🚀 go-pugleaf

Bush's Last Days <outsourced@bush.gov> wrote in message news:<JLuhd.1019$O11.97@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net>...
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> 
> George W. Bush: Resume
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> Accomplishments While Governor of Texas (1995-2000):
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>      *
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>        Relaxed pollution laws for power and oil companies (I 
> "grandfathered" the dirtiest coal burning power plants, making them 
> exempt from clean air laws, for example) and made Texas the most 
> polluted state in the Union, in 1999. The same year, Houston had the 
> "highest ozone level reading in the nation", and was second most 
> ozone-polluted city in the country from 1997 through 1999.

Yes, but it is also important to keep in mind that ozone is just one
of six kinds of air pollution.

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:hMu2WJNsGqAJ:www.cse.org/reports/ia109_texas_environment.pdf+epa+%22most+polluted+states%22&hl=en
"According to EPA, Los Angeles' air still is ranked in a poorer
category than the air in Houston. While Houston violates the federal
standard for ozone, Los Angeles violates the standards for ozone,
carbon monoxide, and particulate matter."

http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/STORY.e9eb444f2b.b0.af.0.a4.cccba.
html
"In some ways, calling Houston America's smoggiest city misrepresented
the relative quality of air in the two cities. Los Angeles' air is
worse than Houston's in other categories."

More recent info on ozone violations:

http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=50752
Metropolitan Areas with the Worst Ozone Air Pollution
1  LOS ANGELES-RIVERSIDE-ORANGE COUNTY, CA  
2  FRESNO, CA  
3  BAKERSFIELD, CA  
4  VISALIA- -PORTERVILLE, CA  
5  HOUSTON-BAYTOWN-HUNTSVILLE, TX CMSA 
6  MERCED, CA  
7  SACRAMENTO-ARDEN-ARCADE--TRUCKEE, CA-NV 
8  HANFORD-CORCORAN, CA 
9  KNOXVILLE-SEVIERVILLE-LA FOLLETTE, TN  
10  DALLAS-FORT WORTH, TX CMSA 

And overall air quality:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2056693
Number of days in 2000-2002 when air quality was unhealthy 
1. Riverside-San Bernardino, Ca. 445 days
2. Fresno, Ca. 421 
3. Bakersfield, Ca. 409 
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach, Ca. 255 
5. Sacramento, Ca. 163 
6. Pittsburgh, Penn. 134 
7. Knoxville, Tenn. 109 
8. Birmingham, Al. 100 
9. Houston, Tx. 94 
10. Baltimore, Md. 93

And particle pollution:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/05/01/smoggy.skies.ap/index.html
".... 1999-2001 EPA data, do not take into account a pollutant that's
considered more dangerous than smog -- tiny particles of soot
that can lodge deep in the lungs and cause heart problems and even
death."

http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=50752
Metropolitan Areas Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution
1  LOS ANGELES-LONG BEACH-RIVERSIDE, CA  
2  VISALIA-PORTERVILLE, CA  
3  BAKERSFIELD, CA  
4  FRESNO-MADERA, CA  
5  PITTSBURGH-NEW CASTLE, PA  
6  DETROIT-WARREN-FLINT, MI  
7  ATLANTA-SANDY SPRINGS-GAINESVILLE, GA  
8  CLEVELAND-AKRON-ELYRIA, OH 
9  HANFORD-CORCORAN, CA 
10  BIRMINGHAM-HOOVER-CULLMAN, AL  
(Houston is not on the list of 26 cities)

This isn't to say that Bush isn't lax on the environment. Keep in mind
I'm not defending him here -- I'm addressing the misconceptions about
Texas and Houston.