To the editor:
On Sept. 29, 2000, in Saginaw, MI, presidential candidate George W. Bush said, "We will work to make our air cleaner. With the help of Congress, environmental groups, and industry, we will require all power plants to meet clean air standards in order to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide."
On March 13, 2001, President Bush wrote the following in a letter to Congress: "I do not believe that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions for carbon dioxide."
Why the about face? " [P]lain old-fashioned Washington lobbying," said John Grasser, vice president of the National Mining Assn., which opposes emissions control for carbon dioxide (LJW, 3/15). On Feb. 26, 2001, the NMA and other industry lobbyists went to work on President Bush, reminding him of their hefty contributions to his campaign.
Do you have a paid lobbyist in Washington? Are you able to afford hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions? Because that is obviously what it will take to help the President remember the promise he made to the men, women, and children of the United States.
Our government is supposed to be "by the people, for the people"; instead, it's dancing to the tune called by the highest bidder.
Karen Brichoux,
Lawrence
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