Sierra Club leader blasts Bush environment polices in new book

Sierra Club leader blasts Bush environment polices in new book

By TERENCE CHEA, Associated Press Writer
Last Updated 4:56 pm PDT Sunday, May 9, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Carl Pope has helped turn the Sierra Club into a prominent voice in national politics by recruiting new members, lobbying government and motivating voters to think about the environment when they head to the polls.

The executive director of the nation's most influential conservation group is plunging deeper into politics this election year, writing a book that accuses the Bush administration of rewriting regulations to help polluters and stripping protections for 235 million acres of wilderness.

"Bush has done his best, in only three years, to break our national compact on environmental progress and turn the clock back - not years or decades but a full century," Pope writes in "Strategic Ignorance" with co-author Paul Rauber.

"This is what the American people do not know: The Bush administration is full of officials who believe ... that weaker laws on clean air, less funding to clean up toxic waste dumps, and national parks and forests run for private profit are actually good for the country."

more... http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/9235683p-10160859c.html