Guest essay by Larry Hamlin

On June 23, 1988 the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing addressing the Greenhouse Effect and Global Climate Change.

Among the presenters at this hearing was Dr. James Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies who introduced his infamous and now debunked global surface temperature model results with future temperature projections under three different scenarios of CO2 emissions growth that grossly over exaggerated resulting projected global temperature increases.

Also testifying at the hearing was Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund who presented claims that included projections of future sea level rise acceleration that would occur in the coming decades.

Specifically Dr. Oppenheimer claimed that:

“This increase in global temperature causes a concomitant rise in global sea level as ocean water expands and land ice melts.”

“Global mean temperature will likely rise at about 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit…