Bush's War on the Environment Just Got Serious

One of the first things they pounded into us in library school is the importance of libraries in a democracy. Without free access to information you can't have an educated, informed citizenry. Without information, people can't learn enough to vote and take action. The only choice left is to follow blindly and trust in our leaders to decide everything for us. While I didn't savor every last lesson taught in pursuit of the degree, this is one fundamental truth I agree with whole-heartedly.

Well now it seems two of the Bush regime's strategies are converging to create the greatest possible advantage for big business at the expense of everyone else. For their entire tenure they've done everything possible to destroy transparency and classify information. They've also quietly worked to errode as many environmental protections as possible. Now they've decided to close all of the EPA libraries (starting with Kansas City) in an effort to eliminate environmental research. Because who needs science when you can just trust the word of you president (who also happens to be your direct line to God)?

Along with the physical closure of most of the EPA’s 28 libraries, the proposed budget plan will also discontinue the Online Library Service (OLS), making the EPA’s online databases and information inaccessible to the general public, watchdog organizations, and even many of the EPA’s own employees. “They are trying to marginalize their own scientists and prevent them from reporting inconvenient findings,” Ruch told Mother Jones. Of the libraries that remain open, hours and services are expected to be gradually reduced and public access to the libraries will be terminated.

“It is important to note that there is no need to be closing these libraries right now,” said Alex Fidis, a staff attorney at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “[The EPA is] acting, number one, as if the new funding is law and, number two, as if the libraries are superfluous.” Fidis sees the library closures as one more example of the Bush administration catering to large corporations and restricting the “public’s right to know.” “If you don’t have any information about what a company is doing in terms of pollution, there is no need to take action,” he said. “It’s not as much a funding move as it is a political one.”