#472 – He Jeopardizes Our Health for Political Gain

Via the New York Times: Critics Say E.P.A. Won’t Analyze Clean Air Proposals Conflicting With President’s Policies

In the last several months, the Environmental Protection Agency has delayed or refused to do analysis on proposals that conflict with the president's air pollution agenda, say members of Congress, their aides, environmental advocates and agency employees.

Agency employees say they have been told either not to analyze or not to release information about mercury, carbon dioxide and other air pollutants.

It seems EPA Administrators have to check with the White House before they allow certain results to be published.

"Whether or not analysis is released is based on at least two factors," said William D. Ruckelshaus, who was the first agency administrator under Nixon. "Is the analysis flawed? That is a legitimate reason for not releasing it. But if you don't like the outcome that might result from the analysis, that is not a legitimate reason."

Of course, all this contradicts the EPA’s stated purpose:

EPA's mission is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment — air, water, and land — upon which life depends.

It seems protecting that upon which life depends is not as important as political gain.

Which is yet another reason to distrust the information that comes out of Bush’s White House. And question seriously what doesn’t.