04/22/2007

Commissioners slam global warming

Underwood ties 'unproven theory' to a socialist plot

By Brian McGillivary

bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com

Underwood

Thomas

Wheelock

TRAVERSE CITY — Grand Traverse County residents who celebrated Earth Day this weekend may want to reflect on the thoughts of three of their elected leaders.

County commissioners Addison "Sonny” Wheelock, Dick Thomas and Margaret Underwood all recently opined on the state of the environment and the concept of global warming.

Among them, the commissioners tied global warming to socialism, suggested sending an e-mail to the sun and pointed out that dinosaurs didn't drive expensive foreign cars.

"I believe the Sierra Club, along with Al Gore, President Carter and the United Nations are socialistic organizations that are trying to change the government of this country, and I am opposed to everything they support or try to (foist) on us to do,” Underwood said at a March 14 public meeting. "I cannot support this unproven theory of global warming.”

The commissioners shared their thoughts at a recent meeting of the county's physical resources committee, when they were asked to endorse a U.S. Conference of Mayors agreement that calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Thomas said he isn't sure there's such a thing as global warming, but if there is, no one's proven humans are at the root of the problem.

"I think it would be happening if there were no people on Earth,” Thomas said.

"They have recently discovered that the polar ice caps on Mars are shrinking,” Thomas continued. "So what would cause that on both the Earth and Mars, that would be the sun, so we should e-mail the sun and tell it to cool down a little bit.”

Thomas said the real greenhouse gas is methane, "and that has nothing to do with people.”

The Michigan Land Use Institute and Traverse Group of the Sierra Club's Mackinac Chapter asked Grand Traverse County to endorse the Mayors' greenhouse gas reduction agreement.

The City of Traverse City signed onto the agreement in January. It calls for local government to take 12 actions, including such things as increased recycling, purchasing energy-efficient appliances, reducing sprawl and promoting transportation options such as bike trails and public transit.

The request went before the county committee that includes Wheelock, Underwood and Thomas. County Administrator Dennis Aloia asked that the topic be referred to county employees to review costs and make a recommendation back to the board.

"We're already doing six of those 12 things ... and I know you all support a clean environment, which is everybody's goal,” Aloia said.

But Wheelock, who's also the county board chairman, said he doubts any human impact on global warming.

"We know that the Earth was covered with layers and layers of ice in the past and it all melted away,” Wheelock said. "I don't believe that dinosaurs driving around in Mercedes (are) what caused the problem.

"There are a lot of questions ... but the fact still remains we had global warming long before we had carbon fuels that we were utilizing on the planet,” he said.

Michigan Land Use Institute representative Caroline Kelly said it might be helpful if county commissioners took time to research global warming so they might make informed decisions. She referred them to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Web site at www.ipcc.ch.

"Global warming is real, people are the likely cause of it, and we should do what we can in our own communities to help address it,” she said.

Tom Karas of the Sierra Club's Mackinac Chapter said he was "pretty much appalled” by Underwood's comments but he appreciates her courage to speak her mind.

"I think it's important for voters to know how our elected officials are formulating their opinions,” he said. "Now the public has a right to decide if these are the people, or the mindset, they want representing them in local government,” he said.

Despite his misgivings on the Mayors' agreement, Thomas acknowledged that fuel efficiency saves money and he joined commissioners Herb Lemcool and Bruce Hooper to ask Aloia to research the request and make a recommendation to the committee at its May 9 meeting.