Moments later Jax returned with two steaming mugs. “Anything flash through that beautiful, analytical head of yours?”
Max glanced up. “Look at your notations. All the photos were taken in different countries, and some of them many years ago based on how Mrs. Spark was dressed. But look at the letters that were written on the photos of France and Switzerland.” She gave him time to study the list, but then she couldn’t hold back any longer. “It’s so obvious!” she goaded.
Jax held up his hand, signaling her to let him have the honors. “I knew you’d get it! Of course, ‘CV’ refers to Claus Veunet. Obviously, the French scientist. And now we know that ‘LD’ has to be for Luca Doerfinger, the scientist from Switzerland.”
“Exactly! And the second number next to their initials is definitely the day they died. We know that Veunet was scheduled to testify a week after his death. That must be the first number. So most likely ‘AM’ is an Italian scientist and ‘JVB’ is a German scientist. According to the number next to ‘JVB,’ he or she is scheduled to testify before the committee on the thirteenth of October.”
“Which gives us only a few days to find our German,” he stated hesitantly, “hopefully, still living and breathing.”
Max’s mind suddenly veered off in a different direction.
Jax could not help but notice. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“How about another cup of coffee?”
Jax could tell she had more to say. “This better be good. I’ll be right back.”
Chapter 14
FRENETIC REASONING
Jax returned with two caffeine refills and eagerly asked, “Now, what gives in that head of yours?”
“Jax, all we know at this point is that Spark is dead for reasons unknown. Two scientists who were supposed to testify in front of his committee are also dead. It’s not a coincidence. And although we don’t know exactly what their testimony was about, it must have had something to do with climate change, since that was the main objective of the committee. So it got me thinking.”
“Okay, shoot. I’m all ears.”
“A few years ago, Noble and I worked a case. Remember Simon Hall?”
“Ooh, yeah, how could I forget? The notorious international terrorist who finally met his maker.”
“Right, but while we were chasing clues trying to prevent him from taking down the nation’s power grid, we discovered a whole cast of characters whose primary goal was to push for renewable energy. Ever heard of Agenda 21?”
“Wasn’t that a United Nations doctrine having to do with sustainable development? Presumably, it established the protocol to protect our natural resources for a growing population.”
“Simplistically, yes, but if you dig deep, you’ll find that it implements drastic actions to take control of the population’s use of the earth’s lands and oceans. Although some have said the phrase sustainable development implies totalitarian control eventually leading to depopulation in numerous countries as a means to preserve the sustainability of the world’s resources.”
“That was a mouthful,” Jax teased, but then, in a more serious tone, asked, “Are you inferring a systematic means to reduce the population?” He was having difficulty figuring out the connection to climate change.
“Their words—not mine. But at the head of the sustainable development parade was Gro Harlem Brundtland, the first woman prime minister of Norway, who published a report in 1987 titled Our Common Future. Around the same time a battle cry was sounded against global warming by Edmund de Rothschild at the 4th World Wilderness Congress when he stated that man-made carbon dioxide emissions, referred to as the greenhouse-gas effect, were the culprit for heating up the earth’s atmosphere. Both events provided the basic premise of Agenda 21.”
“Wasn’t Maurice Strong, a Canadian, credited with being the architect of the document?”
“Yes, and ironically he made his billions in oil before sustainability became his mantra. Up until his death a few years ago, he was a rather mysterious figure. Even though he was courted by heads of state around the world and was a recipient of multiple awards, he had been called everything derogatory from the ‘Father of America’s Destruction’ to ‘World Enemy Number One’ by critics who questioned his activities. Although his admirers commonly referred to him as the Godfather of the Environmental Movement.”
“I thought that was Al Gore’s self-endowed title.”
“He may have assumed the role after Strong’s death. But it’s interesting you should bring up his name. In fact, it was the partnership between Strong and Gore that catapulted their mission. It surfaced sometime around 1992, before the first UN Conference on Environment and Development took place in Brazil.”
“You’re referring to the Earth Summit?”
“Yes, Gore had been an intimate in the movement from the beginning and was instrumental in the political process for the US to endorse the Summit. In fact, he led the US delegation. It was at the Summit where Strong first introduced Agenda 21 and made the case that no nation can achieve sustainable development on its own. He emphasized that it required a global partnership to achieve its lofty goal.”
“How well was it received?”
“Extremely well, considering leaders from more than one hundred and seventy-eight countries attended the conference and signed the document adopting its tenets. President George H.W. Bush signed for the United States. Although it’s been reported that Bush was reluctant until the eleventh hour when the then-Senator Albert Gore, Junior, convinced him to attend. Coincidentally, it was the same year Gore published his book Earth in Balance, the precursor to his subsequent book An Inconvenient Truth. But his influence didn’t stop there. The following year, the newly appointed Vice President Gore provided the impetus for President Clinton’s Executive Order 12852, establishing the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, bypassing Congress.”
“Why did he have to bypass Congress? You said that Bush Senior participated in the signing ceremony at the Summit.”
“Agenda 21 is not a treaty and therefore is non-binding. However, Clinton’s Executive Order mirrors Agenda 21. You following?”
“Keep going.”
“Okay, now fast-forward to 2001. Are you familiar with the Chicago Climate Exchange, or CCX?”
“Vaguely, something about carbon trading in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases.”
“Correct. Companies that produce clean renewable energy, emitting fewer greenhouse gases or GHG, earn credits.”
“Meaning less human-made carbon dioxide, or CO2 emissions that are claimed to cause global warming?”
Max nodded her head yes. “But get this. These companies can then sell those same credits to other companies that produce too much GHG. Essentially, the polluters can buy their way out.”
“Isn’t that akin to selling your frequent flyer airline miles to infrequent travelers?”
“Cute, but the basis for cap and trade is to limit, or cap, the amount of emissions a company can produce. But it also allows for companies that need to emit more CO2 as a means of doing business to buy credits from companies that produce less than the approved caps. They created a tradable asset out of thin air.”
“This is fascinating, but I don’t see how it connects to the case. Where’s this leading?” Jax was still curious to see how she was going to make the link.
“Hang in. It will all start to make sense.” Max appeared convincing, although the wheels were still spinning in her head as she spoke. “The Joyce Foundation, a philanthropic group provided over a million dollars to fund a grant to improve the quality of life in the Great Lakes area, but the grant went astray from its original purpose and was diverted to a Dr. Richard Sandor, an economist at Northwestern University. The funds were used to determine the feasibility of a cap-and-trade market, which hardly improves life in the Great Lakes area.” Max eased back with a slight smirk. “Get this. A young senator from Chicago sat on the foundation’s board during that time.”
“That young senator didn’t happen to become a US president?” Jax did not expect an answer. He simply shook his head in disbelief.
“Back to Dr. Sandor. He was the one that founded CCX in 2003 when trading operations commenced.” Max paused to flash a grin. “But Sandor had a little help—from none other than Maurice Strong.”
“The Godfather!”
“Maurice Strong was one of the insiders who sat on the board of CCX and admits to being the one who helped Sandor set up the company from the beginning. CCX became a viable entity with over four hundred members, including major corporations, universities, and unions. Get this. It was predicted that the carbon trade market would reach ten trillion dollars.”
“If I’m getting it right, the success of CCX was heavily predicated on the passage of cap-and-trade legislation in Congress.”
“You’ve got it. But here’s where it gets really interesting.”
“As thought-provoking as this is,” Jax interjected, “I’m still waiting for the punch line.”
Max was beginning to enjoy the pace of the conversation, teasing Jax along the way. “We’re getting closer,” she snickered. “Now it’s 2004, the former Vice President Al Gore and former Goldman Sachs executive David Blood founded Generation Investment Management, or GIM, based in London. Both GIM and Goldman Sachs jumped on the bandwagon and became two of the largest investors in CCX.”
“I’m getting a little lost in the alphabet, but it’s clear that anyone who got into the game early would be rolling in dough?”
“For a while. But then the much-needed passage of the cap-and-trade legislation in the Senate stalled and caused CCX virtually to collapse.”
“Virtually—I don’t understand?”
“The carbon traders were confident that as soon as carbon trading was priced in the market it would soar. Finally, one metric ton of carbon was priced at seven dollars. But in 2008 the delay in passing the cap-and-trade legislation butted up against the housing market crisis. The price of carbon plummeted to ten cents.”
“I’m still confused to how CCX virtually collapsed.”
“These are smart guys who hedged their bets. They anticipated the possible fallout and with Dr. Sandor at the helm, the insiders created a series of companies and then established the parent company Climate Exchange PLC to operate all of these entities. They weren’t betting on any one company. They were betting on the Super Environmental Bowl, relying on kickbacks from the carbon trading.”
“Max, please cut to the chase.” Jax was eager to hear how it all came tumbling down.
“In 2010, the Climate Exchange PLC was sold for over six hundred and four million dollars, based on the currency rate at the time. Records showed that Sandor made ninety million dollars on the sale for his sixteen percent share. GIM and Goldman Sachs each owned ten percent. You do the math. And one more point while I’m on Gore. He’s also a partner for another venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, that invested one billion dollars in forty companies that benefited from cap and trade. He states that all his profits went to another group he founded, the Alliance for Climate Protection.”
“This is incredible.” Jax was clearly flabbergasted as the web of players spun in his mind.
“So now you understand what ginned up the global-warming debate? And why the continuous push for climate-change legislation?”
“Clever how the prior administration used linguistic hocuspocus switching from global warming to a natural phenomenon that cannot be challenged. But whatever term is used, this prominent public issue has turned into a cottage industry—unbelievable.”
“You were correct about those entering the game early.” Max agreed. “They did make billions of dollars, lining their own pockets. But they also adopted a holier-than-thou demeanor as they hid behind an emotional public issue to cash in.”
“’Money doesn’t talk; it swears,’” Jax noted.
“’It’s Alright, Ma,’” Max sang.
“Impressive! You know your Bob Dylan.”
“They were great lyrics and rather prophetic, but the recipients I mentioned are only a small percentage of the benefactors when you factor in a bloated bureaucracy of government employees, manufacturers, and questionable climate scientists who all rely on a global-warming crisis. Everyone was definitely drinking the same Kool-Aid.”
“Then if man-made global warming is disproved, cap and trade would go poof, and the cottage industry would be demolished.”
Max was pleased that Jax made the connection because she sensed they were honing in on a motive. “Precisely, and if man-made global warming is refuted, then sustainable development loses its luster. And right now trillions of dollars are invested in the ever-broadening green-energy push.”
“This is hardly a Walden Pond support group.” Jax chuckled, still astounded by the group of actors. “It’s evident that the global-warming debate has been on steroids since 1992, but the issue doesn’t appear to be melting anytime soon. What’s most acute is that all their success is predicated on creating a global-warming frenzy!”
“Very interesting!” The proverbial light bulb went on. “Jax, remember Veunet’s wife telling me that Claus worked for the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England for the Climate Research Unit just before he took a sabbatical?”
“So what? We already knew he was a scientist of sorts.”
“Yes, but his research was to study climate models and provide key information to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC is the geopolitical body under the umbrella of the United Nations.”
“That sounds familiar! Wasn’t their server hacked and emails released?”
“Yes, it was referred to as ‘Climategate.’ If I recall correctly, the accuracy of the Climate Research Unit models had been seriously challenged in their ability to predict global warming. It was around 2009 when the New York Times reported the hacking of the server at the university. Email exchanges between the CRU and the National Center for Atmospheric Research refuted a study the university had conducted recording the earth’s temperatures over the last two millennia.”
“I thought there was never any real resolution.”
“Some unsavory practices did spawn the controversy, specifically exposed in one of the emails from Phil Jones, the Director of the CRU, where he admitted to manipulating the numbers. It was an effort to reconcile the fact that recent temperatures were not warming but actually cooling. Let me go to my notes.” Max grabbed her smartphone and, after a few taps, said, “They did it by switching their global temperature datasets and created HadCRUT4 from the ashes of HadCRUT3. I don’t understand this jargon, but the methodology was exposed in a rather dry piece that found its way virally onto the Internet—I think it was called ‘The Problematic Transition to HadCRUT4 from HadCRUT3.’ It enabled continued claims of the warmest month ever by artificially elevating temperature records amidst the widely recognized atmospheric temperature flatline.”
“What possibly could be their motive?”
“It revealed itself further in the now infamous Columbus Day 2009 email exchange between Kevin Trenberth of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research and Michael ‘Hockey Stick’ Mann—give me a sec—here we go. Trenberth wrote, ‘The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t…Our observing system is inadequate.’”
“Who’s this guy Mann? And what’s the hockey-stick reference?”
“Michael Mann is Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University and probably the most influential mouthpiece for the IPCC. One of his claims to fame is plotting the flat temperatures for the last thousand years, along with the recent spikes in world temperatures on a graph. It created the shape of a hockey stick, hence the nickname. In the end, the Climategate scandal became limited to the emails but it triggered the nucleus of the global-warming debate. Finally, the computer-driven climate models as effective predictors of future temp
eratures were put into question.”
“So that would beg the question: what information would Claus have had that would interest the congressional committee?”
“The goal of the Committee on Climate Change Initiatives was established to monitor appropriation recommendations to the House for all climate-change projects. The real question is—why would someone be bumped off for their expected testimony? Unless, of course, the testimony was aimed to kill a bill or perhaps even an industry affecting billions of allocated dollars. You said they needed a frenzy! The climate studies from the University of East Anglia would have helped to bolster the IPCC’s claim of global warming—until they were proven false. I’d say that would have qualified.”
“You think Claus had the goods on them?”
“What if Claus was involved in the HadCRUT3-to-HadCRUT4 transition?”
“Aha! Now that would make sense.” Jax went silent, obviously letting the thought sink into his understanding.
Then Max threw the knockout punch. “If Claus was mixed up in this scandal, then Luca Doerfinger would have known. They’re both dead. Jax, we have to find ‘JVB’ and ‘AM’ soon.”
“Hold your horses! You’ve mentioned some pretty heavy hitters. Who else do you think is in the batter’s box?”
“Gore’s motives would have meshed nicely with the tenets of Agenda 21. He and his compadres’ continuous push for global warming only helped fuel the support for the sustainable-development mania. You have to agree they share common goals and effectively promote each other’s cause.” Max raised her eyebrows, suggesting that she had tapped into the elusive motive.
“Why this obsession with Gore? You don’t think he might be connected to this case?”
“Who knows? He doesn’t leave fingerprints. But he could very possibly be the bogeyman in the room, at least tangentially. Remember, Gore established his prominence in the global-warming market. And although he’s not a climate scientist, the fallout could be personally and financially devastating.”
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