Via a link to the group's online newsletter, Bluestem Prairie has learned that on March 27, the Rochester Tea Party Patriots will play host to two guests:
Our next meeting will be on Thursday, March 27. We will have two speakers. One on Energy and one on Climate Science. Kenric Scheevel, Government Affairs Representative from Dairyland Cooperative will speak on "America's energy policy- Becoming Visionary or Becoming Vulnerable?". Professor Emeritus Terry Flower of Saint Catherine University will speak on "Understanding Climate Change". Our energy costs will skyrocket because of increasing EPA regulations. Climate change is used to justify every thing from the kind of lightbulbs we can buy to car mileage requirements to property regulation. Both speakers have promised to tell it like it is. Each will answer questions after their presentations. This will be a good one. Rochester Eagles Club. Meet and Greet: 6:30PM. Open mic: 6:45. Meeting starts at 7:00.
According to an October 24, 2013 report in an energy cooperative industry publication, Dairyland hasa deep position in coal:
Dairyland’s current generation portfolio is 12 percent renewable energy resources and 88 percent fossil. The strategy of the co-op’s board and management is to diversify its energy resources, including continued growth of its renewable energy supply in the future.
The co-op, which provides power to member-owners in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, owns 1,030 MW of coal, 71 MW of natural gas/oil and 18 MW of hydro power. Dairyland has contracts for 47 MW of wind and 40 MW of biomass and smaller power purchase agreements for other renewables
Midwest Energy News reported in a 2012 article, Some co-ops seek a pass on Minnesota planning rules:
. . . A review of the public utilities commission docket for Dairyland’s most recent resource plan suggests a history of late, incomplete and messy reporting by the cooperative, as well as a hint of strained patience from regulatory staff. . . .
Schveevel served as a Minnesota State Senator from 1994 to 2002,when he retired to become the running mate for Republican acitvist Brian Sullivan's unsuccessful gubernatorial bid; he became a lobbyist for Dairyland in 2003. Prior to becoming a legislator and lobbyist, Scheevel was a farmer. According to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, his special interests were agriculture, education and economic development.
Terrence F. Flower--"Terry" Flower--is a signer of the "Climate Scientists Register" of the International Climate Science Coalition.
At DeSmog Blog, Brendan DeMelle reported in International Climate Science Coalition Lacks Credibility, Launches Heartland Institute Anti-Science Report:
The self-proclaimed experts at theInternational Climate Science Coalition have today launched another fanciful flight into the realm of climate denialism and United Nations conspiracy theories.
The ICSC, headed by Tom Harris, a former Canadian energy company public relations consultant, is trying to grab media attention with a new report written by the who's who of the climate denier conspiracy bunch. The report, Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science, is part of a series published by a Chicago-based front group for the oil and tobacco industries called the Heartland Institute.
I really hope mainstream media does not fall for their trickery again. After all, it is pretty well known by now that Fred Singer, the lead author on the International Climate Science Coalition's report, was an apologist for the tobacco industry long before he got into the business of denying the basic science of climate change. The other authors of the report, Bob Carter and Craig Idso, have equally shaky backgrounds when it comes to the science of climate change.
To give you an idea of just how shaky, look no further than Craig Idso. DeSmog discovered last year that Idso was getting paid a whopping $11,600 a month by the Heartland Institute - not exactly the most reputable source of information when it comes to a globally important issue like climate change.
Interestingly, the press release put out today by the ICSC makes no mention at all of the Heartland Institute's role in funding and publishing the report. Perhaps because of that nasty Unabomber billboard, even ICSC is afraid to be associated publicly with Heartland?This report goes so far as to actually make the absurd claim that, "CO2 is 'the gas of life'. The more CO2, the more life." Yes, and water is also vital to life until you find yourself drowning in it.
In an effort to dupe reporters into trusting these "climate experts," this anti-science outfit even named itself the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), mirroring the official science body, theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Other than that, Bluestem is sure that the evening will be nothing but rock solid infromation from independent experts.
Photo: Kenric Scheevel, from Minnesota Legislators Past and Present.
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Editor's Note: Perhaps because it's a well documented post.
Nor are the links cherry-picking information about this Heartland Institute darling's funding and misinformation.
See: http://www.skepticalscience.com/tom-harris-carleton-university-climate-misinformation-class.html
But other than that, everybody should totally believe everything Harris says.
Tom Harris's comment:
And why would you take anything DeSmog Blog takes without checking with their targets (namely us) to see if anything they say is true?
Posted by: Tom Harris | Mar 18, 2014 at 12:49 AM
Editor's note: This is the sort of sarcastic answer we expect from a denier who wants to make this personal, rather than about the documented posts we're citing or the Dark Money sources of his funding.
Original comment:
Yes, this is the sort of sarcastic answer I would expect from alarmists alarmed that nature is not doing what they forecast.
Posted by: TomHarrisICSC | Mar 18, 2014 at 11:19 AM