Hats off to Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Christie Whitman for her gutsy move to carry out President
Clinton's plan to demand that General Electric dredge the
Hudson River to clean up its PCB mess.
There are many winners in Whitman's decision. The people
of New York and New Jersey are bound to benefit from a cleaner
river, and from the jobs created by the $460 million dredging
project.
GE can benefit if it drops its stubborn resistance to dredging,
which it has maintained for seemingly eons.
The company has fought the good fight. It has spent more than
$200 million for PCB research, river restoration projects
and PR.
GE has whipped up opposition to dredging in upstate New York
communities.
But it's time to give up the fight. GE may have held out
hope that a pro-business Republican administration would have
supported its viewpoint.
That hope is dashed if Whitman's draft order remains in effect
following a 30-day government review.
Still
stubborn after all these years
A change of heart by GE, however, does not appear to be in
the cards.
It's not easy bein'
green
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Rather than accepting its corporate responsibility, GE issued
an August 1 salvo blasting the EPA decision as not being based
on "sound science." [That's a favorite catchword
used by companies battling environmental groups who are invariably
charged with basing their claims on junk science.]
GE's statement repeats the mantra that a "massive dredging
of the Upper Hudson River" will "cause more harm
than good."
The EPA's decision is a "loss for the people of the
area who overwhelmingly oppose the project and the decades
of disruption it will bring to their communities."
GE wants the EPA to make its draft decision public so that
the company and local residents can review the plan and participate
in the process.
Where has GE been for the past two decades? EPA did not just
concoct the idea of dredging. The clean-up the Hudson fight
has been argued about for 20 years.
Local residents also have put their two cents in, according
to hudsonvoice.com, which is sponsored by GE.
That site claims that EPA has received more than 50,000 e-mails,
postcards and telegrams against the plan.
EPA says it took so long to make a decision on dredging because
it had to review the massive response it received to the proposal.
Let's get on with the dredging.
Bush
is big winner
The GE dredging decision is a grand slam for President Bush.
Can score points
by backing
Whitman
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He's been hurt by an anti-environmental stance. Bush has
taken solid hits for supporting drilling offshore Florida
and in the Arctic, and for easing restrictions of carbon dioxide
emissions and opposing the global warming pact.
There's also a perception that Bush is solidly on the side
of Big Business.
Bush can now score environmental points, and prove some independence
from Corporate America by supporting Whitman.
Bill's
bombastic return
President Clinton, meanwhile, made a triumphant return to
public life when he opened his office in Harlem on July 30.
Bombastic return
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He was the talk of the town. The New York Times crowed
on its front page, "In Harlem, a Hero's Welcome For New
Neighbor Clinton."
It slapped an above-the-fold front page picture of Clinton
reaching out to shake the hands of members of his "adoring
audience."
The Times also ran an editorial about "Mr. Clinton's
Harlem Renaissance."
He's a "skillful drummer of vigorous centrist politics
who can speak to new solutions for national and global problems."
Clinton "almost looked giddy about the end of the post-presidential
exile," noted the Times.
The black community overwhelmingly supported Clinton during
his Presidential campaigns, but how much of the pro-Bill coverage
was due to the skillful hand of his former White House spokesman
Joe Lockhart.
His Glover Park Group masterminded the "second coming"
of the former President.
Lockhart, himself, was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos,
another former Clinton aide, on "Good Morning America"
the day of the opening.
Conservatives
lick chops
One thing Lockhart can't control is the unadulterated scorn
that conservatives have for Clinton.
"Why Harlem Should Boo Bill" was the headline in
the Aug. 1 column by Linda Chavez in the New York Post.
She wrote that Clinton's promise during his first term to
engage in a dialog on race could have been dubbed "blame
whitey."
"Like many white Southern liberals who lived through
the civil rights era, Clinton subscribes to the notice of
collective guilt," wrote Chavez.
Tony Blankley, in the Aug. 1 edition of the indispensable
Washington Times, wrote a piece called "Bubba's Curtain
Call."
He envisions a Condit/Clinton Democratic dream team going
up against Bush/Cheney in 2004.
Conservatives are sure happy Bill is back. It allows them
to take their minds off the woes their boy, Dubya, has in
the White House.
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