Feature

Readers Respond to "Eco-Grinch" poll

Here's what you, our readers, had to say about the nominees for our first-ever "eco-Grinch of the Year" award:

I voted for the US climate negotiators, because I think that has the most widespread impact. But can't they ALL get a lump of coal? Each nominee is so richly deserving...
—Carol H.

I think you have to include Steven Johnson, Administrator of the US EPA, for failing to grant California the waiver needed to move ahead with its auto-emissions reduction plan.
—Dave S.

How about a choice for "all the above"?
—Rex M.

I'd like to nominate Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Indiana Dept. of Energy for approving a permit to BP to build a refinery that will dump tons & tons of toxic waste, including mercury, into Lake Michigan despite it violating the Clean Water Act. Thanks for all you do for the environment.
—Danielle K.

The Environmental Protection Agency denied California's waiver request to cut global warming pollution from automobiles. Seventeen other states plan to implement similar programs. EPA's action...is nothing more than a heavy handed stroke to limit the authority of states to fight global warming and protect our environment. Send a lump of coal to EPA administrator Stephen Johnson condemning this decision. This is the first time EPA has ever denied a waiver request under the Clean Air Act. It is a major blow to our efforts to cut global warming pollution from cars. The administration is putting the brakes on state action to address the global warming crisis.
—Nicole S.

It's just sooo hard for me to choose. C'mon, what do you say, as 'tis the season, can't we just be generous and give ALL of them a big lump of coal?
—Manuela M.

How about a write-in vote for bigmouth knucklehead Al Gore?! Despite the proof that mankind is not the cause of global warming, he continues to preach his nonsense, making environmentalists look like boobs. I voted for Gore in 2000, but now I'm so embarrassed, I hope no one finds out.
—Christopher K.

My nominee for Eco-Grinch of 2007 is Sierra Pacific Industries. They have clear-cut thousands of acres of Sierra forests and plan to clear-cut up to one million acres.
—John T.

You should add Monsanto for all of its injustices toward the earth. It goes far deeper than any of these listed...
—Genny W.

Since they made your list I think they ALL deserve a lump of coal!
—Laura B.

I would like to nominate Peoria Disposal Company (PDC) which requested permission from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to expand a hazardous waste dump located over a branch of the aquifer which supplies drinking water to most of the area population. [Despite public and local government opposition] PDC is now vowing to sue for the right to expand it's hazardous waste dump where it is most likely to pollute the aquifer which supplies our drinking water.
—Suzanne G.

I think Dick Cheney deserves the prize lump of coal! Mountaintop removal wouldn't be going on without the backing of the Bush-Cheney Administration, and Cheney is the guy who wrote the energy policy in secret with the oil and coal industry CEOs. Cheney is also one of the few people who still publicly questions whether human activities have anything to do with global warming.
—Carolyn A.

Don't be stingy—give all your nominees a lump of coal. They certainly deserve it. They're all so awful I can't choose just one to be the Eco-grinch-in-chief.
—Jeanine C.
 

Lots of folks wrote in and named President George W. Bush as the ultimate eco-Grinch of 2007, so we've decided to award him a "Dishonorable Mention." Here's what voters had to say about leaving Mr. Bush off our initial list of nominees:

Your list of eco-villain henchmen is excellent, but can there be doubt in anyone's mind that the person most responsible for allowing and encouraging the never-ending attacks on our environment in exchange for profit, is none other than our President and leader of the most anti-environmental administration in history, George W. Bush? He certainly gets my vote!
—Joel M.

Why are neither George Bush nor Dick Cheney on the list?! If the U.S. negotiators in Bali were obnoxious, who do you think wrote the script they were reading from??
—Stuart F.

My lump of coal goes to President G. W. Bush. This way of looking at the environment comes from his administration.
—Skip F.

George W. Bush, for an administration that has spent most of 7 years trying to roll back environmental regulations, ignoring endangered species, and foot dragging on dealing with global climate change. What's more, many of the others on the list are his appointees or else serve at his pleasure.
—Martha M.

How can you leave the Eco-villain-In-Chief, Mr. Decider himself, off the list? George W. Bush gets my vote!
—Michael S.

Merry Christmas! And thank you for all you do for the benefit of the planet and ALL of its inhabitants! I guess I was surprised that our illustrious President G.W. Bush was not on the list of interplanetary ecotypes. After all, he has the power to rein in all of the other people and entities listed in the poll. But then maybe he's so obviously out of touch it goes without saying...
—Tim S.

If it weren't for the favorable atmosphere provided by the Bush administration, these other candidates would have been "cut off at the pass." My vote goes to George Bush, and his administration, which has set the example and the tone these others are following.
—Carol R.