Related Documents Beneath the Hot Air 2003 - [PDF Help]

WASHINGTON -- President Bush’s global warming plan will allow more greenhouse gas pollution to occur at a faster rate than if the nation maintained the pollution trends of the past five years, according to the second edition of a National Wildlife Federation (NWF) report released today. Beneath the Hot Air 2003, which analyzes new data released today by the United States Department of Energy, finds that the Bush administration’s claim that their global warming plan would slow pollution is nothing more than hot air when it comes to protecting people, wildlife and the environment.

“The pollution increases we have seen for the past five years were bad enough for the environment, but the White House’s global warming plan would allow more pollution to occur at an even faster rate,” said Jeremy Symons, National Wildlife Federation’s Climate Change and Wildlife Program Manager. “The Bush administration needs to come clean with the American public and acknowledge that its so-called plan will make the problem worse instead of better. It’s time for them to throw it out and start over.”

The Department of Energy data featured in NWF’s Beneath the Hot Air 2003 report indicate that the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide that the United States is adding to the atmosphere each year increased by 4.9 percent over the past five years. This growth is due to the nation’s increasing dependence on coal, oil and natural gas. If these trends were to continue for the next ten years, the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions from energy would be expected to grow by ten percent.

According to the White House’s own data, the President’s global warming plan translates to an emissions increase of 13 percent over the next decade if White House forecasts of economic growth are correct. The President’s plan obscures its endorsement of a large increase in the nation’s global warming pollution by using an “emissions intensity” target that links the amount of greenhouse gas emissions to the size of the economy rather than identifying concrete emissions targets.

This latest data was quietly announced one week after the National Wildlife Federation uncovered internal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) papers that showed that the White House has tried to suppress and alter sound scientific information on global warming.

“Suppressing the science on global warming doesn’t hide the fact that the President’s misguided energy agenda and his efforts to relax enforcement of the Clean Air Act will increase global warming pollution,” continued Symons.

Leaders in Congress are poised to provide environmental leadership on this issue where the President has failed. In July, a historic vote is expected in the Senate on a bipartisan plan by Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ) to reduce U.S. emissions.

“The fact that greenhouse gas emissions are rising more slowly than expected is good news, but at the end of the day emissions are still going up,” said Symons. “The environment won’t be protected if we continue to increase our pollution, and failing to take action now will make it that much harder to solve the problem down the road.”

The National Wildlife Federation released its first edition of Beneath the Hot Air in July of 2002 in part to document the fact that emissions growth had already slowed below forecasted levels well before the President pursued voluntary agreements with industry.

“The administration has set the bar so low that it’s impossible not to meet their goals,” said Symons. “That may not stop them from trying to claim credit in the future, even though they are not taking responsible action to reduce the nation’s emissions.”

Beneath the Hot Air is available on the web at www.nwf.org in the NWF News Room.

The nation’s largest member-supported conservation education and advocacy group, the National Wildlife Federation unites people from all walks of life to protect nature, wildlife and the world we all share since 1936.