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February: 28th - Decides to enforce rather than challenge rules issued by Pres. Clinton that go after Diesel trucks and buses as a source of dirty air. March: 12th - Pres. Bush reversed himself on his campaign promise to decrease carbon dioxide emissions, which environmentalists say contributes to global warming. Citing California's energy crisis, he said now would be a poor time to try to regulate power plant emissions. 14th - Pres. Bush is quoted as saying that "..there is room enough in America's national parks for both monuments and oil rigs. It depends upon the cost-benefit ratio. There are some monuments where the land is so widespread, they just encompass as much as possible. The integral part, the precious part, so to speak, will not be despoiled." He went on to say his administration would look at "all public lands" for energy development. Environmentalists, stunned by Pres. Bush's blunt language, are dismayed that the President is talking about turning the oil industry loose in our national forests, national wild life refuges, and other public systems. Pres. Bush's detractors say his announced policy is pure politics, and the direct result of lobbying by the oil and mining industries.20th – The administration dumped the last minute drinking water standard for arsenic set by Pres. Clinton. EPA Administrator Whitman promised to issue new standards within nine months 21st - Proposes to suspend Clinton regulation to force mining operations to post bonds equal to estimated cleanup costs. 28th - Christi Whitman announced that the Bush administration has no plans to implement the climate treaty negotiated in Japan.April: 9th - Proposes budget that would increase financing of federal parks, expand clean-coal technology, offer tax credits for people who buy solar powered water heaters or electric systems. Also limits the ability of environmental groups to get rare plants and animals added to the endangered species list. 10th - asks a federal appeals court to uphold Clinton era plan to regulate mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants. 12th - Approved efficiency standards first issued by Clinton Administration requiring new clothes washers and water heaters to use less energy. 13th - Proposed efficiency standards for central air conditioners and heat pumps that would make them 20 % more efficient by 2006, less than the 30 % sought by Clinton Administration. 16th - Leaves in place Clinton Administration rule that would expand protection for thousands of acres of wetlands, prohibiting excavation of swamps, bogs and marshes without approval. 17th - Upheld Clinton Administration regulations requiring thousands more businesses to report their releases of toxic lead into the environment. - 19th - Announced support for treaty seeking worldwide phase out of a dozen highly toxic chemicals known as POPs. May 3 - President Bush on Thursday ordered all federal agencies in California to cut power use, saying ''we want to be a part of any solutions'' to an energy crunch that could cripple the largest state. Officials said Bush was issuing a directive that would instruct federal agencies in California to turn off escalators and keep building temperatures at 78 degrees. June 7 - In a study commissioned by the White House, the National Academy of Sciences said Wednesday that global warming ''is real and particularly strong within the past 20 years'' and said a leading cause is emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. The report was requested to help prepare Bush for his trip to Europe next week, but the academy was not asked for policy recommendations and it made none. However, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the report does not definitely conclude that human activity is the cause of rising temperatures. June 14 - President Bush on Thursday parted ways with Europe over climate change, maintaining his opposition to a global warming treaty but pledging to seek "new channels of cooperation'' on the issue. Bush, in his inaugural trip to Europe as president, said he was optimistic about improving relations on a range of issues - the environment, trade and defense - as he joined leaders of the 15-nation European Union at Gunnebo Slott, an 18th-century mansion atop a wooded hill nine miles outside Goteborg. But after their meeting, Bush said he remains opposed to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which commits industrialized countries to reducing greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2012. No industrial country has yet ratified the treaty, although most leaders have voiced support for it; An effort to salvage it fell apart last November in a disagreement between the United States and Europe over trading pollution credits |
Copyright © 2000,
2001, 2002 Thomas and Ann Pickett |
