The Heartland Institute’s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change will be held in Chicago, Illinois on May 16-18, 2010 at the Chicago Marriott Magnificent Mile Hotel, 540 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago. It will call attention to new scientific research on the causes and consequences of climate change, and to economic analyses of the cost and effectiveness of proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To register, click here. Fred will be speaking on the 17th “Climategate-‘hide the decline.'”
Quote of the Week
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use” Galileo
THIS WEEK:
When Ken Cuccinelli, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, filed a Civil Investigative Demand for documents from the University of Virginia relating to the work done by Michael Mann while he was at the University, SEPP expected that Cuccinelli would ignite a firestorm of protest. He has.
Probably the most reasoned protest came from Steve McIntyre. He strenuously objected to the demand by Cuccinelli and stated the target should be the National Science Foundation, which also funded Mann. However, Cuccinelli has a limited purview; he can only file in regard to those funds Mann received from the Commonwealth, and not those from the Federal Government.
More striking objections come 255 members of the National Academy of Sciences in the form of a letter published in Science, and from newspapers such as the Washington Post (Both are reproduced below.) Also, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors are soliciting signatures for petitions urging the University to fight the Demand.
Since those objecting raise issues such as academic freedom and scientific advancement, it is important to recap a bit of history.
By the 1970’s, HH Lamb, the pioneer of modern climate research, compiled extensive physical evidence showing that climate change is normal and that during the last 10,000 years there were periods colder than today and warmer than today. The first two assessment reports of the UN IPCC included charts showing temperature change for the last 1000 years that included the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. The Summary for Policymakers of the 2001 Third Assessment Report eliminated these temperature changes and substituted Mann’s now infamous “hockey stick” graph produced by statistical techniques that purport to show that temperatures were relatively stable for about 900 years then shot up in the 20th Century. The results of a computer model trumps physical evidence. The research was “peer reviewed” but not available for independent review.
In 2006, Professor Edward Wegman of George Mason University, chair of the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics, headed a team of statisticians testing the methods used by Mr. Mann. Professor Wegman testified before Congress that Mann’s faulty statistical techniques always produce the infamous hockey stick configuration, even from random data.
If Mr. Mann had been open with his research data and methods, and permitted their review by independent scientists, his errors may have been appropriately corrected in a scientific setting rather than in a political one. Instead, he chose to withhold the information. It is imperative to understand the full extent to which Mann’s now discredited study distorted the climate and energy policies of the US government – at great cost to the taxpayer and energy consumer.
Those who invoke “academic freedom” and “scientific freedom” would do well to ask themselves how are these noble goals served when research is kept secret? How is democracy served when government-funded research so critical to public policy is kept secret?
The blow-out of the BP oil well and the resulting oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico continue to produce articles by both alarmists and defenders of drilling. Some alarmists are using it to promote cap and tax saying we must reduce our dependence on oil. What they ignore is that the target of cap and tax is coal which produces about 50% of US electricity while oil produces less than 1%. Others are beginning to ask why it took so long for BP and the Federal Government to institute protective measures controlling the oil slick. Other articles are now suggesting that the alliance needed to pass cap and tax in the Senate no longer exists. SEPP has yet to find one article discussing BP’s significant role in USCAP – the major, and well-financed lobbying group pushing for cap and tax. At least one Congressman who voted for the House version bragged that the House followed the blueprint proposed by USCAP.
On his web site http://www.drroyspencer.com/, Roy Spencer reports that the global temperature measurements from satellites for April were 0.5 degrees C above the 32 year norm but fell from March. This may indicate a weakening El Nino.
Two new papers suggesting that observations indicate IPCC models greatly overestimate warming from carbon dioxide are referenced below. Both indicated that the feedbacks from carbon dioxide warming are negative, not positive as assumed by the IPCC models. One paper is by Roy Spencer and the second is by William Gray and Barry Schwartz.
[SEPP amplification: Last week TWTW referenced an alarmist article on glacial ice melt in the tropics. TWTW pointed out that the claimed Himalayan melt is contradicted by Chinese studies (as well as Indian studies) and that the Andes melt indicates it was warmer 5000 years ago than today. However TWTW did not address the shrinking of the glacier on Mount Kilimanjaro. Some readers took us to task. There is no evidence of warming of Kilimanjaro, indeed satellite measurements indicate that the area may be cooling. However, the area may have become more arid with the glacier shrinking through sublimation – the process whereby ice evaporates directly into the atmosphere without melting first.]
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ARTICLES: [For the numbered articles below please see the attached pdf.]
1.Climate Change and the Integrity of Science
Lead Letter Published in Science magazine, May 7, 2010
From 255 members of the National Academy of Sciences:
Followed by Response by Fred Singer to the Revkin May 6 blog on the subject
2. The Wickedness of the Climate Change Deniers
By Roger Helmer, MEP, May 6, 2010
3. ‘Utter honesty’ needed from climate scientists
By Gordon Fulks, The Oregonian, May 1, 2010, [H/t ICECAP.US]
4. U-Va. Should fight Cuccinelli’s faulty investigation of Michael Mann
Washington Post Editorial, May 7, 2010 [H/t David Manuta]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/06/AR2010050605936.html
5. Just don’t mention the fuel poor – why energy is a dirty word this election
By Rowena Mason, Telegraph, UK, Apr 29, 2010
6. We shouldn’t be the first lemming
By Susan Fraser, Letter, Dominion Post, NZ, May 4, 2010, [H/t Bob Kay]
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NEWS YOU CAN USE:
CLIMATEGATE CONTINUED
Virginia Launches Investigation into Climategate’s Michael Mann
By Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post, May 5, 2010 [H/t Ken Shock]
State of Virginia to Investigate Global Warming Scientist Mann: A legal battle is heating up faster than the planet for embattled climatologist Michael Mann
Fox News [H/t Jim Boomer]
Cuccinelli v. Mann
By Steve McIntyre, Climate Audit, May 2, 2010 [H/t Charles Minning]
http://climateaudit.org/2010/05/02/cuccinelli-v-mann/
[SEPP Comment: Steve McIntyre severely criticizes the actions of Virginia’s attorney general.]
DEFENDING THE ORTHODOXY
Scientists Lash at ‘McCarthy-Like Threats’
By Andrew C. Revkin, NYT, May 6, 2010 [H/t
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/scientists-lash-at-mccarthy-like-threats/
Scientists Pick Peers To Review U.N. Panel
By Gautam Naik, WSJ, May 4, 2010
CHALLENGING THE ORTHODOXY
The Association of Outgoing Radiation with Variations of Precipitation – implications for Global Warming
By William M. Gray and Barry Schwartz, Colorado State University, [H/t ICECAP.US]
http://climaterealists.com/attachments/ftp/AMS-Final5-10.pdf
Strong Negative Feedback from the Latest CERES Radiation Budget Measurements Over the Global Oceans
By Roy Spencer, May 7, 2010
Whoops! CO2 has almost nothing to do with global warming, discovers top US meteorologist
By James Delingpole, Telegraph, UK, May 4, 2010 [H/t Marc Morano]
Testimony of The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley
Before Congress, 6 May 2010 ICECAP.US
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/Monckton10-May6-HouseMarkeytestimony.pdf
Climategate: Sensenbrenner Report Challenges EPA Greenhouse Finding
By Charlie Martin, Pajamas Media, May 6, 2010 {H/t Watts Up With That]
Phil Jones & Keith Briffa Confirm Greenland’s Medieval Temperatures Higher than Today, Sorry MM
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V13/N16/C2.php
[SEPP Comment: Many readers may find it implausible that Phil Jones and Keith Briffa of “hide the decline” fame would publish an article confirming Greenland was warmer during the Medieval Warm Period than today.]
Voters Could Chill Global Warming Law
Orange County Register, May 5, 2010 [H/t Real Clear Politics]
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/california-247431-costs-businesses.html
The Missing Heat,
Roger Pielke Jr., Apr 19, 2010 [H/t Anne Debeil]
http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2010/04/in-released-cru-emails-ncar-climate.html
Name-calling fairy dust: Conspiracy Theorist: Ad hominem Unleashed on the ABC
By Joanne Nova, May 7, 2010
http://joannenova.com.au/2010/05/name-calling-fairy-dust-conspiracy-theorist/#more-8397
[SEPP Comment: To some skeptics are the same as conspiracy theorists.]
THE GREEN LOBBY AND THE OTHER GREEN
Crime Inc.” What the ‘Greening of America really Means
By Glenn Beck Team, Fox News, May 6, 2010 [H/t Jim Boomer]
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,592243,00.html
How Cronyism Is Infesting Cap-And-Trade
IBD Editorials, May 5, 2010
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=532396
ENERGY ISSUES
Unlocking The Promise Of Nuclear Energy
By William Johnson, IBD, May 4, 2010
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=532241
American Fossil Fuels: The New Alternative Energy Source
By Ben Voth, American Thinker, May 7, 2010
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/american_fossil_fuels_the_new.html
Georgia Court: PSC Certification of Vogtle Reactors Is Illegal
PowerNews May 5, 2010 [H/t Toshio Fujita]
http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/2684.html
[SEPP Comment: Federal loan guarantees do not mean the plant can be built.]
ENERGY AND POLITICS
Turning Tragedy into triumph
By Richard Fulmer, Master Resource, May 3, 2010
http://www.masterresource.org/2010/05/turning-tragedy-into-triumph/
Taking Advantage of an Oil Crisis
By Brain Sussman, American Thinker, May 4, 2010
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/taking_advantage_of_an_oil_cri.html
[SEPP Comment: Why the slow response?]
Meanwhile, In Nashville
IBD Editorials, May 7, 2010
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=532771
Learn From the BP Disaster. Then Drill Again: There hasn’t been an accident like this for 40 years
By Nansen Saleri, WSJ Editoral, May 7, 2010
A gush to judgment
By Iain Murray, The Examiner, May 5, 2010
Disaster Dims Odds of Energy Bill Compromise
By Jonathan Weisman, WSJ, May 5, 2010
CAP AND TAX BY ANY OTHER NAME
Lindsey Graham: “It’s not a global warming bill to me.”
By Marlo Lewis, Global Warming.org, May 7, 2010
http://www.globalwarming.org/2010/05/07/lindsey-graham-“it’s-not-a-global-warming-bill-to-me”/
Are we listening yet?
By Chris Horner, American Spectator Blog, May 7, 2010 [H/t Cooler Heads Digest]
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/05/07/are-we-listening-yet
Europe’s Carbon Mafia, And Ours
IBD Editorials, May 6, 2010
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=532610
ANY EXCUSE TO CLOSE DOWN COAL PLANTS
California Rules Restrict Power Plant’s Marine Water
By Cassandra Sweet, WSJ, May 5, 2010
[SEPP Comment: Although there are more environmentally sensitive ways to cool plants than direct use of unscreened marine water, many older plants do not have enough space to implement them. California’s 12.5% unemployment is not an issue to some.]
EPA FOREVER!
Wall Street Journal Editorial, May 3, 2010
EPA: Deaths from heat waves
By Joseph D’Aleo, ICECAP.US
[SEPP Comment: On April 28, EPA released a report claiming global warming will cause an increase in deaths. The above references Joe D’Aleo’s rebuttal]
EPA Staffers Were Forced to Ignore Science, Investigation Finds: EPA staffers say they were forced to ignore scientific data and lacked crucial information needed to fully protect the public.
By Sheila Kaplan, Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, Apr 30, 2010, [H/t Westmiller]
[SEPP Comment: No mention on how under Carol Browner EPA trashed the standards for statistical epidemiology making a once powerful tool useless.]
MISCELLANEOUS SCIENCE TOPICS
Climate and the Origin and Decline of Species
By D.H. Erin, Reviewed by NIPCC
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2010/may/07may2010a1.html
Forest growth Has Accelerated as the Air’s CO2 Content has Risen
McMahon and Miller, Reviewed by NIPCC
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2010/may/07may2010a4.html
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BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
(Desperately) Looking for Arctic warming
By Paul Driessen and Willie Soon, Townhall, May 1, 2010
Sensitive side
By Rosemary Sullivant, Global Climate Change, NASA, May 5, 2010 [H/t Watts Up With That]
http://climate.nasa.gov/cuttingEdge/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowCuttingEdge&CeID=312
[SEPP Comment: IPCC Models underestimate influence of CO2? Does the study assume that atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary driver of climate change?]