Climate Change-UPDATE

From 49 former NASA scientists and engineers:

These scientists and engineers are attempting to stop NASA from publicly claiming that man-made carbon dioxide is responsible for catastrophic climate change.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Blanquita Cullum 703-307-9510 bqview at mac.com

Joint letter to NASA Administrator blasts agency’s policy of ignoring empirical evidence

HOUSTON, TX – April 10, 2012.

49 former NASA scientists and astronauts sent a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden last week admonishing the agency for it’s role in advocating a high degree of certainty that man-made CO2 is a major cause of climate change while neglecting empirical evidence that calls the theory into question.

The group, which includes seven Apollo astronauts and two former directors of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, are dismayed over the failure of NASA, and specifically the Goddard Institute For Space Studies (GISS), to make an objective assessment of all available scientific data on climate change. They charge that NASA is relying too heavily on complex climate models that have proven scientifically inadequate in predicting climate only one or two decades in advance.

H. Leighton Steward, chairman of the non-profit Plants Need CO2, noted that many of the former NASA scientists harbored doubts about the significance of the C02-climate change theory and have concerns over NASA’s advocacy on the issue. While making presentations in late 2011 to many of the signatories of the letter, Steward realized that the NASA scientists should make their concerns known to NASA and the GISS.

“These American heroes – the astronauts that took to space and the scientists and engineers that put them there – are simply stating their concern over NASA’s extreme advocacy for an unproven theory,” said Leighton Steward. “There’s a concern that if it turns out that CO2 is not a major cause of climate change, NASA will have put the reputation of NASA, NASA’s current and former employees, and even the very reputation of science itself at risk of public ridicule and distrust.”

Select excerpts from the letter: 

• “The unbridled advocacy of CO2 being the major cause of climate change is unbecoming of NASA’s history of making an objective assessment of all available scientific data prior to making decisions or public statements.”
• “We believe the claims by NASA and GISS, that man-made carbon dioxide is having a catastrophic impact on global climate change are not substantiated.”
• “We request that NASA refrain from including unproven and unsupported remarks in its future releases and websites on this subject.”

The full text of the letter:

March 28, 2012

The Honorable Charles Bolden, Jr.
NASA Administrator
NASA Headquarters
Washington, D.C. 20546-0001

Dear Charlie,

We, the undersigned, respectfully request that NASA and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) refrain from including unproven remarks in public releases and websites. We believe the claims by NASA and GISS, that man-made carbon dioxide is having a catastrophic impact on global climate change are not substantiated, especially when considering thousands of years of empirical data. With hundreds of well-known climate scientists and tens of thousands of other scientists publicly declaring their disbelief in the catastrophic forecasts, coming particularly from the GISS leadership, it is clear that the science is NOT settled.

The unbridled advocacy of CO2 being the major cause of climate change is unbecoming of NASA’s history of making an objective assessment of all available scientific data prior to making decisions or public statements.

As former NASA employees, we feel that NASA’s advocacy of an extreme position, prior to a thorough study of the possible overwhelming impact of natural climate drivers is inappropriate. We request that NASA refrain from including unproven and unsupported remarks in its future releases and websites on this subject. At risk is damage to the exemplary reputation of NASA, NASA’s current or former scientists and employees, and even the reputation of science itself.

For additional information regarding the science behind our concern, we recommend that you contact Harrison Schmitt or Walter Cunningham, or others they can recommend to you.

Thank you for considering this request.

Sincerely,

(Attached signatures)

CC: Mr. John Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator for Science

CC: Ass Mr. Chris Scolese, Director, Goddard Space Flight Center

Ref: Letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, dated 3-26-12, regarding a request for NASA to refrain from making unsubstantiated claims that human produced CO2 is having a catastrophic impact on climate change.

/s/ Jack Barneburg, Jack – JSC, Space Shuttle Structures, Engineering Directorate, 34 years

/s/ Larry Bell – JSC, Mgr. Crew Systems Div., Engineering Directorate, 32 years

/s/ Dr. Donald Bogard – JSC, Principal Investigator, Science Directorate, 41 years

/s/ Jerry C. Bostick – JSC, Principal Investigator, Science Directorate, 23 years

/s/ Dr. Phillip K. Chapman – JSC, Scientist – astronaut, 5 years

/s/ Michael F. Collins, JSC, Chief, Flight Design and Dynamics Division, MOD, 41 years

/s/ Dr. Kenneth Cox – JSC, Chief Flight Dynamics Div., Engr. Directorate, 40 years

/s/ Walter Cunningham – JSC, Astronaut, Apollo 7, 8 years

/s/ Dr. Donald M. Curry – JSC, Mgr. Shuttle Leading Edge, Thermal Protection Sys., Engr. Dir., 44 years

/s/ Leroy Day – Hdq. Deputy Director, Space Shuttle Program, 19 years

/s/ Dr. Henry P. Decell, Jr. – JSC, Chief, Theory & Analysis Office, 5 years

/s/Charles F. Deiterich – JSC, Mgr., Flight Operations Integration, MOD, 30 years

/s/ Dr. Harold Doiron – JSC, Chairman, Shuttle Pogo Prevention Panel, 16 years

/s/ Charles Duke – JSC, Astronaut, Apollo 16, 10 years

/s/ Anita Gale

/s/ Grace Germany – JSC, Program Analyst, 35 years

/s/ Ed Gibson – JSC, Astronaut Skylab 4, 14 years

/s/ Richard Gordon – JSC, Astronaut, Gemini Xi, Apollo 12, 9 years

/s/ Gerald C. Griffin – JSC, Apollo Flight Director, and Director of Johnson Space Center, 22 years

/s/ Thomas M. Grubbs – JSC, Chief, Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Branch, 31 years

/s/ Thomas J. Harmon

/s/ David W. Heath – JSC, Reentry Specialist, MOD, 30 years

/s/ Miguel A. Hernandez, Jr. – JSC, Flight crew training and operations, 3 years

/s/ James R. Roundtree – JSC Branch Chief, 26 years

/s/ Enoch Jones – JSC, Mgr. SE&I, Shuttle Program Office, 26 years

/s/ Dr. Joseph Kerwin – JSC, Astronaut, Skylab 2, Director of Space and Life Sciences, 22 years

/s/ Jack Knight – JSC, Chief, Advanced Operations and Development Division, MOD, 40 years

/s/ Dr. Christopher C. Kraft – JSC, Apollo Flight Director and Director of Johnson Space Center, 24 years

/s/ Paul C. Kramer – JSC, Ass.t for Planning Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Div., Egr. Dir., 34 years

/s/ Alex (Skip) Larsen

/s/ Dr. Lubert Leger – JSC, Ass’t. Chief Materials Division, Engr. Directorate, 30 years

/s/ Dr. Humbolt C. Mandell – JSC, Mgr. Shuttle Program Control and Advance Programs, 40 years

/s/ Donald K. McCutchen – JSC, Project Engineer – Space Shuttle and ISS Program Offices, 33 years

/s/ Thomas L. (Tom) Moser – Hdq. Dep. Assoc. Admin. & Director, Space Station Program, 28 years

/s/ Dr. George Mueller – Hdq., Assoc. Adm., Office of Space Flight, 6 years

/s/ Tom Ohesorge

/s/ James Peacock – JSC, Apollo and Shuttle Program Office, 21 years

/s/ Richard McFarland – JSC, Mgr. Motion Simulators, 28 years

/s/ Joseph E. Rogers – JSC, Chief, Structures and Dynamics Branch, Engr. Directorate,40 years

/s/ Bernard J. Rosenbaum – JSC, Chief Engineer, Propulsion and Power Division, Engr. Dir., 48 years

/s/ Dr. Harrison (Jack) Schmitt – JSC, Astronaut Apollo 17, 10 years

/s/ Gerard C. Shows – JSC, Asst. Manager, Quality Assurance, 30 years

/s/ Kenneth Suit – JSC, Ass’t Mgr., Systems Integration, Space Shuttle, 37 years

/s/ Robert F. Thompson – JSC, Program Manager, Space Shuttle, 44 years/s/ Frank Van Renesselaer – Hdq., Mgr. Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters, 15 years

/s/ Dr. James Visentine – JSC Materials Branch, Engineering Directorate, 30 years

/s/ Manfred (Dutch) von Ehrenfried – JSC, Flight Controller; Mercury, Gemini & Apollo, MOD, 10 years

/s/ George Weisskopf – JSC, Avionics Systems Division, Engineering Dir., 40 years

/s/ Al Worden – JSC, Astronaut, Apollo 15, 9 years

/s/ Thomas (Tom) Wysmuller – JSC, Meteorologist, 5 years

Fracking.

Let's talk about petroleum, and natural gas fracturing (fracking).

Petroleum. Without it, the current world as we know it would be tossed upside down. Transportation of goods would cease. Your daily commute time would increase. Many of the products we enjoy would cease to exist. Let's face it, the rubber coating that is applied to the hull of submarines that allows them to more easily escape sonar detection and become stealth ships of war, would not be available. Who civilizations would be brought to their knees.

So powerful is petroleum, that without it, many of us would also cease to exist. Its impact on socio-cultural aspects of industrialized nations is often taken for granted, and often even marginalized.

Petroleum makes our world go 'round!

However! Petroleum extraction, processing, and refining is incredibly toxic to our environment. If you're not immediately inhaling it's byproducts, you're likely eating its contaminants through seafood, beef, pork, chicken, and even vegetables.
All the waste that is disposed of in our fresh-water lakes and streams can possibly contaminate not just you directly, but also the aqua-life such as fish, crawdads, plants, trees, and any animal or creature drinking from it. And just where do all streams and lakes flow? To the oceans no less! Infecting tuna, shrimp, halibut, crab, dolphins, wales, you name it!

I don't mean to sound paranoid, but I am intending to sound off an increasingly important alarm.

Hydraulic Fracturing/Petroleum

Hydraulic fracturing is quickly becoming a popular issue in the country as previously hidden information about the techniques, chemicals used, and actual environmental impact is assessed and published for open viewing to the public by universities and concerned citizen organizations.

Hydraulic fracturing is a method that uses sand-water mixtures that are forced into underground wells under pressure; the pressure splits the petroleum-bearing sandstone, thereby allowing the oil to move toward the wells more freely.

I recently wrote a paper about the current situation involving the extraction of oil from the Bakken formation, and the excess amount of waste involving natural gas that is burned off into the atmosphere by oil companies in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, and it's implications to the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases, and also from a business-ethics perspective and how the corporate social responsibility of oil companies is drastically, and incomprehensibly lax.
I will post my paper, along with its citations and related published articles and journals soon.

Here is a list and reduced glossary of some of the chemicals, processes, and terms used and involved in the hazardous waste produced from fossil fuels:

asphaltenes

The part precipitated by addition of a low-boiling paraffin solvent such as normal pentane and benzene-soluble fraction, derived from carbonaceous sources such as petroleum, coal, or oil shale.

boiler slag

A black granular material that is coarser than conventional fly ash.

BTEX

The BTEX chemicals (benzene, toluene, ethylben-zene, and xylenes) are volatile monoaromatic hydrocarbons that are commonly used in crude petroleum and petroleum products.

characteristic hazardous waste

Waste solids, liquids, or containerized gases that exhibit ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity characteristics.

coal bottom ash

The coarse, granular, incombustible byproduct that is collected from the bottom of furnaces that burn coal.

coal combustion by-products (CCBs)

Fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas emission that are produced when coal is burned.

drilling mud

Waste stream associated with drilling operations, including oil-based mud (OBM), synthetic-based mud (SBM), and water-based mud (WBM).

drilling wastes

Wastes that are associated with oil exploration and production (E&P).

exploration wastes

Wastes that are primarily related to drilling and well completion.

fly ash

The fine powder formed from the mineral matter in coal, consisting of the noncombustible matter in coal plus a small amount of carbon that remains from incomplete combustion.

flue gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum

Also known as scrubber gypsum; it is the by-product of an air pollution control system that removes sulfur from the flue gas in calcium-based scrubbing systems.

fossil fuels

The biomass that produces coal, gas, oil, and tar sands.

heavy crude

Crude oil that contains a relatively high portion of residuum.

listed hazardous wastes

Wastes from nonspecific sources and wastes from specific sources and discarded commercial chemicals.

methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE)

MTBE is a gasoline additive and is highly water soluble.

naphtha

The petroleum fraction ranging from low-boiling C₄ hydrocarbons to those boiling as high as approximately 220°C.

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Often referred to polynuclear aromatics (PNA); they are a class of very stable organic molecules composed of only carbon and hydrogen.

produced water

Water produced in association with crude oil.

proppants/frac sand wastes

Semisolid sludge consisting of aluminum silicate beads and formation sand.

residuum

The petroleum fraction boiling above 343°C.tank bottom wastes

Sediment that accumulates in the bottom of oil field vessels and pipelines when fluid turbulence is low.

waste oil

Oil arising as a waste product of the use of oils in a wide range of industrial and commercial activities.

workover and completion wastes

Wastes from operations in which an oil well's head is partially open to the atmosphere and is filled with a water-base fluid that maintains pressure on the formation to prevent blowout.

**************Here is a list of oil refining products, definitions, and processes: **************

alkylation

A process using sulfuric acid or hydrofluoric acid as a catalyst to combine light olefins and isobutane to produce a high-octane product known as alkylate.

°API gravity

A scale of liquid specific gravity (SG) that indicates the lightness or heaviness of hydrocarbons, defined by [(141.5/SG) -131.5].

catalytic cracking

A process for the breaking-up of heavier hydrocarbons into lighter hydrocarbon fractions by the use of heat and catalysts.

cetane number

A measure of ignition quality for kerosene, diesel, and heating oil, using a single-cylinder engine.

coking

A process for thermally converting and upgrading heavy residues into lighter products and by-product petroleum coke.

crude oil

A complex mixture of hydrocarbons containing low percentages of sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen compounds and trace quantities of many other elements.

deasphalting

A process for removing asphaltic materials from reduced crude, using liquid propane to dissolve nonasphaltic compounds.

hydrocracking

A process used to convert heavier feedstock into lower boiling point, higher value products. The process employs high pressure, high temperature, a catalyst, and hydrogen.

hydrodesulfurization

A catalytic process for the removal of sulfur compounds from hydrocarbons using hydrogen.

isomerization

A catalytic process for the conversion and skeletal rearrangement of straight-chain hydrocarbons into branched-chain molecules of higher octane number.

methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)

An ether added to gasoline to raise octane number and enhance combustion.

octane number

A measure of resistance to knocking of gasoline under laboratory conditions that simulate city driving conditions.

olefins

Unsaturated hydrocarbons, such as ethylene and propylene, that have a double carbon bond, with the molecular formula C_nH_2n.

paraffins

Saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons with the molecular formula C_nH_{2n + 2}.

reforming

A process for the transformation of naphtha into products with higher octane number. Reforming comprises isomerization, cracking, polymerization, and dehydrogenation.

visbreaking

A low-temperature cracking process used to reduce the viscosity or pour point of straight-run residues