BUSH'S NEXT TWO RECESS APPOINTMENTS WILL BE SERIAL POLLUTERS AND THEY'LL BE WORKING AT THE EPA, OF COURSE

In a scenario reminiscent of his backdoor recess appointment of Swiftboat scumbag Sam Fox to be Ambassador to Belgium, Bush just withdrew two conmpletely unqualified nominees to help further wreck the Environmental Protection Agency. Neither had any chance of being confirmed by the Senate. Each looked at working at the EPA as an opportunity to protect the Republicans' corporate sponsors from meaningful environmental regulations.

Bush ostensibly gave up on the nominations of Alex Beehler to be EPA inspector general and William Wehrum to be the agency's assistant administrator for air and radiation, and he will now la in wait for an opportunity to bipass the Senate and sneak them in like he did with Fox. For now Bush says Wehrum will serve as acting EPA air quality chief until July.

When Beehler was an assistant deputy Defense undersecretary for environment, safety and occupational health he was infamous in Washington for consistently trying to exempt the Pentagon from environmental regulations. Before that he worked at Koch Industries, where he oversaw the distribution of grants to anti-regulatory groups. He is the classic case of Bush appointing a fox to guard the henhouse. But Wehrum is even worse-- writing regulations on air quality specifically to protect Big Business interests at the expense of the intent of the laws Congress has passed. He was responsible for the bogus regulations allowing Big Business to increase mercury pollution and has done similar favors for refiners and electric utilities.

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer had threatened to put holds on both of these outrageous nominations last year. Yesterday she said that EPA "deserves an inspector general with experience rooting out waste, fraud and mismanagement, and with a strong record of environmental protection." She also called Wehrum's withdrawal "good news," and said Bush must "select new nominees for these vital positions who have the experience and expertise for their jobs, and who have demonstrated their commitment to protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the health of our families and communities."