Shhhh! Bush administration quietly acknowledges climate plan is doable

What do you do when government scientists come to the inevitable conclusion that, despite the presidents assertions that doing anything to combat climate change will kill the economy, it is possible to both grow the economy and tackle climate change.

If the administration is honest it admits it was wrong, it releases the report and begins to enact policies to combat climate change. If the administration is dishonest it buries the report’s findings and release it as quietly as possible, perhaps late on a Friday afternoon. Guess which root the Bush administration took when the EPA released the report on the economic implications of implementing the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act?

while the release may have been stealthy and the presentation was marked by the White House’s typical efforts to make everything look bleak, the results speak loudly, showing we can both tackle global warming and grow America’s economy.

Here’s the short version: assuming advanced energy technologies hit the market fast, America’s economy will grow 80 percent by 2030. If we don’t cap carbon emissions, America’s economy will grow 81 percent by 2030.

The 80 percent figure associated with a carbon cap doesn’t even measure the important economic boom expected from the Climate Security Act’s aggressive investment in clean energy jobs. And even that 81 percent no-cap figure has a major question mark, as it assumes that if we don’t cap carbon, our economy will not lose so much as one dollar to the impacts of runaway climate change.

Clearly, this is not good news for a Bush administration that’s trying to convince America that climate action will wreck the economy. Hence, the quiet Friday release. As the National Wildlife Federation’s Jeremy Symons said, “It’s not surprising that the Bush administration took steps to disguise the fundamental conclusion that the Lieberman-Warner climate plan is doable and protects our economy.”

You can read the full report at the EPA website. Lots more detail and analysis of the EPA report in a joint release from Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. John Warner (R-Va.).

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