Rep. Emerson's bias causes health, environment to lose to big business


I'd like to heighten the awareness of your readers to the actions of our present 8th District representative that threatens the quality of life for all of us.

I'd like to start with her actions that have delayed or prevented actions that would lead to the prevention or reduction of negative effects of Global Warming and local climate change. You probably have never heard of the U.S. National Assessment, officially titled "Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change." This was a study done as a result of an act passed by Congress in 1990. The report was finished in 2000 and was prepared by bringing together the work of 20 university-based regional teams, five scientific advisory groups and a federal scientific advisory group. The National Assessment was lauded by the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's leading independent scientific advisory body. But our present 8th District representative called the National Assessment "a biased, gloom and doom piece of science fiction." She was also co-plaintiff in a lawsuit to try to suppress this scientific study accusing "the (Clinton) administration (of) rushing to release a junk science report in violation of current law to try to lend support to its flawed Kyoto Protocol negotiations."

The "current law" she referred to was the Data Quality Act, a rider, sponsored by Rep. [Jo Ann] Emerson, to an appropriations bill. (This act was based on work of Philip Morris; you remember those guys as denying smoking caused cancer.)

Data Quality sure sounds good, and it is, but the act is used to repress regulations that protect your health. The act allows "paralysis by analysis" to allow corporations to avoid regulations. So Emerson supports the efforts of corporations to make profits at the expense of our health and environment. Emerson's efforts have caused the case for global warming and climate change to be hidden and distorted. It has slowed the response of our citizens and organizations to reduce the impact of global warming and climate change to the benefit of large corporations. It is time to change our legislative climate. (See "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" Nov/Dec 2007 and "The Republican War on Science," by Chris Mooney.)