• Approximately 1,700 oil refineries, power plants and other polluting facilities to increase their pollution because of the weakened New Source Review program.

• Power plants such as the Big Brown power plant in Freestone county, the Monticello power plant in Titus county and the Limestone power plant in Limestone county to increase their emissions of soot, smog and toxic mercury.

The Local Impacts: Texas already is experiencing many of the worst side effects of air pollution, which promise only to worsen under the administration's policy:

• Approximately 1,310 people die prematurely and 31,700 suffer asthma attacks each year in Texas because of power plant pollution alone.

• Children are the most vulnerable population. More than 1,509,580 children live and play within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant in Texas, increasing their risk of developing asthma or suffering acute asthma attacks.

• Texas has issued fish consumption advisories because of mercury pollution in waterways including Caddo Lake, Sam Rayburn Reservoir and the entire Gulf of Mexico. Power plants in Texas released 15,015 pounds of mercury to air, land and water in 2000. It only takes a drop of mercury contaminate a 25-acre lake to the point that the fish in it are unsafe to eat.

• Poor air quality in many of our national parks rival that of America's largest cities. Hazy parks are parks at risk. Big Bend National Park is the oldest and largest national park in Texas. Big Bend has a wide variety of habitats and is home to 75 mammal species and more than 400 bird species. Unfortunately, scenic views that typically exceed 100 miles are often obscured by air pollution, particularly in the summer, that limits visibility to as little as nine miles. Much of the pollution comes from coal-fired power plants in east/central Texas and northern Mexico that lack modern emission control technology.

Wild Forests At Risk
The Threat: The timber industry has worked hand in hand with the Bush administration to stall implementation of—and completely undermine—the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Enacted in January 2001 after one of the largest public comments in U.S. history, the Roadless Rule would protect 58.5 million acres of wild national forest land from most logging and road-building. During the initial public comment period, more than 28,718 residents of Texas submitted comments in favor of issuing a roadless rule stronger than the one proposed.

The Local Impacts: Texas has 4,000 acres of roadless forests that would be protected under the now-stalled roadless rule in the Sam Houston National Forest. These forests provide habitat for endangered species and ample recreation opportunities for residents of Texas.

Toxic Waste Cleanups At Risk
The Threat: Superfund is the country's preeminent law for cleaning up the country's worst toxic waste sites. Under pressure from some of the country's most prolific polluters and campaign contributors, the Bush administration has failed to reauthorize the Superfund "polluter pays" tax, which has slowed cleanup of the nation's worst toxic waste sites and will shift the bulk of the cost of these cleanups onto taxpayers' shoulders.

The Local Impacts: Texas has 38 Superfund sites, many of which pose an immediate threat to human health. The Jasper Creosoting Company site in Jasper County, for example, has contaminated groundwater serving as a public drinking water supply with xylenol, pyrene and phenol among other chemicals. Unfortunately, because of the administration's Superfund policy, sites such as this will remain polluted for longer and taxpayers will have to foot more of the bill.

Neighborhoods At Risk
The Threat: The Bush administration is pushing forward with a plan to store the nation's nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a plan that will require hauling thousands of shipments of highly radioactive nuclear waste through neighborhoods in 44 states, including Texas.

The Local Impacts: Texas could see 8,411 truck shipments and 12,570 rail shipments pass through our communities, exposing residents and commuters to radiation and putting them at risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident. More than 2,336,290 people in Texas live within one mile of a proposed nuclear waste transportation route.

Public Lands At Risk
The Threat: The oil and gas industry worked closely with Vice President Cheney to draft the administration's energy policy behind closed doors. As such, the Bush administration is calling for dramatically stepped up oil and gas production on our public lands, often at the expense of some of the most beautiful and fragile wild places left in the United States.

The Local Impacts: Already, oil and gas companies have 642 leases spanning 449,297 acres in Texas. These same companies are pushing to drill in some of the state's most treasured places, such as the Padre Island National Seashore.

Beaches At Risk
The Threat: EPA estimates that there are 40,000 sanitary sewer overflows each year. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has been holding up regulations that would require sewer operators to improve sewer capacity and operations and to notify health authorities and the public when sewage overflowing into oceans, rivers and streets could endanger public health.

The Local Impacts: Texas is not immune to the problems of sanitary sewer overflows. In July of 1998, a thunderstorm knocked out electrical power to the pump at a lift station, causing sewage to spill. An estimated 1,300 people were infected with a highly infectious parasite, cryptosporidium, after drinking water from four Brushy Creek Wells and private wells that were contaminated by the sewage spill. The parasitic infection is permanent, potentially fatal to people with compromised immune systems, and may cause recurring symptoms later in life. Neither the City of Austin nor the Brushy Creek municipal utility warned residents immediately after the spill of the potential contamination of their drinking water. In 2000, Texas also experienced four beach closings, many of them due to sewage overflows.

Waterways At Risk
The Threat: The Bush administration has initiated a review of a program of the Clean Water Act designed to clean up these and the other 20,000 impaired water bodies across the country. The President's proposed changes to the Clean Water Act, still in draft form, would make cleanup strategies voluntary, decrease EPA's responsibility for ensuring that states follow the law, and substitute more studies for real cleanup requirements.

The Local Impacts: More than 5,463 miles of rivers and streams in Texas are contaminated with pathogens, and 952 miles are impaired by toxics and heavy metals. Similarly, 374,434 acres of lakes in Texas are impaired by mercury. This combination of nutrients, pathogens, toxic chemicals and other material makes these waterways too polluted for safe fishing and swimming.

Energy Efficiency At Risk
The Threat: Energy efficiency is the quickest and cheapest way to reduce electricity demand, especially during peak hours on hot summer days. Unfortunately, the Bush administration announced that it would allow air conditioner manufacturers to meet weakened efficiency requirements, ensuring that electricity demand—and consumers' electricity bills—will remain high during the summer.

The Local Impacts: The weakened standards will pump millions of tons of global warming pollution into atmosphere and deprive consumers of millions in savings by 2020, including $157 million in Texas. This is money that can be reinvested into local economies, spurring economic growth.

Global Climate At Risk
The Threat: The industries with the most financial might in Washington, D.C.—the oil and gas industry, auto industry, coal industry, large manufacturers and electric utilities—are united in their opposition to sensible action to curb emissions of global warming pollution. In February 2002, the Bush administration issued a plan that would allow global warming emissions to increase, rather than decrease.

The Local Impacts: Recent weather patterns across the United States are consistent with scientific predictions about the effects of climate change. The December-February temperature for the contiguous United States was the fifth warmest on record. Potential effects of this pattern of climbing temperatures include an increase in incidence of severe weather events, including floods, droughts, and severe storms. In 2000 alone, Texas suffered $1.195 billion in insured losses from weather-related catastrophes.

Fuel Economy At Risk
The Threat: Bowing to the political muscle of the auto industry, the Bush administration actively opposed an effort this spring by the U.S. Senate to increase the fuel economy of cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2013. Phasing in this standard would have saved one million barrels of oil each day in 2013—more than 12 times the projected daily yield from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the same year. The 35 mile-per-gallon standard also would have cut global warming pollution from transportation sources by 16 percent by 2020.

The Local Impacts: In addition to these environmental benefits, the consumer benefits of increasing fuel economy standards are impressive, resulting in annual savings of $4 billion dollars for American consumers by 2013. In Texas, consumers would have saved $316 million at the gas pump in 2013.

Biodiversity At Risk
The Threat: The Bush administration has failed to adequately fund the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's programs to implement the Endangered Species Act, threatening valuable species across the country with extinction. In November 2000, citing a funding shortfall, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared a moratorium on the further listing of species not under emergency or court-ordered listing.

The Local Impacts: Texas currently has 81 species listed on the Endangered Species List and an additional 23 species languishing under the listing moratorium. Local species needing protection but awaiting government action include the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog and the Mountain Plover.

Public Health At Risk
The Threat: Despite well-documented studies showing dioxin's extreme toxicity, the Bush administration has failed to finalize and release a reassessment of dioxin exposure and its human health effects. This is nearly a year after the administration's Science Advisory Board recommended that the report be finalized 'expeditiously.'

The Local Impacts: Dioxin is a highly potent cancer agent also linked to damage to the reproductive, immune, and nervous systems. The chemical is toxic in such small quantities that the World Health Organization estimates a "safe" daily intake as 1-4 trillionths of a gram per kilogram of body weight. In contrast, Texas' incinerators, paper mills, and other facilities released 17,395 grams of dioxin into the air, land and water in 2000.