Under George W. Bush's leadership, Texas ranks number one in a many categories of pollution and environmental degradation. For example, Texas is:

#1 in the Emission of Ozone Causing Air Pollution Chemicals
#1 in Toxic Chemical releases into the Air
#1 in use of Deep Well Injectors as method of Waste Disposal
#1 in counties listed in top 20 of Emitting Cancer Causing Chemicals
#1 in Total Number of Hazardous Waste Incinerators
#1 in Environmental Justice Title 6 complaints
#1 in production of Cancer causing Benzene & Vinyl Chloride
#1 Largest Sludge Dump in Country

Texas air quality has worsened significantly under Gov. Bush's administration. The Houston-Galveston area has had eight of the top ten ozone (smog) peaks in the nation, far surpassing Los Angeles. But as concern over the health and environmental consequences rise, the governor's policy has been only to fight the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's attempts to impose stricter air quality protections.

When confronted with the option of enforcing regulations or bypassing them, Gov. Bush has consistently chosen the latter. After research showed that 1,000 unregulated, "grandfathered" industrial plants accounted for a huge proportion of Texas air pollution, Bush opposed legislation that would force the companies to clean up and instead cut a back room deal to install a "voluntary" program. The heads of these companies include some of the Governor's largest campaign contributors.

- From the Public Employee’s for Environmental Responsibility website. Visit, and while you’re there take the Toxic Texas Tour.