Kerry criticizes Dean, Bush environmental records
By Lisa Falkenberg, Associated Press Writer, 10/1/2003
DALLAS -- Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday criticized the environmental records of fellow Democrat Howard Dean and President Bush, accusing the former governors of striking a deal in the 1990s to ship nuclear waste to a poor Hispanic town near El Paso.
Kerry said Dean, when he was the Vermont governor, signed a compact in 1993 with Maine and Texas to send nuclear waste to Sierra Blanca, a plan opposed by civil rights groups. Bush was the governor of Texas at the time
"He clearly reflected an insensitivity to that community," Kerry said during a campaign stop at a Dallas housing project.
The Massachusetts senator criticized the decision to "dump nuclear waste into a poor community far away from where you live because you can do it. I think George Bush was wrong and I think Howard Dean was wrong."
Kerry said he voted against the measure in the Senate. The Sierra Blanca plan was scrapped in 1998 after the Texas environmental agency determined a geologic fault under the proposed dump would have made it unsafe.
Officials with the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee did not immediately return phone calls Wednesday.
Dean spokeswoman Tricia Enright said Dean had a stellar environmental record in Vermont and rejected the criticism that Dean was insensitive to the people of Sierra Blanca.
She said Texas officials selected the site and that the plan included strict safety standards. Enright pointed out that the plan was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.
"To utilize this and exploit the people who live in these communities for political gain is unseemly," Enright said. "Maybe this is a way he thinks he can jump-start his campaign. Fortunately, I think the American people know better."
If elected, Dean would seek a nonpolitical solution to the nuclear waste storage issue based on science and safety, Enright said.
Kerry, who cast himself as the early front-runner, has been frustrated by Dean's fund-raising success and retired Army general Wesley Clark's momentum. Polls show him trailing Dean in New Hampshire, a state Kerry must win.
Kerry spoke against a pattern in the United States of putting waste dumps and other environmentally dangerous sites near minority neighborhoods. If elected, he said he would create environmental empowerment zones that would get funding for cleanup, adequate housing and ensuring air and water quality.
Bush, Kerry said, "has sat on his hands while hardworking minority Americans have been subjected to more of these choices that place sludge sites, dumps, toxic waste, chemicals and lead and asthma into the lives of our children."
Kerry made his comments while touring a West Dallas neighborhood called Green Leaf Village that was once a barracks-style, segregated housing project contaminated with lead.
The area has since been cleaned up and is now covered with 70 Habitat for Humanity homes and KB homes.
By Lisa Falkenberg, Associated Press Writer, 10/1/2003
DALLAS -- Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday criticized the environmental records of fellow Democrat Howard Dean and President Bush, accusing the former governors of striking a deal in the 1990s to ship nuclear waste to a poor Hispanic town near El Paso.
Kerry said Dean, when he was the Vermont governor, signed a compact in 1993 with Maine and Texas to send nuclear waste to Sierra Blanca, a plan opposed by civil rights groups. Bush was the governor of Texas at the time
"He clearly reflected an insensitivity to that community," Kerry said during a campaign stop at a Dallas housing project.
The Massachusetts senator criticized the decision to "dump nuclear waste into a poor community far away from where you live because you can do it. I think George Bush was wrong and I think Howard Dean was wrong."
Kerry said he voted against the measure in the Senate. The Sierra Blanca plan was scrapped in 1998 after the Texas environmental agency determined a geologic fault under the proposed dump would have made it unsafe.
Officials with the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee did not immediately return phone calls Wednesday.
Dean spokeswoman Tricia Enright said Dean had a stellar environmental record in Vermont and rejected the criticism that Dean was insensitive to the people of Sierra Blanca.
She said Texas officials selected the site and that the plan included strict safety standards. Enright pointed out that the plan was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.
"To utilize this and exploit the people who live in these communities for political gain is unseemly," Enright said. "Maybe this is a way he thinks he can jump-start his campaign. Fortunately, I think the American people know better."
If elected, Dean would seek a nonpolitical solution to the nuclear waste storage issue based on science and safety, Enright said.
Kerry, who cast himself as the early front-runner, has been frustrated by Dean's fund-raising success and retired Army general Wesley Clark's momentum. Polls show him trailing Dean in New Hampshire, a state Kerry must win.
Kerry spoke against a pattern in the United States of putting waste dumps and other environmentally dangerous sites near minority neighborhoods. If elected, he said he would create environmental empowerment zones that would get funding for cleanup, adequate housing and ensuring air and water quality.
Bush, Kerry said, "has sat on his hands while hardworking minority Americans have been subjected to more of these choices that place sludge sites, dumps, toxic waste, chemicals and lead and asthma into the lives of our children."
Kerry made his comments while touring a West Dallas neighborhood called Green Leaf Village that was once a barracks-style, segregated housing project contaminated with lead.
The area has since been cleaned up and is now covered with 70 Habitat for Humanity homes and KB homes.
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