The Salt Lake Tribune has the disheartening news:

Rep. Mike Noel, the Legislature’s chief climate-change skeptic, declared Thursday that global warming is a conspiracy to control world population.

The House Natural Resources Committee then approved a resolution that expresses the Utah Legislature’s belief that “climate alarmists’ carbon dioxide-related global warming hypothesis is unable to account for the current downturn in global temperatures.”

The resolution, sent to the House on a 10-1 vote, would urge the Environmental Protection Agency to drop plans to regulate the pollution blamed for climate change “until a full and independent investigation of the climate data conspiracy and global warming science can be substantiated.”

The resolution is a smorgasboard of anti-science rhetoric, coal-industry talking points and nonsensical fearmongering.  Here are some lowlights of the claims the resolution makes:

WHEREAS, global temperatures have been level and declining in some areas over the past 12 years

How could global temperatures have declined in some areas? Global temperatures are, by definition, an average of temperatures globally. Temperatures in one particular geographical location tell us absolutely nothing about global temperatures. Either way, the claim is false.

WHEREAS, emails and other communications between climate researchers around the globe, referred to as “Climategate,” indicate a well organized and ongoing effort to manipulate and incorporate “tricks” related to global temperature data in order to produce a global warming outcome;

I’m glad to see governmental bodies buying into ridiculous conspiracy theories.

WHEREAS, there has been a concerted effort by climate change alarmists to marginalize those in the scientific community who are skeptical of global warming by manipulating or pressuring peer-reviewed publications to keep contrary or competing scientific viewpoints and findings on global warming from being reviewed and published;

Imagine that. Scientists responsible for reviewing scientific papers don’t recommend the publication of anti-science and plainly inaccurate papers.

WHEREAS, the climate change “gravy train,” estimated at more than $7 billion annually in federal government grants, may have influenced the climate research focus and findings that have produced a “scientific consensus” at research institutions and universities;

There is far more money to be made in the climate denial industry than there is practicing legitimate climate science. The oil and coal industries pay top dollar to shills willing to lie to promote their agendas. This is extremely well documented.

There is plenty more insanity where those quotes came from. Here is the full resolution, as passed yesterday by the Utah House Natural Resources Committee:

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Update — This KSL TV in SLC has some good video footage of the committee debate.