LG&E's Mill Creek power plant.
Some Kentucky politicians may choose to deny it but it's increasingly clear that global warming is real and that we are causing it largely though burning fossil fuel that results in greenhouse gases.
And power plants, including those that burn coal, are a key source.
It is "extremely likely" global warming is man-made, said the latest report by the U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, James Bruggers reported in Saturday's Courier-Journal.
"Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all components of the climate system. Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions," said a summary of the report.
The warming already is causing extreme weather including droughts, floods, severe storms and heat waves. And Kentucky has had its share, ranging from the 2008 "Hurricane Ike" winds that caused severe damage, tearing down trees and power lines, to the ice storms in 2009 that left hundreds of thousands without power in bitterly cold weather.
More recently, in March 2012, tornadoes tore through Kentucky and Southern Indiana, leveling homes and some entire communities, costing lives and causing millions of dollars in damages.
Yet the reaction of some Kentucky officials when it comes to climate change is to:
? Deny it.
That includes many who should know better, including state Rep. Jim Gooch, a Providence Democrat and the chairman of the House environmental committee, who persists in calling it "so-called climate change."
? Keep it out of the classroom.
Just last month, a legislative committee voted against new, more rigorous public school science standards in part because they include references to climate change. Fortunately, Gov. Steve Beshear overrode them and will implement the standards by executive order.
? Attack any proposal to limit power plant pollution as a "war on coal."
Kentucky's senior Sen. Mitch McConnell, leader of the Senate Republican minority, is leading that charge, recently blasting new federal regulations meant to reduce carbon emissions from new power plants as an attack on Kentucky's coal industry.
By contrast, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, a Democrat who represents Louisville's 3rd District, accepts the reality of climate change and says the new pollution standards will help reduce the devastating health, economic and environmental impact of climate change -"all of which we experience in Kentucky."
And Gov. Steve Beshear, who in his first term once told the federal Environmental Protection Agency to "get off our backs," has adopted a more moderate tone, Mr. Bruggers recently reported on his Watchdog Earth blog.
In a speech last month in Lexington, Gov. Beshear backed up his top energy and environmental official, Len Peters, who recently told a largely hostile group of state lawmakers that climate change is supported by "overwhelming evidence."
"I happen to agree with Secretary Peters that climate change is occurring and that humans actually are playing a role in it," Gov. Beshear said.
Gov. Beshear correctly pointed out "Kentucky can't hide" from the inevitable regulation meant to reduce greenhouse gases and that the state's best option is to get involved in the process in a way that "allows our state not only to survive but also thrive."
Denial might help some politicians win the next election, but it's not a good policy for ensuring a a viable, healthy future for our state and nation.
They are doing constituents no favors by continuing to mislead them about the realities of global warming.
All Kentucky officials, at the state and federal level, must accept the reality of climate change and start dealing with it.