US Environment Protection Agency to declare CO2 "dangerous pollutant"

8 December, 2009 by

Stop polluting the environment

Stop polluting the environment

Now let’s just analyse the utter insanity of this. Carbon dioxide is the harmless trace gas that is essential for plants (and indeed all life on earth to survive), and which we all breathe out. And the EPA will declare this a “dangerous pollutant”? The world is truly mad. Here’s an extract from the press release:

After a thorough examination of the scientific evidence and careful consideration of public comments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that greenhouse gases (GHGs) threaten the public health and welfare of the American people. EPA also finds that GHG emissions from on-road vehicles contribute to that threat.

GHGs are the primary driver of climate change, which can lead to hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly; increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses; as well as other threats to the health and welfare of Americans.

“These long-overdue findings cement 2009’s place in history as the year when the United States Government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean-energy reform,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Business leaders, security experts, government officials, concerned citizens and the United States Supreme Court have called for enduring, pragmatic solutions to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution that is causing climate change. This continues our work towards clean energy reform that will cut GHGs and reduce the dependence on foreign oil that threatens our national security and our economy.” (source)

So it’s nothing to do with reducing pollution in the environment at all, but “tackling climate change”. And the real reason behind all this is that the EPA can now regulate those gases without any further need for Congress to approve legislation. And believe me, they will.

Maybe they should declare water vapour a dangerous pollutant as well – it’s a far stronger greenhouse gas than CO2. No, wait, you can’t tax and regulate that can you? So don’t bother.

Pure climate madness.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With:

Obama: delusional optimism over Copenhagen

18 November, 2009 by

Obamessiah

Walks on water as a party trick

Part of President Obama’s Messiah complex is that it brings on delusions which makes him believe that he can single-handedly save the world, or in this case, raise a binding deal at Copenhagen from the dead. This is despite the fact that there is absolutely no hope of such a deal, and they’ve just chucked the 200-page draft treaty in the dumpster. But The Australian swallows it, resurrecting Obama’s vacuous campaign slogan at the same time:

Yes we can: climate hopes revived

CHINA and the US last night resuscitated hopes for a binding deal at next month’s Copenhagen climate change talks after President Barack Obama said the two countries had agreed to aim for a comprehensive accord to take “immediate operational effect”.

…

Mr Obama said after talks with Mr Hu in Beijing that the countries had agreed “to work toward a successful outcome in Copenhagen”.

“Our aim there is . . . not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all the issues in the negotiations and one that has immediate operational effect,” he said.

I don’t know what Obama knows that we don’t, but this just isn’t going to happen.

Read it here.

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NZ: Hottest October in 64 years… no, wait…

8 November, 2009 by

Blue is the colour…

Blue is the colour…

From our Weather Isn’t Climate Department: we can’t draw conclusions from one month, of course, but this global warming sure is sneaky.

It will come as little surprise to most New Zealanders that the country shivered through the coldest October in 64 years.

In its climate summary for the month, the Niwa said the average temperature nationwide was 10.6degC – 1.4degC below average.

Such a cold October has occurred only four times in the past 100 years, the last time in 1945.

It was only fractionally warmer than August, which recorded a warmer-than-normal average temperature of 10.4degC.

Niwa said October was shaped by a series of southerly fronts, all-time record low temperatures in many areas, and unseasonable late snowfalls.

The heaviest October snowfall since 1967 occurred in Hawke’s Bay and the central North Island on October 4 and 5 stranding hundreds of travellers, closing roads, and resulting in heavy lambing losses. (source)

And on the other side of the world, the US is shivering too:

NCDC has compiled the October temperatures and it ended up the 3rd coldest in 115 years. As we have shown it was cold over almost all the lower 48. Indeed only Florida came in above normal. There is no press release out yet but it should be interesting

October with a mean of 50.8F was behind only 1976 with 50.7F and 1925 with 49.4F.

Also the University of Alabama global temperature is out and it is down this month. Hadley came in late for September but it was down. The trends since 2002 continue down for both even as CO2 rise. (source)

H/t: Watts Up With That

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US puts climate bill on hold until 2010

4 November, 2009 by

Another nail in the coffin of Hopenchangen, I mean, Copenhagen. The US has confirmed that it will not pass any climate bill before the COP15 summit in December, delaying it by at least five weeks to review the potential costs (which will be huge):

The delay, which would push a Senate vote on a climate change bill into next year, frustrates a last-minute push by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to get America to commit itself at home to cut greenhouse gas emissions before the Copenhagen meeting. World leaders – and US officials – have repeatedly said US legislation is crucial to a deal on global warming.

…

However, the appeals for urgent action were overridden by political concerns in the Senate, which formally began debate on a proposed climate change law last week. The House of Representatives narrowly passed a climate change bill in June. But the Senate version has been repeatedly delayed, first by the battle over healthcare reform and now by Republican demands for more time to study the proposals.

In a move to stem the Republican protest, and quieten Democrat critics, the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, said he would ask the Environmental Protection Agency to spend five weeks reviewing the potential costs of the bill. Opponents of the proposal argue the target of a 20% cut in emissions on 2005 levels by 2020 is overly ambitious, and will be too costly for US businesses and families.

The five-week delay would all but rule out passage of a bill before the Copenhagen meeting begins on 7 December.

So just remind me again: why on earth is the Rudd government so desperate to pass the ETS before Copenhagen? Give me one good reason.

Read it here (h/t Watts Up With That)

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