Liberty Matters News Service

July 30, 2003  

Sorry, No Global Warming Catastrophe Looming

Climatologist Patrick J. Michaels told attendees of a Cato Institute luncheon recently, that there is nothing to global warming. "The science is settled in a very non-alarmist way," but that fact will hardly satisfy anyone in Washington, he continued. Scientific data shows that any warming that occurs through the next 100 years will be on the low end of the scale and "people will adapt as long as their economies are free." Other scientific studies confirm that a warm earth is not a bad thing, either. Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas of Harvard University reported that temperatures were higher during the Middle Ages and it was not the result of human activities. People and crops thrived during the period until the Little Ice Age brought cold and hardship to the previously prosperous regions in Europe. Alarmist from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U. N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts the fabled warming would cause an increase in deaths in urban areas. However, a recent study by Robert E. Davis found that "heat-related mortality rates declined in 22 of 28 cities" examined. (Think air conditioners). Chris Horner, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the audience that "the planet Pluto is warming up despite moving away from the sun." He surmised that environmentalists would soon come up with the theory that human activity is responsible for Pluto's hotdog days, too.
Global Warming Claims Unfounded Says Climatolgist
The EPA Vs. Global Warming Science

NYT Decries "Environmental Carnage"

The New York Times went a bit over the top in a Tuesday editorial describing cuts to The Conservation Trust Fund as "Environmental Carnage." The Times harked back to happier times when a bipartisan coalition of "liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans" crafted the legislation to provide a "stream" of money for environmental purposes. The Conservation Trust Fund, or CARA Lite, would incrementally increase spending from $1.6 billion in 2001 to $2.4 billion in 2006, for land acquisition, added protection of endangered species and coastal repair among other projects. All these projects were to be paid for with off-shore royalties, no tax increases. "President Bill Clinton eagerly signed on to what was hailed as the most important conservation bill in years," the editor gushed. The "carnage" was led by Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC), and abetted by "people who share his belief that far too much of the country is already in public hands." The House, earlier this month, "cut the program almost in half, to $1.2 billion from the $2.1 billion originally authorized for the 2004 fiscal year," according to the Times. However, the Times failed to note the billion-dollar figures cited were the maximum amounts that could be spent in any given year. Congress could not slash what had not been appropriated.
Environmental Carnage

Klamath Irrigators Win Appeal

This past July 23rd, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the opinion of Oregon District Court Judge Owen Panner, which recognized the rights of the Klamath Indian Tribe to hunt, fish, gather and trap upon a reservation they had formerly occupied. The Court determined Judge Panner erred by citing 25-year old opinions of the U.S. District Court for Oregon and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals because the tribe had conveyed away those rights years ago. The Court also stated; "nor should he have given a judgment in favor of the Tribes which expanded upon those rights." The earlier decisions Judge Panner had relied upon giving the tribes certain rights to the water hinged on the Tribes' dependence upon the water for daily sustenance, which opponents argued is no longer the case. Resource Conservancy, Inc, representing irrigators on the Tributaries on the Upper Klamath Lake said;…"the Tribes have long since ceased to depend upon the aboriginal lifestyle to sustain themselves…and the Tribes have no greater claim to natural products of the waters which support them than any other American." The decision is also noteworthy because the Court reinforced states rights, ruling that the federal government must allow the Oregon administrative and judicial process to go forward. Now, the state will be able to adjudicate the rights without the tribes or federal government being able to sidestep the state's process and throw the issue into a federal court. There is to be no further federal court involvement unless the U.S. Supreme Court accepts an appeal from the appellate courts of Oregon.
Irrigators Win Adair Case

Federal Judge Finds EPA Contemptible

U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth has found the Environmental Protection Agency in contempt of his restraining orders "to preserve and protect its records concerning environmental rules written in the final months before President Clinton left office." The lawsuit was brought against the agency for repeatedly failing to respond to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. Carol Browner, then EPA Administrator, had her computer hard drive destroyed the day after the judge's order and deputy administrator W. Michael McCabe deleted pertinent e-mails in succeeding days. EPA's General Counsel Gary S. Guzy and the U.S. Attorney's Office failed to inform top officials or staff about the restraining order, even though it was handling the case. EPA will have to pay Landmark Legal Foundation, the plaintiff, tens of thousands of dollars for legal costs. Judge Lamberth did not find the top officials in contempt because there was no proof they knew of the order before they destroyed the evidence. Draw your own conclusions.
EPA Held in Contempt By Judge