BBC News | AMERICAS | Bush energy plan: Policy or payback?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n <\/p>
\nA new power plant every week for\r\n20 years, new nukes, drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge - is this an\r\nenergy policy, or a payback for President Bush's big campaign contributors?\r\n <\/p>
\nFrom the moment George W Bush announced he was running for president, $50m came in from Texas-based energy companies.\n<\/p>
But they are hundreds\r\nof millions of dollars better off from his time as governor of Texas - and\r\nbecause of decisions taken in the first months of his presidency. <\/p>
\nWorst polluter<\/b>\n<\/p>
\n\nWhen it comes to pollution, Texas is champ, the number one state in emissions of greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals.\n<\/p>
\nA visit to the city of Houston is enough to confirm that status.\n<\/p>
\nA 24 km (15 mile) wide forest of\r\nsmokestacks stands on the edge of Houston, a place famous for pumping out\r\npollution, profits and the political donations which put George Bush into\r\nthe White House. <\/p>
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\nThere a mile long cloud of black\r\nsmoke, with flames 60 metres (200 ft) high erupts out of a Houston cracking\r\nplant as a ruined batch of ethylene and other toxic chemicals is burned off\r\nafter a hydrogen line snapped. <\/p>
\nSuch accidents are common on this side of Houston, \nwhere poisonous smoke rains on local neighbourhoods.\n<\/p>
\nAnd it is not just visible emissions locals have to worry about.\n<\/p>
Suspicions aroused<\/b>\n<\/p>
\nLaNell Anderson lived in the shadow\r\nof the Houston smoke stacks - her mother and father both died young, victims\r\nof bone cancer and lung disease, which made Ms Anderson suspicious. <\/p>
\nShe started taking air samples after an ethylene leak caused the local high school running team to collapse on the track.\n<\/p>
\nLab analysis of her bucket samples has found carcinogens in the air that are way above legal limits. \n<\/p>
\nShe has since found that local cancer cases are twice\nthe normal rate. \n<\/p>
Against regulations<\/b>\n<\/p>
\nDriving around the area it is possible to smell hydrogen sulphide in the air, a contravention of regulations.\n<\/p>
\n\"They're not supposed to be releasing\r\nanything, these are outside chemical impacts, that's not supposed to happen\r\nits supposed to stop at the fence,\" she says. <\/p>
\nSo how do the polluters get away with it?\n<\/p>
\nMs Anderson has her own theory about \"vending machine governance, where the lobbyists put the money in and\nout comes slacker regulation.\"\n<\/p>
Centre for petrochemicals<\/b>\n<\/p>
\nTexas is the centre of America's petrochemical industry - home to the nation's biggest refinery, Exxon's plant in Baytown.\n<\/p>
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\nMs Anderson has Exxon in her sights,\r\n\"they're the largest emitter in Harris County and they have the worst attitude\r\nof any corporation I've ever witnessed,\" she said. <\/p>
\nExxon would not accept her assessment and neither would George W Bush. \n<\/p>
\nAs Texas governor, Mr Bush quietly\r\nset up a committee led by Exxon, with other big oil and chemical companies,\r\nto advise him what to do about the state's deadly air pollution. <\/p>
\nRegulators wanted compulsory cuts\r\nin emissions of up to 50% - this \"secret\" committee instead proposed making\r\nthe cuts voluntary. <\/p>
\nMr Bush duly steered the polluters plan through the state legislature.\n<\/p>
Huge donations<\/b>\n<\/p>
Texas anti-corruption\r\nlaw made it illegal to donate money to Mr Bush as governor whilst such legislation\r\nwas under consideration. <\/p>
\r\nBut that month, Mr Bush declared for his candidacy for president - making\r\nthe $150,000 donated by committee members and their representatives completely\r\nlegal. <\/p>
\nThe bill passed and pollution did\r\ngo down - by just 3% - saving the companies hundreds of millions of dollars\r\ncompared to the compulsory cut. <\/p>
\nAnd there has been a bonus for chemical industry donors since Mr Bush became president. \n<\/p>
\nThe BBC's Newsnight programme learnt\r\nhe is quietly restricting public access to estimates of the number of people\r\nwho will burn or die in the event of a catastrophic explosion near these\r\nplants. <\/p>
Biggest funders<\/b>\n<\/p>
\nA walk through downtown Houston takes you past the headquarters of some of Mr Bush's biggest campaign fund donors.\n<\/p>
\nThe El Paso Corporation, which gave\r\n$750,000 to the Republican campaign, is now under investigation for manipulating\r\nthe California power market. <\/p>
\nOther big contributors include Dynegy, which gave $300,000 and Reliant, which gave $600,000.\n<\/p>
\nAnd the Enron Corporation, America's\r\nnumber one power trading company, has given more money than any other to\r\nMr Bush's political campaigns. <\/p>
\nWilliam S Farish, president of W S Farish and Co, gave $140,000. Mr Bush subsequently made him ambassador to Great Britain.\n<\/p>
Under investigation<\/b>\n<\/p>
\nInvestigations are proceeding into profiteering by power traders during the California energy crisis and blackouts.\n<\/p>
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\nThe state of California has accused\r\nthe El Paso Corporation and Dynegy of deliberately restricting the flow of\r\nnatural gas through the pipeline from Texas creating an artificial shortage\r\nwhich caused prices to go up ten-fold. <\/p>
\nPresident Clinton ordered an end\r\nto speculation in energy prices in California, which bit into the profits\r\nof El Paso, Reliant, Enron and Dynegy. <\/p>
\nBetween them the four companies\r\ngave $3.5m to Mr Bush and the Republicans. Three days after his inauguration\r\nMr Bush swept away Mr Clinton's anti-speculation orders. <\/p>
\nProfits for these four power traders are now up $220m in the first quarter. \n<\/p>
\nAnd protection against pollution\r\nis set to weaken further, the BBC's Newsnight programme has discovered that\r\ndeep in Mr Bush's new budget, the million-dollar fund for civil enforcement\r\nto deter pollution will be axed. <\/p>
\nIn the future law enforcement will be left to locals.\n<\/p>
\n\nClick here to watch Greg Palast's report<\/i><\/b>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t<\/p>
\n\tInternet links:<\/b>\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tUS Environmental Protection Agency |\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tNewsnight |\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tUN Climate Change Convention |\n\t\t\n\t\n\t
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites<\/i> | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage | ©\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/gregpalast.com\/","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Power companies that made huge contributions to President Bush's campaign fund, are now reaping the rewards of their generosity.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2001\/12\/bbc.hay42e3.html","filesize":"11.5 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2001\/12\/13570.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}