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Fall 2003 - V.18 N.3 Table of Content	Politics Trump Science from The Junk Science of George W. Bush by Robert F Kennedy Jr.
News Around the Lagoon Costly New Septic Tanks Keep Nitrogen out of Water Water Management District Uses Grove Land to Store Excess Water Environmentalists Urge Action on Ship Ballast Water Supreme Court Rules EPA can Overrule State in Clean Air Case Halting Toxic Cleanups Water the Oil of the 21st Century New Gates Reduce Silt from Canals in Indian River County Key West Asks Cruise Ships to Stop Dumping Endangered Species Act may be in Danger Manatee Deaths Drop Here, but Rise on West Coast Conservation Groups Sue for EPA to Regulate Water Pollution in Florida New Tag Aims to Help Protect Coral Reefs Politics Trump Science Chemical Industry Seeks Approval of Pesticides at Expense of Wildlife	The Bush Administration's first instinct when it comes to science has been to suppress, discredit or alter facts it doesn't like. Probably the best-known case is global warning. Over the past two years the Administration has done this to a dozen major government studies on global warming, as well as to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its own efforts to stall action to control industrial emissions. The list also includes major long-term studies by the federal government's National Research Council and National Academy of Sciences, and by scientific teams at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Suppressing or altering science can be a tricky business; the Bush Administration has found it easier at times simply to arrange to get the results it wants. A case in point is the decision in July by the EPA's regional office overseeing the western Everglades to accept a study financed predominantly by developers, which concludes that wetlands discharge more pollutants than they absorb. There was no peer review or public comment. With its approval, the EPA is giving developers credit for improving water quality by replacing natural wetlands with golf courses and other developments. The study was financed by the Water Enhancement and Restoration Committee, which was formed primarily by local developers and chaired by Rick Barber, the consultant for a golf course development for which the EPA had denied a permit because it would pollute surrounding waters and destroy wetlands. The study contradicts everything known about wetlands functioning, including a determination by more than twenty-five scientists and managers at the Tampa Bay Estuary Program that, on balance, wetlands do not generate nitrogen pollution. Bruce Boler, a biologist and water-quality specialist working for the EPA office, resigned in protest. Next Article: Chemical Industry Seeks Approval of Pesticides at Expense of Wildlife

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