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Enviro-dysfunction

August 25, 2008 12:15 am

THE BUSH administration ap- pears committed, curiously, to eviscerating key U.S. environmental protections before the end of the president's term. Though many such issues hang beneath the public's radar and gain notice primarily among environmental activists, the increasing frequency of these actions, and the court rulings that rebuke them, have brought attention to a sad administration legacy.

Earlier this month, for example, the administration issued proposed regulatory changes for the Endangered Species Act. Described as an effort to streamline the 35-year-old legislation, the Bushites in reality seek to allow federal agencies to proceed with projects based on their own judgment of the potential impact on endangered species. Existing law requires that those agencies consult first with federal scientists on such matters.

Americans understand by now that while bureaucracy is the sand in government's gears, endangered species and their habitats are left vulnerable without layers of oversight. Left to their own devices, agencies would choose to report progress on a given task rather than list concerns about a fish or insect or plant that could be jeopardized.

The administration's priorities, however, couldn't be clearer.

Earlier this month, a federal appeals court struck down a Bush administration rule designed to circumvent state and local imposition of emissions limits on major polluters. The court found that the Clean Air Act clearly stipulates state and local involvement and that it is, in fact, the backbone of that 45-year-old landmark legislation.

In June, the news emerged that the White House, for six months, had refused to open an e-mail from the EPA that the administration knew contained findings counter to its own environmental deregulation policies on global warming. The agency had determined that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled. It also explained how tough controls on motor-vehicle pollution could generate as much as $2 trillion in economic benefits by 2040.

Rather than allow the administration's refusal to cooperate to leave it looking like a dog without teeth, the EPA issued a substitute report on the legal and economic implications of classifying greenhouse gases as pollutants. No recommendations, no optimistic conclusions.

The president's apparent rush to destruction in the waning months of his administration is shameful. More Americans than ever are grasping the importance of environmental protection, expecting their nation to play a leadership role, and debating how these challenges can best be met. Their president, meanwhile, prefers to propose rules that minimize environmental responsibility, perhaps hoping that no one will notice.

With his job-approval ratings hovering around the 30 percent mark all year, Mr. Bush can no longer spin his actions as unpopular but effective medicine. They are unpopular, for the most part, because they are wrong.