The continuing war over climate change accelerates, if that is possible.
White House sued for not doing report on warming
Federal law required scientific assessment be issued in 2004
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer, Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Environmental advocates sued the Bush administration Tuesday for ignoring a 2004 congressional deadline to report to lawmakers and the public on the latest research on global warming.
A 1990 federal law requires the government to produce a scientific report every four years on climate change and its effects on the environment, including land, water, air, plant and animal life and human health.
The Clinton administration issued the first report in October 2000, warning of severe effects on different regions. But the Bush administration has not filed a report and has indicated it will not do so, environmentalists said in the suit filed in federal court in San Francisco.
Instead, the administration's Climate Change Science Program says it will issue 21 mini-reports on various aspects of the overall topic. The first report, on temperature trends in the lower atmosphere, was released in May, and others will be issued periodically through 2008, a spokesman said.
"The Bush administration has failed to comply with the law,'' said attorney Julie Teel of the Center for Biological Diversity, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. "I think the administration's afraid to release this information because it makes climate change real for people.''
