Wait, Now CO2 is a Myth, Too?

Photo by Rainforest Action Network, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainforestactionnetwork/4819337696/">via Flickr</a>.

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There are so many things to say about this interview in the New York Times today with Massey Energy CEO (and unabashed evildoer) Don Blankenship. The first is why he doesn’t have a PR person to tell him that getting photographed in a dark room just makes him look even more creepy. But I’m perhaps most struck by this part:

“Some people believe in CO2 so strongly it trumps every other thought that they’ve got, so we wouldn’t expect them to favor coal mining,” Mr. Blankenship said. “Some people believe that the country should be socialized so they are opposed to free enterprise. I mean, you have to have your own beliefs, your own core beliefs, your own strengths and do what you think is right. You can’t do what others believe is right, you have to do what you believe is right.”

Socialism fear-mongering aside … now Blankenship is skeptical of not just global warming, but carbon dioxide itself?! What’s he exhale then? I’ve always questioned his humanity (this is, after all, the guy ultimately responsible for the deaths of 29 miners in April, and who believes that mine safety regulations are “as silly as global warming”). Perhaps I’ve questioned for good reason.

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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