Deep divisions were exposed within the Bush administration yesterday over whether the United States should sign a key treaty at the Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro.
A leaked memorandum disclosed that William Reilly, head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, had issued a last-minute appeal to Washington to accept small changes to the biodiversity convention, so that the United States could sign it and international anger over President Bush's hardline stance could be defused. His request, however, was dismissed.
The convention protecting plant and animal species and their habitats is one of the summit's most important documents, but the administration announced a week ago that it would not sign it because its provisions could harm America's booming biotechnology industry and Washington could find itself paying huge Third World bills.
White House officials not only rejected Mr Reilly's plea, which was made on Wednesday night, but his confidential memo was leaked, leaving him in what would appear to be a barely tenable position. Mr Bush was yesterday obliged to express his full support for Mr Reilly, who is America's chief negotiator at the Earth summit. He condemned the leak to The New York Times as "terribly offensive". In Rio, Mr Reilly issued a terse statement, saying it was "most unfortunate that someone within our government chose to leak information about these most important efforts that demanded diplomatic discretion".
Mr Bush insisted on Thursday that he had a superb record on environmental matters and that he would go to the summit next week "on the offence, not defence. Because I will not sign a treaty that in my view throws too many Americans out of work, I refuse to accept that kind of criticism from what I consider some of the extremes in the environmental movement, internationally or domestically," he said.
Mr Reilly's memo to Clayton Yeutter, the White House domestic policy chief, pointed out that Washington's refusal to sign the biodiversity convention was "the major subject of press and delegate concern here". He said Brazil had offered to "fix" the treaty so the United States could sign, and he passed on to Mr Yeutter a list of "relatively small fixes of language" that he had proposed. These amendments would remove "troublesome clauses that create anxieties about intellectual property rights, technology transfer, concessional terms, and the regulation of biotechnology".
The memo said that the proposed changes, "while not making everyone in the US government totally happy, would address the critical issues that have been identified. They are worth a last examination." Mr Reilly asked Washington to give him an immediate decision as signing of the treaty was due to begin yesterday.
The New York Times said that it was given a copy of the memo by one of Mr Reilly's administration opponents. The office of Dan Quayle, the vice-president, came under immediate suspicion. He is responsible for promoting America's economic competitiveness, but his office denied responsibility.
"The modifications were minor and it was communicated to Reilly that this doesn't come close to fitting the bill," one official said. "The response was what you'd expect. A flat no," said another.
In Rio Mr Reilly had already begun telling reporters on Thursday morning that there could be a compromise over the convention. He was then told by other journalists that his request had been dismissed by the White House, so he changed his remarks.
"He led people to believe we were going to change our position. He is the one who got himself way out on a limb," one administration official said yesterday.
Mr Reilly, former president of the World Wildlife Fund, has clashed repeatedly with the White House and other administration departments over the past year. He has lost almost every important battle as Mr Bush, in a presidential election year, has consistently put the demands of business and industry before environmental concerns.
The Earth summit is expected to be at the top of the agenda when the president holds talks with John Major at Camp David this weekend.
