Mixed Signals from the EPA: Dire Climate Warnings, Yet No Action

Just days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refused to regulate the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, the agency issued a report warning that the nation faces “substantial” threats to human health from climate change. The report by the Bush administration’s Climate Change Science Program forecast that rising global temperatures will mean that the U.S. will face more powerful hurricanes, diminishing supplies of fresh water in the West because of decreased mountain snow pack, increased spread of diseases, and the strong likelihood that more people — especially the elderly and the poor — will die in future heat waves. The EPA’s report is notable because it comes from an administration that long denied the link between human activity and climate change yet has consistently blocked efforts to regulate greenhouse gases. Last week, under pressure from senior members of the Bush administration, EPA officials acknowledged that they do not plan to regulate greenhouse gases under the federal Clean Air Act.