The New York Times is reporting the White House refused to accept an Environmental Protection Agency ruling on pollutants by simply ignoring the email containing the ruling. The ruling called greenhouse gases pollutants that should be regulated and controlled. EPA officials say the White House informed them the email containing the ruling would not be opened. The document was the EPA’s official response to a Supreme Court ruling ordering it to determine whether greenhouse gases endanger the environment. The EPA is finally set to respond this week with a watered-down version that only considers the issues raised by following the ruling to issue a judgment.

...and that is just the beginning. I'll shortly post other links to the Bush Environmental [sic] legacy.

Great Chronology of Bush Environmental Disaster
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/project...h_enviro_record

Another shorter [sic] one
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200409/bu...ecord_print.asp

Another study
http://www.wilderness.org/Library/Documents/BushRecord.cfm

RFK Jr. on W's Environmentalism
http://www.npr.org/templates/dmg/dmg.php?p...NPRMediaPref=RM

And in that small snipet, is contained all the hubris, arrogance and childishness that so characterise this administration. Sad, funny yet terrifying, like a clown with a knife.

While I am no fan in general of Bush's environmental record, this list has a few issues, to be fair. I'm concentrating only on water quality since that's my area of expertise. I'm not sure why, but this site ascribes setbacks in the TMDL program to the administration. Well the TMDL program is alive, well, and kicking, as I am currently involved in writing an action plan for a client to comply with the loadings set by the State through EPA mandate. In fact, stormwater regulations have been on the increase during the Bush administration, but really not because or in spite of him,- they simply worked their way through the federal system. Stormwater regulations are more streamlined than most, making them easier to understand and that has helped spawn a multi-billion dollar cottage industry of companies making products for compliance.

Part of looking at what makes ennviornmental rules effective is how simple they are. Most fail miserably. some rules are so overwritten and complex as to be unworkable. Throw in unfunded mandates and you have a real problem. Unfortuantely when the rules are stripped down and streamlined , instead of getting kudos for making them more effective (by being easier to follow), the backlash is that the rules are being "gutted".