Academic

Bush Administration still refuses to address the harm of greenhouse gases

By Kathy Stanchi

After months of delay, under pressure from environmental groups, and under federal court order to decide, the Bush administration finally listed the polar bear as ?threatened? under the Endangered Species Act. ?Threatened? is a step down from ?endangered? under the Act. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne acknowledged that diminished sea ice threatened the  future of the bears, but employed a seldom used provision of the ESA to add stipulations to the declaration. Those stipulations would allow oil and gas exploration to proceed in areas where the bears live despite the ?threatened? listing. Kempthorne also said that it would be ?wholly inappropriate? to use the ?threatened? listing as a tool to reduce greenhouse gases, as environmental activists have hoped to do. Prior to becoming Secretary of the Interior, Kempthorne was a strong political opponent of the ESA.

The good news is that all the current candidates for president acknowledge the harm of greenhouse gases to the environment. Recently, John McCain criticized the Bush administration for its stance on climate change.

Overall, though, most environmental groups find that McCain falls far short on environmental issues as compared with Obama and Clinton. For an in-depth look at the environmental policies and records of the three candidates, check out the League of Conservation Voters website. The LCV scores candidates based on their lifetime voting records on key environmental issues. You can also see a more substantive comparison chart on the website. The lifetime scores of the three candidates are: Obama 96 (out of 100), Clinton 90, and McCain 26.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on May 15, 2008 (boomark / email).