WHITMAN'S ENVIRONMENTAL RECORD IS ABYSMAL
Bush's Proposed EPA Chief Favors Polluters Stephen DiLauro writes frequently
about politics and the environment.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/01/16/1.html
Now that Christie Whitman's name has been floated to head the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in the Bush government, it should sink like a
stone.
According to all polls, including the 2000 presidential popular vote
nationwide, Americans favor strong protections that promote clean water and
air. Whitman's record on the environment is abysmal.
Over the course of her tenure, the New Jersey governor has regularly visited
the Delaware River, climbed into a canoe and waved around her paddle for the
cameras. Gullible TV reporters film this ritual paddle dance and project the
image that she is an environmentalist. Because of her state's location
between New York City and Philadelphia, two huge media markets, this canard
is widely disseminated. A sampling of Whitman's record tells a far different
story.
On Earth Day 1996, Whitman announced that she was doubling the amount of
pollution New Jersey businesses could pump into the state's waterways. In
1997, according to a report issued by USPIRG, more carcinogens were flowing
into the Delaware River than into any other body of water in the country.
After lawsuits by environmental groups and intervention by the U.S. EPA,
Whitman's loosening of the regulations was overturned.
In 1998, Whitman championed a landfill that spanned more than a half mile of
the river's waterfront. This boondoggle, budgeted at $95 million, is
unnecessary and harmful to the environment, according to several studies,
including one by the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.
When the four-state Delaware River Basin Commission turned down Whitman's
plan, she appealed on technical grounds. New hearings were held. Whitman
forbade New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife officials from testifying
again. The project was approved and is currently under way. Sediments from
the project have already adversely affected shad migration.
Whitman has aligned herself with the scandal-plagued U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers on the $300 million shipping channel scheduled for the river.
Everyone, from Taxpayers for Common Sense to the Delaware Riverkeeper, have
exposed this project as a waste of money and environmentally unacceptable.
Yet, Whitman insists that the underwater ditch go forward, even though it
provides no new jobs or other local economic benefits, according to
opponents. The dredging would yield 32 million tons of sludge, some of it
laced with PCBs. Whitman wants to use 10 million tons of the sludge to
replenish beaches along the Jersey shore. The rest would go to landfills. Is
that really the attitude we want in the administrator of the EPA?
Since she first took office, Whitman has repeatedly interceded on behalf of
the operators of the Salem Nuclear Generating Station. An upgrade to the
nuke's cooling system had been mandated. With Whitman's help, this
expenditure has been avoided. Meanwhile, an estimated one billion fish die
each year in the antiquated cooling system, including 30 million pounds of
bay anchovy and weakfish, the two species most sought by the commercial
fishing fleet on the Delaware Bay. According to figures from the National
Marine Fisheries Service and the state of Delaware, the weakfish catch has
declined by 85 percent. A consulting firm hired by the state estimates that
four times more bay anchovy are killed each year by the power plant than are
caught commercially.
When Whitman was elected, New Jersey was home to more Superfund toxic waste
sites than any other state. That situation has not changed, in part because
Whitman refused to push for cleanups. Instead, she weakened state toxic
cleanup standards.
Whitman's vaunted environmental record boils down to giving money to wealthy
landowners. She aggressively pursued buying "development rights" without any
guarantee that future generations of owners will not contest the provisions
prohibiting building on the land.
Many of those who live in New Jersey's inner cities and suburbs will not
enjoy these open spaces. Whitman's rich supporters are getting cash and
property tax breaks to preserve their own exclusive views. That's not an
inclusive environmental policy, by any definition.
Meanwhile, a coalition of national civil rights leaders and black and Latino
lawmakers from New Jersey have announced plans to oppose Whitman's
confirmation by the Senate. The governor's record of refusing to acknowledge
the institutionalized practice of racial profiling for traffic stops by state
police on New Jersey highways led to the opposition. Concerns have been
expressed that the practice of locating toxic industrial sites in poor
neighborhoods will increase under a Whitman-led EPA.
Since Whitman's nomination to be the new EPA chief, prominent scientists have
expressed concern about her understanding of ozone depletion and global
warming. There is ample cause for concern about this appointment on all
fronts. Despite these facts, there is little opposition in Congress to
Whitman's nomination. She had better know that this job requires more than
paddle dancing for the TV cameras.
