Published Letter to the Florida Times Union
GEORGE W. BUSH Examine his record
In an Associated Press article on Tuesday, there was a quotation from Gov. George W. Bush: "Our state is a state, like Pennsylvania, that didn't wait for Al Gore to wave his magic wand to clean up our environment. We cleaned it up ourselves, and our state's the better for it."
In May 1999, Bush said, "You've got to ask the question, is the air cleaner since I became governor? And the answer is "yes."
Molly Ivins, a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and author of a book on Bush (Shrub ) says in answer: "That's not a stretcher -- that's a whopper. If you want to get strong about it, it's a perverse distortion of reality, since Bush is to put it mildly, part of the problem.
By no standard has the air of Texas improved under Gov. Bush, nor has anything else involving the environment. He personally intervened to protect major air polluters in the state, and his appointees in this area are staggeringly dreadful."
According to the tri-national North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation, set up by NAFTA, Texas pollutes more than any other state or Canadian province. That record includes air pollution and water pollution.
And according to records kept by the Environmental Defense Fund, Texas is also No. 1 in overall toxic releases, recognized carcinogens in the air, suspected carcinogens in the air, developmental toxins in the air (affecting brain and nervous system development in children) and cancer risk. Voters must not swallow claims advanced with no basis in fact. We must examine the record.
MARK H. DUNNELL,
retired, Jacksonville