EPA: Warming Is A Major Threat To Humans.

We're Not Going To Do Anything About It.
Exxon Told Bush Not To.


The Environmental Protection Agency has released long-suppressed reports which warn that global warming poses serious threats to human health.

Simultaneously, the Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to take action to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases that cause this catastrophic, human-life-threatening global warming.

The Washington Post reports that a former EPA Deputy Associate Administrator, Jason K. Burnett, told the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming on Tuesday that the Bush Administration ordered EPA to "emphasize the complexity of the challenge" rather than outlining "a path forward or a framework for regulation."

Burnett testified that, as the Washington Post reports, "senior EPA officials met with representatives from Exxon Mobil, the American Petroleum Institute, and the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association, who argued that Bush should not undermine his legacy by regulating greenhouse gases."

Burnett: There was a general -- industry divided into
two basic camps, frankly, the same camps within the
administration, some believing that a response was inevitable
and it would be done more sensibly by the executive branch
rather than leaving decisions to the courts, and others who
thought that moving forward should be put off as long as
possible in the hopes that there would be new legislation
passed, or at least that regulation could be delayed.

Joel Beavuais, Committee Counsel: Who were some of the leading stakeholders in each of those two groups?

Burnett: In the -- on the side of recognizing that the
Supreme Court needed to be responded to, certain groups and
individuals representing the power sector, power plants,
thought that it did make sense to start moving forward.
Generally, the individuals representing the oil industry were
opposed to moving forward, and some of those individuals
expressed the argument that moving forward would harm
President Bush's legacy by having on his legacy an increase
in regulations.

Beauvais: And who were some of those individuals representing the oil industry that expressed that argument?

Burnett: I would prefer to not go into the individual names.
They were individuals working for particular oil companies,
Exxon Mobil, as well as individuals working for trade
associations, American Petroleum Institute and NPRA.

The full transcript is here.

Andrew Revkin gives us the core findings of the EPA report, with his own annotations.

The straightforward descriptions stand in stark contrast to those in government reports on climate science earlier in President Bush's tenure, when Phil Cooney, the former head of the oil industry's "climate team," was the White House editor of such documents. At the time, the passage, "Warming will also cause reductions in mountain glaciers," was excised along with other passages described as "speculative findings/musings." Mr. Cooney moved on to Exxon Mobil. Compare that editing to the language below.

"Crimes against humanity" has never rung so literal.

Usually the phrase connotes violent acts that shock the conscience. In this case, we are talking about actions that literally threaten the survival of the human species. How many humans must die in fires, tornadoes, wildfires, expanded disease vectors, and resource wars, before the death toll equals those caused by the executive decisions of Saddam Hussein?

How many die before we prepare the gallows for Cooney, Bush, Cheney, and Lee Raymond?