http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=789

Global warming petition representing 10,000 EPA scientists
(via PEER)

Majority of Entire EPA Workforce Calls for Regulation of Greenhouse
Gases

Washington, DC - In an unprecedented action, representatives for more than
10,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists are calling on
Congress to take immediate action against global warming, according to a
petition released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
(PEER).

The petition also calls for an end to censorship of agency scientists and
other specialists on topics of climate change and the effects of air
pollution.

The petition stresses that time is running out to prevent cataclysmic
environmental changes induced by human-caused pollution and urges Congress
to undertake prompt actions:

"If we wait, we will be committing the next generation of Americans to
approximately double the current global warming concentrations, with the
associated adverse impacts on human health and the environment."

The filing of this petition coincides with today´s oral arguments before the
U.S. Supreme Court on a case (Massachusetts v. EPA, Case No. 05-1120)
brought by states seeking to force the Bush administration to regulate
greenhouse gases that fuel global warming under the Clean Air Act.

The petition signatories represent more than half of the total agency
workforce. Addressed to the members of the Senate and House committees
overseeing EPA, the petition argues that:
* The Bush administration strategy of "using primarily voluntary and
incentive-based programs" to reduce greenhouse gases is not working
nor "has [this approach] been effectively carried out;"
* EPA has abdicated its enforcement responsibilities by "failing to
investigate coal-electric plants for technical options to control carbon;"
and
* "EPA´s scientists and engineers [must be able] to speak frankly and
directly with Congress and the public regarding climate change,
without fear of reprisal."

"Professionals working for the Environmental Protection Agency are
protesting being ordered to sit on the sidelines while we face the greatest
environmental challenge of our generation," stated PEER Executive Director
Jeff Ruch, noting that the petition began among agency staff. "Under a new
Congress, perhaps the scientists at EPA can begin to directly communicate
with their true employers - the American public."

The letter is signed by presidents of 22 locals of five unions: the American
Federation of Government Employees, the Engineers and Scientists of
California, the National Association of Government Employees, the National
Association of Independent Labor, and the National Treasury Employees Union.
These unions represent more than 10,000 EPA scientists, engineers and other
technical specialists.

Read the petition:
http://www.peer.org/docs/epa/06_29_11_global_warming_petition.pdf
View the summary: http://www.peer.org/docs/epa/06_29_11_summary.pdf