They’re Cool to the Idea

originally published December 12, 2007

In the rational part of our world, there is widespread agreement among scientists that temperatures are getting warmer and that humans have contributed to this warming by producing large amounts of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued several reports this year, based on input from more than 2,000 climate scientists from 130 countries, that support the theory that human activities are a major cause of global warming.

At a conference in Indonesia, more than 200 of the world’s leading climate scientists have urged government leaders to act quickly to slow global warming because “there is no time to lose.” Even Republican governors from southern states such as Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Charlie Crist of Florida are taking positive steps to assess the effects of global warming and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

We are seeing the effects of this climate change in Georgia. Global warming is thought to be a major contributing factor to the droughts that are drying up water sources not just here but around the world (Australia is now in the 10th year of a drought). Our state was baked by record-breaking temperatures in excess of 100 degrees for much of last summer.

Even President George W. Bush, whose administration spent more than six years denying the existence of global warming, has reluctantly conceded that the problem is real.

Given that preponderance of evidence, what are our political leaders in Georgia doing to address this issue? Well… nothing. Gov. Sonny Perdue, unlike his Republican colleagues, has appointed no committees to study it and doesn’t mention the issue in his public utterances. His major environmental thrust this year was to promote a series of bass fishing tournaments - which, ironically, were cancelled because of the drought that global warming has helped induce.

As for the leadership in the General Assembly, they have generally said that global warming is either an unproved concept or a phony issue amped up by the “hysteria” of environmentalists. Legislators in the House and Senate have held committee hearings this year that were dominated by global warming deniers from right-wing think tanks who receive funding from oil and energy companies. The most recent of these hearings was held on the Senate side last week and featured a full-bore attack from Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg) on people who believe all that so-called scientific evidence.

“I would not say that there’s an overwhelming consensus in the area of global warming,” said Seabaugh, possibly the most untrue comment uttered by a lawmaker this year. This is the same Seabaugh who several months ago remarked, “I will venture a guess that in 10 years we won’t be talking about global warming, but we’ll still be talking about how we produce electricity in a cost-efficient, environmentally friendly way.”

Sen. Ross Tolleson (R-Perry), the chairman of the natural resources committee, opined that global warming could really be a good thing for Georgia because it was preventing the onslaught of another ice age.

“Would you agree that we’re at a better stage today than we would be in an ice age?” Tolleson asked one of the hearing witnesses. The answer, from another global warming denier, was affirmative.

It’s not hard to figure out the origin of a lot of this opposition. The Southern Company, which owns Georgia Power, has been a dominant force in state politics for decades. Georgia Power operates coal-burning generation plants that are among the biggest producers of carbon gases in America.

Lawmakers like Sen. David Adelman (D-Decatur) plan to introduce legislation that would require 15 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable resources by 2020 - a concept known as a renewable portfolio standard. Requiring Southern Co. to switch to these less-noxious forms of power generation would be costly and put a dent in corporate profits. The current generation of legislative leadership, needless to say, is not about to stand in the way of corporate profits.

Thus, we see them pushing back against the consensus of the mainstream scientific community. This should not surprise anyone who’s followed Georgia politics. After all, we have an elected state school superintendent who tried to remove all references to evolution from the high school science curriculum a few years ago.

In years to come, as you’re baking in 105-degree temperatures and hoping that the drought lets up enough so they can stop rationing water, you can

take comfort in knowing that at least it’s good for business.

Tom Crawford

Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report, an Internet news site at www.gareport.com that covers government and politics in Georgia.