Controversial Bush-Era EPA E-mail Released

(AP)  A controversial e-mail message buried by the Bush administration because of its conclusions on global warming surfaced Tuesday, nearly two years after it was first sent to the White House and never opened.

The e-mail and the 28-page document attached to it, released Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, show that back in December of 2007 the agency concluded that six gases linked to global warming pose dangers to public welfare, and wanted to take steps to regulate their release from automobiles and the burning of gasoline.

The document specifically cites global warming's effects on air quality, agriculture, forestry, water resources and coastal areas as endangering public welfare.

That finding was rejected by the Bush White House, which strongly opposed using the Clean Air Act to address climate change and stalled on producing a so-called "endangerment finding" that had been ordered by the Supreme Court in 2007.

As a result, the Dec. 5 e-mail sent by the agency to Susan Dudley, who headed the regulatory division at the Office of Management and Budget was never opened, according to Jason Burnett, the former EPA official that wrote it.

The Bush administration, and then EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, also refused to release the document, which is labeled "deliberative, do not distribute" to Democratic lawmakers. The White House instead allowed three senators to review it last summer, when excerpts were released.

The Obama administration in April made a similar determination, but also concluded that greenhouse gases endanger public health. The EPA is currently drafting the first greenhouse gas standards for automobiles, and recently signaled it would attempt to reduce climate-altering pollution from refineries, factories and other large industrial sources.

In response, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Republican lawmakers have criticized the EPA's reasoning and called for a more thorough vetting of the science. An internal review by a dozen federal agencies released in May also raised questions about the EPA's conclusion, saying the agency could have been more balanced and raising questions about the difficulty in linking global warming to health effects.

Adora Andy, a spokeswoman for EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, said Tuesday that the science in 2007 was as clear as it is today.

"The conclusions reached then by the EPA scientists should have been made public and should have been considered," she said.

[kofiannanymous]

This should be headline news in the politics section, not something to be buried in the SciTech section.

[ianlou]

The only science Dubya ever believed in is the science of oil exploration and the science that supports the end of days and the Rapture.

[hungry1968-16]

"Republican lawmakers have criticized the EPA's reasoning and called for a more thorough vetting of the science."






So republican politicians believe that they know MORE about science and discovery, than scientists that specialize in the field being discussed?

Are they going to proclaim themselves smarter than doctors and start performing surgeries too?

[doc_holliday76]

by hungry1968-16:
"Republican lawmakers have criticized the EPA's reasoning and called for a more thorough vetting of the science."


So republican politicians believe that they know MORE about science and discovery, than scientists that specialize in the field being discussed?
-------------------------------------------





You know, I honesty think that their moronic reasoning behind this veiled attempt is more to slow the process for BIG OIL and the fossil fuel industry, exactly like the footdragging and delay of any health care reform.

They win if they can delay, since more confusion with the foxnewsus propagandus and their mis-information and dis-information campaigns clouds any issue in their favor, despite the overwhelming science against them. It's also tough to fight the well-funded status quo!

[sjc_1]

Bush turning the Partnership program producing hybrids into the Freedom Car with fuel cells is an example. Fuel cells where 20 years away and that meant 20 years more oil profits. They would not continue with a hybrid program, that would reduce oil consumption in the near term. The Japanese say the PNGV program and actual manufactured hybrids for sale in the U.S. The U.S. car makers sued CARB and built EVs as pilot programs until Bush took office and then crushed the EVs.

[nazdackster]

ubrew12... You again? Polar bears drowning? Are you the only one left that believes this? AGW is DEAD! http://climatedepot.com/a/3310/Losing-Their-Religion-2009-officially-declared-year-the-media-lost-their-faith-in-manmade-global-warming-fears

[legacyabq]

Holy cow, they act like the science is inconclusive.. It really isnt. The vast majority of scientists know that greenhouse gases rose faster
and stayed at unprecedented levels over the last 100 years of industrialization. Why take chances? Warm oceans kill phytoplankton, which support the whole ocean AND makes a large portion of the OXYGEN we all breathe!! (They're plants, and they're plentiful in the oceans, IDEALLY)

Anyway, good luck to us all and lets hope the ocean stays healthy because in the geologic past it has "died" resulting in massive release of sulfur dioxide and poisonous gases (massive decomposition) which killed of much life for thousands of years at a time. Earth Science is fascinating, but let's LEARN from what we now KNOW, so to speak.. Eh?

[ubrew12]

We are conducting an uncontrolled experiment on our home. Will the house burn down? We don't know, but for some reason there are people who find the thought that it is unlikely a reason to maintain the status quo. Unlike other experiments, we don't get to press the 'restart' button if this all goes to sh*t.

[babooph]

One of the BIG lies for these lost wars was the supposed responsabilty of the president for the SAFETY of the nation-looks like the safety of his family trust funds came FIRST!!

[nazdackster]

tmittelstaed,

If any of that was true, you would see people advertising it, and buying it for cost reasons. Ask the UK how their wind is paying off. It costs much more, is only available when the wind blows, and requires MORE baseline power to deal with the power fluctuations. If solar were a great deal on total cost / kWH no one would need non-market based, high tax "solutions" to problems that don't exist. Let the market work, it always chooses the most effective path, unless the government starts toying with market forces. When that happens, in EVERY case, the results are unintended consequences that offset any supposed benefits. Name an exception to that rule... Just one.

[doc_holliday76]

by nazdackster:
"If solar were a great deal on total cost / kWH ....Let the market work, it always chooses the most effective path..."
-----------------------------------------





HA!..HA!..HA!..."let the market work," especially without any governmental regulation or accountability......sure!! We just saw how well that worked during the bush/cheney Great Recession of 2007-2009!

Why do you constipated conservitards keep pushing the same, old, failed policies and stale rhetoric, especially in the 21st century with a whole different set of problems -- many brought on by GREED?

FACT is, wind power is growing leaps and bounds, increasing 50% per year, and with the 30% tax credits passed in the Feb. Stimulus Bill, even homeowners can get into the act with smaller wind generators. As a matter of fact, even the Cape Wind project has finally gotten past the EIS and FEIS approvals, and should be producing 420 MW of power by the end of 2010.

FACT is, solar is also growing leaps and bounds, with the newest technology, "thin-film" PV, costing about $1 per watt -- less than even your favorite fossil fuels, without any nasty emissions!

Please join the rest of us in the 21st century, stop the foxnewsus propagandus, and completely understand that we need a RENEWABLE ENERGY ECONOMY just like the #1 exporter in the world -- Germany -- where millions of jobs have been created and technology is leading their economy after leaving the antiquated and finite fossil fuels behind!

[bubbadubba]

"This is Obama's fault"
Get ready folks, it will be said here.
HA HA HA HA HA

[timetocomeclean]

Plutocratic Republican monopolists trying to preserve their cash cows then so they could pollute more without consquences and stalling, stalling, stalling with more stalling.

Hey doesn't that sound like their current tactics to obfusticate, confuse and deceive regarding the health care debate?

Its what the military calls Information Warfare, or IW, pronounced,
I-Dubbya for Phat George.

Maybe its their strategery?

[doc_holliday76]

by timetocomeclean:
Plutocratic Republican monopolists trying to preserve their cash cows then so they could pollute more without consquences and stalling, stalling, stalling with more stalling.

Hey doesn't that sound like their current tactics to obfusticate, confuse and deceive regarding the health care debate?
-------------------------------------------





Yep, nothing has changed as the propaganda WARS have increased, so that corporate America and the oligarchic plutocracy still run the entire show, as average Americans are given the middle finger!

[pjk12354]

Let me see if I have this correct:

You have two rich oilmen running the show in this country.
They repeatedly gutted and undermined any envirnmental legislation.

And you are suprised at this memo..........

[doc_holliday76]

by pjk12354:
Let me see if I have this correct:

You have two rich oilmen running the show in this country.
They repeatedly gutted and undermined any environmental legislation.

And you are suprised at this memo..........
---------------------------------------------------






Exactly!

Why anyone would be surprised at this news, after the anti-science busheviks dragged their feet on global warming for years to placate BIG OIL and the fossil fuel industry, is well beyond comprehension!