Bush's EPA Slips Another One By

We are pleased to introduce Frank O’Donnell as our Uncommon Sense guest blogger this week. Frank O’Donnell is the president of Clean Air Watch and writes frequently for TomPaine.com about environmental issues.

It’s become something of a ritual at the Bush administration’s EPA: dribble out some industry-friendly news on a Friday afternoon to minimize news coverage and public attention.  And last Friday was no exception: the agency declared that no further pollution controls were needed for cancer-causing chemicals from four industries .

This declaration came only weeks after the agency quietly reported that most of us are exposed to abnormally high cancer risks from breathing chemicals in the air. But that wasn’t EPA’s only good news for industry last Friday.  The agency also announced that chemical and other smokestack industries could restrict public access to corporate plans to spew toxic pollution in the air during factory “malfunctions.” These new limits on the public’s right to know were sought by ExxonMobil and other oil and chemical companies.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future