Scientists denounce emission-reducing bill

WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- Two U.S. scientists said Wednesday emissions-reducing legislation would not help stop global warming, citing natural variations as its primary cause.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are backing legislation to return greenhouse gas emissions to year-2000 levels by 2010, claiming the bill will help ease global warming and reduce pollutant levels.

The scientists said they question the scientific justification for the Climate Stewardship Act, attributing global warming trends to more natural causes, not greenhouse gas emissions.

"I really believe that the human component of global warming is very small compared to natural variations," George Taylor, a state climatologist for Oregon, said at a teleconference. "That's why McCain-Lieberman would have virtually no measurable effect on future temperatures."

Taylor was joined by Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama. Both said although the United States has undergone a 30-year warming trend, earlier records provide a different perspective.

"We see increases and decreases in temperature throughout the record, and we know that changes in sunlight are a very, very strong contributing factor," Taylor told United Press International, citing 1934 as the warmest U.S. year of the 20th century.