Coal plant would neutralize our eco-efforts

MichaelO from Oak Park  

Posted: July 13th, 2012 7:33 AM

cont... Schmitt is also quoted as saying "I think the whole trend [environmental movement] really began with the fall of the Soviet Union. Because the great champion of the opponents of liberty, namely communism, had to find some other place to go and they basically went into the environmental movement."

MichaelO from Oak Park  

Posted: July 13th, 2012 7:32 AM

Ray, you're right. I regretted the tone of my comment soon after posting. However, you didn't really answer the questions. The conclusion of the letter by the former NASA employees directs the reader to more information by contacting Harrison Schmitt (a one term, republican senator) who once said that "[t]he CO2 scare is a red herring", that the "global warming scare is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision-making."

paul from oak park  

Posted: July 12th, 2012 9:57 PM

Hey! Anyone know where they are hiding our street sweeper?

Ray Simpson from Oak Park   Facebook Verified

Posted: July 12th, 2012 6:52 AM

Doug Burke - ever think about "REVELATIONS"?

Ray Simpson from Oak Park   Facebook Verified

Posted: July 11th, 2012 4:07 PM

O.K. Brian I will bite. The volume of water displaced would be equal to the volume of water resulting from the melted ice, so the level would stay the same. If you throw in the difference between the density of sea water and fresh water there might be a change but only a tiny difference. Where is this going?

Brian Slowiak from Oak Park  

Posted: July 11th, 2012 3:18 PM

Ray: The ice at the North Pole is all ready sitting in the water. If the ice melts, since the ice is sitting in the water would ocean levels rise or stay the same.

Doug Burke from Oak Park  

Posted: July 11th, 2012 2:57 PM

Jim Dickert is right. Around the world we are seeing exactly what climate scientists of the world, government-paid or not, have been predicting -- almost unanimously. Drought, big storms, rising sea level, heat waves, and more and more. With billions of dollars, the fossil fuel interests have bought a few scientists to deny it -- some of them the same individuals who used to say tobacco hadn't been proved harmful. Quinn must veto this disastrous plant!

Ray Simpson from Oak Park   Facebook Verified

Posted: July 11th, 2012 2:52 PM

Brian - what the hell are you talking about?

Ray Simpson from Oak Park   Facebook Verified

Posted: July 11th, 2012 2:49 PM

MichaelO - one more thing, I am not sure what I have said that is vitriolic and how is my opinion nonsense because it differs from yours. "Crack brained" is also an addition to the value of your contribution. Many, here, are trying to give this conversation some degree of fairness and you pipe in with name calling and might we say vitriol.

Brian Slowiak from Oak Park  

Posted: July 11th, 2012 2:48 PM

To Ray Simpson:I need your response. If all the ice at the North Pole melted,the sea levels would not increase at all because the ice at the North Pole is all ready in the water being displaced, and there is no land mass at the North Pole.Also, are drought conditions worsened because fresh water is being retained inside all the human bodies (90% water) for a longer period of time and not being returned to the system. For drought, figure in all water retention issues,canned soft drinks etc.

Ray Simpson from Oak Park   Facebook Verified

Posted: July 11th, 2012 2:40 PM

MichaelO - You might find the article about 49 astronauts and former NASA scientists who are at odds with their former agency interesting. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/11/nasa-global-warming-letter-astronauts_n_1418017.html I believe that I am arguing against the claim of settled science whereas a phenomenon is something that exists and can be scientifically explained. I question the actual existence.

MichaelO from Oak Park  

Posted: July 11th, 2012 1:50 PM

Mr. Simpson, global warming is a phenomenon not science settled or otherwise. Please provide sources to your vitriol. For example what "government funded scientists"? Who are the non-government scientists that subscribe to your nonsense? Are any of those crack brained enough to state for the record that solar flares are the cause of our "heat wave"?

Ray Simpson from Oak Park   Facebook Verified

Posted: July 11th, 2012 10:47 AM

FYI Gary works is still the US largest steel producing plant with an annual capacity of 7.5 million tons. Thats a lot of steel from a out of business facility. I understand that when quality is an issue domestic is mandated. High pressure refining vessels specify either Japanese or US steel - for good reason!

Bigger Picture from Oak Park  

Posted: July 11th, 2012 10:30 AM

Q, you are an example of the un-informed ignorance that Ray is talking about. With the exception of the US Steel South Works in Chicago, all the major steel mills along the lakeshore that were operating in the 70's - Inland, US Steel Gary, Bethlehem, LTV - are still operating, albeit mostly under different names and management. The reason you think they are out of business is because they have cleaned up their act to a great extent.

Bigger Picture from Oak Park  

Posted: July 11th, 2012 10:22 AM

I'm not a fan of this bill because it mandates utilities purchase and use the SNG. However it also mandates recovery and sequestration of 85% of CO2 released, which the moralizing handwringers always leave out. Natural gas is a fossil fuel and CO2 generator too, btw. And the only reason natural gas attractive right now is that fracking has allowed access to vast new domestic supplies. But it's good to see that the greens have flipflopped and now support fracking.

Ray Simpson from Oak park   Facebook Verified

Posted: July 11th, 2012 8:06 AM

Q - A reasonable view of the world and mans impact is far from thinking like a cave man. Pollution is not the same thing as global warming. No one in our country will argue in favor of dirty air and water, contrary to DNC talking points. Global warming, on the other hand, is far from settled science. Most of the belief in 'global warmings' credibility has been squandered by doctored data and just plain old fashioned lying.We see the exaggeration in the examples stated in this column. The government funded scientists who validate an agenda driven outcome are not being honest to their science nor to the tax payers who provide their income. I understand that our recent heat wave is the result of century high solar flare activity which is never influenced by anything that happens on our tiny blue marble. The science to prove global warming is just not there and independent evaluation seems to indicate that our impact on global temperature in miniscule.

Q from Oak Park  

Posted: July 11th, 2012 12:31 AM

Ray Simpson, those steel mills are out of business. China buys scrap from America, and they make steel, and a bunch of other products. Pollution is so bad in parts of the world that going out doors is something you do if you have to. You don't need to move back to caves, but you don't need to continue to think like a cave man.

Q from Oak Park  

Posted: July 11th, 2012 12:29 AM

John Butch Murtagh, I would have thought you would have been aware that China, and other countries that have taken over the production of products and pollution have no EPA, and that's great for the factories and the American Corporations who can have their products made cheaper without any interference and sell their crap to American's. There is Global Warming, that is without a doubt. What the cause of it? There are a lot of people who want to think the way they want.

John Butch Murtagh from Oak Park, Illinois   Facebook Verified

Posted: July 10th, 2012 11:10 PM

Not taking sides, but I think the news coverage of linkage of recent heat, storms, etc. is way over the top. You need a lot more scientific information than one report to really scare the hell out of most of us. Weather has lots of cycles and are only a long term predictor with decades of info.

Ray Simpson from Oak Park   Facebook Verified

Posted: July 10th, 2012 10:43 PM

You have neglected to report that "Most climate scientists" should read Most government funded scientist predict. . . . The independent scientific community has found an absence of any credible data supporting your opinion. The doomsday scenario you predict is just not supported by the facts. My late father was involved in the design and sales of nuclear containment vessels for power generating plants all over the world. The pro-nuclear voices were all engineers with a minimum of a MS and most were PHD's. Their vocal detractors were mostly philosophy undergraduates, housewives and other hand wringing liberal activists. It is hard to have a real conversation or investigation when the starting point is mandated to be the "China Syndrome" That same argument is playing out again over global warming. Science is far better at solving the technical problems you are anguishing about than your 'don't allow anything ' solution. We are responsible for the stewardship of the planet - we don't need to revert to living in caves. In my youth the south end of the lake was a yellow gray haze created by the steel mills. Those mills provided the steel that helped end WW2. In 40 years that pollution is all but gone and mother earth has healed the scar we created.