Bush's environmental valentine. (Insider Report).(President George W. Bush)(Brief Article)

So you thought the global warming hysteria ended with the Clinton administration? Think again. The Bush administration is steadily amassing a record of environmental alarmist policies that's, well, Clintonesque. The infamous Kyoto Treaty, for example, which sought to impose uniform emissions standards and other regulatory burdens worldwide, and which the Clintons vigorously promoted, was declared dead in the water with the election of George W. Bush.

But reports of Kyoto's demise are premature. President Bush objects to the treaty's provisions not in principle but in the manner and severity of their implementation. On February 14th, President Bush sent environmentalists a valentine in the shape of Bush's proposed new Clean Skies legislation, which will, according to Bush in a press release, "[set] tough new standards to dramatically reduce the three most significant forms of pollution from power plants, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury.... This legislation will constitute the most significant step America has ever taken ... to cut power plant emissions...."

True to the form of "compassionate" (read: "socialistic") conservatism, Bush went on to explain that, as with the Kyoto Protocol, the Bush proposal intends to impose onerous and unconstitutional new controls on industry in the name of fighting the global warming chimera -- but will do it in a nicer way: "Instead of the government telling utilities where and how to cut pollution, we will tell them when ...