NEWS

White House punts on climate change

07/16/2008

The Bush administration has made it official: The federal government will ignore climate change as an environmental threat for the remainder of the current president’s term.

The result is more missed opportunities for the environment, our health and the economy. Many of the measures designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would have also slowed the growth in the consumption of fossil fuels in this country.

Friday, Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen L. Johnson said the agency will not impose mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, saying to do so was beyond the scope of the EPA’s authority.

The Supreme Court had ruled 15 months ago that the agency must make a determination on the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the health and well-being of humans, or to provide an explanation for failing to do so.

The missed opportunities include the failure of the Environmental Protection Agency to allow states including Vermont to set limits on auto emissions of greenhouse gases that go further than federal standards.

Vermont went to court and won this right in 2007, needing only the EPA to grant a waiver to allow California to set its own standards and other states to adopt California’s limits. The waiver never came.

Part of the auto industry’s argument against the state standards was that reducing emissions would require increased gas mileage, something that was outside the EPA’s jurisdiction and would result in fewer choices for Vermont car buyers.

Now that gas prices are above $4 a gallon and the sales of gas-guzzling vehicles from U.S. auto companies are down sharply, developing cars with improved gas mileage that also help protect the environment looks like a win-win proposal.

The White House has reportedly refused e-mails from the EPA containing information it didn’t want to acknowledge, and the administration has exerted pressure to force changes in EPA positions. The New York Times reported that the White House succeeded, having removed analysis supporting regulation from an EPA report "including a finding that tough regulation of motor vehicle emissions could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the next 32 years."

Maybe it’s time the Environmental Protection Agency changed its name. There is little evidence that the Bush administration is allowing the agency to live up to its current moniker.