WASHINGTON—Reports that Al Gore has replaced God, at least in one California hotel, have been greatly exaggerated, the hotel’s developer said recently.

The Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa, located 35 miles north of San Francisco, made headlines last week after an April 27 Bloomberg News story mentioned that each of the hotel rooms contained a copy of Gore’s environmentalist manifesto, “An Inconvenient Truth”—but no Gideon Bible.

Rush Limbaugh jumped on the story in his talk-radio show Wednesday, saying, “[Environmentalism] is a religion, I’m telling you! They’re taking the Bible out of there, and they say it’s a hip and trendy thing to do.”

Not quite, said developer Wen-I Chang.

Chang, 62, said in a telephone interview that Gaia had not “replaced” the Bible with Gore’s book, as has been claimed by some media outlets.

Instead, he said, the hotel staff overlooked providing Bibles in their haste to prepare for the official grand opening March 30 and did not intentionally leave them out of the rooms.

“I apologize to Christians” who may have been offended, Chang said. “We made an oversight.”

Chang, a Taiwanese immigrant and a Buddhist, said that as soon as the issue came to his attention this week he instructed his staff to put Bibles in the hotel’s nightstands. Copies of Buddhist scripture also will go in the drawers within the month.

The Gore book went in the rooms because it matched the hotel’s image as “the first eco-friendly hotel in the Golden State.”

“We focus on green, and [Gore’s] message is so powerful,” Chang said.

Gaia was built using sustainable wood and recycled materials. Water, energy use and emissions are kept to a minimum. Chang said he hopes Gaia will earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s “gold” rating for most environmentally friendly design.

A spokesman for Gideons International, which distributes most Bibles found in hotel rooms, declined to comment.