Ok, so who doesn’t know the Bush administration’s agenda for the environment, seriously? It’s all about doing everything they can to facilitate business, at any cost. They have watered down the ‘clean water act’, and diluted ( clean air regulations). They dragged their feet in improving auto fuel mileage, fighting California all the way. Although, to be fair, the American public has not really stepped up and demanded more fuel-efficient cars, and seem to be willing to put up with the air pollution they are themselves adding to the air. The Bush Administration has opened up the American west to extensive drilling for oil and natural gas and mining for coal, without regard to the damage this has caused to water tables in that parched region. They have delisted creatures from the endangered species list for reasons of profit and private land ownership, while trying to use bogus ’scientific’ reasons for doing so, and when that didn’t work, they just censored the science. Climate change, anyone? Hey, I’m a scientist, and the way science gets done is by having researchers vigorously test each other’s scientific ideas and data, over and over. Careers are made by being tough, by proving things very meticulously and certainly not by simply accepting whatever any scientist publishes in a journal. We challenge, then challenge some more.

Science is not respected by the Bush Administration. It is changed to whatever is convenient for profit. Now, as far as conserving the publicly-owned natural resources in the United States, such as oil, gas, trees, water and so forth, Federal management has rarely done a good job. Do a little research yourself, and you will see that federal and state forestry management is usually dominated by those who want to harvest the trees for lumber, and at prices that really are a steal, so the public doesn’t even get proper dispensation. The following link details the Bush Administration’s attempt to open up the Tongass National Forest, more than 5,000 square miles, to mining, and to roads cut into the forest for extensive logging operations. Funny thing, lumber only accounts for something like 1% of Alaska’s economy, but the damage the mining and lumbering will do will likely eat into the much more extensive profits the state garners from fishing and tourism. Not to mention the sullying of pristine forest areas, amongst America’s very last. It’s a handout that benefits a very small group of people, but will likely damage the welfare of many more, not to mention the creatures that inhabit the forest.

• Bush Assaults Alaskan Forests

• Nature Conservancy

• Alaska Wilderness Society