GlobalWarming.org » Gary Howard

EPA Whistleblower’s Office May Get Shut Down

Gary Howard — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:01:46 +0000

Following a whistleblower report that criticized a global warming rule, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reportedly considering shutting down the agency office in which the critical report originated. Dr. Alan Carlin, the senior analyst whose report EPA unsuccessfully tried to bury, worked in EPA’s National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE). According to a story in last Friday’s Inside EPA, the agency is now considering shutting that office down.

The Washington Times ran an editorial yesterday, critical of the potential shut down of the internal review office by the EPA.

In June, the Competitive Enterprise Institute made waves by releasing internal e-mails from the Environmental Protection Agency. In those messages, a top administrator told a key researcher that the researcher’s new report would not be released. Why? Because it does “not help the legal or policy case” for a controversial decision to treat global warming as a health hazard. In short, because researcher Alan Carlin’s conclusions differed from the administration’s political agenda, his research was ignored.

CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman appeared on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show yesterday to talk about the scandal, and the EPA’s plans to shutter the office that produced the controversial report. Kazman reiterated what he said in a statement on Monday about the issue:

“Economists are the most likely professionals within EPA to examine the real-world effects of its policies,” said Kazman. “For this reason, the NCEE is a restraining force on the agency’s out-of-this-world regulatory ambitions. EPA would love to get that office out of the way, especially since it has within it civil servants like Dr. Carlin, who are willing to expose the truth about EPA’s plan to restrict energy use in the name of global warming.”

Blogger Michelle Malkin also takes the EPA to task for the move:

Over the past two months, I’ve chronicled the plight of EPA whistleblower Alan Carlin at the hands of Team Obama’s dissent-stiflers. My friends at the Competitive Enterprise Institute first blew the lid on the story and continue to monitor the war on EPA watchdogs. The latest development? EPA may get rid of a key internal review office that has provided too many inconvenient truths

Stay tuned for more developments in this story.

Ebell ranked in top 10 of most-respected global warming skeptics

Gary Howard — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:49:27 +0000

CEI Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy, Myron Ebell, has been ranked number three on Business Insider’s “The 10 Most Respected Global Warming Skeptics.” See an excerpt below.

Myron Ebell may be enemy #1 to the current climate change community. Ebell works for the free-market thinktank Competitive Enterprise Institute and, according to his own bio, has been called a climate “criminal” and a leading pusher of misleading ideas.

CEI Praises California Oil Drilling and No-New-Tax Budget Compromise

Gary Howard — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:29:20 +0000

But State Still In Trouble With Global Warming Law

WASHINGTON, DC, July 21, 2009 – Top California lawmakers have included a plan for expanding oil drilling off the Southern California coast, as part of a budget compromise aimed at closing the state’s $26 billion shortfall. The move drew praise from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

“State Republican legislators, led by Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, are to be commended for forcing Republican Governor Schwarzenegger and the Democratic majority in the legislature to accept a budget deal that includes no tax increases, significant budget cuts, and new offshore oil and gas production,” said Myron Ebell, Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Ebell, however, also warned that drilling won’t be enough to save the state. “California’s budget agreement will not bail out California’s economy, but it won’t contribute to further decline. California must repeal the state’s economically catastrophic global warming legislation.”

The state in 2006 passed legislation requiring carbon dioxide emissions reductions by 25 percent cut mandated by 2020. The cost of the global warming legislation, according to a new study, will be enormous – over 1 million jobs.

Under the governor’s plan, the state would allow drilling off the Santa Barbara coast, estimated to generate some $1.8 billion in revenue over time. It would reportedly be the state’s first new offshore oil project in four decades.

> Read more on global warming and energy policy at Globalwarming.org.

Yeatman: “A Real Choice on Climate Change: Do Nothing”

Gary Howard — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:20:38 +0000

In today’s RealClearWorld, CEI Energy Policy Analyst, William Yeatman, talks about international attempts at climate diplomacy. Read the piece here.

Walter Williams on the EPA cover up

Gary Howard — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:08:21 +0000

In a piece in today’s State Journal-Register, noted economist and commentator Walter Williams asks: “Why the rush to OK ‘cap and trade’ in the Senate?” He addresses the major push now under way to pass the Waxman-Markey climate legislation through the Senate since it passed the House a couple of weeks ago. In this quote he lays exactly what is at stake with this issue:

“Cap and trade” is first a massive indirect tax on the American people and hence another source of revenue for Congress. More importantly “cap and trade” is just about the most effective tool for controlling most economic activity short of openly declaring ourselves a communist nation and it’s a radical environmentalist’s dream come true.

He also mentions the EPA cover up story CEI broke just before the bill passed the House. The EPA stifled the release of an internal report by one of its analysts that conflicted with what we have been told about global warming, for what look to be purely political reasons. Take a look at the column, and related links, and see what you think.

Smith in Washington Times: ‘Cap and Traitors’

Gary Howard — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:11:36 +0000

CEI President Fred Smith talks about the recent passage of climate legislation in Congress. Read it here.