Bush Flip Flops and Lies About his record on Environment
If re-elected, will he destroy our environment? The Bush administration initiated more than 200 major rollbacks of America's environmental laws, weakening the protection of our country's air, water, public lands and wildlife.

President George W. Bush has compiled the worst environmental record in the history of our nation, earning him the first ever “F” on the League of Conservation Voters’ (LCV) 2003 Presidential Report Card. His administration’s approach to the environment demonstrates a clear bias toward the interests of corporate polluters and special interests. From Vice President Cheney’s secret energy task force to the appointment of industry lobbyists and officials accused of ethics violations to rewarding major campaign contributors with numerous policy paybacks, President Bush has put corporate interests first – and the public interest in clean air, safe drinking water and sound energy policy last. Even in his 2004 State of the Union Address, President Bush showed his true colors by not even bothering to mention the environment.  But then again, there was nothing he could say that would have made him look good.

When Bush campaigned in 2000, one of his major points was opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The refuge is one of the few pristine areas left in the United States. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, Bush also proposed in 2001 to allow oil drilling on all public lands.

National wildlife refuges are not the only areas to be affected. Bush instituted new clean-air regulations as well. Called the Clear Skies Initiatives, this program has been noted to actually increase air pollution.

According to The New York Times, 14 states have sued the Environmental Protection Agency to bar the agency from implementing the new policy, and 27 states expect pollution from coal-burning power plants to increase as a result of the initiative.

The EPA has been faced with other legal suits, as well. According to the Natural Resource Defense Council, a federal appellate court ruled in July on a four-year-old case in which the EPA illegally issued inadequate environmental and public-health standards for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear repository site in Nevada.

The court ruled in favor of local environmental groups and the state of Nevada -- against the EPA.

The League of Conservation Voters is a nonpartisan political environmental group. Since 1970, the organization has gathered together environmental professionals to grade national political figures on their environmental track records.

After his first year in office, Bush received a D-minus on the report card. By midterm he downgraded to an F, and now in an unprecedented move, he has been added to the list of the 12 worst officials for environmental protection -- pegged the "Dirty Dozen." This is the first time in over 30 years the president of the United States was included on this list.

Scientists have also joined the ranks of those against the Bush administration's policy decisions. More than 5,000 scientists -- including 48 Nobel Laureates, 62 National Medal of Science recipients and 127 members of the National Academy of Sciences -- signed a statement called, "Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policy Making." This document charges the administration misused scientific findings in favor of private-interest gains.

In the document, Kurt Gottfried, Union of Concerned Scientists board chairman and a physics professor at Cornell University, said, "The administration is dismissive of the concerns of leading scientists across the country. The absence of a candid and constructive response from the White House is troubling, as these issues -- from childhood lead poisoning and mercury emissions to climate change and nuclear weapons -- have serious consequences for public health, well-being and national security."

However, Bush said on his Web site he is a proponent of environmental protection: "Over the last four years, the air has become cleaner, our water more pure, and we have reversed the net loss of wetlands. In addition, our parks are better managed, better funded, and better protected. ... In his second term, President Bush will continue improving our environment."