The Republicans on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. According to them:
Some of the specific comments are hair-raising:
Considering that the earth's surface is about 70% ocean, that the depth of the oceans averages just over 12,000 feet (the deepest part is over 36,000 feet, or just shy of seven miles), the oceans could easily swallow all the land on earth. Of course, at that point rise in sea level becomes irrelevant.
However, back to Brooks' comments; sorry, but erosion has minimal impact on sea level. As noted above, there's a lot more ocean than land on this planet, and the rate of deposition of sediment is insignificant in relation to sea level.
There's more, including the committee accusing federal climate scientists of fraudulently manipulating climate data. Read the whole thing.
One can't help but wonder how much money Big Oil has pumped into their campaign chests.
The Earth is not warming. The White Cliffs of Dover are tumbling into the sea and causing sea levels to rise. Global warming is helping grow the Antarctic ice sheet.
Those are some of the skeptical assertions echoed by Republicans on the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee yesterday. The lawmakers at times embraced research that questions mainstream climate science during a hearing on how technology can be used to address global warming.
Some of the specific comments are hair-raising:
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) questioned Duffy on the factors that contribute to sea-level rise, pointing out that land subsidence plays a role, as well as human activity.
Brooks then said that erosion plays a significant role in sea-level rise, which is not an idea embraced by mainstream climate researchers. He said the California coastline and the White Cliffs of Dover tumble into the sea every year, and that contributes to sea-level rise. He also said that silt washing into the ocean from the world's major rivers, including the Mississippi, the Amazon and the Nile, is contributing to sea-level rise.
"Every time you have that soil or rock or whatever it is that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise, because now you have less space in those oceans, because the bottom is moving up," Brooks said.
Considering that the earth's surface is about 70% ocean, that the depth of the oceans averages just over 12,000 feet (the deepest part is over 36,000 feet, or just shy of seven miles), the oceans could easily swallow all the land on earth. Of course, at that point rise in sea level becomes irrelevant.
However, back to Brooks' comments; sorry, but erosion has minimal impact on sea level. As noted above, there's a lot more ocean than land on this planet, and the rate of deposition of sediment is insignificant in relation to sea level.
There's more, including the committee accusing federal climate scientists of fraudulently manipulating climate data. Read the whole thing.
One can't help but wonder how much money Big Oil has pumped into their campaign chests.
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