Heavy storms and high winds blocked President Bush's Earth Day plan to get his hands dirty fixing trails. He missed Great Smoky Mountains National Park but still delivered his plea for better stewardship of the environment.
ALCOA, Tenn. — Heavy storms and high winds blocked President Bush's Earth Day plan to get his hands dirty fixing trails. He missed Great Smoky Mountains National Park but still delivered his plea for better stewardship of the environment.
Bush plugged his "Clear Skies" air pollution plan, bogged down in Congress because of Democrats' insistence that it must address global warming. He also praised the popular but polluted national park's thriving program of more than 2,000 volunteers.
"Had I been there, I would have reminded people today is ... a day in which we recommit ourselves to being good stewards of our land," he said, flanked by members of Congress and his Cabinet. "We didn't create this Earth, but we have an obligation to protect it."
Bad weather in the Southeast led Bush to make his comments during a quick stop by Air Force One at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base. A threat of hail and thunderstorms kept him from helping with trail restoration in the Smokies' picturesque Cades Cove area.
Rather than marvel at the more than half-million acres of woodland that comprises one of the world's oldest mountain ranges, he competed with a steady electronic hum while speaking to a small group of dignitaries and reporters. He also met with families of two U.S. soldiers killed overseas.
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The president pressed his viewpoint that to manage air and water quality properly and protect the land, the economy must keep growing to help pay for environmental safeguards.
"My point is, it's possible to have economic growth and jobs and opportunity and, at the same time, be wise stewards of the land," Bush said.
The Smokies is one of the most polluted parks in the nation, due mainly to industrial soot and smog that collects in the mountains, creating vista-reducing haze, stunting plants with acid rain, and threatening the health of asthmatic visitors.
Rewriting the Clean Air Act has been Bush's top environmental priority, and his plan would give power plants, factories and refineries more time to reduce their air pollution. It would cut nitrogen oxides, a big factor in smog; sulfur dioxide, blamed for acid rain; and mercury, a toxic chemical that contaminates water.
Smokestack industries would trade pollution rights within government caps aimed at reducing the three pollutants by 70 percent by 2018.
Last month, a Senate committee rejected the bill. Opponents want limits on carbon dioxide, the chief "greenhouse" gas scientists blame for global warming but one Bush opposes regulating.
The president touted regulatory changes meant to accomplish much of what his bill would do, though he argues changes in law would do more faster than regulations contested in court.
"It would sure be helpful if Congress passed the 'Clear Skies' legislation as well," Bush said.
Immediately after his remarks, Bush climbed back on his plane and departed for his ranch in Texas.
Often at odds with environmentalists, Bush celebrated their holiday by claiming a solid environmental record. For instance, he said "we're on our way" to meeting the promise he made last Earth Day to restore or protect up to 3 million acres of wetlands.
But Julie Sibbing, a wetlands expert with National Wildlife Federation, said the Bush administration has ignored how many swamps, bogs and other wetlands have been destroyed.
"They're claiming we've already achieved a net gain of wetlands, when their own scientists have pointed out we don't have enough data to know whether we're gaining or losing," Sibbing said.
In Washington, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said the nation had indeed made strides in cleaning the air and water since the first Earth Day. "Unfortunately it has taken the Bush administration less than five years to undo many of those efforts and undermine our major environmental laws," she said.
"It is clear that the continued enforcement and implementation of the Clean Air Act is imperative to fight polluters," Pelosi said. "The administration, however, wants to pass an air pollution bill that will weaken the Clean Air Act, allowing polluters to further contaminate our air."
Source: Associated Press
