Date published: 2/26/2010

ACCORDING to a commission appointed by former Gov. Kaine, global warming threatens Virginians' health and property, and even the state's native fauna (e.g., crabs). According to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, global warming zealots threaten Virginia's economic development and job creation. What he may have in mind is the ice-cold reality of politicized science.

In December, the EPA declared that human activity has increased atmospheric greenhouse gases, posing a threat to humans that justifies federal imposition of caps on emissions from cars and other sources. This month, Mr. Cuccinelli asked the EPA to reconsider. He sharpened this stick by petitioning a federal appeals court in Washington to review the agency's finding. Joining him are officials from other states, including Alabama and Texas.

"The attorney general is wasting taxpayers' money on frivolous legislation," objects Glen Besa, head of the Virginia Sierra Club. "In effect, he's questioning climate change."

Is that so bad? Mr. Cuccinelli says that, given the East Anglia data-cooking and several climatologists' retreat from predictions of apocalypse, we should "[r]estart the process, and this time use rigorous, defensible science." Regarding climate change, there's more fog than activists on either side admit. As "The X-files" said, the truth is out there. It would be nice to have it before making draconian changes in the way we live.


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