By Steve Borell

The issue of human-generated impacts on climate has been unfortunately politicized with responsible scientists arrayed on both sides of the issue. It is the view of many Alaskans, including the Alaska Miners Association, that precipitous, massive, expensive change in national policy to address an unsettled issue is unwise.

We urge our congressional delegation to oppose any climate change, greenhouse gas, carbon capture and sequestration, or carbon tax legislation until such time as the opposing views have been effectively vetted in the scientific community.

It has become apparent that there are several topics being addressed that are often mixed together. The primary issues can be divided into the following six categories/questions:

1. Is the warming that we have experienced outside the expected range of variability? Many scientists say, no, the variations are well within the expected range of variability. In fact, many scientists point out that the Earth has been in a cooling trend for nearly a decade. The winters of 2007-08 and 2008-09 provide examples that this cooling is continuing:

Around the world, recent temperatures have been lower than in many prior years with record snow fall. 2008 temperatures in the USA were below the 115-year average for most of the country.

The winter of 2007-08 had the most ice between Greenland and Canada in 15 years. In the Bering Sea the arctic ice pack was all the way to St. Lawrence Island much earlier than usual.

Syun Akasofu, founding director of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, makes a case that the temperature variations we have seen over the past decades are well within the range of variability that can be expected.

Scientists generally agree that the 20th century global temperature increase was 0.6 degrees Celsius. In 2007, measurements indicate world temperatures declined 0.7 degrees Celsius reversing the 20th century increase in a single year.

2. Are greenhouse gases a problem? Many scientists say no. Increased greenhouse gases may actually benefit agriculture and there is no indication that they pose a problem. The greatest contributor to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is the ocean, mostly in the form of water vapor. Scientists estimate that 95 percent of all greenhouse gases is water vapor. However, we are told by the environmental movement and the press that carbon dioxide, which makes up 3.6 percent of the greenhouse gases, is the major cause of global warming, warming that respected scientists contend is within the range of normal variability.

3. Is carbon dioxide (CO2) a problem? Many scientists say no. CO2 is a trace gas that comprises only 0.04 percent of all gases in the atmosphere.

4. Does CO2 play a significant role in determination of global temperature? As scientific inquiry produces a better understanding of what controls climate, the evidence points toward no. The temperature records available from ice core data shows the Earth has been through many dramatic warming and cooling (ice age) events over the last 500,000 years. These temperatures appear to correlate well with sun/earth interaction and not with CO2 levels. In fact, CO2 levels appear to lag temperature by up to several hundred years, making it impossible to conclude that CO2 levels are driving temperature. This indicates that rather than CO2 causing temperature change, the temperature change may be the cause for increasing CO2.

5. Is man-generated carbon dioxide a problem? Increasing evidence says no. Of the 186 billion tons of CO2 entering the atmosphere annually, only 3.2 percent is from human activity (90 billion tons comes from the ocean and another 90 billion tons from decaying plants and volcanoes). That means that man-generated CO2 makes up only 0.12 percent of all greenhouse gases.

6. Is cap and trade regulation the best way to reduce the generation of anthropogenic CO2? Increasing numbers of scientists and legislators are correctly questioning this approach. Such a program will be costly in terms of jobs and the economy in general.

What if the global warming adherents are wrong? What if we are really entering into a global cooling phase? The above arguments and data is contrary to the political goals of many environmental groups that seek to stop the use of coal. Their doomsday alarmist view has been generally accepted by the U.S. press. We have become aware of an excellent Web site, www.isthereglobalwarming.com, which presents an alternative view in a scientific and well-referenced manner, without the hype and rhetoric that often accompanies global warming debate. We encourage you to visit the site.

How the U.S. addresses climate change issues will have a huge impact on Alaska and on the economic future of the entire country. The cost of energy affects all aspects of our economy and the pocketbook of every American. High energy costs will make economic recovery more difficult, no matter what other steps are taken. The United States has sufficient coal to power our economy for hundreds of years and Alaska has a significant portion of that coal.

We urge you to oppose any changes in law or policy that does not first take a serious review of the science being presented that goes against the hype and rhetoric of the doomsday alarmists that appear determined to destroy the U.S. economy.

Steve Borell is executive director of the Alaska Miners Association.