WH attacked for taking credit for states' climate regulation progress

[Kolesar]

Hubris and shamelessness, Bush and Cheney Incorporated

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/science/11CLIM.html

December 11, 2003
White House Attacked for Letting States Lead on Climate
By ANDREW C. REVKIN and JENNIFER 8. LEE

Several times at the talks now going on in Milan over a global
warming treaty, Bush administration officials have portrayed
states' actions to curb heat-trapping gases as evidence of
American resolve.

But in this country, officials in many of those same states are
strongly criticizing the administration's statements, saying
their efforts are no substitute for federal action.

The focus of the criticism is a speech in Milan last Thursday by
Dr. Harlan L. Watson, the administration's chief climate
negotiator. Listing a variety of initiatives begun by states and
communities, he said they were like ``laboratories where new and
creative ideas and methods can be applied and shared with others
and inform federal policy - a truly bottom-up approach to
addressing global climate change.''

But in Washington State, Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat, said the
administration was using state initiatives as cover for its own
inaction.
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