Obama's Pollution Blunder

And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Bridge to Nowhere

President Obama has had another unpleasant run-in with the facts. We told you Tuesday, the president implied that the 2007 Minnesota bridge collapse was tied to a lack of infrastructure spending when it was actually caused primarily by a design flaw and in fact, that bridge was being refurbished at the time of the collapse.

Well, during that same town hall President Obama talked about pollution from coal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The challenge with coal is that although it's very cheap, it's also dirty. And it can create the kinds of air pollution that not only is contributing to climate change but is also creating asthma for kids nearby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

However, the National Institutes of Health disagrees. It says the exact cause of asthma is not known. Researchers think some genetic and environmental factors interact to cause asthma.

The American Lung Association says toxins released from coal-fired power plants can cause asthma attacks for people who already have the disorder. Also, a 2000 British study found there was little evidence for an association between children's residential proximity to coal mines and the prevalence of asthma.

By the Numbers

The Environmental Protection Agency says U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2009 dropped to their lowest level in 15 years.

Emissions fell 6 percent primarily because the impact of the financial crisis causing decreases in fuel and energy consumption.

Despite that year's decrease emissions for the period between 1990 and 2009 increased by more than 7 percent.

Tip of the Iceberg

And finally, there is apparently much more to the audio recording of President Obama at a fundraiser last week, apparently unaware his microphone was still on.

CBS's Mark Knoller shared just five minutes of a 30-minute recording that was accidentally piped into the White House press area. Knoller says the decision to deny media requests for the rest of that tape was made by his editors.

Fox News has sent a request to CBS asking that the entire recording be released.