EPA Rejects Claims of Flawed Climate Science
Release date: 07/29/2010
Contact Information: Cathy Milbourn (News Media Only) Milbourn.cathy@epa.gov
202-564-4355
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
today denied 10 petitions challenging its 2009 determination that
climate change is real, is occurring due to emissions of greenhouse
gases from human activities, and threatens human health and the
environment.
The petitions to reconsider EPA’s Endangerment Finding claim that
climate science cannot be trusted, and assert a conspiracy that
invalidates the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.S.
Global Change Research Program. After months of serious
consideration of the petitions and of the state of climate change
science, EPA finds no evidence to support these claims. In contrast,
EPA’s review shows that climate science is credible, compelling, and
growing stronger.
“The endangerment finding is based on years of science from the U.S. and
around the world. These petitions -- based as they are on selectively
edited, out-of-context data and a manufactured controversy -- provide no
evidence to undermine our determination. Excess greenhouse gases are a
threat to our health and welfare,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P.
Jackson. “Defenders of the status quo will try to slow our efforts to
get America running on clean energy. A better solution would be to join
the vast majority of the American people who want to see more green
jobs, more clean energy innovation and an end to the oil addiction that
pollutes our planet and jeopardizes our national security.”
The basic assertions by the petitioners and EPA responses follow.
Claim: Petitioners say that emails disclosed from the
University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit provide evidence of a
conspiracy to manipulate global temperature data.
Response: EPA reviewed every e-mail and found this was
simply a candid discussion of scientists working through issues that
arise in compiling and presenting large complex data sets. Four other
independent reviews came to similar conclusions.
Claim: Petitioners say that errors in the IPCC Fourth
Assessment Report call the entire body of work into question.
Response: Of the alleged errors, EPA confirmed only two in
a 3,000 page report. The first pertains to the rate of Himalayan glacier
melt and second to the percentage of the Netherlands below sea level.
IPCC issued correction statements for both of these errors. The errors
have no bearing on Administrator Jackson’s decision. None of the errors
undermines the basic facts that the climate is changing in ways that
threaten our health and welfare.
Claim: Petitioners say that because certain studies were
not included in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC itself is
biased and cannot be trusted as a source of reliable information.
Response: These claims are incorrect. In fact, the studies
in question were included in the IPCC report, which provided a
comprehensive and balanced discussion of climate science.
Claim: Petitioners say that new scientific studies refute
evidence supporting the Endangerment Finding.
Response: Petitioners misinterpreted the results of these
studies. Contrary to their claims, many of the papers they submit as
evidence are consistent with EPA’s Finding. Other studies submitted by
the petitioners were based on unsound methodologies. Detailed discussion
of these issues may be found in volume one of the response to petition
documents, on EPA’s website.
Climate change is already happening, and human activity is a
contributor. The global warming trend over the past 100 years is
confirmed by three separate records of surface temperature, all of which
are confirmed by satellite data. Beyond this, evidence of climate change
is seen in melting ice in the Arctic, melting glaciers around the world,
increasing ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, shifting precipitation
patterns, and changing ecosystems and wildlife habitats.
“America’s Climate Choices,” a report from the National Academy
of Sciences and the most recent assessment of the full body of
scientific literature on climate change, along with the recently
released “State of the Climate” report from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration both fully support the conclusion
that climate change is real and poses significant risk to human and
natural systems. The consistency among these and previously issued
assessments only serves to strengthen EPA’s conclusion.
Information on EPA’s findings and the petitions:
http://epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment/petitions.html
More information on climate change:
http://epa.gov/climatechange
Review America’s Climate Choices report:
http://americasclimatechoices.org/
Review State of the Climate report:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100728_stateoftheclimate.html
Review information on Indicators of Climate Change:
http://epa.gov/climatechange/indicators.html
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