I had to shorten it; here’s the rest of what I cut.
And don’t forget that there are bunches of links also that there just wasn’t room for.
But check back next week and the whole TWTW will be on the
www.sepp.org web page
Just in time to support the Kerry-Lieberman Cap and Tax bill, the National Academy of Sciences published three reports advocating action on global warming. This is a dangerous step for the Academy because if it is wrong, and the earth cools, it is likely the Academy will significantly lose the trust of the American public. The reports are referenced below, and the science to justify them will be discussed in future issues of TWTW.
The Kerry-Lieberman bill is the topic in several articles below. As discussed in last week’s TWTW, the Kerry web site says, in effect, that the revenues raised by the bill with have three cuts. The first cut goes to the green industry, the second cut to the Federal Government for deficit reduction, and the final cut to the consumer. An article on the bill from the Wall Street Journal is reproduced below as well as a rebuttal from Senators Kerry and Lieberman. Strangely, the good Senators fail to mention the cut to the Federal Government.
As mentioned in prior TWTWs, the most powerful lobbying group pushing for Cap and Tax is USCAP, an alliance of Big Business and Big Green – large non-profit organizations claiming an environmental agenda. The IRS requires all non-profits to file a form 990 stating, among other things, total revenues. Forbes published a list of the 200 largest charities in the US for 2009. Of these, five are members of USCAP. In descending order by revenues in the Forbes list they are: The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and National Wildlife Federation. Their total revenues in 2009 exceeded $1,500,000,000 ($1.5 Billion).
forbes.com/lists/2009/14/charity-09_The-200-Largest-U.S.-Charities_Name_8.html
Yesterday was the final day to respond to EPA’s announcement for public comment on its plans to address “ocean acidification.” SEPP recommended that: “EPA should do nothing. The science is misleading, inadequate, and any actions based on it are most likely to be destructive and wrong.” Lowering a chemical solution with a pH between 7.9 and 8.2 by 0.2 does not acidify it but merely lessens its alkalinity.
Last week, TWTW carried an excerpt of the testimony by John Everett to a joint Senate hearing on the subject. Dr. Everett stated that hydrochloric acid and other acids were used to mimic dissolved carbon dioxide in tests studying the possible effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. He kindly provided SEPP with specific references. Such procedures were used in both laboratory and field experiments. Indeed, the April 15, 2009 EPA announcement requesting supporting data for its hypothesis referenced tests using such procedures.
Natural rain water contains dissolved carbon dioxide and has a pH of about 5.6. Apparently, EPA would have Americans believe that during a drought they can water their gardens with hydrochloric acid with a pH of 5.6 to mimic the effect of rain.
SEPP also recommended that to properly apply the scientific method, EPA should solicit research challenging its hypothesis, not research supporting it.
Several articles referred to below discuss the status of Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli’s demand to the University of Virginia to produce documents relating to the work of Michael Mann while at the University. Apparently, Cuccinelli has agreed to extend the deadline to July 26 as well as reduce the scope of the demand. We shall see what follows.
Finally on a bright note, a Federal judge in California has injected a modicum of sanity to Federal water allocations in the Central Valley. Judge Wanger ruled that federal regulators must consider the impact of their regulations on human communities. This will not bring the thousands of acres of dead orchards back to life but the orchards, fallow farmland, and extremely high unemployment serve as a reminder of the cruelty and inhumanity of certain “green” regulations. Please see the article “Water Sanity For Central California” below.
[SEPP Correction: last week we incorrectly called the Domesday Book, the Doomsday Book. Perhaps this error was caused a psychological aversion to tax records.]