PROMISES, PROMISES

WHAT DID BUSH SAY? WHAT DID HE DO?

The 1992 Bush budget requests calls for slashing conservation and renewable
energy research to 2.5 percent.

The Environmental President has had four years to fulfill his campaign promises.
So let's ask the question, "How's he doin'?"

GLOBAL WARMING: He said: "Those who think we're powerless to do anything about
the greenhouse effect are forgetting about 'the White House effect.'As
president, I intend to do something about it."

He did: For the last three years, the Bushman balked at any concrete steps to
reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. At the last G-7 summit, the United States
refused to join with Europeans who wanted stricter standards on CO2 emissions.

His answer: more study Maybe Nero was really fiddling with a spreadsheet while
Rome burned. Bush's so-called energy plan would increase CO2 emissions by 25
percent over 25 years.

THE CLEAN-AIR ACT: He said: He'd make it as tough as possible; in 1989, he
called the air-pollution threat "a freight train coming down the track."

He did: At the same time, his council on competitiveness strong-armed the EPA
and demanded over 100 changes in its Clean Air regulations. The Quayle-led
council, for example, would allow companies to increase pollution levels beyond
present limits merely by informing state regulators that they were going to do
so. The state would then have just a week to object.

WETLANDS: He said: "Our national goal should be no net loss of wetlands."

He did: A teensy 1991 redefinition of what constitutes a wetland, and presto-the
administration jeopardizes 30 million acres of them, an area about the size of
New York State. Who needs 'em? The birds for one. Did you know if you screw up
a migration pattern for just a little while, the birds on that flyway disappear?

ENERGY: He said: "America must work toward energy independence . . . We've got
to plan for the future now." That was in July 1989.

He did: The Department of Energy budget contained only 4 percent for research on
renewables and conservation.

PESTICIDES AND FOOD SAFETY: In October 1989, he called for food-safety
legislation to protect children and grownups from unsafe levels of pesticide
exposure.

He did: Bush's legislation would force some states to weaken their food-safety
standards. The bill also leaves in place loopholes allowing U.S. chemical firms
to export pesticides banned here as too dangerous-pesticides then used on food
shipped back to the United States. In 1990, U.S. chemical firms exported almost
4 million pounds of banned pesticides during a three-month period. Bush opposed
legislation to end this practice.

OCEANS: He said: "I am going to stop ocean dumping." (Fall 1988) "We need a
president who is going to clean up that ocean. I am that man."

He did: In August 1991, the EPA endorsed a plan to dump up to 250 million cubic
yards of dredge disposal 17 miles east of the Chesapeake Bay. In 1989, the
administration's mismanagement left the total responsibility for cleaning up the
Valdez mess to Exxon. It then allowed Exxon to quit cleanup for the winter in
mid September-although Exxon continued drilling for and shipping Alaskan oil
after that time.

TOXIC CLEANUP: He said: "We must speed up the cleanup process of toxic waste
dumps."

He did: Of 1,075 superfund sites (already laughably underestimating the size of
the toxic-dump problem), the number cleaned up "soared" from 37 to 63 during his
reign. Plus, corporate polluters are now allowed to determine the scope and
pace of their own cleanups. A sweetheart deal.

PLUS: The seasonal antarctic ozone hole is now a record 10 million square miles,
After years of stalling, the prez has suddenly found CFC religion after the
arctic ozone hole now seems to menace Kennebunkport. Now he calls for all
deliberate haste in banning the ozone eaters from production. Yet he instructed
U.S. delegates to a 1990 international conference on ozone depletion to block a
plan to give developing nations $25 million over three years to assist them in
reducing their CFC use.

SO, HOW'S HE DOIN'? Considering the shape the environment's in, I'm glad the
Environment President ignored the recession. We couldn't have afforded the
Economy President.