allowed to continue thru grandfather clause endorsed by shrub while he was gov:
http://www.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/grandpacabinet.htmlAs the Texas Lege frets over how to redress ex-Governor Bush’s failure to rein in “grandfathered” air polluters, President Bush rewards failure, socially promoting executives of grandfathered-polluter companies to run his government.
At least 13 high-level Bush appointees recently worked for companies that for decades have exploited Texas’ “grandfather” loophole to pollute Texas skies for decades, according to data compiled for a forthcoming Multinational Monitor article on corporate executives in Bush’s cabinet.
The Commerce Department boasts two top appointees recently employed by major grandfathered polluters. Deputy Secretary Samuel Bodman is the former chair and CEO of Cabot Corp...<snip>
A loophole in the 1971 Texas Clean Air Act exempted then-existing industrial plants from new pollution-control rules. With these “grandfathered” plants still polluting 27 years later, then-Governor Bush asked polluters to formulate his response to their filth.
The polluters—who had had three decades to voluntarily clean up their acts—devised a voluntary clean-up plan. Last year, the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission found that no major polluters significantly reduced emissions under this failed program.
http://www.change-links.org/energycrisis%20.htmSamuel Bodman, a deputy commerce secretary, was the CEO of Cabot, a Texas chemical company cited as the fourth-largest source of toxic emissions in the state.The company's emissions were "grandfathered" by Gov. George W. Bush. Bodman personally contributed $1,000 to Bush's presidential campaign and $20,000 to Republican committees in the 1999-2000 election cycle.