Year 2, Month 9, Day 12: Who?

The President gave his September 8 speech on jobs, and it was a good one. There were even some en passant words about environmental regulation, as Daily Kos diarist roubs makes clear in this piece.

The Boston Globe ran an article on the speech, and I used that as the hook for a LTE as suggested in the DK piece (which it turns out was partially inspired by a diary I wrote a little while back). Cool.

Sent September 9:

President Obama’s jobs speech to Congress was noteworthy in many respects. Particularly noteworthy was his statement that America “shouldn’t be in a race to the bottom, where we try to offer the cheapest labor and the worst pollution standards.” Implicit in this sentence is the notion that short-term economic gains must not come at the expense of the environment; trading jobs for environmental degradation is unacceptable.

Well said, Mr. President! Respect for the planetary ecosystems that support us all is essential to a sustainable Ameican future — a vision that is impossible if polluters are given free rein.

Last week’s suspension of new EPA regulations on air pollution, and the possibility of administration approval for the environmentally devastating Keystone XL project, are indicators of an unfortunate disconnect within the administration when it comes to environmental issues. President Obama should heed his own words, and block the tar sands pipeline.

Warren Senders