Mitt Wit

Mass. Gov. Questions Climate Change and Launches Plan to Fight It

When a draft of Massachusetts' new plan to fight global warming was released, enviros were heartened that a Republican governor was acknowledging the seriousness of the problem. When the final plan was released, however, Gov. Mitt Romney attached a letter to it in which he expressed agnosticism about global warming, and said he's "not a scientist" and wouldn't take sides in the debate. "If we learn decades from now that climate change isn't happening," he wrote, "these actions will still help our economy, our quality of life, and the quality of our environment." Some enviros wondered if the heavy hand of the White House was behind the backpedaling, but Romney denied he was pressured -- though he acknowledged he was urged to use the less scary term "climate change" rather than "global warming." Nonetheless, enviros concerned about global ... er, climate change take what they can get these days; they hailed the plan, a hodgepodge of some 70 regulatory changes, incentive programs, and legislative proposals.