The Senate Almost Votes to Join the Flat Earth Society

Today, 47 senators voted that the earth is flat.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, convinced Sen. Harry Reid that there should be a vote to "disallow" the Environmental Protection Agency's scientific finding that global warming represents a danger to human health. This scientific finding, supported by essentially all climate scientists other than those financially seduced by the dirty energy industry, is the key underpinning for any approach to addressing the global warming crisis.

Yet, 47 senators voted yes on the so-called Murkowski Amendment.

What kind of country elects 47 senators who deny basic science?

The Murkowski vote was an incredibly revealing vote. Not a single Republican senator -- including the supposedly pro-environment senators from Maine (Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe) voted to defend the science or the Environmental Protection Agency. This battle is far from over.

One of the senators voting yes was Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia, who now has agreement from Sen. Reid to allow a vote on his backup position -- that the EPA cannot act on this scientific finding for two years.

There should be no doubt that a vote to delay is just as much a defeat for the environment as a vote to disallow the scientific finding. Two more years of the status quo is two more years of accelerating warming and two more years for the dirty energy industries to try to elect more members of Congress and a new president who might not veto such legislation.

Sen. Rockefeller's proposal could come to a vote quickly. It will be far more difficult to defeat.