By Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
On Tuesday, the Obama administration lifted its controversial ban on deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico while demanding that the oil industry must meet new, complex regulations. Rather than providing relief for businesses that have been idled and those who have been unemployed by the ban, the announcement created further uncertainty. There were no assurances that permits would be granted expeditiously. Rather, there were promises of even more regulations in the future. The administration seems to be oblivious to the national unemployment rate that is 9.2% and that businesses do not hire in periods of regulatory uncertainty. The only state with strong employment growth is North Dakota where oil drilling is expanding rapidly thanks to the new technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling that is opening up extensive oil reserves previously locked in deep, tight shale formations. Please see articles # 1 and #2, and the articles referenced under “BP Spill and Aftermath.”
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Several thought-provoking articles appeared discussing problems with alternative energy. Tom Fuller, an alternative energy advocate, explains why he thinks wind power is not doing well in 2010 – the buyer market is highly concentrated (basically forced by government). Thus, there is no pressing need on the producers to reduce costs because the eventual users must buy regardless of cost. (Since regulated utilities pass on costs plus a profit calculated on costs to their customers, including government imposed costs, utilities have no incentive to demand lower costs.) Please see article #3.
Bjorn Lomborg points out how government officials in Europe have failed to conduct the proper research to discover the tremendous hidden costs of alternative energy sources such as solar and wind. As a result, European countries that invested heavily in these sources are experiencing unexpectedly high utility rates. Please see article # 4.
Peter Grover discusses the folly of British experience and the government’s current mania to build even more expensive off-shore wind farms. Please see article # 5.
As Fuller discusses, there is no incentive or demand on the businesses that are providing the wind farms to lower costs. This is a recipe for failure. Please see Cape Wind article referenced under “Subsidies and Mandates Forever.”
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Another provoking piece appeared on the blog of Roger Pielke, Sr. He describes the requirements of a good scientific model as explained in The Grand Design, a new book by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, and then concludes that the IPCC models fail the Hawking and Mlodinow requirements. A good scientific model: 1) is elegant, 2) contains few arbitrary or adjustable elements; 3) agrees with and explains all existing observations, and 4) makes detailed predictions about future observations that can disprove or falsify the model if they are not borne out. Please see “When Is A Model a Good Model?” under “Challenging the Orthodoxy.”
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The issue regarding the resignation of Hal Lewis from the American Physical Society continues to cause controversy. TWTW carried the resignation letter last week. The American Physical Society issued a press release defending its position and Roger Cohen rebutted the press release. Please see the referenced article under “American Physical Society Row.”
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SEPP Corrections and Amplifications: Last week’s number of the week was reproduced incorrectly. The number of the week was 1100 times 10 to the fourth power, knots squared. This is the global Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) over the past 24 months as reported by Ryan Maue (September 30, 2010). When it was reformatted the exponents were dropped, literally lowered, thus the number made no sense. In the future we will use the character ^ to indicate an exponent. The ACE would be expressed as 1100 X 10^4 knots^2.
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NUMBER OF THE WEEK: 20 Percent by 2030. Greenpeace and the Global Wind Energy Council produced a study claiming that wind power could produce up to 20% of the world’s power needs by 2030. Given the well known difficulties of wind, as expressed in articles referenced above, one could say that this estimate is a bit optimistic.
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Those who challenge the claim that human emissions of carbon dioxide are causing unprecedented and dangerous global warming by pointing out the failure of the advocates to produce the physical evidence of causation continue to be personally attacked in academic departments at universities and in publications called scientific. For example, Fred Singer is repeatedly accused as being a lobbyist or agent for tobacco companies because he had the audacity to point out that the EPA’s second hand smoke study lacked scientific rigor. Below he describes his relationship with tobacco companies.
SEPP SCIENCE EDITORIAL #31-2010 (Oct. 16, 2010)
S Fred Singer Chairman, and President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
In 1993, the EPA published a report claiming that SHS [sometimes known as Environmental Tobacco Smoke – ETS] causes 3000 deaths from lung cancer every year.
Anyone doubting this result has been subject to attack and depicted as a toady of the tobacco lobby. The attacks have been led by a smear blog called “DesmogBlog,” financed by a shady Canadian PR firm of James Hoggan, and have been taken up with great enthusiasm by a self-styled “science historian,” Professor Naomi Oreskes.
The ultimate purpose of these attacks, at least in my case, has been to discredit my work and publications on global warming. I’m a nonsmoker, find SHS to be an irritant and unpleasant, and have certainly never been paid by Phillip Morris and the tobacco lobby, and have never joined any of their front organizations, like TASSC [The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition].
So what is the truth about SHS and lung cancer? I’m neither an oncologist nor a chemical toxicologist, but I do know some statistics, which allows me to examine the EPA study without bias [I personally believe that SHS cannot be healthy].
I can demonstrate that the EPA fudged their analysis to reach a predetermined conclusion – using a thoroughly dishonest procedure. They made three major errors: 1) They ignored publication bias, that is, studies that do not produce significant results are seldom published, 2) They shifted the confidence intervals, 3) They drew unjustified conclusions from a risk ratio that was barely greater than 1.0. My opinions are independently confirmed by the Congressional Research Service [CRS-95-1115], and by a lengthy judicial analysis by Judge William Osteen [all available on the Internet].
1) Since none of the epidemiological studies provided a clear answer, EPA carried out a “meta-analysis”. Unfortunately, this approach ignores “publication bias”, i.e., the tendency for investigators not to publish their studies if they do not give a positive result.
2) The EPA in order to calculate a risk ratio, moved the confidence intervals from 95% to 90% — and said so openly.
3) Even so, their risk ratio was just a little above 1.0 – whereas epidemiologists ignore any result unless the RR exceeds 2.0.
To sum up, while we cannot give specific answers for lung cancer cases or other medical issues connected SHS, we can state with some assurance that the EPA analysis is worthless.
ARTICLES:
For the numbered articles below please see:
http://www.haapala.com/sepp/the-week-that-was.cfm…
1. Liberating the gulf
Editorial, WSJ, Oct 13, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440…
2. Drill, North Dakota, Drill
Editorial, IBD, Oct 11, 2010
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/550…
3. Captive Clients Determine the Success of Energy Initiatives
By Tom Fuller, Watts Up With That, Oct 13, 2010
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/10/13/captive-client…
4. First do the research, then make deep carbon cuts
By Bjorn Lomborg, The Australian, Oct 14, 2010
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/first-d…
5. Taking The Wind Out Of Wind Power
By Peter Glover, GWPF, Oct 13, 2010 [H/t Francois Guillaumat]
http://www.thegwpf.org/energy-news/1694-peter-glover…
6. Shootout at the EPA Corral
Texas takes aim at the White House’s illegal carbon rules
Editorial WSJ, Oct 10, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696…
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Climategate Continued
BBC Told to ensure balance on climate change
Climate change sceptics are likely to be given greater prominence in BBC documentaries and news bulletins following new editorial guidelines that call for impartiality in the corporation’s science coverage.
By Neil Midgley, Telegraph, UK, Oct 13, 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/80…
Challenging the Orthodoxy
When Is A Model a Good Model?
By Roger Pielke Sr. Pielke Research Group, Oct 11, 2010 [H/t Francois Guillaumat]
http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/whe…
Time to get real about climate change
10/10/10 and 350.org based on urban legend, not science
By Tom Harris, Washington Times, Oct 14, 2010
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/14/time…
Opening closed minds
By Des Moore, Quadrant Online, Oct 6, 2010
http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2010/…
The scientific world is fracturing
By Joanne Nova, Oct 10, 2010 [H/t Marc Morano, Climate Depot]
http://joannenova.com.au/2010/10/the-scientific-worl…
No consensus among climate scientists after all
By Des Moore, The Australian, Oct 14, 2010
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/no-cons…
Opinion: Global Warming not worth the fight
The United States would gain little in trying to forestall climate change
By Keith Yost, Staff Columnist, The Tech, Oct 15, 2010 [H/t Joe Bast]
http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N45/yost.html…
[SEPP Comment: Even assuming man is causing significant warming!]
Is climate change activism dead?
By Louise Gray, Telegraph, UK, Oct 14, 2010 [H/t Joe Bast]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climate…
Dangerous Carbon Pollution: Propaganda from Climatism
By Steve Goreham, Big Government, Oct 8, 2010
http://biggovernment.com/sgoreham/2010/10/08/dangero…
Defending the Orthodoxy
Global warming summit heads for failure amid snub by world leaders
By Louis Gray, Telegraph, UK, Oct 10, 2010 [H/t Brad Veek]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-…
U.N.: ‘Credible’ climate report needed
UPI, Oct 12, 2010 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/1…
Text of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment
American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment
http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/about/com…
American Physical Society Row
Roger Cohen Responds to APS response to Hal Lewis Resignation
By Roger Cohen, ICECAP, Oct 13, 2010
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/APSPressReleaseDecon…
Weather Extremes
Arctic Ice Rebound Predicted
Man is not the primary cause of change in the Arctic says book by Russian scientists
By Verity Jones, Watts up with that, Oct 16, 2010
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/10/16/arctic-ice-reb…
Warmer, wetter climate helping U.S. farmers grow more crops
USA Today, Oct 8, 2010 [H/t Best on the Web]
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2010-10-08-c…
[SEPP Comment: See article below.]
Study; Crop failures to increase with climate change
USA Today Oct 8, 2010 [H/t Best on the Web]
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/p…
[SEPP Comment: On the same day, the same newspaper gives two opposing statements about the effects of global warming / climate change. If climate change means a significant cooling of the great northern grain belts, then it would lead to crop failures.]
BP Oil Spill and Aftermath
U.S. Lifts freeze on deepwater oil drilling
By Matthew Daly, Washington Times, Oct 12, 2010
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/12/offs…
Oil Industry Not Celebrating Yet
Executives Fear New Regulations Could Result in a Continued Slowdown of Offshore Drilling Activity
By Stephen Power, WSJ, Oct 13, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164…
China’s Will To Drill
Editorial, IBD, Oct 13, 2010
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.asp…
Energy Issues
Sluggish Economy Curtails Prospects for Building Nuclear Reactors
By Matthew Wald, NYT, Oct 10, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/11/business/energy-en…
[SEPP Comment: It is more than a sluggish economy, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling for natural gas has dramatically changed the energy outlook.]
Offshore Wind Power Line Wins Praise, and Backing
By Matthew Wald, NYT, Oct 12, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/science/earth/12wi…
New research questions hydroelectric reservoir emissions
By Staff Writers, Energy Daily, Oct 11, 2010 [H/t Toshio Fujita]
http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/New_research_que…
Biomass Power Encounters a New Regulatory Forest
By David O’Connor and Christian Termyn, Mintz Levin, Oct 2010
http://www.mintz.com/newsletter/2010/Advisories/0689…
[SEPP Comment: A law firm’s take on the problems biomass power faces. Note mentioned is that until the 1880s biomass burning (wood) was the dominant source of energy for the US until coal replaced it when virtually all the forests of the east were logged.]
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Cape Wind backers blew right by cost
Governor Patrick pushed hard for the project, hoping it would jump-start the state’s green economy, And it may. But at what price?
By Beth Daley, Boston Globe, Oct 10, 2010 [H/t Glenn Schleede]
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2010/…
[SEPP Comment: Oops! As long as politicians do not have to pay they will promote anything that sounds good.]
EPA and other Regulators On the March
EPA Estimates Its Greenhouse Gas Restrictions Would reduce global Temperature by No More Than 0.006 of a Degree in 90 Years
By Chris Neefus, CNS News, Oct 6, 2010 [H/t John Thompson]
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/epa-s-own-estima…
EPA global warmers power grab
Editorial, Washington Times, Oct 9, 2010
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/8/epa-g…
New Policy Fuels High-Octane Debate
Permitting More Ethanol in Gasoline Angers Oil, Food and Car Interests, But May Lift Grain Sales
By Tennille Tracy, WSJ, Oct 14, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673…
Oh, Mann!
The right to question Michael Mann’s climate research
By Joe Barton, Washington Post, Oct 12, 2010 [H/t Randy Randol]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article…
Cuccinelli calls for environmental, economic balance at energy conference
By Rosalind Helderman, Washington Post, Oct 14, 2010
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/20…
Review of Recent Scientific Articles by NIPCC. For a full list of articles see:
A 1300 – Year History of West-Central Mexican Cloud Forest Climate
Reference: Figueroa-Rangel, B.L., Willis, K.J. and Olvera-Vargas, M. 2010. Cloud forest dynamics in the Mexican neotropics during the last 1300 years. Global Change Biology 16: 1689-1704.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2010/oct/14oct20…
A Millennium of Reconstructed and Simulated Temperatures for Eastern China
Reference: Liu, J., Storch, H., Chen, X., Zorita, E., Zheng, J. and Wang, S. 2005. Simulated and reconstructed winter temperature in the eastern China during the last millennium. Chinese Science Bulletin 50: 2872-2877.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2010/oct/13oct20…
The IPCC Spaghetti-Diagram Reconstructions of Paleoclimate are Incoherent With Each Other
Reference: Bürger, G. 2010. Clustering climate reconstructions. Climate of the Past Discussions 6: 659-679.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2010/oct/13oct20…
Rapid Ice Loss On the Antarctic Peninsula
Reference: Hall, B.L., Koffman, T. and Denton, G.H. 2010. Reduced ice extent on the western Antarctic Peninsula at 700-907 cal. yr B.P. Geology 38: 635-638.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2010/oct/13oct20…
Miscellaneous Topics of Possible Interest
Moonlighting as a Conjurer of Chemicals
By Natalie Angier, NYT, Oct 11, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/science/12newton.h…
[SEPP Comment: A different look at Isaac Newton as an alchemist. According to William Newman, in the 17th Century there were a number of theoretical and empirical reasons to take alchemy seriously. These were eventually replaced by more powerful theoretical and empirical reasons why not to.]
How to prevent fraud
Thoughts on how to catch scientific misconduct early from a research recently convicted of the offense
By Suresh Radhakrishnan, The Scientist, Oct 7, 2010 [H/t Catherine French]
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/57738/…
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
Wind could provide 20 percent of world power needs by 2030: study
Physorg.com, Oct 12, 2010 [H/t Toshio Fujita]
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-20-pct-world-pow…
[SEPP Comment: Contrary to statements at the end of the article, the US has heavily subsidized wind through the Stimulus bill, tax credits, and state mandates. The savings of carbon dioxide emissions are highly questionable.]
Waste Pickers Offer to Fight Climate Change
By Karl Malakunas, Manila Bulletin, Oct 11, 2010 [H/t Best of the Web]
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/281600/waste-pickers-o…
That great story about Rock Hyrax urine you’ve always wanted to read
Press Release, University of Leicester, Oct 12, 2010 [H/t Watts Up With That]
http://www2.le.ac.uk/news/blog/2010-archive/october-…
Cigarettes: A Secondary Cause of Global Warming
By Ken Bosket, Star City News, Oct 12, 2001 [H/t Watts Up With That]
http://www.starcitynews.com/cigarettes-a-secondary-c…
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Ya, the lack of regulations in the oil industry has worked out so well, just like the lack of regulation in the banking industry…
I like your roundup 🙂 . Do you plan to make it a regular feature?
Btw, I know that climate issues are the “in” topic for the last few years, but I really wish you would post a greater variety of topics as noted in the site header. Climate is really starting to bore. Sorry. 🙂
Brad October 17, 2010 at 10:23
If regulations are not implemented appropriately or are poorly designed, it may not really matter how many regulations are created. The former has been demonstrated to have been part of what happened with the BP mess in the Gulf of Mexico
And what “lack of regulations in the oil industry” might that be? In Myanmar perhaps?
Don’t post twaddle.
[Note: With several oil industry-related articles, it would be helpful to cite the particular one you are commenting on. Thanks, ~dbs, mod.]
What a novel idea, ban by regulation fiat … Wasn’t it Kagan who suggested just that in the Harvard Law Review article “Presidential Administration” — How to strangle the US economy by fiat rules.
Why yes I do remember reading that paper … Do you?
Its not that there are not enough regulations, its the gaming of the labyrinth of regulations that exist.
If you have been paying attention, you would know that BP got waivers for their Macundo operation that allowed them to bypass regulations and procedures that would have, if implemented, prevented the blowout.
As for Wall Street, it was the creation of and speculation with mortgage backed securities that precipitated the September 2008 crash. This situation existed because of the regulators – not in spite of them.
Nice drive-by Brad. The failure of the banking industry was caused by over-regulation in the form of loosening lending requirements for mortgages on the misguided assumption that housing prices would never decline. The banking industry responded with mortgage products to meet mandated requirements. Would you create a product that guaranteed you would lose money? We had more than two decades of this misguided policy, and when concerns started to arise that there were unintended consequences arising from these mandates, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank worked very hard to assure everyone that there was no looming crisis.
Brad, lack of regulation was not the problem, although certain political groups say otherwise.
Anthony,
Here is my last letter sent (this morning) to the politians in charge of Canada. It does have to do with energy.
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
Being put in class with the village idiots by society in general has made the research I have been doing to be 10,000 times more correct.
WHAT DO YOU NOT KNOW?
Centrifugal force was never understood and deemed a psuedo-science because of this but…
I have had my fair share of being bounced from politician to
politician, ignored, pointed to policies or blocked by government
regulation for research and funding.
I found a great deal of our science is incomplete or structured with
boarders that they cannot cross and in some cases totally incorrect
when the right questions are put to them.
A good example is a plain circle that you can measure the outside and
come up with a distance. The center of balance would correctly be the
center at the axis point. But when motion is added, This is completely
different. This is where physics stopped.
Now you have an axis point and the edge of the circle. The center of
balance in motion is 2/3 from the axis. Both sides having the same
mass. Now, this center of balance shifts when motion is applied towards
the outside of the circle. The faster it moves, the more compressing
and storing of energy. Just like this planet. It accounts for the
pressure under the planet that we have Earthquakes and volcanes to
releave this. As the planet slows, gases expand and the stored energy
in the mass is releaved.
I did a massive amount of research on turbine efficiency that was were
I found science was absent in understanding what ACTUAL efficiency is
compared to the mechanical measurements that was used in hydro 150
years ago. Whatever water was going around the blades to the housing
was the amount they calculated as being inefficient. It had nothing to
do with actual energy transference of water to turbine, deflection of
energy at many points when the blades are turning or the fact it was
designed for bulk water turning and not efficiency. Centrifugal force
places a key role in all the current design problems.
So, I inverted a turbine. Splitting the energy and rotating it to hit
the circumference on a full circle at all 360 degrees.
Think I didn’t go through a great deal? Hydro companies, politicians
engineers, etc. etc. Mechanically it is sound and will run but the
science was never looked at or understood. This started 6 years ago.
Without this type of research and knowledge being passed down by educators, our population is growing into a mass of over educated idiots.
Thank you,
Joe Lalonde
(took off the phone number and address before Mr. Happy Snippit had gotten to it)
I also enjoy these “round-ups”. A nice addition to an excellent site!
Cheers!
Severn barrage plan likely to be sunk
Government expected tomorrow to refuse to back controversial £21bn tidal energy project with public finance.
The 2007 SDC report controversially suggested the wetlands lost under a Cardiff-Weston barrage could be compensated for by the sacrifice of low-grade farmland in East Anglia, Wales and elsewhere, which was already proving impractical to defend against sea level rises. It also argued the large barrage could provide a much-needed additional river crossing.
So the coast of East anglia, Wales and ELSEWHERE is already proving impractical to defend against SEA LEVEL RISES. Where is elsewhere, what utter rubbish.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/17/severn-barrage-plan-sunk
I would add http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8068402/Renewables-will-add-880-a-year-to-bills.html to the list. This is a story in the UK Telegraph today about the added cost of renewables to the average British household. 880 GBP per year in addition to the probability that it never could be achieved even if they tried.
Human endeavour has always been a learning process, oil is no different. Unfortunately sometimes we don’t learn enough, or remember what we have learnt.
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/scotlandshistory/20thand21stcenturies/piperalpha/index.asp
There is a possibility that Congress will consider a Renewable Energy Standard bill in a lame duck session this year . Be prepared !
What peeves me is reading crap like this
Being a father of two young children, 9yo and 2yo, I fear for what kinda of world they will be living in within the next 30-40 years. If the “environmentalist” (keyword there is “mental”) get their way, everyone who doesn’t believe humans are the scum of the earth should be punished. As only the “environmentalist” can truely know what is best for the earth.
Love the fact that when you click on “Help support the fight against global warming” you get taken to this page https://secure2.edf.org/site/Donation2?df_id=1533&1533.donation=form1
With a starting donation of $25 all the way up to $1000 (then an option for “other”) they are certainly ambitious, oh and the default value selected? $50.
That will certainly help a bunch of people stop working for productive jobs and instead jump on fuel burning planes to fly to Washington to take the fight to the government on global warming or was it climate disruption… that is of course the airport is open considering Washington was recently hit with one of the biggest snow falls in 111 years
I am the first to agree, if the science added up and the $$$ weren’t questionable I would be right there with them trying to get our government to make the hard decisions and “help save the planet”. However there is proof on top of proof that although there is some basis for their “beliefs” when all put together it doesn’t add up to a catastrophic apocolyptic event causing every lifeform on the planet to possibly become extinct.
Wake up people and smell the roses, not the excrement coming out of the mouths of a politician Al Gore or a environmental entrepreneur like Pachuri, or professor Michael Mann, or the CRU who’s funding relies on the proof of “Global Warming”. Instead look at the people who don’t have anything to gain out of their research but are more so genuinely interested in the scientific method of “Have a theory, test the theory if the test doesn’t work rethink the theory, if it does work, keep testing it and while it still works then the theory is valid, but if the test fails then it is invalid.”
Anyway just wanted to get that off my chest and again thank Anthony and all the guest posters, moderators and fellow man who visit here to get some insight.
Have you guys heard of Kiwigate?
Just a week ago… “In the climate controversy dubbed Kiwigate, New Zealand skeptics inflict shock courtroom defeat on NZ government climatologists implicated in temperature data fraud… ”
Anthony, did you have a chance to write about it? I couldn’t find anything it on your blog.
What’s with the re-directs via ‘madmimi.com’?
Like that format. Keep going, please.
Robert-
I think you are incorrect about the banking crisis, the driver was not governmental but the creation of the loan backed securities on Wall Street that drove bad loans. Try reading this:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Home/News_Articles/2010/mortgage_crisis.aspx
“Tis true that I wish we would have gone the same route we did after the S and L crisis, but we didn’t. The SEC was completely asleep at the switch:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/business/27sec.html
As for oil, remember the regulatory agency workers who were sleeping with hookers hired by big oil and were WAY to close? We fixed that, for the better:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/11/politics/main6472239.shtml
Now, what about the biggest oil spill in history, where the oversight was not done, and where exemtions were given makes you think the regulatory structure – ruined by Cheney and Bush – did not need to be re-visited? Common sense to me…
I’m glad you mentioned the fraudulent second-hand smoke study, which has very obvious parallels with the equally fraudulent AGW movement (the main parallel being the blatant abuse of the statistical method). The absolute worthlessness of the EPA’s predetermined findings are in the public domain but still thanks to an overwhelmingly liberal MSM most people wouldn’t have a clue about it, and just accept the official line that SHS is provably deadly. The fact is that whether it is or not, there is certainly no evidence to back up any kind of case for it being so.
It is the very same ‘moral guardians of society’ behind that sham as are behind the AGW sham, the same people who believe our lives would be so much better if we just did as they say and surrendered our individuality for the benefit of the common good, the same people who believe Socialism (Communism) would work if only it were conducted properly. History teaches us that there is no evidence to support any of it. And they call us pathological. Go figure.
Robuk says: October 17, 2010 at 12:20 pm
East Anglia is sinking anyway, has been for hundreds of years.
As to scuppering this particular barrage plan, great! it was ill-conceived all along, with great costs, short-term useability, and little benefit at all except to some big engineering company who would’ve had monopolies on it all.
However, tidal energy is enormous and I think we’ve hardly started to harness it skilfully. I wrote about it – there are other promising upcoming tidal harvest technologies that would be far cheaper, far neater, have far less environmental impact, AND last far longer AND be far more repairable. One technology is the “reef” that would harvest tidal energy on a small differential of height; another technology is the small slow turbine generators whose blades twist as they turn to maximise slow flow underwater capture; another completely unexplored technology is the pressure of straight vertical lift – feasible in my locality which has a tidal range second only to the Canadian Bay of Fundy.
Thanks for this extensive round up. Most useful.
I have now got around at last to reading the article on the hyrax. Interesting but I cannot see much in the way of climate information coming from that source. The “dassie” as he is known all over southern Africa, is common on rocky terrains across the breadth of the continent, from around 35 deg, South, at least as far as 11 deg. South. That is from my own observation over the years and he may well extend his range further north than that. That area covers a very wide range of differing climates, from the moderate coastal areas to elevations over 6000 feet on the highveld and from the deserts of the west to the high rainfall areas of the eastern coastal belt. Average temperatures of these various locations vary very considerably. To the casual observer his only known need is a nice flat area of rock on which he and all his tribe can can spend the day sunning themselves to their heart’s content.
brad says:
“…the driver was not governmental but the creation of the loan backed securities on Wall Street…”
brad doesn’t understand the situation. In fact, the problems we’re currently struggling with are the direct result of government actions and negligence — as brad inadvertently confirms in his comments:
“The SEC was completely asleep at the switch… the regulatory agency workers… Now, what about the biggest oil spill in history, where the oversight was not done, and where exemptions were given makes you think the regulatory structure…”
As Doug in Seattle pointed out, BP received government waivers for their drilling procedures, which let them bypass regulations that would have prevented the blowout [which was not, as brad says, the biggest oil leak in history].
Congress was responsible for triggering the current Great Recession following the repeal of legislation barring banks from speculating in non-banking areas. The easing of government regulations allowing Fannie Mae to re-sell mortgages purchased with “liar loans” caused the housing bubble to inflate to staggering proportions [Fannie Mae’s CEO, Franklin Raines, collected an obscene $750+ million in compensation for almost singlehandedly throwing the housing and mortgage market into disarray, and costing investors over $1 trillion to date].
The lessons learned after the Great Depression resulted in sixty years of strict lending regulations that prevented a recurrence. But Congress [they’re the government, see?] gutted those regulations, allowing junk mortgages to be packaged and sold as ultra-safe AAA-rated government guaranteed paper. Every taxpayer is now paying for this fiasco because of FNMA’s government guarantees.
Congress [both the House and Senate] is entirely responsible for the fix we’re in. Remember that in November.
Thanks. Good roundup, good usable resources. Hope it’s here next week.