Report links Cheney office, oil giant to global warming policy shift

A congressional investigation has produced new details on the degree to which senior Bush administration officials favored using the Clean Air Act to limit greenhouse gas emissions — until pressure from Vice President Dick Cheney's office, ExxonMobil and others in the oil industry led the Bush administration to change course.

A report by the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, issued today, supports the disclosure by a former Environmental Protection Agency official last week that someone in Cheney's office had a hand in the shift in policy.

Among the findings of the congressional investigation: There was wide senior-level support at the EPA for concluding that greenhouse gases are a danger to the public and that the EPA should regulate emissions — from vehicles, power plants, refineries and other sources.

That would have been a dramatic shift in federal policy, and it would have given the EPA a powerful hand in trying to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases widely blamed for causing global warming.

Among those supporting this view, the report said, were Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and three senior White House officials: Deputy Chief of Staff Joel D. Kaplan; Susan E. Dudley, regulatory chief at the Office of Management and Budget; and James L. Connaughton, chief of the Council on Environmental Quality.

According to the House committee report, representatives of ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Assn. argued ...

... that the move would undercut President Bush's reputation as an opponent of government regulation. And, it said, F. Chase Hutto III, Cheney's energy advisor, supported their opposition.

The committee had been investigating the work of EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson for several months, including his role in stopping California from regulating vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions, according to report on CNN's website. Eventually, the investigation led to Cheney's office. "I don't accept their premise," Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said. As for the report that the oil industry had the support of Cheney's office in fighting new regulatory action, she said: "Frankly, that's ridiculous."

Committee Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said in a news release: "This is the dysfunctions and motivations of the Bush administration laid bare. The fact that they can, with near unanimity, completely switch positions on global warming to please the oil industry is shocking, and yet disappointingly predictable."

— James Gerstenzang

Photo: David McNew/Getty Images

Comments

[Kassandra]

How did our country get so lawless that these fascists were able to steal so much power? The world in it's totality is much worse off since they came on the scene. We now have a government closely resembling organized crime.

Even folks from Reagan's old admin are sickened by these criminals and may vote for Obama. Say what you will about Reagan starting all this, and he did. At least he was a patriot.

[Brad]

Bobby Fontaine- do you honestly believe Bush/Cheney understand or even care about the science of you're article. All they understand is HUGE PROFIT$.
What do you expect from a couple of guys who managed a C average in college and several failed businesses under their belt.
Q--You may ask how did they get to where they're at?
A--Money, Money, Money...

Jeeeeeez, I can't believe how people find excuses, or try to bail this clowns out.. ;P yuk--leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[M. W.]

Hey, "Kerry." Do you have any links to "debunk" global warming from sites that AREN'T right-wing facades dedicated to the sole purpose of creating a false controversy? How about links to a scientific journal?

[Mary Cheney]

dae said it perfectly:
"Sometimes I feel like what a Russian must have felt before the collapse of the Soviet Union"
I agree.

[Joe]

We can blame the White House, Bush and Cheney, for doing what they wished to the US, but the bulk of the blame must go to Congress. It is their responsibility to exercise oversight of the executive office, and not one elected official has done correctly by the office he/she was elected to. Its no wonder their approval rating is abysmal.
Were these medieval times, Cheney would have been beheaded. I would prefer to see him waterboarded, but don't waste good water, do it with gasoline.

[barba blanca]

As history has taught us, every empire comes to an end. We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the american empire; and along with it, the most destructive and abusive, non belligerence, force created...capitalism.

[mim]

People should not be surprised by this finding. We have a democratic controlled congress without any spine. Talk is cheap. Cheney has been accused of prejuicy with the Pleme Spy Case, and nothing is done. Bush requested a $100 billion for an Iraq war without any withdrawal plans. The Democratic Congress gave $100 million to Mexico without vertication or accountability - Why because Bush wanted it? The same thing will happen again, Congress will waste pay with investigation, and nothing will be done.
Bush even tried to push a bill thru Congress that would eleminate him from war crimes. These idiots in Congress need to be replaced with reputable candidates, that care about the people in America and not their own agenda.

[Daniel R. Washburn]

The definition of fascism is the operation of governments for the benefit of corporations rather than the benefit of the people. We have been under a fascist government for 8 years. It was installed by a bloodless coup. Can it be made any plainer than that? There is nothing more important right now than assuring that the Republican Party is out of power come January. McCain is a Bush man. He has been all along. That will not change no matter what he says now.

[Schiller Thurkettle]

If Bush and Cheney are in the pockets of Big Oil, they've done a lousy job. No new refineries have been built, and drilling new wells in US territory remains largely prohibited. This leaves Big Oil mostly drilling wells in countries ruled by kleptocrats, many of which sponsor suicide bombers.

There's no way Big Oil is happy with the performance of Bush and Cheney.

[Tim]

Uh, Brad.....are you serious?! Do you really believe that global warming is a fantasy created by the left?? Are you an idiot?! First, 4 groups - be they made up of "scientists" or not - do NOT make for a very convincing argument. Please provide me with at least 50 groups that believe likewise and then I might agree that you have a leg to stand on.

There is irrefutable evidence that global warming is CURRENTLY effecting the environment in many ways. If you'd like, I can give you hundreds of articles published by reputable scientists who have shown that global warming not only exists but is damaging the world in which we inhabit, with evidence to support their claims. Even BUSH has finally come around and admitted that global warming is real (although it appears that meanwhile his administration continues to bury their collective head in the sand). Wake up Brad, and do a little research while you're at it!

[Ivona Vujica]

THE END OF THE DINOSAUR CIVILIZATION (FOSSIL FUELS, NUCLEAR) AND THE EMERGING CONFLATION OF GLOBAL WARMING, GLOBAL CIVIL WAR, WORLD ECONOMIC DEPRESSION AND THE EXTINCTION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES…

According to an old story, a lord of ancient China once asked his physician, a member of a family of healers, which of them was the most skilled in the art. The physician, whose reputation was such that his name became synonymous with medical science in China, replied,“My eldest sister sees the spirit of sickness and removes it before it takes shape, so her name does not get out of the house. My elder brother cures sickness when it is still extremely minute, so his name does not get out of the neighborhood. As for me, I puncture veins, prescribe medicines, and massage skin, so from time to time my name gets out and is heard among the lords.

(Dr. Thomas Cleary’s introduction to Sun Tzu’s Art of War translation – note: Sun Tzu was writing at a time when Chinese civilization was embroiled in civil wars.)

War, Global Warming, financial calamity, starvation and suffering has become pornographic fodder world-wide.“The best and brightest” participate and profit by it regardless of their being on the right, left or the middle.

Chaos and Disorder are imbued and dispersed in our Knowledge-, Economic-, Climate-, even Wisdom networks of knowing. Politicians run amuck and Corporations have their blinders on to everything except what legally they are obligated to do – that is to make profit above all else.(see The Corporation documentary - What is a corporation? http://www.youtube.com/watch... )

Too late is it now for long-term planning in the phase-out of King Coal and other Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power and Weapons.

All Tribes, Nations, Communities and Peoples must call and ACT for the Full Abolition of King Coal, Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power and Weapons immediately.

Abolition of King Coal, Fossil Fuels and Nuclear power and Weapons Everywhere!

Call for the Abolition in your community now-
Stop the Global Warming Machines!
Stop the Coming Genocides - Food/Water/Energy Chaos!
Divest from King coal

For rest of document see

http://quebec.indymedia.org/en/node/28427 (previous document)
http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com (this document)

http://burningdinosaur.wordpress.com/

[ed6567]

How much more do we need to know? The first thing Cheney did was to have a meeting with all of the oil company execs to develop the energy policy. Halliburton, Oil, Iraq Oil, KBR, what more do you want to show that this guy is evil and greed to the core. He has no respect for the American people and the office he holds. This was laid bare when he was told that the American people were against his policies and his reply was, "so"? I think he should be subjected to an MRI scan.

[Summer Rhodes]

It's funny-- this presidency has actually flipped the world into a tailspin with global warming. We have maybe a few years left to stop polluting carbon dioxide, methane, etc.-- just to avoid the worst of global warming. A good story is Bill McKibben's book, THE END OF NATURE
http://www.billmckibben.com/end-of-nature.html

[ShadowDancer]

Rick, you could visit me. This old Indian would show you how to blank out this world from your mind. Problems with the Environment of the Earth now is there. Live wisely with the Earth or these things could come back to haunt you one day.

[Tyler]

You guys better be careful, apparently emporer bush has passed a bill making this type of talk illegal because it might spur on homegrown terrorism..

What about freedom of expression again?

[Julie M.]

WE CAN NEVER TRUST ANOTHER REPUBLICAN POLITICIAN AGAIN

[Randy Hirsch]

American people will soon realize they've been victimized in what will be known as the most crafted heist in history of mankind.

[Deacon]

#######
#######

Oil is payoff for the
West's efforts at providing
PROXY COMBATANTS for Israel
--for protecting Israel
from expanding, encircling
Islamic Arabism; a Jewish
nation-state having sup-
porters throughout the West
willing to destroy the
entirety of Western civili-
zation for Israel's sake.

That's the gut-wrenching
truth of why Western demo-
cracies are sacrificing
blood and treasure in the
Middle East; especially the
U.S., which has enough
off-shore and on-land oil
reserves to last 300 years
at her present rate of
consumption, and which
reserves were PURPOSELY
capped and/or not drilled
because Israel's supporters
have poured millions of
dollars into ENVIRONMENTAL
MOVEMENT groups' coffers,
to work at keeping America
from oil/energy indepen-
dence and tied to Israel's
interests in the Middle
East.

That's the truth you'll
NEVER see nor hear reported
in Western mainstream news
media, because Israel's
supporters control what's
fit to be said or printed
about why the West wars
with Islamic Arabism.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3340274697167011147&hl=en

http://planneddestructionofamerica.blogspot.com/

http://www.rense.com/general67/PRICE.HTM

#######
#######

[arhooley]

No surprise that it's Dick who would come to the rescue. He's just about the last male in D.C. with a pair of testicles and a brain.

Thank God for Dick Cheney!

[topgun]

When Bush invaded Iraq he knew oil prices would go higher, but he thought that the war would last a few months (Remember "Mission Accomplished"?). Then he thought we would occupy Iraq and everything would be HUNKY DORY. The longer it has gone on, the more the war has cost, making us put more $$ in circulation and LOWER the buying power of the US Dollar. This has served to exacerbate the problem (for you republicans, that means make the problem worse) with oil prices. COMBINE that with the Reagan deregulation of the Banking/ Mortagage industry leading to a financial crisis which is causing us to print EVEN MORE $$, you have a PERFECT STORM. These are just plain FACTS, not conspiracy theories, or the like.

[Real Daddy]

>No surprise that it's Dick who would come to the rescue. He's just about the last >male in D.C. with a pair of testicles and a brain.

Yeah - it's just too bad their reversed in both placement and size.

[Allen]

"Thank god only 5 months left to go. "
Not if McCain gets elected! Watch out, this is far, far, far from a done deal. Rove has many tricks. There's a bunch of hand picked Republican AG's in place to cause all sorts of havoc in key states. Write your reps about this issue now, whether they are R or D. Google: "write my representative" And give money to the Democratic National Committee (you'll find the web site easily). Act now or loose all hope.

[Diane]

Too bad the bush didn't "stay the course" on the Clean Air Act, that would have protected millions instead of Iraq!