At the end of December, Vermont’s homegrown climate change denier and spirit designate of Ethan Allen, John McClaughry had articles all over crowing happily about what he called the ‘Collapse of the Global Warming Scam.’ For evidence of the supposed fraud, he cited cherry-picked hacked IPCC (the UN’s Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change) emails and a British court ruling that the movie Inconvenient Truth needed corrections prior to being shown in schools.

McClaughry failed to explain the ruling thoroughly. In particular, the judge agreed with the main thrust of Mr. Gore’s arguments:

“That climate change is mainly attributable to man-made emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (‘greenhouse gases’).” The British judge’s ruling took the time to note three main points of agreement with the movie’s premise: that global temperatures are rising and are likely to continue to rise, that climate change will cause serious damage if left unchecked, and that it is entirely possible for governments and individuals to reduce its impacts.

About the “scam’s” demise McClaughry wrote:

“But its good news for the inhabitants of Planet Earth, who will now likely be spared a new world energy government promulgating economically destructive mandates, taxes and rationing on the world's struggling economy. Not a moment too soon.”

However the CIA must take it seriously as it turns out a program that allows

intelligence satellites to be used to monitor the polar ice caps has been restarted after it was mothballed by the Bush administration.  

C.I.A. Is Sharing Data With Climate Scientists

The nation’s top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government’s intelligence assets — including spy satellites and other classified sensors — to assess the hidden complexities of environmental change. They seek insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests.

“That will be very important economically and logistically,” said Norbert Untersteiner, a professor at the University of Washington who “specializes in polar ice and is a member of the team of spies and scientists behind the effort,” arguing that Arctic thaws will open new fisheries and sea lanes for shipping and spur the hunt for undersea oil and gas worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

McClaughry may have declared the ‘Collapse of the Global Warming Scam’ a moment too soon, or perhaps for him it’s just part of the same conspiracy in the making. He may take solace that at least one Senator is not supportive of the CIA’s effort. When the CIA set up a small unit to assess security implications of climate change, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said the agency should be fighting terrorists, "not spying on sea lions."