Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe got so beligerent with former Vice-President Al Gore at the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last week that new Chair Barbara Boxer had to cut him off (check out the video at the end of thisย post).
That, presumably, is because Senator Inhofe is accustomed to a different quality of input in testimony before this committee. When he was chair, he preferred likeminded lobbyists (Joseph Bast, Heartland Institute, testimony here)) and fiction writers (Michael Chrichton, testimony here) as witnesses to committeeย hearings.
Now, Inhofe is reduced to misleading committee members (and the public) with transparent political stunts. For example, at the 1:19 mark in Gore’s testimony (realplayer file), Inhofe unveiled a chart, saying, โThere are literally hundreds of scientists on this chart and all these scientists disagree with youย [Gore].โ
Well, that’s just not true. Far from โliterally hundredsโ of names on the chart, we count 88, give or take a couple. At least one name is doubled and another (University of Alberta mathematician Dr. Gordon Swaters) has disavowed the deniers who, at one point, had tricked him into signing a Canadian petition looking for more global warmingย research.
As for their degree of expertise on climate change (or, in some cases, their demonstrated willingness to offer supportive opinions to the tobacco or energy industry), here’s a selection of those โscientistsโ by which toย judge.
August Auer (retired meteorologist, last published research in 10ย years)
Nils Axel-Morner (retired, historical earthquakeย researcher)
Sallie Baliunas (affiliated with 9 organizations funded byย ExxonMobil)
Tim Ball (retired geography professor, has not published any peer-reviewed research in over 10ย years)
Jack Barrett (has not published any peer-reviewed research in 13ย years)
Richard Courtney (coal unionย spokesperson)
Christopher Essex (mathematics professor, published one peer-reviewed research article on climate change 16 yearsย ago)
Robert Essenhigh (researcher mainly on coalย combustion)
Lee Gerhard (oil and gasย geologist)
Vincent Gray (retired, coalย researcher)
Howard Hayden (retired physicist. last peer-reviewed research published 12 yearsย ago)
Zbigniew Jaworowski (retired atomic radiationย researcher)
William Kininmonth (retired, has not published peer-reviewed research in over 30ย years)
Hans Labohm (economist)
Douglas Leahey (retired oil and gasย geologist)
Ross McKitrick (economist)
Alister McFarquhar (economist)
Patrick Michaels (affiliated with 11 organizations receiving funding fromย ExxonMobil)
Al Pekarek (oil explorationย consultant)
Benny Peiser (3 peer-reviewed research articles, two in sportsย journal)
Ian Pilmer (studies oreย deposits)
Paavo Siitam (no published peer-reviewedย research)
Gary Sharp (studiesย tuna)
Gordon E. Swaters (probably not very happy to be on thisย list)
George Taylor (meteorologist, published 3 peer-reviewed research articles in last 17ย years)
Hendrik Tennekes (retired, has not published peer-reviewed research in over 15ย years)
Gerrit van der Lingen (retired, published peer-reviewed research papers over 20 years ago)
David Wojick (coal industryย consultant)
