Palmer: Obama's 'unconstitutional overreach' on climate agenda is not scientifically justified

(Video above: Rep. Gary Palmer questions Dr. Judith Curry during a committee hearing on climate change.)

WASHINGTON — Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL6) on Wednesday said he believes the Obama Administration has resorted to “unconstitutional executive overreach” to implement its global warming agenda in direct defiance of the people’s representatives in Congress.

During a committee hearing on the President’s commitment to the United Nations to drastically reduce carbon emissions, Rep. Palmer questioned Georgia Tech atmospheric sciences professor Dr. Judith Curry, who testified that the current models being used to develop policy are “running way too hot” compared to observed reality.

“Since 1998 global surface temperature has increased a tiny bit, and it’s not statistically significant given the uncertainties, where as climate models were predicting two-tenths of a degree per decade in the early years of the [21st] century,” Dr. Curry told Rep. Palmer. “There’s a large number of uncertainties in these climate models, and things we know we don’t have right.”

Palmer then asked Dr. Curry if the level of rhetoric out of the White House was unprecedented.

“There are some rather extreme statements coming from the White House that don’t seem to be justified, by even the basic evidence and the assessment reports from the [U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change],” Dr. Curry responded.

“We’ve gotten got in this really toxic mess where politics have become scientized and the science has become politicized,” Dr. Curry remarked. “It’s the job of a scientist to continually evaluate the evidence and reassess conclusions.”

The committee hearing was called to investigate whether The President’s UN Climate Pledge was scientifically justified.

The Obama Administration has pledged to the UN that the United States will curb carbon emissions by 28 percent over the next decade, and 80 percent or more by 2050. Opponents of the President’s plan say it will kill hundreds of thousands of jobs and provide no climate benefits.

Congress has repeatedly refused to give President Obama legislative assistance in implementing his sweeping climate policy agenda, even when Democrats had complete control of both the White House and both chambers of Congress in 2009. As a result, the Obama administration has resorted to imposing its global warming measures unilaterally through executive branch agencies, primarily the EPA, with little to no legislative oversight.

“The unilateral, arbitrary commitment by the Administration, if implemented, will have devastating effect on our economy, especially on lower income Americans,” Rep. Palmer said in a press release after the hearing. “The Administration has also relied upon unconstitutional executive overreach in efforts to attain this goal. Congress should consider every possible method of fighting back against this overreach to solve an uncertain problem.”