Bush listens to campaign contributions, not public opinion By Curt Andersen News-Chronicle With all the problems local citizens have had getting irresponsible paper mills to clean up the Fox River, we have perhaps not been as cognizant of the damage being done in Washington by the bull-in-a-china-shop administration of George W. Bush. Bush has made poor decisions, as happened along the Klamath River in northern California last year. Land owners demanded Bush release water for irrigation from the Klamath. Typically, Bush took the side of the campaign donors, authorizing the release of millions of gallons of water to irrigate about 20,000 acres. Lowered water levels in the Klamath River caused spawning salmon to gather in shallow pools where they died from overheating. An estimated 20,000 salmon died in this misstep. Native American tribes, sport fishermen and biologists charge the Bush administration violated the law by lowering the river to help farmers. Millions of Coho and Chinook salmon eggs were wasted along with those salmon. If only salmon could figure out how to make donations to elected officials so they would have some voice in their future. Such support for big business has become boilerplate policy for the Bush administration. It has been feverishly attempting to roll back Clean Water Act rules that have improved water quality in the United States for the last 30 years. Back in 1972, only about one-third of our waters were fishable, swimmable or safe for drinking. After 30 years of Clean Water Act rules and enforcement, a little over one-half of our waters are safe, leaving 45 percent unsafe. We have a big job ahead of us to clean that remaining troubled water. In spite of public opinion that demands the strictest standards for protecting fresh water, the Bush administration favors rollbacks that would allow rivers and streams to be filled with coal-mining waste. Not surprisingly, coal companies are big contributors to political campaigns, especially to those candidates that favor old technology like coal. The coal industry has an international reputation for polluting and, coincidentally, for campaign contributions. Bush has changed the rules that kept polluters such as the paper industry from dumping their filth into our waterways. Bush is easing already-lightweight restrictions on pollution from factory farms (but not regular farms) and from logging companies. The Bush administration wants to cut funding for fresh-water infrastructure, that is, the various operations that treat and supply us with fresh, clean water. Whereas this will lower tax expenditures at the federal level, it also clears the way for sleazy private companies making wild promises of lower costs to take over municipal water-treatment facilities. Horror stories about water privatization are many. We've seen the damage that has been done by "voluntary compliance" - note the filthy Fox River. The federal government must advocate for clean water, support rules that protect wetlands, enforce regulations on polluting industries and fund continuing clean-water programs. Local control has proven to be unsatisfactory and not up to the task. Big companies can and do blackmail elected officials with threats to leave town. Bush, with no mandate, is going ahead with these changes, a rather shocking move. Call U.S. Rep. Mark Green at 1-800-773-8579; U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold at 465-7508; and Sen. Herb Kohl at 1-920-738-1640 to stop this short-sighted elimination of clean-water protections. Andersen is a lifelong resident of the Green Bay area and a Navy veteran. He owns a small business and is an adjunct instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. He is vice president of Clean Water Action Council. His column runs Wednesdays. Write to him via e-mail at [email protected].