THE SECRET CO2 REPORT THE BUSH EPA HID

Bush-era EPA document on climate change released; The 2007 draft suppressed until now calls for regulation of greenhouse gases, citing global warming as a serious risk to the U.S. A finding by the Obama administration is nearly identical.
Jim Tankersley and Alexander C. Hart, October 14, 2009 (LA Times)

"The Environmental Protection Agency…released a long-suppressed report by George W. Bush administration officials who had concluded -- based on science -- that the government should begin regulating greenhouse gas emissions because global warming posed serious risks to the country.

"The report, known as an "endangerment finding," was done in 2007. The Bush White House refused to make it public because it opposed new government efforts to regulate the gases most scientists see as the major cause of global warming."

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"The existence of the finding -- and the refusal of the Bush administration to make it public -- were already known. But no copy of the document had been released [until requested under the Freedom of Information Act by the environmental trade publication Greenwire]…

"A finding that greenhouse gases and global warming pose serious risks to the nation is a necessary step in instituting government regulation. President Obama and congressional Democrats are seeking major climate legislation, but the administration has indicated that if Congress fails to act, it might use an EPA finding to move toward regulation on its own…In April, the [Obama] administration released its proposal for an endangerment finding…[Much of it] embraces the earlier, suppressed [Bush EPA] finding word for word [and the final Obama EPA] finding is expected soon]."

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[Jason Burnett, former EPA administrator who resigned in June 2008 because of the Bush administration's climate change policies:] "Both [the Bush and Obama EPA findings] reach the same conclusion -- that the public is endangered and regulation is required…Science and the law transcend politics."

"The 2007 draft offers an unequivocal endorsement of the prevailing views among climate scientists…and warns that in the U.S., those effects could lead to drought, more frequent hurricanes and other extreme weather events, increased respiratory disease and a rise in heat-related deaths…A current EPA official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said the sparse descriptions in the 2007 version suggested that EPA officials were worried about how the White House would respond…"