August 15, 2003

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Blasts President Bush’s Environmental Record and Parks Policy

Oakland, CA – In response to President Bush’s visit today to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) released the following statement:

“The President’s so-called environmental tour has taken him across the West and now brought him to the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.”

“Unfortunately this scenic photo opportunity does not come as part of an effort to protect and rebuild our national parks system. The Bush Administration’s record on the Parks system is abysmal, as is its record on the environment as a whole.

“The non-partisan National Parks Conservation Association has given the Bush Administration a D-, reflecting on the Administration’s failures to protect air quality and habitat; its management of the system; inadequate funding; and shortcomings in rebuilding crumbling infrastructure and other issues related to the experience of visitors to our national parks.”

“The Bush Administration has underfunded the Parks and public lands; now it is seeking to privatize much of them. On Christmas Eve of last year, the President handed corporate interests a great gift: exclusive control over significant areas of land within national parks and other public lands. This assault on public lands is linked to a landslide of environmental rollbacks threatening longstanding air and water protections and endangering both the public health and America’s remaining wilderness heritage.”

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