As you watch the Bush Administration's handling of global warming issues, you have probably realized President Bush seems to vacillate back and forth between environmental commitment and a pro-industry "wait and see" stance. In his campaign promises, Mr. Bush said he wanted to be known as the environmental president, yet in a February 1990 speech made to world officials at the UN, studying global warming, the President did not once even use the phrases 'global warming' or 'greenhouse effect', but instead spoke vaguely of "changes to the atmosphere in unexpected and unprecedented ways." The reason for the weak UN speech - John Sununu, the President's Chief of Staff - rewrote the President's speech just before the meeting.
Sununu also had a role in last spring's attempt by the Office of Management and Budget to squelch NASA scientist James Hansen's testimony before a Senate committee on global warming.
On the environmental side, the President's recent announcement to give the EPA Cabinet level status is good news. EPA Administrator William Reilly is a good man, concerned about the Earth and global warming. Reilly has twice recommended that the US immediately propose international cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gases, but both times Sununu blocked these proposals.
What can be done? Clearly John Sununu is hindering global environmental progress, and must be removed from his White House position, just as anti-environmental Interior Secretary James Watt was kicked out of the Reagan administration. Intense public pressure forced the removal of Watt and we can do the same to get rid of John Sununu. Write our President today:
President George Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20500
Ask President Bush to remove John Sununu from his staff and let William K. Reilly, EPA Head, do the job right. ***
