and to think, i don't even like Lieberman

[Guest guest]

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said Wednesday that he is launching a Congressional investigation into President Bush's efforts to rollback environmental regulations, including those governing arsenic in drinking water."As ranking Democrat on the Senate government affairs committee, I've begun an investigation into … the decision making processes that led to the retrenchment on arsenic, mining and roadless rules," Lieberman told reporters and a bevy of environmental activists gathered for a press conference on Capitol Hill."From whom has this administration and the agencies involved solicited comment? Why aren't they conducting public hearings? What evidence have they gathered to justify their attack against these protective regulations?"At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer defended Bush's environmental policies."The President has also taken actions on diesel fuel trucks which were hailed by the environmental community," Fleischer said. "The President's position on national monuments which were designated by the previous administration, leaving those national monument designations in place, has also been hailed by the environmental community. And the President is finding balance in his environmental policies and he is doing exactly what he said he would do as a candidate." However, recent moves by the Bush administration — reviewing the United States' commitment to the Kyoto treaty on global warming; abandoning a campaign pledge to limit carbon dioxide emissions and reversing the implementation of tighter rules on arsenic in drinking water — have stung environmental groups and aroused the ire of Democrats in Congress. Under later questioning, Lieberman, who reportedly is garnering political capital for a presidential bid next election, told reporters his staff had sent letters requesting information on the rollbacks to the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture. "Remember that the regulations being dismantled were painstakingly put together with extensive due process and opportunities for comment," Lieberman said. "These protections are getting torn down. I'm first looking for information from the administration. To whom are you speaking? Whose opinion is leading you to take these actions? Are you listening to both sides?Secretary Norton is dedicated to listening to all people of good will to help develop real results to protect the environment," Dept. of Interior spokesman Mark Pfeifle told United Press International in a telephone interview. "She is trying to move away from conflict and divisiveness and we would hope that Senator Lieberman would join us in that cause."Lieberman said he would eventually move to hold hearings on the issue."We are also examining the possibility of using the Congressional Review Act, which was used to undue much needed ergonomics rule, to undue some of Bush's undoing," Lieberman said to laughter. "We're on the case.""(Bush) has decided to block rules that protect millions of acres of national forest from development," said House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., who spoke before Lieberman. "He has broken his campaign promise on global warming and blocked new carbon dioxide emissions standards. And he has relaxed restrictions on arsenic in our drinking water. This last decision, ironically, was made during National Poison Prevention Week at the EPA.""Sen. Lieberman's investigation is just the tip of the iceberg," John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace, told United Press International. "This is the polite response but others aren't going to be so polite. Bush is ruining his career."Bush has gone too far, too fast," Bennett H. Beach, senior editor at The Wilderness Society, told UPI." We didn't expect him to be the next Teddy Roosevelt, but we were hoping he wouldn't be the next Ronald Reagan. Once the public gets a sense about what's going on, they will say enough is enough." Among the groups represented at the press event were Defenders of Wildlife, National Environmental Trust, Sierra Club and American Oceans Campaign. "There is no good scientific reason for reconsideration of the (arsenic) standard," said Dr. Lynn Goldman, former EPA assistant administrator and professor at Johns Hopkins University. Goldman berated Bush's arsenic ruling to loud applause, adding that scientific evidence linking the element to various forms of cancer suggest that children, because they drink more water than adults, are particularly susceptible to harm. A tribal leader from the Gwich'in nation based in Artic Village, Alaska, told the crowd that Bush's stated intent to open the Alaskan coastal plain to oil drilling would damage wildlife and ruin her people's scared hunting grounds.Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Sen. John Corzine, D-N.J. stood alongside Lieberman and other speakers but did not address reporters.