04-05-2002, 01:43 PM
<br>Bush's Record<br><br>The Bush Budget: Bad News for our Environment and our Health<br><br>Energy Research Cuts<br><br>The Bush Administration has proposed cutting energy efficiency research and development by 27% overall, with over 50% cut in some specific programs in Fiscal Year 2002. These cuts would hamstring efforts to improve efficiency in homes, vehicles, businesses, and industry. <br><br>President Bush has proposed cutting renewable energy research and development programs by 36% in FY02. This devastating cut would slow the development of key renewable energy technologies just as rising energy prices have Americans looking for renewable sources of energy.<br><br>In his FY02 budget, the president proposes that funding for renewable energy come from revenue that Bush hopes will come from drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Though Congress recently stripped this provision, Bush fights on.<br><br>Environmental Protection Agency Cuts<br><br><br>Overall, President Bush is cutting $500 million from the EPA’s budget including a cut of $158 million from the EPA's efforts to enforce laws that keep polluters from fouling the air we breathe and the water we drink.<br><br>One example of programs that will be effected: When President Bush reversed the arsenic protection program, he said EPA needed to examine more science, but his budget slashes $56 million that would be used to study how best to protect our families' health.<br><br>In addition to these severe cuts, his budgetary slight of hand shifts money to states, crippling the federal government's ability to enforce fair and consistent environmental standards. This will undermine enforcement of our environmental laws and is, in effect, cutting the safety net that protects all Americans from toxic pollution.<br><br><br>Interior Department Cuts<br><br>President Bush's budget takes a substantial bite out of programs that protect our treasured wildlands and wildlife. Because President Bush plays a budgetary shell game, his $345 million cut hurts conservation efforts even more than meets the eye.<br><br>The President's budget includes numerous examples where he shifts money away from conserving landscapes and wildlife and instead uses the money for mining and oil drilling on our public lands. In addition, it tilts the balance from experienced federal oversight and lets individual states decide whether to protect wildlife and open space. <br><br>The budget cuts federal land acquisition under Land and Water Conservation Fund by $60 million, defying a bipartisan agreement struck in Congress last year.<br><br>The President cuts the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service budget by $168 million, slashing money dedicated to protecting wildlife habitat, wetlands restoration and endangered species. <br><br>At the Bureau of Land Management, the balance is shifting between conserving and exploiting the lands we all own. The budget increases money for oil drilling and mining exploration by roughly $15 million, and makes an equal cut in money for conservation. The Bush Administration has said it will consider allowing oil drilling and mining in our National Monuments and other treasured areas currently protected for future generations.<br><br><br><A HREF="http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/MESS6438/" target="_new">http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/MESS6438/</A> <br>Lookie See what the kids are up to.<br>Dave T. Clown