Inhofe tells EPA administrator global warming is a 'hoax'...

Inhofe, EPA administrator tackle greenhouse gas regulation

By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
Published: 2/9/2011 4:37 PM
Last Modified: 2/9/2011 4:37 PM

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe on Wednesday not only stood by his famous hoax declaration on global warming, but the Oklahoma Republican somewhat reluctantly tipped his hand on plans to publish a book.

“I won’t tell you what it’s about, but the name of the book is ‘The Hoax,’?” he said during testimony before a House subcommittee.

“I did finish it last week.’’

Inhofe was the lead-off witness at a somewhat contentious and lengthy hearing on a proposal that he and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, are pushing essentially to kill the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the other major attraction at the hearing, testified after Inhofe.

Different sides were drawn years ago on the long-running debate over climate change, its causes and what governments should do or not do to address the issue.

Wednesday’s hearing at the Subcommittee on Energy and Power followed that script.

That included lengthy statements from members of the panel with limited time for witnesses to respond.

Inhofe and House Republicans on the subcommittee focused on what they consider the enormous costs of EPA’s efforts to regulate greenhouse emissions, the jobs that could be lost and the questions that, in their view, continue to surround climate change science.

Science is mixed, Inhofe said, but the economic impact is not.

“In other words, all pain for no climate gain,’’ he said in prepared remarks that he ignored so he could “ramble’’ through his testimony.

Even if one assumes the predictions of more droughts, floods, intense storms and cases of disease are true, Inhofe said, EPA’s expected regulations will not affect that.

Jackson and Democrats on the panel argued the debate over science is over, a consensus by the nation’s leading researches that climate change is occurring and why has been reached, and the U.S. economy can continue to grow while addressing the issue.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the full committee’s ranking member, said the underlying premise of the proposal is that climate change is a hoax, citing Inhofe’s long-held view.

Jackson also urged lawmakers to think of their own role.

“Politicians overruling scientists on a scientific question, that would become part of this committee’s legacy,’’ she said.

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