Details of George Bush's Record Permitting the Destruction of Florida's Bird Habitats
George W. Bush has a solid three-year record of eviscerating the nation's laws designed to protect the wetlands where the majority of the state's wading birds breed.
As to Florida's wetlands and the Everglades, the Bush administration:
Has proposed to eliminate Clean Water Act protections from 300,000 acres of Florida wetlands, departing from 30 years of legal precedent.Declined to enforce wetlands regulations that sought to protect against continuing drainage of wetlands on farms. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, this policy causes the loss of between 16,000 and 24,000 acres of wetlands each year.
Has supported a plan backed by the sugar industry to delay for 10 years regulations governing the clean up of phosphorus run-off from sugar farmlands into Florida's waterways.
Encouraged real estate development on almost 1 million acres of wetlands in the Everglades. In response to the Bush administration's policies, Clay Henderson of the Florida Conservation Alliance stated that, “We are paving over that which makes this a paradise.”
Craig Manson, Bush's assistant secretary of the interior for fish, wildlife and parks, has stated in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, “The Endangered Species Act should not be invoked to save species from extinction.” In November 2003, Manson told a conference on endangered species in Santa Barbara, California, that placing species on the endangered species list was not a priority of the administration and that the budget for this task would not be increased.
Manson, in an interview with Grist magazine, reiterated his view that endangered species were a low priority of the Bush administration. Grist said there is no extinction crisis and that special efforts should not be made to save all endangered species.
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