Not.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s pursuit of criminal cases against polluters has dropped off sharply during the Bush administration, with the number of prosecutions, new investigations and total convictions all down by more than a third, according to Justice Department and EPA data.
The number of civil lawsuits filed against defendants who refuse to settle environmental cases was down nearly 70 percent between fiscal years 2002 and 2006, compared with a four-year period in the late 1990s, according to those same statistics.
[…] EPA memos show that investigators also have encountered new obstacles to their long-standing practice of directly referring cases to federal or state prosecutors. A new policy distributed May 25 requires agents to seek prior approval from the head of their division and establishes new paperwork procedures. This has slowed agents’ ability to make referrals, congressional investigators said.
Just another day in our libertarian paradise.
craigie
Golly, this certainly is a surprising development.
JPL
http://www.themq.com/index.php?articles_id=268&issue=115
BIRDZILLA
And that why the granola munching tree hugging eco-wackos are whinning all the time becuase their clean out of their minds
cleek
“oversight”? sounds like some kind of communist Big Brother nanny-state intrusion.
Ray G
Anytime the government is inhibited from bringing action against their own citizens, it almost always has to be a good thing. I’m trying to think of when it wouldn’t, but a counterargument always comes quickly to mind as well.
jake
GOP SOP. Oversight always falls off when Republicans are in power but we’re currently in a period where there is a lot more winking, nudging and pointedly looking the other way.
I must watch the antics of Health & Human Services/Medicare for a living and while HHS is better than some agencies at putting the screws on, it was fun to watch them pick up the pace after the last elections and now they’re gearing up for Jan. 2009. If your doctor is in a really foul mood this time next year it is likely due to an outbreak of regulations, inspections, audits and some sort of Medicare monitoring device inserted up his ass.
I don’t know what the slobs at EPA, FDA etc are going to do in 09. You can’t run an entire building through a shredder. Their best bet is a direct hit by F5 tornado or The Rapture.
TenguPhule
I can’t wait for Empress for Life Hillary to pass the new toxic waste dump zoning laws that coocidently are the same places the Republicans live in.
“But the EPA assures us that this will not pose a threat to your health, so we can’t compensate you for dumping on your home. Have a nice day!”
Bubblegum Tate
Tim, you ignorant slut, prosecutions and convictions are down because clearly, Almighty Bush has cleaned up the environment and shut down the polluters. You can’t go after polluters and pollution when they don’t exist anymore, moonbat!
RSA
“Sorry, we mixed up the toxic environmental waste map with the toxic moral environment map.”
Evinfuilt
That has to be the truth, and I wouldn’t bet against Bush actually saying it in a speech.
Now I’m just going to curl up into fetal position.