Bush fiddles while our eyes burn

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Eastern strikers fight scab flights Eastern Airlines is trying to "upgrade" its operation using strikebreakers. By the end of July, company officials hope, the number of flights will be increased to 390. On July 2, the airline tried to resume cross-country flights from San Francisco to Atlanta.

But strikers say that Eastern doesn't have enough pilots to continue the extra flights. The airline will need at least 800 new pilots to reach its goal. So far, they've only been able to recruit about 350 scabs.

About 300 people carried picket signs and chanted slogans at the San Francisco airport on July 2 to protest the new flights. In eight other cities, on June 30, hundreds of people took part in automobile "slowdowns" on the roads leading to the airports. Many of the cars with "engine trouble" were festooned with banners supporting the A representative of the International Association of Machinists told Socialist Action the actions were called "to raise awareness that the strike is still going on" after four months of struggle. In next month's paper, we will have a full analysis of the Eastern strike.—M.S.

Staff: Paul Colvin, May May Gong, David Kirschner, Hayden Perry, Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly for $8 per year Francisco, CA 94110. Second-class postage is paid at San Francisco, Calif.

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These glowing words were spoken by none other than President Richard M. Nixon when ActioN Editor: ALAN BENJAMIN Asst. Editors: MICHAEL SCHREIBER JOE RYAN Kwame M.A. Somburu, Sylvia Weinstein.

Business Manager: KATHY SANDS St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110.

U.S. dollars.)

Signed articles do not necessarily represent These are expressed in editorials. he signed the National Environmental Policy Act into law. The year was 1969.

In the 1970s, Nixon vowed, air pollution would be made be a thing of the past. In rapid succession, the Clean Air Act was passed and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created—with a mandate to make sure that the law was carried out.

Twenty years have passed since Nixon's bold promise of "purity." The White House has changed hands several times-from Republican to Democratic and back again. And the air, as anybody with eyes can see and a nose can smell, is dirtier than ever.

Because of air pollution, about 2000 citizens die of cancer each year. Ozone in the form of smog irritates the lungs of one-fourth of all Americans. At least 100 million Clos ing ( July 4, 1989 Americans live in areas where the air is dangerous to breathe because of chemical waste, carbon monoxide, and smog.

What has been done to overcome this disaster? Next to nothing. Over the years, ozone-compliance standards for the cities have been relaxed. Miles-per-gallon requirements for the automakers have also been reduced. Government regulations have been placed on only a handful of toxic chemicals in the air.

In reply to most demands for action, the EPA repeats the same refrain: "We're still assessing the situation."

"Competing objectives"

A couple of years ago, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) questioned the EPA as to why they were acting at no more than a tortoise-pace. "They said," Waxman reported, "they wouldn't regulate a pollutant until it was determined to be hazardous and they wouldn't determine a pollutant to be hazardous until they were ready to regulate."

"It was like a dog chasing its tail," Waxman concluded. But the government's inaction, which the Democratic Party congressman chose to lampoon, deserves far closer scrutiny: Industries, say EPA officials, should be required to submit to harsher emission standards only if it can be proven that "large" numbers of people are at risk.

The EPA calls this policy "balancing competing social objectives." In plain English, the government is saying, "Human needs must be carefully weighed against private profits!"

The Green Giant Now along comes George Bush the "environmentalist." There's no denying that after Ronald Reagan, Eastern strikers.

who voiced the opinion that "trees pollute," Bush might seem to loom as tall as the Jolly Green Giant.

"We will make the 1990s the era for clean air," proclaims the president—without as much as tipping his hat to Tricky Dick's "now or never" speech of 20 years ago.

Bush tells us that factories and power stations would be given yet another 10 years to "clean themselves up." And once again, the EPA would be authorized to give a little help to the big polluters by rendering judgment on how much risk is "acceptable."

"Let the market decide the cheapest way to contain smokestack emissions," Bush goes on. "Let them buy and sell the right to pollute." In other words, air-pollution cleanup would be strictly managed to ensure profit-taking by the capitalists.

In all, Bush is asking Congress to allocate $700 million to fight air pollution. That is the same amount that the government is paying to produce two B-1 bombers or only• one of the Navy's new Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

In the meantime, Bush has proposed a cutback in research and development funds for renewable energy. He wants to cut subsidies for mass transportation. And he backs selling development rights in wilderness areas.

Newsweek greeted Bush's cleanair proposals with the observation that "because air toxics are so poorly regulated today, almost any initiative would signify progress." By the same logic, a teaspoon of rice might signify "progress" to a person who is starving. But it's not enough to save a life.

America's "spacious skies" are raining filth. Whole forests have withered. Hundreds of lakes and ponds no longer support life. And people are dying. The capitalist "marketplace," which Bush extolls as a bold new solution to air pollution, is in fact the major source of the crisis.

Our health-and the health of the entire planet-must be placed before the capitalist drive for profits.

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