DOCTORED EPA ENVIRONMENT REPORT RAISES QUESTIONS

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Subject:     "It just doesn't work."
     Date:     Wed, 25 Jun 2003 
    From:     Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

DOCTORED EPA ENVIRONMENT REPORT RAISES QUESTIONS 

WASHINGTON, DC, June 24, 2003 (ENS) - The Environmental Protection Agency's "Draft Report on the Environment," released Monday by Administrator Christie Whitman, is billed as the first complete national picture of U.S. environmental quality and human health, the agency says. 

...

But many already feel that important climate information was left out of the report in the first place.

The National Wildlife Federation has published an internal memorandum showing that the White House's insistence on alterations to the global climate change section of the draft report prompted the EPA to delete the section to avoid responsibility for publishing information that is not scientifically credible.

“The administration must be held to account for its stewardship of the environment,” said Mark Van Putten, president of the National Wildlife Federation. “This document provides disturbing evidence of the administration’s readiness to reject or spin scientific findings on crucial environmental issues that do not suit the White House’s political agenda.”

Upon reading about the memo, Senator Jim Jeffords, an Independent from Vermont and the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and other legislators sent an open letter to President George W. Bush asking for all drafts of the EPA report as well as all related comments prepared by government agencies.

“We request a list of all participants involved in review of the document, including all administration officials and entities outside the administration,” the legislators' letter said. “Furthermore, we ask that appropriate actions be taken regarding those responsible for doctoring this report.”

Coal fired power plant in New Mexico emitting the heat trapping greenhouse gases responsible for climate change (Photo courtesy New Mexico Solar Energy Association)

The White House’s unwillingness to include all data undermines the report’s conclusions, said Greg Wetstone, director of advocacy for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It is notable for what is not there,” Wetstone told ENS.

“There is a section on global issues that does not say a word about the most important or serious challenge we have ever faced - global warming. That detracts from credibility of the whole effort,” Wetstone said.

“It doesn’t deal with the real environmental problems. The pattern here is to ignore science, ignore law, and ignore public opinion,” he said. “It goes where the worst elements of corporate America want to go.

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Original Story:  http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2003/2003-06-24-07.asp 

 

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