CO2 Coalition Members

Jim Buell

PhD

I received my B.A. (Biology) from Occidental College in 1966, and my Ph.D. (Biology; comparative physiology / biochemistry) from the University of Oregon in 1973. I have focused on the biology and ecology of salmonid and other freshwater and estuarine fishes. I worked for a private consulting firm from 1974 to 1977, when I left to start my own environmental consulting business. I am now mostly retired and reside in Portland, Oregon.

Almost all my work has been in western North America: California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia and Alaska. Clients have included large and small projects in the private sector (ports/marinas, small hydro, energy facility siting, timber interests, mills, large pipelines, mines, agricultural interests, permitting, etc.); various state and federal (US and Canadian) agencies; environmental groups and private individuals. For a few years in the mid-‘80s I was heavily involved in Bonneville Power Administration's Fish and Wildlife Program (emphasis on large and small energy development mitigation projects and aquatic habitat rehabilitation and enhancement); between 1995 and 2003 about a third of my time involved the California "water wars" and several other projects in Northern California. Since the early '80s, however, most of my consulting work has been in Alaska, and has mostly involved large projects (mines, ports, mills, pipelines, etc.). As an environmental consultant, I have had extensive (and mostly cordial) interactions with the regulatory world; these have nearly always been constructive and oriented toward problem-solving rather than problem perpetuation.

Having specialized in anadromous fishes, I have long had an interest in climate systems and both shorter- and longer-term variations. When Al Gore first came out with his preposterous book, I immediately knew he had taken a wrong turn, and was engaged in a political, not a scientific campaign. Consequently, when climate hysteria became a very big business, I have found fellowship with the other side... this side.

Naturally, the subject of marine systems' interactions with atmospheric systems is of particular interest to me, including the carbonate cycle and some of the kinetics of carbonate equilibria, and how these factors tend to help explain "rates, routes and reservoirs" of CO2 flux. Paleoclimatology is also of great interest to me. I try to keep up with the technical nature of the "climate debate" to the best of my abilities, but I'm not a physicist, nor a trained meteorologist, so I leave the very technical aspects to those who excel in these areas.

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