In The News
Tulsa World: EPA rejects Inhofe's call for delay on finding
Thursday December 3, 2009
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe called for a delay Wednesday on a greenhouse gas endangerment finding in light of allegedly stolen e-mails the Oklahoma Republican says show leading scientists apparently manipulated climate change data.
Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson declined Inhofe's request.
"At this point, I have seen nothing that indicates the scientists out there have said that they've changed their consensus," Jackson said.
"These e-mails certainly may show some poor manners, maybe more. I am not a lawyer, and it is not my job to judge that. But what we have to constantly be looking at is the science, and whether there is any information in the e-mails, or anywhere else, that changes the science."
Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson declined Inhofe's request.
"At this point, I have seen nothing that indicates the scientists out there have said that they've changed their consensus," Jackson said.
"These e-mails certainly may show some poor manners, maybe more. I am not a lawyer, and it is not my job to judge that. But what we have to constantly be looking at is the science, and whether there is any information in the e-mails, or anywhere else, that changes the science."
Posted by: David Lungren David_Lungren@epw.senate.gov
AP: UK climate scientist to temporarily step down
Tuesday December 1, 2009
LONDON - Britain's University of East Anglia says the director of its prestigious Climatic Research Unit is stepping down pending an investigation into allegations that he overstated the case for man-made climate change.
The university says Phil Jones will relinquish his position until the completion of an independent review into allegations that he worked to alter the way in which global temperature data was presented.
The allegations were made after more than a decade of correspondence between leading British and U.S. scientists were posted to the Web following the security breach last month.
The e-mails were seized upon by some skeptics of man-made climate change as proof that scientists are manipulating the data about its extent.
The university says Phil Jones will relinquish his position until the completion of an independent review into allegations that he worked to alter the way in which global temperature data was presented.
The allegations were made after more than a decade of correspondence between leading British and U.S. scientists were posted to the Web following the security breach last month.
The e-mails were seized upon by some skeptics of man-made climate change as proof that scientists are manipulating the data about its extent.
The San Francisco Chronicle: When scientists behave like bullies
Tuesday December 1, 2009
This just in from the Times of London: After the leak of highly embarrassing e-mail messages from the University of East Anglia's influential Climatic Research Unit, CRU has been forced to admit that it dumped "the original raw" climate data used to bolster the case for human-caused global warming, while retaining only the "value-added" - read: massaged - data.
In short, the CRU dumped the scientific data, but archived information that supports its conclusions. "It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years," wrote Times environment editor Jonathan Leake.
Of course global warming skeptics see Climategate as vindication. For years, global warming activists have maintained that they alone could claim the mantle of dispassionate science, while skeptics were venal, nutty or both.
In short, the CRU dumped the scientific data, but archived information that supports its conclusions. "It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years," wrote Times environment editor Jonathan Leake.
Of course global warming skeptics see Climategate as vindication. For years, global warming activists have maintained that they alone could claim the mantle of dispassionate science, while skeptics were venal, nutty or both.
The Hill: Climate science email controversy headed for Capitol Hill airing
Tuesday December 1, 2009
A House hearing Wednesday will likely provide a forum for debating what widely-circulated emails among climate scientists do or don't reveal about the state of global warming research.
The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing on climate science will feature two top administration officials: White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren, and Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Look for Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who co-sponsored the sweeping House climate bill that passed in June, to solicit testimony about the strength of research showing dangerous warming trends.
The committee will "explore with climate scientists from the Obama administration the urgent, consensus view on our planetary problem: that global warming is real, and the science indicates that it is getting worse," the hearing notice this afternoon states.
The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing on climate science will feature two top administration officials: White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren, and Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Look for Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who co-sponsored the sweeping House climate bill that passed in June, to solicit testimony about the strength of research showing dangerous warming trends.
The committee will "explore with climate scientists from the Obama administration the urgent, consensus view on our planetary problem: that global warming is real, and the science indicates that it is getting worse," the hearing notice this afternoon states.
NYTIMES DEBORAH SOLOMON: Global Warning - Questions for James Inhofe
Sunday November 29, 2009
Why have you, a conservative senator from Oklahoma who has dismissed global warming as "a hoax," announced that you plan to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which opens in Copenhagen on Dec. 7 and seeks to reach a new agreement on limiting carbon emissions globally?
I don't want a group of people to tell the people of Copenhagen that the United States is going to pass some kind of a cap-and-trade bill. I want to be there, if I'm a one-man truth squad, to say: "No, that isn't true. They don't have the votes. We're not going to pass it."
It might pass eventually, but right now, it's true that climate-change legislation is stalled in the Senate.
What's happening right now is - since it would be very embarrassing for John Kerry and Barbara Boxer to go to Copenhagen and try to act like we're going to pass something - I suspect that Harry Reid will give them an out and start calling votes for the time that they would otherwise be going to Copenhagen.
I don't want a group of people to tell the people of Copenhagen that the United States is going to pass some kind of a cap-and-trade bill. I want to be there, if I'm a one-man truth squad, to say: "No, that isn't true. They don't have the votes. We're not going to pass it."
It might pass eventually, but right now, it's true that climate-change legislation is stalled in the Senate.
What's happening right now is - since it would be very embarrassing for John Kerry and Barbara Boxer to go to Copenhagen and try to act like we're going to pass something - I suspect that Harry Reid will give them an out and start calling votes for the time that they would otherwise be going to Copenhagen.
WSJ Kim Strassel: Cap and Trade Is Dead - So Declares Senator Jim Inhofe
Friday November 27, 2009
So declares Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, taking a few minutes away from a Thanksgiving retreat with his family. "Ninety-five percent of the nails were in the coffin prior to this week. Now they are all in."
If any politician might be qualified to offer last rites, it would be Mr. Inhofe. The top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee has spent the past decade in the thick of Washington's climate fight. He's seen the back of three cap-and-trade bills, rode herd on an overweening Environmental Protection Agency, and steadfastly insisted that global researchers were "cooking" the science behind man-made global warming.
If any politician might be qualified to offer last rites, it would be Mr. Inhofe. The top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee has spent the past decade in the thick of Washington's climate fight. He's seen the back of three cap-and-trade bills, rode herd on an overweening Environmental Protection Agency, and steadfastly insisted that global researchers were "cooking" the science behind man-made global warming.
NRO: Inhofe: CRU Scandal Bigger than ACORN Flap
Wednesday November 25, 2009
Sen. James Inhofe (R., Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, tells NRO that the leaked correspondence from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at Britain’s University of East Anglia could potentially be a bigger scandal than the release of undercover videos exposing ACORN earlier this year. “If you use financial criteria and evaluate the costs involved, then this is certainly more expensive,” says Inhofe. “It’s a wake-up call for America.”
Inhofe says that the e-mails, which reveal climate scientists working together to present a united front on anthropogenic global warming, are the “final redemption” for climate-change skeptics.
“The notion that these scientists tried to declare the science settled for personal reasons is disgraceful,” says Inhofe. “They were purposefully misrepresenting the facts. They tried to make America believe and it worked, for a time. Even my grandkids came home filled with this stuff, saying that ‘anthropogenic gases cause global warming.’ I reminded them that these things go in cycles. We’ve had warming then cooling, then warming and cooling again. I’m delighted that people are discovering that the science has been cooked for a long period of time.”
Inhofe points out that the CRU data were used in the 2007 report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was subsequently used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as it prepared its guidelines on carbon emissions. These connections, he says, are very worrisome for the American taxpayer.
Inhofe says that the e-mails, which reveal climate scientists working together to present a united front on anthropogenic global warming, are the “final redemption” for climate-change skeptics.
“The notion that these scientists tried to declare the science settled for personal reasons is disgraceful,” says Inhofe. “They were purposefully misrepresenting the facts. They tried to make America believe and it worked, for a time. Even my grandkids came home filled with this stuff, saying that ‘anthropogenic gases cause global warming.’ I reminded them that these things go in cycles. We’ve had warming then cooling, then warming and cooling again. I’m delighted that people are discovering that the science has been cooked for a long period of time.”
Inhofe points out that the CRU data were used in the 2007 report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was subsequently used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as it prepared its guidelines on carbon emissions. These connections, he says, are very worrisome for the American taxpayer.
Washington Times Editorial: Hiding Evidence of Global Cooling
Tuesday November 24, 2009
Scientific progress depends on accurate and complete data. It also relies on replication. The past couple of days have uncovered some shocking revelations about the baloney practices that pass as sound science about climate change.
It was announced Thursday afternoon that computer hackers had obtained 160 megabytes of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in England. Those e-mails involved communication among many scientific researchers and policy advocates with similar ideological positions all across the world. Those purported authorities were brazenly discussing the destruction and hiding of data that did not support global-warming claims.
It was announced Thursday afternoon that computer hackers had obtained 160 megabytes of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in England. Those e-mails involved communication among many scientific researchers and policy advocates with similar ideological positions all across the world. Those purported authorities were brazenly discussing the destruction and hiding of data that did not support global-warming claims.
Wall Street Journal Editorial: Global Warming With the Lid Off
Tuesday November 24, 2009
'The two MMs have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the U.K., I think I'll delete the file rather than send to anyone. . . . We also have a data protection act, which I will hide behind."
So apparently wrote Phil Jones, director of the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) and one of the world's leading climate scientists, in a 2005 email to "Mike." Judging by the email thread, this refers to Michael Mann, director of the Pennsylvania State University's Earth System Science Center. We found this nugget among the more than 3,000 emails and documents released last week after CRU's servers were hacked and messages among some of the world's most influential climatologists were published on the Internet.
So apparently wrote Phil Jones, director of the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) and one of the world's leading climate scientists, in a 2005 email to "Mike." Judging by the email thread, this refers to Michael Mann, director of the Pennsylvania State University's Earth System Science Center. We found this nugget among the more than 3,000 emails and documents released last week after CRU's servers were hacked and messages among some of the world's most influential climatologists were published on the Internet.
