Earth Day: EPA Battles Examined Through 'Documerica' Photos

WASHINGTON — A polluted drainage ditch that once flowed with industrial waste from Lake Charles, La., petrochemical plants teems with overgrown, wild plants today.

A light-rail line zips past the spot where a now-defunct Portland, Ore., gasoline station advertised in 1972 that it had run out of gas.

A smoking Jersey City, N.J., dump piled with twisted, rusty metal has disappeared, along with the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan that were its backdrop.

Forty years after the Environmental Protection Agency sent an army of nearly 100 photographers across the country to capture images at the dawn of environmental regulation, The Associated Press went back for Earth Day this year to see how things have changed. It is something the agency never got to do because the Documerica program, as it was called, died in 1978, the victim of budget cuts.

AP photographers returned to more than a dozen of those locations in recent weeks, from Portland to Cleveland and Corpus Christi, Texas. Of the 20,000 photos in the archive, the AP selected those that focused on environmental issues, rather than the more general shots of everyday life in the 1970s.

Gone are the many obvious signs of pollution – clouds of smoke billowing from industrial chimneys, raw sewage flowing into rivers, garbage strewn over beaches and roadsides – that heightened environmental awareness in the 1970s, and led to the first Earth Day and the EPA's creation in 1970. Such environmental consciousness caused Congress to pass almost unanimously some of the country's bedrock environmental laws in the years that followed.

Today's pollution problems aren't as easy to see or to photograph. Some in industry and politics question whether environmental regulation has gone too far and whether the risks are worth addressing, given their costs.

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has called for the firing of EPA chief Lisa Jackson, while GOP rival Newt Gingrich has said the EPA should be replaced altogether. Jackson has faced tough questioning on Capitol Hill so often the in past two years that a top Republican quipped that she needs her own parking spot.

"To a certain extent, we are a victim of our own success," said William Ruckelshaus, who headed the EPA when it came into existence under Republican President Richard Nixon and was in charge during the Documerica project. "Right now, EPA is under sharp criticism partially because it is not as obvious to people that pollution problems exist and that we need to deal with them."

Environmental laws that passed Congress so easily in Ruckelshaus' day are now at the center of a partisan dispute between Republicans and Democrats. Dozens of bills have been introduced to limit environmental protections that critics say will lead to job losses and economic harm, and there are those who question what the vast majority of scientists accept – that the burning of fossil fuels is causing global warming.

In the 1970s, the first environmental regulations were just starting to take effect, with widespread support. Now, according to some officials in the oil and gas and electric utility industries, which are responsible for the bulk of emissions and would bear the greatest costs, the EPA has gone overboard with rules.

For instance, Documerica photographers captured a wave of coal-fired power plants under construction. Republicans and the industry now say environmental regulations are partly to blame for shuttering some of the oldest and dirtiest coal plants.

Jim DiPeso of ConservAmerica, a group that recently changed its name from Republicans for Environmental Protection, says the EPA is caught in the center of a perfect storm. "This time of greater cynicism about government, more economic anxiety and the fact that the problems are not immediately apparent, has created this political problem for EPA," he said.

In an interview, Jackson said she believes that people in the United States still want to protect the environment. "There's a large gulf between the rhetoric inside the Beltway to do everything from cut back on EPA to get rid of the whole place, and what the American people would actually stand for," she said. "It's very easy to make rash statements without thinking about what that means to the health of everyday Americans."

A 2010 Pew Research Center survey showed that 57 percent of those questioned held a favorable view of the EPA, compared with a 1997 poll that showed 69 percent with a positive view of the agency. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll taken last year found that 71 percent of people surveyed said that the government should continue provide money to the EPA to enforce regulations to address global warming and other environmental issues.

"We are not done. We still have challenges we have to face," Jackson said.

The agency last year began a volunteer photography project called State of the Environment. More than 620 people have participated and submitted 1,800 photographs, but only a few are at the same sites at the 1970s project.

Images always have spurred environmental consciousness. A 1980s satellite picture of the ozone hole helped lead to a ban on the chemicals in aerosol cans and refrigerants that were responsible. Underwater video of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 opened the public's eyes to the gravity of the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

But a second Documerica project, with professional photographers, would be impossible today, given budget cuts facing the agency and the wariness of industry barring access by photographers.

Lyntha Scott Eiler, 65, shot photographs for Documerica around her then-home in northern Arizona, as well as one of the early emissions testing sites for automobile exhaust in Hamilton County, Ohio. At the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona, Eiler got right down in a strip mine "where the shovels were."

"They weren't afraid of the EPA, so it was, `What else you do you want to get a photograph of?,'" Eiler said. "You probably would have a hard time doing that today."

___

Online:

Documerica photos on Flickr: http://bit.ly/2WvpYr

National Archives' Archival Research Catalog: http://1.usa.gov/16zBO5

State of the Environment on Flickr: http://bit.ly/gz2X3r

___

Follow Dina Cappiello's environment coverage on Twitter (at)dinacappiello

• This April 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority tracks, crossing across Neptune Road in East Boston, Mass., near Logan Airport. The image was taken for the then new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Michael Phillip Manheim)

• This photo taken April 14, 2012, shows Neptune Road in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, which ends at the Logan Airport perimeter. The photo was taken from the same vantage point of an historical image taken for the "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency, to document subjects of environmental concern. There was a playground there then. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

• This photo taken April 14, 2012, shows a Blue Line subway train passing Neptune Road in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston. The same view was photographed for the "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency to document subjects of environmental concern. The residential neighborhood that was once there is gone. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

• This photo, taken between 1972 and 1977 and released by the U.S. National Archives, shows a truck moving through a residential neighborhood on Lovell Street, adjacent to Logan Airport in Boston. The street ends at the Wood Island Transit Station near construction on a building to be leased to the food preparation business for one of the airlines. The image was taken for new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Michael Philip Manheim)

• This May 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows neighborhood youngsters in the playground adjacent to Logan Airport at the end of Neptune Road in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston. The photo was taken for the "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency to document subjects of environmental concern. The neighborhood was being threatened by encroaching construction for Logan Airport and related services. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Michael Phillip Manheim)

• This August 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows the Donald Cook Nuclear Power Plant still under construction on Lake Michigan at Bridgman, Mi. The photo was taken for the "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Paul Sequeira)

• This photo taken April 20, 2012, shows the Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman, Mich., along Lake Michigan's eastern shoreline. The photo was taken from the same vantage point of an historical image taken for the "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

• This photo taken April 13, 2012, shows people sunning themselves on a beach on Lake Charles, La., opposite a cement terminal on the far side of the lake near the site of the old Olin-Matheison Plant. The view from the same vantage point was photographed for "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

• This June 1972 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows a sunrise over the Olin-Mathieson Plant on the Calcasieu River in Calcasieu Parish, La. The photo was taken for the "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Marc St. Gil)

• This photo taken in July 1972 shows part of the Olin Mathieson Plant on the far side of Side of Lake Charles, La. The photo was taken for the "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Marc St. Gil)

• This photo taken April 13, 2012, shows a view of a plant near the approximate site of the former Olin-Matheison plant in Lake Charles, La. The view was originally photographed for "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

• This April 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows the Publisher's Paper Company at Oregon City, Ore., on the Willamette River. Together with Crown-Zellerbach Corporation, this company led a campaign to clean up the river. The photo was taken for the then new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, David Falconer)

• This photo taken on April 10, 2012, shows the Publisher's Paper Company mill, now closed, on the Willamette River in Oregon City, Ore. The view was photographed from the similar vantage point of an archival 1973 photo taken for the then new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

• This June 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows an "Out of Gas" sign at the gas station at the intersection of SW Jefferson and 18th St. in Portland, Ore., during the fuel shortage. Similar signs cropped up all over the Portland area during the fuel crisis. The image was taken for the then new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo, U.S. National Archives, David Falconer)

• This photo taken April 10, 2012, shows a restaurant sign on the corner of 18th St. and Jefferson shown in Portland, Ore., with a public transportation stop in the background. The photo was from the same vantage point of a June 1973 photo taken for the then new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern, which then showed an "Out of Gas" sign at the corner gas station during the fuel crisis. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

• This Nov. 1972 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows the industrialized port area of Corpus Christi, Texas. The image was taken for the then new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Marc St. Gil)

• This photo taken Saturday, April 14, 2012, shows a view of Lowell Street in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston near Logan Airport. The same view was photographed for the "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency to document subjects of environmental concern. The residential neighborhood that was once there is gone. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

• This photo taken April 13, 2012, shows the industrialized port area of Corpus Christi, Texas. The view was photographed from the same vantage point of an archival November 1972 photo, taken for the then new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

• This July 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows Clark Avenue and the Clark Avenue Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio, looking east from west 13th Street, are obscured by the smoke from heavy industry. The image was taken as part of the new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Frank J. Aleksandrowicz)

• This photo taken April 13, 2012, shows a one-time chemical drainage ditch now overgrown with vegetation photographed at the location of an historic photo taken in 1973 near the Pittsburgh Paint and Glass plant in Lake Charles, La., for the Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to documents subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

• This photo taken on April 12, 2012, shows a view down Clark Avenue from West 13th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. The same view was photographed in 1973 for the "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, instituted by the then new Environmental Protection Agency to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

• This 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows contaminated water in a drainage ditch behind the Pittsburgh Glass Company near Lake Charles, Calcasieu parish, La. The image was taken for the then new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Marc St. Gil)

• This May 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows ongoing urban development and construction on lower Manhattan's West side, just north of the World Trade Center, right, in New York. The image was taken for the then new Environmental Protection Agency's "Documerica" program, 1972-1977, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Wil Blanche)

• This photo taken April 10, 2012, shows urban development in lower Mahanattan with the World Trade Center, right, in New York. It was photographed near the location of an historic 1973 photo, taken for the "Documerica" program, begun in 1972 by the new Environmental Protection Agency to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

• This photo taken Thursday, April 12, 2012, shows the Jersey City and New York City skylines with the green area near Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J. in the foreground. The image was photographed from the vantage point of an historic 1973 photo, that was part of the "Documerica" program, begun in 1972 by the new Environmental Protection Agency, to document subjects of environmental concern. Before becoming a park, the area was a site where illegal dumping covered much of the empty land. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• This March 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives shows an illegal dumping area off the New Jersey Turnpike, facing Manhattan across the Hudson River, and north of the land fill area of the proposed Proposed Liberty State Park, N.J. This archival image was taken for the "Documerica" program, begun in 1972 by the new Environmental Protection Agency, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Gary Miller)

• In this January 1973 photo released by the U.S. National Archives trash and old tires litter the shore at the middle branch of the Patapsco River in the harbor of Baltimore, Md. This archival image was part of the "Documerica" project, begun in 1972 by the new Environmental Protection Agency, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/U.S. National Archives, Jim Pickerell)

• This photo taken April 16, 2012, shows remnants of a tire and rim along the shoreline of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Md. This archival image was taken for the "Documerica" program, begun in 1972 by the new Environmental Protection Agency, to document subjects of environmental concern. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

• Jim Pickerell

  This November 1973 photo provided by the Pickerell family shows "Documerica" photographer Jim Pickerell. About forty years ago the newly established Environmental Protection Agency sent an army of nearly 100 photographers across the country for the "Documerica" program to capture images of environmental concern at the dawn of environmental regulation. (AP Photo/Pickerell Family)

• Jim Pickerell

  This photo taken April 12, 2012, shows "Documerica" photographer Jim Pickerell, 75, of Bethesda, Md., at his studio in Rockville, Md. About forty years ago the newly established Environmental Protection Agency sent an army of nearly 100 photographers across the country for the "Documerica" program to capture images of environmental concern at the dawn of environmental regulation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

• This November 1972 photo provided by the subject shows "Documerica" photographer Lyntha Scott Eiler in Monument Valley on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. About forty years ago the newly established Environmental Protection Agency sent an army of nearly 100 photographers across the country for the "Documerica" program to capture images of environmental concern at the dawn of environmental regulation. Eiler photographed work and homes on Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona. (AP Photo)

• Lyntha Scott Eiler

  This undated photo provided by the subject shows "Documerica" photographer Lyntha Scott Eiler. About forty years ago the newly established Environmental Protection Agency sent an army of nearly 100 photographers across the country for the "Documerica" program to capture images of environmental concern at the dawn of environmental regulation. Eiler photographed work and homes on Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona. (AP Photo)

• Jack Corn

  This 1970's photo provided by the Corn family shows "Documerica" photographer Jack Corn. About forty years ago the newly established Environmental Protection Agency sent an army of nearly 100 photographers across the country for the "Documerica" program to capture images of environmental concern at the dawn of environmental regulation. Corn focused his lens on the plight of the American coal miner. (AP Photo/Corn Family)

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Comments

[Kenz300]

09:53 AM on 04/23/2012

We all need clean air, clean water and safe food to eat.

There once was a time when rivers caught fire in the US.

We need sane, sensible regulation.

[lkd3712]

02:31 AM on 04/23/2012

Getting rid of environmental protection laws because the environment is so much cleaner, is the same logic that says we should stop getting vaccinations because there hasn't been a plague. There hasn't been a plague because VACCINATIONS WORK!!! The environment is cleaner because REGULATIONS ARE EFFECTIVE!!!

[katied6]

12:39 AM on 04/23/2012

Environmental threats today are less visible but more urgent. Failure to reduce emissions now means consigning all our desendents to live with the worst consequences of global climate change and ocean acidification (increases in climate disasters, floods, hurricanes, drought, fire, disease, water and food shortages, species collapse). We're already experiencing it, and will get much worse. This is not necessary. I'm carbon neutral and saving money: http://youtu.be/iba5a6zZGC0

[Dodgers1]

10:24 PM on 04/22/2012

They burned their homes and businesses. They forced them to wear the Star of David badges so they could be identified in public. Then they were sent to concentration camps and executed them. Facism is on the rebound. Check out the following article from Forbes Magazine:

Climate Alarmist Calls For Burning Down Skeptics’ Homes

“Let’s start keeping track of them…let’s make them pay”

Paul Joseph Watson
Forbes Magazine
Thursday, April 19, 2012

Writing for Forbes Magazine, climate change alarmist Steve Zwick calls for skeptics of man-made global warming to be tracked, hunted down and have their homes burned to the ground, yet another shocking illustration of how eco-fascism is rife within the environmentalist lobby.

[alteredstory]

09:27 AM on 04/23/2012

And deniers have called for the same for climate scientists and so on. You'll notice we don't go ranting about how you lot are trying to start a fascist dictatorship.

Your paranoia is showing.

[39air1]

09:56 AM on 04/23/2012

don't be ridiculous Dodgers, Extremist on both sides always going over board,,,,

Common man knows that environment is better off when we all protect air and water, BIG Business will never police them selves so regulation is needed to make them.
I work in oil fields over 20 years and BIG OIL would of never cleaned up their act unless government the stepped in, and today wells are much clearer and safer place to work and protect air and water..,,,,,,,,,Never stop protecting the earth, ,,,,,,,,,

[edward60]

10:14 PM on 04/22/2012

Everyone needs water, air and food to live, toxic waste and pollution dont benefit anyone

[97034Leftofcenter]

01:27 AM on 04/23/2012

Except those who make money off of it.

[Dale Chan]

09:51 PM on 04/22/2012

The dangers of rampant consumption, environmental abuse, and social inequality have caused the collapse of more than a few civilizations throughout history. Everyone who doubts this should take a look the book A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright.

[Ryan Tippens]

09:32 PM on 04/22/2012

Why dont you dems start calling yourself the victim party?Everything that has happened or might have cause you to be giant victims.Of all the reason Id never be a dem thats the main reason I wouldnt be a dem if I were paid 1 billion dollars in cash.

[Salty too]

09:35 PM on 04/22/2012

They want everyone to think people are helpless.

[Ryan Tippens]

09:44 PM on 04/22/2012

they really do....its almost like they need big government control most of their lives...they are very child like.

[garder54]

07:51 AM on 04/23/2012

Well I was just about to offer you a billion dollars to change political affiliation, but now...nevermind. You're blanket generalization shows how ignorant you really are.

[Dr Danno]

09:09 PM on 04/22/2012

Remember 'better living through chemistry'? Just as more food is not better,nor is a bigger handful of pills,so more unnatural additives in our environment ,food,air,water is a corporate sell for easy profit.Nancy Reagan got one thing right-just say NO.

[Ryan Tippens]

09:18 PM on 04/22/2012

and profits are bad....right?

[alteredstory]

09:28 AM on 04/23/2012

Oh look - you're oversimplifying your adversary's position to make it easier to argue against them.

How predictable.

[jimboy71]

01:15 PM on 04/23/2012

It all depends on how they were made...selling chalk as infant formula in Africa (Nestle), marketing soda pop to young mothers as a replacement for milk (Coca-Cola), selling cars that you know will explode (Ford), selling drugs that you know are dea/dly (Pfizer)...

I could go on all day. All these companies knowingly marketed dangerous or dea/dly products for money because their legal team calculated that the money coming in would surpass what went out in suits.

So you tell me...are these examples of GOOD?

[Dr Danno]

08:56 PM on 04/22/2012

Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon are tossin in their grave to see Macciavelli reincarnated as the GOP of 2012, with core values of Marie Antionette. Has the party of LINCOLN now morphed into the party of the 1% and greed and poverty of grace?

[Ryan Tippens]

09:03 PM on 04/22/2012

nope....only to lDl0T dems,you are scared,you voted in that barryhussian guy and got the second worst economy in united states history and you are scared......YOU SHOULD BE.LOL

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

09:12 PM on 04/22/2012

Once again you provide us with a working exhibit for severe limit; showing us why the right seeks to escape low developmental maturity with economic rank. That materially indulgent worldview demands the environment be unlimited regardless of the facts.

[jimboy71]

01:17 PM on 04/23/2012

When did the economy crash?

How many jobs created under Obama?

How many under his predecessor?

If you knew the answers, you wouldn't make such a ridiculous statement.

[Vegasyankee]

08:38 PM on 04/22/2012

In December 2011, the Obama administration held its first offshore auction since the BP oil spill, granting leases for more than 20 million acres of federal waters. The leases are worth more than $330 million to the federal government with the potential to produce 400 million barrels of oil.

A month later, the Obama Administration announced plans to lease out an additional 38 million acres of the GOM in hopes of increasing domestic oil production. According to the BOEM, the areas to be leased out could hold 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 Tcf of natural gas.

BP has five rigs drilling in GOM making it one of the most active drillers there. That is the same number BP operated before the DWH accident, and the company plans to have three more rigs drilling in GOM by year-end.  All eight rigs are deep water rigs and all the permits have been reviewed and signed by the Obama administration.

[maxmama212]

08:23 PM on 04/22/2012

One of the endless things I don't understand about republicans is how they are constantly on their soapbox about "saddling our grandchildren" with the burden of national debt but they don't care about what their (paid for) environmental policies are doing to the natural world they're leaving for those same kids...

[Cacey]

08:26 PM on 04/22/2012

They are more concerned their grandkid will marry a Mexican.

[Ryan Tippens]

08:53 PM on 04/22/2012

hopefully you understand that repubs gave people in the USA their civil rights.....to a repub marrying a mexican is nothing.

[Ryan Tippens]

08:53 PM on 04/22/2012

what color is my wife?

[TheHandyman]

08:22 PM on 04/22/2012

There is nothing more the GOTPers hate than when the government proves that their lies about govt being too big, inefficient, too costly, and regulates the filthy rich and their corporations too much than when the govt does yet another thing better, cheaper, and better than the private arena.

[Ryan Tippens]

09:06 PM on 04/22/2012

umm....it hasnt been proven that any of that stuff you mentioned is a good thing.....why you'd want more government in your life and want less money because of higher taxes,I dont know.

[TheHandyman]

11:02 PM on 04/22/2012

Given your posts, it is apparent there are a lot of things you don't know.

[dknowles60]

12:18 AM on 04/26/2012

not. gov bridges are poorly built very costly and dont last very long

[ConservativeSuperstar]

08:21 PM on 04/22/2012

The EPA has sunken to the point where it is nothing more than an arm of the democrat party. It is nothing more than a political organization used to oppress business.

Solution: Eliminate the federal EPA. States all have an EPA and their is no sense in duplicating levels and layers of bureaucracies.

[Cacey]

08:25 PM on 04/22/2012

Sounds good to me. Next time California builds a Nuculear plant or an electric plant using coal we'll put it on the AZ border. Perhaps Idaho can build smelters on the Snake River before it flows into Washington and Oregon. And maybe Minnesota can dump so much garbage into the great lakes that by the time they reach Cleaveland, the lake will catch fire....again.

[matlev]

08:30 PM on 04/22/2012

There is a point in a federal EPA because wind and water do not respect state borders.

All Americans, not just members of the Democratic Party (note spelling), benefit from the cleaner air and water we have now after 20 some years of the EPA.

[matlev]

08:32 PM on 04/22/2012

That is to say 40 some years...

[Cacey]

08:14 PM on 04/22/2012

Perhaps for his second term, the President should appoint Erin Brokovitch as head of the EPA

[ThatsTheTheWayItIs]

08:06 PM on 04/22/2012

"A Pew Research Center Poll from July 2009 showed that only around 6% of U.S. scientists are Republicans; 55% are Democrats, 32% are independent, and the rest "don't know" their affiliation."

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2010/12/lab_politics.html

[Ryan Tippens]

08:12 PM on 04/22/2012

so what?

[KazooDan]

08:34 PM on 04/22/2012

So, you're an idiot.

[Dr Danno]

08:43 PM on 04/22/2012

Let me do the math for ya. It takes a few synapses to pull it all together,so not alot of scientists stay with the simplistic national problemsolvers known as republicans. Get it now?