FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Posted by Clinton/Gore Email WEDNESDAY, October 28, 1992 ***WARNING! BUSH FLIP-FLOPS AHEAD!*** ANOTHER CAMPAIGN FOX-HOLE CONVERSION FROM LAST MINUTE PANIC TODAY'S ISSUE: MORE BUSH BROKEN PROMISES ON THE ENVIRONMENT MORE TO COME!! ALBUQUERQUE, NM--If environmental promises were leaves, George Bush would have covered a forest but he's failed to keep those environmental promises, said Sen. Al Gore, D-TN, who called the President's week-before-election-day environmental conversion more of the same cynical politics in the President's do-anything-to-get- elected strategy. "If there's silver lining to the dark clouds of George Bush's environmental record, it's that in his desperation to get elected, he's finally remembering--only days before the election--that he once promised to be the 'Environmental President'," said Gore. "But he's still not shown he understands what that means." In this last week before the election, President Bush--in a vain attempt to rewrite his failed environmental policy--is releasing long-overdue rules to reduce pollution, rules that are, in many cases, falling short of what should have been done months ago. "George Bush thinks the American people will forget his failed record on the environment or that Dan Quayle's Competitiveness Council opened the back door at the White House to hand-out special favors to big polluters. They won't. For the American people, these issues are too important," said Gore. THE RECORD BUSH CAN'T HIDE: BROKEN ENVIRONMENTAL PROMISES (We could go on forever; here's a selection) * No net loss of wetlands? NOT! George Bush revised a regulation on wetlands protection and approved a plan to open up 50 million acres of wetlands to development--half the nation's total. EPA called the regulation change "scientifically unsound." * Clean up Boston Harbor? NOT! Boston Harbor still ranks as the nation's dirtiest. President Bush failed to request clean-up funds during his first two years in office and even after Republican Governor William Weld asked for help, the Administration said "most of the [clean up] burden will be local." * Recycling? NOT! George Bush promised in 1988 to achieve a 25 percent national recycling rate. Since then, he's blocked every attempt by EPA and Congress to increase recycling. * Protecting parks? NOT! George Bush said he'd pay attention to the condition and management of our parks." The Interior Department is waiting until after election day to give final approval to regulations that would open about 45 million acres of national parks and forests to strip mining for coal. * Regulations due in May, 1991 to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides--among the main causes of acid rain--suddenly are ready for action one week before election day. * In the sulfur dioxide regulations, provisions to encourage the use of renewable, cleaner energy sources have been weakened. The Bush Administration would allow garbage burning to continue, so instead of working to reduce pollution, they're working to encourage more pollution. * Today, the Environmental Protection Agency also announces new, but hardly improved, regulations on nitrogen oxides. The fact is, EPA got rolled. Even EPA wanted to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides. But the Office of Management and Budget-standing up once again for their rich friends and big polluters--overruled EPA to allow industries to continue to dump dangerous levels of pollution into the air. #########