Mark Z. Jacobson Responds To EPA War On Science

Mark Z. Jacobson is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford and the director of its Atmosphere/Energy Program. He also has been a steadfast supporter of CleanTechnica for many years, having authored or contributed to dozens of articles and podcasts. What we like best about Mark is that when we reach out to him for guidance on an article, he always responds promptly with clear information that helps our readers understand the topic under discussion.

Recently, Lee Zeldin, the current president’s handpicked leader of the EPA, announced the agency would take decisive action to dismantle what he called the “climate change religion.” What particularly sticks in Zeldin’s craw is the determination by the EPA in 2009 that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health. Known as the Endangerment Finding, it became the basis for many of the EPA’s policies put in place thereafter. The Finding said:

“The Administrator finds that the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)—in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”

Zeldin claims that those who embrace that finding are acting with a form of religious zeal that clouds their judgement. But worst of all, it increases costs for business — especially fossil fuel companies — and that is anathema to the cadre of true believers who have hijacked the US government.

The Anti-Science Religion

All this weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth is hard to understand. When scientists discovered a link between asbestos and lung disease, the US took swift action to ban it. When scientists discovered a link between Freon and the hole in the ozone layer, the world quickly (well, fairly quickly) developed new products that were less destructive. But when scientists discovered that greenhouse gas pollution endangered human health, the response was to demonize the scientists and claim they were all part of a demonic cult committed to destroying civilization as we know it.

After our story about the EPA was published, I reached out to Mark Z. Jacobson for his reaction. True to form, he responded right away, not with the kind of pithy quote we typically get from press agents but with detailed information. As it turns out, he was directly involved in the process that lead to the endangerment finding in 2009 and also the granting of a waiver by the EPA that allowed California to set its own pollution limits to protect its citizens from harm.

Mark Z. Jacobson Responds

In written testimony to the EPA at a public hearing on May 18, 2009, Jacobson focused on several factors, primarily black carbon and carbon dioxide, both of which are byproducts created by the combustion of fossil fuels and other factors. Black carbon is sometimes known as soot, which all of us have seen pouring from the exhaust pipes of diesel-powered trucks. But most of it is made up of particles too small to be seen by the naked eye. That doesn’t make it any less deadly, however.

Fine particulate matter transfers directly into the blood stream in our lungs and gets circulates to every organ in our bodies. We don’t know about you, but we prefer not to suffer from cognitive decline, pulmonary disease, or cardiovascular impairment. Lee Zeldin is fine with all those things, however, because several million lungfuls of polluted air is a special gift from the fossil fuel industry that we should all be grateful for. Talk about your slavish adherence to ideology. Now that’s a religion! Here’s a helpful video that shows exactly what fine particulates do to our lungs.

According to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition:

“Black carbon, commonly known as soot, is a component of fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5). It is formed by incomplete combustion, for example of wood, waste and fossil fuels, a process which also creates carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds.

“Black carbon warms the atmosphere because it is very effective at absorbing light. It exacerbates warming of the air and surfaces in regions where it is concentrated, altering weather patterns and ecosystem cycles. It lasts only days to weeks in the atmosphere but has significant direct and indirect impacts on the climate, snow and ice, agriculture, and human health.”

Jacobson On Black Carbon

In his written testimony, Jacobson said, “Each gram of black carbon in the air warms the air over 300,000 times more than does a gram of CO2. Because eliminating black carbon  emissions almost immediately removes atmospheric black carbon whereas eliminating CO2 emissions removes atmospheric CO2 over only many decades, eliminating black carbon can immediately slow down the loss of Arctic ice, whereas eliminating GHG emissions can slow loss only over a longer period. However, both black carbon and GHG controls are needed.”

The latest policy initiative from Zelden and the EPA makes the absurd claim that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from power plants that burn fossil fuels “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or to climate change because they are a small and declining share of global emissions. Eliminating those emissions “would have no meaningful effect on public health and welfare,” it claimed. In an email to CleanTechnica, Jacobson had this response:

“It is well known and published in the literature that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted locally harm human health locally by increasing local temperatures and water vapor, both of which independently increase ozone in polluted air. Higher temperatures also increase wildfire prevalence and volatle organic carbon gas emissions, which both also increases air pollution.

“In particular, in cities, where many power plants are located, local domes of CO2 increase local temperatures and water vapor, increasing local ozone and air pollution deaths. This video summarizes the results of two studies, provided below describing the impacts of carbon dioxide on air pollution health.”

He also shared with us information about two peer reviewed studies. The first deals with the link between carbon dioxide and air pollution. The second addresses how local carbon dioxide creates local domes of CO2 over cities, which increase local air pollution. In other words, the effect of power plant emissions have a direct and measurable negative impact on human health in local communities.

Lee Zelden and his Know Nothing cabinet colleagues are the ones who are slavishly worshiping at the altar of fossil fuels. Perhaps in his world, an Isosceles triangle  has three equal sides and the mathematical calculations of Pythagoras are little more than an interesting theory. Perhaps the Sun really does revolve around the Earth, which actually is only 6,000 years old.

The Biggest Scam In Human History

Or maybe scientists like Mark Z. Jacobson really do know what they are doing and the biggest scam in human history is the one spread by the fossil fuel industry that using its products is perfectly safe and has had no adverse effects om the climate worth mentioning. But right now, as you are reading this, the people of Manitoba are fleeing from raging forest fires and those who used to live in Swiss village of Blatten have been permanently displaced after a glacier melted and obliterated their homes in an enormous mudslide.

Stuff and nonsense, roars Lee Zeldin. Fossil fuels are the one true religion and nothing must be allowed to diminish their impact on human society, even if it turns the Earth into a living hell. And speaking of hell, in The Inferno, Dante warns, “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”

Food for thought for those who think it is okay to stay on the sidelines and let party apparatchiks like Lee Zeldin destroy our hearts, our livers, and our lungs because of a slavish obedience to ideology.