OpEd on Cuccinelli

Kudos to Cuccinelli

The global-warming crowd is acting like members of a farcical religion, complete with a priesthood threatening planetary doom on those who refuse to render sacrifice. The sacrifice being demanded of Virginia is her economy, so I'm relieved that state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is asking the priesthood for a little hard science before he binds that offering to the altar ("Cuccinelli fights the EPA," Opinion, Feb. 22).

In December, the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a finding that global warming poses a threat to human life. In so doing, it opened the door to new regulations that could drop a staggering burden on Virginia's already limping economy.

The EPA based its finding on core data provided by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Not long after the EPA published its findings, "Climategate" broke, and we learned that the research undergirding global warming has long been doctored and scientific dissent silenced.

What's more, the IPCC itself admitted to a "very small number of errors." Among its mistakes: A pronouncement that the Himalayan glaciers will disappear by 2035 is off by about 300 years, and the fear of North African crop production being cut in half by 2020 has no basis in fact.

Mr. Cuccinelli - trained as an engineer as well as a lawyer - has filed a petition requesting that the EPA restart the regulatory process and conduct its own research rather than rely on the IPCC's tainted data. Rather than bashing Mr. Cuccinelli as regressive and anti-science, Virginians should give the attorney general credit for challenging the agency and demanding objective data.

After all, we've got time. The Himalayan glaciers aren't going anywhere for a while.

WILLIAM C. DEUTSCH
Chesterfield, Va.

(A Washington Times Op-Ed written by a friend.)