Inhofe Claims the 1930's Were Warmer, Goes Unchallenged



When we look at NASA's temperature records:



We can see his comment about the 1930's has nothing to do with reality. As far as his 15th century comment well this is from the National Academy of Sciences opening statement:

3. It can be said with a high level of confidence that global mean surface temperature was higher during the last few decades of the 20th century than during any comparable period during the preceding four centuries. This statement is justified by the consistency of the evidence from a wide variety of geographically diverse proxies.
4. Less confidence can be placed in large-scale surface temperature reconstructions for the period A.D. 900 to 1600. Presently available proxy evidence indicates that temperatures at many, but not all, individual locations were higher during the past 25 years than during any period of comparable length since A.D. 900. The uncertainties increase substantially backward in time through this period and are not yet fully quantified.

A lot of skeptics will focus on the "less confidence" part but obviously they are taking things out of context. Amazingly nobody on Fox challenged Inhofe's statements.

Soures:
Fox News
National Academy of Sciences, High Confidence in Surface Temp Reconstructions Since A.D. 1600

Shell: "the debate is over"


From the Washington Post:

Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., said in a recent speech at the National Press Club. "From Shell's point of view, the debate is over. When 98 percent of scientists agree, who is Shell to say, 'Let's debate the science'?"

And amazingly Exxon Mobil has finally begun the process of accepting the possibility that climate change might be real:

Exxon Mobil Corp., the highest-profile corporate skeptic about global warming, said in September that it was considering ending its funding of a think tank that has sought to cast doubts on climate change. And on Nov. 2, the company announced that it will contribute more than $1.25 million to a European Union study on how to store carbon dioxide in natural gas fields in the Norwegian North Sea, Algeria and Germany.

It's a small step, but better than the all out war they've previously funded. Is it good faith or just an inevitable result of the dethroning of the Exxon backed "climate change is a hoax" Senator Inhofe? Only time will tell.

Source:
Washington Post: Energy Firms Come to Terms With Climate Change Saturday, November 25, 2006; Page A01