Last week, the White House got caught making some "edits" to Center for Disease Control Director Julie Gerberding's testimony to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the public health effects of climate change. Then White House Press Secretary Dana Perino tried to make it better somehow by highlighting the public health "benefits" of climate change. Today we learn by edits, they meant cutting 1,607 words -- more than half of her testimony. Essentially, they cut everything that actually focused on the public health effects of extreme weather, air pollution, diseases, strain on food and water resources, allergies, and other health effects. Kevin Grandia gives us the full, pre-edit testimony.
So while I whole-heartedly want to believe that Mark Goldberg is right, and that the Bush administration is softening its position on climate change, all signs point to the fact that they neither take the issue very seriously nor do they want to address the concerns related to global warming. Even if they are more willing to participate in the upcoming deliberations about a post-Kyoto climate change treaty, their actions don't seem to indicate that they'll have anything constructive to offer.
--Kate Sheppard
