Reply #8: Bush had James Connaughton distort the original EPA reports [View All]

[Divernan]

The original, early EPA reports concluded the air and water were not safe in southern Manhattan. However, Bush (or more likely Cheney) told Whitman to submit the EPA reports to the White House for review before said reports were released to the public. The man who reviewed them, and unconscionably doctored them, was James Connaughton, who was the head of Bush's White House Council on Environmental Quality. Connaughton is the individual who changed the reports to read that it was safe for people IMMEDIATELY to return to Ground Zero. As others have stated, up-thread, it was to get Wall Street up and running ASAP. Ironically, the Republican administration therefore exposed all their republican Wall Street traders to toxic air. The kinds of toxins, such as asbestos, can take up to 20 years before people exposed to them develop mesothelioma (cancer of the lining of the lungs - every breath is excruciatingly painful). And there were dozens of other toxins creating a lethal soup in every breath taken. Whitman went along with the distortions, but I would like to see Connaughton personally held to account. And so did Rudy Guiliani of course.

Tens of thousands of men, women and children who worked, lived or went to school in southern Manhattan were exposed to all these toxins for many months. The worst injured of course were the rescue and clean-up workers at Ground Zero.

Connaughton began his legal career working on behalf of asbestos victims who worked in the major construction trades. Then he went over to the dark side and joined a large Washington firm representing corporate polluters and helping them evade as much environmental responsibility as possible, laughingly referred to as "environmental management and compliance assurance systems, legislation, regulation, etc." So he knew damn well, and in excruciating detail the agonies suffered by asbestos victims - but he evidently figured, hey, in 20 years I'll be dead or otherwise out of the public eye and won't be held accountable.

How bad is this guy? During President Bush’s first term, Connaughton coordinated the development of mislabeled major Administration initiatives such as the national (un)Clean Air strategy; (un)Healthy forests restoration legislation; etc. He has led the blocking of the US participating in the Kyoto Treaty and any other environmental initiatives.