I was floored that the Coeur d'Alene Press gave such a big space in the paper to Mr. Gressler in his "My Turn" for his rebuke of all us experts. I hope I get the same for my reply on his attack piece. I won't go into the other people he ridiculed - they can defend themselves. You, Mr. Gressler, seem to be the top expert. You apparently know everything about anything. Yet, I notice that you never put up any evidence, proof, or facts to support your positions. You just smear the opposition and character assassinate. This is rule one out of the liberal democratic playbook. You called us a bunch of tea party Republicans and government conspiracy believers. To take a page out of your book, I would speculate that you are a liberal MSNBC watcher that believes in all the slanted propaganda they put out, as well as CNN and the mainstream media. They don't even report real news that they don't like. But enough of this, I am not going to do a smear piece like you. I will answer you point by point, something you never have done in either of your articles.

Point one: You say to me "What part of can't breathe the air or drink the water don't you understand?" You first used the phrase can't breathe the air in your piece on climate change. Climate change theory is based on the increase of carbon in the air. Even if the world doubled the amount of carbon put out, we would not fall unconscious and die of asphyxiation. Carbon dioxide is part of the life cycle. Al Gore and his ilk said temps would rise year after year because of carbon dioxide. It did not happen so they had to change from global warming to climate change, which is more religion than science. Everything is due to climate change, hot or cold, floods or drought, etc. You never replied to any of Al Gore's wrong predictions. As far as other pollutants are concerned, the air is much cleaner now than in the 1970s. As far as "can't drink the water," your own beloved EPA just put out a report saying fracking does not cause any systemic widespread contamination of drinking water. You can't get any more liberal than the current EPA.

Point two: You reply "Obamacare = government conspiracy that will bankrupt the country and kill jobs." You said it was "fear mongering that never happened." What planet are you living on? Look at all the jobs that are now part-time because of Obamacare. Then there are the huge premium increases. Obamacare was front-loaded to keep premiums low in the beginning, which means they will continue to go up and up and up. Emergency room visits have increased since Obamacare came online, not decreased like they claimed they would. That is a fact that even this government can't refute - look it up. My wife had a crap medical plan with a high deductible and co-pay. That plan got scrapped. She now has an Obamacare standard plan with the same high deductible and co-pay, but it cost three times as much. So much for an improvement.

Point three: You stated "man-made climate change is real," specifying the drought and early fire season. Our own local climate guy, Cliff Harris, predicts colder and much more snow by 2020. I believe him and here is why. I grew up in northern Illinois. In the '70s and '80s we had bitter cold winters with a lot of snow. In the '90s and the 2000 decade we had milder winters with much less snow. You look at one year it was 60 degrees and rain on Christmas Eve. Now in the last five years it is back to bitter cold and lots of snow. Climate cycles take decades to play out. You can't look at 10 to 15 years and base a whole theory on that.

Finally, Mr. Gressler, I will match my knowledge of science (biology, physics, natural sciences, astronomy and weather) against yours any day of the week. Maybe this newspaper could set up town hall meetings or forums where ordinary citizens could debate issues and they could do a story on each and every one. I will sit across the table from you and debate point by point.

The question is, will you bring any real knowledge of the subject or just your opinion and vitriol? You say we offer no solutions, but I have not heard a single one from you. You rail against oil but do not give an alternative. Let me guess - wind and solar. Those two cannot stand on their own without huge government subsidies. The actual cost would be three to five times for the same kilowatt hour. Tell the poor and working class to pay that. If you say keep the subsidies, then realize that you are paying for that through your taxes. If wind and solar go from 3 percent which it is now to 100 percent, then you will pay a hell of a lot more.

Joe Gerards is a resident of Coeur d'Alene.