Carbon Dioxide Involvement

E-mail 7/1/09 Congress:

The White House has recently announced the issuance of a new report, which is now supposed to end all discussions about global warming and the contributions of carbon dioxide. The White House and its various departments completely accept carbon dioxide as a major greenhouse gas contributing to human induced global warming.
I call this to your attention, because it is the basis of the Cap and Trade (carbon dioxide) bill, which recently squeaked through the House and will need to be addressed by the Senate.
I am sure you will not have time to read or even peruse this 191-page report entitled, "Global Climate Change Impacts in the US". Because of its importance to our economy, I have taken the time to peruse it and am hereby reporting its contents, from my point of view, which is the complete reverse of the Administration.
The first consideration is legitimacy of the basic intent of those persons who initiated the program and those who have written the report. The initiators were Advisory Committee/Federal Advisory Act/Subcommittee Global Change Research/US Government. Therefore, it is to be expected that the issued report will have a government slant. For further support of this thought, I have also noted 9 members of a Federal Executive Team. The report authors are Karl, Melillo, and Peterson. The first and last are with the Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I suspect that all three are on the government payroll.
The report includes a direct Letter to Congress, which recommends using the report to make policy and decisions. I hope and trust that Congress will think a little deeper concerning the source and basis of the recommendations.
The Executive Summary contains the following points:
1.) Global warming is accepted (why?).
2.) It is human induced (data?).
3.) Reducing CO2 emissions would lessen global warming (basis for this speculation?).
4.) Report "synthesizes" information to summarize what is known about observed and projected consequences of climate change (why synthesize?).
The report lists 10 "Key Findings". One mentions "human induced emissions of heat trapping gases".
The major portion of the report involves the dire consequences of global warming. We are not now interested in these fear promoters. Our major concern is whether there is any justification for being fearful.
The report states that the Earth's temperature is affected by the presence of its atmosphere. This sounds like a good theory, but it is still a theory. However, we will accept it for now. The report goes on to say that the atmosphere is composed of various gases and mini particles. Six gases are mentioned, as being greenhouse gases. There is no information on the qualifications necessary to be classified as a greenhouse gas. There is also no comment on why nitrogen and oxygen, which are the major components of the atmosphere, are ignored.
The report says that the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has increased 35% since the start of the industrial revolution. It does not say that the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is now only 0.04%. One must ask the question as to whether a gas concentration of 0.04% is more important than a concentration of 78% (nitrogen), and if so, why? I also saw nothing in the report with respect to continued absorption of carbon dioxide by plant life, which is presently part of our ecosystem.
In summary, I see nothing new about this report. It lacks the same basic information to support any theory that the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere should be controlled. It is essentially the same as has been repeated many times by those persons who stand to profit by Cap and Trade, research grants, and any other economic mechanisms. The only difference is that this report is associated with considerably more Administration hoopla, with timing such as to sway Congressional votes to an acceptance of a ridiculous notion.