Al Gore accuses Barack Obama of bowing ‘to pressure from polluters’

Al Gore makes a blunt public attack on the Obama administration for its failure to enforce stricter pollution standards If Barack Obama didn’t have enough on his plate – with the sagging economy, dismal employment figures and falling approval ratings – on Wednesday he also endured an unusual and highly public rebuke from Al Gore over environmental policy. The former US vice president turned environmental campaigner published a blog on his official website , entitled “Confronting disappointment,” that castigated Obama personally for pulling the Environmental Protection Agency off the trail of enforcing tougher emissions standards . Gore’s most stinging rebuke in the brief post came when he said: “President Obama appears to have bowed to pressure from polluters who did not want to bear the cost of implementing new restrictions on their harmful pollution,” saying the net result will be lung disease and asthma: On Friday afternoon, as brave and committed activists continued their non-violent civil disobedience outside the White House in protest of the tar sands pipeline that would lead to a massive increase in global warming pollution, President Obama ordered the EPA to abandon its pursuit of new curbs on emissions that worsens disease-causing smog in US cities. Earlier this year, the EPA’s administrator, Lisa Jackson, wrote that the levels of pollution now permitted – put in place by the Bush-Cheney administration – are “not legally defensible.” Those very same rules have now been embraced by the Obama White House. Instead of relying on science, President Obama appears to have bowed to pressure from polluters who did not want to bear the cost of implementing new restrictions on their harmful pollution – even though economists have shown that the US economy would benefit from the job creating investments associated with implementing the new technology. The result of the White House’s action will be increased medical bills for seniors with lung disease, more children developing asthma, and the continued degradation of our air quality. Gore is not alone. The White House’s decision last Friday created considerable anger among enviromentalists and Democratic activists . Justin Ruben, executive director of MoveOn.org , had this to say about the decision: Many MoveOn members are wondering today how they can ever work for President Obama’s reelection, or make the case for him to their neighbors, when he does something like this, after extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich, and giving in to tea party demands on the debt deal. This is a decision we’d expect from George W Bush. Al Gore Barack Obama Obama administration US politics US domestic policy United States guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 7, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.