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 How The Bush Administration's Policies Harm New Mexico Communities There Is a Better Way to Protect New Mexico's Families and Communities
New Mexico is rich and abundant with wetlands, waters, and wildlife. Regardless of the season or region, we New Mexicans enjoy a special relationship with our natural inheritance. We know that protecting our state's natural resources and beauty makes New Mexico's economy stronger and our families healthier. From Valles Caldera to Otero Mesa; White Sands to Chaco Canyon; natural resources have always been important to our residents and civic leaders. Today, however, our state's treasured environment has been put at risk by the George W. Bush administration's policies, which weaken and ignore federal environmental safeguards and are already harming our communities' health and our natural heritage. The Bush administration is enabling corporations to benefit at the expense of New Mexico's families by allowing electric companies, chemical companies, coal companies, and other industries to weaken the laws and regulations that protect public health and safety. The administration has allowed electric companies to build more outdated and polluting coal-fired power plants instead of requiring them to use modern technology to cut pollution, or encouraging them to build cleaner facilities relying on renewable power generation. The administrative policies put New Mexico's women and children at increased risk of mercury poisoning. The administration has also allowed oil companies to drill and ruin our public lands and private ranchlands, poisoning thousands of heads of cattle and multitudes of wildlife. The administration's undermining of our nation's most basic environmental protections leaves the people of New Mexico exposed and vulnerable to increased amounts of development-retarding mercury and other contaminants. This report documents the consequences of Bush administration actions-and lack of action-on the health and safety of families in communities across New Mexico. It also serves to remind us what we have learned over the last thirty years-that there is a better way; that we have the know-how and a successful track record cleaning up the pollution in our air and water and the poisons in our soil. But know-how, effective laws, and proven technological solutions are clearly not enough when the Bush administration is determined to let corporations off the hook, weaken the regulations that reduce pollution, and strip funding from the agencies responsible for enforcing environmental laws. Only public pressure on public officials will ensure that the last three decades of progress are not lost, and that we instead continue to keep our communities safe, protecting our children's legacy of clean air, water, and still-wild lands. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
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