In honor of Mooney and Nisbet, I'm going to talk more about framing.

Has anyone noticed that the global warming denialist Steven Milloy of junkscience has a new frame? It's pretty novel, now global warming isn't just a conspiracy of environmentalists but of big evil corporations.

In 1999, environmentalists were just about the only special-interest group clamoring for greenhouse gas regulation and such regulation - that is, straightforward, mandatory emissions reductions under the Clean Air Act - is what they wanted given that the Senate wasn't going to ratify Kyoto without the participation of China, India and other developing nations.

Since that time, however, the spectrum of special interests clamoring for global warming regulation has significantly expanded, most importantly to big businesses that are now driving the debate - in Congress and not at the EPA.

Through its legislative power, Congress can not only mandate emissions reductions, but more importantly, it can also dole out the global warming pork.

Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley want Congress to establish a so-called cap-and-trade system so that they can profit from the trading of greenhouse gas emissions permits.

Industrial giants such as Dupont and Alcoa want Congress to give them "carbon credits" - essentially free money - for greenhouse gas emissions reductions already undertaken. Solar and wind energy firms, as well as the ethanol lobby, want Congress to award them subsidies and tax breaks.

All the new climate piggies that want to gorge themselves at the public trough have crowded out the environmentalists, transforming the global warming issue from an ostensibly serious save-the-planet crusade into a financial orgy complete with taxpayer pinata.

Maybe he realized how stupid it sounded when he made environmentalists out to be some insanely powerful lobby. Considering they've been largely ignored for about 7 years now, it makes sense that he'd want to jump on a new big bad conspiracy to explain why legislation to control greenhouse emissions is gaining favor. It's the big bad corporations trying to steal money from the public trough by decreasing their emissions!

Nice conspiracy-mongering there Milloy. What a joke.

**Fixed**

Labels: global warming denialism, steven milloy