Bush, ExxonMobil Finally Feeling the Heat

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"In recent days, White House officials have made a special effort to argue that [President] Bush has always been concerned about climate change," reports the Los Angeles Times. An open letter from John Marburger of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and James Connaughton of the Council on Environmental Quality claims that "climate change has been a top priority since the president's first year in office." The letter quotes selectively from a June 2001 Bush speech, omitting parts where he sought to minimize the human impact by stating, "We do not know how much effect natural fluctuations in climate may have." Environmentalists point out that Bush reneged on a 2000 campaign pledge to reduce power plant emissions, and withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in 2001. The oil giant ExxonMobil is also greenwashing itself, reports the Washington Post. While company reports still claim it is "difficult to determine objectively the extent to which recent climate change might be the result of human actions," Exxon spokespeople are now asserting, "The appropriate debate isn't on whether the climate is changing but rather should be on what we should be doing about it."