Did anyone expect such early international criticism of President Bush’s energy plan? Yesterday, Jan Pronk, the head of U.N. talks on climate change and the Dutch environment minister, described the plan as a “disastrous development” that would “undoubtedly” lead to more greenhouse gas emissions. A press release issued by Friends of the Earth in the U.K. was titled “Bush to Planet Earth: Drop Dead.” In the U.S., no surprise, Greenpeace dumped several tons of coal outside Vice President Dick Cheney’s residence and blocked an entrance with empty oil barrels. Former President Carter wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post accusing the Bush administration of using “misinformation and scare tactics” to justify attacks on the environment.
