Bush Administration Alters Report on Global Warming

[Guest guest]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week issued a new

report on the state of the environment, but the New York Times has

reported that "after editing by the White House, a long section

describing risks from rising global temperatures [was] whittled to a

few noncommittal paragraphs."

 

The Times explained: "The report [was] commissioned in 2001 by the

agency's administrator, Christie Whitman [who resigned following the

report's release], and was intended to provide the first

comprehensive review of what is known about various environmental

problems, where gaps in understanding exist, and how to fill them."

 

But a Times reporter obtained confidential drafts and internal memos

that revealed how Bush administration officials eliminated any

passages in the report that ran counter to the White House's

environmentally hostile policies:

 

"The editing eliminated references to many studies, concluding that

recent warming is at least partly caused by rising concentrations of

smokestack and tailpipe emissions and could threaten health and

ecosystems," the Times reported.

 

The Christian Science Monitor expanded on the nature of the edits,

adding: "The White House struck sections about the possible human

effects on global warming and [reference to] a study that showed

sharp increases in temperature over the past decade. They, instead,

added a reference to a study funded in part by the American Petroleum

Institute that questioned those findings."

 

Naturally, "Administration officials defended the report and said

there is nothing untoward about the process that produced it."

 

But the Monitor offered an editorial on that response, comparing it

to the Administration's recent prevarications on the issue of

Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction," and its deceptive selling of

a "tax cut" that actually benefited (like the last Bush tax cut) only

the very wealthy. In an article entitled, "Bush Credibility Gap: A

Slow, Quiet Crumble," Dante Chinni observed:

 

"In the past few weeks some questions have begun to arise about just

how candid this White House is being in a variety of areas. The

accusations aren't really of lying, per se, but rather they center on

this administration's ability to give people the entire truth, the

full picture of reality. Slowly and quietly, a credibility gap is

opening, and this White House needs to be careful. If not, the gap

may open wide enough to swallow up Bush's high poll numbers."

 

May Devi make it so.

 

Sources:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0624/p11s01-codc.html

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/2003/06/19/news/nation/6122589.htm