Nixon EPA chief criticizes Bush "war on the environment"
by Guest Blogger, 10/24/2004
Don't miss Mother Jones's feature interview with Russell Train, EPA chief during the Nixon administration. Here's a glimpse:
We’re at war in Iraq. They tell us we’re at war against terrorism. I’d say that George W. Bush has declared war on the environment. And I think that people ought to stand up and be counted in opposition to that. . . .
I feel George W.’s heart is in the wrong place on this issue. Calling something the Clean Air Act, the Healthy Forest Act when what you’re really doing is opening up the forest to logging. It’s almost an ideological antagonism. And there’s no understanding, I feel, of the importance of this issue. It’s addressed from the standpoint of, “What is such-and-such a regulation going to do to a particular industry that is a pretty good contributor to our campaign cause." And I think that’s what’s motivated its approach to environmental matters. . . .
There has been a tendency on the part of this administration, this White House, to — some call it — distort science. And if they don’t like the science, they take out that particular finding. . . .
--from Conversation with a Conservative: Russell Train -- Russell Train, head of the Environmental Protection Agency under Richard Nixon, explains that the Bush administration has declared "war" on the environment (video or transcript) --Mother Jones, Oct. 21, 2004
