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Finally something is being done to call out the Bush administration for their unethical and now even illegal suppression of data concerning global warming. Thank God for groups like the Center for Biological Diversity who sued the government in violation of U.S. law by failing to produce a study on the impact of global warming. Evidently there is a little known Global Change Act of 1990 that requires the government to update a research plan and scientific assessment of climate change. But hey, this is George W., he doesn’t have to follow the law. He has proven that over and over. So, what does this mean to the administration?
From an article on YahooNews.com, it states that the Global Change Act “mandates the research plan should be revised every three years and the assessment every four years. The last research plan was in 2003 and the last assessment was published in 2000″. So, Greenpeace and other environmental groups who stated that the government suppressed science on climate change sued in November in which they sought a court order to produce the reports.
What this does is force the Bush administration to comply with court orders that a summary of the revised proposed research plan be published in the Federal Register no later than March 1, 2008 and the scientific assessment must be produced by May 31, 2008.
Of course, as is typical of the Bush administration, they claim that they can do whatever they want. Their response to the court order was tepid basically saying that “only recently that the initiation of a process to revise the research plan has become necessary and advisable” and that the government has discretion about how to handle the revised reports. Dana Perino, White House spokeswoman, said that the administration will review the ruling before commenting. It’s that old mantra again of no accountability and of being above the law.
At least for one who was disgusted and infuriated by Bush’s record on the environment, I was happy to at least see someone challenge the status quo. And, according to Matthew Vespa, the attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity,
This is the first court order specifically rebuking the Bush administration for suppressing climate change science. The report will provide updated information that all federal agencies will have to look at when assessing the impact of climate change.
All I can say is…score a victory for the people! Even if it is a small victory, it made me feel better just to read this story.
If you would like to find out more about this ruling, reference the case number 06-7062, Center for Biological Diversity v. Brennan, U.S. District Court, for the Northern District of California ( San Francisco).
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