Bush Overrides State Laws that are Tougher on Industry

News and Opinion for Democrats Against Bush -- Part I a

Bush Overrides State Laws that are Tougher on Industry

"No recent president has been quicker than George W. Bush to embrace the virtues of state and local control. But when it comes to the environment, William Becker discovered, that commitment can evaporate when state regulation would be tougher on industry than federal rules."

--Elizabeth Shorgun, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

States Rights and the Environment

by staff writer, Elizabeth Shorgun:

To read this in full, see the second article on the following webpage-- http://www.4religious-right.info/states_rights2.htm

Excerpt--

No recent president has been quicker than George W. Bush to embrace the virtues of state and local control. But when it comes to the environment, William Becker discovered, that commitment can evaporate when state regulation would be tougher on industry than federal rules.

Becker, who represents administrators of state air-pollution programs in Washington, met with White House officials last month to appeal to them not to weaken the Clean Air Act.

He used the administration's own rhetoric about the value of local decision making to support his case. Surely, he said, the administration would not stand in the way of states that wanted to enforce tougher clean-air rules on utilities and major polluters.

Wrong. ...

http://www.4religious-right.info/states_rights2.htm

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	This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

CleanOceanAction.org

Groups Rally Against Federal Proposal to Restrict States’ Abilities to Protect Coastal and Ocean Resources

Proposed Changes called "Unwarranted, Unwanted, and Unnecessary"

To read the complete article, click on-- http://www.cleanoceanaction.org/PressReleases/PR2003/CZMA.htm

Excerpt--

Belmar, NJ – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed changes to the rules governing the Coastal Zone Management Program, a federal program which allows states that choose to participate strong rights for governance and responsibility of a states’ coastal and ocean resources.

The changes proposed in the rule shortens various time frames for state review of federal projects, such as oil and gas drilling or strip mining, proposed in their coastal zones. The changes would also limit the availability of information provided to states by applicants, provide more discretion to federal agencies in the process, and has the potential to increase litigation. In addition, public review and comments by citizens and local governments would be severely limited, if not sacrificed entirely.

After careful legal review, Clean Ocean Action (COA) submitted comments to NOAA today strongly opposing the proposed changes to the consistency provision and demand withdrawal of the changes. The proposed changes are a direct assault on fundamental rights of states, local governments, and citizens to assert governance over activities that may affect the coast which would result in greatly diminished protections for the coasts and oceans and the living resources they support. The proposed rule would greatly impact the states’ rights in governing what happens in their coastal zones. ...

NOAA provides evidence in the proposed rule that the program is functioning well with states and federal agencies agreeing to proposals 93% of the time. The program changes are being proposed not because the program is working, but due to industry directives. The opening paragraph of the proposed rules states, "NOAA is proposing this rule to address the CZMA-related recommendations of the [Vice President Cheney] Energy Policy Development Group’s Energy Report."

"They are unwarranted, unwanted, and unacceptable," said Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action. "Indeed, these proposed changes are at the command of the oil and gas industry who have long sought to undermine states’ abilities to govern their own coastal destinies," she added. ...

"http://www.cleanoceanaction.org/PressReleases/PR2003/CZMA.htm

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FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.