The Washington Post is publishing an eye-opening series about Dick Cheney this week.  It is scary, and sickening.

Today’s four page article focused on Cheney’s horrifying environmental record. Christine Todd Whitman, governor of NJ, was appointed head of the EPA by the Bush administration when they first arrived in office. I remember talking with my parents about how little Whitman really knew or cared about the environment and I felt violated even then (with my mom interacting with her in the elementary education realm in NJ routinely). Little did we know that she actually cared more than any of the other members of this administration and ultimately resigned because Cheney’s repeated environmental abuses wore on her. She could not sign another pro-industry ruling offered by Cheney. The one that caused her to resign allowed power plants and oil refineries to forego routine maintenance, pollute pollute pollute, and violated the Clean Air Act. 

In the article we also learn that Cheney was responsible for the largest fish kill on the West coast in history.  Tens of thousands of rotting fish (including chilcoot salmon) washed up Oregon’s Klamath river. Cheney’s choice to save one growing season for a relatively small number of his farming constituents cost Congress over $60 million in compensation to fishermen, and the fishing industry on the West coast still lies essentially in ruins.

“Isn’t there some way around it?” – Dick Cheney on more than one occasion concerning a federal law that got in the way with his immediate, selfish agenda.

While these articles are eye-opening, I can’t help but wonder if Jon Stewart is right though… that this is just another mind-blowing report of how fucked up Cheney is, and somehow it will just fade into the background. It’s happened before! And this administration will amazingly continue to roll back its environmental protections and fail to ever take a stand against global warming…