http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/7446525.htmThe Bush administration is catching and punishing far fewer polluters than the two previous administrations, according to an analysis of 15 years of environmental-enforcement records.
Civil enforcement of pollution laws peaked when the President's father was in office from 1989-93 and has fallen ever since, but it has plummeted since George W. Bush took office three years ago. That is according to records of 17 different categories of enforcement activity obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
William K. Reilly, the EPA administrator under the first President Bush, said he told his enforcers that "under no circumstances do I want the numbers to drop. It's your job to bring in these cases."
Violation notices against polluters are the most important enforcement tool, experts say, and they have had the biggest drop under the current President Bush. The monthly average of violation notices since January 2001 has dropped 58 percent compared with the Clinton administration's monthly average.
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