Category Archives: Science And Society

Striking A Nerve

Well, this certainly has gotten Think Progress’s panties in a twist. They’re squealing like a stuck pig. This, from the sort of folks who think that “deniers” should be executed or shipped off to reeducation camps. That said, I’m not sure how effective such a campaign will be.

[Afternoon update]

As I said, I’m not sure that that this is a useful tactic, regardless of how badly the Warm Mongers behave. But as a commenter notes, it is the hit dog that yelps. Phil Plait isn’t happy, either.

Here’s the thing, though. There really are a lot of people in the AGW movement who think exactly like Ted Kaczynski, even if they’re not quite as pro-active in acting on their beliefs, including a former vice president of the United States. It is one thing to be concerned about the apparent results of some doing research in climatology, and wanting to have a reasoned discussion about its potential implications for policy. It is another to seize on them as an excuse to impose a political agenda on people that you’ve been wanting to do anyway, out of the hatred of humanity (Bob Zubrin just came out with an excellent book on that topic). And there are far too many of the latter associated with the climate-change community. Perhaps if that community did a better job of policing and denouncing its own ranks, there would be less pushback like this, and it wouldn’t hit such a nerve.

For instance, I’ll be curious to see what Judith Curry has to say about all this.

The Crucifier

…has resigned. But the damage has been done:

EPA was finally persuaded to drop its action against Range, probably out of concern that a federal court might strike down its statutory authority to crucify oil-and-gas companies altogether. That was wise, because EPA already got what it wanted from persecuting Range. The company had to spend $4.2 million defending itself against a totally arbitrary action that could have come down on virtually any oil or gas company. And the industry has taken note.

In fact, as a demonstration meant to instill fear in the oil-and-gas industry, the crucifixion of Range Resources worked precisely as Armendariz intended.

There has to be some kind of legal recourse against this kind of arbitrary action.