True colours

Ebell: candid best Radio 4 USA

American Republicans at their candid best. Perhaps the euphoria over George Bush's recent victory has something to do with this. Myron Bell, an advisor to the President on climate issues, recently told Radio 4 that claims about the climate being threatened are "ridiculous and alarmist. "The whole issue is based on a long series of improbabilities," argued Bell, a director of the Competitive Enterprises Institute (cei). The pronouncements are not surprising: cei has received 1.5 million dollars from Esso -- the world's biggest oil company -- since 1998. Esso funds front groups that spread doubt about climate science and advise Republican politicians on global warming. Ebell claimed that Britain's chief scientist, David King, "Knows nothing about climate science. He is an alarmist promoting ridiculous claims." (but see 'The UK has to live by its wits', Down To Earth, December 31, 2003). He said that the European countries were "not out to save the world on climate change, but out to get America."