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StumbleSUN EDITORIAL:
Hazardous spills
Under Bush, government’s lax enforcement allowed serious problems to go unreported
Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009 | 2:09 a.m.
Hundreds of large spills of hazardous materials are going unreported in America each year, according to federal officials.
Using news accounts and emergency response logs, the Transportation Department found that from 2006 to 2008, there were nearly 1,200 spills of material being transported that had not been reported to federal authorities as required by law. The department found seven serious unreported spills in Nevada.
The spills the department found were considered “serious” and included radioactive material, carcinogens and toxic chemicals. The department did not have exact information on the extent of the spills and the danger, if any, to the public.
However, as USA Today reported Wednesday, officials say the information is vital to determine companies’ safety records to prevent carriers with poor records from carrying hazardous materials.
There has been little incentive, though, to report spills, as the department has been slow to discipline carriers that fail to report them. USA Today found that since Jan. 1, 2006, only seven companies have been fined for failing to report serious spills, and the stiffest penalty was less than $3,000.
Rep. Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, correctly says the department should be tougher. In a background memo, his committee staff notes that the Bush administration weakened enforcement. The staff found that the Transportation Department agency that regulates hazardous material shipments “changed its focus from keeping the public safe to making industry happy,” resulting in lax enforcement.
Although terrible, this is not surprising. That was standard operating procedure for the Bush administration, which ignored public safety in its zeal to help its supporters. For example, the administration tried to open the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump by ignoring all of the obvious problems, particularly those involving the hauling of highly radioactive material across the country.
President Barack Obama has set out to correct the many errors of the Bush administration, and this certainly should be on the list. The government should be taking a tougher enforcement stance to send a message that unreported spills will not be tolerated.
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Linking alleged nonenforcement of hazardous waste laws to the idea of using Yucca mountain as a nuclear waste depository is just plain stupid. A NIMBY attitiude towards Yucca is understandable but a central repository for nuclear waste makes alot of sense. At least more so than these ridiculous editorials from the Las Vegas Sun.
"Under Bush, government's lax enforcement allowed serious problems to go unreported"
"President Barack Obama has set out to correct the many errors of the Bush administration..."
Bias?
This isn't news, this is a campaign speech.
The LVSun editorial policy, also known as the "Strategy to Help Obama" or "SHO" for short, is to play the "Bush is to blame" game whenever Obamas ratings are falling or he's not getting his way.
this newspaper is a biased paper. I will refer to this paper in the future when someone says something ignorant about Fox news.At least Fox has both sides of the issue. RHG, you are right. Whenever Obama, Pelosi or Pinky get called on the carpet, it is always someone elses fault. Is there a statute of limitations on how long they can blame someone else for their bad decisions?
Just sticking to the facts and understanding that the officials hired by the Bush administration failed in their duties, any reasonable person would laugh at the five posters here as being willfully stupid. But because they are stupid they will continue to post nonsense in the future.
Isn't it interesting how the anti "Bush" people just love to name call. The first "five" posters did not do any name calling, then along came the "Bush Basher" and called them all "stupid" because they have different opinions then him.
Unfortunately, this has become the norm on the left side of the isle. Starting with the President and moving all the way down to mschaffer.
Too bad. No wonder the Independents are growing greatly in numbers...
Now that this administration has figured out how to stop waste and fraud in government spending I'm sure many of these problems will be fixed very soon. The very exciting breakthrough of efficient spending will solve many problems. By the way, when does the Bush administration end? It should be soon now.
"Too bad. No wonder the Independents are growing greatly in numbers..."
Looking at the trend line for republican party affiliation, it remains near it's low point, while the Democrats have been holding pretty steady.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/15370/Party-A...
As usual, Larry's too lazy to look up some hard numbers to support his claims, and with a little google search, we find he's completely missed the mark.
So why is it the Bush Admiration Society continues to excuse and whine about any criticism of Bush, yet continue to attack Obama for slights real and imagined? Could it be a giant double standard? General hypocrisy? Probably both.
More republican accountability!
Wait, Maybe I missed something. Obama, "continues the war in Afghanistan, more troops lost, billions spent, but thats acceptable and Bushes war was wrong after 9/11. Waterboarding is illegal because dems want americans portrayed as kinder/gentler but the most liberal bill on abortion signed by Obama, is acceptable. Dems were violent in demonstrations, potraying swazticas, and name calling and throwing shoes at the president,Pelosi says their democratic demonstrations are american and she was rejuvenated by them, but repubs are considered mob, un-american nazis for speaking out against universal health care(with no one reading the bill). Do you see a pattern here?
ksand, if you think its ok to criticise Bush, then quit whining about the criticism of Obummer.Could it be a double standard? General hypocrisy? Definitely both. More Democratic responsibility!!!