on the ballot to prevent the use of pesticides to protect the health of forests. Critics pointed out that it would ruin the health of our forests and the measure lost by better that 2-1.
They same year, a measure to outlaw the use of dogs to bait bears went down to a resounding defeat. (For those who don't get it, the bear population, protected by law from hunters, was burgeoning and depradating Oregon's deer population, among other nuisances. Since you can't legally hunt them, and since bear traps are inhumane, using dogs to tree the bears, then having FS personnel shoot them was the best (and only) solution. Give Oregonians credit for not being environmental dupes. Oh, and Oregon will cast its electoral votes for Bush/Cheney this time!
Yet, this is the very same son-of-a-bich that Arnold Schwarzenegger has allowed to convince him to put the entire Sierra-Nevada/Cascade mountain ranges in CA into a huge box with yet another un-needed and un-wanted layer of multi-level government. It's called the Sierra-Nevada CONservancy and the law to spend millions on intimidating land owners into becoming "willing sellers" is sitting on his desk awaiting his signature.
If Arnold signs this abortion of property rights and total waste of precious resources, then his excellent speech at the Republican Convention listing what a Republican "IS," is crappola!!! What he'll probably do is let it become law without his signature which will really speak volumns about his political courage as in "girly man," if you know what I mean...
I don't know about the rest of you CA "conservatives" and "Republicans" on FR, but personally, I don't want Robert Kennedy, Jr. making ANY policy for CA through Arnold, or any other Republican/fiscal conservative Governor!!! I know... The national election is more interesting and way more important, right???
Well, wait till the people find out they have to go "hat in hand" to another governmental agency before they can do anything with property they own, but no longer control. What's the use of owning anything if you no longer can contol the use of it???
Another worthless lying Kennedy.
They are such lying/two faced bastards.
BTTT!!!!!!!
To this very day, sharks cruise the waters around Chappaquiddick looking for more of Teddy's cast offs.
Regards
read later
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.