State of Virginia Reports on Global Warming; Patrick Michaels was on sabbatical

Virginia's State Advisory Board on Air Pollution released a report on greenhouse gases. Here is a Richmond Times-Dispatch front page story about it. What's fun is that famous anti-global warming critic, and University of Virginia Professor (though not "state climatologist"), Patrick Michaels "was on sabbatical and had no comment on the new report."

The report, my friend at the VA DEQ tells me, may be the first state-affiliated one in Virginia (other than academic papers from state universities) that discusses global warming and potential responses in any detail.

The newspaper article says this (beginning with the well-tread standard fare stuff):

Climate change could cause a rising sea that inundates coastal areas, and the warmth could contribute to severe droughts and storms that hurt farming, tourism and other industries, the report says.

The 90-page report is unusual in that it represents a consensus of 10 scientists, industry representatives and environmentalists.

The 10 were a study group of the State Advisory Board on Air Pollution, which released the report.

"While climate science is complex and uncertainties remain, the view of scientists in relevant disciplines is that human activity is warming the Earth beyond the bounds of natural variability," the report says.

This isn't novel commentary, of course. The noteworthy aspect is the source -- that it comes from a state governmental body. And a state that otherwise gets notice because of its Patrick Michaels-association or because of horrid comments by elected officials (like former Senator George Allen, he of 'Macaca' fame; or current US Representative Virgil Goode (he's actually my representative, sad to say), he of 'don't let Muslims into the House of Reps' fame; and state delegate Frank Hargrove, he of 'blacks should just "get over it" fame,' instead of the state legislature offering an official apology for slavery).

So, the fact that Patrick Michaels is on sabbatical isn't just a quick aside. It actually warrants attention because it indicates that the consensus of the state does not in fact follow from Michaels' industrial sponors.