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WASHINGTON DC (NY Times) – U.S. EPA released a long-sequestered document on global warming today showing the George W. Bush administration had concluded in December 2007 that greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles were endangering public welfare and needed to be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
The 29-page EPA analysis (pdf) — labeled “Deliberative, Do Not Distribute” — ticked through the climate-changing effects that heat-trapping gases have on air pollution, precipitation patterns, sea-level rise, glacial melting and wildlife patterns.
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The Obama administration EPA’s proposed endangerment finding (pdf) differs in two significant ways from the Bush-era effort. First, Obama linked greenhouse gas emission threats to both public health and welfare, a broader link that allows for a more sweeping set of regulations. The Obama EPA also proposed lumping the six primary greenhouse gases together for possible regulation, while the Bush approach suggested taking comment on regulating either all six gases or each individual gas.
Jason Burnett, at the time a top adviser to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, wrote the original endangerment finding document and sent it to the White House for a final review. But congressional investigators last year determined that Bush ultimately backed down after hearing counterarguments from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, the Office of Management and Budget, the Transportation Department, Exxon Mobil Corp. and others in the oil industry (E&E Daily, July 18, 2008).
(LA Times) July 18, 2008 – According to the House committee report, representatives of ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Assn. argued …
… that the move would undercut President Bush’s reputation as an opponent of government regulation. And, it said, F. Chase Hutto III, Cheney’s energy advisor, supported their opposition.
The committee had been investigating the work of EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson for several months, including his role in stopping California from regulating vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions, according to report on C&EN’s website. Eventually, the investigation led to Cheney’s office. “I don’t accept their premise,” Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said. As for the report that the oil industry had the support of Cheney’s office in fighting new regulatory action, she said: “Frankly, that’s ridiculous.”
Committee Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said in a news release: “This is the dysfunctions and motivations of the Bush administration laid bare. The fact that they can, with near unanimity, completely switch positions on global warming to please the oil industry is shocking, and yet disappointingly predictable.”
Cheney intervened in many cases to undercut long-standing
environmental rules for the benefit of business.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
