U.S. District Judge Saundra Amstrong has ruled that the Bush administration must release a climate-change research plan and scientific assessment report that are as much as two years overdue, thus rejecting the White House's claim that compliance with the law requiring the studies is "discretionary."

Armstrong concluded that the administration "unlawfully withheld action" required under the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (which requires the government to produce the research plans every three years and the assessments every four years), and ordered a summary of the research plan to be produced by March and the assessment by May. The last such research plan was submitted in 2003; the last assessment in 2000.

"Our courts have now told the Bush administration that 'the dog ate my climate homework' is no longer a valid excuse for ignoring global warming," said Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. "This administration has a long history of altering or suppressing science, and global warming is at the top of that list."

Kristin Scuderi, a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, responded by e-mail, saying that the court's ruling accepts "the administration's means of compliance with the act. Though the court imposed certain deadlines, they are consistent with currently planned schedules.... Whether to appeal the court's ruling is under discussion."

Whatever the hell that means.

The case (Center for Biological Diversity v. Brennan, 4:06-cv-7062) stems from a 1990 law that directed the president to periodically issue reports that recommend climate change research and analyze the effects of climate change. The Bush administration said in court filings that it determined "only recently that the initiation of a process to revise the research plan has become necessary and advisable," and that the government "has discretion about how to handle the revised reports," which Armstrong said was "wrong."

Another Hall of Fame trick play from the undisuputed, undefeated Dirtiest Player in the Game.

P.S. Leisure-time reading:

• The Record Speaks for Itself
• The Ungreening of America: Dirty Secrets
• Challenging Bush's Environmental Record (audio)
• Rewriting the Rules
• The Rollback Machine
• Irresponsible Treatment of the People's Land
• Nixon/Ford EPA Official Assails Bush Record

Tags: bush, climate change, disgrace, environment, global warming
From: Chicago
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