Environmental Reality Check

The response of President George W. Bush to a debate question about his environmental record was met with disbelief by his challenger, the Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts at the second of three presidential debates Friday night in St. Louis.

In keeping with the town-hall meeting format for the debate, the environmental question was put by audience member James Hubb, who asked, "Mr. President, how would you rate yourself as an environmentalist? What specifically has your administration done to improve the condition of our nation's air and water supply?"

The president said his administration has proposals on the table to reduce pollution from off-road diesel engines, increase the wetlands, fix inner city brownfields, and "a Clear Skies Initiative to reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury by 70 percent."

"Over time is technology is going to change the way we live for the good for the environment," said the president. "That's why I proposed a hydrogen automobile – hydrogen-generated automobile. We're spending $1 billion to come up with the technologies to do that."

"That's why I'm a big proponent of clean coal technology, to make sure we can use coal but in a clean way," he said. "I guess you'd say I'm a good steward of the land."

"The quality of the air's cleaner since I've been the president. Fewer water complaints since I've been the President. More land being restored since I've been the president," Bush said.

"Boy, to listen to that," exclaimed Kerry. "The president, I don't think, is living in a world of reality with respect to the environment.

"When it comes to the issue of the environment, this is one of the worst administrations in modern history," Kerry charged. "The Clear Skies bill that he just talked about, it's one of those Orwellian names you pull out of the sky, slap it onto something, like 'No Child Left Behind' but you leave millions of children behind. Here they're leaving the skies and the environment behind."

"If they just left the Clean Air Act all alone the way it is today, no change, the air would be cleaner that it is if you pass the Clear Skies act. We're going backwards," Kerry said. "They're going backwards on the definition for wetlands. They're going backwards on the water quality."

Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for President, called the Bush administration the worst ever for the environment. "They pulled out of the global warming [agreement], declared it dead, didn't even accept the science," Kerry challenged. "I'm going to be a president who believes in science."

The leaders of Environment2004, a Democratic environmental advocacy organization, which could be expected to back Kerry's position, does so because, they say, the president's assertions contained "numerous inaccuracies" and amounted to a "gross misrepresentation of the president's real record."

The group released a detailed comparison of Bush's representation of his record during the debate compared with what has actually taken place. Environment2004 counted more than 350 actions of past administrations to protect the environment that have been rolled back by the Bush administration, and they accuse the president of "abandoning the Republican party's conservationist roots dating back to Teddy Roosevelt."

President Bush said, "Off-road diesel engines – we have reached an agreement to reduce pollution from off-road diesel engines by 90 percent."

Environment2004 points out that the decision the president was referring to was originally proposed under the Clinton administration.

Then the president said, "I've got a plan to increase the wetlands by three million [acres]."

Environment2004 reminds voters that in October 2001, President Bush's administration reversed the policy his father, President George H.W. Bush called "no net loss" of wetlands. This means that for every acre of wetlands destroyed by development, at least one more acre would be created.