Climate Change Weekly #131
The Obama administration’s proposed carbon dioxide restrictions will impose their highest costs on states with key U.S. Senate races this November. The restrictions, which do not apply uniformly across the nation, threaten to doom the chances of Democratic Senate candidates arguing their party identification gives them extra leverage with the Obama administration.
Under the proposed restrictions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assigns each state a different emissions reduction requirement. The state of Washington, for example, will have to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide its power plants emit per MWh of electricity by 72% while North Dakota will have to reduce its emissions by just 11%.
Washington is required to make the largest cut in carbon dioxide emissions even though it currently produces more than 70 percent of its electricity from emissions-free sources. Washington will be allowed to emit only 215 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity generated North Dakota will be allowed to emit 1,783 pounds per MWh.
In Senate battleground states, the Obama administration’s emissions reduction requirements are particularly stringent. Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Virginia will all have to reduce their emissions by more than the 30% national average reduction.
Many states will be forced to shut down perfectly good coal-fired power plants to meet their emissions requirements. Shutting down fully functional power plants merely to force the expensive construction of replacement power plants will cause electricity prices to “necessarily skyrocket,” as candidate Barack Obama promised years ago would happen. And even in the limited circumstances where new power plants would be necessary anyway, coal is the least expensive widely available source of electricity. Choosing natural gas, nuclear, wind, or solar for expanding electricity production will be substantially more expensive than choosing coal.
States that have started down this path by imposing renewable power mandates are experiencing electricity price increases much more rapid than the national average. The Obama administration’s proposal will accelerate electricity price inflation and force that inflation on states that have chosen not to guarantee market share for the renewable power lobby.
SOURCE: The Federalist
IN THIS ISSUE
Bastardi pokes holes in alarmist doctrine: preview of ICCC talk? … Steven Goddard reveals true identity for Heartland conference … Obama’s ‘fringe elements’ put in proper context … Fringe elements, part 2 … ICCC Las Vegas venue a poster child for urban heat island effect … Alarmists channel H.G. Wells: climate to drive us underground … New study denies IPCC science, claims warming pause is natural … Polar ice caps party like it’s 1999
BASTARDI POKES HOLES IN ALARMIST DOCTRINE: PREVIEW OF ICCC TALK?
Meteorologist Joe Bastardi poked gaping holes in alarmist global warming theory in a newly published paper, “Just What Is the Perfect Level of CO2?” In the process, Bastardi may have provided a hint of some topics he will address in his keynote address at the Ninth International Conference on Climate Change, taking place July7–9 in Las Vegas.
“I ask what the perfect number is for CO2 in the atmosphere,” wrote Bastardi. “An example: Dr. Bill McKibben – one of the people I am frequently amazed with because his comments indicate he either does not know and understand what the weather has done before, or does and refuses to let that get in the way – runs a group called 350.org. He and his team want CO2 at 350 ppm (parts per million). So let’s just go to 350 ppm and see what it was like.” Bastardi then systematically debunked assertions that Earth’s climate has become more hostile to human health and welfare since surpassing 350 ppm.
SOURCES: Patriot Post and Ninth International Conference on Climate Change
STEVEN GODDARD REVEALS TRUE IDENTITY FOR HEARTLAND CONFERENCE
The climate science blogger writing under the name Steven Goddard has revealed his true identity, scientific background, and lifelong environmentalist credentials. Goddard has been a thorn in the side of global warming activists, presenting scientific data contradicting the alarmist storyline. Goddard, who has worked as a contract software developer on climate and weather models for the U.S. government, explained he decided to reveal his true identity because he will be giving a presentation at the Ninth International Conference on Climate Change.
SOURCE: Real Science
OBAMA’S ‘FRINGE ELEMENTS’ PUT IN PROPER CONTEXT
President Barack Obama claimed global warming skepticism is confined to “fringe elements” holding Republican elected officials’ feet to the political fire. Putting Obama’s “fringe elements” quote in context, Obama’s top climate advisor John Holdren wrote: “Individual rights must be balanced against the power of the government to control human reproduction. Some people have viewed the right to have children as a fundamental and inalienable right. Yet neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution mentions a right to reproduce.”
SOURCES: UK Guardian Watts Up With That?
FRINGE ELEMENTS, PART 2
A new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center reveals a majority of Americans believe either there is no solid evidence of recent global warming or recent global warming is caused primarily by natural activity. According to the poll, just 40 percent of Americans believe there is solid evidence of recent global warming and such warming is caused primarily by humans.
SOURCE: Pew Research Center
ICCC LAS VEGAS VENUE A POSTER CHILD FOR URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT
Las Vegas, Nevada, site of the upcoming Ninth International Conference on Climate Change, is a poster child for spurious warming caused by the urban heat island effect, writes climate scientist Roy Spencer. Since the early 1970s, the number of Las Vegas tourists has increased by a factor of five and the Las Vegas population has increased by a factor of six. The impact of that population increase is seen in the Las Vegas temperature record showing a disproportionate increase in temperatures, especially at night.
SOURCE: Dr. Roy Spencer
ALARMISTS CHANNEL H.G. WELLS: CLIMATE TO DRIVE US UNDERGROUND
Calling to mind the Morlocks in the H.G. Wells novel The Time Machine, prominent alarmists are claiming global warming by the end of this century will prevent people from going outside for even an hour at a time. “It will be functionally impossible to be outside,” claimed alarmist Michael Oppenheimer in a Reuters article on the topic. Let’s hope Oppenheimer and company can invent a functional time machine to journey to the future and help the global warming Eloi.
SOURCE: Reuters
NEW STUDY DENIES IPCC SCIENCE, CLAIMS WARMING PAUSE IS NATURAL
Global warming alarmists are now claiming the ongoing stagnation in global temperatures is a predictable event entirely consistent with alarmist computer models. A newly published paper claiming the lengthy halt in global warming “is no more than natural variability” consistent with alarmist computer models contradicts the findings of United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists such as Hans von Storch. In an interview with der Spiegel last year, von Storch said the lack of recent warming defies global warming computer models and likely will require scientists to reduce their predictions of future warming.
SOURCES: Geophysical Research Letters, Watts Up With That? and der Spiegel
POLAR ICE CAPS PARTY LIKE IT’S 1999
Antarctic sea remains at historically high levels, which in turn has kept global polar ice extent well above the long-term average since satellites began precisely measuring polar ice extent in 1979. The last time polar ice was this extensive for this long was a period from late 1999 through early 2001.
SOURCES: Cryosphere Today and Wat TV
