Report suppressed by Bush administration shows global-warming risks

Worst. President. Ever.

The EPA report, technically known as an "endangerment finding," was prepared in 2007, but the Bush White House refused to make it public because the administration opposed regulating the gases most scientists see as the major cause of global warming.

By Jim Tankersley and Alexander C. Hart

Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released a copy of a long-suppressed report by officials in the George W. Bush administration concluding that, based on the science, the government should begin regulating greenhouse-gas emissions because global warming posed serious risks to the country.

The report, technically known as an "endangerment finding," was prepared in 2007, but the Bush White House refused to make it public because the administration opposed regulating the gases most scientists see as the major cause of global warming.

The existence of the finding — and the refusal of the Bush White House to make it public — were previously known. The Bush EPA draft was released in response to a public-records request under the Freedom of Information Act.

The document "demonstrates that in 2007 the science was as clear as it is today," said Adora Andy, an EPA spokeswoman. "The conclusions reached then by EPA scientists should have been made public and should have been considered."

A finding that greenhouse gases and global warming pose serious risks to the nation is a necessary step in the process of instituting government regulation. President Obama and congressional Democrats are pushing for major climate legislation, but if Congress fails to act, the administration has raised the possibility that it would use an EPA finding to enact regulation on its own.

In April, the administration released its own proposal for an endangerment finding. The newly released document from the Bush EPA shows that much of the Obama document embraced the earlier, suppressed finding word for word.

"Both reach the same conclusion — that the public is endangered and regulation is required," said Jason Burnett, a former associate deputy administrator who quit the EPA in June 2008 amid frustration over the Bush administration's inaction on climate change. "Science and the law transcend politics." …

Report suppressed by Bush administration shows global-warming risks

Technorati Tags: global warming,climate change,corruption,EPA

Bush-era EPA: Appeals court finds widespread failure to investigate civil rights complaints

"The city used EPA funding to improve affluent areas and neglected the disadvantaged neighborhoods."

U.S. EPA's Office of Civil Rights has shown a systemic refusal to address allegations of discrimination in the use of agency funds, according to a unanimous three-judge panel on the…

"What the district court initially classified as an 'isolated instance of untimeliness' has since bloomed into a consistent pattern of delay by the EPA," Judge A. Wallace Tashima wrote for the court. "[Rosemere Neighborhood Association] has twice encountered that pattern whereby it files a complaint, hears nothing for months, and then only after filing a lawsuit does the EPA respond.

The decision stems from a 2003 Title VI environmental justice complaint filed with EPA's OCR by Rosemere, a nonprofit community organization. The complaint was filed against the city of Vancouver, Wash.

OCR is charged with enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits recipients of federal funding from using that money in a way that has a discriminatory impact based on race, color or national origin. EPA has established an administrative process whereby local communities can file complaints to address discrimination in the use of federal funds.

Rosemere alleged that the city had discriminated against low-income and minority neighborhoods by refusing to address failing septic systems, the lack of a comprehensive sewer network, contaminated ground and surface waters, poor air quality and industrial pollutants.

"The city used EPA funding to improve affluent areas and neglected the disadvantaged neighborhoods," said Christopher Winter, an attorney with the Portland-based nonprofit Crag Law Center, which eventually represented Rosemere in its lawsuit against the agency.

EPA: Appeals court finds widespread failure to investigate civil rights complaints

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A dollar a day could keep climate change away: EPA

 

By Jasmin Melvin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The average American family would pay at most $1 a day more to fight climate change, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told a Senate committee on Tuesday.

EPA head Lisa Jackson said carbon-cutting legislation would, on average, amount to a 50-cent per day cost per household in 2020 and edge up for wealthier families, people who drive long distances and those living in states dependent on coal for electricity.

But even a doubling of the national average would only cost families $1 per day, Jackson said.

"Can anyone honestly say that the head of an American household would not spend a dollar a day to safeguard the well being of his or her children?" Jackson asked the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

But the committee's top Republican Senator, James Inhofe, pointed to a July 1 poll by Rasmussen indicating that "56 percent of Americans are not willing to pay anything to fight global warming."

The Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed a climate change bill last month that aims to slash greenhouse gases. Now the Senate is considering its own legislation, a top priority for the Obama administration.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the hearing that meeting the greenhouse gas targets in the House bill would cost households in 2020 about the same as buying a postage stamp each day. A first class stamp costs 44 cents.

"History suggests that the actual costs could be even lower," Chu said, noting that sulfur dioxide emission cuts will cost a quarter of the original estimates. …

A dollar a day could keep climate change away: EPA

Technorati Tags: climate change,EPA

EPA: Global warming threatens public health, welfare

By Juliet Eilperin

The Environmental Protection Agency sent a proposal to the White House on Friday finding that global warming is endangering the public's health and welfare, according to several sources, a move that could have far-reaching implications for the nation's economy and environment.

The proposal -- which comes in response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision ordering EPA to consider whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases should be regulated under the Clean Air Act -- could lay the groundwork for nationwide measures to limit such emissions. It reverses one of the Bush administration's landmark environmental decisions: In July 2008 then-EPA administrator Stephen Johnson rejected his scientific and technical staff's recommendation and announced the agency would seek months of further public comment on the threat posed by global warming pollution.

"This is historic news," said Frank O'Donnell, who heads the public watchdog group Clean Air Watch. "It will set the stage for the first-ever national limits on global warming pollution. And it is likely to help light a fire under Congress to get moving." …

EPA: Global Warming Threatens Public Health, Welfare

Technorati Tags: global warming,EPA

Leaked slides show Obama EPA is fast-tracking global warming endangerment finding

From Think Progress:

In April 2007, the Supreme Court mandated that the EPA determine whether greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare and take action in response. After more than a year of resistance, the EPA released a document of staff findings, which was then quickly attacked by White House political appointees. They also resisted finalizing taking any actions. Today, Greenwire (sub. req’d) published an internal EPA presentation showing that the Obama administration is “fast-tracking” its response to the 2007 ruling, with plans to release its findings in mid-April:

To expand to public health, EPA plans to make connections between climate change and everything from temperatures to air quality and expanded ranges of vector-borne and tick-borne diseases.

The EPA document said dealing with public health and welfare had “solid legal defensibility.”

The Obama EPA’s analysis is significant; the Bush ruling ignored global warming’s effects on public health, focusing only on “welfare and the links between greenhouse gases and visibility, weather, crop damage and soil.” View the slide show here.

Leaked slides show Obama EPA is fast-tracking global warming endangerment finding.

Technorati Tags: global warming,EPA,Obama

EPA approves safer refrigerant developed by Hawaii man

By Christie Wilson, Advertiser Maui Bureau

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved a Kane'ohe man's homemade formula for a refrigerant in home appliances and air-conditioners that is safer for consumers and the environment.

Richard Maruya designed his HCR-188c hydrocarbon blend as a replacement for refrigerants that deplete the Earth's ozone layer and/or contribute "greenhouse" gases to the atmosphere. His precise mixture of ethane, propane, isobutene, normal butane and other naturally occurring compounds has zero ozone-depleting potential and very low global warming potential.

And, because appliances using HCR-188c require only one-quarter of the usual amount of refrigerant, the danger from fires and leaks is extremely low. Independent testing also has shown that appliances with HCR-188c use less energy and provide a greater degree of cooling.

In April, Maruya was honored with the 2008 Environmental Achievement Award from EPA's Region IX office for his "innovative research" and "unwavering commitment to achieve this environmentally friendly product."

EPA approves safer refrigerant developed by Hawaii man

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EPA drops rules easing controls on power plants

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Six weeks before leaving office, the Bush administration is giving up on an effort to ease restrictions on pollution from coal-burning power plants, a key plank of its original energy agenda and one that put the president at odds with environmentalists his entire eight years in the White House.

President George W. Bush had hoped to make both changes to air pollution regulations final before leaving office on Jan. 20. In the midst of a coal-fired power plant construction boom, the rules would have made it easier for energy companies to expand existing facilities and to erect new power plants in areas of the country that meet air quality standards.

But the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday conceded that it didn't have enough time to complete the rules changes, which were undermined by a federal court decision earlier this year that scrapped a signature component of Bush's clean air policies.

The EPA, in a statement, said that it ''will continue to advocate for the important health benefits'' the initiatives would have achieved.

Environmentalists, however, said the decision would leave intact for the incoming Obama administration the strongest tools under the law for dealing with power plant pollution.

''It's stunning. This is the most high profile prize sought by the utility industry,'' said John Walke, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council. ''It would have entangled the incoming administration up in a new rulemaking process while causing harm in many parts of the country.''

EPA Drops Rules Easing Controls on Power Plants

Technorati Tags: EPA,coal,Bush

Lisa Jackson in line to be first black EPA chief

By DINA CAPPIELLO 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lisa Jackson is in line to become the first African-American to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

President-elect Barack Obama intends to announce Jackson as EPA administrator in the coming weeks, barring unforeseen circumstances that derail his plans, according to Democratic officials close to the transition.

Jackson, a Princeton University-educated chemical engineer, would take the helm at the agency at a time of record-low morale and when it is still grappling with how to respond to a 2007 Supreme Court decision that said it could regulate the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

During the Bush administration, the White House has at times overruled the advice of the EPA's scientific advisers and the agency's staff on issues ranging from air pollution to global warming.

Supporters say Jackson, 46, has the experience to steer the agency down a new path.

She spent 16 years at the EPA in Washington and in New York before being hired at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in 2002, an agency that has been riddled by budget cuts and personnel shortages. Jackson was named the head of the department in 2006 by Gov. Jon Corzine, overseeing environmental regulation in a state plagued by pollution problems and home to the most hazardous waste sites in the country. She left earlier this month to take a job as Corzine's chief of staff.

Lisa Jackson in line to be first black EPA chief

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EPA to gut mountaintop mining rule protecting streams

By Renee Schoof and Bill Estep, McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection  Agency on Tuesday approved a last-minute rule change by the Bush administration that will allow coal companies to bury streams under the rocks leftover from mining.

The 1983 rule prohibited dumping the fill from mountaintop removal mining within 100 feet of streams. In practice, the government hadn't been enforcing the rule. Government figures show that 535 miles of streams were buried or diverted from 2001 to 2005, more than half of them in the mountains of Appalachia. Along with the loss of the streams has been an increase of erosion and flooding.

The 11th hour change before President George W. Bush leaves office would eliminate a tool that citizens groups have used in lawsuits to keep mining waste out of streams. Mining companies had been pushing for the change for years.

It also means that President-elect Barack Obama's administration will have to decide whether to try to restore and enforce the rule, a process that could take many months of new rulemaking. Obama's transition team declined to comment on its plans on Tuesday.

Another option would be for opponents to go through the courts. Opponents have argued that the rule change is illegal.

EPA to gut mountaintop mining rule protecting streams (McClatchy Newspapers)
Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:52:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: mountaintop removal,mining,EPA,Bush,corruption

Obama's EPA and Interior Dept. will be busy undoing Bush damage

By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post Staff Writer

Few federal agencies are expected to undergo as radical a transformation under President-elect Barack Obama as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, which have been at the epicenter of many of the Bush administration's most intense scientific and environmental controversies.

...

In June 2007, Obama told reporters in Reno, Nev., that he would not hesitate to reverse many of the environmental policies Bush has enacted by executive order.

"I think the slow chipping away against clean air and clean water has been deeply disturbing," Obama added. "Much of it hasn't gone through Congress. It was done by fiat. That is something that can be changed by an administration, in part by reinvigorating the EPA, which has been demoralized."

Friday, November 28, 2008; Page A02

EPA, Interior Dept. Chiefs Will Be Busy Erasing Bush's Mark

Technorati Tags: Endangered Species Act,Interior Department,EPA,Bush,corruption