 |
|
Global Warming’s Missing Link: EPA Whistleblower Exposes Agenda’s Fatal Flaw
By Chris Horner
Posted on Jul. 20, 2009
The Environmental Protection Agency is pushing the greatest regulatory intervention in US history, seeking to declare that carbon dioxide poses an “endangerment” under the Clean Air Act, threatening human health and the environment. To hear the EPA tell it, CO2 – which nonetheless remains indispensible to life on earth and without which plants die, more of which produces higher crop yields, etc. – will kill us all. This proposal is a cornerstone of the Obama administration’s attempt to bring the energy sector of the economy under state control just as it seeks to do with health care, essentially ruining something in order to take it over in the name of cleaning up capitalism’s mess. It’s an old play, which the statists have run for decades, certain that every now and then it will break for a big gain. But an inconvenient EPA career professional just doing his job assessed the premise and informed his superiors, in the sole substantive report presented in the Agency’s internal deliberations, that upon scrutiny CO2 clearly does not drive temperatures or climate but oddly enough, the sun and oceans do. His boss told him to shut up, that nothing good could come to their office by injecting this analysis into the process, as the decision had been made. One problem with that, of course, is that the decision is not allowed to be made before the process has run its course. That is the entire purpose of an internal debate which, internal documents now prove, was truncated and in fact illusory. For his troubles, this physics graduate of Cal Tech and MIT PhD economist – which are why he had his job – was subjected to the ritual smear job as unqualified by the thugs running the global warming industry. The nicest thing said about him was “He’s not a climate scientist!” shrieked by legions of non-scientists nonetheless cocksure of their own wisdom, insight and informed judgment on the matter. Left unmentioned were the scientific credentials of the EPA administrator, President Obama, and the 535 members of Congress who are tasked with deciding the issue. “He’s just an economist!” the non-scientists’ line continued, ignoring that whole physics-degree thing and that, ah, well, the UN’s “chief climate scientist” is “just an economist.” Again, as the whistleblower Dr. Alan Carlin learned, facts have little weight in this debate. Still, one key truth that Carlin brought to the fore exposes how – assuming that sanity prevails in the Senate and Congress is unable to impose “cap-and-trade” energy rationing – his exposé will carry the day in court. This is man-made warming theory’s missing link. The global warming industry and its political enablers have been getting away with an amazing stunt of backing out from the equation inconvenient things which your lying eyes might tell you. Amid the cries of “warming proceeding even faster than predicted” – an actual, common claim among alarmists, politicians and the media – observations reveal that the recent cooling has brought us to the average of the entire 30-year history of the satellite temperature record. Climate changes and temperatures go up and down, that’s what they do, so it is surely an amusing coincidence of statistics to see no temperature change following a three-decade-long cooling spell that ended with the coldest decade of the century (the 1970s). To see this as “global warming” hysteria hijacks the policymaking process of a major economic power is staggering. The crux of what Carlin revealed is that the alarmist campaign has, through indignant repetition and an absurdly flawed syllogism, substituted man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a proxy for temperatures. The disfavored human activity somehow now equates with the weather, a bizarre apples-and-stethoscopes comparison. To grasp this we need a quick history of the campaign. By the late 1980s “global cooling” had given way to warming as a vehicle for various types to rally the public around their agenda (the Club of Rome admitted this in its 1991 book “The First Global Revolution”). This global warming industry coalesced to demand fealty to a strange premise: Mankind would agree to employ the gentle ministrations of national and, preferably, supranational bureaucrats to keep the earth’s temperature from rising more than two degrees Celsius higher than “pre-industrial” temperatures. Now, “pre-industrial” is code for the most cynical statistical cherry-picking of our time, given the approximation with the end of a geophysical phenomenon known as the Little Ice Age, a miserable, cold and cloudy period of crop failure, infant mortality and disease. This “two degree solution” didn’t last long, thanks to what I can only guess was a nagging fear that the public are aware that temperatures go up and down. It soon gave way to a metric of keeping atmospheric GHG concentrations below a “dangerous” level, though the UN scientists (economists, whatever) tasked with asserting what that level is refused to do so. This was never about climate anyway but population, lifestyle, energy use and, above all else, control, so such obstacles were ignored and the industry moved right on to a metric even more convenient for them, GHG emissions. This is the tortured path bringing about the oddity of alarmists citing emissions going up faster than predicted as proving that global warming is proceeding faster than predicted, while temperatures are flat and even cooling. To date, it’s worked. EPA’s “endangerment finding” is rife with this absurd non sequitor: CO2 concentrations are going up, Man’s CO2 is surely behind this, therefore man is causing climate change. In its “finding” the EPA, like the UN’s IPCC, fail to establish the missing link, that CO2 drives climate. Instead, EPA just points to the IPCC, which in turn simply proclaims the relationship, having itself also never having cited any authority establishing (rather than assuming) that CO2 drives temperature or climate, in the past or now. While never the subject of a US court’s scrutiny, this premise for the entire enterprise will by necessity be a principal focus of any challenge to EPA. It seems highly doubtful that EPA could support such a line of, for lack of a better word, reasoning, particularly in light of Carlin’s stifled analysis and recent peer-reviewed literature. This will only occur by avoiding the panic-stricken acceptance by industry holdouts of some (they hope) a less-bad deal in the Senate for fear of EPA. Upon scrutiny, covered industry has no option for long-term survival but to pursue victory. This begins in the Senate, which still lacks the votes to pass climate legislation. Neither peace nor concern is for sale, and industry should not cut a deal. The alarmist industry has never been forced to make its case. The EPA can be forced to make it, and it is unlikely that they can.
|
|
|
Back Home
Back to Top
|
 |
|
|
Germany’s ‘Godfather of Green’ Turns Ske...
By James Delingpole
Feb. 9 2012, 12:39 EST
|
B.C. Aims to Sell Cleaner LNG
By Geoffrey Styles
Feb. 8 2012, 12:40 EST
|
All Those Billions, Blowing in the Wind
By Marita Noon
Feb. 6 2012, 11:44 EST
|
Refinery Closures Lead to Rising Gas Pri...
By Robert Rapier
Feb. 3 2012, 3:28 EST
|
In The Head Of U.S. Energy Secretary Chu
By Professor Ferdinand E. Banks
Feb. 2 2012, 12:41 EST
|
The Volt: What Happens When Ideology Get...
By Marita Noon
Feb. 1 2012, 3:04 EST
|
Ninety Seven Percent Is Not What You Thi...
By Art Horn
Jan. 31 2012, 1:07 EST
|
State of the Union: "All Out, All o...
By Geoffrey Styles
Jan. 30 2012, 1:04 EST
|
Iran Sanctions
By Andrés Cala
Jan. 27 2012, 5:30 EST
|
Time, Newsweek Bury Keystone
By Michael J. Economides & Peter C Glover
Jan. 26 2012, 11:08 EST
|
Super Fracking & the Next Shale Gale
By Peter C Glover
Jan. 24 2012, 11:55 EST
|
The Falklands and Other Dangerous Disput...
By Steve H. Hanke
Jan. 23 2012, 12:42 EST
|
|
|
|
Should Plastic Bags Be Banned?
By Kate Galbraith
Feb. 9 2012, 3:46 EST
|
Deep Discounts Fuel Canadian Oil Flow In...
By Jeffrey Jones
Feb. 9 2012, 12:06 EST
|
Oil, Food, Water: Is Everything Past Its...
By Eric Roston
Feb. 9 2012, 11:14 EST
|
Energy Spurs A Recovery In Houston
By Kristina Shrevory
Feb. 8 2012, 3:56 EST
|
Azeri, Iranian Gas Supply Failure Fuels ...
By Todays Zaman
Feb. 8 2012, 3:37 EST
|
America’s Solar PV Market: Growth And U...
By Kirsten Korosec
Feb. 8 2012, 12:55 EST
|
Crude Glut In U.S. Suppresses Canadian O...
By Shawn Mccarthy
Feb. 8 2012, 12:42 EST
|
Top 5 Largest Shale Deposits Yet To Be F...
By Pierre Bertrand
Feb. 8 2012, 12:37 EST
|
Oil Producers ‘Will Meet Demand’
By Times of Oman
Feb. 8 2012, 12:34 EST
|
Global Warming Has Stopped?
By Peter Gleick
Feb. 7 2012, 1:12 EST
|
Saudis Aren’t Keeping Lid On 100 Dollar ...
By Sharon Epperson
Feb. 7 2012, 11:42 EST
|
Fracking Is Not A ‘Fait Accompli’ For 20...
By Mireya Navarro
Feb. 7 2012, 11:35 EST
|
|
|
|
Brazil Delays Nuclear Plans After Japan ...
By Diana Kinch
Feb. 9 2012, 1:34 EST
|
Venezuela Approves Joint Venture
By MSN
Feb. 9 2012, 11:41 EST
|
Venezuela’s PDVSA to Boost Orinoco Crude...
By Nathan Crooks
Feb. 8 2012, 12:29 EST
|
Colorado Sportsmen Back Oil And Gas Disc...
By Denver Post
Feb. 7 2012, 10:26 EST
|
NM Regulators Repeal Carbon Cap And Trad...
By CBS News
Feb. 7 2012, 10:23 EST
|
Florida State Unveils Natural Gas Car
By Delmershae Walker
Feb. 6 2012, 12:21 EST
|
Pemex Seeks To Add Conoco, Shell Subsidi...
By Laurence Iliff
Feb. 3 2012, 1:55 EST
|
Petrobras Shuts Fifth Most Productive We...
By Lucia Kassai and Peter Millard
Feb. 1 2012, 12:41 EST
|
US Refiners, Union Prepare For Possible ...
By Fox Business News
Feb. 1 2012, 12:12 EST
|
Marathon Weighs Pipeline Option
By Gina Chon and Ryan Dezember
Feb. 1 2012, 11:45 EST
|
Obama: Meeting US Energy Needs Will Requ...
By EV Wind
Jan. 31 2012, 2:24 EST
|
Union Tells US Refinery Workers To Prepa...
By CNBC
Jan. 30 2012, 5:55 EST
|
|
|
|
BG Group To Cut US Shale Gas Drilling
By Fox Business News
Feb. 9 2012, 12:46 EST
|
Turkey Turns To Coal And Nuclear Power
By Steel Guru
Feb. 8 2012, 12:26 EST
|
World’s Largest Wind Farm Erects First W...
By Jessica Shankleman
Feb. 7 2012, 11:27 EST
|
E.U. Rebuffs China’s Challenge To Airlin...
By James Kanter
Feb. 6 2012, 5:24 EST
|
Italian Refineries To Shut Down Over Ira...
By Press TV
Feb. 3 2012, 2:00 EST
|
Bulgarian Coal Miners Call Off Strike
By Reuters
Jan. 23 2012, 11:59 EST
|
Chevron Gas Discovery Boosts LNG Plans
By News
Jan. 20 2012, 3:08 EST
|
Ukraine Seeks Compromise With IMF
By James Marson
Jan. 20 2012, 12:10 EST
|
Shell Joins Nova Scotia’s Offshore
By Daily Staff Biz
Jan. 20 2012, 11:29 EST
|
UAE To Set Up Clean Energy Project In Af...
By Haseeb Haider
Jan. 18 2012, 4:01 EST
|
Bulgaria Bans Chevron From Fracking For ...
By Carin Hall
Jan. 18 2012, 10:49 EST
|
Norway Awards 60 New Oil Production Lice...
By Kjetil Malkenes Hovland
Jan. 17 2012, 11:35 EST
|
|
|
|
Russia’s Sechin Proposes State Oil Field...
By Fox Business
Feb. 7 2012, 10:34 EST
|
Fire At Moscow Nuclear Institute, Russia...
By Alexei Anishchuk
Feb. 6 2012, 4:33 EST
|
Rosneft Gets License For Three Oil And G...
By Jake Rudnitsky
Jan. 31 2012, 12:28 EST
|
Russia Unveils Ambitious Coal Industry P...
By Svetlana Kalmykova
Jan. 25 2012, 5:23 EST
|
Russia Orders Oil Companies To Freeze Ga...
By Fox Business
Jan. 23 2012, 1:40 EST
|
3rd Reactor Shut Down In Czech Republic
By Voice of Russia
Jan. 23 2012, 12:06 EST
|
Miners Strike In Bulgaria Continues
By Sofia Echo
Jan. 18 2012, 3:18 EST
|
Russia Concerned About Iran’s Uranium En...
By CBS News
Jan. 10 2012, 2:38 EST
|
Putin Speaks Of Atomic Energy ‘Renaissan...
By Washington Post
Dec. 12 2011, 3:46 EST
|
Russia Rejects Iran Oil Ban
By Daniel Fineren
Dec. 7 2011, 12:15 EST
|
Floating Nuclear Power Station Helps Bal...
By RT
Dec. 6 2011, 4:21 EST
|
Japan And Korea Cooking On Russian Gas
By RT
Dec. 1 2011, 11:03 EST
|
|
|
|
India Increases Iran Oil Imports
By Benoit Faucon FAUCON
Feb. 8 2012, 12:24 EST
|
Iraq-Turkey Oil Exports Resume After Bla...
By Times of Oman
Feb. 7 2012, 10:38 EST
|
Iran To Start Early Production At Joint ...
By Tehran Times
Feb. 6 2012, 12:05 EST
|
Iraq’s Oil Law May Be Pushed Till End Of...
By Kadhim Ajrash and Nayla Razzouk
Feb. 3 2012, 2:18 EST
|
Iran Pipeline To Supply Gas By End Of 20...
By Kalbe Ali
Feb. 1 2012, 1:00 EST
|
Explosion ‘Rocks Syrian Oil Pipeline’
By Eoin O’Cinneide
Feb. 1 2012, 12:36 EST
|
US Lawmakers Take Next Step On New Iran ...
By CNBC
Jan. 31 2012, 2:35 EST
|
BP To Start Jordan Gas Exploration Soon
By Mohammad Tayseer
Jan. 30 2012, 5:20 EST
|
Abu Dhabi To Tap Nat Gas To Meet Fuel De...
By Steel Guru
Jan. 27 2012, 4:48 EST
|
Iran Says It May Cut Off Its Oil Exports...
By Rick Gladstone and J. David Goodman
Jan. 27 2012, 3:24 EST
|
Iran To Provide Ethanol Fuel Soon
By ISNA
Jan. 26 2012, 4:00 EST
|
India Offers Pak Oil Pipeline
By Pawan Bali
Jan. 26 2012, 1:10 EST
|
|
|
|
Global Oil Demand May Rise 1 Million Bar...
By Bloomberg News
Feb. 9 2012, 11:44 EST
|
Pakistan, Qatar Reach Agreement For Impo...
By International Herald Tribune
Feb. 7 2012, 11:17 EST
|
Chinese Move On Uranium Explorer
By NZ Herald
Jan. 25 2012, 5:38 EST
|
Chinese Company Sinopec Ready To Boost L...
By Neil Wilson
Jan. 23 2012, 12:46 EST
|
China’s Shenhua To Open Coal Mine In Aus...
By Reuters
Jan. 19 2012, 1:43 EST
|
China To Retrieve More Natural Gas
By Zhou Yan
Jan. 12 2012, 12:01 EST
|
Japan Asks Qatar To Ensure Stable LNG
By Mainichi News
Jan. 10 2012, 12:41 EST
|
Indonesia To Begin Renegotiating With CN...
By Platts
Jan. 9 2012, 12:38 EST
|
CNNC Unit Gets Regulatory Approval For I...
By Economic Times
Jan. 6 2012, 1:30 EST
|
PetroChina Buys Full Stake In Oil Sands ...
By AP
Jan. 4 2012, 11:46 EST
|
China Buys Russia, Vietnam Oil As Iran S...
By Florence Tan
Jan. 3 2012, 4:38 EST
|
Cnooc, Sinopec Vie Over Fracking
By Dinny McMahon
Dec. 15 2011, 3:54 EST
|
|
|
|
Shell Opens Office In Papua New Guinea
By Platts
Feb. 9 2012, 1:07 EST
|
April Date Set For Restart Of First Nucl...
By China Post
Feb. 8 2012, 12:49 EST
|
BHP To Produce More Shale Oil In U.S.
By James Paton
Feb. 8 2012, 12:32 EST
|
North Korean Leader Kim Backs Natural-Ga...
By Henry Meyer
Feb. 3 2012, 5:04 EST
|
Japan Protests China’s Possible East Chi...
By Mainichi Daily News
Feb. 1 2012, 2:00 EST
|
Japan Finds Water Leaks At Stricken Nucl...
By Reuters
Jan. 30 2012, 5:52 EST
|
Rio Tinto Denies Australian Coal Force M...
By Platts
Jan. 30 2012, 5:45 EST
|
Asians Resist Notion Of Iran Oil Cuts
By RFERL
Jan. 30 2012, 4:36 EST
|
Another Japanese Nuclear Reactor Suspend...
By Times Live
Jan. 25 2012, 5:27 EST
|
IAEA Begins Review Of Japan’s Nuclear St...
By Reuters
Jan. 23 2012, 12:03 EST
|
Edano: Japan Bracing For Nuclear-Free Su...
By Mitsuru Obe
Jan. 19 2012, 11:42 EST
|
Petronas And Shell Sign Oil Recovery Dea...
By Today Online
Jan. 18 2012, 3:26 EST
|
|
|
|
Trafigura In South Sudan Oil Row
By BBC News
Feb. 8 2012, 12:59 EST
|
Nigerian Militants Claim Attack On Oil P...
By Emirates 247
Feb. 6 2012, 12:17 EST
|
South Sudan, Kenya Sign Agreement To Bui...
By Jared Ferrie
Jan. 25 2012, 3:56 EST
|
Explosion Rocks Chevron’s Oil Rig In Bay...
By Osa Okhomina
Jan. 17 2012, 10:51 EST
|
Mozambique Protest Blocks Coal Train Lin...
By AFP
Jan. 13 2012, 12:46 EST
|
Pengassan To Shut Gas, Oil Production On...
By Taiwo Ogunmola
Jan. 13 2012, 12:22 EST
|
Nigeria Oil Union Threatens Oil And Gas ...
By Washington Post
Jan. 12 2012, 10:58 EST
|
Shell Restarts Production At Bonga Oil F...
By Sarah Kent
Jan. 5 2012, 3:05 EST
|
Violence Erupts In Nigeria Over Petrol P...
By Independent
Jan. 4 2012, 12:27 EST
|
Nigeria Gas Price Protest Turns Violent
By CBS
Jan. 3 2012, 4:49 EST
|
Shell Offshore Spill Affecting 115 Miles...
By Washington Post
Dec. 22 2011, 11:46 EST
|
Petrobras To Expand Pre-Salt Oil Drillin...
By Rodrigo Orihuela
Dec. 21 2011, 10:44 EST
|
|
|
|
US Approves First New Nuclear Plant In A...
By CNBC
Feb. 9 2012, 2:33 EST
|
Senators Irked By India’s Iran Ties
By Chidanand Rajghatta
Feb. 9 2012, 2:07 EST
|
Russia Says Bushehr Nuclear Powerplant C...
By Trend
Feb. 8 2012, 12:40 EST
|
Russia Prepares Privatization Of Nuclear...
By PSKN
Feb. 7 2012, 11:32 EST
|
TVA Looks Again At Watts Bar Schedule
By World Nuclear News
Feb. 6 2012, 4:30 EST
|
Nuclear Approvals To Be Resumed At Slowe...
By Liu Yiyu
Feb. 1 2012, 4:48 EST
|
Unusual Event At U.S. Nuclear Plant Not ...
By People Daily
Jan. 31 2012, 2:29 EST
|
S. Korea President Lee To Visit Turkey
By CRI
Jan. 30 2012, 5:49 EST
|
Indo-Pak Civil Nuclear Cooperation Possi...
By Daily Times
Jan. 27 2012, 4:53 EST
|
Turkey, Iran Calls On Quick Resumption O...
By Xinhua News
Jan. 20 2012, 5:39 EST
|
Italian Minister Says Reject Nuclear Pow...
By EurActiv
Jan. 19 2012, 4:10 EST
|
Vietnam Joins World In Peaceful Use Of N...
By People Daily
Jan. 18 2012, 3:43 EST
|
|
|
|
Approval Expected for Reactors in Georg...
Feb. 9 2012, 1:00 EST
|
Turkey Turns to Coal and Nuclear Power
Feb. 9 2012, 1:00 EST
|
US to Invest More in Solar Power
Feb. 9 2012, 1:00 EST
|
Freeze Forces Germany to Restart Nuclear...
Feb. 9 2012, 1:00 EST
|
Gasoline Consumption Falls in US
Feb. 9 2012, 1:00 EST
|
Texas’ Electric Capacity Under Scrutiny
Feb. 9 2012, 1:00 EST
|
Dems on Keystone: Only in America
Feb. 9 2012, 1:00 EST
|
How Oil is Propping up Putin
Feb. 9 2012, 1:00 EST
|
India Increases Iran Oil Imports
Feb. 9 2012, 1:00 EST
|
Volt Doesn’t Make ’12 Greenest Cars List
Feb. 8 2012, 12:32 EST
|
Geoscientists Call for Honest Dialogue o...
Feb. 8 2012, 1:00 EST
|
N. American Natural Gas Market Set to Sk...
Feb. 8 2012, 1:00 EST
|
|
|
|
|
|
|