Thursday, April 23, 2009

Texas Rep. Barton *Thinks* He Outsmarts Energy Sec. Steven Chu

ontd_political: ‘Perplexed’ By Science: Joe Barton Wonders the Origins of Oil in Alaska

Here's the transcript:

BARTON: Dr. Chu, I don’t want to leave you out. You’re our scientist. I have one simple question for you in the last six seconds. How did all the oil and gas get to Alaska and into the Arctic Ocean?

CHU: (Laughs.) This is a complicated story but oil and gas is the result of hundreds of millions of years of geology and in that time also the plates have moved around. And so, it’s a combination of where the sources of the oil and gas …

BARTON: Isn’t it obvious that at one time it was a lot warmer in Alaska and on the North Pole? It wasn’t a big pipeline that we’ve created from Texas and shipped it up there and put it under ground so we can now pump it up?

CHU: No, there are continental plates that have been drifting around throughout the geological ages.

BARTON: So it just drifted up there.

CHU: Uh…. That’s certainly what happened. It’s a result of things like that.

WAXMAN: The gentleman’s time has expired.


And here's the video at Barton's YouTube page.

From what I can gather, Barton's point is that global warming is false because it used to be warm in Alaska. Not sure if he's made the mental leap required to understand that if he uses that argument, it also means the Earth is millions and millions of years old.

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