As the Bush Administration continues to be examined under a microscope, another flaw may have been found – threatening the health of the President’s campaign. Environmentalists are behind the latest snag.

According to an Associated Press article, Bush “shelved” a proposal to ban a gasoline additive that contaminates many communities’ drinking water, “helping an industry that has donated more than $1 million to Republicans.”

MTBE is a gasoline additive used for improving air quality and reducing toxins,that helps meet Clean Air Act requirements. But the Environmental Protection Agency discovered “MTBE dissolves and spreads readily in the ground water,” and “low levels of MTBE can render drinking water supplies unpotable due to its offensive taste and odor.

The EPA first solicited President Clinton to help phase out the additive. Before leaving office, he created a regulatory effort to ban MTBE, but did so too late in his tenure. When President Bush moved into office he passed the issue on to Congress, where it has remained unchanged ever since.

To thank Bush for sparing them the economic harm the ban would cause, three MTBE producers gave $338,000 to the Republican Party in 1999 and 2000 – twice what they gave Democrats. Since then, they continued to give a little more than $1 million. Coincidentally, two of the producers come from Bush’s home state of Texas.

Frank O’Donnell, executive director of the Clean Air Trust, said, “This is a classic case of the Bush administration helping its campaign contributor friends at the expense of public health.”

While the environment has never been on the top of Bush’s agenda, receiving support for his campaign is. By accepting money from oil industries and in turn delaying harmful legislation, Bush’s politics start to smell fishy. Although the MTBE producers claim Bush’s actions are for the benefit of public policy – not his campaign – water quality is still at stake. Creating dirty water to cancel out dirty air nullifies any benefits MTBE has on restoring air quality.

Bush should invest in finding a solution that improves the environment as a whole, instead of picking what works for his campaign. In order to appear like a president for all the people he needs to address domestic issues such as the environment, instead of giving “special” support only to those who support him.