Bush Rule Changes Raise Eyebrows, Draw Concerns
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Minneapolis, MN – Some end-of-term Bush administration federal rule changes are raising concerns. So-called "midnight regulations" by outgoing presidents aren't unusual, but the extent of the current series, especially their environmental impacts, is drawing attention.
Cesia Kearns, conservation organizer for the Minnesota Sierra Club, says one of the most-egregious rule changes has opened the way for mountain-top removal mining.
"Mountain-top removal literally explodes the top off of mountains to get to the coal underneath, which causes a lot of debris to go into valleys and streams. It's disrupting the surface of the mountains and it damages the make-up of the earth."
That coal becomes part of the energy mix in Minnesota and other states, adds Kearns, who says she's hopeful incoming Washington leaders won't take such a hard line on environmental issues. There doesn't have to be a trade-off, she says, between a clean planet and turning a profit.
"Industry and ecology can co-exist. We have visionary leaders who are looking at being able to create green technologies that will improve our health, improve the environment, and allow us to be prosperous."
Other expected changes include: easing air quality standards to allow industries such as power plants to locate near national parks and wilderness areas; and loosening protection of endangered species and changes in feedlot regulations.
Defenders of President Bush's actions say there's no last-minute rush; the president is only trying to wrap up unfinished business, and too many industries remain over-regulated. The incoming Obama administration says it will try to reverse some of the 11th-hour declarations.
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