FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Posted by Clinton/Gore Email THURSDAY, October 29, 1992 BUSH OFFERS MORE OF THE SAME: PROTECTIONS FOR BIG POLLUTERS Gore Points to Independent Study Blasting Justice Department SITES CHRONIC MISMANAGEMENT, LAX ENFORCEMENT OF ENVIRONMENT RULES BALTIMORE, MD--Big polluters can look forward to more of the same--special treatment and exemptions from the law--if George Bush is re-elected, Senator Al Gore, (D-TN), said today, citing an independent report released today (10/29) that details the chronic mismanagement and lax enforcement of the key federal agency responsible for prosecuting environmental crimes. "George Bush and Dan Quayle are protecting their rich friends who own the smokestacks and pollute our environment. Bill Clinton and I will fight to protect the people who live downwind, and we'll enforce the law," said Gore. The report by the Environmental Crimes Project of the George Washington University, found "chronic mismanagement at the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department", "a general failure to prosecute environmental criminal cases to the same degree as conventional criminal cases," and policies "that attempt to restrict U.S. Attorneys generally in pursuing environmental prosecutions" and "severely hamper prosecution in the wetlands area." The report, prepared for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice, recommends that the Subcommittee conduct additional hearings, "on an expedited basis," on the Justice Department's prosecution of environmental crimes. "The preliminary findings of the Project establish a clear and convincing basis for congressional inquiry," the report concludes. "The Bush Administration is letting criminals off the hook after they pollute our air and our water and our land. Worse still, the Bush Administration is letting politics get in the way of prosecutions, protecting their rich corporate friends at the expense of hard-working Americans who expect, rightfully, to be protected by our laws," said Gore. The most damning criticism in the report comes not from environmental groups or Democratic sources but from Republican officials and sources within the Bush Environmental Protection Agency and the offices of U.S. Attorneys. "Bill Clinton and I know we can do better, We will fight pollution and punish the polluters; enforce our environmental laws with the same vigor that we enforce other criminal statutes," said Gore. "Under a Clinton-Gore Administration, those who break the law will pay--and those who dirty our water and air will pay to clean up the mess they have made." The Environmental Crimes Project is a pro bono project of the National Law Center of the George Washington University. It is the only project of its kind in the country and works exclusively on criminal environmental research and legislation. The report was requested by U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer, D-NY, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice. #######