The EPA Documents The White House Doesn't Want You To See

grist.org

Brad Johnson over at Wonk Room acquired a copy of the EPA's recommendations on regulating greenhouse-gas emissions that the White House has been trying so hard to hide.

The documents give you a good idea why: EPA officials concluded that the benefits of new, tougher standards "far outweigh their costs." In fact, if gas prices stay in the range of $3.50 a gallon, "the net benefit to society could be in excess of $2 trillion" through 2040 if fuel efficiency standards for automobiles are raised "well above 35 mpg."

This, of course, renders false President George Bush's assertion in April that regulating greenhouse-gases under the Clean Air Act "would have crippling effects on our entire economy." This is the edited version of the EPA's recommendations -- the original, which was sent to the White House in an email the administration refused to open, was much tougher, according to EPA officials.

See Wonk Room and Warming Law for more, or download the first 150 pages of the draft, which the Wonks have graciously posted: Part one and two [PDFs].

Comments

[KillTheMessenger]

What's the news? That the EPA has finally found out what the rest of the world knows for decades? And that the White House does not want to admit that? Please.

You can google "cost efficiency of gasoline consumption standards" and find any number of documents which will say essentially the same thing.

But since the majority of Americans is incapable of researching such a subject on the internet, it does not matter. No amount of information, federal or otherwise will make people smarter who just don't care to know. It takes a hard financial punishment to let this message sink in. Gasoline at $8/gallon will do just that.