Word: epas
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Industry hadn't taken that pledge seriously. But last month similar language made it into the President's budget proposal--and more was rumored to be in his big speech to Congress, at least until lobbyists made sure it wouldn't happen. EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman touted the carbon-dioxide limits on CNN and assured other countries that Bush was serious about them. Behind the scenes, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill argued for an even bigger push, telling Bush in a Feb. 27 memo that the main problem with the as-yet-unratified global-warming treaty was that...
...knew it was too good to be true. A former oil executive calling for reduced carbon dioxide emissions. A Republican candidate chastising the country to treat global warming seriously. The director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assuring other countries that the United States would combat greenhouse gas emissions. But then there was a letter from President George W. Bush to Senators Helms, Hagel, Craig and Roberts, saying "[W]e must be very careful not to take actions that could harm consumers. This is especially true given the incomplete state of scientific knowledge of the causes of, and solutions...
First, consider the problem of personnel--specifically, the newly confirmed director of the EPA, former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. Whitman has been what Vice President Dick Cheney called a "good soldier," or, to avoid mixing metaphors, a loyal employee, and has made a point of talking up the administration's commitment to reducing carbon dioxide. Employees who go to bat for their bosses are a business asset. Yet Bush has seriously compromised the credibility of Whitman by opening her decisions to reversal by the president. When trying to seek compliance from industry on environmental regulations, Whitman will always...
...costs of global warming are difficult to measure, but some isolated figures help to give an idea of the costs we are facing. The EPA's website shows, for example, that in my home state of Virginia, protecting coastal land from rising ocean levels (due to melting polar ice caps) will cost between $200 million to $1.2 billion. In Bush's home state of Texas, a 20-inch rise in sea level is estimated to coast between $4.2-$12.8 billion by 2100. And in our very own Massachusetts, the sea rise may cost from $490 million to $2.6 billion...
...wants to maintain its current lifestyle and consumption habits, saving the planet may have to wait. Cleaning up the environment will come at a cost to corporate profits and to consumers, and despite what he said on the campaign trail - indeed, despite what administration officials such as EPA chief Christie Whitman were saying as recently as 10 days ago - President Bush has now made clear that he believes the gain isn't worth the cost. Back to you, America...