Cheney reaction

Ex-EPA official details White House interference on climate action

Posted by Kate Sheppard at 5:59 PM on 08 Jul 2008

Muckraker: Grist on Politics

In a letter [PDF] made public today, former deputy EPA administrator Jason Burnett indicates that both the Office of the Vice President and the Council on Environmental Quality have attempted to censor discussion of the consequences that global warming poses to human health.

Burnett, who went public about the administration's obstruction after leaving the EPA in early June, detailed the interference in a letter to Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara Boxer responding to an inquiry [PDF] she sent to him last week. In the letter, which was made public today, Burnett outlines several instances of White House interference with the agency's findings.

He says that in December, the White House asked him not to send the endangerment findings, though Burnett had already emailed them to the White House Office of Management and Budget. Upon realizing the document had already been sent, Burnett says he received a "phone call from the White House" asking him to to send a follow-up email saying that the document "had been sent in error."

"I explained I could not do this because it was not true," writes Burnett.

He also notes that in the fall of 2007, the Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of the Vice President asked him to work with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to remove portions of their report detailing the threats that climate change poses to human health.

And in January of this year, when EPA officials were preparing their testimony to Boxer's committee for a hearing about the decision to deny California a waiver, an official in the Office of the Vice President called Burnett to tell him that they wanted the phrase "greenhouse-gas emissions harm the environment" altered in the prepared remarks. Burnett refused, and in the end the testimony was presented as prepared.

EPW chair Boxer held a press conference today on this new information. "I have met with Mr. Burnett, who informed me that he resigned from the agency after concluding that no constructive action on global warming would take place during this Administration," said Boxer. "What a sad day it is for the American people that they lost a brilliant professional who wanted to protect us from the ravages of global warming."

"We now know that this censorship was part of a master plan," Boxer continued. "History will judge this Bush administration harshly for recklessly covering up a real threat to the people they are supposed to protect."

Boxer is asking that EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson release every document related to the Agency's endangerment finding, including the email that the White House has refused to open. She's also requesting that the EPA release their Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on global warming emissions in its original form. She called for Johnson's resignation if he doesn't bring forward these documents, and pledged to do everything within the committee's power to obtain those documents.

Boxer said that the EPW Committee will hold a hearing on July 22 on the most recent evidence of the health threats posed by global warming, in which Burnett will be called as a witness. She said they will also host a hearing in the fall and draft a committee report on the findings for the next administration.

For story: Cheney reaction
15 Comments | Post a Comment

Huge story

I think this is a huge story. And the SECOND story of the week concerning this whistle-blower in the EPA and the White House.

It looks like, except for AP, this was released late in the day and got lost in the shuffle. Let's hope it gets more coverage tomorrow (Wednesday).

by christophersj at 10:14 PM on 08 Jul 2008

The reason Cheney's office removed CO2/health link

The reason Cheney's office is trying so hard to remove any US government declaration that CO2 emissions lead to global warming, which is a threat to human health, is that this would force the EPA to regulate CO2 emissions. Obviously, this link will eventually be declared by the US government, and the EPA will be forced to regulate CO2 emissions, but delaying this allows big Republican donors to reap billions of dollars by polluting without penalty.

In my opinion, those VP Cheney is trying to protect are the same people that Republican policy is designed to benefit, and it continues to amaze me why the common man keeps supporting the Republican party even though it is directly against their best interests. It is sort of like arguing about family values while your house is being burglarized. I console myself by repeating the mantra: America is a democracy, so gets the government it deserves.

We must be really bad.

by dobermanmacleod at 4:12 AM on 09 Jul 2008

Burnett is a hypocrite

For several years, Jason Burnett spewed the Bush Administration company line, but now he relishes the excessive praise that everyone has been giving him lately. He has given EPA staff a ridiculously difficult time. He does not deserve Senator Boxer's gushing. He is not our savior here to free us from our climate worries. It is not particularly brave of him to finally stand up to them now. Everyone else has come out against the Bushies, and both Presidential candidates support climate change regulation. He is independently weathly, and the only reason that Democrats have a crush on him is because he has donated generoursly to them.

by Ariell at 5:24 AM on 09 Jul 2008

asdf

"it continues to amaze me why the common man keeps supporting the Republican party even though it is directly against their best interests"

The Republican Party has been very successful in identifying and exploiting issues that caused people to vote for them (and often against their own interests).

They've used the Communist threat, racism, sexism, homophobia, abortion, and fear to gain votes.

Now Communism is dead. Racism dying out (the Helms generation is going). Women have largely reached parity. People are no longer afraid of gays. The most objectionable types of abortion are outlawed. And the current Administration has hollered "WOLF" so often that people no longer pay attention.

Even wealthy Republicans are starting to understand that we need foreign workers if we're going to get our crops picked and our meat processed.

What issues that concern working people are left for the Republicans to exploit?

Well, there is the fear of Islam taking over the world. They're pushing that one at the moment.

by Bob Wallace at 8:32 AM on 09 Jul 2008

SSDD

None of this suprises me. Personally, I hope Cheney invites Bush & Burnett out to go hunting with him one day.
And yeah Burnett, its easy to have courage once you left the job instead of standing up and doing the right thing while you had it. Coward.

by Masked Goddess at 8:55 AM on 09 Jul 2008

Let up

What's the point of bashing the guy now? I'm just grateful that we have another whistle-blower. We have much more to gain by supporting those who turn on the Bushies than whining that they should have done more, sooner.

These folks have been gradually disillusioned and are coming out of a powerfully persuasive environment. If they're to be joined by more of their former colleagues, those who are still in the Bush fold need to see that they'll be welcomed by the other side (i.e. us).

Eat what you grow, grow what you eat

by PermieWriter at 10:06 AM on 09 Jul 2008

Its unhelpful

It is unhelpful in many ways to bash Burnett. There are at least 3 other ways that he could have handled it that would have been much, much worse -- including capitulation.

By the way, this story is DEAD today. WTF????

by christophersj at 10:17 AM on 09 Jul 2008

To all of the profoundly self-righteous...

What PermieWriter said.

Also, for anyone who is actively trying to make positive change from within the system (as opposed to standing on the sidelines, slinging mud and insults), there is a constant tension between the compromises required to remain within the system, and the potential to do good by remaining within the system. It's a tough decision, and it's one that must be revisited frequently, and the "right" answer is never obvious.

I don't know the details, but I don't get the impression that Burnett is a Scott McClellan, i.e. a disillusions former believer. Instead, he seems like someone who was trying to do the right thing and make change from within the system, and eventually got fed up and left. He may not have gone public while still employed by the EPA (very possibly because it might have opened him up to prosecution), but he did refuse, on principle, to honor the White House's (absurd) request for truthiness while still employed by the government.

As far as I can tell, this guy is a hero.

by GreenEngineer at 10:22 AM on 09 Jul 2008

Contrite

Ya'll are right, of course, there's no need to call names and negative bashing. That serves no purpose except to lean with the dark side. So, I stand corrected. A whistle blower, whether in our out of office is to be commended. We all know how hard it is to change within the system. Sometimes the only way is to leave and sing like a canary.

by Masked Goddess at 11:14 AM on 09 Jul 2008

Applaud Burnett But ...

also recognize that taking action while in office is exponentially more effective than admitting wrongs afterward. Lyndon Johnson admitted that the Vietnam War was a mistake after he was out of office. Lotta good that did! Ditto for Al Gore, who did NOTHING for the environment during the eight years he was in the White House.

That said, it's good that these people come forward at some point. Or it's at least not as bad as not coming forward at all.

by Wolverine at 1:11 PM on 09 Jul 2008

CNN video

Here is the CNN video of the story.

http://web.mac.com/cjohnsonla

by christophersj at 2:57 PM on 09 Jul 2008

This is news?

I don't know about all you, but I didn't need a Stanford-educated economist to tell me this administration is dirty, manipulative, underhanded, and captured by powerful special interests. As if this is going to make a difference.

Do we really want this White House and this EPA to create sure-to-be-cozy-to-industry rules on greenhouse gas emissions anyway?

by guade00 at 10:55 PM on 09 Jul 2008

What the public needs to hear

Sure, neither you nor I need any more evidence, but that kind of force-feeding of red pills is necessary for folks who would rather keep their eyes closed. The more evidence of the sheer villainy (more King John than King George, really) of this administration, the easier it will be for the Obama revolution to take hold and take us where we need to go in the next eight years.

Eat what you grow, grow what you eat

by PermieWriter at 10:14 AM on 10 Jul 2008

Guade00, Are you drunk?

Are you drunk? This is very powerful testimony that helps establish a pattern beyond a reasonable doubt. Get it? Its a fact instead of innuendo with this testimony.

My suspicion is that you do not believe in the ability to right the whole situation, is that right? I do. Many of us do. You sound like you have given up.

by christophersj at 10:51 AM on 10 Jul 2008

Hypocrite

This is not new!They are called bandwagon jumpers.They don't have the nerve or are afraid for their jobs or whatever,but they will jump on the bandwagon when it is to their interest.While I don't care for some of these people on a personal level.I do like that they have information that can be used to send bush/cheney to jail(yeah,right.Can only wish)and most of their cabinet.I will take help from where ever to convict these felons,these criminals of mass destruction(iraqi citizens,american citizens,global warming,endangered species,etc.).

Why not ask why!?

by usandthem at 9:55 AM on 19 Jul 2008
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