Pacific Views

Dirty Skys, Foul Weather Ahead

Did the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) force Christie Todd Whitman out of the EPA? This article in the Observer discloses that the anti-global warming faction believed that they could, and probably should make an example of the head of the EPA.

The email, dated 3 June 2002, reveals how White House officials wanted the CEI's help to play down the impact of a report last summer by the government's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in which the US admitted for the first time that humans are contributing to global warming. 'Thanks for calling and asking for our help,' Ebell tells Cooney.

The email discusses possible tactics for playing down the report and getting rid of EPA officials, including its then head, Christine Whitman. 'It seems to me that the folks at the EPA are the obvious fall guys and we would only hope that the fall guy (or gal) should be as high up as possible,' Ebell wrote in the email. 'Perhaps tomorrow we will call for Whitman to be fired,' he added.

Here is the unfolding Bush record on global warming:

2000: On the campaign trail, Bush says he believes that Global Warming is a problem and will handle it better than Al Gore would.

Early 2001: Whitman says Bush places global warming as a top priority and has a plan to address it:

CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN ON CNN CROSSFIRE, FEBRUARY (2001): "He has also been very clear that the science is good on global warming. It does exist. There is a real problem that we as a world face from global warming."

CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN FROM TAPE, MARCH 3, 2001: "The president has indicated that he acknowledged that global warming is of primary importance. It is at top of his agenda."

mid-March 2001: Bush backs away from the Kyoto treaty and says global warming isn't a problem:

But President Bush remains skeptical of the science of global warming, being more inclined toward the thinking of the energy industry — his home base in the private sector — and the small minority of scientists that support its challenge to the emerging conventional wisdom on "greenhouse gases." And, of course, Bush is inclined to believe that what is good for business is good for government.

2001: After the hullabaloo over the withdrawal from the Kyoto agreement, Whitman commissions a report to describe what we do know about global warming. (Meanwhile, Luntz has told the Republicans to insist on getting the science rock solid before taking any steps to address the problem.)

May 2002: The US Climate Action report is published and confirms that global warming is indeed a real problem and urgent action is needed to keep it from getting worse. Indeed, this was the first report that directly linked human activity to the increasing carbon buildup.

The CEI was prompt in informing Bush that this report was out of line.

Adds Myron Ebell, director of global warming policy at CEI: “The Administration has recognized that the National Assessment is the worst sort of junk science. For the EPA now to accept the National Assessment’s findings as valid undermines and contradicts President Bush’s global warming policies. The EPA needs to be told that the Clinton Administration is gone and Al Gore did not win the election.”

June 2002: Bush Disses Global Warming Report.

"I read the report put out by the bureaucracy," Mr. Bush said dismissively when asked about the EPA report, adding that he still opposes the Kyoto treaty.

The Bush White House certainly listened to the CEI and to Luntz (don't ever admit there is a case for global warming until there is no one left on the earth that denies it).

Sept 2002: The EPA publishes a pollution report omitting any information on global warming.

The decision to delete the chapter on climate change was made by top officials at the Environmental Protection Agency with White House approval, White House officials said.

"Some people at pretty high levels in my organization were saying, `Take it out,' " said an E.P.A. official outside Washington who helped prepare the report. Others at the agency confirmed his account.

The CEI is happy: The change in the document was welcomed by Myron Ebell, an authority on climate policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

July 2003: The EPA publishes a "State of the Environment" without any information about global warming.

Today the official policy of the US is, study (and study some more), but don't act. There is no reason for people to be concerned about global warming, because it isn't something that Bush believes in. Besides which, someone will bail him out if he's wrong on this front as well.

Global warming is a hot topic and the certainly one that the Bush administration has been doing all they can to discredit, because to acknowledge the problem and to not do anything about it would show what a deeply cynical and shortsighted vision the adminstration has on this matter. Fringe science wins the round in the Bush White House.

Posted by Mary at September 23, 2003 03:02 AM | TrackBack