San Francisco, Nov 15: Environmentalists sued the Bush administration for failing to produce a report on global warming's impact on the United States' Environment, economy and public health.
Lawsuit seeks to compel the US Climate Change Science
Programme to issue the national assessment, which should
contain the most recent scientific data on Global Warming and
projections for its future impacts. The plaintiffs claim the
government must complete such a report every four years under
the global change research act of 1990.
"Global warming is one of the most serious threats
facing humanity today," according to the complaint filed
yesterday. Without the report, decision makers and the public
"are without one of the most important tools to grapple with
this complex, potentially overwhelming and yet all important
issue."
The White House office of Science and Technology
policy, which was named in the lawsuit, had not received the
complaint yesterday and could not comment on it, said
spokesman Ben Fallon.
But Fallon defended the administration's record on
combating Global Warming, pointing to increased funding for
alternative energy research and partnerships with other
countries.
"We feel very positive about our record on climate
change," Fallon said. "The President has been focused on
results-driven research and looking for practical ways to
address climate change in ways that aren't damaging to the
economy."
The lawsuit was filed in Federal Court in San
Francisco by the Centre for Biological Diversity, Friends of
the Earth and Greenpeace, and has support of John Kerry.
