President George W. Bush
Prior Qualifications:
In 1975, Bush established his own oil and gas business in Texas, but sold it 10 years later before it went bankrupt.
Spearheaded Clear Skies Initiative and Healthy Forest Initiative, which successfully weakened environmental laws in place since the 1970s.
In April, Bush authorized the temporary elimination of some environmental regulations for refineries to leave more oil on the market.
Cut overall environmental funding by 13 percent for 2007, resulting in the lowest funding ever for clean water infrastructure; zero funding to help states protect parks and wilderness areas; and a lower level of funding to end the nation’s oil dependency than at the start of his administration.
Cut EPA funding by 4 percent, roughly half a billion dollars less than last year’s.Bush asked for $20 million less than the superfund budget last year and $131 million less than three years ago. This comes with superfund staff decreases (down 29 full time employees in 2007) and funding shortfalls for cleanup sites have grown to a record $250 million in 2004.
Richard B. "Dick" Cheney
Prior Qualifications:
Served three former presidents as an elected official (Nixon, Ford and Bush senior).
Former CEO of Halliburton Company, the Dallas-based oil services giant that also provides construction and military support services. Cheney continues to receive as much as $1 million a year from the company.
Created a secret Energy Task Force in 2001. In the early months, he was taking advice from Enron, an energy trading and communications company that went bankrupt in 2001, as well as studying oil field maps of Iraq. No information from the task force has been released to the public.
Gale Norton
Her Environmental Legacy:
Norton spent her five years as secretary opening public lands for commercial development and advocated expanding coal mining and oil and gas drilling on public lands.
In 2000, she and her Denver law firm, Brownstein Hyatt and Farber, lobbied in Washington for a total of 45 clients. These included: Delta Petroleum Corporation (interested in offshore resources); Titanium Metals Corporation (metals processor); the Shaw Group (makes pipes for oil companies and power plants); Ustman Technologies (monitors underground storage tanks); and Warren Rogers Associates (sells products and services for chemical and petroleum storage tanks).
Lobbied for NL Industries, formerly National Lead Co. Court records show the company listed as a defendant in at least 14 federal environmental and personal lawsuits from 1999 to 2001, which included superfund and toxic waste sites.
Pushed to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drillers. Oversaw the opening of millions of acres of public lands to new oil and gas drilling, opened public lands to roads and oversaw the expansion of devastating mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia.
Consistently rejected efforts to protect and rebuild endangered species populations across the country.
Founded a group called the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy. The group’s sponsors included the Chlorine Chemical Council, the National Coal Council, the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the National Mining Association.
Dirk Kempthorne
His Environmental Legacy:
Kempthorne is a pro-development Republican that strongly supports more oil and gas drilling.
He has been called "Gale Norton in pants" by Chuck Clusen of the Natural Resources Defense Council who also said Kempthorne’s environmental record was ‘abysmal.’
In Congress, Kempthorne supported drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, opposed Clinton-era roadless rules and weakened endangered species and water protections.
"President Bush could not have named a Western governor more in line with this administration," said Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust.
For more information check out these online sources:
Sourcewatch
Welcome to SourceWatch, a collaborative project of the Center for Media and Democracy to produce a directory of the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda. Visit Sourcewatch.org.
National Resource Defense Council
NRDC is the nation's most effective environmental action organization. We use the law, science and the support of 1.2 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things. Visit NRDC
Seattle Times
A local news paper in Seattle, WA that is a great resource for enviromental topics that are connected to the current administration. Visit The Seattle Times.