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After the program had been put into effect, the measured success was one sixth of the 3% target. How did this dismal result change the program? Well, not at all. Under Bush's standards, despite the fact that voluntary commitments did not reach the promised goals, there were no consequences.
That was in Texas. What does this mean for the nation?
Recently, President Bush's Clean Air promises are once again under examination. The EPA has rewritten the rules governing "grandfathered" polluters so that they can promise to meet voluntary standards and not worry about strict regulations forcing them to meet a firm target (as he did in Texas). A number of eastern states have sued the Bush administration to challenge this change. Furthermore, because Bush controls the regulatory arm of the government, he is able to modify the original regulations, which now only allow routine maintenance for grandfathered industrial plants before requiring them to follow today's clean air regulations. Bush's EPA is ready to release new rules that would make it possible for old polluting plants to add major upgrades without any additional pollution controls, thus allowing them to pollute even more than before.
Along with the month of August, Friday afternoons before people leave for the weekend have always been the slowest times for news. News released during these times (especially news released on an August Friday afternoon) is almost always guaranteed to disappear by the following Monday. So it is no wonder that the new rule change proposed by the EPA for exempting upgrades to old polluting plants from stricter pollution control would be released on a Friday afternoon in August. Don't let the timing of the announcement lull you into thinking that this news isn't a big deal.
George W. Bush is trying to create a record that not only matches his accomplishments in Texas, but actually makes it possible for his corporate polluting friends to pollute even more than before. He is overachieving on his promise to do for America what he did for Texas.
You can find out more about President George W Bush's record on the Environment by visiting http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/ .
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