Bush emission plan adds to environmental legacy

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's plan to stop the growth of global warming emissions is bound to be part of his checkered environmental legacy, a record roundly criticized by conservation groups and political opponents.

The broad outlines of the plan call for letting U.S. carbon dioxide emissions peak in 2025, but offer no specifics on how to get there. Bush rejected new taxes, more trade barriers or abandoning nuclear power while focusing on emissions from the power industry.

With only nine more months in the White House, this kind of long-range plan from a lame-duck president found little favor with those already critical of Bush's stance on combating climate change.

"Unfortunately, President Bush retains the mantle of the most anti-environmental president in history," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters.

Karpinski noted Bush's promise during the 2000 presidential campaign to cap global warming pollution from power plants and said it was never honored.

"Since that time, all we've had is empty words but no serious action," Karpinski said by phone.

In the last two years, Bush has more publicly accepted the notion that human activities -- coal-fired power plants, fossil-fueled vehicles -- contribute to the problem and that the problem is serious.

But his administration has rejected economy-wide, mandatory programs to curb carbon dioxide emissions. This includes the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012.