Redefining pollution

posted by The Vidiot @ 5:38 PM Permalink

Bushco strikes again:

EPA OKs Spraying Pesticides over Waters

The Bush administration pleased farmers and frustrated environmentalists Monday by declaring that pesticides can be sprayed into and over waters without first obtaining special permits.
[...]
"Requiring (federal) permitting would unnecessarily disrupt the effectiveness of (pest) control operations and adversely impact hundreds of business," the South Carolina Aquatic Plant Management Society warned.

The EPA decision gave the pest operators what they wanted. It also closely parsed the English language for what the all-important word "pollutant" means.

EPA officials concluded that a pesticide, when it's deliberately applied, isn't a "pollutant" under the terms of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Consequently, after considering nearly 700 public comments, officials ruled that federal "discharge" permits aren't necessary when using pesticides to control waterborne pests.

So if you do it on purpose it isn't poison!? And who cares if businesses are impacted adversely (by having to get a permit) if more people, especially children, the elderly and pregnant women, will be poisoned? And the jury is still out whether the pesticides are effective.