July 2004

July 2004 news archive

by William Yeatman on July 22, 2004

Economy slows as energy costs rise
Boston Globe, July 31 2004
The US economy slowed dramatically in the past three months as consumers, battered by higher energy prices, sharply curtailed their spending.

The science isn’t settled: The Limitations of global climate models
Fraser Institute, July 2004
This paper examines two major limitations that hinder the usefullness of climate models to those forming public policy.

Barclays, Shell in landmark carbon emissions deal
Reuters, July 29 2004
Barclays Capital and Shell Trading have completed the first carbon emissions trade using standard terms set out by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, the two firms said.

President Bush plans trade in methane
Associated Press, July 28 2004
Methane emissions would be harvested by industrial nations and sold to poorer countries for use as a clean-burning fuel under a plan that would also slow global warming, Bush administration officials announced Wednesday.

Global warping
Number Watch, July 28 2004
In a midday presentation on July 28th the BBC broadcast a television programme called Global Warning (the first of three). It was possibly the most one-sided piece of blatant propaganda that has ever been transmitted in Britain in time of peace.

Beyond Kyoto
American Enterprise Institute, July 27 2004
Whether the Kyoto Protocol is ever ratified is fast becoming irrelevant. Many of the European nations that ratified the convention are failing to reach their targets, while developing countries, not required to comply with Kyoto, claim they will never participate in targets and timetables, as it would retard their economic growth.

Malaria experts abuzz on global warming fears
Reuters, July 27 2004
“Temperature is only one of many, many factors in malaria, and in many cases it’s totally irrelevant,” said Paul Reiter, professor of medical entomology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. “Many climate scientists don’t know anything about the complexities of malaria.”

Warming case uses overheated evidence
Grand Forks Herald, Jul 26 2004
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change claim that human activities are responsible for nearly all Earth’s recorded warming during the past two centuries is based largely upon the work of Michael Mann of the University of Virginia and Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia in England. But over the past two years, their work has been discredited by five different groups of independent research scientists.

Catching up to the costs of global warming
New York Times, July 25 2004
As regulators around the world move to curb global-warming emissions from cars and improve fuel efficiency, what happens if Wall Street adds up the costs?

Sir David King’s queenie fit: Shutting down dissent
National Review Online, July 23 2004
(Iain Murray) In medieval fashion, adherents of the environmentalist religion have launched an inquisition against scientific views that they consider heretical. Hence, Sir David’s outrageous behavior at the Moscow conference.

Ohio won’t join global warming lawsuit
Dayton Business Journal, July 23 2004
Jim Petro, the state’s attorney general, released a letter Friday that said Ohio is not planning to join the lawsuit that seeks to force five electricity generators to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.

Cooler Heads Coalition newsletter, July 21 2004
* Attorneys General sue five big electric utilities
* Democratic Party platform drops Kyoto ratification
* Illarionov comments on Russian position on Kyoto
* Three Democrat Senate candidates support ANWR drilling
* European industry waking up to costs of Kyoto
* Schleede examines costs and benefits of wind power
* Extraordinary scenes at Russian conference
* Study rejects anthropogenic origin of mercury
* Global warming creates biodiversity boom

Hot under the collar
Frontiers for Freedom, July 22 2004
(Christopher Horner) – Attorneys Generals Sue, Yet Their States Arent Warming

Now they want to be Caesar
National Center for Public Policy Research, July 21 2004
Court decisions are blunt instruments and ill-suited for determining policies on such matters as global warming, where opinions are constantly undergoing change as new scientific knowledge is gained.

Job advocacy group applauds DNC for opposing Kyoto
United for Jobs, July 20 2004
Today United for Jobs (UFJ) applauded the Democratic Party for dropping their endorsement of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming in the party’s 2004 platform, and called on the U.S. Senate to reject a domestic version of Kyoto proposed by Senators McCain and Lieberman.

Earth observatory receives NASA grant
Rockland Journal News, July 19 2004
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University has received a grant of $671,200 from NASA to map dissolved organic carbon in Eastern coastal waters by using satellite data to interpret the color of the ocean.

The truth about global warming – it’s the Sun that’s to blame
London Telegraph, July 18 2004
Global warming has finally been explained: the Earth is getting hotter because the Sun is burning more brightly than at any time during the past 1,000 years, according to new research.

Academician Izrael: Kyoto Protocol economically hazardous to Russia
Pravda, July 17 2004
The Kyoto Protocol is scientifically ungrounded and economically hazardous to Russia, well-known Russian scholar Academician Yuri Izrael opines in the Nezavisimaya Gazeta. He heads the Global Climate and Ecology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences…

US-NZ climate change partnership bears fruit
National Business Review [NZ], July 16 2004
Six projects will involve a number of US and NZ agencies working closely together and are part of an enormous climate science inititative funded by the Bush administration.

Europeans still wait for summer weather
Associated Press. July 15 2004
May was fitful, and June promised a summer that could go either way. But except for southern Europe, July has been wet and almost glacial.

Study: Oceans absorb carbon dioxide excess
Associated Press, July 15 2004
Nearly half the excess carbon dioxide spilled into the air by humans over the past two centuries has been taken up by the ocean. . . Christopher L. Sabine of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reports in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

Nuance in the atmosphere
San Francisco Chronicle, July 15 2004
If Kerry could fool John Edwards about his support for Kyoto, maybe he can fool the rarified minds of Europe, too.

Effects of elevated CO2 on medicinal substances found in St. John’s wort
CO2science.org, July 14 2004
180% increase in the air’s CO2 content more than doubled the dry mass produced by well-watered and fertilized St. John’s wort plants, while it also more than doubled the concentrations of both hypericin and pseudohypericen.

New twist on the old threat of an imminent release of vast amounts of CO2 from the world’s peatlands
CO2science.org, July 14 2004
Peatlands represent a vital component of the planet’s carbon cycle, and it is important to determine how their carbon balance may change in response to the ongoing rise in the air’s CO2 content.

Breaking the hockey stick
National Center for Policy Analysis, July 12 2004
Michael Mann of the University of Virginia and Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia updated the influential reconstruction of global and hemispheric air temperatures (Geophysical Research Letters, 2003) used in the IPCCs third assessment of climate change. However, five independent research groups have uncovered problems with this reconstruction…

Dems delete support for Kyoto
Frontiers for Freedom, July 9 2004
(Christopher Horner) So far as only reported by the left-wing “DemocracyNow.org,” “In a shift from the party’s 2000 platform, the Democrats have dropped a reference to endorsing the Kyoto treaty on global warming.”

Precipitate modeling
CO2science.org, July 9 2004
While it is true that at any given time many places on earth experience drought or flooding, this reflects normal patterns of climate variability.

Peat bog gases ‘accelerate global warming’
Independent (UK), July 8 2004
Global warming is set to dramatically worsen because of huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) being released from the world’s peatlands, a study has found.

Cooler Heads newsletter, July 7 2004
– Second Senate vote on Kyoto-lite bill is delayed again
– Californias auto emissions plan has costs but no benefits
– Blair “Nuclear power an option”
– Three states pass renewable portfolio standards
– SUVs under fire in Europe
– British conservationist dismisses wind farms
– ‘Nature’ corrects temperature record
– Global warming to increase size, strength of coral reefs
– More evidence of weak relationship between temperatures and malaria
– What consensus on sea level rise?
– Satire: New alternative-fuel SUV will deplete world’s hydrogen by 2070

EU countires ‘dragging feet’ on emissions
Scotsman, July 7 2004
The EU head office said today only five EU states are ready to implement a 1997 United Nations accord next year limiting carbon-dioxide emissions and chided other members for dragging their heels.

CO2: The debate heats up
Business Week, July 7 2004
Is carbon dioxide an air pollutant? That will be the key issue in any legal challenge to California’s proposed rules to reduce CO2 in auto exhaust.

EU countires ‘dragging feet’ on emissions
Scotsman, July 7 2004
The EU head office said today only five EU states are ready to implement a 1997 United Nations accord next year limiting carbon-dioxide emissions and chided other members for dragging their heels.

New space-borne instrument to measure greenhouse gases
University of Colorado, July 7 2004
A powerful new instrument heading to space this Saturday is expected to send back long-sought answers about greenhouse gases, atmospheric cleansers and pollutants, and the destruction and recovery of the ozone layer.

CO2: The debate heats up
Business Week, July 7 2004
Is carbon dioxide an air pollutant? That will be the key issue in any legal challenge to California’s proposed rules to reduce CO2 in auto exhaust.

The Economic Hardship Act
TechCentralStation, July 7 2004
Just last week both McCain and Sen. Lieberman took their message to a conference on climate change that was jointly sponsored by Brookings Institute and Pew Center.

New space-borne instrument to measure greenhouse gases
University of Colorado, July 7 2004
A powerful new instrument heading to space this Saturday is expected to send back long-sought answers about greenhouse gases, atmospheric cleansers and pollutants, and the destruction and recovery of the ozone layer.

Climate models: Are they improving?
CO2science.org, July 6 2004
Just because climate models tend to become more complex with the passage of time does not insure they are getting better; they may well be stagnating or actually on a retrograde course …

Sunspots reaching 1,000-year high
BBC, July 6 2004
A new analysis shows that the Sun is more active now than it has been at anytime in the previous 1,000 years. Scientists based at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich used ice cores from Greenland to construct a picture of our star’s activity in the past. They say that over the last century the number of sunspots rose at the same time that the Earth’s climate became steadily warmer.

Climate: Searching for the ‘dread factor’
United Press International, July 5 2004
The climate change priesthood is looking for something as attention-getting as the ozone hole.

No realistic way to stabilize CO2
Financial Times, July 2 2004
Lord Browne… imagines that the world’s nations, via a series of “small steps”, could stabilize atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) at 500 to 550 parts per million by 2050 “without doing serious damage to the world economy”.  This is pie in the sky.

Purdue global warming center emits hot air, BSU experts say
Indiana Star Press, July 6 2004
Ball State geography professor Dave Arnold, who teaches global climatology, thinks it is jumping to conclusions to say that weather trends in Indiana have become increasingly variable because of global warming.

U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rise
Reuters, July 2 2004
A colder winter in 2003 helped boost the amount of U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions spewed last year by 0.9 percent to 5,788 million metric tons, the government said on Thursday.

Corrections to the Mann et al (1998) proxy database – UPDATE
Steven McIntyre & Ross McKitrick, July 1 2004
The Corrigendum in Nature today (July 1, 2004) by Professors Mann, Bradley and Hughes is a clear admission that the disclosure of data and methods behind MBH98 was materially inaccurate.

Lamy rejects call to act against non-Kyoto states
Financial Times, July 1 2004
New calls for trade sanctions against countries that spurn the Kyoto global warming treaty have been rejected by Pascal Lamy, the European Union’s trade commissioner. Such action would risk sacrificing the EU’s long-term climate goals “for uncertain and short-term benefits”, he said.

Stop global warming? California’s dreaming
Cato Institute, July 1 2004
California’s newly released regulatory initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new cars sold in that state represents the triumph of symbolism over substance. It’s an ill-considered gesture that ought to annoy partisans on both sides of the global warming fence.

Promises, promises
CO2science.org, July 1 2004
Scientific research based on factnot ideology is what the Democrats presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) promises. But there are some pertinent facts about global warming we can probably count on him ignoring.

JUNE 2004 NEWS ARCHIVE

Global warming creates biodiversity boom

by William Yeatman on July 20, 2004

in Science

A recent study published by the Yale Journal of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies claims a rise in global temperatures is causing a northward shift of vegetation and mammals. The study involved eight U.S. parks, and how a supposed rise in temperatures could entice the movement of species to and from these parks.

The study predicts that the parks they studied stand to gain 92% more mammals through immigration within the next century, and 20% of the mammals to relocate outside of the parks. Oswald Schmitz, professor of population and community ecology, cautions, the species that were in the parks, especially in the northern parks, arent leaving those parks and going even farther north. So this migration crowds species much more (www.vaildaily.com, July 21).

Study rejects anthropogenic origin of mercury

by William Yeatman on July 20, 2004

in Science

A recent study published in Hydrology and Earth System Science has found that high mercury levels in the environment may not be the result of coal-fired power plants.  The paper by E.C. Krug and D. Winstanley of the Illinois State Water Survey, Comparison of mercury in atmospheric deposition and in Illinois and USA soils, comes after the recent emergence of an environmentalist offensive calling for increased regulation of mercury (Hg) emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Krug and Winstanley tested the hypothesis that mercury in Illinois and USA soils is the result of human activities by comparing the rates of atmospheric mercury deposition with soil and Earth crust mercury content. They discovered that, contrary to popular belief, environmentally significant amounts of natural mercury are generally found in soils and quantities of Hg in USA soils are too great to be attributed to anthropogenic atmospheric Hg deposition.

The effort to impose federal regulations to reduce coal-fired power plant mercury emissions is based on the unsubstantiated theory of a direct correlation between power plant locations and high mercury levels.  Krug and Winstanleys paper discredits the environmentalists claim that amounts of mercury in the environment were naturally low before anthropogenic Hg environmental deposition.  Their paper has attracted little major media attention, but was covered in an article by David Wojick appearing in Electricity Daily (www.electricity-online.com, July 14).

Extraordinary scenes at Russian conference

by William Yeatman on July 20, 2004

in Politics, Science

The British scientific establishment reacted so badly to dissenting voices at a Moscow conference on climate change science that they disrupted the event.  The two-day seminar, entitled Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, had been organized by the Russian Academy of Sciences and was chaired by distinguished climatologist Yuri Izrael, a Vice-Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

On being informed that the program would include contributions from scientists who question the effects of global warming, such as Richard S. Lindzen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nils-Axel Morner of Stockholm University, and Paul Reiter of the Pasteur Institute, the British delegation, led by Sir David King, objected to their inclusion.  They first delayed the conference, then asked British foreign secretary Jack Straw to exert political pressure in an effort to get the program changed.  When this failed, there were reports that the conference was disrupted on at least four occasions (one reporter asked why security guards did not intervene).  In the end, Sir David, who is on record as judging global warming a worse threat than terrorism, walked out. 

Peter Cox of the U.K.’s Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research attempted to justify the British actions by telling Science magazine (July 16), We knew that we would not get to the scientific issues if we went down every rabbit hole of skepticism.

During the conference, Paul Reiter used a simple experiment to demonstrate the low relevance of climate to the spread of malaria.  He said, When I asked whether any of the Russian Academicians at the symposium had had malaria, nearly all raised their hands.  Several had contracted the disease in Siberia!

The French newspaper Le Figaro in reporting the controversy (July 16) commented, The clash was more than a minor diplomatic incident because it revealed a form of intellectual bullying that is beginning to dominate the scientific community on the question of climate change.

Schleede examines costs and benefits of wind power

by William Yeatman on July 20, 2004

in Blog

In a paper delivered to about 650 member-owners of Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. at their annual meeting in St. Louis, respected retired energy consultant Glenn Schleede examined some of the arguments routinely made in favor of wind power.  Schleede summarizes:

The paper places the past (1950-2000) and prospective (2010-2025) contribution of wind energy in the context of overall US energy consumption and US electricity generation.  The paper demonstrates that the contribution of wind has been and will be tiny despite the massive subsidies and mandates being provided, unwisely, by federal and state governments.

The paper notes that the wind industry, US Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) using our tax dollars  has been highly successful in misleading the media, public, Congress, and other federal and state regulators and legislators about the costs and benefits of wind energy.  The advocates have grossly overstated the benefits of wind energy, and greatly underestimated the environmental, ecological, economic, scenic and property value costs of wind energy.

The false and misleading claims by the advocates have led to government policies, programs and regulations that are detrimental to the interests of consumers and taxpayers.

The paper also admits that it is difficult, given the success of the advocates’ propaganda, to reverse bad federal and state wind energy policies, programs and regulations.  However, it notes that emerging citizen-led efforts around the world (e.g., US, UK, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand) are beginning to be effective in bringing the TRUTH about wind energy to the attention of the media, public and government officials.

Schleede will deliver a talk based on his paper at a Cooler Heads Coalition briefing on July 23 in Room 628 of the Senates Dirksen Building beginning at noon.  A copy of the paper is available at the Cooler Heads Coalitions web site at http://www.globalwarming.org/article. php?uid=714.

European industry waking up to costs of Kyoto

by William Yeatman on July 20, 2004

in Blog

In a press conference on July 8, the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE) called for a review of the European Unions climate change strategy until 2012 and beyond.  According to the industry federation, the EU’s unilateral implementation of the Kyoto Protocol will widen the gap between American and European economic growth and undermine the competitiveness of European industry.

Fabrizion d’Adda, the chairman of UNICE’s industrial affairs committee, predicts the EUs emissions trading scheme costs consumers between 85 million and 2.3 billion euro due to increases in the price of electricity.

The federation also pointed out the conflict between the demands of the Kyoto Protocol and the EUs adoption of the Lisbon Agenda.  Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, in March 2000, the EU Heads of States and Governments agreed to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven economy by 2010.  The energy suppression required by global warming alarmism has contributed to this goal looking harder and harder to meet.

EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom criticized UNICEs remarks.  She said that it was easy to criticize Kyoto and not come up with concrete and viable alternatives.  She further said that European industry should see the protocol as an opportunity and not as a threat

(www.euractiv.com, July 13; Expatica, July 15).

Three Democrat Senate candidates support ANWR drilling

by William Yeatman on July 20, 2004

in Politics

Democratic Party candidates for open Senate seats in Alaska, Louisiana, and Oklahoma have said they would push fellow Democrats to support opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling if they win in November.

In Alaskas Senate race, former Gov. Tony Knowles (D) has attacked incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) for not doing enough to secure ANWR exploration.

In Oklahoma, Rep. Brad Carson (D) hopes to replace incumbent Sen. Don Nickles (R) who is retiring in January.  Carson recently stated, Having Democrats willing to stand up for strong energy policy will make a difference.  He added, We have to take the partisanship out of the issue.  While there are no guarantees, our voices are really important if ANWR is going to happen.

In Louisiana, Rep. Chris John (D) a pro-ANWR drilling candidate has won the support of retiring Sen. John Breaux (D).  The state ranks in the top five nationwide in production of both oil and natural gas, and the industry contributes billions of dollars to the state’s economy each year (Greenwire, July 9, 2004).

Illarionov comments on Russian position on Kyoto

by William Yeatman on July 20, 2004

in Kyoto Negotiations, Politics

In remarks delivered at a press conference marking the end of the extraordinary meeting on climate change science in Moscow (July 7-8, see Science section below), Russian economic adviser Andrei Illarionov had the following to say about his countrys stance on Kyoto:

When we see one of the biggest, if not the biggest international adventures based on man-hating totalitarian ideology which, incidentally, manifests itself in totalitarian actions and concrete events, particularly academic discussions, and which tries to defend itself using disinformation and falsified facts.  It’s hard to think of any other word but “war” to describe this.

 To our great regret, this is a war, and this is a war against the whole world.  But in this particular case, the first to happen to be on this path is our country.  It’s unpleasant to say but I am afraid it’s undeclared war against Russia, against the entire country, against the left and the right, against the liberals and the conservatives, against business and the Federal Security Service, against the young and the old who live in Moscow or in provinces.  This is a total war against our country, a war that uses all kinds of means.

The main prize in this war for those who have started it and who are waging is the ratification by Russian authorities of the Kyoto Protocol.  There is only one conclusion to be made from what we have seen, heard, and researched:  Russia has no material reasons to ratify this document.  Moreover, such a ratification would mean only one thing:  complete capitulation to the dangerous and harmful ideology and practice that are being imposed upon us with the help of international diplomacy.

 This is not a simple war.  Like any war, it cannot be easy and simple.  Regrettably, like any war, it has its losses and victims, and we must understand that.  The main thing is that we have now obvious evidence that we have got over the past two days, although we had some hints before that time, and it was the approach to Russia practiced by some people attending the seminar, an approach to Russia as a kind of banana republic, an approach to a country that is not a colony yet but about to become it as soon as it ratifies the document.  At least we now know how people in colony feel towards other people who are trying to make them a colony.

And maybe the last touch.  During the discussion of the economic impact of the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and of when Russia will achieve the 1990-emission level, one of the representatives of this official British team of scientists and government officials said quite bluntly:  Russia cannot expect an increase in the population; on the contrary, the population will decrease.  And as long as you reduce your population, you can meet the Kyoto Protocol requirements.

Dr. Illarionov also clarified President Putins statement on Kyoto, telling a reporter, I will permit myself to remind you of the words said by President Putin.  President Putin has never said that he supported the Kyoto Protocol.  President Putin said on May 24, 2004 that he supported the Kyoto process.

Democratic Party platform drops Kyoto ratification

by William Yeatman on July 20, 2004

in Kyoto Negotiations, Politics

As the Associated Press reported on July 3, the newly-published draft of the Democratic Party platform for the November elections has dropped its Gore-era reference to embracing the Kyoto Protocol.

In 2000, the platform contained this statement: In 1997, we negotiated the historic Kyoto Protocols, an international treaty that will establish a strong, realistic, and effective framework to reduce greenhouse emissions in an environmentally strong and economically sound way.  We are working to develop a broad international effort to take action to meet this threat.  Al Gore and the Democratic Party believe we must now ratify those Protocols.

The current draft contains no reference to ratifying Kyoto.  Instead, it has these two mentions of climate change:

We will reduce mercury emissions, smog and acid rain, and will address the challenge of climate change with the seriousness of purpose this great challenge demands.  Rather than looking at American industries only as polluters, we will work with the private sector to create partnerships that make a profit and a cleaner world for us all; and,

We know that America‘s fight for a healthy environment cannot be waged within our borders alone.  Environmental hazards from around the globe reach America through the oceans and the jet streams encircling our planet.  And climate change is a major international challenge that requires global leadership from the United States, not abdication.  We must restore American leadership on this issue as well as others such as hazardous waste emissions and depleted fisheries.

The full platform can be read at http://www.democrats.org/platform/ .

Attorneys General sue five big electric utilities

by William Yeatman on July 20, 2004

in Politics

The Attorneys General of California, Connecticut, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Wisconsin, and the Corporation Counsel of New York City filed a complaint July 21 in federal district court in Manhattan that alleges that five leading electric power generators had created a public nuisance by emitting carbon dioxide and thereby contributing to global warming. 

The taxpayer-financed lawyers are not seeking monetary damages but rather an abatement order requiring the utilities to reduce their emissions.  Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said at a press conference that their aim was to, Save our planet from disastrous consequences that are building year by year and will be more costly to prevent and stop if we wait.  Mr. Blumenthal also told reporters to, Think tobacco, without the money.

The complaint alleges that the States are suffering and will suffer damage from global warming in the form of heat-related deaths, sea-level rise, injuries to water supplies, injuries to the Great Lakes, injuries to agriculture in Iowa and Wisconsin, injuries to ecosystems, forests, fisheries and wildlife, wildfires in California, economic damages, increased risk of abrupt climate change, and, Injury to States Interests in Ecological Integrity.

The companies targeted are American Electric Power Co., Southern Co., Xcel Energy Inc., Cinergy Corp., and the federal Tennessee Valley Authority.  The complaint uses various statements and admissions by these companies that global warming is a problem that they want to do something about as proof that they manage and control the emission of carbon dioxide.

Only Xcel through its subsidiary Northern States Power of Wisconsin provides electricity to customers in any of the States that have filed suit.  Perhaps recognizing that they are on tenuous legal ground with their federal complaint, the complaint also includes specific complaints for each state, making the litigation a complex matter.

Initial reaction to the lawsuit has not been favorable beyond radical environmental groups.  Even some supporters of action to curb carbon dioxide emissions criticized the suit.  Eileen Claussen, the president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, told the New York Times (July 22) that she found the suit, Slightly perverse.  Of course, we need a national program and of course, we need some legislation.  The real question is, does this help you get there?  It’s not clear to me that this lawsuit will help.

Initial response from newspapers was also unenthusiastic.  The San Jose Mercury News (July 22) called the complaint a cheap shot and noted, Generation by a public utility is about as regulated as an activity can be.  Utilities are not only permitted to produce electricity, they’re also obligated to.  So any ill effects from an operation that has been approved from the local to the federal level can’t be laid at the feet of the utilities alone.

The Cincinnati Post (July 22) was equally unimpressed.  It satirized Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynchs statement that, It’s imperative that we confront those responsible for unleashing an invader with the power to wreak unspeakable havoc on our climate and to damage, and destroy, our ecosystems as follows: Good golly.  If fossil-fueled power plants are that much of a public nuisance, maybe we’d better shut them down right now.  That might reduce Rhode Islanders to living off whatever fish they can catch with a net, but it would take care of that invader.

← Previous Entries