Cooler Heads Digest 25 February 2011

by William Yeatman on February 25, 2011

in Blog, Cooler Heads Digest

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In the News

Time To Put the REINS on EPA
Marlo Lewis, GlobalWarming.org, 25 February 2011

Interview with Freeman Dyson
Steve Conner, The Independent, 25 February 2011

EnviroPoll: Global Warming Is “Overblown”
Paul Chesser, American Spectator, 24 February 2011

The Gore Effect Strikes Canada
Greg Pollowitz, Planet Gore, 24 February 2011

IG Report Sheds New Light on Climategate Scandal
Steve McIntyre, ClimateAudit.org, 23 February 2011

Industry Has Spoken…Will the President Listen?
Kenneth Green, The American, 23 February 2011

She’s Leaving, on a (Surely) Private Plane
Chris Horner, AmSpecBlog, 22 February 2011

Hiding the Decline
Judith Curry, Climate Etc, 22 February 2011

Don’t Overreact to Possible Global Warming
Jay Ambrose, Detroit News, 21 February 2011

News You Can Use

Alarmist Myth Debunked

Global warming alarmists long have warned that rising temperatures would destroy the ocean’s coral reefs. But World Climate Report this week notes a new study in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters demonstrating that warming oceans expand the range of tropical corals northward along the coast of Japan. At the same time, the corals are remaining stable at the southern end of their ranges. That is, corals are expanding, not contracting.

Inside the Beltway

Myron Ebell

Late last Friday, the House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, which ends on September 30. H.R. 1 makes significant but not huge cuts in federal spending.

However, a number of programs and policies are zeroed out.  I reported last week that the bill prohibits EPA from expending any funds to regulate greenhouse gas emissions using the Clean Air Act. An amendment was also adopted that removes all funding for the work of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Offered by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Ks.), the House passed the amendment by a 244 to 179 vote.

The Congress is not in session this week, so the Senate will have to move quickly next week because the current Continuing Resolution expires on March 4. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this week rejected the House bill and proposed that the House and Senate should agree to a one month extension of current spending levels while they negotiate on a smaller package of spending cuts. If no deal is reached before March 4, certain parts of the federal government designated as non-essential will be shut down. One can only hope.

Across the States

Louisiana

Two weeks ago, a federal judge in Louisiana found the Department of the Interior in contempt for its moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico enacted in the wake of last year’s BP spill. As a result of the ruling, the government will have to pay the plaintiff’s legal fees, but it didn’t impact the 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.

Last week, the same U.S. District Judge, Martin Feldman, lifted this de facto moratorium, by granting a preliminary injunction requiring that the Interior Department act within 30 days on five pending permit applications. According to Judge Martin’s ruling, “Delays of four months and more in the permitting process, however, are unreasonable, unacceptable and unjustified by the evidence before the court.”

New Hampshire

By a 246 to 104 vote, the New Hampshire House of Representatives this week passed HB 519, legislation that would withdraw New Hampshire from a regional energy-rationing scheme known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Governor John Lynch (D) promised to veto the bill before it was introduced, but this week’s vote is veto-proof. The State Senate is expected to pass HB 519 with enough votes to overturn the Governor’s promised veto.

Virginia

By a 64-33 vote, the Virginia House of Delegates on Wednesday passed HR 72, a measure urging Congress to stop, “by any means necessary,” the Environmental Protection Agency from adopting regulations for greenhouse gases. The non-binding resolution does not require Senate approval. Virginia is one of three states (the others are Texas and Alabama) that have brought a suit before the Washington D.C. Circuit Court seeking to overturn EPA’s decision to regulate greenhouse gases.

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

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