Bush’s EPA Nominee Has Relaxed Rules For Polluters, Weakened Clean Air Legislation
Bush’s EPA Nominee Has Relaxed Rules For Polluters, Weakened Clean Air Legislation
William Wehrum, President Bush’s nominee to head the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), has earned a reputation in Washington as “the behind-the-scenes architect” of some of the Bush administration’s most controversial initiatives. Some lowlights:
- Wehrum was a lead author of Bush’s “Clear Skies” legislation, which would have loosened emissions caps on dangerous airborne toxins.
- In 2002, while serving as OAR’s general counsel, Wehrum shepherded through a rule written by forest products industry lobbyists that relaxed the emission standards for formaldehyde. Wehrum had previously represented those same timber interests as a lobbyist.
- In 2004, Wehrum implemented new industry-friendly mercury guidelines that substantially weakened the Clean Air Act. Again, Wehrum’s former lobbying firm played an instrumental role in drafting the rule.
- Just this week, a draft of a new air pollution rule, drafted under the oversight of Wehrum, came under fire from congressional leaders. The proposal would allow polluters to discharge thousands of pounds of airborne toxins while “virtually avoiding regulation.“
The good news: Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) plans to put a hold on Wehrum’s nomination if it moves to the Senate floor.
- Mike Darner
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47 Responses to “Bush’s EPA Nominee Has Relaxed Rules For Polluters, Weakened Clean Air Legislation”
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SOS
April 8th, 2006 at 8:37 pmWe're so concerned about the getting good news out of Iraq - well, how about getting some good news out of America? Sheesh.
April 8th, 2006 at 8:39 pmSOS
Comment by Opie — April 8, 2006 @ 8:37 pm
We've pissed off the rest of the world pretty badly. At this point, I think they'd be willing to pour gasoline on the fire if it would take us out of commission sooner. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we're all on our own in this never-ending fiasco.
April 8th, 2006 at 8:42 pmDo these morons believe that their children wont be breathing this crap?
Oh, I forgot, they don't care!!
It's the profits they care about. Not the fact that asthma is increasing
at an alarming rate among our children.
Money is all they care about.
Last one alive, please turn out the lights.
April 8th, 2006 at 8:42 pmand the ReputliCorporate investors are buying stocks in gas masks and such.
see: http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/
April 8th, 2006 at 8:50 pmWow, I bet Wehrum sleeps well at night in his Jacko style oxygen chamber.
April 8th, 2006 at 8:51 pmIt’s the profits they care about. Not the fact that asthma is increasing
at an alarming rate among our children.
Comment by EL CHUPACABRA — April 8, 2006 @ 8:42 pm
My cousin who lives in Northen California has a son who is autistic. (There's been a significant increase in autism among boys in born California in the last decade). So, my cousin went online and started doing research. he found out that there is a link between red dye #40 and autism. So he stopped giving his son anything with the dye in it. It was almost like a light switch going off. The boy's ability to communicate rose significantly and his autism decreased. Red dye #40 is a petroleum based product which is approved for internal consumption by the FDA. What does that tell us?
April 8th, 2006 at 8:58 pmShutup and Enjoy your Corporate Poison, your gonna Die one day anyhow, just a lil sooner than you figured --GWB
April 8th, 2006 at 9:10 pm#7 unbelievable
April 8th, 2006 at 9:29 pmglad to hear that your cousin's son has improved. It's amazing the amount of toxic crap that is allowed to be placed in our food supply. Once again, corporate profits is all that matters. Now everything is sweetened with corn syrup. My vet told me that cats are one of the very few pets that are truly carnivores and that she has seen an increase in cat diabetes over the past several years and believes it can be contributed to the corn products in cat food. I say - eat organic when you can, eat fresh fresh foods when you can, and eat antibiotic free/hormone free meats and poultry. This will support the local farmers and cattlepeople and cut out the middle man corporations. Money talks - everything else walks.
Bush does not care about the environment > warmongers like to blow up things which destroys everything! In his spare time he cuts down live cedar trees at his ranch, with a chainsaw, which he does just for fun, so expect the EPA to be run into the dirt by him!
April 8th, 2006 at 9:45 pmFrom one of the articles Darner linked:
But Darner says setting a new standard where none existed before "weakened the Clean Air Act."
So the only remaining question is, is Darner a lying propagandist or an illiterate?
April 8th, 2006 at 10:12 pmUnbelievable,
I too am heartened to hear that your cousin's son is doing better.
Has your cousin also considered the immunizations he's gotten as a factor?
My daughter developed Epilepsy in 6th grade. It wasn't until some serious poking around that I discovered her 6th grade booster shots had a neurotoxin as a preservative in it. It needs to be banned. It's easy and no more expensive to switch, yet he hasn't directed anyone to switch it. This idiot doesn't care about our kids, or about our grandkids - that is if we survive WWIII which he seems to be cooking up currently.....
Bush's policies are killing our planet.
April 8th, 2006 at 10:13 pmW should try the hand grenade method of taking down cedar trees (conserves fuel (Air Force 1, plus horridly inefficient two cycle engines, you know.)). Process is simple - pop the pin, bury the grenade next to the trunk and release the trigger. Takes down the tree in about five seconds - by the way, staying too close to the process can be unhealthy, but charge that up to trial and error.
April 8th, 2006 at 10:19 pmIf we look at birth defects and levels of pollution,they go hand in hand. Add what they are putting in our food. Adding chemicals that make food spoil faster,so we'll buy more. Corp.America is...out of control.
April 8th, 2006 at 11:02 pm"clear sakies"
is a public relations knock off
of
"clean air".
"clean air" means just that
the air is cleaner.
"clear skies"
sounds similar
and
sounds good
but is just political advertising bullshit.
sometimes the skies are clear,
and sometimes they are cloudy.
it's just nature.
this is the legacy of george lakoff.
though he would doubtless protest that.
but fake is fake
whether it "frames" the issue or not.
salve
magister!
April 8th, 2006 at 11:11 pmDo I sense a recess appointment in the works?
April 8th, 2006 at 11:13 pmThis is an issue on which writing to and calling our representatives in Congress might just actually make a difference. Letters to the editor, anything we can do, we have to block this nomination. The environment has suffered enough under the Bush administration (as has the whole world). Urge your senators to support Boxer's hold on the nomination; the environment isn't going to be able to handle all the shit we're putting into it for much longer, and it sounds like Wehrum is going to be emptying shit by the truckload all over the place. :/
April 8th, 2006 at 11:14 pmYou wake up. You shower, shit, shave and get ready for work. You kiss your wife and hug your kids as you send them off to school. You finish breakfast and head off to work. At the local chemical plant. You drive in and park. You get out of your car and walk to the front door and... enter. Once you enter you cease being a thoughtful, caring husband and parent. You now are an extension of the corporate entity that you work for. You are now unforgiving and relentless in your quest to increase the all-important, more important than anything else (including your family), profit margin.
How is it when these people go to these particular jobs they can so easily cease being human? I just don't understand. It isn't the corporations, it's the manipulated, automaton people within them that perpetuate this shit.
April 8th, 2006 at 11:17 pmMr.Evil, true, they take the path of least resistance. I have been self employed most of my life as to not be forced to 'automate' myself. I have been free to persue work that I can do at my free will. This is a path of hi resistance,and I have been on the bottom, as large companys tried to force me out so they could have all the pie. I ate for 37c a day for a while,it didn't hurt me, just made me try harder. All is changed today,and i'm still business free to run it as I please.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:07 amMr. Evil,
I disagree with you. I worked for an oil co. in NE. Not much need for oil in the summer months, so he added a lawn care line for the other seasons.
When the company wanted to add pesticides, chemicals, etc., I sat down with the president of the co and said, "Fine. It's your company. I will NOT, however, sell your chemicals to families with children or animals because I can't in good conscience do such a thing."
He didn't add pesticides,... that is, until I left the company.
He didn't do it. One person CAN make a difference. We ALL can.
Call me Norma Rae, but I believe in GOOD. I believe the voice of what's right WILL win out. Optimist, I guess, but I wouldn't want to be any other way.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:12 am#20 trueblue: You are one of the few that have been lucky enough to have experienced actually impacting another human to do the right thing. It however, does not relieve my cynical attitude toward this administration's attitude toward the environment. Poison for profit.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:28 amFriends,
you forget that we are in the "end times" when the armies of the world will face each other in a great battle of good versus evil.
The 'true believers' will be 'raptured' and thus spared the seven years' tribulations where two/thirds (or more) of the world's population will be wiped out in war and disease and pestilance, after which Christ will come down to earth and restore the planet to an Eden-like state where the 'true believers' will live with Him in peace and harmony for a thousand years.
Destroying the earth is the new "Manifest Destiny."
Welcome to Armegeddon.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:43 am#22: Briseadh na Faire: Nothing is pre-destined. We CAN prevent this! We allow these death-mongers to rule. We can stop it also. We just need to decide when it's time to wake up.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:50 am#20 , I honor you for what you did. but we are very out numbered by many factors,and it is uphill,but we must never give up. Poison for profit is very bad right now. Out with bushco and the bad dems will be a good start. Second wind...whew..and back to uphill.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:53 am#23 I'll second that, while some are 'waiting for jesus', I'll continue to try to wake up the sheep.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:57 amWelcome to Armegeddon.
Comment by Briseadh na Faire
Oh, Please....
You don't really believe that, do you?
Mankind has been prophesying the end of the world since mankind began.
Mr. Evil,
I never thought of it as any grand gesture for humanity.... I thought of it as STOPPING the idiot owner from poisoning children and pets and the Earth. Being the manager of Customer Service, I felt he wouldn't go against me. That's all there was to that. No biggie: just the cahjones to say "No."
I think we all need a 'big ol' dose of it right about now...
Thanks for the kind words, though.
April 9th, 2006 at 1:01 am#26 trueblue: Your quite welcome. And no shit too!
April 9th, 2006 at 1:07 amwisedup,
Thank you as well, but I really just wanted to illuminate the fact that we can all say,
"NO!!!!"
For some reason our collective b*lls have been cut off.
It's the "Democratic Syndrome." We need to simply band together and say, "No More of this Bullsh*t."
I truly believe enough voices can affect change.
April 9th, 2006 at 1:09 amI have an idea. How about a new party called the American Party and have Paul Hackett run it. Works for me.
April 9th, 2006 at 1:14 amPaul Hackett?!!?
Isn't that Stephanie Miller's future husband???
(Inside joke if you listen to Stephanie Miller - which I recommend since her father was Goldwater's running mate.... and she has since "seen the light." FUNNY LADY!)
I'd vote for Hackett in a heartbeat.
April 9th, 2006 at 1:20 am#26, TrueBlue,
I have a grave concern that there those in power who DO belive this and are doing, consciously or unconsciously, whatever it takes to bring the "end times" to reality.
I have come to believe that that which is called the Bible is but man's perversion of the truth.
Can we change from this path? Yes. Will we before it is too late? I do not know.
I have seen the eastern seaboard of the United States in flames, and the earth covered with fog and ice. This vision grows stronger with the passing months.
April 9th, 2006 at 1:33 amWow, by BushCo standards, this guy is overqualified for the job. Kinda funny, Lobbyists get jobs with the Federal Government, and Government employees get jobs as Lobbyists.
April 9th, 2006 at 4:25 amAfter growing up with LEAD, PESTICIDES and RADIOACTIVE ITS OK's, these republicons in the conservitive reich at least have something to blame their wonk on.
April 9th, 2006 at 9:57 amWhen a foolish man like Bush runs our nation, who enjoys killing trees for recreation, just as he enjoyed blowing up frogs as a kid by sticking firecrackers up their asses, then the environment like eveything else is doomed! Barbara Bush thought it was funny that her son blew up frogs, instead of telling him it was sick and wrong, so she helped to turn him into the hate-filled monster that he has become! She taught him to screw people over, to lie, and to con his way through life! Someday the Bush family will have to be sent into exile and never allowed into the United States ever again! This sounds cruel perhaps, but that family is pure evil!
April 9th, 2006 at 10:16 amMoney talks - everything else walks.
Comment by cats are flyfishn — April 8, 2006 @ 9:29 pm
I couldn't agree more. They'd sell us packaged cow manure if they could figure how how to market it to the general public. I unplugged myself from that Matrix and don't miss it on any level. I read labels, avoid preservatives and cook my own meals. In fact, I'm vegan and stay away from the meat all together. Getting ready to plant some vegetables for the season. Nothing like homemade pasta sauce from home grown tomatoes... And my cats eat better than most people. It's expensive to buy the good stuff, but less expensive than the medical complications in the long run.
I try to educate the kids a bit about this kind of stuff, without rocking the boat too much. I figure it's all about education, you know?
Thanks for your thoughts on my cousin.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:38 amBush’s policies are killing our planet.
Comment by trueblue — April 8, 2006 @ 10:13 pm
Sorry to hear about your daughter. Life is tough enough when you are relatively in good health. I guess it's always worse when it's something that could have been prevented. And when you go to teh FDA website, they sound more like sales pitches than consumer informtaion. Very disheartening.
I think it's rich, greed politicians since Jimmy Carter who've set bad environmental policy. Clinton included. He did a lot of favors for the Indutrialist who helped fund his campaign that were not in the best interest of the people. Bush is even worse because he doesn't even try to negotiate. Just sides with Big Industry every time, no matter the consequences. We need to vote them all out and replace them with true representatives of the People, not Corporate America.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:43 amEven before 9/11 was being sneaky. Important things were held to late Friday, so less would be around to see and hear it and do anytihng about.
Of course we have Cheney's secret Energy Task Force. Things that were suppose to be on the Daily Registry and Federal Registry, so the public could know and debate, were purposely kept off. They attack science. No one can believe anything coming out of this administration, because if they don't like the numbers they either stop it all together or manipuate them.
Way back when, I recall someone saying that no time in history has any President politicized sol much. When Bush says, just trust me, I want to say are you crazy man!
Earth Day is coming up, April 22. Wouldn't it wonderful if as many people demonstrated for the Earth, as did for immigration.
April 9th, 2006 at 12:19 pmEarthday April 22, 2006 > This might be the very day that Bush drops nuclear bombs on Iran and destroys the environment of the Middle East and perhaps the entire world as well?! Yep who wants to make a bet he starts WWIII on Earthday?
April 9th, 2006 at 12:54 pmInteresting news from CNN along the same vein of health and environment...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Trying to shrink the growing waistlines of children, lawmakers want to expel soda, candy bars, chips and other junk food from the nation's schools.
Dangerous weight is on the rise in kids. This week, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the rate of obese and overweight kids has climbed to 18 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls. Four years ago, the number was 14 percent.
Lawmakers blame high-fat, high-sugar snacks that compete with nutritious meals in schools.
"Junk food sales in schools are out of control," Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, said Thursday. "It undercuts our investment in school meal programs and steers kids toward a future of obesity and diet-related disease."
April 9th, 2006 at 1:19 pmTHIS ECO-TERRORISM BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE RETHUGLICAN MAFIA:
THE WORLD'S #1 TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
THE NEO-CON-RETHUGLICAN MAFIA, a criminal cadre composed of:
POLLUTERS' WHORES
April 9th, 2006 at 8:32 pmWAR MONGERS
FASCISTS
WAR CRIMINALS
CON ARTISTS
CHICKENHAWKS
TERRORISTS
PROPAGANDISTS
PATHOLOGICAL LIARS
TORTURERS
THIEVES
#39 HEY IF THERE ARE ENOUGH FAT KIDS THE ARMY WONT WANT THEM AND ALL THE MILITARY WILL SHUT DOWN. HAVE A BIG MAC FOR PEACE. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL JIHAD AND SUPERSIZE
April 9th, 2006 at 11:00 pm[...] Bush’s new nominee, William Wehrum to head the EPA has quite a bizarre view of what it means to protect our air and water, just one highlight from a report by Think Progress, Bush’s EPA Nominee Has Relaxed Rules For Polluters, Weakened Clean Air Legislation - Wehrum was a lead author of Bush’s “Clear Skies” legislation, which would have loosened emissions caps on dangerous airborne toxins. [...]
April 10th, 2006 at 1:34 am[...] from Daily Kos: I wrote yesterday how Lincoln Chafee repayed the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters for their endorsement by failing to block the nomination of a polluter lobbyist to handle clean air issues at the EPA. And this polluter lobbyist is really, really bad. [...]
April 27th, 2006 at 12:38 pmBad Sierra Club! No Grundle!...
NARAL, meet the Sierra Club. Sierra Club, this is NARAL. You have a mutual friend in Lincoln Chafee. Last week the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters announced their opposition to the appointment of William Wehrum to...
April 27th, 2006 at 4:11 pmchild definition first name...
gimmemoney 527305 Top news about child definition first name....
January 18th, 2007 at 6:12 pm[...] Somehow, I doubt Dick Cheney ever gets a conflicting viewpoint. [...]
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:46 pm[...] Facing strong congressional opposition, the White House yesterday withdrew its nomination of William Wehrum to head the EPA’s air pollution office. Wehrum was the “the behind-the-scenes architect” of some of the Bush administration’s most controversial initiatives, including a plan to loosen emission caps on dangerous air toxins. [...]
April 12th, 2007 at 9:08 am