Bush Environmentalism Up In Smoke

This is what the Frat Boy calls environmental progress. A leaked government report predicts that, under George Bush's "intensity reduction" programme, US greenhouse gas emissions will increase in the coming decade just as much as they have in the past ten years.

Naturally the White House, in its increasingly delusional manner, claims this will be a real achievement. White House environmental spokesman, Kristen A. Hellmer, said on Friday, “The Climate Action Report will show that the president’s portfolio of actions addressing climate change and his unparalleled financial commitments are working.”

In the period 2002-2112, total US GHG emissions are expected to increase 11 per cent, compared to an 11.2 per cent increase in the previous ten years.

Ms. Hellmer said Mr. Bush remained satisfied with voluntary measures to slow emissions.

Naturally Bush is not without supporters such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute which applauds the current regime for its success. Myron Ebell, who directs climate and energy policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a group aligned with industries fighting curbs on greenhouse gases, said Mr. Bush was right to acknowledge the inevitability of growing emissions in a country with a growing population and economy.

The Bush booster, CEI is just about what you would expect from what we've seen from these right-wing nutjob think tanks. Here's just part of the summary of the Competitive Enterprise Institute from Sourcewatch.org:

"CEI's Michelle Malkin and Michael Fumento published "Rachel's Folly," which claims that dioxin is good for you. [6] CEI's Jonathan Tolman (who holds a bachelor's degree in political science), published a study that month titled "Nature's Hormone Factory," claiming that naturally-occurring chemicals produced by plants and other living organisms are as dangerous as industrial chemicals. [7] In December of that year, CEI submitted comments opposing the EPA's proposed air quality rule to limit particulate emissions, claiming that "the EPA has failed to consider whether the proposed standard may actually increase mortality due to reductions in disposable income that compliance efforts may produce. ... At all times regulation imposes costs that mean less real income to individuals for alternative expenditure. That deprivation of real income itself has adverse health effects, in the form of poorer diet, more heart attacks, more suicides."

I guess if dioxins are good for you then greenhouse gas emissions must be positively splendid. It's remarkable that the media still parrot the garbage these bogus "think tanks" spew out, especially without revealing just how pernicious these groups are.

Not suprisingly, our very own Furious Leader, Harpo, also favours "intensity based" targets just like his American Idol.