With the Treasury Secretary out in front of the economic crisis, the most important election in a half century in full swing, and the Iraq debate on the back burner, sometimes people forget that George Bush & Co. are still out there making decisions and ruining people’s lives. Still, every few days you get a reminder (like this), usually buried on page 19, that, yes, they are still at it, and just as horrible as they were in their heyday.

EPA won’t limit rocket fuel in U.S. drinking water

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has decided there’s no need to rid drinking water of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has fouled public water supplies around the country.

EPA reached the conclusion in a draft regulatory document not yet made public but reviewed Monday by The Associated Press.The ingredient, perchlorate, has been found in at least 395 sites in 35 states at levels high enough to interfere with thyroid function and pose developmental health risks, particularly for babies and fetuses, according to some scientists.

The EPA document says that mandating a clean-up level for perchlorate would not result in a “meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public-water systems.”

The conclusion, which caps years of dispute over the issue, was denounced by Democrats and environmentalists who accused EPA of caving to pressure from the Pentagon.

For further proof that Bush’s EPA appointee is completely off his rocker, watch this video of him getting grilled by the Senate at a hearing on global warming from a few months ago. The horrified, exasperated looks on the Senators’ faces, both Democrats and Republicans, tells the story. None of them can even believe this guy is in charge.