Bush dismisses EPA report

Associated Press/Rick Bowmer

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., left, gave Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. a spin around Capitol Hill in a DaimlerChrysler methanol-powered car Tuesday. A first cross-country trip by a hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle ended Tuesday at the Capitol. Promoters see the journey as proving the practical use of an environmentally friendly technology that someday could replace gas as the fuel of choice for automobiles.By John Heilprin ~ The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Bush dismissed on Tuesday a report put out by his administration warning that human activities are behind climate change that is having significant effects on the environment.

The report to the United Nations -- compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency from information provided by climate experts at six agencies, including the EPA -- puts most of the blame for recent global warming on the burning of fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the environment.

But it suggests nothing beyond voluntary action by industry for dealing with the so-called "greenhouse" gases, the program Bush advocated in rejecting a treaty negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 calling for mandatory reduction of those gases by industrial nations.

"I read the report put out by the bureaucracy," Bush said dismissively Tuesday when asked about the EPA report, adding that he still opposes the Kyoto treaty.

Japan ratified the international accord Tuesday and urged the United States and other countries to join efforts to fight global warming by cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases.

The report submitted to the United Nations by the State Department was the first by the Bush administration to mostly blame human activity for global warming.