The Republican War on the Environment ruled illegal by the courts.
The Bush Administration has lost 77 out of 78 federal court cases involving threatened species since 2001. The courts have also largely rejected Bush's attempt to rewrite the Clean Air Act. This is all about Bush's attempt at payback to the nations top polluters in exchange for campaign contributions. This is how Republicans do business in their War on the Environment. It's a family tradition, Bush 41 broke the law 35 times in failing to issue regulations needed to carry out the Clean Air Act.
"In almost all cases, the EPA rules and decisions overturned by the courts benefited polluting industries at the expense of human health and the environment."
- Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles
The latest rejection of Bush policy came last week when a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a halt to three proposed logging projects in the northern Sierra. The ruling repudiated the administration's approach to forest management: selling large trees to loggers to finance removal of smaller trees under the guise of fire protection.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, was troubled by the Environmental Protection Agency's string of overturned rules. As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, he asked the agency to add up time and money spent to develop and defend every rule or decision that has been legally challenged since Bush took office in 2001.
"The consequences of such losses are substantial delays in environmental protection, waste of government resources, and confusion and costs for regulated entities," Waxman wrote in his request.
This is how Republicans do business: Bush campaign contributions from industries that rape the environment for profit:
Industry -- 2000 and 2004 contributions
Oil and gas -- $4.2 million
Mining -- $584,000
Electric utilities -- $1.3 million
Timber -- $877,000
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