Sunday, June 12, 2005

Arguments of times past...

I first heard of this on the radio news this morning.

There are a number of people whom I have met over the years who were convinced that “global warning is a myth”. These claims were strongest when I and others were critical of the US for the refusal to support the Kyoto Protocol.

The basis of their claim was a series of reports “from senior American scientists” that were subsequently “presented and endorsed by the White House”.

Now I don’t know if they were the same reports that relate to this following article, there is no way that I can go back and ask... regrettably the particular forum died a not unexpected death some couple of years back. There is a new incarnation of it but I just don't have the energy.

But I can but wonder just what some members of the Venerable Order of The Trash Can” might be feeling now about these revelations...

WASHINGTON -- A former oil industry lobbyist who changed government reports on global warming has resigned in a long-planned departure, the White House said Saturday.

Philip Cooney, who was chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, left Friday, two days after it was revealed that he had edited administration reports on climate change in 2002 and 2003.

His departure was "completely unrelated" to the disclosure, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"Mr. Cooney has long been considering his options following four years of service to the administration," she said. "He'd accumulated many weeks of leave and decided to resign and take the summer off to spend time with his family."

Based on documents provided to the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit group that helps whistle-blowers, The New York Times first reported Wednesday that Cooney made changes in several federal environmental reports. The changes tended to emphasize the uncertainty of evidence that greenhouse-gas emissions are causing global temperatures to rise. Cooney, a lawyer without a background in science, once headed the oil industry's lobbying on climate change.

The White House defended the changes, saying they were part of the normal, wide-ranging review process and did not violate an administration pledge to rely on sound science.


No, there is no truth in the rumour... none whatsoever. There is no smoke...

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