Turn out the lights!

It didn’t make headlines here, but maybe it should have: last week France and the United Kingdom signed a joint declaration pledging cooperation in the fight against global warming.

Their legendary enmity – which sparked the 100 Years War, inspired one of Shakespeare’s greatest speeches http://shakespeare.mit.edu/henryv/henryv.3.1.html , and was re-opened somewhat by the Iraq war – was set aside as the two nations agreed to promote a low-carbon European economy and support cuts in global warming pollution across the European Union. http://www.number-10.gov.uk/files/pdf/UK-FR%20Communique%20270308.pdf.

By contrast, literally the same day (March 27), the Bush administration officially declared it planned to do nothing about global warming except to take comments on what it ought to do.

It is perhaps a sign of the times that the Bush declaration – coming only days before tomorrow’s anniversary of the Bush administration’s historic Supreme Court loss on global warming – didn’t even rate a mention in the news sections of the Washington Post or New York Times. (The Times’ eloquent editorial writer, Bob Semple, did produce another wonderful piece of prose, inveighing against Bush “Flimflam.” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/opinion/29sat2.html?scp=13&sq=global+w... )

Under obvious orders from the White House, EPA chief “Spineless” Steve Johnson announced that the agency would issue an “Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,” bureaucratic jargon that roughly translates into “lots of process – but no action anytime soon.”

How much delay? Consider that EPA issued a similar “advanced notice” in 2004 regarding the need to clean up high-polluting diesel train and ship engines. It took the agency nearly four years to come out with actual standards, which, by the way, were hailed by the very industries being regulated. That issue was far less complex and contentious than global warming.

The EPA declaration was badly timed: it came the same week as news of a huge fracture in an Antarctic ice shelf – more tangible evidence that global warming is a real and growing threat. But the Bush team has punted the issue to the next administration, leaving those who want action to issue subpoenas (Congressman Ed Markey’s Select Committee on Global Warming aims to do that this week to try to find out what the EPA was planning before the White House put down its big foot) and to return to court in some attempt to cudgel the Bush administration to take action. (Expect states and environmentalists to do this tomorrow.)

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, members are still celebrating the recent energy bill, despite new revelations that corn-based ethanol quietly received a huge exemption from global warming requirements. Time Magazine has reported that “biofuels aren't part of the solution at all [to global warming]. They're part of the problem.” http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975,00.html

If that weren’t bad enough, those seeking to move forward with the so-called Lieberman-Warner climate bill are reported to be trying to figure out just how many more special deals have to be cut to permit even debate on the legislation.

“This is absolutely headed for a disaster,” reports a friend of mine, who works for a prominent member of the so-called Green Group of major environmental organizations.

So while the French and British move forward, we seem to be spinning in circles, hoping that the “next administration” will set things right.

While awaiting that development, EPA’s Atlanta regional office decided to take matters into its own hands, turning out the lights for an hour as part of last Saturday’s “Earth Hour” demonstration of the need to do something about global warming. http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/3cf9d9ffa029de288525741a00656ac8!OpenDocument

What we really need is for someone to turn out the lights on the Bush administration, and do it quickly.