Rep. Capito Speaks On Climate Change, Will Head to Copenhagen

Here's sign of how nuanced the climate debate is becoming - Shelly Moore Capito, a moderate Republican from a coal state, says she doesn't take issue with the science showing some anthropogenic global warming, but she questions the doomsday analysis that is put forward in support of draconian limits on carbon emissions. She is headed to Copenhagen to attend the climate conference to make certain that coal interests are protected in a reasonable fashion. I'm not certain what exactly she'll do, but she can't do any more harm than our own negotiators seem bent on doing.

I think Capito is spot on. The earth has been warming, and we can debate the role that carbon dioxide plays in that, but certain things also seem true. The computer models showing widespread harm as a result of warming, the "tipping point" analyses, and other cries of wolf cannot be given any credence in light of their failure to predict relatively flat temperatures over the past 10 years. To dramatically restrict fossil fuel use based on those predictions is irresponsible, especially in the developing world. And even if limits are agreed to, there's no current way to verify reductions, as this article from USA Today reports.

Having said that, the political pressures are too strong at this point to avoid regulation of carbon dioxide as a pollutant of concern. Lisa Jackson's recent announcement that carbon dioxide and other GHGs endanger the United states, while completely overblown, sets in motion a regulatory program that will inexorably lead to far greater restrictions on GHGs than Republicans and moderate Democrats would agree to in Congress. In short, there will have to be a bill, hopefully not Waxman-Markey, that will require some CO2 cuts but nothing to the degree that would otherwise be required by the Clean Air Act.