Deb Niemeier at UC Davis writes about this piece of legislation on the table in Montana.
HOUSE BILL NO. 549
2 INTRODUCED BY J. READ
3
4 A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT STATING MONTANA’S POSITION ON GLOBAL WARMING; AND
5 PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE.”
6
7 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
8
9 NEW SECTION. Section 1. Public policy concerning global warming.
(1) The legislature finds that
10 to ensure economic development in Montana and the appropriate management of Montana’s natural resources
11 it is necessary to adopt a public policy regarding global warming.
12 (2) The legislature finds:
13 (a) global warming is beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana;
14 (b) reasonable amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere have no verifiable impacts on
15 the environment; and
16 (c) global warming is a natural occurrence and human activity has not accelerated it.
17 (3) (a) For the purposes of this section, “global warming” relates to an increase in the average
18 temperature of the earth’s surface.
19 (b) It does not include a one-time, catastrophic release of carbon dioxide.
Seriously? You have to have legislation that protects climate change? Yeah, clearly we must protect climate change from the veritable breakneck, swirling, dizzying pace of US action on climate change. We’ve just been moving forward on that issue like a herd of comatose snails, and with that kind of rannygazoo going on, states like Montana have to stand up for their interests.
I suppose that they have been relying on sources such the “Watts Up With That” blog on Word Press that seems to be one of the most widely read. There is, of course, no scientific debate, just a bunch of corporations spending a fortune on misinformation just as the tobacco industry did.