Markey: Bush Takes Credit for Warmer Winter, Higher Energy Prices

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Contact: Select Committee, 202-225-4081

Markey: Bush Takes Credit for Warmer Winter, Higher Energy Prices

Supports Recycling by Trotting Out Old Numbers, Strange Logic

WASHINGTON, DC (November 28, 2007) – For the second time in under six months, the Bush administration is using the results of failed climate and energy policies—the warmest year on record and higher energy prices—as proof that they are contributing to a reduction in global warming emissions. Final numbers released by the Energy Information Administration today, originally released in draft form in May, said that the drop in global warming emissions was due to weather-related events and high energy prices.

“This is the perfect metaphor for the administration’s posture of passivity as the world gathers to confront global warming in Bali.” said Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. “Emissions went down in the U.S. because heating and cooling degree days went down – not because of any policy success of the Bush administration. Our 100 years of carbon emissions are now warming the planet, and science says that if we don’t drastically reduce those emissions, today’s balmy weather could turn deadly for much of the planet. Nevertheless, our innately-optimistic president has decided that the tiny temporary reduction in emissions from warmer weather validates his policy of doing nothing. Someone needs to tell him that when it comes to preventing climate catastrophe, warmer weather is not the cure!”

The report, “Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2006”, stated that U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2006 were 110.6 million metric tons (MMT) below their 2005 level of 6,045.0 MMT, a reduction of 1.5 percent. They cited as the main causes for these reductions: “favorable weather conditions” that caused fewer heating and cooling degree days; higher energy prices; and increased use of natural gas, the least carbon intensive fossil fuel, and greater reliance on non-fossil energy sources.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called 2006 America’s warmest year on record. Annual U.S. and global temperatures are now approximately 1.0 degrees F warmer than 100 years ago, and the rate of warming has quickened over the past 30 years. The past nine years have all been among the 25 warmest years on record for the contiguous U.S., an historically unprecedented streak.

“The world is warming, and Bush isn’t just fiddling while the world burns, he’s singing his own praises to the same lackluster tune,” continued Markey. “I hope the President’s negotiators do not try to use this information during the international climate negotiations next week in Bali, as they will be laughed out of the place.”

The timing of the release of these old numbers coincides closely with the United Nations global warming negotiations set to start next week in Bali, Indonesia. President Bush has refused to sign onto the Kyoto agreement or any mandatory reductions on global warming emissions. Scientists say we must cut emissions by 80 percent or more by the middle of this century to avoid the worst effects of global warming.

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