As we saw that thing bubbling out, blossoming out – all that energy, every minute of every hour of every day of every week – that was tremendous to me. That we could deliver that kind of energy out there – even on an explosion.

That’s Ralph Hall (R-TX), the incoming chair of the House Science and Technology Committee on the BP oil disaster.  Imagine how bowled over Hall will be if he ever figures out that his anti-science pro-pollution denialist policies are poised to deliver a ruined climate to future generations (see Ralph Hall: “We have some real challenges; we have the global warming or global freezing”).

Brad Johnson has more:

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Incoming science chair Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) plans to put big oil back in charge of his committee. In an interview with the Dallas News this month, the climate zombie declared his intention to use the House Science and Technology Committee to investigate the “false statements” of climate scientists, and “subpoena” those who don’t appear willingly. Hall also explained why the BP disaster “didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for offshore drilling.” He sees the BP explosion that killed eleven men, injured dozens, and led to the despoilment of the Gulf of Mexico as a “tremendous,” “blossoming” flower of energy:

As we saw that thing bubbling out, blossoming out – all that energy, every minute of every hour of every day of every week – that was tremendous to me. That we could deliver that kind of energy out there – even on an explosion.

Hall has received $14,500 in campaign contributions from BP. In an extensive report today, the New York Times describes the explosion differently:

The worst of the explosions gutted the Deepwater Horizon stem to stern. Crew members were cut down by shrapnel, hurled across rooms and buried under smoking wreckage. Some were swallowed by fireballs that raced through the oil rig’s shattered interior. Dazed and battered survivors, half-naked and dripping in highly combustible gas, crawled inch by inch in pitch darkness, willing themselves to the lifeboat deck.

It was no better there.

That same explosion had ignited a firestorm that enveloped the rig’s derrick. Searing heat baked the lifeboat deck. Crew members, certain they were about to be cooked alive, scrambled into enclosed lifeboats for shelter, only to find them like smoke-filled ovens. Men admired for their toughness wept. Several said their prayers and jumped into the oily seas 60 feet below. An overwhelmed young crew member, Andrea Fleytas, finally screamed what so many were thinking:

“We’re going to die!”

Under the leadership of Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), the science committee approved legislation to champion scientific innovation, prevent and respond to oil spills, and create a National Climate Service. Although the oil spill and climate initiatives were killed by Republican filibusters in the U.S. Senate, the science innovation legislation was finally passed last week.

Physicist John Cook, who runs the must-read website Skeptical Science, has published “The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism.”  It’s a good introduction to global warming science and skepticism.

He kindly agreed to send me the 8 figures of the “human fingerprints on climate change,” which I repost below.

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Synopsis:  A group of so-called government funded “experts” whip up alarmist fears of a killer shark off the coast of Amity, a sea side town. Their goal is to destroy the local tourist industry, send Amity back to the dark ages and thus achieve their underlying socialist agenda of wealth redistribution. The heroes of this tale are the local major and business leaders who lead a successful audit of the alarmist claims and by doing so manage to delay action long enough that the beach remains open. In the end it turns out a shark has been eating people.

While on ‘vacation’, I’m running posts from other sites.  The driest climate satirist on the web is DenialDepot, whose only flaw as a blogger is not enough posting!

Let’s start with DenialDepot’s latest gem, “Jaws: A movie review.”

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Earlier this month, I reported that the Kentucky creationism theme park set to open in 2014 will “include dinosaurs.” The park “will feature a 500-foot-long wooden replica of Noah’s Ark containing live animals such as juvenile giraffes.”  It will also include “a replica of the Tower of Babel with exhibits.”

Now TPM — the source of this photo illustration and the great name “Park of the Covenant“– reports:

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President Obama’s political advisers have shown little enthusiasm for environmental issues. Mr. Obama himself ceded leadership on the climate-change issue to Congress, which ended up doing nothing….

In 1995, the Newt Gingrich crowd came to town promising to overturn a whole body of environmental law. Mr. Clinton rose up, not only winning the big battles, but eventually compiling a sterling record. Mr. Obama should emulate him.

That’s the conclusion to a NY Times editorial on the coming GOP assault on the EPA, which will be a key focus of ClimateProgress in 2010.

The key to EPA’s defense will indeed be Obama’s personal commitment to and involvement in the defense.  To date, yes, the administration has been sending mixed messages at best on the environment — with its baffling March 31 decision (recently partially reversed) to open large parts of the US coast to offshore drilling (see EIA: New offshore drilling will lower gas prices in 2030 a few pennies a gallon), and, of course, its catastrophic failure to fight for a climate bill (see “The failed presidency of Barack Obama, Part 2“).

Here are more excerpts from the editorial:

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How would you like to win a car? Wait, let me rephrase. How would you like to win a Smart Car by pledging an “Act of Green” and sharing it with your friends via social media?

Author Cliff Schecter has the scoop in this OpenLeft repost.

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