ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER 28 APR. 2014
This week's edition includes: If you need older URLs contact George at [email protected]. Please Note: This newsletter contains articles that offer differing points of view regarding climate change, energy and other environmental issues. Any opinions expressed in this publication are the responses of the readers alone and do not represent the positions of the Environmental Engineering Division or the ASME. George Holliday
This week's edition includes:
1. ENVIRONMENT A D.C. CIRCUIT REJECTS CHALLENGES TO EPA’S 2012 EGU MATS On April 15, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ("D.C. Circuit") issued a decision upholding EPA’s 2012 mercury and air toxics standards ("MATS") for coal- and oil-fired EGUs. The case is White Stallion Energy Center, LLC v. EPA, No. 12-1100. In White Stallion, state, industry, and labor petitioners challenged EPA’s 2012 MATS on a variety of grounds. The court rejected all of the challenges. The court also rejected a separate challenge by environmental petitioners to provisions of the rule regarding compliance demonstrations. Env140428 Roger Zygmunt
B. ANTI-FRACKING BILL ADVANCES IN CALIF. SENATE California's Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water has approved a measure that would temporarily ban hydraulic fracturing in the state. The panel also advanced a bill that would improve the state's oil spill response program. The two measures await further action by the state Senate Committee on Environmental Quality. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-10/california-lawmakers-advance-bills-to-stop- fracking.html
C. GULF OIL SPILL CLEANUP COMPLETED, BP AND COAST GUARD SAY BP and the Coast Guard have completed oil spill cleanup operations in the Gulf of Mexico, four years after the blowout that caused the spill. "Immediately following the Deepwater Horizon accident, BP committed to cleaning the shoreline and supporting the Gulf's economic and environmental recovery," said BP America Chairman and President John Minge. http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/04/15/bp-says-its-finished-spill-cleanup-on-gulf- shorelines/?shared=email&msg=fail D. WATCHDOG: EPA INFLATING SUCCESS OF WETLANDS PROGRAMS An EPA inspector general report suggests the agency is inflating the success of its wetland preservation programs. The finding comes after the agency declared there was "no net loss" of wetlands under a key regulatory program between fiscal 2009 and 2011. The program, overseen in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, dates back decades and applies to those seeking permits for everything from dams to highways to mining projects that could spew materials into U.S. wetlands. It requires permit seekers to offer "mitigation" plans -- in other words, wetlands restoration projects -- to offset any "adverse impacts." The EPA has reported these rules as successful -- but the EPA inspector general report found that the declarations were based on the EPA's assumption that all the mitigation projects would be 100 percent effective. That's not always the case, according to the IG report. "Not clearly communicating such assumptions hampers the public's understanding of the EPA's actual performance in protecting wetlands," the report said. One survey of North Carolina projects, for instance, found that none of the regions achieved "complete success." A memo from EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr. said the EPA should "clarify" its own claims -- which the EPA apparently agreed to do. A letter from Acting Assistant Administrator Nancy Stoner acknowledged that the agency was assuming all these projects would be entirely successful and agreed to "corrective actions."
E. FEDS ISSUE TECHNICAL PAPERS ON METHANE, VOC EMISSIONS The Environmental Protection Agency has released five technical papers for public review as part of its initiative to reduce methane emissions. The papers cover methane and volatile organic compound emissions data from natural gas compressors, fracking, leaks from natural gas production, liquid removal from wells and pneumatic devices. "The white papers will help EPA solidify our understanding of certain sources of methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in the oil and natural gas industry," the agency said. http://www.ogj.com/articles/2014/04/epa-white-papers-offer-hint-of-methane-voc- emissions.html
F. TEXAS WATCHDOG: NO PROOF OF CONNECTION BETWEEN FRACKING AND QUAKES There is no conclusive evidence that could link hydraulic fracturing with earthquakes, according to the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees oil and natural gas exploration in the state. The statement came after Ohio regulators said they found "a probable connection" between fracking and quakes, prompting additional restrictions on fracking permits http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/04/17/even-in-wake-of-new-ohio-limits-texas- regulators.html
G. MONDAY, APR. 21 2014 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY PROPOSED RULES Clean Water Act; Definitions: Definition of “Waters of the United States” Under the Clean Water Act 22187-22274
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) are publishing for public comment a proposed rule defining the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA), in light of the U.S. Supreme Court cases in U.S. v. Riverside Bayview, Rapanos v. United States, and Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC), and Rapanos v. United States (Rapanos). This proposal would enhance protection for the nation's public health and aquatic resources, and increase CWA program predictability and consistency by increasing clarity as to the scope of ``waters of the United States'' protected under the Act. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-04-21/pdf/2014-07142.pdf
H. EXPERTS SAY EPA FUNDED ETHANOL STUDY USED BAD MODEL Experts on Monday criticized a new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study, saying it used “worst-case” assumptions to determine that cellulosic ethanol creates more carbon emissions than gasoline. The report from Adam Liska, an associate professor at Nebraska, says crop residue (stover) used to make cellulosic ethanol creates 7 percent more greenhouse gas emissions in the short-run than gasoline emissions and are “above the 60 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions” required by the federal government. Tom Vilsack, the U.S. secretary of agriculture, said the study makes “certain assumptions about farming operations” that “aren’t a reality. It’s not what’s happening on the ground. “If you make the wrong assumption, you’re going to come up with the wrong conclusions,” said Iowa’s former governor, who was in Des Moines on Monday. “It’s unfortunate.” The U.S. Department of Energy provided a $500,000 grant over three years for the study, published Sunday in a peer-reviewed journal, Nature Climate Change. The research attempts to quantify, over 12 Corn Belt states, how much carbon is lost to the atmosphere when the stalks, leaves and cobs that make up residue are removed and used to make biofuel, instead of left to naturally replenish the soil with carbon. The university said the study “casts doubt on whether corn residue can be used to meet federal mandates to ramp up ethanol production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” The federal government has provided more than $1 billion in funding to support what it believes is greener cellulosic ethanol development. In November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed pulling back how much renewable fuels — including corn-based and cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel — must be used in the U.S. fuel supply. EPA has reduced the target for the cellulosic industry five times, given the industry’s difficulty in meeting the volumes. Jennifer Dunn, an environmental team leader at the Argonne National Laboratory, said the study looked at “extreme levels of corn stover removal — up to 100 percent.” A study from Dunn and others in 2012 found that biofuels made with corn residue were 95 percent better than gasoline in greenhouse gas emissions. That study assumed some of the corn stover harvested would be used to create energy and replace power produced from coal. “The general consensus has been that we would manage corn stover removal to avoid adverse impacts to soil health, including a decline in soil organic carbon,” Dunn said. Dunn said several plants are creating energy to power their own cellulosic plants, a fact not factored into the Nebraska study. That includes Poet-DSM, which is building a $250 million cellulosic plant in Emmetsburg. Another Iowa plant, DuPont Nevada, says its $225 million facility has the potential to reduce greenhouse emissions by more than 100 percent. It’s under construction west of the Story County town. “The companies behind these plants have really striven to emphasize the sustainability of their feedstock, including the soil carbon aspect. It’s why there is only a certain level of stover that can be removed from the field. “Everyone knows that if you take the whole thing off, it’s going to cause problems,” she said. “That’s not even debated. ... Nobody wants to damage their soil health.” Dunn and others say farmers look at soil carbon on a “sub-field level” to determine how much stover can be sustainably removed. Liska said in an email that his study looked at stover removal at 25 percent, 50 percent and 75- 100 percent, and the rate of carbon emissions was constant. “It is likely that no matter what level of residue is removed, the carbon intensity stays the same,” he said. Douglas Karlen, a research soil scientist with USDA’s Agriculture Research Service, said the amount of stover removal used in the model isn’t physically possible. “If you could take off 75 percent of the corn stover, I’m not sure where you would put it,” he said. Karlen said Iowa farmers would take off 1 to 1.5 tons per acre of stover from their fields. The study model would remove 2.68 tons per acre. “You’d be stacked up with corn bales that are miles long,” said Karlen, who has worked with both Poet and DuPont in Iowa, among other companies, on ensuring sustainable amounts of stover are removed. “The machinery can’t take off 75 percent of the material, even with a vacuum system.” Editor’s Note: It appears to me that it makes no difference how much CO2 is released, since global temperature is not dependent on atmospheric CO2 concentration. GHH http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2014/04/22/experts-say-ethanol- study-used-bad-model/7994223/ More on the subject of methanol, Env140428-2
2. HEALTH A HANTAVIRUS UPDATE - AMERICAS (12): USA (TEXAS) A ProMED-mail post
Date: Fri 11 Apr 2014 Source: Your East Texas [edited]
3. TRANSPORTATION NOTHING OF INTEREST
COMMENTS: A. THE WEEK THAT WAS: 2014-04-19 (APRIL, 19 2014) NIPCC: The latest report of the Nongovernmental Panel International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts, continues to receive some press coverage. Although the coverage is not extensive compared with the press coverage of the latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is becoming evident to some commentators that there is an alternative to the one-sided view that human emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), are causing unprecedented and dangerous global warming. The warming has stopped and it was not global. Late 20th century warming largely occurred in the northern part of the Northern Hemisphere, which cannot be explained by the false assertion that carbon dioxide is the controlling influence on climate. Some global warming skeptics may be disappointed by the weak press coverage of the NIPCC report. However, it takes time to overcome the decades of false assertions by the UN, governments, politicians, and some scientists who claim to know far more than what they can scientifically establish. Assertions of knowledge of the physical world are meaningless without physical evidence. Climate models, which have not be verified and validated, are little more than misleading assertions, no matter how sophisticated. NIPCC co-lead author Craig Idso has an excellent op-ed in Breitbart, which is one of the few news organizations that dares question the authority of the UN and governments. Please see links under Challenging the Orthodoxy –NIPCC. *************** IPCC: On April 13, the UN IPCC published its third part of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. This is the product of UN Working GroupIII led by three Co-Chairs: Ottmar Edenhofer from Germany, Ramón Pichs-Madruga from Cuba, and Youba Sokona from Mali. The citizens and businesses of Germany are suffering from rapidly increasing electricity costs due to ill-advised green energy policies. Once an economic bright spot of Latin America, Cuba has undergone about 50 years of economic stagnation from an authoritarian government. Mali is hardly a shining example of economic development in Africa. The report seems to reflect the background of its three Co-Chairs. According to the IPCC: The Working Group III contribution assesses the options for mitigating climate change and their underlying technological, economic and institutional requirements. It transparently lays out risks, uncertainty and ethical foundations of climate change mitigation policies on the global, national and sub-national level, investigates mitigation measures for all major sectors and assesses investment and finance issues. Working Group III fails in its mission. The report is alarmist, claiming that the world must act now to control CO2 emissions to prevent warming, even though surface warming stopped 15 years ago. It claims that renewable energy is deployable on a large scale, which would be a surprise to those in Germany who are suffering from increasing electricity costs and the industries that are demanding subsidies and exceptions from the costs of renewable wind and solar. The report asserts that a price on carbon dioxide is fundamental to the mission, the dream of bureaucrats, some politicians and the green industry for another form of taxation to fight a non- existent problem. The report claims that a warming of 2ºC could produce drastic effects, such as the collapse of ice sheets, a rapid rise in sea levels, difficulty growing enough food, huge die-offs of forests, and mass extinctions of plant and animal species. These claims are contradicted in the NIPCC reports. The false goal of climate stabilization is absurd; the climate has never been stable. According to the IPCC report, global warming can be stopped with negligible costs. Bjørn Lomborg largely accepts the global warming narrative. But, he directly challenges the claim that global warming can be addressed at low costs. He details how much the bureaucrats and politicians have overstated the costs of global warming and under stated of the costs of reducing global warming. He concludes: The solution is to stop applauding politicians who warn of catastrophe and promote poor policies. Instead of subsidizing inefficient solar and wind power with little benefit, we need to invest in long-term green innovation. And we need to give more attention to all of the other problems. This is perhaps less entertaining, but it will do much more good. See Article # 2 and links under Defending the Orthodoxy and Seeking a Common Ground. *************** The Mandate: An article in the Wall Street Journal on the March 31 IPCC report, Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability produced a letter from Jonathan Lynn, who is identified on IPCC web site as Head, Communications and Media Relations. Lynn writes: The IPCC has a mandate, not an agenda, and that is to tell policy makers what is known and not known about the science related to climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. The IPCC assesses relevant scientific, technical and socio-economic literature to produce information that is policy-relevant, but not policy-prescriptive. The IPCC fails to meet its mandate. The NIPCC reports cite a massive body of scientific work that the IPCC ignores. Further, IPCC’s the assertion of 95% confidence in its work is opinion, not derived from scientific knowledge. And, as discussed below, in its summaries, the IPCC fails to adequately disclose what is not known about the causes of climate change. See Article # 1 and http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization_secretariat.shtml *************** Climate Change: What we don’t know: Ironically, on the same day the letter by Jonathan Lynn appeared, on Climate Etc. Judith Curry had a post titled “Climate change: what we don’t know.” It includes links to several articles discussing the lack of knowledge about climate and climate science. The post also includes a link to a 30 minute debate among three scientists on the issue of lack of knowledge. The debate was hosted by The Institute of Art and Ideas (IAI) in Australia. One of the three scientists is Bob Carter, who is a co-editor and lead author of the NIPCC reports (not mentioned). The other two are Richard Cornfield and Michael McIntyre. Among the many important points made, Carter emphasized that during the last ice age the earth was facing planetary starvation of CO2. If that had occurred, it is questionable to what extent life would have survived. Such discussions are critical if we are to advance scientific knowledge about the impact of increasing CO2 and to establish proper government policies. As Curry notes from the debate. “The whole language of climate change is designed to confuse the public and policy makers.” The NIPCC reports endeavor to clarify the issues regarding climate change. See link under Seeking a Common Ground. *************** Time Lag: One of the major issues in climate science is the role of feedbacks to a warming caused by increased atmospheric CO2. If the earth’s feedback is negative, the net effect is a dampening of warming, low sensitivity to CO2. If the feedback is positive, the net effect is an amplifying of warming, high sensitivity to CO2. On his web site, Roy Spencer expresses his frustration with the climate establishment, which seems to believe that any feedback would be instantaneous. Spencer writes: As a long-time loyal readers of my blog are aware, the regression relationships at zero time lag are what are traditionally used to estimate feedbacks in the climate system, a methodology which I (and Lindzen) believe is seriously in error. Since feedbacks determine climate sensitivity, and sensitivity determines how much anthropogenic global warming there will be, this is a critical issue. The climate system is constantly out of balance, and without knowing how much internal radiative forcing is occurring, you can’t know the size of the net feedback. Radiative forcing always opposes net radiative feedback, and if forcing is occurring, any estimate of feedback is biased in the direction of positive feedback (high climate sensitivity). See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy. *************** AAAS: On her web site, Judith Curry has a further discussion on the misleading report by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) entitled “What We Know.” As Curry points out, there is a great deal in that document on what we assume, rather than know. In particular, Curry objects to the undue focus on unverified worst case scenarios as a strategy for building political will for a particular policy option constitutes undesirable alarmism. The climate establishment asserts 95% certainty, but uses uncertainty as the basis for claiming a need for drastic action. See link under Questioning the Orthodoxy. *************** Secret Science: After two years of delay and requiring a subpoena, in a letter to House Science, Space and Technology Committee chairman Lamar Smith, EPA, Administrator Gina McCarthy admitted that the EPA cannot produce all of the original data from the 1993 Harvard Six Cities Study and the American Cancer Society’s 1995 Cancer Prevention Study II. For years, EPA has refused to make these studies public, yet has used this secret science to justify ever tightening regulations on particulate emissions from power plants, factories, and cars. Subsequent studies have questioned the announced findings in the secret science. How this admission will affect the continued regulation of the industries remains to be seen. However, this sad episode demonstrates that the Federal appeal courts do not serve the public when they prevent challenges to EPA science by independent-parties. See links under EPA and other Regulators on the March *************** Keystone Pipeline: The Administration announced further delay in the decision whether or not to approve the northern portion of Keystone Pipeline, designed to carry crude from Canada and the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana to refineries along the Gulf Coast. The southern leg from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast is already operating. Tom Steyer is an ardent foe of the pipeline and promised the Democratic Party $100 million in campaign contributions for the 2014 elections. For this, he received a 14 hour talk-a-thon in the Senate. Some commentators speculate that the Administration will not make a decision as long as the threat of a decision can be used to solicit campaign contributions. See links Washington’s Control of Energy. *************** Hydraulic Fracturing. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources released a 265-pagereport on the impacts of shale-gas development in state forests. The four findings are: 1) water quality is not affected, 2) about 1486 acres of forest was disturbed; 3) invasive species are a concern in the disturbed areas; and 4) mixed response from the public on recreation use. These are not exactly the findings that the anti-development organizations desired. See links under Oil and Natural Gas –the Future or the Past? *************** Post-Hoc Probabilities: The eminent physicist and lecturer, Richard Feynman, criticized post hoc probabilities –probability analysis after the fact. For example, what is the probability of a meteor hitting person X after it has hit person X. An example of why Feynman criticized this form of analysis appeared this week. The headlines read: “Odds that global warming is due to natural factors: Slim to none.” The paper by S. Lovejoy is in Climate Dynamics. The analysis starts in the year 1500 –thus, conveniently ignoring all past warm periods during this current interglacial. Were those warm periods due to human influence? Are the editors and reviewers of Climate Dynamics unaware of past climate change? The analysis has other major problems as well. See links under Communicating Better to the Public –Make things up. *************** Number of the Week: Down 32%; Down 40%. The Congressional Research Service reported that the percentage of US oil production from Federal Areas (both land and offshore) dropped from 34% in Fiscal Year 2009 to 23% in FY 2013, a decline of 32%. The percentage of US natural gas production from Federal Areas dropped from 25% in FY 2009 to 15% in FY 2013, a decline 40%. The Administration taking credit for the oil and gas boom is not substantiated by this report. See links under Washington’s Control of Energy. http://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2014/TWTW%204-19-14%20-%20Final.pdf
B. RADIOACTIVE WASTE IS NORTH DAKOTA'S NEW SHALE PROBLEM At a deserted gas station in a remote North Dakotan town, local officials recently found an unintended byproduct of the shale-oil boom: hundreds of garbage bags filled with mildly radioactive waste.
These bags, which were discovered, late February in Noonan, N.D., contained what are known as "oil socks": three-foot-long, snake-like filters made of absorbent fiber. The shale-oil industry uses the socks to capture silt from waste water resulting from hydraulic fracturing.
Days earlier, a similar trove had been found on flatbed trailers near a landfill in Watford City— which, like Noonan, is located in the state's sparsely populated westernmost reaches where the Bakken oil shale formation lies.
The two recent incidents show that North Dakota's regulators have been slow to address repercussions from the surge in crude output, ranging from widespread flaring of natural gas at oil wells to drill rigs popping up on historic lands.Most of the radioactive material in oil socks comes from silt filtered in the process of pumping waste water down injection wells. Radium, found in soil, rock and water, accumulates in the filtered silt.
"Before the Bakken oil boom we didn't have any of these materials being generated," said Scott Radig, the state's director of waste management. "So it wasn't really an issue."
The trailers found in Watford City that contained improperly stored oil socks belonged to Riverton, Wyo.-based RP Services LLC, state officials said. The investigation is still underway, and RP Services didn't respond to requests for comment. One of its clients, oil giant Continental Resources Inc., has cut ties with the company as a result of the discovery.
Radiation levels from these oil socks are fairly low—North Dakota state officials say a person could stand for a year by a dumpster full of them and receive less skin radiation than from a dental X-ray. But the discovery of the large quantities of improperly stored and abandoned radioactive waste has triggered a public outcry.
North Dakota adopted new rules for handling radioactive waste after such garbage was dumped at this site. North Dakota Health Department/Associated Press Last week, the state reacted by passing new regulations—effective June 1—forcing the shale-oil industry to use leak-proof containers to temporarily store the socks at well sites. "This is a response to the ongoing problem of illegal dumping of filter socks," said Lynn Helms, director of the state department of mineral resources.
North Dakota already mandates the filters eventually be transported by "licensed waste haulers" to an authorized disposal facility.
The problem: North Dakota doesn't have a single storage facility capable of handling radioactive waste—and it now has between 500 and 600 injection wells producing the socks.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the average level of radium in soil is below five picocuries per gram, which is the maximum threshold for waste disposal at standard dumps in North Dakota and many other states. The average concentration of radium in wastewater sludge from oil-and-gas production is about 75 picocuries per gram, according to the EPA. Radioactive sludge poses a higher risk of exposure than some other forms of radiation-prone substances because their solubility in water allows them to be more readily released to the environment.
Several states outside of North Dakota—Idaho, Colorado, Utah, and to some extent, Montana— have designated dumps to handle above-average levels of radioactive waste. Facilities in Montana accept materials with radiation levels of under 30 picocuries per gram, while in Idaho, they tolerate levels as high as 1,500.
As a result, radioactive oil socks from North Dakota's shale-oil industry often have to be transported hundreds of miles away to dumps certified to handle it.
"There's such a rush to get the oil out that the rules and regulations are not keeping up with the pace of development," said Wayde Schafer, head of the North Dakota chapter of the Sierra Club. "This state is reactive instead of proactive," he said.
Illegal disposal or storage of radioactive waste in North Dakota is subject to fines of up to $10,000 per incident in addition to a $1,000 fine for standard illegal dumping, state officials say. But that hasn't stopped the occasional dumping of contaminated socks on road sides or at waste facilities.
Dump operators now routinely screen garbage with radiation monitors, and have the power to levy fines on offenders.
"It's unfortunate it falls to guys like me to enforce the rules," said Rick Schreiber, solid waste director at the McKenzie County Landfill near Watford City, which levies a fine of $1,000 per sock. "The state isn't doing much about it."
Policing is part of dump operators' job, state officials say. "They are responsible for checking waste loads coming in," said David Glatt, chief of the North Dakota Health Department's Environmental Health Section. "They can either reject it, or they can fine them." North Dakota's volume of filter waste with levels of radiation requiring specialized disposal ranges from a low of eight tons a day to several times that number, according to state and industry officials.
Where all that oilfield-related waste winds up is anyone's guess, say companies specializing in radioactive waste disposal. But they believe most of the filters are being properly handled to avoid heavy fines.
"When you're looking at fines of $1,000 per sock, it really doesn't make financial sense to sneak them in" to state dumps, said Kurt Rhea, manager of a Denver-based waste disposal unit of Secure Energy Services Inc. "I've had a couple of people call up and say: ‘I can't tell you my company name, but what would it cost?'" to have the filters disposed of out of state, Mr. Rhea said.
The North Dakota Petroleum Council, an industry lobby, believes the state's radiation exposure limits for industrial waste are too low and supports allowing disposal within North Dakota at certified dumps. That is something state health authorities are studying, in cooperation with Argonne National Laboratory.
"We need a North Dakota-based solution," said council president Ron Ness.
C. THANK YOU FOR YOUR OUTSTANDING WORK AND HERE IS A PUBLIC SERVICE AD I DID FOR EARTH DAY, FYI Hi George, I really appreciate your continuous efforts in publishing the weekly ASME Newsletter. As is often the case, much of the true facts are known by Professionals like us, because we do read the publications such as those fine technical articles that you assemble and edit. One concern I have had for about 20 years, is the fact that those of us who understand energy and the importance of American Domestically produced energy, are severely out-numbered by those who are miss- informed. I estimate that we are out-numbered by 300 to 1. Based on about 1,000,000 engineers and technicians employed in the electric power industry and the supporting engineering firms. Getting 300 to one is based on our population of about 300-320 million in America. Having said that, for a number of years, I have done Public Service Advertisements in the local (Stanly County, NC) newspaper and on the local radio station. I do these to help educate the public on energy and environmental extremism. I am attaching a pdf of the latest paid ad that I am placing for “Earth Day” just to give my slant on what it has become. Use it as you wish. But know sincerely, that I appreciate what you do to keep the ASME “Choir” well informed. Have a Blessed Easter, Dick Storm Senior Consultant Storm Technologies, Inc. Env140428-1
D. LIFE ON EARTH: PRINCIPAL CONTROL KNOB GOVERNING EARTH’S TEMPERATURE April 17th, 2014 The title of this post is a purposeful play on the title of a 2010 paper by Lacis, Schmidt, Rind, and Ruedy, entitled Atmospheric CO2: Principal control knob governing Earth’s temperature. In that paper, the authors claimed that the existence of CO2 is what provides enough warming to keep the Earth from becoming an ice planet. They also claim that, because CO2 is “non- condensing” (whereas water vapor, Earth’s most abundant greenhouse gas, does condense) this gives it special status as some sort of primary control knob governing Earth temperatures. That latter argument has never quite convinced me of anything…both CO2 and water vapor have various sources and sinks, and just because water vapor goes through a phase change and CO2 doesn’t is, in my mind, irrelevant. Yes, the CO2 source/sink processes act more slowly than the water vapor ones (evaporation and precipitation) do, but on the long time scales of Earth’s history, who cares? http://www.drroyspencer.com/ Roy Spencer
E. DECISION IN THE MANN/UVA CASE, A BLOW TO OPEN SCIENCE Posted on April 17, 2014 by Anthony Watts Supreme Court of VA sides with University, secrecy, and Mann. The previously claimed claimed destruction of Mann emails now to begin. In this appeal, we consider whether the Circuit Court of Prince William County (“trial court”) erred by denying a request for disclosure of certain documents under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“VFOIA”), Code § 2.2-3700 et seq., and whether a public body may impose charges for the cost of reviewing documents under the statutory exclusions.1 130934 American Tradition Inst. v. Rector and Visitors 04/17/2014 The circuit court was correct in denying a request for disclosure of certain documents under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The purpose of the higher education research exemption under Code § 2.2-3705.4(4) for “information of a proprietary nature” is to avoid competitive harm, not limited to financial matters. The definition of “proprietary” in prior case law, that it is “a right customarily associated with ownership, title, and possession, an interest or a right of one who exercises dominion over a thing or property, of one who manages and controls,” is consistent with that goal and the circuit court did not err in applying that definition. Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the university that prevailed below, it produced sufficient evidence to meet each of the higher education research exemption’s seven requirements. Also, in the context of the Code § 2.2-3704(F) provision allowing a public entity to make reasonable charges for its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying or searching for requested records, “searching” includes inquiry into whether a disputed document can be released under federal or state law, and this statute permits a public body to charge a reasonable fee for exclusion review. The circuit court’s judgment excluding disputed documents and approving such cost recovery is affirmed, and final judgment is entered in favor of the university. See the document here: http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1130934.pdf
F. THE HOLDREN ‘CHERRY BLOSSOM VORTEX’, INFORMATION QUALITY ACT, AND U.S. WEATHER HISTORY Posted on April 17, 2014 by Anthony Watts CEI is taking John Holdren to task over his “polar vortex” video. In a post today at globalwarming.org we have this: DC’s cherry trees hit their official peak blossom date last Thursday, April 10th. That’s the latest in the year that the Capital has experienced peak blossoming in over two decades. (For you botanical historians, the last time that peak blossoming occurred this late or later was in 1993, when the event fell on April 11.) In 2013 the blossoms were almost as late, hitting their peak on April 9. That was a pretty dramatic change from 2012, when the date fell on March 20. This change was most disconcerting to two groups: tourists trying to plan their trips to DC in advance, and global warming alarmists who trumpeted every earlier-than-expected cherry blossom as yet further proof of global warming. In fact, in a sizzling multi-part blog post series last year, followed by dozens of readers, we charted peak blossom dates against global warming data. We even had graphs. (See Adam Sandberg, Peak Bloom Is Here – DC’s Global Warming Canary Lands with Frost on its Feet, April 15, 2013.) White House Science adviser John Holdren made some ridiculous and baseless claims about the “polar vortex” being tied to climate change in a hastily produced “never let a good crisis go to waste” style video on YouTube. Readers may recall our January 8th WUWT story: The White House gets into the ‘polar vortex’ climate change blame business So as the post at globalwarming.org posits: We suspect that Holdren’s agency, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), may now have a second video in the works in this Blame-Everything-On-Global-Warming series. Perhaps they’ll call it Delayed Peak Blossoming Explained in 2 Minutes. I get word from our friends at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) that they are taking the claims made by Holdren in that January video to task. CEI is targeting two claims made in WH videos and blog posts: “A growing body of evidence suggests that the kind of extreme cold being experienced by much of the United States as we speak is a pattern that we can expect to see with increasing frequency as global warming continues.” We also seek to correct a January 8th OSTP blog post by OSTP Senior Communications Advisor and Web Editor Becky Fried that features the above Polar Vortex Explained video. We request a correction of its claim that “we also know that this week’s cold spell is of a type there’s reason to believe may become more frequent in a world that’s getting warmer, on average, because of greenhouse-gas pollution.” Despite the widespread criticism that this claim has received, the video and a related claim are still up on OSTP’s website. The CEI petition uses OSTP’s own regulations (and the Information Quality Act) to request that this misinformation be corrected. The late onset of cherry blossoms in DC made CEI wonder whether Holdren would soon be releasing a video attributing that to global warming as well. CEI has a short blog post on this at http://www.globalwarming.org/2014/04/14/will-cherry- blossoms-get-sucked-into-the-polar-vortex/ The blog post links to the OSTP correction request, which can also be found at: http://cei.org/sites/default/files/Data%20Quality%20Act%20Request%20to%20OSTP%20about %20Holdren’s%20claims%20regarding%20cold%20winter%20weather%204-14-14.pdf We expect OSTP to shortly post the request on its website. Just a reminder, we’ve experienced all this before: In 1977, a nearly identical pattern set up with warmth in Alaska, drought in California, and cold in Florida. Arctic sea ice was near a peak at the time. (h/t Steve Goddard)
The Lewiston Journal – Google News Archive Search And then there’s the winter of 1963, the most “savage winter of the century” according to Life Magazine on February 8th, 1963:
And this illustration is from that Life Magazine article on page 33. Gee, that pattern looks familiar.
Illustration for Life Magazine by Walter Hortens Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=o0EEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA31- IA2&vq=jet%20stream&pg=PA31-IA2#v=snippet&q=jet%20stream&f=false Those who do not study weather history are condemned to bloviate it as yet another effect of “global warming”. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/17/the-holdren-cherry-blossom-vortex-information-quality- act-and-u-s-weather-history/#more-107692
G. A CLEAR EXAMPLE OF IPCC IDEOLOGY TRUMPING FACT Posted on April 16, 2014 by Guest Blogger By Paul C. Knappenberger and Patrick J. Michaels Center for the Study of Science, Cato Institute Within the U.S. federal government (and governments around the world), the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is given authority when it comes to climate change opinion. This isn’t a good idea. Here perhaps is the clearest example yet. By the time you get to the end of this post, we think you may be convinced that the IPCC does not seek to tell the truth—the truth being that it has overstated the case for climate worry in in its previous reports. The “consensus of scientists” instead prefers to obfuscate. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/16/a-clear-example-of-ipcc-ideology-trumping-fact/#more- 107650
H. EARTH ‘SERIALLY DOOMED’: UN ISSUES NEW 15 YEAR CLIMATE TIPPING POINT – BUT UN ISSUED TIPPING POINTS IN 1982 & ANOTHER 10-YEAR TIPPING POINT IN 1989! Climate Depot Factsheet on Inconvenient History of Global Warming 'Tipping Points' -- Hours, Days, Months, Years, Millennium -- Earth 'Serially Doomed' It's difficult to keep up whether it is hours, days, months or 1000 years. Here are few recent examples of others predicting "tipping points" of various duration.
HOURS: Flashback March 2009: 'We have hours' to prevent climate disaster -- Declares Elizabeth May of Canadian Green Party Days: Flashback Oct. 2009: UK's Gordon Brown warns of global warming 'catastrophe'; Only '50 days to save world' Months: Prince Charles claimed a 96-month tipping point in July 2009 Years: 2009: NASA’s James Hansen Declared Obama Only First Term to Save The Planet! — ‘On Jan. 17, 2009 Hansen declared Obama only ‘has four years to save Earth’ or Flashback Oct .2009: WWF: 'Five years to save world' Decades: 1982: UN official Mostafa Tolba, executive director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), warned on May 11, 1982, the 'world faces an ecological disaster as final as nuclear war within a couple of decades unless governments act now.' Millennium: Flashback June 2010: 1000 years delay: Green Guru James Lovelock: Climate change may not happen as fast as we thought, and we may have 1,000 years to sort it out' It is becoming obvious that the only authentic climate "tipping point" we can rely is this one: Flashback 2007: New Zealand Scientist on Global Warming: 'It's All Going to be a Joke in 5 Years'
By: Marc Morano - Climate Depot April 16, 2014 1:28 PM with 179 comments According to the Boston Globe, the United Nations has issued a new climate “tipping point” by which the world must act to avoid dangerous global warming. The Boston Globe noted on April 16, 2014: “The world now has a rough deadline for action on climate change. Nations need to take aggressive action in the next 15 years to cut carbon emissions, in order to forestall the worst effects of global warming, says the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.” Once again, the world is being warned of an ecological or climate “tipping point” by the UN. In 1982, the UN issued a two decade tipping point. UN official Mostafa Tolba, executive director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), warned on May 11, 1982, the “world faces an ecological disaster as final as nuclear war within a couple of decades unless governments act now.” According to Tolba in 1982, lack of action would bring “by the turn of the century, an environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible as any nuclear holocaust.”
As early as 1989, the UN was already trying to sell their “tipping point” rhetoric to the public. See: U.N. Warning of 10-Year ‘Climate Tipping Point’ Began in 1989 – Excerpt: According to July 5, 1989, article in the Miami Herald, the then-director of the New York office of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Noel Brown, warned of a “10-year window of opportunity to solve” global warming. According to the 1989 article, “A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000. Coastal flooding and crop failures would create an exodus of ‘eco-refugees,’ threatening political chaos.” (LINK) & (LINK)
It’s all so confusing. In 2007, UN IPCC chief Pachauri declared 2012 as the climate deadline to act or it would be “too late.” See: Celebrate! UN IPCC Chairman Pachauri: It’s Too Late to Fight Climate Change! – Pachauri in 2007: ‘If there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment’ Not to be outdone by the UN, Former Irish President Mary Robinson weighed in this week, issuing a more generous 20 year tipping point. “Former president says we have 20 years to save the world from climate change effects…Robinson calls for climate agreement by 2015.” Robinson noted that global leaders have “at most two decades to save the world”. Not to be left out, NASA got in the climate tipping point act in 2009. See: NASA’s James Hansen Declared Obama Only First Term to Save The Planet! — ‘On Jan. 17, 2009 Hansen declared Obama only ‘has four years to save Earth’
Watch Now: Morano rips NASA’s James Hansen: ‘Hansen said we only have 4 years left to save the planet in Jan.2009, We passed another Mayan calendar deadline’ But in 2012, the UN gave Obama and planet Earth another four year reprieve. See: Tipping points extended again: UN Foundation Pres. Warmist Tim Wirth: 2012 is Obama’s ‘last window of opportunity’ to get it right on climate change Former Vice President Al Gore also created a 10 year climate tipping point in 2006: See: Climatologist Dr. Roy Spencer Mocks Gore for issuing 10-year tipping point in 2006: Al Gore’s 10-year climate warning – Only 2 years left & still no global warming - Spencer: ‘Gore told us in January 2006 that we had only 10 years left to solve the global warming problem’ – ‘In the grand tradition of prophets of doom, his prognostication is not shaping up too well…still no statistically significant warming’ Then, Michael Mann weighed in with his 2036 Mayan calendar type deadline. See: 2036 is the new 2012?! UN Scientist Michael Mann starts his own Mayan Calendar deadline: ‘Global Warming Will Cross a Dangerous Threshold in 2036′ Other global warming activists chose 2047 as the key date. See: Global warming activist scientists may not be the first to proclaim a doomsday year of 2047 as the end of time! — 2047 is the new 2012 — but global warming activists were beaten to Armageddon! – A Climate Depot analysis has uncovered that 2047 has long been seen as a successor to 2012 as an apocalyptic date. Finding no date agreement, 20 governments chose 2030 as the scary deadline: See: Skeptics Repent! We are all doomed! Report: More than 100 million people will die by 2030 if world fails to act on climate — Reuters: ‘More than 100 million people will die and global economic growth will be cut by 3.2% of GDP by 2030 if the world fails to tackle climate change, a report commissioned by 20 governments said on Wednesday. As global avg. temps rise due to ghg emissions, the effects on planet, such as melting ice caps, extreme weather, drought and rising sea levels, will threaten populations and livelihoods, said the report conducted by humanitarian organisation DARA’ The tipping point rhetoric seems to have exploded after 2002. See: Tipping Points In Env. Rhetoric: An Unscientific Survey of Nexis: After June 2002, news media’s use of tipping point in the context of global warming and climate change exploded’ — ‘Between June 2002 and June 2005 – CC: 262; GW: 303. Between June 2005 and June 2008 – CC: more than 3,000; GW: more than 3,000* Between June 2008 and June 2011 – CC: more than 3,000; GW: 2903 Between June 2011 and June 2012 – CC: 1,348; GW; 637 Of course, the problem with tipping points is that they can never be proven wrong; only right in retrospect. And that, of course, makes citing them a wonderful rhetorical device for doomsayers’ UNEP Warns of New ‘Tipping Points’ Being Reached — ’20-30 years into future…far enough away that it can be forgotten when date approaches & Armageddon hasn’t yet arrived on schedule’ Perhaps the best explanation of tipping points comes from UK scientist Philip Stott. See: UK Scientist Philip Stott ridiculed “tipping point” claims in 2007. “In essence, the Earth has been given a 10-year survival warning regularly for the last fifty or so years. We have been serially doomed. [...] Our post-modern period of climate change angst can probably be traced back to the late-1960s, if not earlier. By 1973, and the ‘global cooling’ scare, it was in full swing, with predictions of the imminent collapse of the world within ten to twenty years, exacerbated by the impacts of a nuclear winter. Environmentalists were warning that, by the year 2000, the population of the US would have fallen to only 22 million [the 2007 population estimate is 302,824,000]. [...] In 1987, the scare abruptly changed to ‘global warming’, and the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was established (1988), issuing its first assessment report in 1990, which served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).” Inconvenient History of Climate ‘Tipping Point’ Warnings UK’s Top Scientist Sir David King in 2004: ‘Antarctica is likely to be the world’s only habitable continent by the end of this century if global warming remains unchecked’ NASA scientist James Hansen has been warning of a “tipping point” for years now. See: Earth’s Climate Approaches Dangerous Tipping Point – June 1, 2007 – Excerpt: A stern warning that global warming is nearing an irreversible tipping point was issued today” by James Hansen. Former Vice President Al Gore invented his own “tipping point” clock a few years ago. Excerpt: Former Vice-President Al Gore came to Washington on July 17, 2008, to deliver yet another speech warning of the “climate crisis.” “The leading experts predict that we have less than 10 years to make dramatic changes in our global warming pollution lest we lose our ability to ever recover from this environmental crisis,” Gore stated. Prince Charles claimed a 96-month tipping point in July 2009. Excerpt: The heir to the throne told an audience of industrialists and environmentalists at St James’s Palace last night that he had calculated that we have just 96 months left to save the world. And in a searing indictment on capitalist society, Charles said we can no longer afford consumerism and that the “age of convenience” was over. Get ready, we only have 190 years! Scientists ‘expect climate tipping point’ by 2200 – UK Independent – June 28, 2010 - Excerpt: “13 of the 14 experts said that the probability of reaching a tipping point (by 2200) was greater than 50 per cent, and 10 said that the chances were 75 per cent or more.” ‘World has only ten years to control global warming, warns Met Office – UK Telegraph – November 15, 2009 – Excerpt: Pollution needs to be brought under control within ten years to stop runaway climate change, according to the latest Met Office predictions. [...] “To limit global mean temperature [increases] to below 2C, implied emissions of CO2 to the atmosphere at the end of the century fall close to zero in most cases.” In 2013, the UN extended the deadline again. See: Earth Gets 15 Year Reprieve From Climate Doom?!: UN in 1989: World has a ’10-year window of opportunity to solve’ global warming — Now in 2013: ‘UN needs global warming answer by 2015′ - New date is the latest in a long history of flexible global warming deadlines The UN chief Ban Ki-moon further shortened the “tipping point” in August 2009, when he warned of ‘incalculable’ suffering without climate deal in December 2009! Newsweek magazine waded into the tipping point claims as well. Newsweek wrote: “The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.” But, Newsweek’s “tipping point” quote appeared in a April 28, 1975 article about global cooling! Same rhetoric, different eco-scare. For an explanation of why climate fear promoters are failing to convince the public, see: MIT Climate Scientist: ‘Ordinary people see through man-made climate fears — but educated people are very vulnerable’ – July 6, 2009] More Related Links: Warmists Prep for UN Summit: ‘World headed for irreversible climate change in five years, IEA warns’: ‘The world will ‘lose for ever’ the chance to avoid dangerous climate change’ — ‘The door is closing,” Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency…Every month now counts: if the world is to stay below 2C of warming’ UK greenie George Monbiot 2002 warned we only had 10 years! ‘Famine can only be avoided if the rich give up meat, fish and dairy’– Monbiot on December 24, 2002: ‘Within as little as 10 years, the world will be faced with a choice: arable farming either continues to feed the world’s animals or it continues to feed the world’s people. It cannot do both’ 1924: Top Scientists Say That Earth Is Doomed (April 16, 1924) – ‘It is the firmest conviction of a group of serious scientists of established reputation, who have devoted their lives to a dispassionate and careful examination of geological and astronomical evidence. This group includes such investigators as Dr. Max Valier, of Munich. Engineer Hanne Hoerbiger, of Vienna, Dr. Voigt, of Berlin; and Professor F. Queisser. of Prague’ New Ecology Paper Challenges ‘Tipping Point’ Meme Analysis: ‘Al Gore’s 10-Year ‘Scorching’ Prophesy Emerging As A Grand Hoax…Global Temperatures Declined Over Last Decade’ Gore Losing: No cause for alarm at 5-year mid-point of Armstrong-Gore climate ‘bet’ — ‘Gore should be pleased to find concerns about a ‘tipping point’ have turned out to be unfounded’ – ‘The latest global temperature is exactly where it was at the beginning of the ‘bet’ — ‘The IPCC’s forecasting procedures have been found to violate 72 of the 89 relevant principles’ ALERT: Obama (& Planet Earth) Granted Last Minute Reprieve! Four years ago, the world’s greatest climatologist James Hansen gave Obama until Jan. 17, 2013 to save the planet’ Doomster Paul Ehrlich is back and just as wrong as ever! Remember when we all starved to death in the 1980s, just as I predicted? It might happen AGAIN! – Ehrlich: ‘We risk a global collapse of our civilization as we know it. Climate change is just one of our problems. We cannot avert calamity without tackling it and other pressing ecological concerns’ Flashback: ‘Accurate Tribute to Paul Ehrlich: ‘Mad…Kook…Lunatic…Disgraced…Worse than Hitler…fear-monger…parasite on Academic system’ UK Guardian: ’50 months to avoid climate disaster’ — ‘On a very conservative estimate, 50 months from now, the dice become loaded against us in terms of keeping under a 2C temp rise’ Forty Year Cycle Of Scientific Psychosis Discovered: ‘There appears to be a forty year cycle of mental illness in the scientific community’ — ‘This is what they were saying in 1970′: ‘Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind; — George Wald, Harvard Biologist — ‘We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.’ — Barry Commoner, Wash. U biologist’ MIT to Obama: Only 4 years left to stop global warming: ‘It is quite possible that if this is not done over the next four years, it will be too late’ — MIT to Obama: ‘We can no longer pretend that addressing climate change will be without real costs’ — ‘You have the power and the opportunity to lay the groundwork for a new clean-energy policy that will help us avoid the worst consequences of climate change,” said the letter, published in the MITTechnology Review’ Flashback 2007: Climatologist Dr. Michaels mocks ‘tipping points’:’We have to do something in 10 years — they have been saying that for two years. Why don’t they at least subtract 2 and make it 8?’ Another Atmospheric Scientist Dissents: Calls fears of CO2 tipping point ‘alarmist, ludicrous, and totally without foundation’ – July 13, 2009 - ‘Over geologic time there has been 15 to 25 times more CO2 than current concentrations’ Media Tipping Point! Houston Chronicle Reporter Reconsiders Science is ‘Settled’ Claims! ‘I am confused. 4 years ago this all seemed like a fait accompli’ – September 6, 2009 Antarctic Tipping Point? ‘If we don’t act soon, the planet will become a barren ball of ice and snow’ – October 2, 2009 - ’5 of the 6 years with the greatest Southern Hemisphere sea ice extent have occurred in just the last decade’ 2007 – GLOBAL WARMING ALARMISM REACHES A TIPPING POINT – October 26, 2007 Climate Depot’s Morano on new alarmist National Academy of Sciences’ climate ‘tipping point’ study: It ‘openly shills for more climate funding for its members’ — Morano: ‘The organization [NAS] is virtually 100% dependent on government funding. So when they do a study like this – and they’ve done other studies in the past – you know the outcome of these studies before they do them. The actual funding quote from new study is: ‘The sudden changes in the climate is full of uncertainties. The world can prepare by better monitoring,’ Morano offers. ‘And it goes on [to say that] because of budget cuts and aging satellites, we have fewer measurements than we did a few years ago.’ – ‘When the NAS is advocating for a carbon tax, it’s not too surprising that all [their] reports are going to fall in line.’ Former Greenpeace co-founder turned climate skeptic Dr. Patrick Moore calls NAS ‘tipping point’ study ‘pure junk’: ‘Low point for US National Academy of Science. Warns of ‘tipping points’ in climate like ‘drunk drivers’ AP’s Seth Borenstein: ‘FEDERAL STUDY WARNS OF SUDDEN CLIMATE CHANGE WOES’ See: NAS Corrupted Warmist Ralph Cicerone: Turned Org. into political advocacy group: $6 million NAS study used to lobby for climate bill Flashback: MIT’s Lindzen Slams: ‘Ralph Cicerone of NAS/NRC is saying that regardless of evidence the answer is predetermined. If gov’t wants carbon control, that is the answer that the Academies will provide’ Cicerone’s Shame: NAS Urges Carbon Tax, Becomes Advocacy Group — ‘political appointees heading politicized scientific institutions that are virtually 100% dependent on gov’t funding’ Don Shaw http://www.climatedepot.com/2013/01/10/alert-nasas-james-hansen-declared-obama-has-one- week-left-to-save-the-planet-on-jan-17-2009-hansen-declared-obama-only-has-four-years-to- save-earth-only-7-days-left/
I. HOLDREN IS WRONG – COLD WINTERS ARE NOT GETTING MORE COMMON Posted on April 18, 2014 by Paul Homewood By Paul Homewood
As WUWT points out, John Holdren is one of many who have tried to link the cold winter in the USA this year to global warming. In his White House video in January, he had this to say: “A growing body of evidence suggests that the kind of extreme cold being experienced by much of the United States as we speak is a pattern that we can expect to see with increasing frequency as global warming continues…. We also know that this week’s cold spell is of a type there’s reason to believe may become more frequent in a world that’s getting warmer, on average, because of greenhouse-gas pollution.” But is there any evidence that extreme cold winters are becoming more common, or, for that matter, more extreme? First, let’s check the temperature trends for the CONUS in winter. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/18/holdren-is-wrong-cold-winters-are-not-getting-more- common/#more-107747
Regards George