No one believes it will protect the local environment for very long. EPA's own regulations only require landfill operators to try to protect the environment for 30 years after a dump is filled and closed. If they meet their design potential, modern landfills will protect the environment only until our grandchildren start paying taxes. Second, the waste business is now one of the largest and fastest-growing businesses in America. Waste haulers make really good money, and they kick some of it back into the political process.
Politicians therefore curry favor with the waste industry.
No other industry comes close in terms of representation. The waste industry is among the most politically powerful, and politically favored, in America. The third reason why George Bush's EPA issues make-believe landfill regulations is that real environmental protection would require fundamental changes in the way we do business. Real environmental protection is not a plastic baggie in the ground filled with toxins waiting to poison our children. Real environmental protection will require companies to be accountable to the public for their decisions.