Rhetoric and research clashed during a hearing Tuesday at the State Capitol called "Climate Change: Fact or Fiction?"
Georgia Tech scientist Robert Dickinson pointed to mounds of data showing acceleration in global warming.
"The present warming is consistent with greenhouse gases and there has been no other explanation that's at all close," he said.
But Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute said global warming was not that big of a deal and there was no reason to rush into policy making.
"I believe this issue is being driven by hysteria right now," he said.
Georgia lawmakers are not in a hurry to do anything. Rep. Jeff Lewis (R-White), who chairs the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee, says other states are moving too quickly to pass pollution-control legislation and could be jeopardizing their economies. He says Georgia will not do the same.
Georgia Tech scientist Robert Dickinson pointed to mounds of data showing acceleration in global warming.
"The present warming is consistent with greenhouse gases and there has been no other explanation that's at all close," he said.
But Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute said global warming was not that big of a deal and there was no reason to rush into policy making.
"I believe this issue is being driven by hysteria right now," he said.
Georgia lawmakers are not in a hurry to do anything. Rep. Jeff Lewis (R-White), who chairs the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee, says other states are moving too quickly to pass pollution-control legislation and could be jeopardizing their economies. He says Georgia will not do the same.
