Enschnared

Kate Shepard at Mom Jones tries to advance the David Schnare broke all sorts of ethics rules when he represented ATI against UVa story, but alas, not much new since we all enjoyed Eli's last bout of Schnarenfreude.  Greg Laden is a bit more straightforward with Kate's story, but blogger ethics panels are not as strict as editors.

Schnare worked not only for ATI, but for a period of time, he also workedfor the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In order for this to have been ethical and legal, Schnare would have had to seek and obtain permission from the EPA to carry on outside activities related to EPA work. Schnare claimed to have sought permission but the University of Virginia has argued that Schnare did not inform the EPA of this outside work until about nine months after first engaging in it. Schnare claims that the letter requesting permission was prepared on or near November 16th, 2010, but there is no record at the EPA that any such letter existed. The letter, which exists now, seems to have been prepared much later in time.

All of this raised significant concerns over the trustworthiness of of those representing ATI.

And yes, the Pope is also German.  News at 11.  However, Eli is an indirect bunny with a mischievous bent, or, as some would say, a bent bunny with an indirect way of looking at things and there is something ATInteresting on the horizon.  Spurred on by Steve Milloy, ATI has filed suit against the EPA for testing the effect of small aerosols (PM 2.5, refers to the size) on human subjects.

Based on epidemiological studies EPA knows that PM 2.5 (particulate matter of ~ 2.5 microns in size) causes a significant amount of death and illness in the general population but the biological mechanism is not clear.  Therefore, the agency has set up at least one study to investigate in human subjects.  This, as they say, is a big deal because the emissions come primarily from diesel engines and restricting them would require better and more expensive filters. Milloy, of course, is a shill for industry, and cutting off the human subject studies would make EPA rule making harder and subject to more of a challenge in court (It's an EPA rule bunnies, you think it will not end up in court?).

Since Schnare worked for the EPA on enforcing clean air standards, this also looks ethically interesting if anyone jumps on it.  Much more direct than the UVA case, because our David is suing the agency he worked for on things related to his work.

Take it from Eli, in the original filing David Schnare does the full shark jump with a double Godwin

I was named after David Steiner, a man who died of starvation in Buchenwald concentration camp on May 3, 1945. Tattooed on his body was the number 59059.  He was witness to horrors that, today, we have a hard time even contemplating, something that I thought would never exist on this planet again – the abhorrent practice of giving human subjects poisons in order to determine what subsequently happens to them.  I have always been deeply affected by the circumstances of my great-uncle’s death. It is a heavy burden to carry the name of such a victim. . . .

This case involves the intentional exposure of human subjects to “fine particulate” matter, also known as PM2.5. EPA obtained their PM2.5 from a diesel truck. It is difficult to overstate the atrocity of this research. EPA parked a truck’s exhaust pipe directly beneath an intake pipe on the side of a building. The exhaust was sucked into the pipe, mixed with some additional air and then piped directly into the lungs of the human subjects. EPA actually has pictures of this gas chamber, a clear plastic pipe stuck into the mouth of a subject, his lips sealing it to his face, diesel fumes inhaled straight into his lungs.

Eli, of course, is a bit cynical, so he went and found the IRB description of how the exposure was to be done, and, of course, it is very different.  If nothing else, puffing on the tailpipe gets you a whole lot of other pollution ranging from SOx to NOx to CO2, and so forth.  Not good for your health, but don't ride your bike behind the bus.  What actually happened was

CAP Exposures-Concentrated particles will be generated by drawing ambient air from above the roof of the Human Studies Facility and passing the air through a 2 stage aerosol concentrator which produces up to a 20-fold increase in particle number and mass. Particles larger than about 2.5 microns will be excluded by a size-selective inlet from entering the concentrator at the rooftop intake. During the particle concentrating process, ambient air pollution gases will be diluted by a factor of four. Air temperature and humidity will be monitored and maintained to ensure proper operation of the concentrator. An air conditioner in the chamber can be utilized to both heat or cool chamber air for subject comfort. The flow of air into the chamber will be 65 liters per minute, with approximately 15 liters per minute diverted for analytical instrumentation and filter devices attached upstream from the chamber. The remaining approximately 50 L/min will be provided to the subject through a face mask. Since the air will be pulled into the chamber by a suction blower connected downstream of the chamber, the chamber will be slightly below atmospheric pressure.

The concentration of particles delivered to the chamber will vary depending on the levels of naturally occurring particles in the Chapel Hill air. Although 24 hr averages seldom exceed 15-20 ug/m3, peak values in the summer can be as high as 50-60 ug/m3 with lower values during the rest of the year. A face mask is used to reduce the daily and seasonal variability of PM concentration. Our past experience provides a basis to expect the particle mass delivered to the mask will be up to 600 ug/m3. The particle burden, on a mass basis presented to the volunteer will not exceed an exposure an individual receives over a 24 hour period while visiting a typical urban center in America on a smoggy day. The particle mass of the outdoor air entering and exiting the aerosol concentrator will be monitored continuously. Filter samples will be obtained from the devices located upstream from the chamber and analyzed for both mass and chemical composition of particles. If it is confirmed that particulate mass levels exceed 600 ug/m3 for greater than 6 minutes, exposure will be terminated.

Now Eli could really fisk the whole filing, a questionable piece of special pleading, but that would be unfair.  In the IRB and the other filings by the government there is much about informed consent, monitoring of the paid volunteers,  and what you would expect for such a study, but doubt it not, the denialsphere is all over this.  Still, there was a problem

the party seeking such an injunction must make a “clear showing” that temporary equitable relief is necessary. Mazurek, 520 U.S. at 972. The movant therefore carries a heavy burden not only of demonstrating that “he is likely to prevail on the merits” but also that “he will suffer irreparable injury” without injunctive relief.

As, the government points out in its reply filed Oct 4,

Perhaps in recognition of this fatal flaw in Plaintiff’s motion for emergency relief, Dr.
Schnare filed a Supplemental Declaration (ECF No. 6) asserting that his knowledge of the studies authorized by EPA has caused him emotional distress.

Eli has never seen such a river of tears south of Climate Audit

10. Having learned of the unethical and immoral activities conducted at the Human Studies Facility, I can no longer visit the UNC-CH campus because it causes me emotional distress simply contemplating the activities going on so close to my former home and school. I suffer from more than merely the psychological consequence of EPA’s activities. Their activities deny me the opportunity to enjoy alumni activities on campus. The horror of illegal EPA human experimentation denies me the ability to reminisce while walking the campus, to revisit the chapel where I was married, to see the neighborhood where I raised my son. Because of this I feel marginalized and excluded from normal alumni activities. Because of ongoing EPA’s activities on the UNC-CH campus, I feel that going to the campus is like visiting a working death camp. The aesthetics of this once beautiful campus, the Old Well, the tree-line walks, these have been destroyed. They now look to me like no more than a Potemkin village behind which is hidden a gas chamber. EPA has destroyed the aesthetic of this campus for me and until UNC and EPA begin to comply with the laws of human experimentation, I cannot in good conscience or with spiritual and emotional freedom visit my former home. 

11. During my employment with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) I worked in the Ariel Rios building at 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., in Washington D.C. This building is an architecturally beautiful building. My wife and I have taken many pictures of the building, its graceful front and its spiral staircases. EPA’s Office of Compliance has used one of my photographs as a logo for various informal and internal publications. 

12. In the past I have taken people on tours within the building to see the stunning collection of WPA artworks, murals, which decorate the walls of each floor. I have routinely included showing the building to family and friends who visit from out of town. 

13. My work requires me to travel to Washington D.C. routinely and specifically in the Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th street area which is most closely served by the Federal Triangle metro stop. In that area I meet with attorneys and scientists whose offices are nearby. In addition, I have a standing invitation to participate in EPA’s seminars offered by the Office of Policy’s economic staff, and have routinely participated in those sessions – sessions held in and near the Ariel Rios building. 

14. Since I learned of the immoral and illegal human experimentation conducted by EPA, the building has completely lost it beauty. It has, for me, become a symbol of the power of government to trample the rights of its citizens by its failure to comply with laws it wrote for itself. When I travel to the District of Columbia, I can no longer use the Federal Triangle metro stop which sits directly below the Ariel Rios building because to do so causes me spiritual and emotional upset. I am too uncomfortable to attend the environmental economics seminars and have lost forever the opportunity to participate in those seminars or hear the interaction of those present, and continue to lose that opportunity for each succeeding seminar. EPA’s immoral and illegal human experimentation has caused me to change my conduct in adverse ways by forcing me to limit my use of opportunities that previously had been open to me.

A classic.  As Nick wonders in the comments "Will they let Schnare out of rehab,or just videolink,for this case? " It will be interesting to watch the rulings from the bench on this.

Watts up Doc?

UPDATE from on the road: Eli has been off planet for a week. Ms Rabett has taken control, but she is fluffing in the shower and we are in a place with wireless. Anyhow, brief looking about shows that Steve McIntyre has found a mistake in some of the GISS adjustments (actually Eli does not even know if the mistake was with the GISS or the USHCN bunches, as Climate Audit appears to be off the air because of a DRDOS attack, or at least that is what they say).

However, junior management wishes to point out that as we pointed out below, the issue was not the physical layout of the stations, Tony Watts' and Roger Pielke Sr. thing. After going through the metadata about Detroit Lakes, Eli concluded there was a problem, but the problem had to be in the adjustments. Eli, being the lazy Rabett, and ear deep in work at the time left it at that without looking into the matter. McIntyre found one, which from the comment slipstream appears to have been fairly trivial (sort of like Spencer and Christy's minus sign), but, as Tony pointed out and is quoted below)

But hey, they can "fix" the problem with math and adjustments to the temperature record.

They did.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Watt's surface station watchers have landed a whopper, Detroit Lakes, Mn, a rural station in western Minnesota (ID: 212142)


As he says

This picture, taken by www.surfacestations.org volunteer Don Kostuch is the Detroit Lakes, MN USHCN climate station of record. The Stevenson Screen is sinking into the swamp and the MMTS sensor is kept at a comfortable temperature thanks to the nearby A/C units.

According to Don Kostuch, the AC unit was moved from the roof of the building 5/99 and the chart from GISS (uncorrected USHCN data) shows ~ 4C jump about 1999

This has everyone (well isn't Climate Audit everyone) jumping up and down and has even made it over to Germany

Much speculation.
Knashing of Hansen
We codda done it better

Ah, but little bunnies, if we actually go and get the data from GISS or from CDIAC (sadly in F) we see that the jump

Year	GISS	CDIAC	Mo. Miss.
1990	3.92	39.71
1991	3.75	39.46	1
1992	999.9	38.81	7
1993	999.9	37.46	12
1994	999.9	38.94	6
1995	3.68	37.81
1996	1.59	34.94
1997	999.9	38.57	4
1998	6.4	43.52
1999	6.93	44.72
2000	7.58	42.73
2001	6.54	43.71
2002	5.7	40.71
2003	5.42	40.36
2004	5.52	40.21
2005	6.37	42.04

really comes in 1997/1998. The lab bunnies, who do RTFR also noted that there were a whole bunch of months missing in 1997 and earlier in the decade, (USHCN fills in even long stretches, GISS 999.99s them out) so they went to the historical record for Detroit Lakes and they saw that the station moved from one side of the lake to the other August 30, 2002. The satellite picture shows no building near the old site. Thus the jump happened two years before the station moved to its current location near the air conditioner.

UPDATE: Eli and the bunnies want to drive a stake into that air conditioner theory. Detroit Lakes is in rural western Minnesota. They do not run A/C during the winter. It is too cold for a heat pump. If there were any effect from the A/C it would raise the temperature during the summer. Let us look at the difference between the summer (J-J-A) and the winter (D-J-F). Listening to the ranting anonymice there should be a jump when the A/C was installed (1999)

Guess not.

Well what about that scuzzy Stevenson screen. August 11, 2006 the max/min thermometer was replaced by the MMTS sensor. Nothing under the screen, why pay any attention to it. One might speculate that when they put in the automatic MMTS they pushed it to the side and left it. The shelter has since gone through a Minnesota winter. Eli, a plush white Rabett, would look like that after one of those suckers.

So what DID happen in 97/98 according to the historical record?

Two things. On January 1, 1997 the station was moved to another management section and it looks like the time of observation changed from 17:00 to 7:00 and on July 16 1998 the observer changed.

Looks like a lot of the new anonymice were wrong when they thought a photograph alone was important. Of course, we are depending on the station historical record available to everyone through the majic of the INTERTUBES. Still, there does appear to be a problem here, IEHO associated with an imperfect homogeneity adjustment

Currently all data adjustments in the USHCN are based on the use of metadata. However station histories are often incomplete or changes that can cause a time series discontinuity, such as replacing a broken thermometer with one that is calibrated differently, are not routinely entered into station history files. Because of this we are developing another step in the processing that will apply a time series discontinuity adjustment scheme described in Peterson and Easterling (1994) and Easterling and Peterson (1995). This methodology does not use station histories and identifies discontinuities in a station's time series using a homogeneous reference series developed from surrounding stations.

Eli will let Tony Watts have the last word, because at least he got it right

But hey, they can "fix" the problem with math and adjustments to the temperature record.

No Exit

Jean Paul SarteSartre taught the bunnies that hell was the people you had to spend eternity with. He was wrong. Hell is Philadelphia International Airport with the USAIR grim reaper training class canceling flights to every destination. Terminal F being the lowest circle, we are now scheduled to board a bus somewhere in the wee hours that will circle the airport endlessly. Like poor Charlie, Eli may never return.

However, to keep you amused here is an interesting picture of a surface station, the one that Eli knew when he was a SarteSartre fan, walking the streets of the Village, being cool (well he tried) and all that.


Eli recalls walking into Central Park, near the Belvedere Castle to go see Joe Papp's Shakespeare in the Park productions and the huge change in temperature as one left Fifth Avenue, and how the weather station was located in a lovely, leafy grove. See you one air conditioner

UPDATE Those who must be obeyed pointed out that Eli had forfeited any claim to pseudo intellectual appearance by misspelling Sartre. Au contraire mon mice, this only nails the sucker to the wall. For pointing this out the anonymouse wins the hall of hell (Philadelphia International Airport) fun alarm. A 220 dB tooth extractor that used to hang over the baggage carousel that refused to spit up our stuff because it had been sitting out in the rain for four hours and didn't taste good. We've also relinked the picture so that all can see.

Climate Change in Our Times

In the previous post Eli noted the NBC News take on the NRC/RS Climate Change FAQ.  While short, copies of the report, printed or perhaps thumb drived would be a fine inclusion in some chocolate Easter eggs in the coming Spring, especially for those Thanksgiving uncles.

However, here, Eli would like to draw your focus to the obligatory Roger Pielke Jr. remark

"Ultimately, [it is] rather ho-hum, and pretty redundant to everything else that is out there," Roger Pielke Jr., a climate policy analyst and professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, told NBC News in an email.

This is truly amazing for many reasons.  First, John Roach, who wrote the piece, framed the quote beautifully, with a subhead

'Ho-hum' but necessary

 a lead in (emphasis added in bold)

Outside experts asked to comment on the report noted that it lacks new information, but neatly packages mainstream climate science for a general audience.  "Ultimately, [it is] rather ho-hum, and pretty redundant to everything else that is out there," Roger Pielke Jr., a climate policy analyst and professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, told NBC News in an email.

followed by the hammer

Ho-hummery aside, the National Academy of Sciences and Royal Society were compelled to make a statement, according to Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. "Sadly, in today's political environment, where climate change denial is pervasive at our highest levels of government, it seems that the message is not being heard," he told NBC News via email.

Roger, of course, is a policy analyst, something that Roach was careful to point out.  Is it not curious Ethon points out that Roger is not aware of the fact that the ho hommery does not appear to have penetrated some policy making skulls?  This, of course is part of his game.

Roger Jr. and Dan Kahan and their ilk have always pushed the idea that well everyone knows that the IPCC has it right, but so what, the people who count will never agree to taking action so dig your survival shelter and wait out the coming, either that or buy air conditioner futures and move to the mountains.   It actually works if, as Richard Alley says, the policy maker listens to the discussion between the guy on the blue side and the guy on the green side which is "certainly not both sides. If you want both sides, we would have to have somebody in here screaming a conniption fit on the red end, because you are hearing a very optimistic side."

But times they are a changing.  The somebunnies shouting bloody murder are sick of being triangulated and the green side has realized that things are much worse than they thought and too are starting to scream bloody murder, perhaps not as loud as necessary, but much louder and the journos are also listening and catching on.

Maybe not, but maybe things end better this time

Cool station of today . . .

Alma MI, with the Stevenson Screen right next to a large bush and a tree to the south to provide shade


The report describes this as an urban back yard shaded in the morning and late afternoon. Wanna bet that is an Urban Cooling Effect.

As Eli said for every air conditioner there is a tree, for every piece of blacktop a bush.

Somewhat boring but let's keep the guys over at Climate Audit amused.

Although the bunnies are always looking for better burrows, we disclaim responsibility for the large number of folk surfing surfacestations.org. However, we have the next real cool site from Anthony Watts' collection, and what is cooler than Berkeley?


Our cool station of the day.

An air conditioner or a shadow do not a trend make. We can find at least as many cooling flaws in the USHCN network than warming ones, yet the surface record trend agrees with trends in other series such as the corrected satellite MSU, the sea surface temperature and more. A major problem with all the jumping up and down is, as Eli has pointed out forevah, that it is not clear how the associated offsets will affect the multiyear trend. But there goes the baby with the bathwater

Oh yeah, take a look at what the Sparrow has wrought