Bush Flip/Flop - promises Michigan water to Michigan - AND to Southwest

[papau]

www.Misleader.org

BUSH FLIP FLOPS IN PANDER TO MIDWEST VOTERS

President Bush visited Michigan this week and said, "We've got to use our resources wisely, like water. It starts with keeping the Great Lakes water in the Great Lakes Basin." He then attacked his political opponents for supposedly equivocating on the issue, and said, "My position is clear: We're never going to allow diversion of Great Lakes water."<1> This declaration, however, was a direct flip-flop from statements the President made just three years ago.

According to The Associated Press in July of 2001, "Bush said he wants to talk to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien about piping water to parched states in the west and southwest."<2> Though experts said, "diverting any water from the Great Lakes region sets a bad precedent," the President insisted, "A lot of people don't need , but when you head South and West, we do need it."<3>

Sources:
1. "President's Remarks at Traverse City, Michigan Rally," The White House, 08/16/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=51424.
2. "Bush's talk of North American water pact upsets environmentalists, politicians," The Associated Press, July 19, 2001.
3. "Remarks by the President in Roundtable Interview with Foreign Press," The White House, 07/17/01, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=51425.

[noonwitch]

1. Yeah, well his buddy Engler diverted plenty of water from the lakes

It is unbelieveable to someone who grew up in Michigan, how low the water levels have been. This year, they're up a little, because we had a rainy spring, but still. Prior to Engler, I had never seen the lakes as low as they have been in the past 4 years or so. Also, Lake St. Clair is filty beyond belief, no one with half a brain will swim in it. This summer, there haven't been beach closings, but last summer the beaches on Lake Michigan in Holland were closed, in addition to St. Clair beaches like Metro Beach. All from fecal coliform bacteria.

The problems with Lake St. Clair started a couple of years after Engler took office. He gutted all the environmental reforms of the two previous governors, and Macomb County, in their massive growth, started flushing untreated water into the Clinton River. St. Clair is the smallest Great Lake, but it's a connector lake between Huron and Erie.

It's going to take a long time to undue the damage that 12 years of Engler has done to Michigan's environment.