Inaction on the Action Report: don't assume everything is as it seems--or that it's not. (Environmental Policies).(Brief Article)

President Bush, in a city known for hot air, so far has adamantly stuck to his position that global warming is just that-overheated, half-baked gobbledygook.

Now, the U.S. Climate Action Report 2002, prepared by his own Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and submitted to the United Nations, for the first time puts the administration on record as saying that the burning of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels is the main cause of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

What's a president to do? Dismiss it, of course. "I read the report put out by the bureaucracy," he said contemptuously.

President Bush obviously needs to distance himself from the report for fear of alienating conservative supporters, and he can't accept the premise of the report without promising to do something about it.

But "critics across the political spectrum said that Mr. Bush was trying to appear more moderate to environmentalists [his administration produced the report] while signaling to conservatives and industry that he would not promote the views contained in the report [he didn't personally endorse it]," the New York Times reported.

"White House spokesman Scott McClellan defended the EPA report by pointing to its language reiterating the administration's stance that there remains considerable uncertainty in current understanding of how climate varies naturally,"' according to the Washington Times.

Dialing Down the Rhetoric?