More Bush Administration Science Abuse

[Blogged from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport!] Anyone concerned about how this administration has repeatedly distorted, undermined, and in some cases suppressed information about global warming should read this amicus brief (PDF). It was just filed by a distinguished group of climate scientists--including James Hansen and Nobel Laureates Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina--in the upcoming Supreme Court case over whether the EPA should be compelled to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. I have already observed how Judge A. Raymond Randolph, in his majority opinion in this case at the D.C. Circuit level, totally misrepresented the science of climate. The chief strategy employed by Randolph was a tried-and-true one: He selectively cited (and therefore, exaggerated) scientific uncertainty while ignoring (and therefore, downplaying) more affirmative scientific conclusions. I had not probed, however, how the Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency had itself committed very similar offenses its decision not to take regulatory action on GHGs. However, in their amicus brief the climate scientists have done my work for me. As they write (citations replaced with ellipses):