Grist’s Ben Adler is Very Concerned
The new GOP Senate is already gearing up to cause climate mayhem
…
But their biggest win by far was taking control of the U.S. Senate. As of this writing, Republicans had already secured 52 Senate seats, thanks to knocking off Democratic incumbents or replacing retiring Democrats in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Another GOP pick up is probable in Alaska, and Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy is likely to win the runoff in Louisiana against Sen. Mary Landrieu in December.
This is not good news for the climate. The party that controls the majority and the committee chairmanships controls the agenda. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will now be the majority leader. McConnell deflects questions about whether he accepts climate science by saying he isn’t a scientist and citing climate-denying conservative pundit George Will. But he is clear about where he stands on fossil fuels, especially coal: He loves them. Attacking President Obama for not sharing his passion for burning carbon was central to McConnell’s reelection campaign this year. If you thought Landrieu, chair of the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee, was too pro–fossil fuel, just wait until Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska takes the gavel. Leading climate denier James Inhofe of Oklahoma will be taking over the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and fellow denier Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will be chairing the Committee on Science and Technology.
The Republicans have two top energy-related demands: stop EPA from regulating CO2 and approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
So, complete and total doom. How dare the GOP work to make sure citizens have access to inexpensive energy!
And so you can expect to see a lot of little bits of bad news for the climate and the broader environment in the budget negotiation process. EPA funding will be cut, presumably by somewhere between the roughly stable funding Obama will likely request and the drastic cuts the House GOP will pass. Programs that especially irk Republicans, like those that promote renewable energy and anything pertaining to smart growth, will fare especially poorly. There will also be spending cuts in other departments with environmental implications, like mass transit and transit-oriented affordable-housing development.
If the GOP acts in a smart manner, they will not necessarily cut a lot, but force proper spending. Get the EPA back to dealing with their core mission, rather than going off the rails on Hotcoldwetdry and their overbearing tyranny methods. The EPA has a place and a role. For renewables, use money for research and development, to make sure it is done right with methods that can actually succeed, rather than just throwing money at companies that either go under or provide little return on investment, mostly meaning little power that is expensive. Mass transit should be left to the states and cities. Lite rail has turned out to be a pure boondoggle and outhouse of spending.
Ben does make a good point
In fairness to the GOP, elections have consequences and Obama should have to compromise with them. That Republicans lack any actual popular majority — they won because of the rural bias of the Senate and gerrymandering of House districts — is irrelevant. When Republicans claim they have a popular mandate, they are lying, and should be called out for it. But when they say, “We won and we’re going to use our power to enact our agenda,†it’s all in the game.
Elections do have consequences. Republicans would be well within their rights to tell Obama “we won. Deal with it.”
Amazing. The fact that the people of the US spoke and very loudly and said stop the liberal nonsense is completely missing from this guys analysis. Sure we want a clean environment, but we don’t want a communistic state which is the real agenda of the carbon issue.
[…] Bummer: New GOP Senate Gearing Up To Cause Climate Mayhem. […]
“The common enemy of humanity is man.
In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up
with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming,
water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these
dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through
changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome.
The real enemy then, is humanity itself.”
– Club of Rome,
premier environmental think-tank,
consultants to the United Nations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We need to get some broad based support,
to capture the public’s imagination…
So we have to offer up scary scenarios,
make simplified, dramatic statements
and make little mention of any doubts…
Each of us has to decide what the right balance
is between being effective and being honest.”
– Prof. Stephen Schneider,
Stanford Professor of Climatology,
lead author of many IPCC reports
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We’ve got to ride this global warming issue.
Even if the theory of global warming is wrong,
we will be doing the right thing in terms of
economic and environmental policy.”
– Timothy Wirth,
President of the UN Foundation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“No matter if the science of global warming is all phony…
climate change provides the greatest opportunity to
bring about justice and equality in the world.”
– Christine Stewart,
former Canadian Minister of the Environment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The data doesn’t matter. We’re not basing our recommendations
on the data. We’re basing them on the climate models.â€
– Prof. Chris Folland,
Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The models are convenient fictions
that provide something very useful.â€
– Dr David Frame,
climate modeler, Oxford University
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I believe it is appropriate to have an ‘over-representation’ of the facts
on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience.”
– Al Gore,
Climate Change activist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“It doesn’t matter what is true,
it only matters what people believe is true.”
– Paul Watson,
co-founder of Greenpeace
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The only way to get our society to truly change is to
frighten people with the possibility of a catastrophe.”
– emeritus professor Daniel Botkin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and
spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest
opportunity to lift Global Consciousness to a higher level.”
– Al Gore,
Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We are on the verge of a global transformation.
All we need is the right major crisis…”
– David Rockefeller,
Club of Rome executive member
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I am still waiting for those who insist that human activity is causing meaningful changes to the climate to show what the average climate is, and whether our present climate is below or above this average. But alas, there appears to be no appetite for this key metric.
This should not come as a surprise especially when it is recalled that the vast majority of demands, suggestions and recommendations that accompany what passes for climate science all rapidly converge on statism, collectivism and the destruction of personal liberal and the resulting suppression of prosperity. This madness is not science, it is a form of gaia worship. It is a shame that so many otherwise brilliant and supposedly secular people are so duped by the oldest religion in human experience, earth worship.
Absolutely. And the Democrats should filibuster every Senate effort and Obama veto any effort that does reach his desk.
from a commenter:
What do you mean by “average climate”? Do you mean optimal for human civilization? Do you mean the climate that would exist without human intervention (i.e., burning fossil fuels)? It seems fair to prefer the global climate that enabled the development of human civilization.
So after all the left wing whining about filibusters, you’ll now embrace them? Hypocrite.
It’s pretty Darned clear: what should the climate look like, Jeff?
Human civilization has developed better during Holocene warm periods than cool periods. Like now. Seriously, you warmists really lose your shot over a miniscule 1.4F increase in global temps since 1850.