Star Telegram | 03/10/2002 | How long for the same old stories? As a rare case of principled resignation reminded us two weeks ago, people's lives are in fact at stake. Eric Schaeffer, head of the EPA's Regulatory Enforcement, quit in protest over the Bush administration's efforts to undermine tough legal action against dozens of aging, coal-fired power plants that are in violation of federal law.
The EPA believes that 10,000 deaths a year are caused by the millions of tons of pollution by these plants. When 3,000 Americans were killed by terrorists, we promptly went to war - one that is now spreading around the globe - in order to get the killers. When American industry kills Americans, this administration accommodates them endlessly.