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December 21, 2000: Bush Leaves Grim Environmental Legacy in Texas

2000-12-21

On his last day in office as governor of Texas, George W. Bush leaves the following environmental legacy, according to a report by Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP):
bullet Number 1 state in the US for manufacturing plant emissions of toxic and ozone-causing chemicals;
bullet Number 1 state in the US in the discharge of carcinogens harmful to the brain and central nervous system of small children;
bullet Number 1 state in the US for releasing industrial airborne toxins;
bullet Number 1 state in the US for the number of hazardous waste incinerators;
bullet Number 1 state in the US in producing cancer-causing benzene and vinyl chloride;
bullet Number 1 state in the US for violating clean water discharge standards;
bullet Number 1 state in the US for releasing toxic waste into underground wells.
A third of Texas’s rivers are so polluted that they are unfit for recreational use. And during Bush’s terms as governor, Houston passed Los Angeles as the city with the worst air quality in the US. The REP cannot find a single initiative from Bush during his tenure that sought to improve the state’s air or water. [Carter, 2004, pp. 128-129]