Letter: Senate delivers message to Bush, polluters

Thursday, March 10, 2005 | 9:23 a.m.

Wednesday marked a stunning setback for corporate polluters and President Bush, whose plan to weaken the nation's clean air laws was stopped cold by a 9-9 vote in the U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee.

This vote must remind the White House of these two very important facts: One, moderate Republicans aren't going to blindly follow the president's road map to giving the nation away to big companies, and, two, Democrats led by Sen. Harry Reid can put up one heck of a fight.

The legislation was a sweetheart deal for super polluters and now appears down for the count. Watch for this rollback of clean air laws to come up again and again.

Today, though, the air is feeling mighty clean thanks to sensible Senate action.

DAN GEARY

Editor's note: The writer represents the National Environmental Trust in Nevada. This nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, based in Washington, D.C., works to inform the public about the impacts of environmental legislation.

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