Park Service Whitewash [1]
Submitted by Laura Miller [2] on
"Despite budget crunches, poor air quality, maintenance backlogs and other problems, the public is not likely to hear any bad news from staff of the National Park Service (NPS)," BushGreenwatch.org [3] writes. "Park superintendents have received orders from the Bush Administration to follow a set of feel-good 'talking points' during any interaction with the media, according to internal e-mails obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility [4] (PEER) and released yesterday." Park Service employees were told to call budget cuts "service-level adjustments." A day before eight of the nation's largest national parks [5] were declared to be in violation of new standards for ozone pollution, NPS superintendents were given talking points on air quality in national parks.