House GOP Memo Gives Advice On Environmental Issues In 2004 - Lie! [View All]

WASHINGTON — "Republican House leaders are warning their members that “Democrats will hit us hard on the environment” this election year. Their advice?

Tell voters that global warming has not been proved, that there are no clear links between air pollution and childhood asthma and that America’s rivers and lakes aren’t nearly as polluted as the Environmental Protection Agency says they are.

Moderate Republicans fear that the “talking points” in a memo from the House Republican Conference could make their party appear indifferent to the health threats of smoggy skies or mercury-contaminated fish. And that could hurt them in tight races where they must appeal to middle-of-the-road voters.

Republican House leaders recently sent the memo to GOP press secretaries to use to beat back accusations from Democrats and conservation groups that Republicans are anti-environment. The memo charges Democrats with trying to hype pollution problems to frighten voters into supporting the party. Among the memo’s assertions: “Global warming is not a fact,” “Links between air quality and asthma in children remain cloudy” and the EPA exaggerates when it says at least 40 percent of U.S. streams, rivers and lakes are too polluted for drinking, fishing or swimming. “Republicans can’t stress enough that extremists are screaming, ‘Doomsday!’ when the environment is actually seeing a new and better day,” says the Feb. 4 memo put out by the communications office of the House Republican Conference.

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http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=78010