The Essentia Blog

Despite his desperation to distance himself from the Bush administration in the last few days of the presidential campaign, McCain’s record shows that he consistently voted with the Bush administration against a few key environmental policies:

Strike 1 - Corporate Polluters

Voted against making companies disclose pollution sites and making them pay for the cleanup of toxic waste Superfund sites, leaving taxpayers to pay for the cleanup.

Strike 2 - Drinking Water Pollution

Voted against a law requiring utilities to let consumers know what pollutants are in their drinking water.  He also voted against tightening the standard on arsenic in drinking water.

Strike 3 - Water Pollution by Mining and Oil Industries

Voted in 2002 to exempt the oil and gas industry from the Safe Drinking Water Act regulations, leaving them free to add chemicals like benzene to our water.  He also voted against tightening regulations on the discharge from hardrock water companies, which have already polluted 40% of the water table in the West.

Whenever it has been a case of the environment versus big corporations, McCain will vote for the corporations every time.  His record doesn’t lie.