# WH refuses to open EPA's e-mail re greenhouse gases
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [June 27, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427 "2008-06-27T12:56:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/1 "2008-06-27T12:56:18Z")
Story [here:](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/washington/25epa.html)
> [@](#):
>
> The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials said last week.
>
> The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the E.P.A.’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said.
John Stewart put it best: “So, the White House is treating the nation’s official pollution policy like a spam boner-pill ad?!”
But wait, it gets worse:
> [@](#):
>
> This week, more than six months later, the E.P.A. is set to respond to that order by releasing a watered-down version of the original proposal that offers no conclusion. Instead, the document reviews the legal and economic issues presented by declaring greenhouse gases a pollutant.
>
> Over the past five days, the officials said, the White House successfully put pressure on the E.P.A. to eliminate large sections of the original analysis that supported regulation, including a finding that tough regulation of motor vehicle emissions could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the next 32 years. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
>
> Both documents, as prepared by the E.P.A., “showed that the Clean Air Act can work for certain sectors of the economy, to reduce greenhouse gases,” one of the senior E.P.A. officials said. “That’s not what the administration wants to show. They want to show that the Clean Air Act can’t work.”
_sigh_ . . . Outrage fatigue . . .
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/2 "2008-06-27T15:09:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> They want to show that the Clean Air Act can’t work.”
I would extrapolate from that, actually, and claim that they want to show that government can’t work. If you vote a party with the philosophy that government doesn’t work into office, they’re going to try their damnedest to prove that government doesn’t work. Duh.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/3 "2008-06-27T15:50:30Z")
Wait, a governmental agency officially sent another governmental agency an important document affecting them…_in an e-mail_?
Is that better, or worse, than breaking up with someone via e-mail?
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/4 "2008-06-27T16:08:05Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose]
Wait, a governmental agency officially sent another governmental agency an important document affecting them…_in an e-mail_?
[/QUOTE]
At least it wasn’t posted as a MySpace bulletin.
> [@](#):
>
> George W. Bush, Dick Cheney Just Bought You as His Pet!
>
> I’m a Skanky Ho who Eats Cock!!1
>
> Please Repost this and Help Make a Difference! Thanks!
>
> blue lollipops r good
>
> Mr. President, it would be cost effective to require the nation’s motor vehicle fleet to average 37.7 miles per gallon in 2018!
>
> can u find love 3 times?
Doper Challenge: Guess which of those are actually cut ‘n’ pasted from my MySpace bulletins.
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### Author:  [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/5 "2008-06-27T16:20:37Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot]
Doper Challenge: Guess which of those are actually cut ‘n’ pasted from my MySpace bulletins.
[/QUOTE]
I know which one was left over email from the Clinton administration.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/6 "2008-06-27T16:39:20Z")
Since the recent Supreme Court ruling, there will be a bunch of cells opening up in Gitmo. I say we move large chunks of the Bush Administration into them. Sure, they may not have done anything legally wrong, and they may not be charged with anything for years, but that hasn’t stopped the Bushies, has it?
I saw an article that said Captain Planet is coming back. First show should be Captain Planet whomping Shrub’s ass.
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### Author:  [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/7 "2008-06-27T16:59:23Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager]
I saw an article that said Captain Planet is coming back.
[/QUOTE]
That fantastic green mullet is on its way back?
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/8 "2008-06-27T17:56:14Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose]
Wait, a governmental agency officially sent another governmental agency an important document affecting them…_in an e-mail_?
[/QUOTE]
And then the second agency pressured the first agency to make specific changes to the document that no one at the second agency had read.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/9 "2008-06-27T18:07:30Z")
They’re on drugs. There’s no other explanation. They are huffing big bong-loads of Tijuana ditch weed, datura, PCP and maybe a couple of ground up guitar picks. They’ve transcended mere obstructionist stupidity and flung themselves wholly into an alternative reality. Its like nothing I’ve ever seen it terms of blank faced stubborn refusal to accept facts.
I figure they must think that the huge burden of totally shit-witted scandals that tumble like an avalanche every day will give them cover, no one will notice this rather obscure bit of ensuing penis.
We can’t impeach them, can’t stop them, and they won’t listen. Its like having to wait six months while a developmentally challenged toddler plays with a loaded revolver, just hoping he won’t paint the wall with someobody’s brains.
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### Author:  [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/10 "2008-06-27T18:35:00Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator]
We can’t impeach them, can’t stop them, and they won’t listen. Its like having to wait six months while a developmentally challenged toddler plays with a loaded revolver, just hoping he won’t paint the wall with someobody’s brains.
[/QUOTE]
Else’s. Somebody else’s brains.
-Joe
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/11 "2008-06-27T18:42:03Z")
They won’t respond to any of the FDA’s text messages either. Bitches.
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### Author:  [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/12 "2008-06-27T21:57:47Z")
perhaps they should’ve used a singing telegram.
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### Author:  [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/13 "2008-06-28T03:33:05Z")
These guys are going to do their best between now and next January to completely fuck up the entire apparatus of the federal government so that President Obama will be unable to accomplish anything during his first year in office. They know they can get away with this because the only possible consequence will be a sternly-worded letter from a Congessional committee, requesting their appearance at an oversight hearing.
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/14 "2008-06-28T04:28:43Z")
Could they drop leaflets on the ranch in Crawford?
Send an email to Bush that says, “Not for the President’s Eyes”?
Leave copies in the washroom on Air Force One?
This Administration is proof positive that you really don’t have to cover up your assholedness anymore. You can just be a Big Stinky One and there is no remedy in place for dealing with anything that is that in-your-face.
Why can’t the Supreme Court simply rule that the findings are official? Ore require that the President accept the report?
I keep getting an imagine of the chimp with the hands over its eyes and over its ears.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/15 "2008-06-28T04:39:52Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe]
I keep getting an imagine of the chimp with the hands over its eyes and over its ears.
[/QUOTE]
Two-out-of-three ain’t bad.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/16 "2008-06-28T05:03:37Z")
If the EPA was ordered in court to make and produce a determination about greenhouse gases and the White House has ordered it altered and suppressed, aren’t we getting into obstruction of justice territory?
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/17 "2008-06-28T05:20:23Z")
Be kinda like busting Jeffrey Dahmer for health code violations.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2008, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/18 "2008-06-28T07:24:12Z")
[QUOTE=Great Dave]
perhaps they should’ve used a singing telegram.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah
Ta-ta-ta-ta-da
Your planet Earth is dead …
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2008, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/19 "2008-06-28T10:49:13Z")
How anyone can continue supporting this administration is beyond my feeble understanding.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh-refuses-to-open-epas-e-mail-re-greenhouse-gases/454427/20 "2008-06-28T15:14:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Be kinda like busting Jeffrey Dahmer for health code violations.
No, I feel this is an example of one of this administration’s biggest flaws - the belief that the legislative and judicial branches of the government have no authority over the executive branch.
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