Climate change policy of the George W. Bush administration
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46th Governor of Texas
43rd President of the United States
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The climate change policy of the United States under the presidency of George W. Bush differed from Bush's promises on the campaign trail to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants: within two months of taking office he walked away from his commitment.[1]
Kyoto Protocol
In March 2001, the
Influence of industry groups
In June 2005,
The Bush administration implemented an industry-formulated disinformation campaign designed to actively mislead the American public on global warming and to forestall limits on "climate polluters," according to a report in Rolling Stone magazine which reviews hundreds of internal government documents and former government officials.[5]
"'They've got a political clientele that does not want to be regulated,' says Rick S. Piltz, a former Bush climate official who blew the whistle on White House censorship of global-warming documents in 2005. 'Any honest discussion of the science would stimulate public pressure for a stronger policy. They're not stupid.'
Bush's do-nothing policy on global warming began almost as soon as he took office. By pursuing a carefully orchestrated policy of delay, the White House blocked even the most modest reforms and replaced them with token investments in futuristic solutions like hydrogen cars. 'It's a charade,' says Jeremy Symons, who represented the EPA on Dick Cheney's energy task force, the industry-studded group that met in secret to craft the administration's energy policy. 'They have a single-minded determination to do nothing—while making it look like they are doing something.' . . .
The CEQ became Cheney's shadow EPA, with industry calling the shots. To head up the council, Cheney installed James Connaughton, a former lobbyist for industrial polluters, who once worked to help General Electric and ARCO skirt responsibility for their Superfund waste sites.
...two weeks after Bush took office - ExxonMobil's top lobbyist, Randy Randol, demanded a housecleaning of the scientists in charge of studying global warming. . .
...Exxon's wish was the CEQ's command.[6]
Political pressure on scientists
Also according to testimony taken by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Bush White House pressured American scientists to suppress discussion of global warming.[7][8]
"High-quality science" was "struggling to get out," as the Bush administration pressured scientists to tailor their writings on global warming to fit the Bush administration's skepticism, in some cases at the behest of an ex-oil industry lobbyist. "Nearly half of all respondents perceived or personally experienced pressure to eliminate the words 'climate change,' 'global warming' or other similar terms from a variety of communications."
Similarly, according to the testimony of senior officers of the Government Accountability Project, the White House attempted to bury the report "National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change," produced by U.S. scientists pursuant to U.S. law.[9] Some U.S. scientists resigned their jobs rather than give in to White House pressure to underreport global warming.[7]
Also, the White House removed key portions of a
US officials, such as Philip Cooney, have repeatedly edited scientific reports from US government scientists, [11] many of whom, such as Thomas Knutson, have been ordered to refrain from discussing climate change and related topics.[12][13][14]
Climate scientist
In 2006, the
According to an Associated Press release on January 30, 2007,
...climate scientists at seven government agencies say they have been subjected to political pressure aimed at downplaying the threat of global warming. The groups presented a survey that shows two in five of the 279 climate scientists who responded to a questionnaire complained that some of their scientific papers had been edited in a way that changed their meaning. Nearly half of the 279 said in response to another question that at some point they had been told to delete reference to "global warming" or "climate change" from a report.[18]
Critics writing in the Wall Street Journal editorial page claim that the survey [19] was itself unscientific.[20]
Attempts to suppress scientific information on global warming and other issues have been described by Chris Mooney as constituting a Republican War on Science.
Attempts to undermine U.S. and state efforts
The Bush Administration worked to undermine
See also
References
- ^ Revkin, Douglas Jehl With Andrew C. (March 14, 2001). "Bush, in Reversal, Won't Seek Cut In Emissions of Carbon Dioxide". The New York Times. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
- ^ "US blow to Kyoto hopes". March 28, 2001. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
- ^ Bush unveils voluntary plan to reduce global warming Archived December 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, CNN.com, 2002-02-14.
- ^ Vidal, John (June 8, 2005). "Revealed: how oil giant influenced Bush". The Guardian. London. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
- ^ Dickinson, Tim (June 8, 2007). "The Secret Campaign of President Bush's Administration To Deny Global Warming". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 26, 2007. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
- ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ a b Reuters, January 30, 2007, free archived version at http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0130-10.htm Archived 2007-02-02 at the Wayback Machine, last visited Jan. 30, '07
- ^ Written testimony of Dr. Grifo before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives on January 30, 2007, archived at "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 5, 2009. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ written testimony of Rick Piltz before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives on January 30, 2007, archived at http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070130113813-92288.pdf Archived 2007-01-31 at the Wayback Machine last visited Jan. 30, 07
- ^ Associated Press, Oct. 24, 2007, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GLOBAL_WARMING_HEALTH?SITE=NVREN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT; also archived at http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/24/4772/ Archived 2012-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Campbell, D. (June 20, 2003) "White House cuts global warming from report" Guardian Unlimited
- ^ Donaghy, T., et al. (2007) "Atmosphere of Pressure:" Archived June 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine a report of the Government Accountability Project (Cambridge, Mass.: UCS Publications)
- ^ Rule, E. (2005) "Possible media attention" Email to NOAA staff, July 27. Obtained via FOIA request on July 31, 2006. Archived August 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine and Teet, J. (2005) "DOC Interview Policy" Email to NOAA staff, September 29. Originally published by Alexandrovna, L. (2005) "Commerce Department tells National Weather Service media contacts must be pre-approved" Archived 2006-10-19 at the Wayback Machine The Raw Story, October 4. Accessed December 22, 2006
- ^ Zabarenko, Deborah (March 8, 2007). "'Don't discuss polar bears:' memo to scientists", Reuters
- ^ Revkin, Andrew C. (January 29, 2006). "Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him". The New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
- ^ Eilperin, Julie (April 6, 2006). "Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
- ^ "Climate chaos: Bush's climate of fear". BBC Panorama. June 1, 2006. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
- ^ "Groups Say Scientists Pressured On Warming". CBS News and Associated Press. January 30, 2007. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
- ^ Donaghy, Timothy; Jennifer Freeman; Francesca Grifo; Karly Kaufman; Tarek Maassarani; Lexi Shultz (February 2007). "Appendix A: UCS Climate Scientist Survey Text and Responses (Federal)" (PDF). Atmosphere of Pressure – Political Interference in Federal Climate Science (PDF). Union of Concerned Scientists & Government Accountability Project. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
- OpinionJournal.com. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
- ^ "How the White House Worked to Scuttle California's Climate Law", San Francisco Chronicle, September 25, 2007 http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/25/4099/ Archived 2013-06-17 at the Wayback Machine