Gov. Kulongoski is correct when he says that George Taylor's title of state climatologist is just shorthand for his actual title as Oregon State University's climatologist. But it would do no one a service if the public forms the view that Kulongoski's proposal of a new climate research service at OSU is an attempt to put Taylor in his place.

That impression was created when Kulongoski apparently was embarrassed that Taylor participated in a recent debate against the official Washington State climatologist, Phillip Mote. This gave Taylor the reflected impression that he, too, was speaking officially for the state of Oregon.

Taylor, who does not think that human activity caused global climate change, has long been at odds with many of the scientists at OSU's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences. Now Taylor also is at odds with the 2,500 scientists involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who also think burning of fossil fuels is what triggered the big changes in the Earth's climate.

And he is at odds with Kulongoski, who no doubt felt frustrated that while he wanted to announce official action related to global climate change much as Washington has done, he instead found himself having to respond to questions about the beliefs of "Oregon's climatologist."

Taylor, who heads the OSU Climate Service, maintains an excellent Web site on Oregon weather facts, past and present. Although a popular public speaker and a regular columnist for us on Sunday, he has not presented himself as Oregon's official spokesman on climate issues. He speaks for himself, mostly about weather data.

It would therefore be a shame if Taylor is somehow marginalized in the new research center, which we would welcome at OSU.

Taylor's exact job title has little to do with Oregon's need to form practical strategies to keep forests growing and water flowing.

It no longer matters most who caused global climate change. It's happening, and we need to have a plan of action in response.

We can understand why Kulongoski doesn't want Taylor to be identified as the voice of Oregon regarding global climate change, but that impression may have been created on the strength of one debate that Taylor had with the state climatologist from Washington. That's over. It's time to move on.