DELINGPOLE: Donald Trump’s Environment Chief Could be his Best Pick Yet
No, really.
Since Richard Nixon founded the EPA in 1970 – presumably as a cynical bid to greenwash his tarnished image at the height of the last eco-craze – the organisation has been run by a string of useless placemen and placewomen, who’ve done little that actually helps the environment, but plenty to burden the economy, consumers and business alike with more pointless regulation.
Typical of these was its first Administrator William Ruckelshaus. A lawyer, by training, not a scientist, Ruckelshaus was the man responsible for instituting the America-wide ban on DDT. He did this on no scientific basis whatsoever. In fact, Judge Edmund Sweeney had presided over a seven-month EPA hearing, examining more than 9,000 pages of expert testimony, and concluded:
DDT is not a carcinogenic hazard to man…DDT is not a mutagenic or teratogenic hazard to man…The use of DDT under the regulations involved here do not have a deleterious effect on freshwater fish, estuarine organisms, wild birds or other wildlife.
Ruckelshaus, who had not attended the hearings or read the report, overruled him. Which probably made not much difference in the United States. But the knock-on effects of the near worldwide ban that followed meant that DDT could no longer be used to control mosquito populations, which in turn led to an explosion in malaria, causing the death of millions.
Subsequently Ruckelshaus has distinguished himself by endorsing Barack Obama for U.S. president in 2008; and most recently, by heading the Washington Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification. [Ocean Acidification, of course, being yet another scientifically dubious scare story designed mainly to prop up the lucrative global anti-carbon-dioxide industry]
Mind you, compared to some of the idiots who’ve taken the job of EPA Administrator since, Ruckelshaus must rate as a veritable Einstein.
Probably the worst were Obama’s appointments. First, was Lisa Jackson who had previously had a disastrous stint as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
WaPo: Yes, Trump met with Al Gore. But his transition tells a very different climate story
…Another Down Year in USA For Tornadoes & Major Hurricanes
By Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Vencore, Inc. – vencoreweather.com
Overview
Whether you’re talking about major (category 3, 4 or 5) hurricanes or tornadoes, there is good news this year for the US in that – similar to most recent years – these extreme weather-related events are down across the nation compared-to-normal. In fact, in the case of tornadoes, we are on pace for one of the quietest years in the last decade and with respect to land falling major hurricanes in the US, an unprecedented streak in the record-keeping era continues through yet another tropical season.
Hurricanes
In our springtime “Tropical Outlook”, Vencore Weather indicated it would likely be an above-normal tropical season in the Atlantic Basin which includes the tropical Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico with 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes. As it stands now, the Atlantic Basin saw 15 named storms during 2016, including 7 hurricanes (Alex, Earl, Gaston, Hermine, Matthew, Nicole, and Otto), 3 of which were major hurricanes (Gaston, Matthew and Nicole) in the first above-normal season since 2012. A major factor in that above-normal outlook was the anticipated demise of El Nino in the tropical Pacific Ocean which peaked late in 2015. El Nino (warmer-than-normal water) actually has an inhibiting effect on tropical activity in the Atlantic Basin as it tends to increase wind shear in that region. Five named storms made landfall in the United States during 2016, the most since 2008 when six storms struck; however, none of these were of major hurricane status. Tropical Storms Colin and Julia, and Hurricane Hermine made landfall in Florida. Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Matthew struck South Carolina. The strongest and longest-lived storm of the season was Matthew, which reached maximum sustained surface winds of 160 miles per hour and lasted as a major hurricane for eight days from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7. In fact, Matthew was the first category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin since Felix in 2007.
Storm tracks in the Atlantic Basin during the 2016 tropical season; map courtesy Unisys
Much of this year’s tropical activity in the Atlantic Basin stayed out over the Atlantic Ocean sparing the US with any landfalling major hurricanes. In fact, this major hurricane drought in the US continues an unprecedented streak in the record-keeping era which began in the middle 1800’s. The last major hurricane
U.S. Government Scientist Praises Trump’s EPA Transition Head Myron Ebell
Myron Ebell – Helping the Poor and the Disadvantaged
By Dr. Brian Valentine
When President Obama took office, he was perceived as an advocate for the less fortunate of society. And in many cases this has been true.
An unfortunate contradiction was evidenced with President Obama’s promise to make electricity prices “skyrocket.”
Access to electric power and affordable energy are necessities of human life, and there are no serious arguments to the contrary. We read of the poor freezing to death in the winter in Germany and other European countries because they are unable to pay their energy bills.
Neither Myron Ebell nor I will stand for such a thing happening in the USA. Myron Ebell has been demonized by a leftist media as a “denier” of very shoddy “science” that has not explained an historical Earthly climate and has never accounted for an observation. All anecdotal “evidence” of “climate change” has been observed previously and in fact cyclically with natural climate cycles.
Myron Ebell will continue to serve all of the USA, and in particular the poorest of poor, and regardless of criticism. History, and everyone who uses energy in one form or another, whether to use a smart phone, travel by anything that involves a motor, or expects light and heat in the nighttime will come to regard what Myron expects to do as the benefit of the society.
– Brian Gregory Valentine – The author is am engineering physicist employed by the US Government and the University of Maryland.…
Please Tell Us This Is Fake News: Trump And Daughter Meet Al Gore On Climate Change
There’s a strong temptation to call Gore a crackpot, but what he truly is is a swindler. He’s made a fortune out of peddling fear where none should be. Apparently his net worth is roughly $200 million. Bloomberg News calls him “Romney-rich.” There’s no way he could have reached those financial heights without running the Great Global Warming Scam. Years of his climate exaggerations were gold for his investment portfolio: He makes up stories about a monster, then sells the frightened townspeople the weapons he tells them they need to slay the dragon.
But the monster is of course no more real than the Big Bad Wolf. He’s been talked about but never seen. There’s a reason for that.
In January we listed five ways that we know Gore has been running a global warming racket, and as the year closes we are finding items that we could add to the list.
…
Trump ran as the candidate who said that man-made global warming is a “hoax.” We think it’s more fraud than hoax, but his point is well-taken. That he and his daughter would give Gore even a minute of their time is a bit unsettling. The Tennessee preening horse is central to the climate deception and deserves not even a courtesy visit or call from the incoming administration. Let’s hope the Trumps walked away from the meeting realizing that Gore is a con man.
…
Antarctica Continues to Baffle Alarmists
Experts have been concerned that ice at the South Pole had declined significantly since the 1950s, which they feared was driven by man-made climate change. But new analysis suggests that conditions are now virtually identical to when the Terra Nova and Endurance sailed to the continent in the early 1900s, indicating that declines are part of a natural cycle and not the result of global warming. 2
“The missions of Scott and Shackleton are remembered in history as heroic failures, yet the data collected by these and other explorers could profoundly change the way we view the ebb and flow of Antarctic sea ice,” said Dr. Jonathan Day, co-author of a recent study. 3
The research was based on the ice observations recorded in the logbooks from 11 voyages between 1897 and 1917, including three expeditions led by Captain Scott, two by Shackleton, as well as sea ice records from Belgian, German and French missions. A map showing current sea ice extent in Antarctica and the routes of expedition ships, reveals that the edge of the continent is largely the same today as it was 100 years ago.
We know that sea ice in the Antarctic has increased slightly over the past 30 years since satellite observations began. Scientists have been grappling to understand this trend in the context of global warming, but these new findings suggest it may not be anything new.
These findings demonstrate that the climate of Antarctica fluctuated significantly throughout the 20th century and indicates that sea ice in the Antarctic is much less sensitive to the effects of climate change that that of the Arctic which has experienced a dramatic decline during the 20th century.
Other confounding i…
Huh? Dem says Trump policy to allow ‘Saudi Arabia, Russia’ to build pipelines into US
Speaking on RT News, Nebraska Democrat Party Leader Jane Kleeb says that Donald Trump’s pipeline approval polices are “obviously very dangerous” claiming that Saudi Arabia or Russia could build pipelines straight into the United States. Kleeb: “He’s being reckless.”
DEMOCRAT PARTY CHAIR JANE KLEEB: “Trump is saying that he is going to get rid of the executive order that requires the State Department to review any pipeline that crosses our U.S. border. And, that’s obviously very dangerous because if he does that, that means that a pipeline from Saudi Arabia, Russia, whoever, that wants to cross into the United States, would literally have no federal oversight, no review, no environmental review. No federal agency right now other than the State Department reviews those pipelines when it crosses one of our borders. So he’s being reckless.”
RT America
December 1, 2016…
KIMBERLEY STRASSEL: DONALD TRUMP’S ENVIRONMENTAL RESET
Republicans look to liberate U.S. energy from destructive green regulations.
Anti-Trump protests continue to swell across the country, but what best sums up the president-elect’s challenge was a Monday night tantrum barely noticed by the press. Climate activists in Washington, D.C., waited until dark, then beamed huge images onto the headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency. Their demand? That Donald Trump pick someone other than Myron Ebell to lead the EPA.
Mr. Ebell is a whip-smart policy wonk at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He has spent years at the epicenter of conservative efforts to combat backward environmental regulations. His appointment to manage Mr. Trump’s EPA transition team was an inspired and encouraging surprise.
The political class is obsessed with whom Mr. Trump will pick for plum cabinet posts: the future secretaries of state, defense, Treasury. Inside activist groups and corporate boardrooms, the preoccupation is who will occupy the positions with the greatest bearing on the economic bottom line: the secretaries of labor, health and human services, energy.
The biggest battle lines will be drawn over the dismantling of Mr. Obama’s environmental regime. This is where the president’s crushing rules have arguably done the most broad-based damage to the economy. It is also where the progressive left is most organized—and most emotional.
Lifting environmental burdens is (along with tax reform) where conservatives see the most sweeping upside for growth. Talk to Mr. Trump’s economic advisers: They understand that the advent of fracking and new drilling techniques—the ability to tap untold reserves of oil and gas—represents a global paradigm shift that can reset America’s economy and foreign dealings. President Obama’s willful decision to ignore this was as if Bill Clinton had opted the country out of the internet revolution.
Mr. Trump gets that. The early audacity of his thinking, as represented by Mr. Ebell, has inspired the right, even as it has incensed the left. For years Republicans have been running scared on the environment, cringing under attacks from activists, constantly seeking to look “green” and play down their energy ambitions.
Not so Mr. Trump, the first Republican president in the modern era who seems willing to turn the formula on its head and adopt a position in keeping with other energy-rich nations. The Norways and Canadas of the world embrace their energy abundance and make it an economic priority, even as they also take steps to protect air and water quality. …
Colorado Gazette editorial: CU professor Pielke Jr. derided for climate research
CU has done a stand-up job supporting Pielke and other faculty who challenge conventional wisdom, censorship and establishment group think. We wish Pielke all the best, but urge him never bury his climate change findings.…
Climate scientist faced backlash from the left & WH after his research questioned extreme weather claims
- Roger Pielke Jr claimed he was victim of a witch hunt in an op-ed Friday
- University Of Colorado professor believes that climate change is real
- But questions whether hurricanes and droughts are more frequent
- Says his positions cost him a writing job at Nate Silver’s website 538
- Critique debunking his claims remains published on White House website
43
View comments
A climate change scientist who challenged the status quo on extreme weather claims he faced such backlash from the left that he lost a writing job and wound up on the White House website.
Roger Pielke Jr, an environmental studies professor at the University Of Colorado, called himself a ‘climate change heretic’ in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. Pielke Jr believes climate change is real but his research has concluded that there is little evidence that extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, flood and droughts, have increased in the United States or across the world.
That position, which he admits might be wrong, prompted ‘an intense media campaign’ to have him fired from his position as a writer for Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, Pielke Jr wrote. He said he was demoted from staff writer to freelancer and quit when it became ‘obvious’ that the website wouldn’t publish his work anymore.
Pielke Jr’s name came up in an email published by Wikileaks as part of its release of messages received by Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. The email showed how the editor of a news blog funded by the Center For American Progress, a liberal think tank founded by Podesta, rejoiced at the thought that the blog had helped silence Pielke Jr.
Roger Pielke Jr (left), a professor at the University Of Colorado, called himself a ‘climate change heretic’ in an opinion piece Wednesday. He mentions as evidence of the backlash against him an email written by Judd Legum (right), the editor of a climate change blog
The email, published by Wikileaks, was sent by Judd Legum, the editor of Think Progress, which has a climate section called Climate Progress.
Legum was writing to green billionaire Tom Steyer and his friend Ted White. Steyer, according to Pielke Jr, was one of the donors that had helped fund the blog.
The billionaire, a fierce