With no public announcement, the EPA closed its principal library used by its experts to research toxic substances. The library is one of the main tools used by EPA technical personnel to determine whether substances should be banned. Apparently, the Bush administration is determined to allow its industrial constituency a free hand in polluting the environment when it is profitable, irrespective of whether the public is poisoned.

According to Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility (PEER):

Unlike its recent closure of its main Headquarters library and despite federal policy (Office of Budget & Management Circular A-130) requiring that the public be notified whenever “terminating significant information dissemination products,” EPA made no public announcement concerning the dismantlement of the OPPTS Library. In addition, the OPPTS Library was not mentioned in the “EPA FY 2007 Framework” as one of the several libraries slated to be shuttered.

“EPA’s hasty, buzz saw slashing at its library network is now interfering with its mission of harnessing the best available science to protect human health and the environment,” commented Ruch [PEER director], noting that Congress has yet to approve EPA’s actions. “Given the tremendous public health risks, this is absolutely the last place EPA should be cutting.”

The tragedy is that once a library is closed, the librarians will leave for other positions and the materials themselves will become inaccessible and outdated in a short time, thus making it nearly impossible to start back. This outcome is obviously intended by Bush and the incompetent ideological hacks he has been appointing to run federal agencies. It's a mindset incomprehensible to anyone with the slightest concern for public welfare, but second nature to those possessed by the right-wing philosophy that pervades our one-party government. That alone should be sufficient reason to vote them out of office tomorrow.