US releases Bush-era warming finding

WASHINGTON: A controversial e-mail message buried by the Bush administration because of its conclusions on global warming surfaced this week, nearly two years after it was sent to the White House and never opened.

The e-mail and the 28-page document attached to it, released on Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, show that back in December of 2007 the agency concluded that six gases linked to global warming pose dangers to public welfare and wanted to act to regulate their release from automobiles and the burning of gasoline.

The document specifically cites global warming's effects on air quality, agriculture, forestry, water resources and coastal areas as endangering public welfare.