Climate Change Deniers, like Oklahoma Senator Thomas Coburn, must be held liable for death & destruction!

Public Health physicians, Sara Gorman, Ph.D., MPH, and Jack M. Gorman, MD write in a recent edition of Psychology Today ( https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/denying-the-grave/201901/climate-change-denial)

“Even when the evidence about climate change is relayed in very clear terms…many people either don’t believe it or shrug it off.”

A recent favorite of climate change deniers is “record snowstorms are proof that global warming isn’t happening” but snowstorms require two things:

• moisture and
• freezing air temperatures.

Both of which occurred in dramatic fashion recently in the U.S. midwest.

NOAA Scientists explain “warming has made the atmosphere wetter and this leads to more extreme rain and snowfall in these storms.” Warmer ocean temperatures make the air aloft warmer and moister and that wetter air is then brought into the storm system, producing large amounts of snow.

At least eight deaths were linked to weather that broke Chicago’s record of minus 27 (minus 32 Celsius) set on Jan. 20, 1985. The deaths included an elderly Illinois man who was found several hours after he fell trying to get into his home and a University of Iowa student found behind an academic hall several hours before dawn. Elsewhere, a man was struck by a snowplow in the Chicago area, a young couple’s SUV struck another on a snowy road in northern Indiana and a Milwaukee man froze to death in a garage, authorities said.

Aside from the safety risks and the physical discomfort, the system’s icy grip also took a heavy toll on infrastructure, halting transportation, knocking out electricity and interrupting water service.

Amtrak canceled scores of trains to and from Chicago, one of the nation’s busiest rail hubs. It’s so cold in Chicago, crews had to set fire to commuter rail tracks to keep the trains moving smoothly.

During extreme winter weather, crews use the flames to prevent or repair steel tracks that contract when exposed to quick drops in temperatures. The cold can lead to cracks forming and rails separating, creating a risk of derailments. Heat causes the rails to expand again.

Public officials, like Congressmen and women have a duty of care, which they breach by negligently disregarding the testemony of NOAA scientists and denying climate change, and therefore those public officials are liable for injuries which give the public the right to bring lawsuits against them and all climate change deniers, like deep-pocketed energy company executives.