George Bush's Parting Swipe At The Environment

摘要

Friend to industry, foe to the environment - that's how critics summarise George W. Bush's record on green issues.rnAs his terms ends, the outgoing president seems to be living up to his reputation, despite recent moves by the White House to create large marine conservation areas in the Pacific (New Scientist, 22 November, p 9). In a flurry of last-minute rule-making, Bush looks set to weaken protection for endangered species and hand concessions to oil companies.rnOne such rule, issued last week, allows companies to apply for commercial drilling licences on 800,000 hectares of largely undeveloped public land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The oil there is held in a type of sedimentary rock called shale, and flushing it out would mean draining large amounts of water from an already arid area.