A plain and simple reason to hate George W. Bush and the rich white men who run this country.

I was up Tuesday morning early with my son Carter so my wife could get some sleep since she had been watching him all weekend alone. I flipped on the TV, set Carter down and put some toys out on the floor for him to play with. HBO was the channel that was left on. They were playing the weeks prior “Real Sports”.

The segment they were running was about how children athletes on the East Coast in this one particular area had an asthma rate that was significantly higher than the national average. I don’t recall the exact figures, but it was staggering. (Something like 20%) The question was why? Basically there are a triangle of 3 coal power plants that dump literally tons of particulate matter into the air in this area. OK. Is it preventable?

Back in 1970 Tricky Dick signed the Clean Air Act Amendment, part of which stated all new coal fired power plants needed to install millions of dollars worth of “scrubbers” that would drop these emissions levels to far less harmful amounts. It was called New Source Review.

Time passed and a few power companied thought they could just say fuck you to the EPA and built new power plants that didn’t have the scrubbers. Clinton takes office with a renewed sense of environmental conciseness and the EPA begins to prosecute a few of these companies. The law takes time to move, and these power companies begin to, instead of clean up their plants, give millions of dollars to the Republican candidacy of George W. Bush.

What does GWB do when he gets into office? The remaining lawsuits get “stalled” in court. New Source Review get rewritten to say that you can spend 20% of the value of an old power plant to “upgrade” it and still not have to meet emissions levels. Old plants weren’t considered because they typically only have a 20-30 year life span and then have to be rebuilt. 20% of a billion dollar asset is… well do the math. You can have 5 refurbishment upgrades done to your plant and bam! Brand new power plant with no emissions control. You saved yourself the millions of dollars on emissions controls.

Kids are getting asthma. People are dying from these particulate levels. What the fuck?

This makes me so mad.

Please, Bush lovers and Republicans explain this away.

If we can’t burn coal freely the terrorists win, right? Or should I not question a wartime president’s motives? Maybe the research is inconclusive, or misleading. This population of children was somehow manipulated by hippies and environmentalists, right? Steve…. Nick… Chris… anyone?

I set aside the hundreds of other reasons I don’t like our current president, and this is an outrage. Making rich men richer at the expense of public health is disgraceful.

Synopsis from hbo.com

The Air We Breathe

For many children growing up in the shadow of coal-fired power plants, athletic participation is contingent on the state of their asthma and their ability to deal with pollutants generated by the plants. In towns across the eastern United States, power plants lacking adequate pollution controls are spewing emissions - recorded at 15 million tons a year nationwide - that travel into the lungs of little leaguers and soccer players alike. Scientists believe the toxins inhaled by children while playing sports are especially dangerous to young athletes for three reasons: their lungs are still maturing; their immune system is still developing; and the higher rate of inhalation during athletic activity brings more pollutants into their respiratory system. In a two-part expose, correspondent Jon Frankel explores power companies' resistance to the government's call to curb pollution, speaking with two former Environmental Protection Agency investigators and former EPA head Christine Whitman on why federal laws seem to have been laxly enforced and why the application of pollution controls has not been a top priority. But the findings are not simply a matter of coal-powered plants failing to meet environmental codes. The story goes deeper, connecting wealthy business executives and their sizable political endorsements, leading all the way to Washington. This REAL SPORTS/Sports Illustrated collaboration investigates the unsettling reality facing communities where the health of their youngsters is being compromised.