Progress Report: 'Betraying the Public Trust'

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Tue, 15 Mar 2005 08:07:54 -0800

Progress Report: 'Betraying the Public Trust'

 

" American Progress Action Fund "

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AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND

The Progress Report

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin with Nico Pitney and

Mipe Okunseinde

www.progressreport.org

3/15/2005

 

For news and updates throughout the day, check out our new blog at

ThinkProgress.org.

 

HEALTH

 

'Betraying the Public Trust'

 

The Bush administration is planning to finally unveil its mercury

emissions policy today. These new, polluter-friendly rules were

politically driven, based on phony science and drafted in part by the

polluters themselves. They will curb toxic mercury pollution at a much

slower rate than other more environmentally favorable plans while

instituting a cap-and-trade system, which lets dirty power plants buy

credits from cleaner ones. Thus, under the new system, some power

plants will actually " increase pollution, while others turn a profit

selling unused pollution allowances. " The result: " hot spots, "

localized areas of serious contamination. The Atlanta

Journal-Constitution today sums up the true effect of the new White

House rules, writing, " There's no gentle way to put it: The White

House is ignoring the public's will, betraying the public's trust and

endangering the public's health by proposing weak mercury regulations

for the nation's power plants. "

 

POLLUTED NUMBERS: Every year, power plants emit 48 tons of toxic

mercury into the atmosphere. President Bush likes to claim his plan

will reduce mercury pollution by 70 percent by 2018. What he doesn't

tell the public: that's a big step backwards. The Bush administration

rolled back a 2000 Clinton White House plan which " would have mandated

curtailing emissions at every plant by the maximum amount possible,

which proponents said could bring a 90% reduction in three years using

existing technology. " In fact, a preliminary report released by the

nonpartisan National Academy of Sciences found that " the Bush

administration's bill to curb air pollution from power plans would

reduce air pollution less than the current Clean Air act rules. "

 

PLAYING GAMES WITH SCIENCE: The EPA's own inspector general and the

nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) have sharply

criticized the EPA for bypassing scientific ethics and willfully

distorting analysis while creating the mercury emission rules. Last

month, the EPA inspector general reported the White House had pushed

EPA scientists to ignore scientific evidence and instead " find "

predetermined conclusions the Bush administration needed to justify

the polluter-friendly cap-and-trade plan. Last week, the GAO also

slammed the EPA for twisting analysis to falsely make Bush's plan seem

superior to other plans which would actually clean the air faster and

better. Both the EPA's inspector general and the GAO demanded the EPA

conduct additional – and real – analyses of the mercury rules before

issuing the new rule. EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman yesterday,

however, confirmed that hasn't happened.

 

LETTING INDUSTRY WRITE THEIR RULES: The EPA's mercury emission rules

are so industry friendly that they were even partially drafted by the

very energy companies they're supposed to regulate. In April 2003, a

group of eight power plants reviewed the administration's plan and

submitted a " wish list " of changes to weaken regulations. The

Washington Post last year found that, in a side-by-side comparison of

the rules and the power-plant memo, at least " a dozen paragraphs were

lifted, sometimes verbatim, from the industry suggestions. "

 

FORGETTING THE CHILDREN: Mercury is a powerful toxin that can have

serious neurological effects, especially in kids. Mercury directly

harms the nervous systems of infants and children, causing birth

defects and serious learning disabilities. According to an EPA

analysis, 600,000 babies born in the U.S. every year " may be exposed

to dangerous levels of mercury in the womb. " The Los Angeles Times

points out that even the EPA's very own Children's Health Protection

Advisory Committee reported last year that the industry-friendly EPA

mercury rule " does not sufficiently protect our nation's children. " A

member of that panel yesterday criticized the new rules, saying, " This

rule flies in the face of the best science, and the best experts and

the public. " She also revealed the committee " repeatedly had asked the

EPA to do additional analysis on the rule and to address 'hot spots,'

but the agency had failed to do either. "

 

THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE: Power plants burn coal, which releases

mercury pollution into the air. From there, it rises in the atmosphere

and returns in the form of polluted rain, which accumulates in lakes,

bays, ponds and rivers. Scientists have long known the poisonous

effects mercury pollution has on fish (and, thus, people who eat

fish.) In fact, 45 states currently have do-not-eat warnings for

certain fish that have been contaminated with mercury. But the

environmental effect is even more widespread than previously thought.

A study last week unexpectedly found toxic levels of mercury in birds

living on mountaintops in Vermont. Biologist Kent McFarland called the

surprising new finding a " wake-up call " about how much mercury is

pervading the atmosphere. (For more, check out this editorial by John

Podesta and John Monks.)

 

RENDITION

 

Extraordinarily Irresponsible

 

In late January of this year, President Bush declared, " torture is

never acceptable, nor do we hand over people to countries that do

torture. " Yet, hundreds of individuals have been taken by Central

Intelligence Agency agents through the process of extraordinary

rendition, in which detainees are transported to other countries for

interrogation. Also referred to as outsourcing torture, the CIA has

chosen " the most common destinations for rendered suspects [to be]

Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Jordan, all of which have been cited for

human-rights violations by the State Department, and are known to

torture suspects. " Despite President Bush's empty declarations,

conservatives in both chambers of Congress, at times " at the White

House's urging, " continue to block legislation that could " ban the CIA

from using cruel and inhuman interrogation methods. "

 

RENDITION – THEN: Before President Bush, the Clinton administration

" enforced much greater oversight and restrictions … and generally used

the practice to send suspects to a country where they would face

criminal prosecutions. " Days after Vice President Cheney cryptically

threatened that the administration would spend time " in the shadows of

the intelligence world, " a presidential directive gave the CIA

independence that came with " unusually expansive authority. "

 

RENDITION – NOW: Freeing the agency from various oversights, including

" case-by-case approval from the White House or the State or Justice

Departments, " the rendition program soon " expanded beyond recognition

– becoming, according to a former CIA official, 'an abomination.' " The

CIA is now carrying out these rendition expeditions so frequently that

relatively amateur aviation enthusiasts have begun to document the

trips. Once " aimed at a small, discrete set of suspects [it now

includes] a wide and ill-defined population, " and can be used " solely

for the purpose of detention and interrogation. "

 

THE 'COUNTERPRODUCTIVE' USE OF TORTURE: Even to set aside the

ideological case against outsourcing torture, the Bush

administration's carrying out of the rendition program has been

seriously flawed. Firstly, " torture is usually counterproductive. "

Veteran agents from both the FBI and CIA " doubt the effectiveness of

physical coercion as a means of extracting reliable information, " as

a prisoner subjected to intense physical pain will admit just about

anything to end the torture. Intelligence agents then end up chasing

down false confessions instead of devoting time to real leads. A

glaring example of this is that the Bush administration's pre-Iraq

invasion claims of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda

came from a prisoner who had been rendered to Egypt, and later

" recanted " the same information that he had provided.

 

THE PRACTICAL CASE AGAINST RENDITION: Under President Bush, the

rendition program is flouting years-old legislation passed by

Congress, international treaties to which we are signatories, and the

sovereignty of other nations that we rely on as allies. Several

European countries are carrying out official investigations into

whether the CIA violated local laws by conducting rendition operations

that abducted individuals off European soil without the " blessing of

friendly local intelligence agencies. " Furthermore, it is creating a

class of persons that may never be able to be introduced back into the

legal system. Once detainees are tortured, their statements are

essentially tarnished because of the circumstances by which they were

obtained, rendering them incapable of being prosecuted or even used as

witnesses. As a member of the 9/11 Commission recently stated, " In

criminal justice, you either prosecute the suspects or let them go.

But if you've treated them in ways that won't allow you to prosecute

them, you're in this no man's land. "

 

Under the Radar

 

SOCIAL SECURITY – " WE DON'T WANT NO PRIVATIZATION " : President Bush's

effort to rally support for his Social Security privatization scheme

is going very badly. A new Washington Post/ABC poll shows " only 35

percent of Americans now saying they approve of his handling of the

issue, " while " 56 percent disapprove of his approach. " Among younger

workers – whom the administration claims love the idea of private

accounts – support for the plan is not much higher. According to the

poll, " only 40 percent of these younger workers say they support

Bush's Social Security proposal. "

 

SOCIAL SECURITY – BUSINESS GROUP BACKS OUT: Signaling " more troubles

ahead " for President Bush's campaign to privatize Social Security, a

group representing the nation's biggest financial companies and headed

by former Rep. Rick Lazio (R-NY) said Monday it had backed out of a

business coalition raising millions to back President Bush's campaign.

The Financial Services Forum, which represents Citigroup, Goldman

Sachs and American Express, was a co-founder of the Coalition for the

Modernization and Protection of America's Social Security (Compass),

but has left the coalition because its members could not endorse

President Bush's plan to divert payroll taxes into private accounts.

" We never really came to a consensus on things like personal

accounts, " said Ken Trepeta, the forum's vice president. " I couldn't

in good conscience sign our guys up for this. " The forum's retreat

" follows the decision by two securities firms – Edward Jones and

Waddell & Reed – to drop out of a related lobbying group set up to

promote private accounts on Capitol Hill, the Alliance for Worker

Retirement Security. "

 

ETHICS – THUMBS UP TO PROPAGANDA: On Feb. 17, the nonpartisan

Government Accountability Office (GAO) sent an opinion to the

administration advising it that it was illegal to produce videos

" designed to resemble independently reported broadcast news stories so

that TV stations can run them without editing. " Last week the Justice

Department sent another memo, telling the administration to ignore the

GAO. Essentially, the Justice Department argued that the

administration can produce " covert propaganda " as long as the

propaganda is true. David M. Walker, comptroller general of the GAO,

said the administration's approach was " both contrary to

appropriations law and unethical. "

 

CORRUPTION – HALLIBURTON PLAYS IT FAST AND LOOSE WITH YOUR MONEY:

Halliburton continues to squander hundreds of millions of taxpayer

dollars in Iraq due to graft and mismanagement. A Pentagon audit

" found more than $100 million in questionable costs in one section of

a massive, no-bid Halliburton Co. contract for delivering fuel to

Iraq. " In one case, a Halliburton subsidiary " reported it had

purchased liquefied gas for $82,100, and then spent $27.5 million to

transport it. " A previous audit of the same Halliburton subsidiary

" turned up $1.8 billion in 'unsupported costs' in a $10.5 billion Army

logistics contract. " The audits documenting the questionable charges

were withheld from Congress by the administration for months.

 

MILITARY – U.S. WEAPONS SALES TO PAKISTAN AND INDIA: The

administration is poised to cave to pressure from Lockheed Martin to

supply F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan and India. The upcoming

announcement – which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected

to make during her trip to the region next week – represents a

reversal of longstanding policy. The United States has previously

refused to sell the jets to Pakistan and India to avoid " destabilizing

the fragile political and military balance in the region. " The move

could also " draw charges of a double standard from European countries

since the U.S. has been criticizing the European Union's plan to lift

its arms embargo on China. "

 

DON'T MISS

 

DAILY TALKING POINTS: Administration to Unveil Polluter-Friendly

Mercury Plan

 

TAX REFORM: American Progress CEO John Podesta explains why tax reform

is an inherent part of the progressives' value system.

 

JUDICIARY: Conservative former congressmen say, " Don't go nuclear. "

 

DIPLOMACY: Meet John Bolton, the anti-diplomat.

 

BANKRUPTCY: New bankruptcy bill is " tutorial in greed. "

 

DEMOCRACY: Egypt presents ideal opportunity for Bush to push democracy.

 

DAILY GRILL

 

" The American people did not place us in office to pass on problems to

future generations and future Presidents and future Congresses. " –

President Bush, 3/12/05

 

VERSUS