Utah House of Representatives passes bill citing climate change "conspiracy"

The extent to which scepticism over climate science is affecting US politics was underlined last week, when the Utah House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for the EPA to reverse a recent endangerment finding on carbon dioxide, citing a "conspiracy" by climate scientists to exaggerate the effects of global warming.

The legislation highlights the recent release of emails between scientists from a hacked server at the University of East Anglia as evidence of an " organised and ongoing effort" to misrepresent the facts surrounding climate change.

The partisan Republican resolution, submitted by Utah state Representative Kerry Gibson and supported by state Senator Scott Jenkins, warns of an adverse effect on US businesses should the endangerment ruling pass.

"Emails and other communications between climate researchers around the globe, referred to as "climategate", indicate a well-organised and ongoing effort to manipulate global temperature data in order to produce a global warming outcome," the legislation states.

Closely mirroring the arguments put forward by climate sceptics, the so-called Climate Change Joint Resolution goes on to assert that "the "hockey stick" global warming assertion has been discredited and climate alarmists' carbon dioxide-related global warming hypothesis is unable to account for the current downturn in global temperatures."

"Global governance related to global warming and reduction of CO2 would ultimately lock billions of human beings into long-term poverty," it added.

The resolution comes just weeks after Representative Gibson declared a conflict of interest to the Utah House of Representatives, citing his dairy herder profession and his ownership of Gibson's Green Acres, a dairy farm in Utah with an estimated annual revenue of $340,000 (£217,000).

The dairy farming industry has been vocal in its opposition of carbon regulation. The Utah Cattlemen's Association and the National Milk Producers' Federation joined other agricultural companies as cosignatories on a 20 January letter to Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski, supporting her resolution of disapproval over the Environmental Protection Agency's endangerment finding on carbon dioxide.

The endangerment finding makes it necessary for the EPA to regulate carbon emissions across the US, which would have huge ramifications for the agricultural sector.

More than five per cent of Gibson's campaign contributions for the 2008 Utah election came from the agricultural sector, while more than eight per cent came from the energy and natural resources sector, with notable donors including Pacific Power, Chevron Corp and the Utah Petroleum Marketers and Retailers Association.

The Utah resolution is the latest in a series of attempts by Republican lawmakers to use supposed doubts over climate science to campaign against the administration's efforts to curb carbon emissions.

Last week, the family of renowned climate sceptic, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, used the current cold snap on the east coast of America to mock former vice president Al Gore's warnings over climate change, building an igloo on Capitol Hill with a sign reading "Al Gore's New Home".

Senator Inhofe himself emailed the New York Times stating that the cold weather reinforced doubts that global warming was "unequivocal".

The suggestions from Inhofe and other Republicans that the cold weather disproved the canon of climate science were swiftly rejected by scientists, not to mention talk show host Stephen Colbert, who mocked the logic employed by those who equate weather and climate, observing that "it is dark outside, we can only assume the sun has been destroyed."