Cooler Heads Digest 4 February 2011

In the News

Congress Should Tell the EPA It’s Not Congress
National Review editorial, 3 February 2011

With Energy Czar Gone, Michigan Wins
Henry Payne, Detroit News, 3 February 2011

80% “Clean” Energy by 2035: What Does This Mean?
Ken Kok, MasterResource.org, 3 February 2011

T. Boone Pickens Unwittingly Exposes Absurdity of “Energy Independence”
John Tamny, RealClearMarkets.com, 3 February 2011

How Climate Sanity Has Been Gored
Larry Bell, Forbes, 3 February 2011

Warmer Summers May Actually Slow Down Greenland Glacier Flow
Marlo Lewis, GlobalWarming.org, 2 February 2011

Egyptian Riots Fueled by Ethanol
Hans Bader, Washington Examiner, 2 February 2011

Environmental Regulation and Death
Paul Chesser, Washington Times, 1 February 2011

On Mountaintop Mining, EPA Is Guilty of Environmental Hyperbole
William Yeatman, OpenMarket.org, 1 February 2011

Is the University of Virginia Biased against Professors that Challenge Global Warming?
Amanda Carey, Daily Caller, 1 February 2011

Uncle Sam in the Driver’s Seat
George Will, Washington Post, 31 January 2011

Newt Gingrich: Professor Cornpone
Wall Street Journal editorial, 31 January 2011

China’s Emissions Now 40% Greater Than United States’s
Fiona Harvey, Guardian, 31 January 2011

News You Can Use

Another Alarmist Myth Debunked

Global warming alarmists long have claimed that one of the most deleterious public health impacts of climate change will be the growth of malaria. But a study published this week in the International Journal of Global Warming concluded that rising temperatures will lead to lower humidity and rainfall which will shorten the lifespan of mosquitoes carrying malaria.

Inside the Beltway

Myron Ebell

Barrasso Bill Introduced

As reported last week in the Digest, Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on Monday introduced a bill to pre-empt all regulation of greenhouse gas regulations using any existing legal authority.  S. 228 had seven original co-sponsors: Senators James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), John Thune (R-SD), Pat Roberts (R-Ks.), David Vitter (R-La.), Jerry Moran (R-Ks.), and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).  Since then, several more Senators have co-sponsored the bill.  They include: John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), James Risch (R-Id.), and Jim DeMint (R-SC).  The text of the bill may be found here, and Freedom Action’s press release here.

House Energy and Commerce Committee To Take up Alternative EPA Reform Legislation

On Wednesday, Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), Chairman of Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Energy and Power, released a discussion draft of a bill to pre-empt regulation of greenhouse gas emissions using the Clean Air Act.  Their bill is deliberately of narrower scope than Senator Barrasso’s bill so as to avoid committee jurisdictional problems in the House.  The text of the draft bill is posted here, and Senator Inhofe’s press release may be found here.

Chairman Upton plans to hold a full committee hearing on the draft bill on 9th February beginning at 10 AM.  It should be available for viewing over the internet on the Committee’s web site.  It could also be broadcast on one of the C-Span channels.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), the former Chairman and now the Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, immediately blasted Upton.  According to Energy and Environment Daily, Waxman said, “The Republicans have a lot of power, but they can’t amend the laws of nature.  Gutting the Clean Air Act is only going to make our problems worse. This proposal threatens public health and energy security, and it undermines our economic recovery by creating regulatory uncertainty.”  The Waxman-Markey bill passed the House by a 219-212 vote on 26th June 2009.  I expect the margin will be much larger in favor of the Upton-Whitfield bill to block EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Across the States

Louisiana Judge Admonishes Interior Department for Moratorium Hijinks

A federal judge in Louisiana this week found the Department of the Interior in contempt for its actions in the wake of the BP oil spill. About a month after the BP Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf, the Interior Department issued a moratorium on all drilling. However, a federal court put an injunction on the moratorium, in part because the Obama administration had based its decision on a report that was found to have been improperly doctored by the White House. Immediately after that ruling, the Obama administration issued a second moratorium that was virtually identical to the first. The court found that this second moratorium violated the preliminary injunction, and therefore found the Department of the Interior in contempt. As a result of the ruling, the government will have to pay the plaintiff’s legal fees, but it won’t impact the second moratorium, which was lifted on October 22, 2010. Despite the end of the de jure moratorium, the Obama administration has kept in place a de facto moratorium through bureaucratic foot-dragging.

Around the World

It Could Happen Here

This week Accenture and Barclays Capital released a joint report estimating it would cost the European Union $3.9 trillion to meet its 2020 climate goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20% below 1990 levels.

The Cooler Heads Digest is the weekly e-mail publication of the Cooler Heads Coalition. For the latest news and commentary, check out the Coalition’s website, www.GlobalWarming.org