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Markey: On Global Warming Decision, White House Hacks Slash While Planet Burns

Today’s Climate Document A Shadow of Previous Drafts Reviewed by Select Committee

WASHINGTON (July 11, 2008) – In a shameful display of political interference with potential regulation of global warming pollution, the Bush administration has watered down findings on global warming in a rulemaking notice released today by the Environmental Protection Agency. The so-called Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released today, a response to last year’s Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, pales in comparison to earlier drafts, including a draft of findings from December of 2007 that was reviewed by staff of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. A draft of the ANPR from May 2008 was leaked and widely examined.

“Today’s sanitized and censored global warming proposal is a shadow of what the scientific experts say is needed to save the planet,” said Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Select Committee, which was the only committee to access all drafts of the documents. “The White House has taken an earnest attempt by their own climate experts to respond to the Supreme Court’s mandate to address global warming pollution, and turned it into a Frankenstein’s monster.”

“On global warming, the White House uses the slash-and-burn technique. They slash any meaningful statements or action on global warming, and allow the planet to burn,” continued Rep. Markey.

A full timeline of the ANPR process, including the Select Committee’s process to gain access to the December drafts, and a chart comparing key portions of the various drafts of the document, is available below this release.

Today’s proposal also includes an unprecedented airing of grievances by the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Susan Dudley, and other cabinet officials, sharply criticizing the very exploration of regulatory options EPA is issuing.

“This is Bush administration dysfunction on full display,” said Rep. Markey.

The proposal released today scrubs much of the significant language and decisions on global warming from the December draft findings. The December draft showed that, among other findings: EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson determined that man-made global warming is unequivocal, the evidence is both compelling and robust, and the administration must act to prevent harm rather than wait for harm to occur before acting; that global warming could harm human welfare (the so-called “endangerment finding”); and that fuel economy standards could be much higher.

“This ANPR is really the Administration’s Notice of Prior Result – the failure of President Bush to regulate global warming pollution. Even when the supreme court of climate science, the IPCC, and the actual Supreme Court agree that carbon dioxide has serious consequences for America, the president is unwilling to do his duty to protect the nation,” continued Rep. Markey.

The regulations today were created in response to the Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which directed the administration to make a determination on the danger posed by global warming and to propose regulations under the Clean Air Act for reducing global warming emissions from motor vehicles and fuels.

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