Senator says White House in climate change "cover up"

[mulligan]

Oh dear!

http://uk.reuters.com/article/latest...31209020080708

Senator says White House in climate change "cover up"

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading U.S. Senate Democrat accused the Bush administration on Tuesday of a "cover-up" aimed at stopping the Environmental Protection Agency from tackling greenhouse emissions.

"This cover-up is being directed from the White House and the office of the vice president," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

At issue is a preliminary finding by the EPA last December that "greenhouse gases may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public welfare," according to Jason Burnett, the agency's former associate deputy administrator who appeared at a news conference with Boxer.

Such a finding would be an early step toward government regulation aimed at protecting public health.

Boxer said that unless EPA documents were released, it was likely that within the next two weeks her committee would try to subpoena the material. She did not know whether Republicans on the panel would block the effort.

Burnett, who resigned on June 9, told Boxer's committee the White House tried pressuring him to retract an e-mail in which he detailed the finding. Burnett said he refused.

Democrats say that since then, the EPA finding has been left "in limbo."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said many federal agencies, departments and offices normally review any initiatives being developed to check for "factual inaccuracies" or "discordant" policies.

Without getting into specifics, Fratto said "views are frequently discussed and worked out in ways that make sense."

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, asked about the administration's actions, said, "I don't know if that is criminal. I doubt it. OK. But I know it is immoral."

"The health of my grandchildren, my children and me are affected by this head-in-the-sand that global warming doesn't exist," Reid told reporters.

Boxer acknowledged she wanted to gather information so that the next administration could get a jump on global warming initiatives quickly after it takes office on January 20, 2009.

She has been trying since last October to obtain related documents to show that planned congressional testimony on global warming by Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was censored by the Bush administration.

Boxer said Gerberding's testimony would have detailed the direct impact of rising global temperatures on human health, including mortality and the spread of disease.

Burnett told the congressional committee the administration's Council on Environmental Quality "and the office of the vice president were seeking deletions to the CDC testimony." He refused to say who in Vice President Richard Cheney's office was involved.

Responding to Burnett's charges, Fratto said, "Jason Burnett is not the EPA administrator" and that it was up to EPA chief Stephen Johnson to oversee environmental policy.

Asked at Tuesday's news conference about his support for Democratic candidates and whether he was trying to embarrass the Republican administration, Burnett said, "Following the law and responding to the Supreme Court is not a partisan issue."

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Clean Air Act gives EPA the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

In October, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Gerberding's draft testimony to Congress "did not comport" with science contained in an International Panel on Climate Change report and that "a number of agencies had some concerns with the draft."

On Tuesday, Boxer said Gerberding's planned testimony, which has since been detailed in media reports, and the IPCC report "matched identically."

(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Maggie Fox and David Wiessler)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...8-cheney_N.htm

By Robert Davis, USA TODAY

Some of the government's top scientists were forced by Vice President Cheney's office to downplay the health dangers of global warming when testifying before Congress, a former senior EPA official said Tuesday.

The White House denies any coverup and the agencies involved say they still got their message across.

Jason Burnett, 31, who resigned last month as the Environmental Protection Agency's associate deputy administrator, refused to name who forced the deletion of health concerns.

The testimony was part of an October Senate hearing on the impact of global warming.

Before the hearing, Cheney's office and the White House's Council on Environmental Quality wanted "any discussions of the human health consequences of climate change" deleted, said Burnett, a Democrat who supports Barack Obama, speaking at a news conference.

A White House spokeswoman explained in fall — when the changes were first revealed — that the edits were meant to make it consistent with a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations-sponsored consortium of scientists who examined global warming.

But some of the passages deleted from the testimony of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Julie Gerberding included health risks — hazards of poor air quality, for instance — that are in the IPCC report, said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Boxer called it "a coverup being directed from the White House and the office of the vice president."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto called her claim "absurd" and said Cheney's office weighed in as a matter of routine amid "conflicting views of scientists."

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said Gerberding conveyed her message to the committee in October despite the changes.

"Any edits that were made to the written testimony were made during the routine editing process," he said in an e-mail.

[Seraphim]

The beginning of the next 735 page thread.

[H2FC]

Thank God for the two term limit. The Bush and Cheney administration has done more harm to the American people than any other in our history.

[fab]

Originally Posted by Seraphim

The beginning of the next 735 page thread.

Why would you believe some unknown EPA guy with an agenda.
Obama the empty suit needs empty heads like yours for votes. Al Gore lied big time in his alarmists flick yet he gets a Nobel booby prize.

EVEN MORE SCIENTISTS that dispute AGW , the biggest hoax of the century.

William Lindqvist, PhD, independent consulting geologist, Calif.
Richard S. Lindzen, PhD, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A.J. Tom van Loon, PhD, Professor of Geology (Quaternary Geology), Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland; former President of the European Association of Science Editors
Anthony R. Lupo, PhD, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science, Dept. of Soil, Environmental, and Atmospheric Science, University of Missouri-Columbia
Richard Mackey, PhD, Statistician, Australia
Horst Malberg, PhD, Professor for Meteorology and Climatology, Institut f�r Meteorologie, Berlin, Germany
John Maunder, PhD, Climatologist, former President of the Commission for Climatology of the World Meteorological Organization (89-97), New Zealand
Alister McFarquhar, PhD, international economy, Downing College, Cambridge, U.K.
Ross McKitrick, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Guelph
John McLean, PhD, climate data analyst, computer scientist, Australia
Owen McShane, PhD, economist, head of the International Climate Science Coalition; Director, Centre for Resource Management Studies, New Zealand
Fred Michel, PhD, Director, Institute of Environmental Sciences and Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, Carleton University
Frank Milne, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Economics, Queen's University
Asmunn Moene, PhD, former head of the Forecasting Centre, Meteorological Institute, Norway
Alan Moran, PhD, Energy Economist, Director of the IPA's Deregulation Unit, Australia
Nils-Axel Morner, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Paleogeophysics & Geodynamics, Stockholm University, Sweden
Lubos Motl, PhD, Physicist, former Harvard string theorist, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
John Nicol, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics, James Cook University, Australia
David Nowell, M.Sc., Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, former chairman of the NATO Meteorological Group, Ottawa
James J. O'Brien, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Meteorology and Oceanography, Florida State University
Cliff Ollier, PhD, Professor Emeritus (Geology), Research Fellow, University of Western Australia
Garth W. Paltridge, PhD, atmospheric physicist, Emeritus Professor and former Director of the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia
R. Timothy Patterson, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences (paleoclimatology), Carleton University
Al Pekarek, PhD, Associate Professor of Geology, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Dept., St. Cloud State University, Minnesota
Ian Plimer, PhD, Professor of Geology, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide and Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
Brian Pratt, PhD, Professor of Geology, Sedimentology, University of Saskatchewan
Harry N.A. Priem, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Planetary Geology and Isotope Geophysics, Utrecht University; former director of the Netherlands Institute for Isotope Geosciences
Alex Robson, PhD, Economics, Australian National University Colonel F.P.M. Rombouts, Branch Chief - Safety, Quality and Environment, Royal Netherland Air Force
R.G. Roper, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
Arthur Rorsch, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Molecular Genetics, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Rob Scagel, M.Sc., forest microclimate specialist, principal consultant, Pacific Phytometric Consultants, B.C.
Tom V. Segalstad, PhD, (Geology/Geochemistry), Head of the Geological Museum and Associate Professor of Resource and Environmental Geology, University of Oslo, Norway
Gary D. Sharp, PhD, Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study, Salinas, CA
S. Fred Singer, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia and former director Weather Satellite Service
L. Graham Smith, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of Western Ontario
Roy W. Spencer, PhD, climatologist, Principal Research Scientist, Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama, Huntsville
Peter Stilbs, TeknD, Professor of Physical Chemistry, R

[H2FC]

Surely there are a lot more self-serving, fossil fuel supporting, Bush loving and Gore hating MMGW deniers in this big wide world than the handful you've listed here.....I don't understand your point in listing these few.

[tas38]

Yes empty heads like MCcain, the bush admins top experts, and all of NASA and the list goes on. You don't need al gore or obama or I, you will have to dismiss all them as nuts as well.

NASA was calling for charges on all of big oils SEO's, and all the leaders that keep lieing and stalling. They are trying to pass laws to sue, big oil over SEA's as well so you only damage. The far right and big oil your friends, when you keep saying MMGW is not real.

The far right has took this to far already, and if they don't stop soon they will have to pay the price. Remember obama may well win the white house, and start hearings and even court trials then. It's time for the far right to admit the truth, and help lead our country through, one of the biggest changes our country has ever faced.

We need the far right to insure, the far left don't go to far with all this you know.

[bd77]

Originally Posted by fab

Why would you believe some unknown EPA guy with an agenda.
Obama the empty suit needs empty heads like yours for votes. Al Gore lied big time in his alarmists flick yet he gets a Nobel booby prize.

EVEN MORE SCIENTISTS that dispute AGW , the biggest hoax of the century.

William Lindqvist, PhD, independent consulting geologist, Calif.
Richard S. Lindzen, PhD, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A.J. Tom van Loon, PhD, Professor of Geology (Quaternary Geology), Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland; former President of the European Association of Science Editors
Anthony R. Lupo, PhD, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science, Dept. of Soil, Environmental, and Atmospheric Science, University of Missouri-Columbia
Richard Mackey, PhD, Statistician, Australia
Horst Malberg, PhD, Professor for Meteorology and Climatology, Institut f�r Meteorologie, Berlin, Germany
John Maunder, PhD, Climatologist, former President of the Commission for Climatology of the World Meteorological Organization (89-97), New Zealand
Alister McFarquhar, PhD, international economy, Downing College, Cambridge, U.K.
Ross McKitrick, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Guelph
John McLean, PhD, climate data analyst, computer scientist, Australia
Owen McShane, PhD, economist, head of the International Climate Science Coalition; Director, Centre for Resource Management Studies, New Zealand
Fred Michel, PhD, Director, Institute of Environmental Sciences and Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, Carleton University
Frank Milne, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Economics, Queen's University
Asmunn Moene, PhD, former head of the Forecasting Centre, Meteorological Institute, Norway
Alan Moran, PhD, Energy Economist, Director of the IPA's Deregulation Unit, Australia
Nils-Axel Morner, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Paleogeophysics & Geodynamics, Stockholm University, Sweden
Lubos Motl, PhD, Physicist, former Harvard string theorist, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
John Nicol, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics, James Cook University, Australia
David Nowell, M.Sc., Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, former chairman of the NATO Meteorological Group, Ottawa
James J. O'Brien, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Meteorology and Oceanography, Florida State University
Cliff Ollier, PhD, Professor Emeritus (Geology), Research Fellow, University of Western Australia
Garth W. Paltridge, PhD, atmospheric physicist, Emeritus Professor and former Director of the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia
R. Timothy Patterson, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences (paleoclimatology), Carleton University
Al Pekarek, PhD, Associate Professor of Geology, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Dept., St. Cloud State University, Minnesota
Ian Plimer, PhD, Professor of Geology, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide and Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
Brian Pratt, PhD, Professor of Geology, Sedimentology, University of Saskatchewan
Harry N.A. Priem, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Planetary Geology and Isotope Geophysics, Utrecht University; former director of the Netherlands Institute for Isotope Geosciences
Alex Robson, PhD, Economics, Australian National University Colonel F.P.M. Rombouts, Branch Chief - Safety, Quality and Environment, Royal Netherland Air Force
R.G. Roper, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
Arthur Rorsch, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Molecular Genetics, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Rob Scagel, M.Sc., forest microclimate specialist, principal consultant, Pacific Phytometric Consultants, B.C.
Tom V. Segalstad, PhD, (Geology/Geochemistry), Head of the Geological Museum and Associate Professor of Resource and Environmental Geology, University of Oslo, Norway
Gary D. Sharp, PhD, Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study, Salinas, CA
S. Fred Singer, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia and former director Weather Satellite Service
L. Graham Smith, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of Western Ontario
Roy W. Spencer, PhD, climatologist, Principal Research Scientist, Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama, Huntsville
Peter Stilbs, TeknD, Professor of Physical Chemistry, R

Good post fab, it will not take long before its a avalanche of scientists who believe Global Warming is a fraud but I doubt you will ever convince h2fc and Tas38 of it.

Here's an interesting article i found....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,378144,00.html

[HarveyJ]

Not that I'm siding here, but fab, a lot of those scientists have little or nothing to do with geo or meteorological sciences.
I might put some faith in the opinion of a biologist on this issue, but I certainly wouldn't in the case of a physicist, and definitely wouldn't for an economist.
Hell, most economists believe that economic growth is infinite, even though a planet is a closed system!

Also, I've spoken with McLean in the past, after a public lecture...
He shouldn't be on a list of skeptics nowadays. He was once in the past, during the DotCom bubble. But nowadays he's fairly certain we're screwed, and he seemed kind of resentful that people bring up his old findings as a "proof".

[H2FC]

Originally Posted by bd77

Good post fab, it will not take long before its a avalanche of scientists who believe Global Warming is a fraud but I doubt you will ever convince h2fc and Tas38 of it.

Here's an interesting article i found....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,378144,00.html

I find it interesting a globalwarming denier would post a link to a story that supports the facts of globalwarming....and from foxnews at that! I guess foxnews has been flooded with so many angry viewers demanding they quit lying even they are slowly acknowledging the truth.

Now if we can just get those other self-serving talking heads like Glenn Beck, Rush L., and a few others on the radio and tv to fess up to the truth maybe we can get their brain-washed followers to learn the real truth about MMGW and the serious impact its having and will continue to have on our world because of climate change.

[bd77]

Originally Posted by H2FC

I find it interesting a globalwarming denier would post a link to a story that supports the facts of globalwarming....and from foxnews at that! I guess foxnews has been flooded with so many angry viewers demanding they quit lying even they are slowly acknowledging the truth.

Now if we can just get those other self-serving talking heads like Glenn Beck, Rush L., and a few others on the radio and tv to fess up to the truth maybe we can get their brain-washed followers to learn the real truth about MMGW and the serious impact its having and will continue to have on our world because of climate change.

H2FC- I have never denied that the earth is warming. All I've said is that the earth goes in both warming/cooling spells and there is nothing you can do to change it.

BTW- The article was to show you that if the planet is warming up then all the glaciers in the world should be shrinking but somehow they aren't. The Scientists think that Mount Shasta may be benefiting from a warming pacific ocean but they don't know for sure. Just like you can't be sure that the minor warming we have had since the beginning of the 20th century will result in a serious catastrophe. This so called Global Warming your so worried about will in my opinion result in very minor issues that we will be able to deal with without any major changes to the way we live. Its certainly isn't something to get all worked up over.

[fab]

Just to clarify something. My previous post was a copy paste from one of the articles (comments) mentioned in the OP. Too bad all these comments, and no one bothers reading what the thread's about.

[PREDATOR]

[fab]

Does popcorn promote Global Warming?

[Raider]

Originally Posted by H2FC

Thank God for the two term limit. The Bush and Cheney administration has done more harm to the American people than any other in our history.

Funny, I thought it was Bill Clinton who sat in the oval office getting BJ's while allowing Al Qaeda to attack the USA, resulting in the deaths of THOUSANDS of American civilians.

Originally Posted by bd77

I doubt you will ever convince h2fc and Tas38 of it.

The only 3 things you can convince these two are;

1-The world is coming to an end.
2-Al Gore is profiting from global warming for the good of mankind.
3-We can meet all our energy needs on solar and wind power alone.