Energy

The Climate Addiction

The President has a list. Having worked in a federal agency and for a state governor, I know the pressure well. Commitments made in the heat of a campaign can become an overwhelming fixation as the end of the term draws near. When he ran 8 years ago, President Obama made certain environmental promises to core constituencies and donors to rein in the use of fossil fuels, which they blame for changing the weather – er, the climate – ignoring complicated climate science, everything we know about the earth’s climate history (think – naturally WAY cooler and WAY hotter in the past), and the fact that UN climate models consistently overestimate the climate’s sensitivity to increasing levels of CO2.

But, what the heck, he has a list and the list must get done.

Being President is tough and often compromises must be made as new realities become known. (I was for the pipeline before I was against the pipeline.) But not on the environment. Commitments are commitments. One has to feel bad for the honest scientists at EPA who are forced to say things they know are not true. Step in line or you will be punished. The mirror is not their friend.

Denial is part of addiction. No matter how much you insist that the subject of climate is not open to debate, the debate rages on.

Dec. 6 is the annual National Miner’s Day. Sponsored by the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and instituted by Congress in 2009, it gives the nation an opportunity to thank miners who work hard to provide us with amazingly low-cost fuel under harsh and dangerous conditions. With over 250 years’ supply still in the ground, coal is a plentiful, reliable fuel. One wonders if the White House will even bother to recognize this day.

Along these lines, next week the Texas Public Policy Foundation will hosts its second annual “At the Crossroads: Energy and Climate Summit” in Austin, Texas. The Summit will bring together more than 20 of the nation’s top energy and environment thought leaders to discuss important topics such as “Earth’s Climate History,” “Energy Poverty,” and “The Politics and Economics of Climate.” Keynotes will include Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas).

The War on Coal is really a war on coal families. Hardworking middle-class families with hopes and dreams for their children. A war based on a radical and questionable scientific premise, a desire to be loved at home and abroad by a small environmentalist minority, and a proven flawed economic theory of centralized government control.

In many ways the President’s “war on coal families” is really a war on America. Last week, Mississippi became the 27th state to sue the EPA over the cap-n-trade, carbon dioxide Power Plan. NERA Economic Consultants projects an average 31 percent electricity price increase for these 27 states from this rule. Lower- and middle-class families will be hurt the most as the price of electricity rises not only in their homes but at their local churches, day-care centers, movie theaters, schools, police and fire stations and favorite restaurants.

Also last week, the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power advanced two resolutions under the Congressional Review Act disapproving the rules for both new and existing power plants. There is no doubt that these resolutions will pass the House floor on a bipartisan basis. The Senate is expected to take similar action.

And also last week the New York Times reported that China, the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases from coal, has been burning up to 17 percent more coal a year than the government previously disclosed. “The finding could complicate the already difficult efforts to limit global warming.”

Yet, in spite of all of this, the purveyors of the religion of climate alarmism will jet to their UN mecca in Paris carrying their promises. But their commitments will be empty. It’s ironic that “Thank a Miner” day occurs the same day the Administration will be selling them out in Paris. N’est pas?

 

The Honorable Doug Domenech is the Director of the Fueling Freedom Project at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Morning Consult