The Department of the Interior (DOI) is the nation’s principal conservation agency. Bush’s mockery of this department goes back to 2004, when he installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the very industries they oversee.

One of the lobbyists that Bush appointed was J. Steven Griles, as the department’s No. 2 official. Which in a March 16, 2004 report called the department’s ethics system “a train wreck waiting to happen.”

Griles was a top lobbyist for the mining, oil and gas industries before joining the Interior Department. While at Interior he was the subject of a high-profile ethics investigation into his continued contacts with his clients, despite having signed a recusal agreement when he took office. Environmental groups repeatedly pointed out that Griles was also receiving $284,000 per year from his former lobbying firm during each of the four years he was on the government payroll.

This is just one of the many ethical failures, employee misconduct and general mismanagement at the Interior Department. Though not unexpected when you hire the fox to guard the chicken coop. Katharine Mieszkowski at Salon.com has shown Bush’s seven deadly environment sins and what Obama needs to do to fix them. I will note that one is missing and that is our oceans. Our oceans have a very serious problem, which are the ever increasing occurances of dead zones. Dead Zones are low-oxygen areas. These occur near inhabited coastlines, where aquatic life is most concentrated. As of 2004, it is reported there are 146 dead zones in the world oceans where marine life could not be supported due to depleted oxygen levels.

Katharine talks about Bush’s environmental policymaking being taken away from scientists, and turning it over to industry cronies – also his environmental sins could have him serving penance for years.

We also invited leading environmentalists to outline Barack Obama’s mission for cleaning up the nation’s land, water and air.

Bush Sin 1: Blew hot air on global warming

By refusing to agree to mandatory greenhouse gas emission reductions, the Bush administration gave major developing nations, such as China and India, carte blanche to do the same. After all, why should these growing economies do anything about global warming when the one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters and richest nations couldn’t be bothered?

Obama mission

Signal that the United States will change its shameful record on global warming — even before taking office. Attend the international climate talks in Poznan, Poland, this December, and electrify the rest of the world with a promise that the U.S. is serious about reducing greenhouse gases. That could set the stage for the major climate negotiations to come in Copenhagen, Demark, in December 2009, when a climate treaty to succeed Kyoto needs to be hammered out.

Bush Sin 2: Failed to regulate greenhouse gases at home

Bush’s vows to veto legislation that would limit greenhouse gases have consistently undermined Congress’ feeble attempts to do anything serious about global warming, such as capping emissions.

Obama mission

Uphold his campaign promise to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. How? One key component: a cap-and-trade policy that auctions pollution credits to polluters, with the proceeds going to fund clean-energy programs and habitat protections. “People are going to try to use the financial situation to argue against these policies,” says Chris Mooney, author of the “The Republican War on Science.” “I’m really afraid that the financial crisis is going to be used as a club to intimidate people who want to pass a cap-and-trade bill, because they’re going to argue that it’s going to hurt the economy.”

Bush Sin 3: Failed to develop clean energy sources

Remember when Bush promoted the idea that we’d all be driving around in hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered cars by 2020? Fat chance.

Obama mission

Get 1 million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015 and ensure that 25 percent of our energy comes from renewable sources by 2025. Weatherize 1 million low-income homes annually for the next decade. Create 5 million new clean-energy jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next five years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean-energy future. Just as he promised during the campaign.

Bush Sin 4: Abandoned endangered species

Not once during the Bush administration has the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service voluntarily sought to list a species as endangered or threatened, offering it more protections. All the high-profile listings, such as polar bears, have come about after the government has been sued or petitioned by environmental groups and citizens.

Obama mission

Recognize that “self-consultation” is a conflict-of-interest oxymoron. And do as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists say. Currently, the service has 252 species, from the Pacific sheath-tailed bat to the Arizona tree frog, that are candidates for listing as threatened or endangered. “It’s not like you have to go in and do a bunch of research.

Bush Sin 5: Carved up the American West for oil and gas excavation

It’s been “Drill, baby, drill,” all right. A whopping 35,000 drilling permits have been issued for onshore federal lands during the past seven years. More than 80 percent of those were for natural gas production.

Obama mission

Curtail the number of leases sold. Protect wildlife, air and water around existing projects. Restrict drilling on crucial wintering range for elk. Close a bizarre loophole that allows oil companies to be exempt from some clean-water regulations.

For the last two deadly sins, here is the link to Salon.com.

