Good for them! While we often have only bad things to say about "government bureaucrats," the folks who have made careers out of their concern for environmental issues are certainly more disinterested and more sincere advocates for doing the right thing ~ protecting the environment ~ than are the political appointees who oversee them.

If only the disaster-management experts who had worked for FEMA prior to 2000 had been able to raise a similar protest and to remain at their posts. Sadly, the Bush administration purged that agency of its dedicated professional staff and turned it into a patronage mill to reward campaign contributors and flunkies like Arabian Horse expert Michael "Heck of a Job Brownie" Brown. Many of us are still living with the disasterous results. I have absolutely no doubt that the appointees in charge of today's EPA are just as unqualified for their posts and just as antithethetical to their agency's purported purpose, Environmental Protection.