General Inhofe and His War Against Global Warming

It's interviews like the one above that worry me about my penchant for watching Fox News. They are not always bad but when they are, wow, can they be rediculous. (It's more interesting than CNN though)

Inhofe has been a general in the Republican led war on science. His particular battle was with global warming and for the last 6 years or so, he has been winning the battle to do nothing about in the Senate. His strategy was to pretend it didn't exist and claim it to be a hoax as seen in the above clib. Forbes is reporting via the AP that with Barbara Boxer in charge, there's going to be a "sea change." Here is an excerpt:

In the interview, Boxer also promised to end Bush administration rollbacks on environmental rules if they are not supported by science.

"Any kind of weakening of environmental laws or secrecy or changes in the dead of night - it's over," Boxer said. "We're going to for once, finally, make this committee an environment committee, not an anti-environment committee. ... This is a sea change that is coming to this committee."

Her chairmanship will be an abrupt turnaround from Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., whose last hearing Wednesday as chairman will be devoted to his view that the news media have fanned alarmism about global warming. Inhofe, who calls global warming a hoax, blocked attempts in his committee to regulate carbon dioxide.

Boxer's first hearing next month also will be devoted to global warming, but from an opposite point of view from Inhofe's.

"This is a potential crisis of a magnitude we've never seen," she said Tuesday, explaining that her goal is to impose mandatory caps on carbon dioxide, a step vehemently opposed by Bush's top environmental advisers.

Whenever you see a politician seemingly be against common sense, you have to, as the say on The Wire, follow the money. As per usual, one of the reasons Inhofe is against global warming is because of the amount of campaign contributions he receives from the oil industry:

JAMES M. INHOFE (R-OK) Top Contributors 2001 - 2006

1 Murray Energy $22,800
2 Koch Industries $22,750
3 National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn $19,044
4 Cummins Inc $16,000
5 Associated Builders & Contractors $15,000
6 OGE Energy $14,500
7 AMR Corp $13,750
8 National Assn of Convenience Stores $13,000
9 United Defense $12,500
10 Cardiology of Tulsa $12,250
10 Reed Elsevier Inc $12,250
12 Arvest Bank Group $12,000
12 Boeing Co $12,000
12 CC Distributors $12,000
12 Union Pacific Corp $12,000
16 American Concrete Pavement Assn $11,417
17 National Rifle Assn $11,400
18 FedEx Corp $11,000
18 General Dynamics $11,000
18 National Beer Wholesalers Assn $11,000

The The top industries supporting James M. Inhofe since 1989 are:

1 Oil & Gas $850,623
2 Health Professionals $352,399
3 Retired $328,157
4 Insurance $290,116
5 Electric Utilities $282,063
6 Air Transport $264,604
7 Leadership PACs $207,353
8 Lawyers/Law Firms $206,648
9 Misc Finance $201,073
10 General Contractors $190,122
11 Automotive $186,850
12 Defense Aerospace $170,600
13 Commercial Banks $164,577
14 Lobbyists $160,405
15 Real Estate $134,416
16 Building Materials & Equipment $123,617
17 Business Services $117,295
18 Pro-Israel $112,650
19 Republican/Conservative $101,947
20 Accountants $100,200

I think it is plain to see that while Inhofe had any part in the global warming debate, things were not going to get better. He may have been instrumental in making things worse. While I'm not fan of Boxer on issues such as national security, here she has my full support and I wish her the best of luck in Inhofe's old position.