Babbitt and climate change

On a July 21 National Public Radio program, Interior Sec. Bruce Babbitt said oil and coal companies in the U.S. have "joined in a conspiracy to hire pseudo-scientists to deny the facts and then begin raising political arguments that are essentially fraudulent that we can't do this without damaging the American economy." By "this" he apparently means entering a treaty, to be discussed in Kyoto, Japan, next December, to limit carbon emissions.

Companies 'un-American'

Babbitt calls warnings about economic effects "the same kind of arguments they used against acid rain...the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act." Then this: "The energy companies need to be called to account because what they're doing is un-American in the most basic sense. They're compromising our future by misrepresenting the facts by suborning scientists onto their payrolls and misleading the American people."

With these comments, the Interior Secretary went beyond discourse. Words like "conspiracy," "fraudulent," "suborning," and "un-American" are not argumentative. They're accusatory. Babbitt seems to want to quash, not answer, dissent. He is seriously out of line.

Nothing forces Babbitt to like opinions that differ from his. As a public servant, however, he has the responsibility to tolerate, even welcome, conflicting points of view. Has he forgotten that he works for the taxpayers who populate those companies he branded as un-American?

Global warming is a complex subject. It requires careful analysis and thorough debate. Honest differences of opinion exist over what temperature data mean, what makes temperatures change, whether historic changes point to future problems, and what remedies may be in order if they do. Some people-including, apparently, Babbitt-think the world should suspend economic progress because, as he said on the radio program, "Climate change is under way. We have already changed the atmosphere through fossil fuel emissions." Other people do not see a compelling reason to restrict use of hydrocarbon energy. For Babbitt to dismiss them as "pseudo-scientists" and ignore their view is shameful.

The world does not need a U.S. cabinet officer to announce that climate change is under way. It has been under way since the planet formed. It is natural. So are contributions by humans and hydrocarbons to the process.

Many scientists now believe they can identify climate phenomena that result from human activity. This ability, not the phenomena themselves, is what is new. It is time, therefore, to apply the ability to remaining questions, including those about natural offsets to human influences and whether climate change amounts to any threat at all. And it is misleading for Babbitt or anyone else to imply that reasonable certainty exists yet about answers.

For U.S. oil companies, climate change is the most important issue of the day. Oil companies and energy consumers stand to lose much if their government hastily limits use of oil products in response to alarmist worst cases. They have the right and duty to raise questions that their government seems to overlook. They deserve to be taken seriously and treated respectfully.

Bad faith

Babbitt's branding the companies as un-American and accusing them of criminal behavior are arrogant acts of bad faith. The secretary has served notice that the Clinton administration will not tolerate dissent in a controversial and very important issue.

Clinton should dismiss him immediately for behavior inappropriate to an official of the U.S. government. And oil companies and their customers should interpret anything less severe as surrender of the administration's credibility on the subject of global warming.