Alerted that the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) had launched a campaign to pressure Florida Governor Rick Scott to take steps to combat global warming in order to protect Florida from extreme weather, calling it a “pro-life” issue, former National Hurricane Center Director Dr. Neil Frank, a pro-life evangelical himself, sent off  a highly critical letter of his own on August 3, a copy of which he sent to the Cornwall Alliance.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Frank said of EEN’s pro-life claim. “The ‘pro-life’ controversy is one of the most important moral challenges in the history of this great nation. On the contrary, man-made global warming is based on a very controversial debate that has not been settled. Unfortunately, the science of the debate has been high jacked by those seeking a political and profit advantage.”

Frank also contested the claim that global warming would subject Florida to more extreme weather.

“Granted Florida’s experience with extreme weather, [EEN President Mitchell Hescox] must mean hurricanes,” Frank said.

“Just the opposite is happening. 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.”

He went on to explain some of the weaknesses of the theory of dangerous, manmade global warming and some of the possible natural explanations, saying, “The science is far from being settled.” He also argued that money spent on global warming could do much more good if spent to alleviate poverty in the developing world.

Frank was NHC Director from 1978–1987 and then Chief Meteorologist for KHOU-TV, Houston, until his retirement in 2007, and has kept up on the controversies over global warming since then.

 

Click here to read Neil Frank’s complete letter.