Global Warming: Why is Al Gore Refusing to Debate? by Gregory Hilton

Al Gore has avoided debating global warming since the release of his 2006 Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” In a rare move yesterday at the Society of Environmental Journalists he took half a dozen questions from reporters. He was asked to address the nine major errors in his film identified by a British court in 2007. The journalist had his microphone cut off by the moderators.
Gore once again avoided having to defend many of his absurd claims such as sea levels rising by 20 feet. Most scientific studies say a worse case scenario is 8 inches. The UN IPCC says 17 inches over the next 100 years. Gore predicted cap and trade will pass the Senate in November and that Obama will attend the UN global warming conference in Copenhagen in December.
I do not believe Gore’s prediction because far too many Senate Democrats have come out against cap and trade. These sensible Democrats do not want to be stuck defending a $1,720 tax on every American family during an election year.

Clinton’s Kyoto Negotiator: House Democrats Have Gone Too Far by Gregory Hilton

Bill Clinton’s liberal climate negotiator now says House Democrats have gone too far. Tim Wirth is one the original authors of cap and trade in 1988, led the Kyoto negotiations and was National Co-Chair of the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1992. Senator Wirth says Republicans are right to call the legislation passed by the House the cap and tax bill. According to Wirth, the legislation passed by the House is “out of control” and needs to be scaled back. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is not backing down and the vote is still scheduled for November.
Wirth is still supporting passage of the Waxman-Markey bill but is comments are a blow to the environmental movement. In April the Senate voted 67 to 31 against fast-tracking a climate change bill so that it did not have to face a filibuster. “It’s a bad mistake to try to cut out the Republicans and cut off debate and limit amendments on such an important bill, and I say that as a supporter of cap and trade,” argued Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).
We would still have to contend with the global warming debate even with the elimination of cap and trade. In addition to Wirth, other prominent liberal supporters of cap and trade are acknowledging problems with this scheme. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) says,”I just want to make sure that the ratepayers in my state don’t get socked hard. And that the manufacturing doesn’t get crippled.”

Global Warming Bill Could Cost Two Million Jobs by Gregory Hilton

The National Association of Manufacturers will release a study tomorrow that says the House global warming bill will cost 2 million jobs by 2030. The study also says economic growth would be reduced by 2.4%. What is really interesting is the response from the left. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) says the study “is overly pessimistic about the development of nuclear power plants.” No organization did more to stop the development of America’s nuclear power plants than EDF. Also, for the past two years we have been experiencing global cooling.
The Environmental Defense Fund created the concept of pollution trading credits in the 1990 Clean Air Act, which has now become cap and trade. They have a real problem with the truth, and they always said former President Bush was the reason America did not join the Kyoto Accords. In 1997, the Senate voted 95 to 0 against the Kyoto concept that Al Gore negotiated.
The Senate resolution said the treaty (1) harms the US economy and (2) did not include all nations. President Clinton signed the Kyoto treaty but did not send it to the Senate for ratification. Kyoto was already signed before Bush got to the White House, but it helped EDF’s fundraising to blame Bush rather than a unanimous vote of the U.S. Senate.
We should reduce our dependence on foreign oil and electric cars that require no gasoline are a wonderful idea. This will require a dramatic increase in electricity output, and it is another reason to increase the role of nuclear power in our energy mix.

Do You Support the Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming?

 

This graphic shows NYC after a 20 foot rise in sea levels. The UN IPCC Report says the worst case scenario would be 3 to 9 inches.

No.  Environmental security is vital and these concerns should never be ignored. Unfortunately, the Kyoto Protocol was clearly not in the national interests of the United States. This was recognized by the U.S. Senate in 1997 when it passed the Byrd-Hagel Resolution in opposition to Kyoto by a 95 to 0 vote margin.

The Resolution noted that Kyoto posed “a serious threat to the United States’ economy.” Many lawmakers also noted that a number of theories advocated global warming disciples were not supported by sound science.  The cost-benefit analysis of Kyoto was skewed heavily against the United States. This is why the treaty was never submitted to the Senate for formal ratification.

The advocates of the Kyoto Protocol have done an excellent job of scaring the American people. They claim global warning will result in catastrophic floods, war, terrorism, economic dislocations, drought, crop failure, mosquito borne diseases, and severe weather conditions.  All of this will occur, they claim, because the earth is getting warmer due to man-made gases.  This should continue to be a subject of intense scientific inquiry, but far too often partisans are quickly exaggerate their claims.  For example, the UN panal on climate change said sea levels could increase three inches, not 20 feet.  
The United States and the global community must also continue their commitment to developing cleaner and more efficient methods of industrial production.  Kyoto requires that expensive exhaust-refining technologies be applied to plants, refineries and vehicles. It calls for a 7% reduction in three industrial gases: hydrofluorocarbon (HFC), perfluorocarbon (PFC) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). A major problem is that reducing these gases does not guarantee any reduction in global temperature.  When these gases decompose, one of their byproducts is carbon dioxide (CO2).  The concern is that CO2 allows the sun’s rays to penetrate the atmosphere but does not let the heat they generate tp escape back into space. Consequently, the atmosphere gradually gets hotter as more heat is trapped. However, respected studies have also demonstrated that it is unlikely man has produced enough greenhouse gases to affect natural climatic conditions.  Countries such as China, India, Brazil, South Korea and Mexico are all signatories to Kyoto, but they do not have to reduce their emissions even though they are responsible for over 30 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases.