Columbus, Ohio—Environment Ohio strongly criticized the Bush EPA’s
announcement today that it will further delay action in response to last year’s
U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring the EPA to reconsider its 2003 decision not
to regulate global warming emissions under the Clean Air Act.
“We are extremely
disappointed by the Bush EPA’s failure to reduce the threat global warming poses
to public health and welfare,” said Environment Ohio’s Amy Gomberg. “The White House has censored, ignored, and rewritten
the clear scientific and legal facts in order to delay the day of reckoning
when the oil, auto, and coal industries are held accountable for their pollution. Now it’s up to the next Administration to right
this wrong and finally start to tackle global warming with the many clean
energy solutions that are at our fingertips,” she continued.
The decision announced today
was heavily influenced by political operatives at the White House. New reports reveal that the White House
rejected EPA’s conclusion last December that global warming endangers public
welfare by refusing to open the email containing the legal document, leaving
the issue in limbo for more than seven months.
In stark contrast to today’s
“extremely watered-down” Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, EPA’s original
December 5 document determined that global warming is “unequivocal,” that the
evidence is both “compelling and robust” that global warming endangers public
welfare, and the EPA administrator must act to prevent Americans from harm.
“The Bush administration is
abdicating its clear responsibility to protect Americans from global
warming. Every delay makes it more
difficult to stop the worst effects of global warming,” concluded Gomberg. “This
is yet another reason why Governor Strickland and Ohio’s
other elected leaders should take a strong stance on reducing Ohio’s global warming pollution today.”
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Environment Ohio
is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization.
