For Immediate Release
Burke, VA, August 14, 2014—One of the world’s leading experts on hurricanes wrote to Florida Governor Rick Scott August 3 to counter an environmental advocacy group’s demand for Florida to fight global warming.
Dr. Neil Frank was a household name and familiar face for Floridians while Director of the National Hurricane Center from 1978 through 1987. He then served as Chief Meteorologist at KHOU-TV Houston, TX, until his retirement in 2008.
“It has come to my attention that the Rev. Mitchell Hescox, President of the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN), strongly encouraged you to support the anthropogenic climate change movement (man-made global warming),” Frank told Governor Scott. He said Hescox implied that “Florida will experience more ‘extreme weather’” because of global warming.
“Just the opposite is happening,” Frank said. “Dr. Ryan Maue at Florida State University has shown that there has been a global reduction in the number of cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes, and in their accumulated energy, over the last 30 years. In Florida it has been 8 years since the last major hurricane. As you know, it has not always been that way. Rev. Hescox is probably not aware that Florida was hit by 6 major hurricanes from 1944–1950. It is difficult for me to visualize a more active hurricane period in the future.”
Frank then summarized evidence that carbon dioxide is not the main cause of recent or foreseeable global warming. Solar and ocean current cycles and their effects on cloud formation probably are the major cause.
Mentioning that there has been no global warming for about the last 16 years, Frank added, “Not one of the models accurately forecast” that. “This suggests the models have over emphasized the importance of carbon dioxide. If this proves to be true, the whole foundation of the man-made warming argument crumbles, and the burning of fossil fuels may not have the negative impact as advertised.”
“Over the past 15 years,” Frank said, “the U.S. has spent $150 billion on global warming, and this year’s budget calls for another $18 billion. … What do we have to show for this effort? … First, we now have numerical models that cannot accurately predict the future temperature of the earth for even 15 years, or even retrodict it for the past 30 years; and, second, we have numerous failed ‘green energy’ projects ….
“What if we had taken a portion of that money and applied it to the horrible living conditions in parts of Africa? Millions of lives would have been saved.”
Frank also challenged Hescox’s claim that fighting global warming is “pro-life.” “Nothing could be further from the truth. The ‘pro-life’ controversy is one of the most important moral challenges in the history of this great nation,” said Frank, himself a pro-life evangelical. “On the contrary, man-made global warming is based on a very controversial debate that has not been settled.”
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Media contact: Megan Toombs, Communications & Outreach Coordinator, Megan@CornwallAlliance.org, 423-500-3009
Featured Image Courtesy of Evgeni Dinev/Freedigitalphotos.net
