Global Warming Gag Order

Wall Street Journal ^ | December 4, 2006 | Editors

[yoe]

Washington has no shortage of bullies, but even we can't quite believe an October 27 letter that Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe sent to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson. Its message: Start toeing the Senators' line on climate change, or else.

We reprint the full text of the letter here, so readers can see for themselves. But its essential point is that the two Senators believe global warming is a fact, and therefore all debate about the issue must stop and ExxonMobil should "end its dangerous support of the [global warming] 'deniers.' " Not only that, the company "should repudiate its climate change denial campaign and make public its funding history." And in extra penance for being "one of the world's largest carbon emitters," Exxon should spend that money on "global remediation efforts."

The Senators aren't dumb enough to risk an ethics inquiry by threatening specific consequences if Mr. Tillerson declines this offer he can't refuse. But in case the CEO doesn't understand his company's jeopardy, they add that "ExxonMobil and its partners in denial have manufactured controversy, sown doubt, and impeded progress with strategies all-too reminiscent of those used by the tobacco industry for so many years." (Our emphasis.) The Senators also graciously copied the Exxon board on their missive.

This is amazing stuff. On the one hand, the Senators say that everyone agrees on the facts and consequences of climate change. But at the same time they are so afraid of debate that they want Exxon to stop financing a doughty band of dissenters who can barely get their name in the paper. We respect the folks at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, but we didn't know until reading the Rockefeller-Snowe letter that they ran U.S. climate policy and led the mainstream media around by the nose....

[Mr170IQ]

[samtheman]

good points

[DustyMoment]

Interesting. I guess these "Senators" haven't heard that global temperature measurements have shown a downward trend over the past three years - indicating that the solar cycle we have been in for the past few decades is coming to an end.

But, far be it for the MSM to publicize that fact. "Tell the lie, tell it often enough . . . . . "

[DustyMoment]

Have the Global Warming Chicken Littles come up with an explanation for how we can be causing global warming on Mars?

Yes. And they are conducting an investigation to determine who is sending SUVs to Mars.

We anticpate the results of that investigation any day. My money is on Marvin, the Martian.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Not true:


Successor companies to Standard Oil include:

Standard Oil of Ohio - or Sohio now part of BP
Standard Oil of Indiana - or Stanolind, renamed Amoco (American Oil Co.) - now part of BP
Standard Oil of New York - or Socony and merged with Vacuum - renamed Mobil, now part of ExxonMobil
Standard Oil of New Jersey - or Esso (S.O. or Eastern States Standard Oil) - renamed Exxon, now part of ExxonMobil. Standard Trust companies Carter Oil, Imperial Oil (Canada), and Standard of Louisiana were kept as part of S.O. of New Jersey after the breakup.
Standard Oil of California - or Socal - renamed Chevron
Standard's Atlantic and the independent company Richfield merged to form Atlantic Richfield or Arco, now part of BP. Atlantic operations were spun off and bought by Sunoco.
Standard Oil of Kentucky - or Kyso was acquired by Standard Oil of California - currently Chevron
Continental Oil Company - or Conoco now part of ConocoPhillips
The Ohio Oil Company - more commonly referred to as "The Ohio", and marketed gasoline under the Marathon name. Company is now known as Marathon Oil Company, and was often a rival with in-state Standard spinoff Sohio.
See also Seven Sisters (oil companies)

Other Standard Oils:

Standard Oil of Iowa - pre 1911 - became Standard Oil of California
Standard Oil of Minnesota - pre 1911 - bought by Standard Oil of Indiana
Standard Oil of Illinois - pre 1911 - bought by Standard Oil of Indiana
Standard Oil of Kansas - refining only, eventually bought by Indiana Standard
Standard Oil of Missouri - pre 1911 - dissolved
Standard Oil of Louisiana - always owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon)
Standard Oil of Brazil - always owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon)
Standard Oil of Colorado - a scam to cash in on the Standard Oil brand in the 1930s
Standard Oil of Connecticut - A fuel oil marketer in Connecticut not related to the Rockefeller companies

[DustyMoment]

Folks, the number 1 greenhouse gas in our atmosphere is water vapor.

GREAT point!!! Thanks for making it!!

[Mr170IQ]

The absorption bands of carbon dioxide are already almost 100% saturated, and have been since before the industrial revolution.

The annual CO2 output from underground coal fires is about the same as from motor vehicles. If you are worried about rising levels of atmospheric CO2, it would be far more cost effective to find better ways of putting out underground coal fires than to try to set a carbon tax high enough to decrease consumption.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

From 1640-1715 or so, the Royal observatories in England recorded not a single sun spot. That timeframe was referred to as a mini ice age. Afterward, the sun spots resumed their 11-or-so year cycle, and temperatures on Earth returned to normal. The hubris of these people that think we can cause global warming. We can not affect the sun, the size of which could hold a million earths, with individual sun spots (magnetic anomalies) each the size of our entire planet. The core of the sun is so dense that it takes 200,000 years for the photons generated at the core to reach its surface. Once it exits the sun, the photon only takes 8 minutes to hit the earth, 96 million miles away. We are so insignificant in the whole scheme of things. Global warming freaks are one of two things:

• Megalomaniacs showing their Hubris el Grande, or
• Dictator wannabe's forcing global govermnent down our throat.

I suspect the latter.

[ctdonath2]

water vapor makes up 98% of our atmosphere

Uh, no. But you've got the right idea.
Snagged via Google:

Average composition of the atmosphere up to an altitude of 25 km.

Gas Name	Chemical Formula	Percent Volume
Nitrogen	N2	78.08%
Oxygen	O2	20.95%
*Water	H2O	0 to 4%
Argon	Ar	0.93%
*Carbon Dioxide	CO2	0.0360%
Neon	Ne	0.0018%
Helium	He	0.0005%
*Methane	CH4	0.00017%
Hydrogen	H2	0.00005%
*Nitrous Oxide	N2O	0.00003%
*Ozone	O3	0.000004%

While I'll grant that the world may be warming, and a bazillion cars spewing exhaust does have an impact, that impact is only a tiny part of what happens naturally. One volcano will blow more CO2 & other gludge into the atmosphere than several years of exhaust.

You do have a good point: there's about 10x as much H2O than CO2 in the atmosphere, and the former causes significantly more "global warming" per molecule than the latter. Interestingly, the only viable "green" alternative to oil (fuel cells) will replace CO2 spewage with H2O. Do the greens really want that?

[Tim Slagle]

Here's my favorite line: "Mainstream media outlets... [give] them relatively equal standing with legitimate scientists."

And what makes a scientist legitimate? Why, their belief in Global Warming! Any scientist who doesn't believe that Global Warming, is real, man-made, and going to cause Global Armageddon, cannot be called "legitimate." Therefore every legitimate scientist believes in Global Warming; and if every legitimate scientist agrees, then it must be real.

Here's a good time to bring back this wonderful version of a children's classic.

[Tenacious 1]

[I don't know what planet you are from, but I like my atmosphere with at least a 3psi partial pressure of O2]

O2 is part of the water vapor. You wouldn't want pure O2 in the atmosphere. But I am sure you knew that. Water vapor is a compilation of molecules.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Okay, so because the Justice department successfully caused the breakup of Standard Oil, Rockefeller's great-grandfather had a hand in the beginnings of almost every major oil company in the US today. Senator trust-funds's money is that much dirtier. Instead of the "global warming" gases caused by Exxon-Mobil's products, he can take credit for those of Chevron and Marathon and Conoco.

[Fierce Allegiance]

And BP. :)

[megatherium]

Actually, the climate scientists have given a detailed explanation for the warming on Mars: Global warming on Mars? [realclimate.org]

[arthurus]

It's just a rally point for communist and socialists to use to entice people who can't think for themselves.

It has a good chance of being ultimately successful because these people control pretty much the entire education establishment in America and Europes as well as MSM which, though broadcast television and newspapers as a source of news are dying, will be for some years where most people take their ideas of what is.

[Tenacious 1]

The "water vapor" sited is calculating N2, O2 and H2O. The most prevelent. Some say, the balance of chemicals in our air is insignificant except at ground level.

But your table puts it in perspective better than words.

Thank you.

[megatherium]

One volcano will blow more CO2

Volcanoes can have a real impact on climate, but it turns out on average that humans put 150 times more CO2 into the atmosphere than volcanoes. http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Hazards/What/VolGas/volgas.html

[Mr170IQ]

> O2 is part of the water vapor. You wouldn't want pure O2 in the atmosphere. But I am sure you knew that. Water vapor is a compilation of molecules.

No. O2 is not part of water vapor. I don't have time to correct all of your science errors, but it doesn't help to have people on the correct side of an argument garbling facts and making us look stupid. Look up "Niven's Law".

Essentially, you mis-claimed "water vapor is 98% of the greenhouse gas present in Earth's lower atmosphere" and instead claimed that "water vapor is 98% of earth's atmosphere". It was an easy mistake to make, and could be excused as a typo. Please stop compounding your mistake by claiming it is correct.

[JoeGar]

The globe is always warming or cooling; therefore, one has a 50 percent chance of being correct regardless of his position.

[G Larry]

Senators:

Your credibility is already shot for multiple reasons;
1) You don't understand science at all,
2) You don't care that you don't understand it, since the politics use to promote bad science is your own,
3) You don't understand economics and think the American people are equally stupid!
4) The oil companies don't pay any taxes, the taxes are simply passed on to the consumers,
5) The only impact taxes have on oil companies is to disincentivize exploration!