The Associated Press: Obama EPA releases Bush-era global warming finding
WASHINGTON — A controversial e-mail message buried by the Bush
administration because of its conclusions on global warming surfaced
Tuesday, nearly two years after it was first sent to the White House and
never opened.
The e-mail and the 28-page document attached to it, released Tuesday by
the Environmental Protection Agency, show that back in December of 2007
the agency concluded that six gases linked to global warming pose dangers
to public welfare, and wanted to take steps to regulate their release from
automobiles and the burning of gasoline.
The document specifically cites global warming's effects on air quality,
agriculture, forestry, water resources and coastal areas as endangering
public welfare.
EPA releases additional evidence of Bush's global warming secrecy
On October 13, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency released a copy
of a Bush/Cheney administration’s EPA report on global warming, previously
acknowledged to exist, but only just released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.
The report written in 2007 had restrained and measured language, with
minimal detail, suggesting the EPA biologists were weary of how the White
House might react. It became well known that the Bush/Cheney team did not
want to regulate greenhouse gases.
None-the-less, their EPA 2007 report conclusion was the same as the Obama
administration EPA findings in 2009: scientific evidence concluded that
curbing C02 emissions was critical to avoid serious consequences to the
country on a health, economic, and security level.
“The report demonstrates that in 2007 the science was as clear as it is
today," Adora Andy, an EPA spokeswoman, said. "The conclusions reached
then by EPA scientists should have been made public and should have been
considered”—as part of the on going national debate.
"Both reach the same conclusion: the public is endangered and regulation is
required," said Jason Burnett, a former associate deputy administrator.
Burnett resigned from the EPA in June 2008 over the frustration of the Bush
administration's inaction on climate change. "Science and the law transcend
politics."
This jives with 2006/07 photographs that were finally declassified
and released to the public by the Obama administration in July, 2009. They
were taken from space by NASA at the same location two years apart. The
sea ice had completely disappeared.
Furthermore, the U. S. Military had thousands of photographs that
were kept secret by the Bush administration. This particular set of
photographs emphasizes the dramatic reduction in sea ice along Port of
Barrow, Alaska, taken from satellites in July, 2006. Photographs from
the same position at the site were taken again in July, 2007. The difference
was astonishing. Photographic evidence for 2008 and 2009 don’t give reason
to be optimistic about any reversal in the damage.
In fact, Canadian Astronaut, Bob Thirsk, made some interesting observations
from the International Space Station on Sunday, July 26, 2009.
Thirsk had not seen the glaciers from space for twelve years and he was
taken by surprise at the difference he observed—and he felt sad. He saw
signs of human destruction as he gazed down at the planet, through a
fragile, thin layer of Earth’s atmosphere that protects all life.
“These are one-metre resolution images, which give you a big picture of the
summer time Arctic”, said Thorsten Markus of Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight
Centre.
The pictures are proof of more than 1 million kilometers of vanishing sea ice in
2007 as compared to the previous year is a jaw-dropping loss. Polar bears,
seals, walruses, and other wildlife are already being nudged closer to
extinction by melting sea ice, dwindling habitat, and reduced food source.
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