Global Warming Lawsuit Against Bush Administration to compel them to follow law [View All]

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Sen. Kerry and Rep. Inslee Join Conservation Groups in Global Warming Lawsuit Against Bush Administration

Members of Congress File Key Document Detailing Suppression of Science by Government

SAN FRANCISCO– Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) joined conservation groups today, filing an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit against the Bush administration for its failure to issue a legally required National Assessment of climate change impacts on the United States that is now over two years overdue. The members of Congress filed the amicus brief today in Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace, Inc. v. Brennan, et al. (Case No. 06-CV-7062 (SBA) (N.D. Cal.)), a lawsuit calling on the administration to comply with the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The court filing comes a day after the Senate Commerce Committee heard testimony regarding the suppression of climate science by the administration.

“Members of Congress are among the key decision-makers the National Assessment was designed to inform about the profound threats posed to the United States by global warming,” said Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the attorneys arguing the case. “The Bush Administration’s suppression of the National Assessment is an illegal attempt to hide the impacts of global warming not just from Congress but from the public as a whole.”

The National Assessment is intended to be the preeminent summary for decision-makers of the best available scientific information relating to the impacts of global warming on the United States. The last National Assessment was issued in late 2000 and by law must be updated every four years.

In their brief, the members of Congress argue that “Defendants’ failure to act in accordance with the express congressional direction in the GCRA… has profound implications for the nation’s ability to begin seriously addressing today’s greatest environmental challenge – global warming.”
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The amicus brief, declarations, summary judgment motion, and other relevant documents are available online at http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/programs/policy/energy/national-assessment.html

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