Joe Barton admits to keeping himself uninformed

The National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences said, in a new report, that the need to take action to counteract global warming was "pressing."

The reaction of Smokey Joe Barton?

“I see nothing substantive in this report that adds to the knowledge base necessary to make an informed decision about what steps — if any — should be taken to address climate change.”

As I said, per his own words, he admits to keeping himself uninformed.

That said, there is a silver lining of sorts in the report — it inches toward supporting a carbon tax instead of cap-and-trade:

The report outlined four areas that demanded immediate action by the federal government.

For starters, it emphasized that reducing carbon emissions was critical to keeping the United States from having to make dire choices in the future. While stopping just short of recommending a carbon tax, the committee did praise its efficacy.

“Analyses suggest that the best way to amplify and accelerate such efforts, and to minimize overall costs (for any given national emissions reduction target), is with a comprehensive, nationally uniform, increasing price on” carbon emissions enough to “drive major investments in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies,” the report said.

It also called on the federal government to play a much more active role in researching new technologies and in helping the nation adapt to the changes in the natural world that are already inevitable. Even with a reduction in carbon output, the report said, some climate change will continue to occur.

“The federal government,” the report said, “should immediately undertake the development of a national adaptation strategy and build durable institutions to implement that strategy and improve it over time.”

That said, we'll all be dead, or sweltering to death, before wingnuts like Barton come close to accepting a carbon tax.

And, whenever I read a story like this, I think of The (THE!) Dallas Morning News firing columnists Jim Frisinger and Timothy O'Leary over Smokey Joe Barton. And the Snooze did that, even if it continues to lie about it.