Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman clarified his position on how policymakers should deal with climate change. In a speech Tuesday at The Heritage Foundation he said, “There’s not enough information right now to be able to formulate policies.” Even if there were a consensus that there is global warming, and it’s man-made, then the United States might still choose not to take unilateral action, he added. Premature political action, he noted, could jeopardize economic recovery for a potentially ineffectual attempt to tackle the issue. “The scientific community owes us more,” …
Another round of leaked e-mails from the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Climatic Research Unit have surfaced, once again illustrating why governments should not be making serious policy decisions based on mainstream climate science. Several of the following excerpts not only call into question conventional “climate change” wisdom but also suggest the selective use of information with an agenda in mind: Observations do not show rising temperatures throughout the tropical troposphere unless you accept one single study and approach and discount a wealth of others. This is just downright dangerous. …
A recent study authored by Mark Crowell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that in the U.S., climate change will increase the area subject to flooding by 45 percent in 2100. But to get this number, the study used estimates of sea-level rise that were more than 200 percent higher than the estimates of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Even with its questionable temperature projections, the IPCC’s various projections of sea-level rise are between .18 and .59 meters (about 7 to 23 inches) (See chart above.). However, …
On Sunday, the government of Australia announced that it will implement a US$24.74 per-metric-ton tax on carbon emissions. The damage the tax is expected to do to the energy sector there, and to the Australian economy generally, offers insight into what the effects of a carbon tax could look like in the United States. The plan will tax 500 of the nation’s largest polluters, and will redistribute some of the revenue in an effort to offset increased costs to energy producers and consumers – though significant economic damage is expected …
As we mourn the human toll taken by the tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, some are using the disaster as an opportunity to warn about the dangers of climate change. Al Roker recently suggested that climate change is bringing tornadoes from the country to the city. Environmentalist Bill McKibben, the same guy who blamed the Washington, D.C., snowstorms on global warming, penned a snarky op-ed in The Washington Post saying that those who ignore these weather events are ignoring a much bigger problem in climate change. Despite these claims, what …
The Senate is expected to vote today on several amendments that would affect the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) told reporters that it’s now or never and voting on the amendments will “get rid of that issue one way or the other.” Policymakers have introduced a number of legislative fixes, both bad and good, to address the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. A temporary fix by means of a two-year delay is no fix …
There is no limit to the amount of distortion the enviro-left is willing to deploy to accomplish their policy goals. Last month, the Obama Commerce Department issued a report finding that the “scientists at the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration did not manipulate data or otherwise engage in wrongdoing.” But as University of California at Berkeley Professor of Physics and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Faculty Senior Scientist Richard A. Muller explains in the accompanying video, this does not mean that what these scientists produced on global warming can be considered science: …
Last Friday, House Republicans re-introduced legislation that would fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011. This iteration included deeper cuts that would reduce spending for the rest of the year by a total of $100 billion compared to the President’s budget proposal. Though the new proposal includes $16 billion in unwise cuts to security spending, taking their initial spending reduction proposal back to the drawing board for more cuts shows lawmakers’ commitment to putting the federal budget on a sustainable path, and is a promising step …
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) endangerment finding gives the agency justification to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, most notably carbon dioxide (CO2), under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The EPA already began targeting motor vehicles last year and will start regulating emissions from new power plants and major expansions of large greenhouse-gas-emitting plants (more than 25,000 tons of CO2 per year) this year. Several Members of Congress released or plan to release bills to either delay or prohibit the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases. Some ideas are better than others; …
There she goes again. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano just can’t speak in public without destroying any remaining confidence Americans have left in her agency. CNS News reports that at a conference devoted to “environmental justice”, Secretary Napolitano announced that the Department of Homeland Security would be creating the “Climate Change and Adaptation Task Force” to mitigate the affects of global warming on security and response operations. No…really. According to CNS, Napolitano said the task force would examine: 1) “How will FEMA work with state and local partners to plan for …
