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Coin
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Today in the Capitol a very strange confrontation broke out between Rep. Joe Barton of Texas (the ranking Republican on the House Energy & Commerce Committee), and Energy Secretary Stephen Chu:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...n-i-stumped-nobel-prize-winning-scientist.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgKepHebKRc
A transcript :
(What the transcript doesn't show you is Chu laughing nervously the entire time, and Barton smiling like a cat about to pounce.)
Later in the day Barton posted the above video of the incident on Youtube, and bragged "I seemed to have baffled the Energy Sec with basic question -- Where does oil come from? Check out the video" on Twitter.
Aside from the worry that Barton does not seem to have understood the fairly reasonable 1-minute explanation Chu gave him (he still seems incredulous at the end of the video) what I am curious about is what Barton imagines the answer to his original question is. His suggestion about Alaska being "warmer" implies he had some specific answer in mind, but I'm not sure what.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...n-i-stumped-nobel-prize-winning-scientist.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgKepHebKRc
A transcript :
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 under the Arctic Ocean?
CHU: (Laughs.) 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?
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.
(What the transcript doesn't show you is Chu laughing nervously the entire time, and Barton smiling like a cat about to pounce.)
Later in the day Barton posted the above video of the incident on Youtube, and bragged "I seemed to have baffled the Energy Sec with basic question -- Where does oil come from? Check out the video" on Twitter.
Aside from the worry that Barton does not seem to have understood the fairly reasonable 1-minute explanation Chu gave him (he still seems incredulous at the end of the video) what I am curious about is what Barton imagines the answer to his original question is. His suggestion about Alaska being "warmer" implies he had some specific answer in mind, but I'm not sure what.