Senator Clinton to Block Bush EPA Nominee

[FauxNewsBlues]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday she planned to block President Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency over an internal report saying the EPA misled New Yorkers about health risks after the World Trade Center attack.

In a telephone interview, Clinton told The Associated Press she would place a hold on the nomination of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, a procedural move that would prevent the full Senate from voting on his confirmation.

``This is an effort to get the administration that he wants to join to take responsibility,'' she said.

She said she held no personal grudge against Leavitt but hopes to use the hold on his nomination to force the administration to answer questions

Full Story @ NY Times

[IndianaGreen]

1. Good for Hillary!

The Senatorial hold was a common GOP practice during the 8 years of the Clinton Administration to prevent the Senate from considering President Clinton's judicial appointments.

The issue of asbestos exposure to the thousands of people that breathed the cloud of soot after the WTC collapse, and the subsequent assurances by the EPA that it was safe, needs to be investigated in full!

[pw]

2. She should have something personal against Leavitt

since he's reportedly a Watt-wannabe

[jumptheshadow]

8. Much more than thousands

The damage was not limited to the Ground Zero area. Even the most diligent politicians haven't nailed this one yet.

Check out the satellite photo on Sept. 11:



And compare it with this map:

[IndianaGreen]

11. Damn! There could be millions exposed!

That's a densely populated area. I don't know how far asbestos fibers would be carried by the winds, and what their concentration levels were outside of the immediate area of the collapse.

Clearly the EPA was negligent!

[aquart]

17. Yeah. But where were we gonna go?

The country was in lockdown. For days, no one could enter or leave Manhattan, cloud and all.

I will say, that plume was very high. That first day in the Village, we could see the smoke in the distance, but couldn't smell it or feel it.

Later, it settled in on us. But we never experienced the dust that covered lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. The danger was in the dust.

[aquart]

16. Good God. Why did I never notice this?

Manhattan is shaped like a penis.

[jumptheshadow]

19. LOL

And Brooklyn is shaped like Australia. I never noticed, either.

I have friends who live in a loft a few blocks from the WTC site. After a fairly extended time the government (FEMA?) finally sent workers to clean their place. They watched as the guys took off their protective equipment during a break and sat down to eat their lunches off the tarp they had laid down.

If you look closely at the map you can see that the plume was densest over certain sections of Brooklyn. I live in one of these areas, and, yes, we got dust and smoke, to the point of when you ate, you bit down on grit. The dust kept settling for days. There's been no medical research or follow-up for Brooklyn, and we have lots of babies and little kids here.

The breeze blew debris into parts of Brooklyn as well. Follow this link to the Blue Man Group's website. Click on the Exhibit 13 hyperlink at the bottom right of the page. It will show a memorial video that uses WTC documents found in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn:

http://www.blueman.com/complex/index.shtml

[jumptheshadow]

20. Sorry, it was Carroll Gardens

It was Carroll Gardens in the Blue Man video, not Cobble Hill. They are two very different neighborhoods although they aren't far apart geographically.

[dusty64]

12. This makes me proud of

my Senator, and its been awhile since I've said that. Watch the repukes try to change the rules again so a hold can't be placed on their horrid nominees. I hope this kills all chances for their convention plans (which violate election laws) in order to further exploit the hell they created on 9/11.

[Unknown Known]

3. Watch the attacks on Hillary grow

Hope she has extra security put on her because she is now taking on the same bunch that Wellstone took on.

[xray s]

4. A full Senate airing of all these recent moves would be nice also

maybe Hillary can put this all on the table fro the world to see, something Bush was hoping to avoid...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0906-02.htm

Published on Saturday, September 6, 2003 by Knight-Ridder
Mission Accomplished
Bush Administration Fulfills Wish List for Corporate America

by Seth Borenstein

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration eased a series of important environmental regulations in a quiet flurry of late-summer activity, delivering almost every rule change on corporate America's wish list.

In the past few weeks, the administration diluted federal rules governing air pollution from old coal-fired power plants; emissions that cause global warming; ballast water on ships contaminated with foreign species of plants and animals; sales of land tainted with PCBs; drilling for oil and gas on federal land; and scientific studies that underpin federal regulations.

"They're trying to dismantle some of the original clean air and water legislation that (President) Nixon put through. They're going full bore." (Lester Brown, President of Earth Policy Institute)

[gristy]

5. Way to go, Hillary!

drip, drip, drip? The more Democrats who take a stand, the better.

[Robin Hood]

6. Considering that Bush lied about the EPA report after 9/11

I couldn't think of a more qualified person to do this then the distinguished Senator fro New York.

[0007]

7. Do it Babe!

Let 'em fuckin' whine and whimper like the little babies they are.

[baby_bear]

9. The article doesn't tell the whole story

It should have mentioned the very important fact that Senator Inhofe refused a request by four Democratic senators, including Clinton, for his committee to hold hearings on the matter of air quality information released by EPA/The White House after 9/11.

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09052003/utah/89845.asp

<snip>
Shortly after Jeffords met with Leavitt, he and Democratic committee members Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bob Graham of Florida released a letter they had written to (Senate Environment) committee Chairman Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.
The foursome requested a full committee oversight hearing into an inspector general's probe that found the White House Council on Environmental Quality pressured EPA to downplay public health risks from air quality in the World Trade Center area immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Unfortunately, this behavior seems to be consistent with other White House actions that attempt to politicize information and keep the public in the dark about the facts," the minority members wrote.
Inhofe rejected the request for hearings, saying he did not feel it was necessary and that it was merely pre-election year grandstanding.
</snip>

If Inhofe is going to protect Bush by refusing very legitimate requests for hearings into this matter, then Democratic senators have to use whatever power they can to disrupt the confirmation process, even though Leavitt is not the issue, per se. Hillary is right not to knock Leavitt over this, but to make clear that she is using his nomination as leverage to get at the truth for her constituents.

I would be so furious if I were a NYC resident affected by the air quality from 9/11. I'm furious anyway. I have the Inspector General's report on my lap as we speak. I recommend it to everyone.
Unless you have high blood pressure...

s_m

On edit: I just ran across this transcript of an interview of the EPA Inspector General (Nicki Tinsley) and NBC's Lisa Meyers:
http://msnbc.com/news/961109.asp?0sl=-41

I also wanted to mention (because I've expressed my outrage) that I have EPA friends/colleagues who worked on the sampling and evaluation of the fallout from the WTC collapse, and they were very professional and objective. The problems all arose from political interference at high levels, not at the level of the scientists.

s_m

[flamingyouth]

10. Woo Hoo!

Visualize me thrusting fist into air.

[Kool Kitty]

13. Have at 'em, Hillary!

The lying, selfish bastards. I don't know what was in that dust, but I can tell you this-I live across the bay from Manhattan, in central New Jersey. The weather for the period immediately following the destruction of the Trade Center was lovely, clear and warm. I didn't need to use the air conditioner, preferring to keep the windows open. EVERY MORNING DAMN NEAR EVERY SURFACE IN MY HOUSE WAS COVERED WITH GRAY DUST. This wasn't confined to just the city. If it was that dusty where I live, how much worse was it near the ruins of the WTC? They showed it on TV, people coming back to inches of dust and tattered papers and goddess knows what else. This is despicable. They have no shame or conscience.

[aquart]

18. I didn't know Jersey got the dust, too.

It was the luck of the wind that it went to you and not me, 32 blocks from Ground Zero.

That dust was dangerous.

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. It is now an Axiom

That NO MATTER what Bush does, it is guaranteed to be in confict with the best interests of Mankind and the environment.

[Valerie5555]

15. My main concern

was for a certain former Canadian envoy who gave Americans (and Canadians) a ray of hope during the infamous Iran hostage incident of 1980 by sneaking the Americans who eluded capture at their embassy out of Iran at the time.


Suspected that were he is now is in MANHATTAN, and I am thinking "and to think he got out of the "frying pan" of the Twin Tower collapses only to get into the "fire" of the "asbestosized" air."


Had found that was primarily because he'd been a 1 time "native son" of my hometown of Calgary, Alberta.

[deneb]

21. It's a ballsy move on Hilary's part for sure

and most of the press attention will be directed at her to answer stuff about junior senators pulling ballsy procedural moves - not at the Bushies to even admit, let alone answer why they edited the EPA press releases.

Also, isn't Salt Lake City as smoggy as LA was some years back? She says she has no 'personal grudge' against Utah Gov. Leavitt. It would be petty (and we all know politics never stoop so low) to block the nomination over a grudge. I want to hear some Senator ask Leavitt if he'd allow EPA press releases to be edited by the White House to the point of deception by ommission.

This seems to be yet another example of the Bushies replacing one resignee - in this case Christine Whitman - with an even harsher nominee. Like, if Rumsfeld goes Wolfowitz slithers into the SOD spot. If Powell resigns, Richard Perle takes over.