White House defends revisions of scientific reports on climate change The White House scrambled into damage-control mode after The New York Times revealed yesterday that a former oil lobbyist had revised scientific government reports on climate change to enhance the appearance of uncertainty. Pushed in a press briefing to respond to charges that the edits made by Philip Cooney, chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, were part of a pattern of science distortion and politicization by the administration, White House spokesflack Scott McClellan defended the changes as part of standard review procedure and claimed they …

Dear Umbra, We would like to install a clothesline this summer to take advantage of the few months of sun that we get here in Oregon. Any advice on the best kind, and how to keep air-dried clothes from feeling like cardboard? German WhitleyPhilomath, Ore. Dearest German, Excellent. If your power supplier is, as I suspect, Consumers Power Inc. in Philomath, you are paying about 7 cents per kilowatt-hour; their handy electricity calculator says drying five loads of laundry a week is costing you $56 per year. So, besides reducing demand on the electric grid, drying your clothes outside will …

Science academies from 11 countries say global warming is, yes, real Yesterday, national science academies from 11 nations cosigned a letter to the world's leaders, making an unprecedented joint statement: Global warming is almost certainly caused by human activity; it's the biggest risk we've ever faced as a species; please #$&!*% do something about it. Signatories include science organizations from every member of the G8 group of industrialized nations, plus Brazil, China, and India, the three leading greenhouse-gas emitters in the developing world. The agitated scientists released the statement a month ahead of the G8's July summit, where summit leader …

Bush official edited gov't climate-change reports to play up uncertainty Philip Cooney, a former top oil lobbyist now serving as chief of staff for President Bush's Council on Environmental Quality, edited scientific government reports on climate change to exaggerate the appearance of uncertainty and doubt, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. Cooney, a lawyer by trade, has no scientific training. Rick Piltz, a senior associate in the government office that coordinates climate research (and someone who does have scientific training), resigned in protest and is now represented by the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, which released draft reports …

After making kissy-face in front of the press corps at the White House today, Bush and Blair took a couple of questions. One reporter asked Bush whether he believes global warming is an anthropogenic problem (without using any big words, of course): And, Mr. President, if I may, as well, on climate change -- you didn't talk about climate change -- do you believe that climate change is manmade and that you, personally, as the leader of the richest country in the world, have a responsibility to reverse that change? Naturally, Bush dodged the causation issue: In terms of climate …

Mark your calendar: annual world production of crude oil will reach its peak this coming Thanksgiving, Nov. 24. At least, that's the tongue-half-in-cheek prediction of Kenneth Deffeyes, who starts his latest book by suggesting that readers stop and give thanks for a century of plentiful supplies. Beyond Oil by Kenneth Deffeyes, Hill & Wang, 202 pgs., 2005. After the Princeton University geologist offers this figurative toast, the discussion turns serious. In Deffeyes' view, it's well past time to start thinking about what will keep society running as oil supplies start to shrink. Contrary to supply-side optimists who believe innovation will …

To feed energy demand, India gets friendly with old adversaries India's foreign policy, like that of most every major economic power, is increasingly driven by its need for oil. The globe's fifth-largest consumer economy, India already imports 70 percent of its oil, and energy demand is expected to nearly double from 2002 levels by 2030. So the country is pursuing arrangements once thought politically impossible with old South Asia adversaries, like a gas pipeline from Iran across Pakistan, and another from Myanmar across Bangladesh. It's also seeking deals with oil producers, soliciting, for instance, Saudi investment in its oil and …

James Woolsey. Former Pentagon heavies are not known for their breezy candor, so it's a rare treat to come across one who voluntarily describes himself as a tree-hugger, do-gooder, sodbuster, and cheap hawk, all rolled into one. There you have R. James "call me Jim" Woolsey, in a nutshell. Sort of. Over the course of a dozen years, Woolsey held presidential appointments in two Republican and two Democratic administrations, including one stint as undersecretary of the Navy and another as director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President Clinton, from 1993 to 1995. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, he's become …

The other day I expressed disappointment at Kevin Drum's fifth peak oil post -- the one where he lays out his recommendations for oil policy. In my inimitably oblique and unfocused way, I was simply trying to say that I wish he'd been more imaginative. If nothing else, peak oil is going to be a major inflection point in our collective history. It's a sharp turn in the road, and we can't see clearly around the bend. The stakes are huge, and call for a commensurate greatness of mind and expansiveness of thought. What Drum did is basically gather the …

Blair heads to D.C. to beg for Bush's support on G8 climate agenda U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair has put his political life on the line to support the Bush administration numerous times, citing the "special relationship" between the two countries. Ha ha, sucka! Next week Blair will fly to Washington, D.C., to beg the Bushies to support his ambitious agenda for July's meeting of the G8 countries, but they have been -- and show every sign of continuing to be -- entirely intransigent on the subject. At the center of Blair's agenda are climate change and aid to Africa. …