Scott Harper
The Virginian-Pilot
©
Virginia's attorney general said Tuesday that the state will be the first in the nation to contest a key finding by the Obama administration that carbon dioxide is a danger to public health and contributes to global warming.
In a statement, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said he has filed petitions with the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington in hope of reversing the finding.
Cuccinelli's announcement indicates that Virginia, under Republican leadership, will take a much different line on climate change from the administration of former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat.
Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, had convened a Governor's Climate Change Commission during his time in Richmond and often spoke of the need for government to tackle global warming through various programs, policies and incentives.
Cuccinelli has called a news conference today to further discuss the case.
Also Tuesday, Republican state leaders in Texas said they were filing similar challenges to the EPA's ruling in December that six types of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, should be regulated as air pollutants in new fuels and engines.
The ruling is pivotal to the Obama administration's drive to cut greenhouse gases through emission permits for sources such as factories, power plants, cars, trucks and businesses, as well as through incentives for clean-energy development.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, backed the attorney general.
"The current federal position could have a negative impact on job creation and economic development in the commonwealth and should be reconsidered," said Stacey Johnson, a McDonnell spokeswoman.
State environmental groups were stunned by the announcement Tuesday, citing how the Virginia coast, and specifically Hampton Roads, is extremely vulnerable to rising seas associated with a slowly warming planet.
"It's a shame, and, frankly, embarrassing, that we now have a climate-denier as an attorney general," said Glen Besa, state director of the Sierra Club, an advocacy group.
Besa said the EPA's finding stemmed from a Supreme Court ruling in 2007 that found that carbon dioxide and the other gases were air pollutants as defined under the Clean Air Act and could be regulated as such.
To contest that now, Besa said, was "a waste of time" that amounted to "bringing the Scopes monkey trial to Virginia."
Dave Ryan, an EPA spokesman in Washington, said the agency was aware of Cuccinelli's petitions and was preparing a written response.
In his statement, the attorney general said he wants the EPA to reconsider its finding on greenhouse gases, provide the public an opportunity to comment on "newly available information" and to provide such information to a science advisory board for its review.
Cuccinelli's office declined to offer additional details Tuesday.
Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com
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Here is evidence of climate change:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Holocene_Sea_Level.png
http://www.thelivingmoon.com/47john_lear/04images/Seas/415k-year-temp-graph.jpg
http://www.paulmacrae.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/co2-levels-over-time1.jpg
Remember this if nothing else: Life likes CO2 and warmth. Cold and lack of CO2, not so much.
Red Herring and name calling
Calling some one a “climate change denier” is a red herring. The theory being questioned is AGW or more importantly run away or other wise alarming AGW. Not too many people would argue that climate changes or that the earth has warmed since the little ice age which by all accounts by 1850.
The principle questions are; has mans contribution of CO2 caused detrimental warming to the earth or will it in the future? And especially the question of will it cause run away, catastrophic, or other wise alarming climate change?
This is the debate. Any attempt to frame it other wise is part of the problem. Please keep in mind evidence of warming is not evidence that CO2 is driving it. So all of that “evidence” you think proves climate change probably does but it does not prove that man’s contribution of CO2 is responsible or even a major contributor. There is no empirical evidence that shows this only computer models that were programmed to show exactly that.
You want to see peer reviewed and published climate change:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Holocene_Sea_Level.png
http://www.thelivingmoon.com/47john_lear/04images/Seas/415k-year-temp-graph.j
Obvious Conclusion
I read a report the other day that concluded smoking wasn’t harmful to your health. Do you believe it? So why argue over the obvious. If nothing else, eliminating the use of imported oil as much as possible will deny terrorist the financial resources needed to carry out their goals. In other words, supporting global warming initiatives could be considered patriotic.
Truth in Patriotism
There are plenty of good reasons to conserve energy, but that doesn't excuse defrauding the people and creating false panic.
If the truth is inadequate to motivate people, lying will only bring a backlash when the truth comes out.
Really?
Our attorney general wants to prove that "carbon dioxide and methane" are NOT air pollutants. Really?
Ridiculous. And embarassing.
"Climate change has not been
"Climate change has not been proven a hoax..."
Yes it has - over and over and over. The scientists themselves have admitted they lied. This has come directly from the UN and leading universities. The lie is an established fact.
The hoax was perpetrated by power hungry politicians, fertilized by the politically correct agencies and swallowed by the guilty minded and idiot consumers.
Everyone knows the truth now.
You are perpetuating a lie
Climate change has not been disproven, no matter what morons like Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity say. Snow does not disprove climate change. The hacked emails do not disprove climate change. Science is not on your side sir. A lie does not become the truth because you repeat it enough. And that is the truth. Independent data collected from various countries around the world show a pattern of climate change - we are seeing higher highs and lower lows when you look at the temperature data. That is the truth. That is irrefutable. Science is not on your side, nor is the truth -- and everybody should know it...
A few
scientists, not all. Hyperbolic accusations don't help.
the issue isn't climate change, per se
Regardless of where one is on the issue of climate change, the issue for me is about an unelected body, the EPA, usurping control of a huge part of the American economy. The Obama administration is using this as an end-around to get cap and trade regulations in place because the legislation has stalled in the Congress.
As a Republican
I am a loyal Republican and always will be, however our philosophies part ways when it comes to the Republican views of protecting our environment. Unfortunately the dollar always wins out with them and they cannot grasp that all the money in the world will not help when the planet becomes a wasteland. Although we are having a cold winter this year it is not the norm any more. It is the reason we get so excited over two inches of snow. Growing up in the fifties and sixties you could count on a good snow here every year. Now it's once every ten years. They may change their tune when all those resort hotels on the beach front start to fall into the ocean because that costs them money. This ridiculous denial needs to stop. That goes for wetlands destruction, greenhouse gases and the systematic deforestation of the planet. I hope I am not around to say I told you so.