From the NewsMax.com Staff

For the story behind the story...

Schwarzenegger: Bush in 'Denial' on Global Warming

Reprint Information

Book on Katie Couric Makes Waves White House: We're Not Subject to FOIA FBI Seeks 2 Mysterious Men on Ferry Publisher: Conservatives Do Read As Much As Liberals Romney Shrugs Off Mormon History Film

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and fellow Republican Gov. Jodi Rell of Connecticut accused the U.S. government on Monday of "inaction and denial" on global warming.

"It's bad enough that the federal government has yet to take the threat of global warming seriously, but it borders on malfeasance for it to block the efforts of states such as California and Connecticut that are trying to protect the public's health and welfare," the governors wrote in The Washington Post.

These two states and 10 others have approved plans for tougher standards than those imposed by the government to limit vehicle emissions of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change.

But the states can't put the new standards into practice without a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency, which has not yet granted one, 16 months after California first requested it.

Story Continues Below

  The governors also criticized President George W. Bush for an executive order he issued last week giving federal agencies until the end of 2008 - near the end of Bush's term - to continue studying what to do about greenhouse gas emissions.

"To us, that again sounds like more of the same inaction and denial, and it is unconscionable," they wrote.

"California, Connecticut and a host of like-minded states are proving that you can protect the environment and the economy simultaneously," Rell and Schwarzenegger wrote. "It's high time the federal government becomes our partner or gets out of the way."

EPA officials have said they are considering options after the Supreme Court ruled in April that greenhouse gases can be regulated as pollutants under the federal Clean Air Act, which supports the states' case. An EPA hearing on the topic is scheduled for Tuesday in suburban Washington.

© Reuters 2007.

Editor's note:
Al Gore`s Global Warming Spin Debunked, More Here
The 3 Best Income Stocks in the World
Doctor: Germs Linked to Many Health Conditions

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Global Warming

Al Gore

Inside Cover Stories
FBI Seeks 2 Mysterious Men on Ferry

Publisher: Conservatives Do Read As Much As Liberals

Romney Shrugs Off Mormon History Film

Bob Grant to Return to Radio

Carville Seeks Perfect '08 Bumper Sticker More Inside Cover Stories