Back in April, the U.S. Supreme court was faced with the issue of whether the EPA had authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases. It was a hotly contested case because the EPA, instead of being the public watch dog, had become the Bush White house family lapdog. It took the position it had no authority to monitor the issue so it would not have to take action on an issue opposed by the…
As we all know, Galileo’s telescope observations and his calculations convinced him the earth revolved around the sun rather then the other way around. However, that was contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church. After a Church trial in 1633 he was compelled to recant his claim, to be under house arrest for the rest of his life and to have his writings banned as well as his books burned. The Church insisted the Bible taught the opposite of…
It was revealed the oil industry had numerous secret meetings in 2001 with Vice President Cheney to help create a national energy policy that would apply to big oil. (See Washington Post) The Bush white house and the oil industry immediately denied the oil industry was allowed to draft national energy policy. The vice president refused to produce documents relating to the development of the energy policy in an attempt to cover it up but, documents surfaced which proved it…
George Bush and his administration have continuously denied global warming even existed until the evidence was so overwhelming it became their pink elephant in the room. The Bush Administration went as far as revising scientific reports and muzzling scientists from talking about the subject, after first appointing agency heads whose job was to silence any talk about the problem. (See 4/18/07) Now, forced by world wide concern and overwhelming evidence Mr. Bush does a 180 degree turn in order to…
Twice before in this blog I’ve reported on President Bush’s appointment of the totally unqualified and unsuitable appointment of Julie MacDonald as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. (See posts of 1//30/07 & 12/29/06)Her outrageous conduct in suppressing scientific data which contradicted White House position and her determined efforts to totally undermine any environmental restrictions were a scandal. However, there was no accountability because with a Republican controlled Congress she was allowed a free hand. She was accurately…
The Bush Administration has a long record of bold face lies, falsification & interference when its official policy positions are in conflict with scientific proof. I’ve cited numerous examples from media reports. (See 4/18/07) The Seattle P.I. today exposes another instance involving the timber industry and the endangered spotted owl. The newspaper reports that a high level team of Bush administration appointees in Washington, DC – including a former timber industry lobbyist – ordered changes in a plan produced by…
The U.S. Supreme Court case of Massachusetts vs EPA has been described as one of the most important environmental cases to ever come before the United States Supreme Court dealing with global warming. The case involves the thirty six year old federal Clean Air Act. The act provides for regulation of "any air pollutants" from vehicles "that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health of welfare" and defines "welfare" as including effects on climate and weather. A group of…
All of the news media have been reporting about global warming and the effect on polar bears since the issue of whether to put them on the endangered list first came up. A recent study now predicts polar bears could be extinct, due to eroding ice, by the end of this century if global warming continues unabated. An article in the Washington Post reports that Robert Corell, a senior fellow at the American Meteorological Society who chaired the study has…
ExxonMobil, the oil giant, has a long history of blatant hypocrisy about global warming. While publicly claiming to be concerned about the world environment it covertly provided millions of dollars in funding efforts to deny it as a threat to the health of our planet. The company CEO’s have flat out denied there is a human created problem and the oil giant has worked to obscure the subject with endless smoke and mirror tactics. Its last CEO, Lee Raymond, whose…
The announcement of the Mississippi Katrina damage settlement prompted reports about the shifting weather patterns due to global warming. An environmental scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy said "There’s a shift going on to more frequent, extreme weather events. It’s as much an issue in the heartland as on the coast." The Department of Energy says that weather caused damage has increased from $1 Billion a year in 1970’s to $17 Billion a year over the last decade. In…
