EPA chief can't answer question about Obama's global warming claims

In November 2012, President Barack Obama claimed that the global temperature is”increasing faster than was predicted even 10 years ago,” adding that further carbon emissions regulations were needed to combat climate change.

But Gina McCarthy, director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was unable to corroborate that claim yesterday when pressed by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) during a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing.

The exchange was tense. Sessions pointed to a chart showing that the global temperature had flatlined in recent years, despite predictions that it would rise to dramatic levels. A recent U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) draft report found that there had been a pause in warming over the last 15 years.

McCarthy said that she didn’t know what the context of President Obama’s claim, adding her belief that 2010 was the “warmest year on record.” That claim, however, is meaningless, which even noted climate alarmist James Hansen has admitted.

As Sessions continued to press her on President Obama’s claims, the EPA chief interrupted him, prompting the Alabama senator to ask, “Do I not have the right to ask the director of EPA a simple question that is relevant to the dispute that is before us?”

“Is the temperature around the globe increasing faster than was predicted, even 10 years ago?” Sessions prodded.

“I can’t answer that question,” McCarthy replied, claiming when pressed that it’s a “narrow statement in a very large wealthy of evidence and information.”

Sessions wasn’t impressed. “Do you not have the troposphere reports that even IPCC recognizes and do they not show that it’s increasing anything like what the predictions were?” he asked. “Can’t you answer that question?”

“Senator, I don’t dissect the information and provide it to you in a way that claims I’m a scientist,” McCarthy responded before being cut off by Sessions.

“You are asking us to impose billions of dollars of cost on this economy, and you won’t answer the simple question of whether [temperature around the globe is increasing faster than predicted] is an accurate statement or not?” the Alabama senator asked, rhetorically.

The EPA is currently pushing new climate regulations that would target coal-fired plants and, ostensibly, coal workers. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), whose state is dependent on the coal industry,  is planning to introduce a resolution of disapproval that would block the regulations from being implemented.

“Kentucky is facing a real crisis here. The Obama Administration appears to be sending signals that its latest regulation is just the beginning in a new, expanded front in its War on Coal,” said McConnell via a press statement on Thursday. “Already, the Administration’s regulations have played a significant role in causing coal jobs in my state to plummet.”

“These are good jobs that pay more than $1 billion in annual wages to my constituents,” he said. “And for every miner with a job, three more Kentuckians will hold a coal-dependent job too.”

“That’s why I – along with about 40 Republican cosponsors, including my friend and fellow Kentuckian Rand Paul – intend to file a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to ensure a vote to stop this devastating rule,” he added.

A simply majority is needed to pass a resolution of disapproval. With 45 Republicans senators in the chamber and several vulnerable, red state Democrats up for reelection in 2014, McConnell has a decent shot of blocking the proposed EPA regulations.