Paper: Rigged ‘science’: ‘The Supreme Court swallows faked global warming data’
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/23/editorial-rigged-science/…
Confab of Climate Experts to Challenge Global Warming ‘Consensus’
Insurance Industry Lose Interest In Climate Hype: ‘Zurich Insurance Group is closing its U.S. climate change office six years after opening it’
Insurance Industry Lose Interest In Climate Hype
http://www.thegwpf.org/closing-shop-insurance-industry-lose-interest-in-climate-hype/
Zurich Insurance Group is closing its U.S. climate change office six years after opening it to help persuade companies to press public officials for solutions to climbing disaster losses, according to several sources.
The move seems likely to end a high-profile advocacy effort that exposed federal lawmakers to the financial concerns of a major insurer regarding rising temperatures. Some observers also say the closure stands to lessen an industry voice that might resonate with Republicans in a debate that’s often characterized as driven by Democratic ideology.
Zurich’s decision comes amid a flush of visibility for the office and its director, Lindene Patton, who in recent months helped write the National Climate Assessment, testified before a Senate panel and spoke at the White House.
In some circles, that has distinguished Patton as an unusually credible advocate for climate action who speaks from the suit-and-trouser world of the financial sector, where crunching numbers outpaces environmental ideology. One observer described her as a “dynamo.”
But behind the forceful public presence is a choppier business environment for Zurich, sources say. Patton and her small team of employees were also tasked with creating new types of insurance policies that would be used by climate-concerned customers, ranging from hybrid car owners to utilities that store carbon dioxide underground. Zurich may have seen those products as not popular enough to justify a standalone climate office, some observers say. The products will instead be folded into the company’s traditional lines of business.
The move has gained greater attention for its potential reverberations on climate policy. While many observers believe that the insurance industry could help depoliticize the climate debate, there’s little evidence it’s willing to do that. And it appears there may be less now.
Some observers described Zurich as perhaps the only company that had both a household brand in the United States and a willingness to talk openly about the risks of climate change. (Farmers Insurance Co. is a subsidiary.) That has placed Zurich at the top among insurers who portray rising temperatures as a business threat that could harm the economy, as opposed to an environmental, and often partisan, peril, advocates say.
When Zurich announced its “climate initiative” six years ago, it was an effort, in part, to rally other members of the massive industry to get involved in shaping public policy. It warned of worsening climate …
EPA spends $1.6 million on hotel for ‘Environmental Justice’ conference
Flashback 1985: And so it began… – Sen. Al Gore Warned Of Seven Feet Of Sea Level Rise – ‘Senator Albert Gore Jr., Democrat of Tennessee, said he would introduce legislation…’
Nine inconvenient truths from Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore
Nine inconvenient truths from Greenpeace founder
http://australianclimatemadness.com/2014/06/25/nine-inconvenient-truths-from-greenpeace-founder
When one of an organisation’s founders dumps on it, you know it’s gone off the rails. Patrick Moore, who helped to establish Greenpeace in the 70s, correctly points out that it has morphed from an environmental organisation into a cross between an extreme-left political ideology and a fundamentalist religion. He also lists nine inconvenient truths for the great […]…
Outer Banks Sea Level Rise: ‘Proclaiming a 39-inch sea level rise in the face of a large body of contradictory science will only further rachet up the public’s distrust of gloomsaying scientists’
Outer Banks Sea Level Rise: Worth Getting Exercised Over?
http://www.cato.org/blog/outer-banks-sea-level-rise-worth-getting-exercised-over
Patrick J. Michaels and Paul C. “Chip” Knappenberger
Global Science Report is a feature from the Center for the Study of Science, where we highlight one or two important new items in the scientific literature or the popular media. For broader and more technical perspectives, consult our monthly “Current Wisdom.”
The Washington Post, yesterday, fanned the flames of a dispute over how much sea level rise the residents of the North Carolina Outer Banks should plan upon for this century.
The dispute arose when, a few years ago, politicians in Raleigh decided to get involved in the business of climate forecasting, and decreed that the Outer Banks region should expect a 39-inch sea level rise by the year 2100 and that people need to plan for a future based upon this number. Some of the rumored plans include abandonment of the region’s major roadways, stopping new construction, and re-zoning the land to declare all property at an elevation less than 39 inches to be uninhabitable. The state government under then-governor Beverly Perdue (D) was “helping” by preparing a website that showed all property that would be under water by the year 2100, deep-sixing the equity held in many beach houses.
It’s no surprise that there’s a pushback against the state’s 39-inch forecast, which was based on a selection of outdated science that foretold a much more alarming story than newer scientific studies.
For example, the latest (fifth) assessment report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that the global average sea level rise over the course of the 21st century would be in the range of 10 to 32 inches, with a mean value of about 19 inches. This is only about 50% of the 39-inch projection.
And, the IPCC projection is probably too high because it was driven by a collection of climate models which new science indicates produce too much warming given a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. If the models were forced to run with a lower sensitivity to carbon dioxide emissions, their sea level rise projections would decline proportionally, down to about 13 inches. This arguably better value is only 1/3rd of the 39-inch value forwarded by the NC state government. No wonder the realtors and mortgage bankers were up in arms about Bev Purdue’s map.
Not so fast, said the supporters …
California’s Cap-and-Trade Revolt: ‘Democrats fear that applying cap and trade to fuels ‘will cause an immediate jump in prices at the pump’
California’s Cap-and-Trade Revolt
http://www.thegwpf.org/californias-cap-and-trade-revolt/
Some US Democrats worry that carbon limits will hurt the poor
President Obama has mocked Republicans who oppose his climate agenda as flat-earthers. Perhaps he’ll be more charitable to Democrats who are protesting California’s cap-and-trade program as an undue burden on the poor.
Last week 16 Democratic Assembly Members—about 30% of their caucus—signed a letter urging California Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary Nichols to delay or redesign the state’s cap-and-trade program. “We are concerned about the impact of the AB 32 cap-and-trade program on our constituents,” they write, adding that “many of the areas we represent are still struggling with double digit unemployment.”
Large manufacturers and power plants must now either purchase permits or cut their emissions to comply with a state-mandated cap, which over time will be ratcheted down. Starting next year, transportation fuel suppliers will also have to pony up for permits.
Assembly Democrats fear that applying cap and trade to fuels “will cause an immediate jump in prices at the pump.” While estimates vary, “an increase of about fifteen cents per gallon is likely and a much larger jump is possible.” Senate President Darrell Steinberg has warned that gas prices could shoot up by 40 cents per gallon..
California’s gas prices, which typically run 40 to 50 cents above the national average, are already the highest in the continental U.S. due to the state’s fuel blending requirements and taxes—which also top the other 49 states. The Boston Consulting Group predicted in 2012 that cap and trade and the state’s carbon fuel standard would drive up gas prices between $0.49 and $1.83 per gallon by 2020. These green regulations are intended to raise the cost of gas to encourage people to drive less or buy electric cars.
But as the Assembly Democrats point out, cap and trade is “hurting the most vulnerable members of our communities.” Most of the letter’s 16 signatories represent heavily minority and low-income regions in Los Angeles, the Central Valley and Inland Empire. Nine are black or Latino.
As they explain, cap and trade’s carbon permitting “was not intended to be a funding mechanism for massive, new State efforts at GHG [greenhouse gas] reductions.” They don’t identify any programs by name, but this year’s budget appropriates $250 million of the proceeds from carbon permit auctions, and 25% of all future revenues, for high-speed rail. The state budget analyst predicts the …