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
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).
William Yeatman
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
Krug and Winstanley tested the hypothesis that mercury in
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).
The British scientific establishment reacted so badly to dissenting voices at a
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
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
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.
In a paper delivered to about 650 member-owners of Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. at their annual meeting in
The paper places the past (1950-2000) and prospective (2010-2025) contribution of wind energy in the context of overall
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,
Schleede will deliver a talk based on his paper at a Cooler Heads Coalition briefing on July 23 in Room 628 of the Senates
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
EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom criticized UNICEs remarks. She said that it was easy to criticize
(www.euractiv.com, July 13; Expatica, July 15).
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
In
In
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
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:
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
Dr. Illarionov also clarified President Putins statement on
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
The full platform can be read at http://www.democrats.org/platform/ .
The Attorneys General of California,
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.,
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
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.
DETROITFord announced a Sept. 3 rollout date for its new Ford Foresight, a hydrogen-powered SUV that, if it reaches sales projections, will deplete the earth’s supply of hydrogen by 2070. “America has asked for a car that does not use fossil fuels, and we’ve delivered,” Ford CEO William Ford Jr. said Monday. “With an engine nearly 20 times as powerful as that of our gas-burning SUV, the 11-ton Foresight will be unaffected by the price-gouging whims of OPEC, as it uses water electrolysis to gather fuel from the oceans and the fresh mountain air.” Ford acknowledged that, when hydrogen supplies are depleted, the usefulness of the Foresight, as well as life on earth as we know it, will end. (The Onion, Americas leading parody news source, found on the web June 15).
RSS Updates 
RSS E-Mail Updates 
CEI.org