ENERGY
White House Suppresses Key Global Warming Document

A ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that details both the threat of global warming and our ability to address the problem has been suppressed by the White House since December. This document, produced in response to a "monumental" Supreme Court mandate, includes a "multimillion-dollar study conducted over two years" that finds "the net benefit to society could be in excess of $2 trillion" if strong carbon dioxide emissions standards for the automotive industry are issued. The proposal to increase today's fuel economy standards by 50 percent from 25 miles per gallon to 38.3 mpg by 2020 is stronger than those included in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, which called for a 40 percent increase. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson used the signing of the act as the public excuse to reject the findings of his staff and block California's proposal to regulate greenhouse tailpipe emissions. In fact, congressional investigations have revealed that officials in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) refused to open the email containing the EPA plan and that Johnson has been stonewalling to prevent disclosure of President Bush's role.

$2 TRILLION BENEFIT: As first revealed by the Detroit News, an advanced model used by the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) foundthat iincreasing fuel economy standards by 4 percent a year would have a net benefit to society of $1.4 to two trillion dollars by 2040. The benefit is strongly tied to the price of gasoline. Using the latest estimates from the Energy Information Administration, the EPA study assumed that gasoline prices would get no higher than $3.50 a gallon. Those figures are already outdated, as gasoline prices have reached an average of $4.09 a gallon, and oil prices are nearing $146 a barrel. With higher gasoline prices, the benefits of high carbon dioxide standards would be even greater. Consumers are responding already to the spiking price by moving away from gas guzzlers. Detroit automakers have suffered hard sales declines: "Ford Motor was down 28 percent in June, General Motors was off 18 percent, and Chrysler dropped 36 percent." Toyota likewise fell 21 percent. Only Honda Motor, with its fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles, saw any sales gains.

NEW STANDARDS: The ruling  prepared by the EPA in December, after being rejected by the White House was pared down and recrafted as an "Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" -- a draft version with a request for further rounds of public comment, thus delaying any implementation until the next administration. Even after major cuts from the December version, this document makes a mockery of Bush's claim in April that applying the Clean Air Act to global warming pollution "would have crippling effects on our entire economy" and be a "glorious mess." In fact, the ruling finds "technology is readily available to achieve significant reductions," "the benefits of these new standards far outweigh the costs," and the new standards "would result in substantial reductions" in greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, under the terms of the 2007 Energy Act, NHTSA proposed gas-mileage standards that the Center for Biological Diversity criticized for being kept low "through a number of bizarre assumptions, including asserting that gas will cost $2.36 per gallon in 2020 and $2.51 in 2030." In contrast, the automotive industry -- after arguing they "acted in good faith" to develop the law -- is challenging these standards  saying the NHTSA implementation "goes beyond what it is technologically feasible and economically practicable" and will create "net social costs."

INTENSE BATTLE: Johnson testified before Congress on May 20 that he would issue this rulemaking draft by the end of spring. (A version acquired by The Progress Report is dated May 30.) The Detroit News reported that the EPA proposal would be published June 23, but an "intense private battle" between OMB officials and the EPA has blocked publication. According to published reports, the political appointee in charge of the plan, Jason K. Burnett, stepped down because of this "collision course between the agency and the OMB." As the Wall Street Journal reported, the OMB "has asked the EPA to delete sections of the document that say such emissions endanger public welfare, say how those gases could be regulated, and show an analysis of the cost of regulating greenhouse gases in the U.S. and other countries." The OMB instead "wants the document to show that the Clean Air Act is flawed and that greenhouse-gas regulations should be developed under new legislation," reflecting the public stance taken by Bush. The EPA's findings raise serious questions about whether Bush’s statements to the American public were made in good faith and why he asserted executive privilege on June 20 to block the congressional investigation.

Under the Radar

CIVIL LIBERTIES -- ACLU: ADMINISTRATION 'CONTROLS AND SUPPRESSES' WAR INFORMATION: Yesterday the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released "thousands of pages of documents related to Navy investigations of civilians killed by coalition forces in Iraq." The documents were obtained from the Navy through a Freedom of Information Act request and reveal that the Bush administration and Defense Department have gone "to unprecedented lengths to control and suppress information about the human cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," the ACLU noted. The practices detailed in the documents include "inviting U.S. journalists to 'embed' with military units but requiring them to submit their stories for pre-publication review; paying Iraqi journalists to write positive accounts of the U.S. war effort; and erasing journalists' footage of civilian deaths in Afghanistan." Appearing on the Daily Show last month, CBS Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan said that "no one really understands" the situation in Iraq, saying: "Tell me the last time you saw the body of a dead American soldier. What does that look like? Who in American knows what that looks like?" 

CONGRESS -- COMMITTEE: ADMINISTRATION KNEW ABOUT BUSH DONOR'S OIL CONTRACTS: Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee concluded that despite White House denials, "administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with close ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the regional Kurdistan government (KRG) that ran counter to American policy and undercut Iraq's central government." The company, Hunt Oil, is owned by Ray L. Hunt, a former Halliburton board member who has donated $35 million to the Bush presidential library. When the oil deal was made in September 2007, Bush claimed that he "knew nothing about the deal." The State Department called it "counterproductive" and said that the contract "needlessly elevated tensions between the KRG and the national government of Iraq." The documents, however, show that State Department officials were well aware of Hunt's intentions, "did nothing to discourage the deal and in some cases appeared to welcome it." These findings led House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) to send a letter yesterday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice questioning the U.S. role in the awarding of other Iraqi oil contracts with Western companies. 

ETHICS -- TEXAS REALTORS TO PROTEST ROVE AT UPCOMING CONVENTION SPEECH: The Daily News of Galveston County, TX reported yesterday that former top Bush aide Karl Rove is scheduled as the keynote speaker at the Texas Realtors Association's convention in San Antonio this September. But when local realtors Karen Derr and Alice Melott heard the news, "they were appalled." In fact, Derr, Melott, and other area realtors have "launched an e-mail campaign to persuade the association's leaders to strike Rove from the speaker lineup." "What kind of message are we sending to the public we seek to serve by our very invitation to such an infamous politico?" Melott said in a letter to association leaders. Bill Hammond, an associate of Kerr's, agreed, saying he if the campaign proves unsuccessful, he plans to protest Rove at the convention. "Rove definitely does not embody the ethics we want the public to associate with Realtors," Hammond said. While the realtors are concerned that Rove would disrupt the convention, the realtors association chairman Randy Jeffers said that he has no plans to withdraw the offer to Rove to speak at the convention, saying he is proud that the organization will feature "one of the most influential and controversial people in public policy today."

Think Fast

The Justice Department is currently considering "letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims, Arabs or other racial and ethnic groups." The ACLU criticized the announcement, saying that the FBI could begin investigations simply "by assuming that everyone's a suspect, and then you weed out the innocent."

ABC News reports that in the past week, high-level discussions amongst senior administration officials about the status of Guantanamo Bay have "escalated," and President Bush is expected to soon decide whether to close the prison.

According to the G8 Climate Scorecards 2008, "the U.S. has done the least among the world's eight biggest economies to address global warming." The study also found that none of the G8 nations has taken enough steps to prevent catastrophic temperature changes.

"High levels of formaldehyde found in trailers provided to Hurricane Katrina evacuees on the Gulf Coast probably resulted from cheap wood and poor ventilation in designs used by manufacturers." The revelations confirm "the role that manufacturers' practices and weak federal regulation played in the public health disaster after" the hurricane.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen warned Wednesday that an Israeli air strike against Iran would make the Middle East more unstable. "Opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful for us," he said. "This is a very unstable part of the world, and I don't need it to be more unstable."

And finally: Long before he wanted to join government, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wanted to be…a zookeeper. In the introduction to "America's Best Zoos: A Travel Guide for Fans and Families," Gingrich writes that he "fell in love with seeing animals in all their glory and diversity." Guidebook co-author Allen Nyhuis said his publisher was initially "skeptical" of allowing Gingrich to write the introduction "because of the image that conservatives don't like the environment."

Good News

A federal judge said yesterday that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act established by Congress "was the 'exclusive' means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans," rejecting the government's claim that the president's "constitutional authority as commander in chief" trumped that law.

State Watch

MISSOURI: "A judge has denied a request from critics of stem cell research to block spending from a state life-sciences research fund."

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Deval Patrick (D) signs a landmark energy bill that does away with "long-standing obstacles to building renewable power projects in Massachusetts and making homes and businesses more energy efficient."

ARIZONA: Two initiatives designed to toughen Arizona's undocumented immigration will not appear on the November ballot.

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Radio host Lars Larson rips "Wall-E" film as "propaganda" that teaches kids "humans are bad for planet Earth."

WONK ROOM: In controversy over Medicare pay cuts, conservatives side with insurance industry.

MEDIA MATTERS: Fox News airs altered photos of New York Times reporters.

EDITOR & PUBLISHER: Five years ago, President Bush declared, "Bring 'em on."

Daily Grill

"I don't think the federal government of the United States needs to get involved."
-- White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, 6/25/08, on Iraqi oil contract negotiations

VERSUS

"State and Commerce department officials knew about Hunt Oil's negotiations [in Iraq] and had told company officials that there were no objections. In one note, a Commerce Department official...invited them to contact him 'in case you need any support.'"
-- Washington Post, 7/3/08