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CLIMATE The Legacy of Kyoto [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It seemed that every chance he got, President Bush ignored or flat out refused to address the problem of climate change. So we were greatly encouraged by President Obama's swift announcement that he is likely to approve California's request to regulate greenhouse gases from vehicles -- a request the Bush administration denied. The logical next step would be for Mr. Obama to quickly address the Supreme Court's 2007 decision ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to examine the effects of greenhouse gases and to regulate them if necessary. Mr. Bush dodged that one, too. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal Clean Air Act plainly empowered the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases from cars and trucks -- and, by inference, other sources like power plants. There was great hope at the time that the decision would force President Bush to confront the issue of climate change, which he had largely ignored for six years. Instead, it became the catalyst for a campaign of scientific obfuscation, political flimflam and simple dereliction of duty -- which United States Senator Barbara Boxer aptly described as a ''master plan'' -- to ensure that the administration did as little as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Senator John McCain intensified his criticism of President Bush and the administration's environmental polices on Tuesday, taking a walk in the cold, rain-drenched foothills of the Cascade Mountains and asserting that in the effort to stem climate change, ''America can lead and not obstruct.'' At an outdoor news conference in the Cedar River Watershed east of Seattle, Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, declared that ''the president and I have disagreed on this issue for many years -- it isn't a recent disagreement.'' He added, ''There is a longstanding, significant, deep, strong difference on this issue between myself and the administration.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discusses the climate policy of United States President George W. Bush. Reference to a U.S. statement on climate change issued in 1989, which asserted the urgency of reducing carbon dioxide emissions; Refusal of Bush to accept the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty on climate change; View of Bush that there is no conclusive scientific proof to support mandatory emissions reductions; Details of Bush's climate plan, which many scientists view as risky in light of the threat of global warming.