Molly Ivins's commentary usually hits her target squarely, but her Aug. 14 op-ed page offering, "In Texas, of all places, they're cool on global warming," is about as flat as a roadside armadillo.
She complains that the Texas news media haven't reported enough that part of the reason for the awful heat wave in Texas is global warming. That's because there is no scientific proof that there is any relationship between the two. The only notable person who has embraced the El Nino/climate change/hot weather scenario is Vice President Gore, and some experts who know better have roundly criticized him for it.
For example, John Christy, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, says Gore's heat wave theory has nothing to do with global warming and everything to do with a natural and predictable spinoff of El Nino. Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorologist Richard S. Lindzen, as well as noted physicist S. Fred Singer, also dispute the vice president on this.
Despite Ivins's assertion to the contrary, the American Petroleum Institute is engaged in an honest debate not about whether a climate change is happening but about the scientific uncertainties of what causes weather changes and whether the treaty adopted in Kyoto, Japan, last December is the right approach to the problem.
In short, we question the wisdom of the Kyoto agreement, which would drive up consumer prices by acting as a hidden tax and would cost American jobs and work, to the disadvantage of American businesses and farmers.
More research should be done to remove the uncertainties regarding the human impact on the earth's climate. In the meantime, voluntary and economically justifiable efforts should continue to reduce the growth in greenhouse gas emissions.Jim Craig, Public relations director American Petroleum Institute Washington, D.C.
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