It’s a great time to be in Washington, D.C.–especially if your last name is "Corp." By now, most environmentalists are aware of George Bush’s backtracking on campaign promises to reduce global warming as well as the oilman’s plan to offer billions of dollars in tax credits and subsidies to energy corporations. But those two cases just hint at what happens when Washington becomes a real company town.
In his proposed 2003 budget, Bush has omitted the corporate taxes that pay for toxic cleanups under Superfund when responsible parties can’t be identified, are broke, or no longer exist. Instead, the White House wants the tab to be paid by taxpayers: $700 million in 2003 (because of existing reserves) and over a billion in 2004.
After closed-door talks with oil, utility, and auto lobbyists in April, the Bush administration announced it would not renominate Robert Watson as chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The lobbyists then worked in Geneva with OPEC countries to round up the majority needed to oust Watson, a respected atmospheric scientist who has overseen the panel’s assessments of global warming.
The Bush administration is accelerating oil and gas drilling, particularly in the Rockies. According to the Bureau of Land Management, last year 4 million additional acres in the United States were made available for oil and gas drilling and coal mining, up from 2.6 million acres in 2000.
According to an EPA analysis, under the Bush administration’s "Clear Skies" pollutant-reduction proposal, the amount of coal burned by electric power companies will actually increase by 79 million tons between now and 2020. If the administration prevails, "Clear Skies" will replace many existing Clean Air Act programs (but not address carbon dioxide emissions).
Some of the nearly three dozen former energy-industry executives, lobbyists, and lawyers appointed to Bush administration posts have helped the government carry out major parts of its energy policy without waiting for congressional action. Among them are two Bush executive orders to speed the construction of new energy projects that had been recommended by the American Petroleum Institute and the American Gas Association.
In early May, the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers changed water pollution rules to make it easier for companies to mine for coal by removing entire mountaintops. The new regulations redefine the waste as "fill" and allow it to be dumped into valleys and clog streams. A federal court ruling immediately blocked the move, but at press time the Bush administration said it would pursue a stay pending an appeal. At the same time, Representatives Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) announced that they will introduce legislation to counteract the waste-rule change.
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