Oklahoma Senator Cashing In On Big Business Interests

By James Donahue

September 29, 2006

A recent attack by Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe against a CNN News documentary depicting the growing threat of global warming appears to be part of a careful national effort by big business interests to suppress this vital information from public awareness.

Speaking on the floor of the Senate on Sept. 28, Inhofe spoke of the “myths surrounding global warming and how our national news media has embarrassed itself with a 100-year documented legacy of coverage on what turned out to be trendy climate science theories.”

The senator’s diatribe then zeroed in on CNN reporter Miles O’Brien who took issue with Inhofe’s global warming stance . . . which is that the whole thing is a hoax. Inhofe argues that natural variability rather than human influence is the real cause of climate change.

This man, who holds a key government position as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is out of step with the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the National Academy of Sciences, which have both emphasized the central role of human activities in causing global warming.

He is ignoring the growing evidence that includes a blanket of brown, noxious smog that literally covers the planet, the melting ice caps, the extreme weather shifts, the threat of a new ice age across the northern latitudes, and the fact that an overpopulated world is running out of food, water and natural resources to provide for everyone.

Not only this, but Inhofe is involved in a lawsuit seeking to suppress a groundbreaking scientific report on the looming effects of climate change that include biodiversity losses and threats to coastal areas due to rising sea levels.

Is Inhofe an idiot? No, he is simply on the payroll of big business interests. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Inhofe has received almost $300,000 in campaign donations from oil and gas interests and nearly $180,000 from electric utilities. During the 2002 election cycle, he received more oil and gas contributions than any other senator except John Cornyn of Texas.

If you are watching the environmental news, you are aware that there is a looming battle brewing in California over litigation involving automobile emissions. The state of California has sued six automobile manufacturers seeking billions of dollars for environmental damage. The suit claims the car makers have failed to clean up their emissions and work to build cars that run on cleaner alternative fuels. It zeros in on the automobile as one of the major causes of global warming.

This lawsuit has all the earmarks of a major environmental brawl that could have a far-reaching impact, not only on the automakers, but electric companies and industry all across the globe.

Inhofe is not babbling this stuff just to hear the sound of his voice. He is being well paid to spread the propaganda that big business wants spread at this time.

What is troublesome about this is that we have an elected representative of the people of Oklahoma who is shirking his responsibilities. Instead of looking out for the best interests of his constituents, this man appears to be a mouthpiece for oil and gas interests, who are paying him well to spread misinformation. And they are doing it at a time when the public needs to be aware of the killer that looms just over the horizon.

The fate of mankind could hinge on the outcome of that California lawsuit.