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White House in Climate Change 'Cover Up'
WASHINGTON - A leading U.S. Senate Democrat accused the Bush administration on Tuesday of a "cover-up" aimed at stopping the Environmental Protection Agency from tackling greenhouse emissions.
"This cover-up is being directed from the White House and the office of the vice president," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
At issue is a preliminary finding by the EPA last December that "greenhouse gases may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public welfare," according to Jason Burnett, the agency's former associate deputy administrator who appeared at a news conference with Boxer.
Such a finding would be an early step toward government regulation aimed at protecting public health.
Boxer said that unless EPA documents were released, it was likely that within the next two weeks her committee would try to subpoena the material. She did not know whether Republicans on the panel would block the effort.
Burnett, who resigned on June 9, told Boxer's committee the White House tried pressuring him to retract an e-mail in which he detailed the finding. Burnett said he refused.
Democrats say that since then, the EPA finding has been left "in limbo."
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said many federal agencies, departments and offices normally review any initiatives being developed to check for "factual inaccuracies" or "discordant" policies.
Without getting into specifics, Fratto said "views are frequently discussed and worked out in ways that make sense."
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, asked about the administration's actions, said, "I don't know if that is criminal. I doubt it. OK. But I know it is immoral."
"The health of my grandchildren, my children and me are affected by this head-in-the-sand that global warming doesn't exist," Reid told reporters.
Boxer acknowledged she wanted to gather information so that the next administration could get a jump on global warming initiatives quickly after it takes office on January 20, 2009.
She has been trying since last October to obtain related documents to show that planned congressional testimony on global warming by Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was censored by the Bush administration.
Boxer said Gerberding's testimony would have detailed the direct impact of rising global temperatures on human health, including mortality and the spread of disease.
Burnett told the congressional committee the administration's Council on Environmental Quality "and the office of the vice president were seeking deletions to the CDC testimony." He refused to say who in Vice President Richard Cheney's office was involved.
Responding to Burnett's charges, Fratto said, "Jason Burnett is not the EPA administrator" and that it was up to EPA chief Stephen Johnson to oversee environmental policy.
Asked at Tuesday's news conference about his support for Democratic candidates and whether he was trying to embarrass the Republican administration, Burnett said, "Following the law and responding to the Supreme Court is not a partisan issue."
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Clean Air Act gives EPA the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
In October, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Gerberding's draft testimony to Congress "did not comport" with science contained in an International Panel on Climate Change report and that "a number of agencies had some concerns with the draft."
On Tuesday, Boxer said Gerberding's planned testimony, which has since been detailed in media reports, and the IPCC report "matched identically."
© Thomson Reuters 2008
13 Comments so far
Show Allwhen HASN'T the white house had to cover something up?
...and why haven't the congress handed bush and his minions their collective asses yet?
This is nothing new. Two years ago, the EPA came out with a damning report and the White House edited (gutted) it.
Our hired help in Washington thinks if nobody knows about it it doesn't exist.
When Nancy Pelosi took impeachment "off the table" in November 2006, she insured that 6 years of non-transparent government would turn in to 8 or more years of non-transparent government.
Dear satr9prodxns: you say-
"…and why haven't the congress handed bush and his minions their collective asses yet?"
...you'll be waiting a very, very, very, very long time for that to happen...
I would highly recommend pursuing other hobbies, interests, or living the rest of your life while you are waiting for this to happen :-D
ps: I love Barb Boxer! She is sooooo feisty!!!! That Cali gal lives up to her last name! You go girlfriend!!!! :-D
Oh--and another comment: Harry Reid SUCKS. What a doormat Democrat. Spineless ass, that Harry.
Message for Harry: please remove your nose from Mr. Bush's anus--if just for a day or two. I'm concerned about your health, Harry. After 8 years of having your head tucked up W's asscrack, I'm wondering if all that methane gas has finally gone to your head! :-D
Just in case you really think the Democrats are spineless. Think Again. The more they hid from any confrontation the less they will have to deal with if a Democrat gets elected.
The only difference between the two parties is the spelling. If you vote for the two party system you maintain the status quo. No matter who gets elected it will be "Business as Usual" in Washington DC.
To make any changes you must first change that which you can control. Change your voting habits. Vote for a third party candidate. Pick one but vote for something else besides what we have going on now.
I continue to be appalled that individuals that like to wear their religion on their sleeves could care less about taking care of God's earth.
Yes, we can vote for a third party candidate. Wasn't it votes for Ralph Nader that helped put GW Bush in the White House? We are stuck with a two party system, so the choice is always the lesser of two evils. Or maybe the evil of two lessers.
...or the lesser of two weevils.
"Wasn't it votes for Ralph Nader that helped put GW Bush in the White House?"
No, that's what the Democratic Party said to people to pass the blame on. For whatever reason, no on bothers to think about the il(logic) of it and to look at the facts. More Democrats voted for Bush than anyone did for Nader in Florida. More than twice as many in fact. Funny that the Democratic Party (the party with no new ideas, who ignores the move to the left by the country, who protects entrenched interests as much as the other loser party and is controlled by the same elite interests) never says, "Democrats who voted for Bush cost us the election".
No, the left has brains. They know the Democrats expect support from the left when the Democrats abandoned them decades ago and haven't done anything for them or working people in years. I don't include small things like minimum wage increases much, sorry. The Democrats voted for and have financially supported the war since, are leading us into war with Iran (with evidence that is just ask weak and pathetic), PUSHED for NAFTA and all like minded deals since, not adopted universal healthcare in its party platform (when over 2/3's of the country is for even if it raises taxes), have done nothing about wealth concentration, little to nothing on the environment (even when they have it's been weak and easy to get around), have expanded a military budget that is far too big for any functioning democracy and is inherently immoral and have supported just as much our violent and reactionary foreign policy, which is morally indefensible.
So why the hell should the left continue to support this piece of $hit party? I've tried to come up with logic that would justify it and can't. Why the Democrats, who run away from the left every election cycle (usually attacking them to show the elites how "centrist" they are) think they're entitled to their vote says how much contempt, or at least lack of understanding, they have for democracy. We don't have democracy, we have rule by nobles, we just get to chose which one will be our king and who will be his pathetic little servants.
It is painful for me to write about this country and its political direction. To keep from having the anger boil over I, like many of you here, write to those out there like us who feel that we have been had by this American government run by the corporate elite who have grown too powerful, like Cheney, who gives his finger to the public who have put that sub-human in office.
I create documentaries that speak to these evil monsters and try to achieve a public forum to do so, at least that. We all here, and so many out there like us,have lost the battle. Nader may be a good choice after all because he will help Mccain to office and that will bring the entire system down to the ashes it should be.
There are about one percent of the people who own more than the lowest thirty percent of the population. They will exist for a little while on Mars as they watch as the blue planet becomes another Mars. They will have an opportunity to try and bring life back to a dead planet and if successful their offspring will re-inhabit Earth and try to do that here once again.
To think of the hell that they might live gives me pleasure, nice fantasy. There is no democracy on this planet there is little equity and less caring unless its about more money. The political posturing and rhetoric gone sour so soon on the merican political scene is a testament to the loss of soul that America represents, all this with so much religious piety.
It is painful for me to write about this country and its political direction. To keep from having the anger boil over I, like many of you here, write to those out there like us who feel that we have been had by this American government run by the corporate elite who have grown powerful, like Cheney, who gives his finger to the public who have put that sub-human in office.
I create documentaries that speak to these evil monsters and try to achieve a public forum to do so, at least that. We all here, and so many out there like us,have lost the battle. Nader may be a good choice after all because he will help Mccain to office and that will bring the entire system down to the ashes it should be.
There are about one percent of the people who own more than the lowest thirty percent of the population. They will exist for a little while on Mars who will watch as the blue planet becomes another Mars. They will have an opportunity to try and bring life back to a dead planet and if successful their offspring will re-inhabit Earth and try to do that here once again.