Posted by Kim.
OK, he never actually said that. But articles like this really makes me think that President Bush has a personal vendetta against nature-in-general. Do you think maybe he was bullied by trees as a child?
[ excerpt from a Washington Post story by Marc Kaufman ]
The White House yesterday sought to overrule a federal court's decision limiting the Navy's use of sonar in training exercises, exempting the service from complying with two major environmental laws.
Environmentalists who sued to limit the use of loud, mid-frequency sonar — which can be harmful to whales and other marine mammals — said the exemptions were unprecedented and could lead to a larger legal battle over the extent to which the military has to follow environmental laws.
In a court filing yesterday, government attorneys said President Bush had determined that allowing the use of mid-frequency sonar in ongoing exercises off southern California was "essential to national security" and of "paramount interest to the United States." ...The government filings said the federal ruling limiting sonar use "profoundly interferes with the Navy's global management of U.S. strategic forces, its ability to conduct warfare operations, and ultimately places the lives of American sailors and Marines at risk."
..."The president's action is an attack on the rule of law," said Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project. "By exempting the Navy from basic safeguards under both federal and state law, the President is flouting the will of Congress, the decision of the California Coastal Commission, and a ruling by the federal court." ...The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said the waters off southern California are especially rich in marine mammal life and are on migration paths of five species of endangered whales.
In the past these Navy sonar 'exercises' have left whales stranded or dead. Stop messing with whales!
~k.