Politicians censor inconvenient global warming facts

Those climate scientists are such an inconvenient bunch. There they go, predicting how climate shifts will inevitably cause sea levels to rise, leading to coastal flooding across several U.S. states with grave human and economic implications, with no care at all about how this news affects people and their corporate overlords.

Well, thankfully, politicians are doing something about it. Not about global warming or its effects, that is – about those loudmouth scientists:

Like-minded legislators and state officials in Texas, Virginia and North Carolina — states with their own coastal vulnerabilities — have shown Florida just how to deal with such annoyances. They erase offending words and passages. They made it flat out illegal for state planners and zoning officials to refer to nettlesome scientific findings that might hurt coastal property values.

Last year the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which had commissioned a scientific study of Galveston Bay, excised references to rising sea levels. “You can debate climate warming, but sea level is going up; it’s measured globally, with satellites,” the study’s lead author, John Anderson of Rice University, told reporters. “For them to be so bold as to remove it — they actually omitted whole sentences that mentioned sea level rise.”

Now, one might ask: Why? Why go to such blatantly dishonest lengths to deny the actual science in favor of dwelling in a fantasy world? Well, as a government flack made it quite clear:

A spokesman shrugged off the criticism, noting that the commission had paid for the study (albeit with public funds): “We have the right to make sure it reflects our views.”

As always, I love it when they take all that annoying guesswork and presumption out of it and just flat out lay their ideologically motivated denialism on the table for all to see. “The science says we’re wrong, so fuck science.”

I wonder, though … shouldn’t a government outfit that commissions a study have some sort of a responsibility not to lie to the public whose own money was used to pay for it? Especially since, y’know, it’s about how their homes will eventually be destroyed by the very climate change lawmakers are trying so hard to pretend isn’t really happening.

(via @ClimateHotNews)

Edit (06/18/12 1:57 PM ET) – Rephrased “public when it’s their own money that was used” to “public whose own money was used” for clarity.

Tags: global warming • climate change • Climate Central • FAU Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions • Texas Commission on Environmental Quality • Texas • Virginia • North Carolina • Florida