Environmental suits fall sharply under Bush administration: group
Washington (Platts)--12Oct2004
The number of lawsuits the US government has filed against industry for environmental violations has fallen sharply under the Bush administration, an environmental group said Tuesday. A report by the Washington-based Environmental Integrity Project said that in its first three years the Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency filed 75% fewer civil suits against polluters for violations of the federal air, water and waste laws than its predecessor. Electric utilities, oil companies and pipeline owners were sued three times in President Bush's first three years, compared with 28 suits filed by the Clinton administration, the report said. "In the last three years of the [Clinton] administration, the Justice Dept filed 152 lawsuits in federal court against companies for violations of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and federal hazardous waste laws," the report said. "But EPA's own records document only 36 such enforcement actions in the first three years of the Bush administration."
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