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Bush Climate Team Still Impacting The Debate, Report Finds
As the next round of UN climate change negotiations begin in Copenhagen, a new report describes how 22 Bush-era officials are still influencing the climate debate, many of them as registered lobbyists for industry.
James L. Connaughton, President Bush’s chief environmental advisor from 2001 to 2009. Among the former officials listed in the report from watchdog group
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington are the following:
Philip Cooney, chief of staff for Bush's Council on Environmental Quality from 2001 to 2005, joined Exxon-Mobil in 2005. Cooney has come full circle -- from working for industry as a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, then to the Bush Administration, now back working for industry. He resigned as chief of staff at the CEQ after reports surfaced that he had watered down several climate change reports. An investigation by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee found that the "Bush Administration [had] engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming."
Khary Cauthen, who succeeded Cooney as chief of staff for the CEQ, is now a registered lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute.
James L. Connaughton served as President Bush's chief environmental adviser as chair of the CEQ from 2001 to 2009. Since then, he has been vice president for corporate affairs and environmental policy at Constellation Energy.
"These alumni of the Bush climate team continue to shape and confuse the debate over global warming," said Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director. "They may have changed their uniforms, but they're still playing for the same team."
The full report can be read here.
9 Comments so far
Show AllJeevee
EARNESTLY ASKED: WHAT CAN WE DO??
Jeevee, we can fight fire with fire.
We can record this progressive fact of corruption in one common summary wikipage like wikipedia does. This way when the misinformation starts up again we can refresh our memories quickly and give the address of that page or cut and paste the rebuttal evidence. The Bushapes are corrupting the media and probably hiring russian oil company programers to hack scientist's email.
I just started a free think tank site here: www.planetliberty.wikidot.com
Any progressives who want to add material or copy material for their own use are free to do so, just email me at planetliberty@yahoo.com . Bear with me, this site is just now coming off the cocktail napkin and much of it hasn't been generated yet. It requires a password to keep out the bushapes which I will give you once you email me.
Cheers all,
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Keep a pristine backup uot of reach of hackers on the internet.
Good point Parallax,
Yes I will. Thank you for reminding me. I'll back it up right now and anybody who wants it can also copy it from the individual edit boxes (just like the CD comment box you're using now.)
They can't squelch all of us.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Might this be at least a partial explanation why more, rather than less, Americans are now global warming denialists?
It's damn hard to clean the punchbowl once the turds have been deposited.
thomas jefferson we should be fighting fire with an
extinguisher. when the repugs start screaming for
capital punishment these 2 should be among the first
to have a noose put around their necks for crimes against
the environment murder fraud bribery and anything else
that the injustice department bring against serial
criminals! these clowns are buds of little georgie bush
another serial criminal!
You all fell for "Hope " and "Change" without asking the hard questions or reading those that did. You all voted for a flippin' fairytale and you got one. Problem is fairy tales are make believe just like your "Hope" and "Change."
Obama Administration is a perfect example of the old bait and switch. Great ad campaign but the product is crap. We'll sell you the dream and hand you a dud.
You want real change? You will have to physically pry it out of the ruling elites hands. You will have to risk shattering the snow dome illusion you have of the world you live in. You will need to risk jail time. You will need to risk having friends and loved ones think you are "going to far." You will need to risk losing your job. The ruling elite hide behind "their new rule of law" that has taken away your rights and abilities to rise up against them. As demanded in OUR Constitution when this government fails to serve the people anymore. WE FORM A NEW GOVERNMENT! YOU want real CHANGE?! YOU WANT real HOPE?! Both those realities live ONLY on the other side of physically forming a new Government. Until then, this is just shuffling chairs in the deck of the Titanic.
Bon Voyage!!
You guys are all correct in your thoughts. We as Americans have been running away from these problems of Wall Street & Federal and State government Tyranny for too long.
Me?
I'm through running.
It's time to fight these traitors to the US Constitution tooth and nail.
These Corporate Communists have got to go down. They've destroyed my country and much of the free world. And they didn't do it for America, for the SOB's off-shored all of our jobs in the pursuit of personal profits. They did it for the same reason BeneDICK Cheney did: FOR GOLD. For money piped away to Dubai.
CORPORATE COMMUNISM: The belief that all power and wealth should be distributed by the Board Room instead of the citizens (we have to use that term, if we want to wake up the mainstream and get them on board.)
ma77hew77 is correct. We're going to lose everything anyway the way this is going. Yes there are some risks, so what? There's plenty of people inside the system who hate these fvcking bank robbers and planet burners as much as we do. Let's just stay on an even keel, and put up millions of websites that expose these scumbags for what they really are.
We still have Free Speech for now and the MIGHTY POWER OF THE PEN!
Let's not waste it.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson