Comments from the Congressional Hearings on Climate

Waxman: If my doctor told me I had cancer, I wouldn't scour the country to find someone who said I didn't need to be treated.

Rush is enthusiastic about a carbon sequestration project in Illinois. "Listen to what the science is telling us," he says as he ends his statement. Then he shows a giant cartoon that makes the "no-regrets" argument... "Even if its a big hoax, its a hoax that will provide" much good (green jobs, cleaner air etc)

If you're playing the skeptic drinking game, Griffith is committed to getting you drunk. Vikings, Mars, global cooling... (@climatebrad)

Inslee: CDC says climate change affects health

Inslee "folks in the press report this like a divorce trial. He said she said." Quote of the day? (Andrew Freedman)

- It's interesting to contemplate where the burden of proof should be, given that EPA already has a finding of harm. Some speakers may raise doubts, but usually in emissions policy, the emitter has to prove that what they are doing is safe.

- [Christy's] claim of observed temperature increase is less than half of what most groups say is observed

- [Pielke Sr] Focuses on "accumulation of joules"; but energy balance is what drives accumulation of joules, and greenhouse gases are crucial to that.

- McKinley wants one of the contrarians to say GHGs not implicated at all; nobody on panel apparently willing to say so

- The Mars business was handled well at RealCLimate a couple of years ago

- "What is the optimum temperature for humans" misses the point - the rates of change are the issue

- Christy suggests that "due process" is needed in "climategate" but there are no substantive accusations!

- Claim that ice in Antarctic is growing is very misleading; there is a slight increase in SEA ice, but not comparable to decline in the Arctic meanwhile there is increasing melt from the West Antarctic contributing to sea level

- Gavin Schmidt: This is not about sides. Bad arguments from any point of view devalue any discussion

- Gavin Schmidt: It's worth pointing out that all of the climate scientists on the panel agree on many issues: that CO2 is increasing rapidly due to human influences, that CO2 is a greenhouse gas and that the net human impact on climate (including the other GHGs, aerosols, land use etc.) have very likely driven warming over the last few decades.

- Roger Pielke, Jr.: Because Congress has granted EPA authority to regulate, and the agency has followed its legislative mandate. If Congress wants to change how EPA operates, fine, but it must do it comprehensively, not by seeking to overturn the endangerment finding via fiat.

- Roger Pielke, Jr.: Christy' s discussion of extremes in his written testimony is sound. But irrelevant to regulatory decisions.

- Gavin Schmidt: Roger Pielke Sr. is pushing at an open door when discussing the multiple drivers of climate change. This has long been acknowledged by IPCC, the modelling groups, and most recently in assessements such as the UNEP report on black carbon and ozone. I think it is completely legitimate to take into account multiple forcings, and natural variability, yet still think that CO2, as the fastest growing forcing, and the one with the longest timescale, is still the dominant issue. But as the UNEP report showed, there are many actions that can be taken to reduce forcings from BC and ozone with current technology.

Roger Pielke Jr.: @thingsbreak, if either side wanted to discuss regulation, they should have regulation experts, not climate scientists, both sides are complicit in this charade

Gavin Schmidt: The IPCC has never claimed that "more hurricanes are directly related to climate change". The statements in the TAR and AR4 are far more nuanced.

Roger Pielke Jr.: IPCC issues are far more nuanced than a yes/no question, see http://e360.yale.edu/feature/major_change_is_needed_if_the_ipcc_hopes_to...

Magnus Westerstrand :Climate change definitely could make growing crops for big parts of the world a problem http://www.nature.com/nclimate/2011/110208/full/nclimate1042.html

Roger Pielke, Jr. : Somerville being asked about policy, not fair. After writing extensively now about policy in his testimony, he now claims to want to stick to the science. These guys need better tutoring.

Philip Duffy: Christy asserting that the conclusion that humans causing climate change is "purely model driven." Wrong!

Philip Duffy: Waxman: amazing that funding should be distributed based upon scientists point of view. I agree!

Magnus Westerstrand: Christy's testimony answers should be written down... I just cant take the man serious any more... hope the journalists will report on this

Roger Pielke, Jr. : Inslee still not right on CO2 as only effect on Arctic

Chris Colose : The peer-reviewed article is much more nuanced than Inslee