Black Carbon: Al Gore’s New Crusade

When climate evangelist Al Gore, climate skeptic James Inhofe, and even the National Review agree on something, you know something’s afoot. What’s afoot is soot, also known as “black carbon,” familiar to anybody that owned a diesel-powered car in the 1980s or has ever cleaned a fireplace. Black carbon has suddenly become the new, unaddressed cause behind global warming, melting ice caps, and sundry other ills. The former vice president, fresh off his testimony in Congress last week urging quicker action to limit emissions of carbon dioxide, this week railed against pernicious soot. It’s the reason the air in the Himalayas resembles Los Angeles, he said. For once, Mr. Gore is (slightly) behind the curve. The unlikeliest of bedfellows, Okalahoma Sen. Inhofe and Massachussets Sen. John Kerry, just introduced a bill to prod the Environmental Protection Agency into figuring out what to do about soot. Another bill in the House goes further, calling for “immediate” action to reduce soot emissions...WSJ