Right-Wing Ideological Extremist Tim Phillips Calls Olbermann ‘Silly And Ideologically Driven’»

On August 19, Keith Olbermann reported that Americans for Prosperity was forced to cancel events in Florida due to Tropical Storm Fay, and noted the irony of “global warming deniers’ meetings postponed by tropical storms.” Obermann described AFP as “one of the many corporate-funded lobbying groups working hand-in-hand with Big Oil, and the administration, and other people who make more money the more there is doubt that there is global warming.”

Watch it:

In an article on the Business and Media Institute’s website written by Jeff Poor, AFP president Tim Phillips took umbrage at the segment, claiming the description of AFP as a “corporate-funded lobbying group” was “outrageous.” Phillips told Poor that “guys like him” who descibe the connection between global warming and extreme weather are “global warming extremists”:

It’s ironic that guys like him and global warming extremists will use any weather event – whether it’s a hot spell, whether it’s a hurricane or a tropical storm or a hailstorm or a snowstorm – anything, any weather event – they’ll try to tie it to their pet cause which is ideological extremism at its worst. . . It shows just how silly and ideologically driven they are. They don’t look at the science. They don’t look at any factors. It’s just an ideological extremism. It would be funny if it were not so serious for our nation.

As the Wonk Room has well documented, the link between global warming and extreme weather is recognized by the Bush administration itself, which warned in June that global warming has likely or very likely worsened intense rainfall, heat waves, winter storms, hurricanes, wildfires, insect outbreaks, and coral bleaching. The world’s largest environmental organization, Friends of the Earth, and America’s largest environmental organization, the National Wildlife Federation, have joined national scientific organizations representing hundreds of universities and thousands of climate scientists in calling for immediate action.

In fact, it is Tim Phillips and Jeff Poor who are “ideologically driven” extremists who “don’t look at the science” but instead work for polluter-funded right-wing front groups:

Tim Phillips Is A Top Right-Wing Operative. Before replacing Koch Industries lobbyist Nancy Pfotenhauer as president of Americans for Prosperity, Timothy R. Phillips had a long career as a conservative operative. In 1992, Phillips managed Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) first Congressional campaign and served as his chief of staff for four years. In 1997, Phillips co-founded public relations firm Century Strategies with Ralph Reed. There, Phillips oversaw “direct mail, telemarketing, coalition building and strategic services” for the 2000 and 2004 Bush for President campaigns, and specialized in “grasstops” operations to establish fake grassroots organizations. [Century Strategies (Internet Archive)]

Jeff Poor Is A Self-Described ‘Very Conservative’ ‘Professional Jerk.’ Jeff Poor describes himself on his Facebook page as a “professional jerk” with “very conservative” political views. Poor has previously written hit pieces for the Business and Media Institute attacking Al Gore and climate scientist Stephen Schneider for discussing the links between climate change and extreme weather.

Business & Media Institute Is Part Of Right-Wing Message Machine. BMI is a right-wing “free-enterprise” front group that is part of Brent Bozell’s conservative media machine, the Media Research Center. In 2005, the MRC honored Ann Coulter, T. Boone Pickens, Zell Miller, and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth at their conservative media gala.

Americans For Prosperity Is A Front Group For Corporate Polluter Koch Industries. Americans for Prosperity is the successor to the free-market front group Citizens for a Sound Economy, founded by conglomerate Koch Industries. David Koch, Executive Vice-President of Koch Industries, is a founder of AFP and “a financial supporter through the family-controlled and company-financed Claude R. Lambe Foundation.” Koch Industries is the largest privately owned company in the United States, whose multiple holdings make it a veritable global warming pollution factory. [NRDC, 7/25/08] [Forbes, 2007]

Transcript: Read the rest of this entry »

Global Boiling: Fay’s Floods Are A Wake Up Call»

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) has described Tropical Storm Fay as a “serious, catastrophic flooding event,” as it dumps “historic levels of rain with totals in excess of 20 inches already” in Brevard County. Fay is tracking over the entire state of Florida, devastating crops and causing hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. Jeff Masters tells Bloomberg that Fay is “reminiscent of Hurricane Irene,” which caused $800 million in damage less than ten years ago.

The National Wildlife Federation, which has been warning that global warming is worsening wildfires and floods, describes the triple threat of global warming-fueled tropical storms in a new report:

While Florida and Gulf Coast residents bear the brunt of Tropical Storm Fay, the latest science connecting hurricanes and global warming suggests more is yet to come: tropical storms are likely to bring higher wind speeds, more precipitation, and bigger storm surge in the coming decades.

Watch it:

As Dr. Staudt writes in the report, “Stronger hurricanes, heavier rainfall, and rising sea level: this is what global warming has in store for the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts.”

Scientists are begging politicians to take action. Eight national scientific organizations are asking the next president — whoever it may be — to support $9 billion in new investments between 2010 and 2014 “for research and forecasting, saying about $2 trillion of U.S. economic output could be hurt by storms, floods and droughts.” The organizations — the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, The Weather Coalition, the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, and the Alliance for Earth Observations — represent “thousands of experts in the public, private, and academic weather and climate enterprise.”

Across the United States and the rest of the planet, people are reeling from torrential rains: Read the rest of this entry »

McCain Wants A Water War»

Our guest blogger is Alice Madden, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Majority Leader of the Colorado General Assembly.

Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told The Pueblo Chieftain that the 1922 Colorado River compact, which determines water sharing for Colorado and other upper basin states with lower basin states like Arizona, California, and New Mexico, “obviously needs to be renegotiated,” citing “the new realities of high growth”:

I don’t think there’s any doubt the major, major issue is water and can be as important as oil. So the compact that is in effect, obviously, needs to be renegotiated over time amongst the interested parties.

As Jonathan Adler reminds us, “In the West, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.” Has John McCain forgotten where he comes from? His cavalier attitude about the distribution of western water should send a chill down the spine of anyone who hails from west of the Mississippi.

But even scarier — Sen. McCain seemed oblivious to the hard work on this very issue completed just last year. The seven states of the Colorado River basin worked together to craft a new agreement within the 1922 compact to deal with the increasing problem of drought and lower basin water demands. This agreement, signed by the states and the federal government on December 13, was praised by Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne, the former Republican governor of Idaho: “You have steered around the cataracts and sharp boulders of litigation and acrimony. You have found the serene waters of partnership and cooperation.”

McCain’s reckless comments threaten all of that hard work. And that is why the condemnation of McCain’s remarks in Colorado has been swift and bipartisan:

“Senator McCain’s position on opening up the Colorado River Compact is absolutely wrong and would only happen over my dead body.” — Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO)

“He will not get a more fierce fight from a United States senator than he will have from me.” — Bob Schaeffer (R-CO)

“On this issue he couldn’t be more wrong. Nothing is more crucial for Colorado than water, and I oppose any suggestion that the federal government should get involved in how we share it with Arizona, California or any other state.” — Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO)

“It would be sheer folly to re-open the compact at a time like this when all of the states are working cooperatively on this issue.” — Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO)

I have an idea. Why doesn’t the Senator from Arizona turn his attention to how to help the region deal with the looming threat of global warming? “Scientists have predicted a 10 to 30 percent reduction of water flow in the Colorado River,” the Sierra Club’s Rob Smith explained to the Denver Post, “due to long-term drought and higher temperatures associated with climate change in the Southwest.” Instead of proposing an agenda with water conservation and stream restoration, McCain is promoting a unsustainable expansion of water-hungry non-renewable energy projects in the West.

McCain should spend less time inside the DC beltway and more time with real Coloradans, so he can discuss real solutions instead of trying to reopen old wounds.

UPDATE: Apparently Mitt Romney has been brought in to bat clean up: McCain didn’t say that. Never happened. But if it did, he didn’t mean it.

Global Boiling: Tropical Storm Fay Crashes Denier Townhall»

Americans For Prosperity (AFP) has a brief message on its website today:

Ft. Myers and West Palm Beach Town Hall Meetings Rescheduled

The August 19th Ft. Myers town hall and August 21st West Palm Beach town hall will be rescheduled as a result of Tropical Storm Fay. We apologize for any inconvenience.

AFP is a front group for the right-wing pollution company Koch Industries, with an agenda of attacking “global warming alarmism” and promoting increased offshore drilling.

Somehow I doubt they planned to discuss how global warming intensifies tropical storms and threatens Florida’s coasts, nor how tropical storms and offshore drilling are a disastrous combination.

Global Boiling: Our New Era Of Catastrophic Wildfires»

In the second report of its “Wake Up Call” series on global warming’s worsening of extreme weather, the National Wildlife Federation describes how the western United States has entered a new era of catastrophic wildfires, brought on by global warming, past forest management, and poor land development.

The frequency of large wildfires and the total area burned have been steadily increasing in the Western United States. Warmer springs and longer summer dry periods since the mid-1980s are linked to a four-fold increase in the number of major wildfires each year and a six-fold increase in the area of forest burned compared with the period between 1970 and 1986. The fire season stretches about 78 days longer and individual fires last about 30 days longer.

In a video, the National Wildlife Federation’s climate scientist, Amanda Staudt, describes how “global warming will increase the risk of wildfires.” Watch it:

Global warming increases wildfire risk in several ways. From the report, Increased Risk of Catastrophic Wildfires: Global Warming’s Wake-Up Call for the Western United States:

– Longer fire seasons will result as spring runoff occurs earlier, summer heat builds up more quickly, and warm conditions extend further into fall. Western forests typically become combustible within a month of when snowmelt finishes. Snowpack is now melting 1 to 4 weeks earlier than it did 50 years ago.

– Drier conditions will increase the probability of fire occurrence. Summertime temperatures in western North America are projected to be 3.6 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit higher by mid-century, enhancing evaporation rates, while precipitation is expected to decrease by up to 15 percent.

– More fuel for forest fires will become available because warmer and drier conditions are conducive to widespread beetle and other insect infestations, resulting in broad ranges of dead and highly combustible trees. Higher temperatures enhance winter survival of mountain pine beetles and allow for a more rapid lifecycle. At the same time, moderate drought
conditions for a year or longer can weaken trees, allowing bark beetles to overcome the trees’ defense mechanisms more easily.

– Increased frequency of lightning is expected as thunderstorms become more severe. In the western United States a 1.8 degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature is expected to lead to a 6 percent increase in lightning. This means that lightning in the region could increase by 12 to 30 percent by mid-century.

Not only is global warming worsening wildfires (despite Joel Achenbach’s protestations), but catastrophic wildfires are hastening global warming, by rapidly releasing carbon it took the forests decades, even centuries, to store:

In recent years, fires in the western United States have released carbon dioxide into the atmosphere equivalent to about 11 percent of their annual fossil fuel emissions. In some Western states a fire spanning over just a couple months can emit nearly as much carbon dioxide as its total annual fossil fuel emissions.

This vicious cycle is one of many dangerous experiments humanity is running on its only planet through unmoderated pollution. Recent scientific reports have discussed how oceanic dead zones caused by fertilizer runoff and air pollution have reached catastrophic levels. Atmospheric oxygen is declining, reaching hazardous lows in urban centers. And rapidly declining arctic sea ice is leading to permafrost melt, which has kept frozen thirty percent of all soil-based carbon for hundreds of thousands of years.

Earth To Jim Webb: The Emissions Are The Crisis»

Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) told the Politico last week that “environmentalists will be forced to compromise next year and support the development of clean coal, nuclear power and other alternative fuels”:

We need to be able to address a national energy strategy and then try to work on environmental efficiencies as part of that plan. We can’t just start with things like emission standards at a time when we’re at a crisis with the entire national energy policy.

Webb’s concept that one can construct a “national energy strategy” first — then “try to work on environmental efficiencies” second — is completely misguided. The fuel-price shocks that rightly concern Webb are inextricably linked with the climate crisis. Numerous scientific, economic, and governmental reports make clear that the degradation of the planet’s climate system is threatening our economic and national security. As Al Gore described, “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.”

The League of Women Voters — a civic, not environmentalist organization — recognizes how our national energy policy needs to change, as their call for a moratorium on all new coal plants makes clear. In the words of national League President Mary G. Wilson, “Global warming is happening now.” She recognizes that Congress is failing its mission:

If we wait for federal action from our congressional leaders, it will be too late. We must take immediate and aggressive action to halt climate change. Burning more coal is too big a risk for too many people. Coal is the single largest source of global warming pollution in the U.S., with power plants responsible for 33 percent of CO2 emissions. Because of this pollution, we already face increasingly severe heat waves and droughts, intensifying hurricanes and floods, disappearing glaciers and more wildfires. If left unchecked, the effects will be catastrophic to us and our planet.

Webb seems to fail to comprehend the immediacy of the climate crisis. Hopefully he will become part of the solution before it’s too late. As Webb himself wrote, in “What It Means To Be A Leader“:

To the American voters, I offer this advice: Be as shrewd and ruthless in your demands on our leaders as the wizards running campaigns are in their strategies to get your vote. Do your part to send to Washington people who truly want to solve the problems of this country from the bottom up.

You won’t regret it. You will benefit from it. And the stakes could not be higher. Sometimes the business of politics seems silly. It can also be infuriating. But you must stay in the game, because you and your grandchildren will be the inheritors of both our successes and flaws.

Global Boiling: Joel Achenbach, Dittohead?»

MSNBC reporting on heat waves and tropical storms today, not mentioning global warming.

Washington Post columnist Joel Achenbach is terribly aggrieved by the media’s coverage of the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events, complaining, “Somewhere along the line, global warming became the explanation for everything.” Parroting Rush Limbaugh, he fulminates that if a hurricane hits the United States, “some expert will tell us that this storm might be a harbinger of global warming.” He continues:

Right-thinking people are not supposed to discuss any meteorological or geophysical event — a hurricane, a wildfire, a heat wave, a drought, a flood, a blizzard, a tornado, a lightning strike, an unfamiliar breeze, a strange tingling on the neck — without immediately invoking the climate crisis. It causes earthquakes, plagues and backyard gardening disappointments. Weird fungus on your tomato plants? Classic sign of global warming.

That is, of course, nonsense. Achenbach’s piece is a series of distortions, misrepresentations, and false attacks.

In reality, the media almost never discuss global warming in the context of extreme weather events. The cable news channels fill hours of time with “extreme weather alerts” of tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, and floods. But the few times they discuss the influence of global warming is to either falsely attack it, as on Fox News, or to garble the science and equivocate, as on CNN. Print media and network television likewise run minimal coverage discussing weather in the context of climate change — and just as rarely discuss the global warming consequences of energy policy.

Achenbach’s sole evidence for a deluge of people “immediately invoking the climate crisis” is a single Newsweek article. Achenbach falsely claims that the author “flat-out declared that this year’s floods in the Midwest were the result of climate change,” when in fact she states “The proximate cause was the western part of the jet stream dipping toward the Gulf of Mexico, then rising toward Iowa,” and goes on to discuss global warming as “one clue” why the jet stream behaved that way. In contrast, right-wing media publish a deluge of global warming denialism and false arguments on a daily basis, from specious libertarians to polluter-funded right-wingers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hawaii Representative Crafting ‘Environmentally Responsible’ Plan That Would Endanger His State»

It seems that Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) is crafting a plan that could lead to the inundation of Hawaii’s beaches, the extinction of its species, and the destruction of its water supply. Abercrombie and John Peterson (R-PA) are creating a “working group” to establish a “comprehensive, environmentally responsible energy plan,” whose members will be announced today. The centerpiece of this plan is opening protected coasts to drilling for more oil, as Abercrombie told the Hill:

Simply standing up and saying, you can’t drill your way out of this doesn’t work. The people are standing up and saying, “Yes, we can.”

The unique beaches, coral reefs, and oceanic ecosystems of Hawaii won’t be directly threatened by expanded offshore drilling, as the ocean that surrounds it doesn’t have fossil reserves. An oil spill or two could get tourists to flee the beaches of California, Florida, and the states of the eastern seaboard in favor of the Aloha State.

But in reality, Abercrombie’s advocacy of increasing fossil fuel production as a climate crisis looms will have deeper repercussions for this necklace of islands than perhaps any other state in the nation. Big Oil wants the world to keep burning fossil fuels at a rate that would increase global temperatures by five to seven times more than we’ve already experienced. Even more modest increases would spell catastrophe for islands like the Hawai’ian chain:

Rising Sea Levels Submerging Islands. In 2006, President Bush declared the 1200-mile chain of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands part of the largest marine sanctuary in the United States. But U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers found that “by 2100 up to 65 percent of some islands would be lost if the sea level rose 18.9 inches (48 centimeters), which is the average IPCC projection.” A 34.6 inch rise “could result in up to 75 percent of NWHI wildlife habitat disappearing.” Whale Skate Island, home to seals, turtles, and seabirds, has already disappeared under the waves. [Endangered Species Research, 2006]

Coral Reefs Dying. “The combined stress of global warming and ocean acidification” due to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases is already causing coral bleaching. “Especially in the state of Hawaii, we depend on the reefs for tourism as well as our economy. Also, recreational and commercial fisheries,” said Coral Reef Ecologist Ku’ulei Rodgers to NBC affiliate KHNL. “The coral reefs are the basis for all of the foundations and key species and if we lose the reefs we also will lose the fish and other organisms that are involved.” [KHNL, 7/2007]

Water, Wildlife, Economy Under Threat. In the 2007 legislation to cut Hawaii’s greenhouse gas emissions, the state legislature found, “The potential adverse effects of global warming include a rise in sea levels resulting in the displacement of businesses and residences and the inundation of Hawaii’s freshwater aquifers, damage to marine ecosystems and the natural environment, extended drought and loss of soil moisture, an increase in the spread of infectious diseases, and an increase in the severity of storms and extreme weather events.” Further, “Climate change will have detrimental effects on some of Hawaii’s largest industries, including tourism, agriculture, recreational, commercial fishing, and forestry.” [H.B. 226, 2007]

It is difficult to encapsulate the threat of global warming to these jewels of biodiversity. Everything from the unique snow-dependent wekiu bug on Mauna Kea to the Hawaiian monk seals are under threat. The destruction of Hawaii’s unique habitat is not just devastating to its wildlife. As the National Wildlife Federation notes, “At Honolulu, Nawiliwili and Hilo, sea level is already rising 6-14 inches per century, and the EPA estimates it is likely to rise another 17-25 inches by 2100. Sand replenishment to protect the coasts from a 20-inch sea level rise could cost $340 million to $6 billion.”

Abercrombie has criticized the Bush administration for its “obstruct, confuse and delay” strategy on global warming. His “drill, drill, drill” advocacy is no better.

Global Boiling: Yes, CNN, Global Warming Is To Blame For Wildfires»

More than 1,700 wildfires are burning across California, at a cost of greater than $200 million. Yesterday, CNN interrupted its breathless coverage of these catastrophic wildfires to ask, “Is this climate change? Is this global warming?” Miles O’Brien, CNN’s chief technology and environment correspondent, attempted to supply an answer, with a dithering, confusing, and chart-filled presentation, cautioning that “it’s hard to make a connect-the-dots moment here in all of this” and that his charts “will make your eyes glaze over.”

At the end, anchor Tony Harris responded:

Let me ask something crazy here. You know, nature’s been doing this, lightning strikes, whatever, for a gazillion years. Isn’t it it’s own sort of a natural pruning process? I know