Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has appointed a 32-person task force, the Commission on Climate Change, to provide guidance on how to address the challenge of Global Warming. The group has a broad-based membership that, according to the governor’s press release, “includes state legislators; scientists; economists; representatives from the energy, transportation, manufacturing, development, and agriculture industries; representatives from environmental organizations; and local government representatives.” (My italics.)
Kaine is certainly correct to include scientists in the mix: One would hope that the Commission will be informed by the latest scientific findings relating to climatology, as opposed to, say, the latest cover story on Newsweek — especially when a stated goal of the administration is “to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2025, bringing emissions back to 2000 levels.” The stakes are massive.
So, it’s worthwhile to ask, who are the scientists on the commission, and what are their fields of expertise? It turns out that there are two scientists:
- Jack Gibbons, of Fauquier County, was trained academically in mathematics and physics, worked in a research capacity in energy and the environment, and served in a high-ranking technology policy-making capacity in the Clinton administration.
- Roger Mann, of Mathews County, is director of research and advisory services at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences.
That’s it: two scientists, neither of whom is a career climatologist. While both men undoubtedly can speak authoritatively about the impact of climate change on the environment, neither one is accomplished in the actual field of climatology.
It so happens that Virginia has a state climatologist (or its close equivalent). I’m not referring to Patrick Michaels, the former state climatologist and high-profile Global Warming skeptic. I’m referring to Philip J. “Jerry” Stenger, who took over the position after Michaels departed and the office was re-named the climatological office of the University of Virginia. Stenger, a 25-year-veteran, is not, to the best of my knowledge, ideologically suspect.
I can understand that the Kaine administration wouldn’t want to burden itself by including Michaels in the commission. He’s no wall flower, he’s media savvy, and he disputes many aspects of global warming orthodoxy. Indeed, a perusal of his blog, World Climate Report, will show just how much disagreement there is among climatologists. (A quote from his most recent entry: “Rarely does anyone seem to question the quality of the temperature data, and yet, articles appear regularly in the scientific literature showing that the near-surface air temperature measurements are fraught with errors, gaps, and any number of inhomogeneities.”)
If Michaels were appointed to the Commission, Michaels would end up as the story. But why not appoint Stenger, or someone else, who is familiar with the scientific aspects of the Global Warming debate and has a command over Virginia’s meteorological history? As the commission now stands, outsiders cannot be blamed for fearing that its agenda will be driven not by science but by the ideology and self interest of its members.