Judge Orders EPA to Produce Science behind Pruitt's Warming Claims

[G_j]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/judge-orders-epa-to-produce-science-behind-pruitts-warming-claims/?sf191107676=1

EPA must produce the opposing body of science Administrator Scott Pruitt has relied upon to claim that humans are not the primary drivers of global warming, a federal judge has ruled.

The EPA boss has so far resisted attempts to show the science backing up his claims. His critics say such evidence doesn’t exist, even as Pruitt has called for greater science transparency at the agency.

Now, a court case may compel him to produce research that attempts to contradict the mountain of peer-reviewed studies collected by the world’s top science agencies over decades that show humans are warming the planet at an unprecedented pace through the burning of fossil fuels.

—-

“Particularly troubling is the apparent premise of this agency challenge to the FOIA request, namely: that the evidentiary basis for a policy or factual statement by an agency head, including about the scientific factors contributing to climate change, is inherently unknowable.”

..more..

[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

NOW

[Achilleaze]

2. But, but, but...repubes don't do science, facts, or truth

so this is obviously an unreasonable demand.

[3Hotdogs]

6. Don't worry. The judge is a fake judge. Science is fake news.

[Hortensis]

3. Good for this latest judge. This could lead to victories

in lawsuits against this government, eventually forcing change from outside.

And of course it would undermine the positions of Republican politicians. They'd be forced to shift from repeating criminal-level lies to continuing to repeat criminal-level lies. But they wouldn't work in court.

[G_j]

8. If only

any Republican could be expected to back up what they say with science and factual information.

[Hortensis]

9. Actually, a lot of Republicans do, G j, but the giant

conservative power centers that oppose climate legislation have been far more...powerful.

Remember, the Republican Party's leadership hasn't represented the beliefs and interests of most Republicans for a long time now. The only thing keeping Republican voters in place is their insane degree of partisanship against us.

If only Republicans could regain their political sanity.

[Garrett78]

12. "the Republican Party's leadership hasn't represented the beliefs and interests of most Republicans"

I think you're giving the Republican Party base far too much credit. I'd say the vast majority of Republicans are climate change-denying, evolution-denying, jingoistic, hypocritical bigots.

[Hortensis]

13. Bigotry is as bigotry does?

Definition of bigot: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially: one who regards or treats the members of a group (such as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance.

Most Republicans these days are intensely politically bigoted against Democrats. And we know intolerance and hostility are catching.

[G_j]

15. and it goes a lot deeper than hating Democrats

obviously

[RVN VET71]

16. Certainly does.

Republicans actively support a man who openly and publicly sympathized with nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville. Republicans support a man who is throwing Europe in the waste bin, treating our stalwart allies to insults and threats, while cozying up to China in order to get his little girl a sweetheart deal on trademarks, a man who has called latinos "rapists" and "animals", who has ignored the plight of 3,000,000 of them, Americans citizens all, still suffering months after a Katrina level hurricane reduced their island to a shambles, who has called these same 3,000,000 people lazy and looking for handouts, who has insulted players on every NFL team by lying about the cause of their protests, lying while he wrapped himself in a flag he ludicrously defends while stumbling through the words of the anthem and other "patriotic" songs.

And now you have these same Republicans excoriating their House Speaker not because he's a liar and a hypocrite (which he is) but because, frankly, even he could not eat the bull shit Trump was serving up about what the media stupidly took to calling "Spygate."

Republicans are guilty of supporting a movement by an unstable man to gather all possible political and governmental power unto himself at the expense of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, itself. I do forgive the many Republicans who have been regular critics of Trump -- I see them daily on MSNBC and CNN -- seeing him as a coarse, anti-intellectual, abrasive, greedy, and decidedly unamerican con artist. But I will never forgive the willful and invincible ignorance of the the millions of Americans, both in government and out, who continue to slavishly and shamelessly support a man who shows himself as a lesser human being each day than the day before.

[jimlup]

4. They'll pull out their useful idiots

who will do junk science for a price in hopes that it will be enough to fool the non-scientist Judge.

[RVN VET71]

17. 'Twill be fun, exceedingly, to watch

because the judge ain't gonna be fooled by a Trump-Pruitt moron.

"Your honor, the earth ain't warming up because of man. It's warming up because the sun keeps getting hotter. As evidence, just step outside of your air-conditioned court house on any sunny New York day in August. Then it cools down in September and by the time November rolls around, everybody's talking' snow -- until the sun warms up again."

"Your honor, melting ice doesn't make sea water rise because when I put ice in my glass of water, the water doesn't spill over the glass as the ice melts."

"Look at all that snow outside today. See? How can the earth be warming' up if Senator Inhofe has a snowball in his hand?"

"If the earth gets warmer, you might not be able to go snow skiing as often, but water-skiing will be even more available!" (Honest to Hay-Soos, this was an actual thing someone on the Right said.)

"Agricultural will surely be affected by global warming, but it's just a small part of the economy, so the rest of the economy will adapt and do alright." (Except, as Bill McKibben pointed out, if agriculture dies, so do we all.)

The judge will have a great time calling these fools to task. I only hope there is video coverage.

[dlk]

5. Oh Those Darn Facts...

[Cha]

7. Oooops! Love it.. the Fed Judge!

[dembotoz]

10. wonder how they will get around this one?

they will...facts mean nothing

[JohnnyRingo]

11. Cue the Shell Answer Guy.

He was a TV commercial actor who was the face of anti climate change propaganda in the '90s. I'm sure the oil companies are scrambling to supply Pruitt with similar input as we speak.

This litigation has the fingerprints of the Union of Concerned Scientists all over it, an organization I regularly donate to. I love my "Got Science?" bumper sticker. You can get one free here, but please drop a small donation while you're there:

https://gotsci.org/

Main UCS site:

https://www.ucsusa.org/

[Maraya1969]

14. He is such a vile human being.

[SergeStorms]

18. Science?

That's another word that isn't in the Republican lexicon. Perhaps "alternative science", but not science alone. Science means "facts": Yet another word totally foreign to Republicans. There's a million of them. Really.

[LW1977]

19. K&R

[catrose]

20. YES oh yes yes yes yes

Let us do SCIENCE!