GOP officials don't care about our environment

To the editor:

Located in the White House, the Office of Management and Budget can hardly be dismissed as a left-wing environmental organization. However, as environmentalists and progressive politicians have argued for years, OMB reports that environmental regulations make sound economic sense. According to OMB's accounting covering the last 10 years of major regulatory actions, economic benefits from environmental regulations ranged from $146 billion to $230 billion annually, whereas costs ranged only from $36 billion to $42 billion. This clearly substantiates the long and widely held view that environmental destruction costs money whereas environmental protection saves money

Given these data, it remains a source of constant amazement that, from the White House to Congress to our own legislature, Republicans are trying to roll back environmental regulations. Clearly the reason has nothing to do with general economic accounting. Why, we must ask, did President Bush want toxic arsenic in our drinking water and is now trying to pollute the environment with highly toxic mercury from power plants under the guise of a Trojan-horse policy misnamed "Clear Skies"? Why also is he trying to destroy our forests with a program labeled for public relations purposes his "Healthy Forests Initiative"?

Elected Republicans exhibit no interest in what is best for Americans, our environment or our economic well-being. They are interested in but one goal: greater profits for corporations and individuals paying the campaign contributions that elect them.

It's time to take back our country.

ALAN R.P. JOURNET

Cape Girardeau