Sec. Chu Explains Plate Tectonics To Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/22/barton-oil-science/ In an Earth Day hearing, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu was forced to explain to Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) how oil is found in the Arctic. Chu and other administration officials are testifying today before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where Barton is the top Republican.

BARTON: Dr. Chu, I don't want to leave you out. You're our scientist. I have one simple question for you in the last six seconds. How did all the oil and gas get to Alaska and into the Arctic Ocean?

CHU: (Laughter.) This is a complicated story but oil and gas is the result of hundreds of millions of years of geology and in that time also the plates have moved around. And so, it's a combination of where the sources of the oil and gas ...

BARTON: Isn't it obvious that at one time it was a lot warmer in Alaska and on the North Pole? It wasn't a big pipeline that we've created from Texas and shipped it up there and put it under ground so we can now pump it up and ship it back?

CHU: No, there are continental plates that have been drifting around throughout the geological ages.

BARTON: So it just drifted up there.

CHU: Uh.... That's certainly what happened. It's a result of things like that.

WAXMAN: The gentleman's time has expired.

The driving force for Alaskas oil formation during the Triassic era 200 million years ago, according to University of Alaska geologist Mark Rivera, is plate tectonics, which is the unifying theory of geology.

Ironically for someone who has called climate science absolute nonsense, Barton was actually onto something. During the Triassic, the entire planet was indeed a hothouse and entirely deglaciated. The carbon dioxide (CO2) content in the atmosphere was at its highest ever levels, spiking from 1000 parts per million to 3000 ppm. The end of the Triassic period was marked by one of the largest mass-extinction events in Earths history.

Habitable conditions for humanity, hundreds of millions of years later, are very different. Carbon dioxide levels, which had been below 300 ppm for the last 650,000 years and was stable at 280 ppm during the rise of human civilization, have skyrocketed since 1800 because of our burning of coal, oil, and natural gas to 388 ppm, a nearly 40 percent rise.

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[kangsan2014]

Joe Barton is lacking in the common sense department. Duhhhh the tectonic plates move over time. How do you think oil and gas got up there so far north. Im sure he doesn't know what Pangea was or continental drift is. AAhhhh Jesus told God to put the oil there to use up all the resources on earth. That is why oil is found near Mount Sinai where it all began, I mean the oil.

[blackhossproductions]

SMIRKING CREATIONIST SENATOR THINKS HE PULLED ONE OVER ON NOBEL LAUREATE PHYSICIST: DETAILS AT 11

[pteechka1]

How is it that some one as phenomenally stupid as Joe Barton can get re elected? And under what scenario is it considered a good use of time to have such a person asking questions of the Energy Secretary?

[vince225566]

LOL how did this moron get into congress. Do americans try to find the stupidest person they can to elect into congress?

[eggmanwalrus]

My favourite bit is how he looks when Sec Chu explains that plates drift. "They just drifted up there!?" with an incredulous look on his face like Chu was an idiot

[squamish4244]

@skyfall33 No, the man really sounded like an idiot. Sorry.

[msromyilano]

Man!

[pcdsgh]

@blackhossproductions @kangsan2014

and his kind of awareness resulted in our continued prosperity all across the globe. we must thank them properly. I've never felt such a strong urge to do the chair prank.

[squamish4244]

@opszanski It's the Chewbacca defense!

[nafslee]

How could anyone explain that complex process in 60 seconds to, i'm guessing, a creationist? joe barton is a smug, arrogant fool.

[opszanski]

Oil came from dinosaurs. Oil is in Alaska. Therefore, in order for dinosaurs to be in Alaska, it had to be warm at some point for them to survive. Hence, the earth is going through a natural cycle of warm and cool and there is no 'global warming'.

See? All you have to do is follow the mind set of a child and suddenly all the Republicans make sense!

[irishrider1337]

wow! Look at that smug little douchebag grin that asshole has. Hey let's sabotage someone smarter than us with an extremely complex and somewhat vague question that can NOT be answered reasonably in 60 seconds. I don't give a fuck about the bickering about global warming and this or that on here. My statement revolves around DELIBERATELY asking such an involved question with a 60 second countdown. It is petty and childish.