White House Refused to Open Pollutants E-Mail (EPA report)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: New York Times

The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials said last week.

The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the E.P.A.’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said.

This week, more than six months later, the E.P.A. is set to respond to that order by releasing a watered-down version of the original proposal that offers no conclusion. Instead, the document reviews the legal and economic issues presented by declaring greenhouse gases a pollutant.

Over the past five days, the officials said, the White House successfully put pressure on the E.P.A. to eliminate large sections of the original analysis that supported regulation, including a finding that tough regulation of motor vehicle emissions could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the next 32 years. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

Both documents, as prepared by the E.P.A., “showed that the Clean Air Act can work for certain sectors of the economy, to reduce greenhouse gases,” one of the senior E.P.A. officials said. “That’s not what the administration wants to show. They want to show that the Clean Air Act can’t work.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/washington/25epa.html

[mcctatas]

1. Jesus...

nothing these assholes do amazes me anymore!

[ezdidit]

44. ditto

<a href="This image link contains an illegal code" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[Hekate]

2. Whatever happened to PAPER documentation? Bush eliminated the US Govt Printing Office...

...or outsourced it, or privatized it, early on -- all in the name of greater efficiency and saving money. The USGPO was established by Thomas Jefferson himself, so you know it was important.

Very useful for the Bushies. Send us an email! Oops!

Hekate

[jonnyra]

3. They do this shit because

they know they can. They know no one will hold them accountable for these crimes. They know the democrats are in lockstep with their agenda so they just dont give a fuck.

I have lost all hope in this system. The US government has been so corrupted by the republicans brazen criminal acts and the democrats refusal to stop them we might as well just pass over the elections. They...the corporates...will get what they want. Obama caved to the telecoms and will kiss up to big corporate money just like they all do.

The great American experiment has failed...its over. We are now held slave to the corporates with no real signs of democracy or our original constitution left. 8 years of republican rule has destroyed America.

[drm604]

12. Great Idea! Let's just give up!

That's the answer, let's just give up and not even bother to vote.
Thank you for your "concern".

[jonnyra]

25. You wanna keep believing in these people?

Go ahead. Im done. Good luck.

[drm604]

28. So your plan is to give up fighting and not even bother?

Thankfully, I don't think that you'll get much support around here for that strategy.

[Arctic Dave]

29. Bob Barr is looking for votes, give him a shout. n/t

[xxqqqzme]

41. Actually I suggested just that before the '04

election - the ultimate protest is for no one to vote. But, of course, for protest like that to work, it has to work all over. The publican are not fed up to here.....yet(it takes longer for their light bulbs to switch on).

[wurzel]

18. I agree with you. It is over.

Corruption is never reversible and always terminal. Under Democratic Adminstrations all that has ever really happened is things get worse more slowly.

[jonestonesusa]

30. I agree with you to a point

that electing Democrats is not a magic bullet because we have collectively created some of the social problems we face. How many of us Democrats are driving SUVs now, commuting longer distances than we need to due to personal choices, or do other actions that contribute to climate change? Even though the excesses of the Bush regime defy all reason, Bush didn't invent global warming.

Why do we expect our politicians to be more consistent and thoughtful than we are in our own actions, which we can control?

It all starts by looking in the mirror and taking a good honest look at ourselves. Then enough of us have to go to the ballot boxes, the halls of power, and the streets, with enough vision and determination to make a change.

The alternative is inaction and cynicism. We all know now where that leads.

[SpiralHawk]

4. "We don't want no steenkin facts." - Republicon fatcat polluters

"We've got money to make. So shut up and sit down."

- Republicons

[NM Independent]

5. Umm...

I. HATE. THESE. PEOPLE.

[Gman]

6. The Permanent Campaign

where everything is political.

[mwb970]

7. Ho hum. Another day, another bush outrage.

Or two. or three. Or 105. What difference does it make? Down the Memory Hole with it!

Move on folks, show's over. Nothing to see here.

[DWilliamsamh]

Self-Delete : Duplicate

[DWilliamsamh]

8. So now Bush is LITERALLY sticking his fingers in his Dumbo ears

and chanting in his outside voice "I can't hear you; I can't hear you, la la la..." OMG he really is literally a fucking retarded child. Someone should give him a helmet so he doesn't hurt his head banging it against the door frames and walls.

[bluerum]

11. Exactly my thought. Except for the helmet part. I say let him bang himself bloody.

[paparush]

9. God..the evolution of denial is unbelievable...

First, they changed the language in gov reports that did not stay "on message".

Then quit requesting the reports at all.

Now, they're not opening the fucking mail?


What's next? Dismantle the post office?

Ban mailboxes?

Delcare FedEx a Terrorist Group?

Brick up all the White House doors so no deliveries can be made.

[nxylas]

16. Hide out on a remote island somewhere

Like the Dursleys trying to stop Harry Potter from getting his Hogwarts letter (I just watched Sorcerer's Stone with its Rifftrax commentary on DVD, so that image immediately sprang to mind - "why don't we go visit the Count of Monte Cristo for a while?")

[AlbertCat]

20. Hide out on a remote Island somewhere...

....like....DUBAI! They have those nifty man-made ones in the shape of palm trees or the earth or something....

Hey...Haliburton's already there! Wait for meeeeee.......!

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. I agree...I want them all on Dubai...

and when the Albedo effect kicks in, as it is starting to now, and the water rises 10-20 feet...

[WildClarySage]

10. La la la la

I'm not lis-tening!

[Thor_MN]

13. Due to rising fuel costs, I think it's time for Short Bus One.

And to get some athletic gear on *, even though he doesn't participate in any sports, before he hurts himself again. He's likely to have some tantrums before the year is out.

[drm604]

14. Give them a break.

It's not their fault. Their spam filter mistook it for a Nigerian 419 scam!

[tanyev]

15. How mature.

Remember how in the first few months of 2001 the meme was that "the grown-ups are back in charge"? Not so much, it turns out.

[happygoluckytoyou]

17. i have just 2 words for you.... O BAMA

[jonnyra]

26. Would that be the same Obama

Who just agreed to give telecoms immunity? yeah right.

The democratic party does not deserve our votes PERIOD

[klyon]

19. LOL I'm dying laughing...talk about sticking your head in the sand

They sure can come up with new ways to avoid doing there job. Next they will put everyone on ignore, that will make it all go away.

LOL

[yardwork]

23. ...."put everyone on ignore" LOL!

[RedEarth]

21. God, these people are evil..... makes me sick

[lonestarnot]

22. Fucking A 6 months and a week!

[redqueen]

Thank goodness for whistleblowers.

At least some people in that Godforsaken town still have a glimmer of something resembling what once might have been integrity.

[daggahead]

24. The reality of

the world doesn't fit with the Bush Cartel's Agenda, so these types of emails can be ignored.

[bdamomma]

27. don't these jerks realize they are poisoning their own children too.

or do they think they are immuned to everything. Doesn't work like that.

[Robeson]

31. Pure negligence. Negligence is the definition of this administration...

...they really are brazenly unashamed. This administration exists to get their buddies rich, and that's it. Everyone else can go to hell.

How many of us could retain our jobs if we refused to open e-mails from a department in a company we worked for?

[awoke_in_2003]

32. I think they took their lessons

from 1984. It doesn't matter if a party member dies. All that matters is the party stays in power. And it it getting to the point where you can lump all politicians under the "party" category.

[Papa Boule]

33. Republicans: The earth is a piñata

and all the candy and goodies in it are ours. So let's whack away.

Don't remind us we live on the surface of the piñata. We don't want to know.

[Javaman]

34. This is the electronic version of sticking ones fingers in ones ears and saying...

la la la la la la la!!!

[Maestro]

36. Under this admin

does the EPA even matter unless it reports exactly what the admin wants to hear? Damn the science! Fuckers!

[OwnedByFerrets]

37. And our so-called

congressional leadership does a Sgt. Shultz and says " I see noooooooooooothing, noooooooooooooothing".



www.wearableartnow.com

[NewEnglandGirl]

38. Not surprised about this administration pulling this

but how do they get every agency to become robots and go along? There is no accountability at all anymore. I'm just counting the days until the election.

[kestrel91316]

39. White House to EPA:

LALALALALALA (fingers in ears), I can't hear you! (sticks tongue out)

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

40. "They want to show that the Clean Air Act can’t work.”

...and the No Child Left Behind Act does?

oh, that's right...No Child Left Behind is working for Military recruiters.

[Greyskye]

42. LA LA LA LA!

We can't HEAR you!





Because we have one of these!

[Blue_Tires]

43. a generation from now

the world is going to damn bush and those who mindlessly supported him and his willful environmental destruction in the name of short-term profit...none of these people better try to disavow their responsibility when the bill comes due

[Ian David]

45. "Nobody could have anticipated..." n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

46. WAAHH!! You can't make me read it! WAAHH!! nt

[journalist3072]

47. White House tried to silence EPA on emissions

Source: The Washington Post via MSNBC.com

White House tried to silence EPA on emissions
Agency official quit after administration refused to read e-mailed proposal

By Juliet Eilperin

updated 1 hour, 13 minutes ago

White House officials last December sought to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from submitting a proposed rule that would limit greenhouse-gas emissions from new vehicles, agency sources said yesterday. And upon learning that EPA had hit the "send" button just minutes earlier, the White House called again to demand that the e-mail be recalled.

The EPA official who forwarded the e-mail, deputy associate administrator Jason Burnett, refused, said the sources, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations.

The proposed rule was EPA's response to an April 2007 Supreme Court ruling that the agency had violated the Clean Air Act by refusing to take up the issue of regulating automobile emissions that contribute to global warming.

Burnett, who resigned from the agency earlier this month, sent the e-mail to the White House Office of Management and Budget at 2:17 p.m. on Dec. 5 and received the call warning him to hold off at 2:25 p.m., the sources said. The EPA is expected to release a watered-down version of its original proposal within a week, highlighting the extent to which Bush officials continue to resist mandatory federal limits on emissions linked to global warming.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25379956 /

[defendandprotect]

48. Yes . . . just pretend the e-mail didn't happen . . .

If only we could make Cheney/Bush disappear that easily!!!

[journalist3072]

49. This is exactly what Sen. Clinton talked about during the campaign

One of the reasons I supported Sen. Clinton wholeheartedly is because she constantly talked about how this Administration ignores science and does things like edit scientific reports that don't fit their world view.

And she talked about the need to let the scientists do their job and not politicize scientific reports.


This administration has a history:

- They edited the EPA's report on the air in and around Ground Zero, deleting cautionary statements and inserting more re-assuring ones that they didn't have the facts to back up.

- They edited a HHS report on the racial disparities in health care, making the report less critical of the racial imbalances in health care.

Why hasn't congress investigated this?

[defendandprotect]

50. Yes . . . I know . . . and these are all very, very serious issues .. ..

but unfortunately, there are probably another hundred even more serious --

I tend to think of this administration kinda riding around in a pick up truck

throwing bombs off of it every day ---

There are just too many things going on to fight against ---

They're wrong on every issue --

but we're getting no where opposing them!

[Pastiche423]

51. Just one more way to kill people

It is frightening how deep their greed and bloodlust is.

[dipsydoodle]

52. Now try and reconcile that with this post by Lone_Star_Dem

Global warming may endanger U.S. security : http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

It follows that the WH is pursuing polices which could threaten U.S. national security - dumbwits.

[deacon]

53. Quick Nancy, give bush an immunization shot! n/t

[liberal N proud]

54. Is this the email that the White House was treating like SPAM?

Jon Stewart was talking about the White House treating an email as if it were SPAM. Thinking if they didn't open it, they wouldn't have to face the contents. I missed the first part of the story though to know if it was an EPA email.

[Tesla]

55. I hope someone is printing pages os DU

So we at least will have a hard copy that we did know what was happening....some of us!

It's like we are in a bad movie, you wouldn't believe how stupid the characters are and the leader is King Stupid!
The rebels,(DU)are trying to save their country in a world full of war-mongers, haters and bankers! The town folk are zombie-like with no feelings.
They have taken all hope from them so they have submitted.
They hate all forms of printing freedom, you can be arrested with a hard copy like the ones we have! We try to take back our Freedom of the Press, but no court will listen. They hate lawyers because they study the law as it was written, not how "they" interpret it now!

[Supersedeas]

56. petty and this is the Neo-Con version of courage and leadership!?!

a WH afraid of email attachments -- the Coward of Crawford strikes again