All of this ... from a harmless little gas you exhale

by: Eric B.

Tue May 19, 2009 at 22:02:15 PM EDT

Here's a key paragraph from a story published sometime this afternoon.

Knute Nadelhoffer, a professor of ecology and biology at the University of Michigan, said several large companies including the Detroit automakers and the UAW support such legislation. The scientists joined together because they’re seeing the effects of climate change every day, from agriculture to zoology, he said.

Remember the bit about the Detroit automakers.  For this second, focus instead on that last sentence. Nearly 200 Michigan scientists in relevant fields signed a letter released to the public today asking for legislative action on global warming ... because they're seeing the effects right now.

There three press conferences today on this, one in Kalamazoo, one in Grand Rapids, and one statewide by telephone.  I'm told that at least at the Grand Rapids press conference none of the reporters present asked questions about the state of the science.  The Grand Rapids Press did go to a Republican for comments.  Unfortunately for the skeptics, that Republican was Vern Ehlers, himself a scientist.

U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers said he supports the cap-and-trade concept, if not the version before the Energy and Commerce Committee.

"The scientific community is pretty well in agreement that the amount of greenhouses gases are changing things ... that it is, in fact, dangerous," Ehlers said.

"It's a major problem. Wishing it away doesn't solve it."

Here's a copy of the letter and the signatories.  True to the word of the article, most of them hail from our biggest, most research intensive universities.  Unlike wingnut skeptic documents like the Oregon Petition, I seriously doubt that some of the people on this list would be surprised to learn that they signed it, or what it was all about.

Anyway, getting back to the Detroit automakers and cap-and-trade legislation.  It's true ... Ford, at least, has signed a letter supporting cap-and-trade. So has the UAW.  Dow might deny its responsibility for dioxin in the Titabawassee and Saginaw rivers; it endorses the IPCC's findings on global warming and sees itself carving out a niche with energy efficiency technologies.  On the other hand, you rebuild your economy with the state Chamber of Commerce you have, not the one you want.

Earlier today, speakers at a Michigan Chamber of Commerce news conference said cap and trade legislation would cost state businesses more than it would benefit them. The chamber supports continuing to invest in coal plants and new nuclear plants as well as renewable energy.

Just awful. A business advocacy group that is doing the worst thing for Michigan's businesses ... denying science and the march forward of how things are done.