Federal funds for climate panel saved, for now

Science : Language banning US government contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been dropped from the compromise spending bill of 2011. The language had been included as a “policy rider” in the House of Representatives draft of the spending bill; the rider was first authored by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) as a standalone bill. Paul Sloca, a spokesperson for Luetkemeyer, says that the congressman intends to reintroduce the bill and may broaden it to bar the federal government from supporting any meetings aimed at negotiating a global treaty on climate change. A February press release from the congressman states that the IPCC “is an entity that is fraught with waste and fraud, and engaged in dubious science” and that his legislation would stop the government from spending "$13 million” on the IPCC. The US contribution to the IPCC last year was about $3 million, according to the Carnegie Institution of Washington.