Halloween Trick from Bush Administration: Treat to Factory Farms

[DogPoundPup]

Source: Natural Resources Defense Council

WASHINGTON (October 31, 2008) – Thousands of factory farms will be exempt from needing permits that limit water pollution thanks to a new Bush Administration rule signed today. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency did not adopt improved controls for bacteria and other pathogens that can pose risks to human health and wildlife.

Factory farms, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), confine animals on an industrial scale and produce massive amounts of manure and other waste that can pollute waterways with dangerous contaminants. EPA estimates that these facilities generate three times more waste than people do nationwide. Moreover, factory farms lack waste treatment facilities comparable to those that treat human sewage.

“Literally and figuratively, this rule puts the Bush Administration’s stamp of approval on a load of manure,” said Jon Devine, Senior Attorney in the Water Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “Even though Congress specifically targeted factory farms for regulation under the Clean Water Act in 1972 and EPA has recognized the importance of these operations getting pollution control permits, the Administration stepped in it today.”

“It’s outrageous to see the environmental yard sale that marks the Bush Administration’s final days in office,” said Jeffrey Odefey, Staff Attorney at the Waterkeeper Alliance. “Clearly, industry lobbyists are picking up last-minute deals intended to preserve their right to pollute for years to come. Instead of offering meaningful protection of our nation’s waters and communities, EPA has come up with an unworkable muddle that sets the country back by decades.”

Read more: http://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/081031.asp

[msongs]

1. all can be undone by the next administration : -) nt

[NashVegas]

3. Yup

Just about all of Bill Clinton's last minute environmental protection laws were overturned by Bush before they even measured the Oval Office for new curtains.

[Elidor]

8. Obama will have a very lengthy list of things to tackle

It would take several man-years just to detail all the crap that's happened, let alone change any of it.

[Lorien]

13. That doesn't make it OK

there's a lot of damage that can be done in a short amount of time with this kind of crap (literally).

[riverdeep]

15. On Maddow's Friday show,

she covered this in a quick segment. She said that there is a 30-60 day time limit for challenging these proposals before they become law. Bill Clinton tried to do some last minute moves too, but he made them too late, so when Bush came in, he just undid them. Bush learned from that, how to do them so they stick. It will be difficult to undo them, we need to fight them NOW.

These bastards are like zombies, just when you think that shovel to head took them down, they get back up.

[Laelth]

17. Time for the stake in the heart!

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Muttocracy]

2. I guarantee some of the people hoping most for an Obama victory

are the scientists at FDA, EPA, USGS, etc.

[flvegan]

4. His last couple months are going to be a fire sale.

Everything he can to fuck us over and reward his big $$ buddies.

[Quantess]

18. Isn't that the truth.

It's like they're trashing the house they've been evicted from. And setting it on fire.

[Sal Minella]

5. Looking out for Big Wall Street Banks and Big Corporate Polluters of all kinds.

And the people who pay for it all can just live under plastic tarps and drink filthy water as far as this administration is concerned. And with the wonderful myth of "clean coal" we get to breathe filthy air too.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

6. He is such a Fucker. I don't want to think about the damage he can do

between now and January.

[BearSquirrel2]

7. Sounds like a good ad

This sounds like a good television ad.

When crooks can pollute streams and waterways, honest businessmen cannot operate. Republicans only purpose for the invisible hand is to chop off it's fingers so they can steal everything.

[bobd0]

9. No surprise. His daddy did the same thing. They're Bushes. It's to be expected.

Money is GOD to the Bush family. The rest of us can all drop dead. It's as if these people have another planet to run off to they're not telling us about.

The Bush family. Not America's first family. America's WORST family.

[bvar22]

10. If Impeachment was "On the Table".....

....Bush wouldn't be able to pull all this shit.

[Froward69]

11. and yet they could

utilize all that manure to recoup the methane produced and power trucks and the electrical grid...
saving the Water supply undue pollution.

Fucking Idiots...

[mod mom]

12. Worst Fucked-Up President EVER. I'm sure the Nixon heirs are thankful for this asshole.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Typical Bush..spread the shit all over.

[Laelth]

16. Grrrrrr ... this makes me very angry.

The Republican Party has become a threat not only to the Constitution, but to the world. They're like little children, giggling because they're getting away with subverting the will of Congress. It's as if they don't really care whether they're destroying the planet or not.

I actually do care, for me and my children. How it is that they care so little for their own children I will never understand.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth