Cross posted at
The Conscious Earth
George W. received a pair of defeats last week in his ongoing effort to rollback environmental safeguards throughout the US. On August 23rd a federal judge blocked the Administrations plan to allow commercial logging in Giant Sequoia National Monument, and on August 25th Judge Coughenour shot down their attempt to weaken the rules governing pesticide use.
Although Bush has been successful in rolling back countless environmental protections at the expense of
air,
water,
species, and
public health, the courts have remained his biggest obstacle in moving forward with more aggressive pro-industry policies. Enter the proposed Ninth Circuit U.S. split.
Through this initiative, the Senate Republicans are pushing to change the pool of judges that decide the fate of environmental laws in the western states into a mix that would favour industry over the protection of the natural world. You can add your name to Earthjustice's petition against the change here. But more than this will need to be done.
With the republicans holding the presidency, house and senate, the last check to their power is the judiciary, so its little surprise that they have begun to use their stranglehold majority to shape it in accordance with their policy aims. And unlike the fixed term presidency, any changes to the judicial branch and structure has the potential to impact policy for decades.
The legacy of Bush (or future Bushes) stretching decades into the future is nothing we want to see. To avoid it we'll need some solutions, because its high time we retired this batter, and his damaging enviro policies.