When foxes run the hen house (greenhouse): a familiar Bush Administration tale

A NYT story, "Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming," gives yet more evidence of the what passes for "science" policy advice in the puritan plutocracy of George W. Bush.

A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents.

In handwritten notes on drafts of several reports issued in 2002 and 2003, the official, Philip A. Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush administration officials, had already approved. In many cases, the changes appeared in the final reports.

The dozens of changes, while sometimes as subtle as the insertion of the phrase "significant and fundamental" before the word "uncertainties," tend to produce an air of doubt about findings that most climate experts say are robust.

Mr. Cooney is chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the office that helps devise and promote administration policies on environmental issues. . . . .


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A good sign of a failing city or failing society: when people take out more than they put in. That seems consistently characteristic of the Bushies approach. - LW