Kennedy was speaking as part of the Tree Room Author Series on Politics and History at actor Robert Redford's Sundance Resort. Redford introduced Kennedy, describing him as "our strongest speaker for the environment."

"I'm not criticizing Bush because he's a Republican," Kennedy said. "He's the worst environmental president in our history."

Under Bush environmental policies, cleanup programs have been rolled back and he has put people in charge who are anti- environment, Kennedy said. The general public doesn't know the damage his policies have caused to their quality of life because of an "indolent and indigent press," he added.

Increase in Bad Air, Asthma

Rather than protect the public interest the American press is largely controlled by the "pocketbook" of large corporations that own the major networks, he said.

"There is no liberal media. It's a right-winged media," said Kennedy.

Most folks get their news from right-winged sources such as talk radio and the Fox network, he said. The Fairness Doctrine protected the public interest until 1988 when former President Ronald Reagan had it abolished as a favor to his movie industry friends, Kennedy said. As a result "80 percent of Republicans are really Democrats who just don't know what's going on," he quipped.

Only 4 percent of the news is devoted to environmental issues, he added.

After Bush came to the White House, lawsuits against environmental polluters, particularly the coal energy industry, were dropped and the Clean Air Act was changed. The result was an increase in bad air, asthma and other diseases, he said.

Problems with Mercury

Kennedy also cited problems with mercury, resulting from coal-burning power plants that result in acid rain, particularly in the northeast. Fish taken from streams and lakes in 48 states are unsafe to eat because of their mercury levels, he said.

The only two states where they haven't been tested in Wyoming and Alaska because the legislatures in those two states won't appropriate the money to do the tests, Kennedy said.

Kennedy also cited research that linked children's vaccines to autism. The vaccines for years contained thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury. Autism was unknown until 1932 when doctors began inoculating children, he said. Autism was found in children for the first time that year.

He called research to show the two were not linked "junk science."

Children who were vaccinated and weren't found with autism had a higher amount of a certain anti-oxidant and were able to cast off the mercury in the vaccination, Kennedy said. Thimerosal is no longer used and autism rates have declined, he said.

Kennedy has written a book titled, "Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Pals are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy."