Scientist Who Rejects Warming Is Named to EPA Advisory Board

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientist-who-rejects-warming-is-named-to-epa-advisory-board/?fbclid=IwAR1l7cekMMwTI9u_xN1htTHZzw53Yq4MqElx6wIirQT7yhGC7GvoYuPo0R8&sf207047349=1&utm_campaign=SciAm_&utm_content=organic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

By Scott Waldman, E&E News on February 1, 2019

The Earth will benefit from burning more fossil fuels and regulations on greenhouse gases must be challenged, one of EPA’s newest science advisers said yesterday.

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“There’s a benefit, not a cost, to producing energy from carbon,” Christy said in an interview yesterday, after EPA announced his membership on the board.

Yeah, it creates jobs for builders, medical personnel, undertakers, people who clean up after weather disasters.

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Christy, who is a frequent critic of EPA regulations, said he will use his position on the 45-member board to question the results of climate models. He’s a frequent speaker at conservative think tanks that promote the notion that worldwide temperature increases are largely unrelated to human activity.

So how did Christy get a seat on the board?

EPA officials asked him to apply, he said.

“In a fair, open, and transparent fashion, EPA reviewed hundreds of qualified applicants nominated for this committee,” acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler [himself a climate denialist] said in a statement.

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When asked what his first priority would be as a member of the SAB, Christy said he would try to convince his colleagues that nature is responsible for rising temperatures, not people.

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The Trump administration has been stacking EPA’s science advisory boards with researchers and consultants whose work is often funded or promoted by industry. It has reached out to critics of climate science and air pollution regulations to serve on the boards.

Most climate scientists would say that Christy is wrong when he asserts that climate models overestimate warming. The models match up well with real-world observations, said Gavin Schmidt, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

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In earlier research, Christy and a colleague claimed that the Earth was cooling. That’s been proved false. In fact, the past four years have been the warmest on record.

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Christy said he wants EPA to revoke regulations related to greenhouse gases. He described the endangerment finding, which is the scientific underpinning for the agency’s climate rules, as being scientifically flawed.

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