DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Congratulations are in order!

President Bush and Vice-President Cheney have won an award from the League of Conservation Voters. They share the top spot in LCV’s 2004 Dirty Dozen award, for consistently trashing the environment.

Way to stay “on message,” boys! The American people crave consistency, and you have not wavered from your focus on improving energy-company profits since the day you took office!

The president and VP are joined by a bipartisan crew of toxin-spewing Representatives, all of whom are guilty of such eco-crimes as:

• letting corporate polluters off the hook (in exchange for campaign donations, in some cases)
• delaying clean air protections, even in cities with documented poor air quality
• exempting oil and gas construction sites from the Clean Water Act, threatening drinking water
• revising forest management regulations to limit environmental review and public participation
• threatening water resources for farmers and ranchers
• allowing more arsenic in South Dakota’s drinking water

Debris.com tips its oil-stained hardhat to the full Dirty Dozen, which has a few open spots, so don’t get any ideas because there’s still room for you:

1. President Bush, Vice-President Cheney (tie)
2. Rep. Bob Beauprez (R, Colorado)
3. Rep. Max Burns (R, Georgia)
4. Rep. Richard Burr (R, North Carolina)
5. Rep. Tom DeLay (R, Texas)
6. Rep.George Nethercutt (R, Washington)
7. Rep. Collin Peterson (D, Minnesota)
8. Rep. Rick Renzi (R, Arizona)
9. Fmr. Rep. John Thune (R, South Dakota)

There is no particular prize associated with the “Dirty Dozen” award, except that all these officials get to breathe the same dirty air as the rest of us. Hey, maybe this is a democracy after all.

(VP Dick Cheney was previously recognized in this space for eminence in war profiteering.)