Interesting... from "Grist" about environmental prosecutions...

[rasputin1952]

Use the Enforce, Kook
Environmental enforcement has declined under Bush, says new report

Well, knock us over with a feather: since the Bush administration began running the joint, industries committing environmental violations have been investigated less, penalized less, and sued less, says a new report from watchdog group Environmental Integrity Project. The Department of Justice has filed fewer than 16 lawsuits per year against polluters since Bush took office; the last three years under Clinton saw an annual average of 52 lawsuits. Between fiscal years 2002 and 2006, polluters shelled out $81 million per year in civil penalties; between 1996 and 2000, they ponied up $107 million annually. Criminal fines have dropped 38 percent under Bush, and the number of new criminal investigations has declined by 23 percent. Numbers shmumbers, says a Justice Department rep: "Any suggestion that the Justice Department is not enforcing the nation's laws is utterly false." EIP Executive Director Eric Schaeffer must humbly disagree: "I don't think it's because polluters have gotten nicer."

[e-mail]

straight to the source: Baltimore Sun, Tom Pelton, 24 May 2007

straight to the source: BuzzFlash, 23 May 2007

straight to the report: Paying Less to Pollute

[nosmokes]

1. Yet I'll wager prosecutions against *enviro Terrorists* have sky-rocketed.

I don't have any figures to back it up but i might do a search and see what i find. I know there has been a huge case here in Oregon where they are sentencing people to twent year plus prison terms for arson against SUV dealerships and logging equipment because it's being tried as terrorist crimes. the fact that no lives were threatened so no one could have been terrorized is beside the point, as is the fact that some of the heavy equipment that was torched was at an illegal *tree harvest.* hell no, a corporation suffered a financial loss and sombody hasta pay goddammit.

[rasputin1952]

2. And yet, those that are arrested outside of medical clinics

that offer abortion services, are set free...these assholes have set their own places in hell...