Environment & Public Works

Found some interesting stuff at Senator James Inhofe's EPW Press Blog:

1) Global Warming Hysteria: There is an abundance of new peer-reviewed studies, analyses, and data error discoveries in the last several months that has prompted scientists to declare that fear of catastrophic man-made global warming "bites the dust" and the scientific underpinnings for alarm are "falling apart."

*Antarctic ice has GROWN to record levels,

*The Southern Hemisphere has COOLED

*Global averaged temperatures have not risen since 1998 and

*A survey of 538 peer-reviewed studies reveals that less than half of published scientists endorse man-made global warming theory and only 7% believe that man-made gases are a major cause of global warming.

*But despite all of these developments, the American people are soon going to be asked to pay thousands per family for so called "solutions" to warming.

RELATED LINKS:

New Peer-Reviewed Scientific Studies Chill Global Warming Fears

Scientists Counter Computer Model Sea Level Rise Fears

2) Law of the Sea Treaty: Senator Inhofe is also currently working to ensure that the United States does not make the grave mistake of hastily joining the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by ratifying the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). LOST would detrimentally impact the sovereignty of the United States by:

*Creating a governing body known as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) which regulates 70% of the Earth's surface, placing seabed mining, fishing rights and deep-sea oil-exploration under control of a global bureaucracy

*Granting the ISA the power to levy a global tax

*Possibly infringing on the War on Terror by interfering in the President's Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) combating the transfer of WMD's.

*We must have an open, honest, and thorough discussion on this treaty. This is not a treaty to be glossed over and rushed through - the implications are too far reaching and the consequences for our national security would be grave.

RELATED LINKS:

Statement of James M. Inhofe

Hearing: Full Committee "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea". (Tuesday, March 23, 2004)

EPW Full Committee "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea". (Tuesday, March 23, 2004)

3). WRDA: There is a critically important national infrastructure bill [the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 or WRDA (H.R. 1495)] that is long overdue and a model of fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, President George Bush is threatening to veto this bill, saying it contains "excessive spending".

*The WRDA bill is an authorization bill, not an appropriations bill, so it doesn't spend a dime of Federal money.

*The WRDA bill authorizes projects in the areas of navigation, flood damage reduction, hurricane and storm damage reduction and environmental restoration.

*If it fails now, there will be no restraints - no upper limit -- placed on Congressional spending for infrastructure.

*I will personally demand a 60 vote super majority before allowing any project to exceed its authorized level.

*The authorization process is the most significant part of the process that STOPS runaway spending and distinguishes between political earmarks and true needs. -

*As the most conservative member of the United States Senate, as ranked by the American Conservative Union, I have long argued that the two most important functions of the federal government are to provide for the national defense and to develop and improve public infrastructure.

*Again, this bill does not spend any money.

RELATED INFORMATION

Paul Weyrich: Senator Inhofe: Leader in Appropriations Accountability

INHOFE CONTINUES TO MAKE HIS CASE IN SUPPORT OF WRDA, DRAWS MORE PRAISE FROM OKLAHOMA NEWSPAPERS

You should really take some time to find out about this "LOST" treaty, or "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea." If you're up for some light reading, here's the full text; it's only a 202 page .pdf file. But in all seriousness, this thing has some issues. I'm hesitant to use the word "sovereignty" in regards to nations, because there is really only one Sovereign, but put in the limited perspective of nations, I kind of like how the U.S. is set up, and would like to keep it this way. I don't want the U.N. telling us that we can't stop boats in "our" waters to stop terrorism. And I don't really want the U.N. taxing me. They have no authority over me - they provide no rights or freedoms or protection for which it is right for me to owe them anything. From all I can tell, what they do best is corruption, paranoia propaganda, and America-hating. But that's just me.