NC Media Watch

Fact Checking Nichols: “Nevada County worst (rural) ozone in the nation”(updated and edited)

Russ Steele

Correction: Mary Nichols said that Nevada County has the worst ozone than any rural county in the nation. I had omitted the rural county reference in my notes, thus created a misleading post. Several people have requested a correction.  I have removed the LA chart, as it is not applicable to the post. I am working on a much longer post on the ozone issue, specifically the role of higher temperature in the generation of ozone. Stay tuned.  

(Click for a larger image.)

Eyeballing the chart, It looks like LA is just a bit higher than Nevada County.  These are measurements, they are not the product of a model that creates the red blobs on the ozone chart. If you want to understand the modeling limitations of the ozone blog charts that scare the hell out the local enviromentalist go here: Foothill Furor – Seeking Basis for Public Policy on Ozone Pollution

Update #1: (09-30-10,1400) Here is a plot of the Nevada County Ozone for the summer of 2010. We did not exceed the EPA standard of 75ppb (.075ppm) Came close twice, but did not exceed the limit. (Click for a larger impage.)

Data provided by the Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District.

Global Warming Upate: The cosmic connection

Russ Steele

CARB's Many Nichols seemed to be very sure that the cause of global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which generate CO2.

The British Royal Society is now expressing doubts about climate change in a recently published paper(here):

• “The size of future temperature increases and other aspects of climate change, especially at the regional scale, are still subject to uncertainty.”
•  “There is little confidence in specific projections of future regional climate change, except at continental scales.”
• “It is not possible to determine exactly how much the Earth will warm or exactly how the climate will change in the future."
• “There remains the possibility that hitherto unknown aspects of the climate and climate change could emerge and lead to significant modifications in our understanding.”

Danish Professor Henrik Svensmark has a theory about the links between cosmic rays the solar magnetic field and cloud cover influencing climate on Earth. Note that the cosmic ray/cloud correlation is much stonger than the connection between CO2 and global warming.  Check out Professor Henrik Svensmark's theory in this video here and see what you think.

Bottom line is that Mary Nichols' does not really care. Her mission is to change your lifestyle and she is using AB32 as her tool.  Your tool is Prop 23. Vote YES on Prop 23.

 

CARB Climate Change Program Contacts

Russ Steele

Mary Nichols recommend that Nevada County citizens contact Laronda Bowen the CARB Ombudsman "whenever they are feeling like AB32 regs are being applied in a draconian fashion, to quote George Rebane's interpretation of her message. 
 
I have added the contact information for the California Air Resources Board in the left sidebar so you can click on the active link and send Laronda Bowen a message directly from this page. Or, call the listed phone number. I am sure they will be pleased to hear from you.  In addition to the Ombudsman, I have added Johnnie Raymond the Climate Change Program Contact person.

I think it is important that we contact both Laronda Bowen and Johnnie Raymond and let them know how AB32 will impact our lives and businesses.  Mary Nichols admitted that she does not get into the hinder-lands very often to hear what we are thinking about CARB. The meeting format last night did not allow Mary to get a sense of our anger and frustration with CARB and their business smoother environmental regulations. Here is an opportunity to let them know how you feel about AB32 and Prop 23.

Do it now, click on the link and fire away! And, be sure to VOTE YES on PROP 23

Tea Party Update: Tea Party Coloring Book

Russ Steele

 

Wayne Bell, Really Big Coloring Books has written and drawn a Tea Party Coloring book. It is so popular that Amazon is now showing that it ships in 1 to 2 months.

I was going to buy some and send them to my liberal friends who are having a hard time understanding the success of the Tea Party Patriot Movement, but the shipping was way too long for me. I will keep checking back to see if they are available sooner. There are several local bloggers that could benefit from this coloring book.

More on Mary Nichols' "Climate Weirdness”(edited)

Russ Steele

Last night at the CARB presentation on the wonderful benefits of AB32, The Global Warming Solutions Act, by Mary Nichols, Board Chairperson, she was asked if the floods in Pakistan were caused by global warming. She said, she did not know for sure if science could blane a single flood on global warming, but said that we can expect more "climate weirdness" as the earth warms from CO2 emissions. This is a typical claim of the environmentalist left. 

Dennis Ambler has just written about the history of Extreme Weather Extreme Claims which was published by the  Science and Public Policy Institute this week. 

The on-going claims of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming have been ramped up again lately because of the opportunities presented by the heat wave in Russia and the floods in Pakistan, which are also being claimed as attributable to anthropogenic CO2. If the amount spent on global warming were to be diverted to mitigating and preventing the worst effects of natural disasters, then the desperate plight of the people of Pakistan would be relieved more quickly.

Dennis Ambler, concludes:
Extreme Weather – The Blame Game
The Aztecs had sophisticated irrigation systems and “astrolonomical” observatories, (apparently a mix of astrology and astronomy), to attempt to predict the weather and reservoirs. But the unseasonal frosts and cold, followed by severe, prolonged drought, may have taken them to the brink of collapse. Once the climate became more benign again, they praised their gods with human sacrifice.

“When rainfall and agriculture had resumed, the Aztecs responded by massively increasing the number of human sacrifices to their rain god Tlaloc. It is thought that hundreds of thousands of people were sacrificed.”

In the Little Ice Age, witchcraft was blamed for the devastating climate:

Fagan’s The Little Ice Age (Basic Books, 2000):

“Witchcraft accusations soared, as people accused their neighbors of fabricating bad weather….  Sixty-three women were burned to death as witches in the small town of Wisensteig in Germany in 1563 at a time of intense debate over the authority of God over the weather.”
“Almost invariably, a frenzy of prosecutions coincided with the coldest and most difficult years of the Little Ice Age, when people demanded the eradication of the witches they held responsible for their misfortunes.”

These days we don’t blame witchcraft for the weather, instead we blame it on our emissions of carbon dioxide, describing it as a pollutant that must be controlled by Government taxes and vilifying anyone who dares to challenge the orthodoxy.

We ignore thousands of years of climate evidence, in favour of an agenda based upon a century and a half of sometimes distorted and often-disputed temperature records, coming out of a known Little Ice Age and we call it “Science”.

Have we really left the Dark Ages behind?

Apparently not, as we are now blaming "climate weirdness" on the CO2 emissions of our neighbors and evil oil and auto companies that are providing us affordable transportation. Transportation that is essential to a robust economy.  Now the Governor and CARB has decided to sacrafice our economy to climate weirdness caused by CO2 emmissions.  Phase II of the Dark Ages cannot be too far. . . 

H/T to Watts Up With That for this tip

Prop 23 Update: Little monetary support in county for Prop. 23

Russ Steele

The Union has the story here, only one county resident has donated to the Yes on 23 campaign

Hills Flat Lumber Co. CEO Jeff Pardini contributed $500 to the Yes on 23 campaign, according to Cal Access, the Secretary of State's website that tracks campaign contributions.

After watching Lowell Robinson squirm his way through Mary Nichols presentation on the wonderful benefits of AB32, that may change.  There were other business owner in the meeting last night and they may also desire to make a contribution.  Reducing the use of personal vehicles is going to have an impact on our tourism economy.

I will bet that many Nevada County residence have made small contributions, I know that we have at our house. If I were to charge hourly for the time I have spent supporting Prop 23 on this blog, my contribution would be in the thousands.  The same can be said for Rebane’s Ruminations and for Martin Light at CABPRO. Perhaps others as well, including the Tea Party volunteers, several who were at the meeting last night in their red shirts.

Bottom line,  do not judge Nevada County’s support for Prop 23 based on donations to the campaign.  Anyone at the Republican HQ opening event in August knows that Prop 23 has strong support in conservative Nevada County.  The HQ is distributing Yes on 23 yard signs and they have a plethora of bumper stickers for your car. Drop by and pick one up for your vehicle.

Global warming update: Utah’s Climate Variability

Russ Steele

Chip Knappenberger has written an paper on Utah Climate Variability for the Science and Public Policy Institute.  Knappenberger holds an M.S. degree in Environmental Sciences (1990) from the University of Virginia as well as a B.A. degree in Environmental Sciences (1986) from the same institution. His over 20 years of experience as a climate researcher have included 10 years with the Virginia State Climatology Office and 13 years with New Hope Environmental Services, an advocacy science consulting firm" run by global warming skeptic, Patrick J. Michaels according to Wikipedia.

Anthony Watts wrote me about the report and gave me heads up prepublication copy of the report, because Knappenberger used two of the photos that Ellen and I took in Utah at Panguitch and St. George in the report.  He took the information from Anthony’s report “Is the US Surface Temperature Record Reliable,” but failed to note that the original photos were from some research that Ellen and I did as we sought out Utah  surface stations in the US Historical Climatology Network. (Click for larger image.)

The Panguitch station search led us on a real goose chase. We found the base of the weather station at the Forest Service Ranger Station where is was suppose to be according to the NOAA/NCDC Data base , but no one could tell us where the shelter was.  It was removed from service in 2005 according to the data base.  We were told in might be at the Middle Schools, but the School Principle had no knowledge of the surface station.  It was late Friday afternoon and public office were closing up early and we left town. When I got back to Nevada County, I continued my search, calling the City Clerk to see if she could help me find the weather station.  She told me that Phil Norton had it is his garage.   I called Phil can he confirmed it was in his garage until he could find a volunteer to collect the data.  Later on another observer on Anthony’s team found a replacement  station with an automated sensor.

After studying the Utah climate history Knappenberger concluded:

So the bottom line for Utah, is that temperatures across the state have been rising, producing more hot days and fewer cold ones. Utah’s precipitation has too been slowly rising, with the primary impact being a reduction in the number of dry days and in the frequency and duration of extended dry periods.

The trends and variability in the state’s precipitation have been linked to the patterns of El Niño occurrence, while the trends and variability in the state’s temperature history may in some part be from changes in surroundings local to each thermometer rather than a regional or even larger-scale variability or trend.

The degree to which anthropogenic changes to the earth’s greenhouse effect may explain any of these trends in Utah’s climate is simply impossible to ascertain, although after allowing for non-climatic influences, and patterns of natural variability, there likely is little left-over that needs any further explanation.

Prop 23 Update: New poll shows Yes On 23 with slim lead

Russ Steele

Here is the press release from Yes On 23:

For the second time in less than a week, an independent poll shows Proposition 23 leading among California voters.
 
The Public Policy Institute of California survey released yesterday showed Yes on 23 with a slight lead 43% Yes to 42% No with 15% undecided.
 
This new poll comes on the heels of a Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California poll published last Friday, which also found voters favoring the measure to temporarily suspend the state's enormously expensive global warming law.
 
The message is clear: Voters support Proposition 23 because they cannot afford up to 60% more for electricity, up to 57% more for natural gas and billions of dollars in higher gasoline and diesel prices every year to pay for California's climate change law.
 
With more than 2.2 million people unemployed and the state leading the nation in lost jobs and businesses, home foreclosures and debt, the last thing California families need is a self-imposed energy tax increase and the more than one million job losses it would cause.

Tomorrow I will dig into the PPIC Survey. Past polls did not address the economic issues of  AB32 implementation.

Now it is Climate Weirdness, not climate disruption(Edited)

Russ Steele

I attended the presentation by Mary D. Nichols, CARB Chairwoman, at Nevada City Hall this evening.  She gave a fine measure straight down the party line presentation, AB32 is good for us, it will not cost us very much, and we will prove to the world that California is a green leader. I have an argument with some of her facts, which we can explore in a future presentation. Some of the high lights off the top of my head:

• According to Mary Nichols we are experiencing "climate weirdness," rather than climate change or climate disruption.  And, as the globe warms we will experience even more "climate weirdness."
• Dirty Oil is just a term used in a marketing campaign, it is not a term used at CARB, according to Nichols.
• There will be no additional costs to consumers in the switch to renewable energy sources. When asked about the LA Water and Power requesting a 33% increase to develop renewable energy, Nichols claimed no knowledge of those figures. It was a news report.
• AB32 is not really about global warming because Californian’s will not make a difference in the global temperature, we are just setting good example for the rest of the world, according to Nichols.
• Global warming will increase the number of bad air days by 30 days a year in the next 40 years, and that is what CARB is trying to prevent, according to Nichols. 
• CARB will reduce ozone by restricting how and where you drive, unless you are driving a hybrid that gets 60 miles per gallon or an electric vehicle, according to Nichols. 
• The oil companies are going to spend millions to reconfigure their refineries to produce low carbon fuel, or adopt advance bio-fuels and install electric charging stations at their service stations, according to Nichols.

That is my quick summary. We were warned unfront that there would be no discussion of Prop 23. I will have a more detailed discussion of the CARB presentation in a future post.  In the mean time George Rebane has more on the meeting at Rebane Ruminations.

Tea Party Has Elites on the Run

Russ Steele

This is commentary by Tony Blankley in the Rassmussen Report

Not long after the tea party sprang into being in the spring of 2009, America's elites started vilifying the movement. In an article worthy of a class-action libel suit, The New York Review of Books depicted the tea party's first march on Washington as a parade of bigots.

Ex-president Jimmy Carter spit venom at tea partiers by saying they resented an African-American president -- a baseless charge of racism willingly echoed by the media.

When they weren't being defamed as racists, tea party supporters were described as irrational, enraged, seething, and livid. Constituents at town hall meetings who rejected the superficial Democratic Party talking points and demanded answers instead of political spin were portrayed as mobs on the verge of riot. At the very time that real Muslim terrorists were planning a record number of attacks inside the U.S. right under their noses, political apparatchiks in the Department of Homeland Security warned ominously of imaginary right-wing violence as the nation's newest terrorist threat.

When the elites weren't depicting their fellow Americans as out-of-control racists and anti-government zealots, they tried to downplay their social and political importance. They did so with a demographic attempt at marginalization; the tea partiers, they said, were too old, too white, too middle class to matter in contemporary America, and thus could be safely ignored. (Read the whole report here.)

We had several attempts at marginalization of the Tea Party Patriots by the leftists here in Nevada County in the comments on this blog, and some fellow travelers who claimed they were speaking from the middle of the road. Use the search function on this blog and type in "Enos + Tea Party," or "Frisch + Tea Party," or "Pelline + Tea Party" and you will find some classic examples. Not that they are Nevada County elites, just that they were participating in the dissing of the Tea Party Patriots, now one of the strongest segments of the Tea Party Movement!