Open Letter To President Bush On The Climate Action Report 2002

Dear President Bush,

We are deeply disappointed to read your Administration’s submission to the United Nations, the “Climate Action Report 2002” (“CAR”).  You may be aware that last year your administration agreed to settle a “climate” lawsuit filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), Senator James Inhofe, Representatives Joseph Knollenberg and Jo Ann Emerson, and others (DCDC C.A. No. 00-02383).  In return for our withdrawing our complaint, your Office of Science and Technology Policy assured us that the “National Assessment on climate Change” (NACC) would “not [represent] policy positions or official statements of the U.S. government.” (see attached).

That September 6, 2001 correspondence asserted to Plaintiffs’ satisfaction that the unlawfully produced and deeply flawed document did not and would not serve as or as the basis for any policies or positions of the Federal Government of the United States, but would instead be treated as no more than another among various third-party submissions.

Further contributing to this settlement was an August 31, 2001 submission by the United States Department of State, to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”).  This document, “Comments” from the “Final Government Review” of the “IPCC Third Assessment Report, Synthesis Report,” reinforced our belief in your offer to assert that the National Assessment indeed did not – and would not — serve as the position of the Federal Government of the United States as to the science of the theory of climate change or global warming, or the basis for any such position or any policy. As such Plaintiffs agreed to withdraw their Complaint.

Now, it is cited as authoritative throughout CAR Chapter 6, as the U.S. position. This CAR submission represents not merely a significant policy departure by your administration.  We are also very disappointed that the Administration has violated this agreement, made in good faith and on the Plaintiffs’ assumptions that both parties would abide by its spirit and letter.

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                                    Fred L. Smith, Jr.

                                                                                    President And Founder