Every time there is a major weather event – or not – expect to see a lot of reporting on the link between bad weather and climate change. Charlie Petit at the MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Tracker calls the coverage “a lot of blather” and asks Was Irene a global warming storm? (wrong question. Answer is yes but it’s still meaningless)

Among the stories he cites, a column from US News that uses Irene to report on a new report from conservative scientists who dispute the role of humans in climate change.

Here’s what Petite has to say about the column:

USNews – Paul Bedard: Scientists Slam Link Between Hurricanes and Global Warming ; Sheesh. One of the scientists is Fred Singer. He’s a fine fellow, did cracker jack work on weather satellites and on the potential for testing relativity with clocks on satellites even before there were satellites, but he is a godfather of climate change skepticism, ozone hole skepticism, tobacco and cancer skepticism…Then Bedard mentions the Heartland Institute. Double Sheesh.

The Heartland Institute report in question concludes that Global warming may be good for human health and warns against “powerful interest groups that knowingly or unknowingly exaggerate the human role in climate. Some of these groups have financial stakes in maintaining climate alarmism—they include investors in ―renewable energy‖ (solar and wind), producers of biofuels such as ethanol, financial houses and analysts, and of course environmental advocacy groups.”