Global Warming Skeptic Argues U.S. Position in Suit

Eli Kintisch

The U.S. government has enlisted an outspoken skeptic of global warming in a legal fight
with environmental groups over U.S. funding for overseas energy projects. The move has
angered several prominent climate researchers, however, who say the government's
arguments fly in the face of scientific consensus about both the causes and possible
consequences of global warming.

On 29 April, a federal district court in San Francisco will hear a case (Friends of the
Earth v. Peter Watson) about whether the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
should apply to projects supported by the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation. The act requires the government to assess actions that could
alter the environment. The plaintiffs in the case, which include several environmental
groups and four western U.S. municipalities, argue that the federally supported
projects--including oil drilling, pipelines, and commercial power plants--contribute to
global warming, which in turn affects U.S. economic interests and its citizens. That
connection is essential to establish their legal right, or standing, to bring suit.

Science, Vol 308, Issue 5721, 482 , 22 April 2005
[DOI: 10.1126/science.308.5721.482]


From: Science, Vol 308, Issue 5721, 482 , 22 April 2005

Global Warming Skeptic Argues U.S. Position in Suit

Eli Kintisch

The U.S. government has enlisted an outspoken skeptic of global warming in a
legal fight with environmental groups over U.S. funding for overseas energy
projects. The move has angered several prominent climate researchers, however,
who say the government's arguments fly in the face of scientific consensus
about both the causes and possible consequences of global warming.

On 29 April, a federal district court in San Francisco will hear a case
(Friends of the Earth v. Peter Watson) about whether the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) should apply to projects supported by the Export-Import Bank
and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. The act requires the government to assess actions that could alter the
environment. The plaintiffs
in the case, which include several environmental groups and four western U.S.
municipalities, argue that the federally supported projects--including oil
drilling, pipelines, and commercial power plants--contribute to global warming,
which in turn affects U.S. economic interests and its citizens. That connection
is essential to establish their legal right, or standing, to bring suit.

To counter that claim, the Justice Department argues that "[t]he basic
connection between human induced greenhouse gas emissions and observed climate
itself has not been established." It buttresses its case with a 41-page
statement from David Legates, head of the Center for Climatic Research at the
University of Delaware, Newark.

Legates begins by attacking the evidence for the 0.6°C rise in temperature in
the 20th century cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
in Geneva, Switzerland, in its 2001 report and by the plaintiffs. The proximity
of temperature gauges to cities, he says, has artificially elevated reported
temperatures. He also points to natural variability as an important factor,
citing a 2004 study that suggested solar variability may have contributed up to
0.25°C of the recent warming. As for future impacts, he says surface
temperatures in Greenland are falling, coral bleaching is a beneficial response
to stress, and the impact of droughts has been relatively benign in the 20th
century. Legates says a Canadian climate model that plaintiffs cite to show
potential changes in surface temperatures and moisture across North America is
"extreme" and "overstated."
................

The rest of the story is at:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/308/5721/482

A subscription or library access is required.

For another look at the interconnection between the denialists, check out
the authors of this "Report" from a rather conservative group:

http://www.independent.org/store/pol...etail.asp?id=5

--
Eric Swanson --- E-mail address: e_swanson(at)skybest.com :-)
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