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Late Breaking News |
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| Date: July 29, 1998 9:43 am Contact: Ozone Action Kymberly Escobar (202) 265-6738 kescobar@ozone.org |
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Latest News Releases
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Congress Still Denying Rise in Global Temperatures; Panel Stacked Against Climate Science |
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| WASHINGTON - July 29 - Despite headlines this week reporting that 66 of
77 Oklahoma counties have been declared a national disaster area, a key glacier in the
Arctic is melting by as much as a three-quarters of a mile a year and the heat-related
death toll has reached 144, the GOP-led Congress continues to host witnesses who deny the
relentlessly forthcoming evidence that global temperatures are on the rise. The original list of invited witness pulled together by Chairman Jim Talent (R-MO) for today's House Committee on Small Business hearing entitled "Global Warming – Does it Make Sense" only included scientists whose credentials or credibility have been endlessly drawn into question. Dr. Bob Watson who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Dan Lashof of the Natural Resources Defense Council have since been invited to testify at the hearing. Still, the majority of witnesses are global warming skeptics, including: .......... Dr. Patrick Michaelsof the Cato Institute, a vocal skeptic who opposes action on global warming, receives funding from a number of corporate interests who share his views. Among them are the Edison Electric Institute, the German Coal Mining Association and the Western Fuels Association. .......... Dr. John Christy of the University of Alabama is a leading proponent of the "global cooling" theory. His inaccurate read of satellite data has been disputed by research from the National Center for Atmospheric Research that shows surface area data pointing to rising global temperatures. .......... Dr. Fred Singer of the Science and Environmental Policy Report is often cited by skeptics as the lead voice on how global warming is a myth despite not having published original peer-reviewed research on global warming in over two decades. .......... Dr. Marlo Lewis represents the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a pro-industry think tank funded by the American Petroleum Institute, Dow Chemical, General Motors and Texaco (to name a few). "It is a travesty that we are faced with another hearing featuring to GOP's 'tried and true experts' who will predictably urge us to ignore the evidence that global warming is upon us," said John Passacantando, Executive Director of Ozone Action. This weekend President Clinton released $100 million in emergency funds to the 11 hottest states. In his Saturday radio address he said, "We are facing squarely the problem of global warming -- but there are still some in Congress who would rather pretend it doesn't exist." Passacantando added, "with the extreme weather of 1998 breaking records every day, we need to begin discussing how we move from short term relief plans for disaster-impacted areas like Texas, Oklahoma and Florida, toward a longer term plan for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases." ### |
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