realclearEnergy

----<div>=</div><div>g alert 12 22</div><div><a href="https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/12/06/the_false_assumptions_behind_climate_regulations_in_pennsylvania_868702.html">https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/12/06/the_false_assumptions_behind_climate_regulations_in_pennsylvania_868702.html</a></div><div>
</div><div><div class="article-title-wrapper" style="float: left; width: 550.287px;"><div class="article-title" style="padding: 0px 137.562px 0px 0px;"><h1 style="line-height: 1em; margin: 0px;">the False Assumptions Behind Climate Regulations in Pennsylvania</h1></div></div><div class="article-social" style="float: left; width: 97.1px; text-align: right;"><div class="socialBar" data-print="1" data-style="short" data-dialog="share" style="border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top: medium none; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; width: 145px; display: inline-block;"><div class="left toolset has-tools" style="display: inline; float: left; width: auto;"><a class="icon tweet_icon" style="background-image: url("/asset/img/social-icons-with-gettr.png"); background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; float: left; height: 30px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 31px;" /><a class="icon fb_icon" style="background-image: url("/asset/img/social-icons-with-gettr.png"); background-position: -37px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; float: left; height: 30px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 31px;" /><a class="icon jqDrawer more_icon" style="background-image: url("/asset/img/social-icons-with-gettr.png"); background-position: -75px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; float: left; height: 30px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 31px;" /></div></div><div class="socialBar-top-counts" style="float: left; width: 325px; margin-left: -200px; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 5px;"><div class="socialBar-shares" style="display: inline-block; height: inherit; vertical-align: middle;"></div></div></div><div class="article-auth " style="margin-top: 20px;"><div class="auth-byline" style="display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; float: left;">By <a href="https://www.realclearenergy.org/authors/kevin_mooney/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Kevin Mooney</a>
December 06, 2022</div></div><div class="clear" style="width: 647.4px; height: 2px; margin: 5px 0px; display: inline-block;"></div><div class="article-body-wrapper"><div class="clear" style="width: 647.4px; height: 2px; margin: 5px 0px; display: inline-block;"></div><div class="article-body-text" id="article_content" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.9em; padding: 0px 5px 10px 0px; margin-top: -30px;">While they were in the majority, Pennsylvania House Republicans spent their political capital to advance American energy independence, free speech rights, and scientific integrity.Unlike too many their counterparts in Washington D.C., they were not cowed by hostile press coverage or well-funded pressure groups that have a stake in undermining sound science. Most recently, for instance, the <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/CteeInfo/Index.cfm?Code=8&CteeBody=H&SessYear=2021" style="text-decoration-line: none;">House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee</a> held a <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/CMS/ArchiveDetails.cfm?SessYear=2021&MeetingId=2510&Code=8&Chamber=H" style="text-decoration-line: none;">hearing</a> this fall exploring the benefits of fossil fuels and pitfalls of “emergency declarations” advanced in the name of climate change.Since Gov. Tom Wolf, the state’s outgoing Democratic governor, first <a href="https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/governor-wolf-takes-executive-action-to-combat-climate-change-carbon-emissions/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">announced</a> back in October 2019 that he was taking executive action to combat climate change, Republican leaders have held a series of hearings calling attention to scientific data that debunks climate alarmism. They have also worked in partnership with Pennsylvania Democrats representing the energy sector to prevent Wolf from circumventing the state legislature along the way toward imposing carbon taxes.In April, the Pennsylvania Senate fell just <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/RC/Public/rc_view_action2.cfm?sess_yr=2021&sess_ind=0&rc_body=S&rc_nbr=465" style="text-decoration-line: none;">one vote</a> shy of the requisite two-thirds majority needed to override Wolf’s veto of a <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/bills/RenderMisc-Documents.cfm?name=SU0001&MiscYr=2021" style="text-decoration-line: none;">concurrent resolution</a> from the full General Assembly that would prevent the commonwealth from joining the multi-state climate change compact. Three Senate Democrats joined with Republicans in the override attempt. At issue, is the <a href="https://www.rggi.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative</a>, commonly known as RGGI, a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/emissions-trading-resources/what-emissions-trading" style="text-decoration-line: none;">“cap and trade”</a> regulatory scheme operating under the guise of climate change that is designed to curtail carbon dioxide emissions throughout the 11 participating New England and Mid-Atlantic states.  Government regulators in the RGGI states require electric power plants with a capacity of at least 25 megawatts to purchase carbon allowances at quarterly auctions whenever utilities surpass the greenhouse gas initiative’s <a href="https://www.rggi.org/program-overview-and-design/elements" style="text-decoration-line: none;">predetermined cap</a> on Co2 emissions. Speculators have latitude to resell allowances at higher prices. The auction process, which has been in motion since 2009, is where carbon taxes enter the equation. State Rep. Jim Struzzi, a Republican in Indiana County, explains why.“RGGI is a tax,” Struzzi said in an interview. “It taxes the carbon dioxide emissions that come from plants anytime they are generating electricity and so basically it punishes these companies for being successful by creating the electricity we need for reliable energy in those cold winter months and hot summer months. If these companies are going to stay in business someone is going to have to pay these costs; and it’s going to be the factories, it’s going to be the consumers, and it’s going to affect everyone.”Struzzi is the lead sponsor of <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2021&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=0637" style="text-decoration-line: none;">legislation</a> that would prohibit the governor from joining RGGI and imposing carbon taxes without legislative approval. Wolf <a href="https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/gov-wolf-vetoes-bill-that-ignores-dangers-of-climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">vetoed</a> an <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20210&cosponId=33517" style="text-decoration-line: none;">earlier version</a> of the bill, which seven of his own Democrats co-sponsored on the House side. Wolf is not exactly an outlier among climate change activists in government who are actively working to circumvent the democratic process.In his <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/TR/Transcripts/2022_0123_0003_TSTMNY.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">testimony</a> before the Pennsylvania House, Marc Morano, the editor and publisher of the <a href="https://www.climatedepot.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Climate Depot</a> website, told lawmakers that he sees a certain parallel between climate change initiatives the COVID-19 lockdowns at all levels of government impacting businesses and schools across the country.“The Biden administration believes that when democracy fails to achieve its climate goals, it's time to bypass democracy and Congress and follow the COVID model. Climate activists have lusted after the COVID lockdowns as the model for climate lockdowns,” Morano said. “The plan is to declare a 'climate emergency,' toss out elected representatives and follow China's one-party rule model by implementing energy restrictions through the bureaucracy. They don't need no stinkin' democracy. Throughout history, emergency declarations have been used and abused to crush freedom. For those who loved how unelected officials ruled our lives under COVID lockdowns, prepare for the attempts to make climate and energy lockdowns permanent.”During the same hearing, Kevin Dayaratna, a statistician and data scientist with The Heritage Foundation, <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/TR/Transcripts/2022_0123_0004_TSTMNY.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">presented testimony</a> focusing attention on the “Social Cost of Carbon,” or SCC, which federal regulators define as “economic damages per metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions.” The Biden administration is using the SCC in various climate models to determine the long-term impact of CO2, Dayaratna said. However, these models are based on assumptions that may not square with reality, the Heritage analyst warned. These assumptions tend, for example, to overlook the environmental benefits of Co2 emissions such as the “greening of the planet” that occurred between 1982 and 2009, Dayaratna said. At the same time, the models omit the deleterious effect of regulations that restrict Co2 emissions, he observed. Dayaratna cited figures from the Heritage Foundation that point to a severe economic fallout to U.S. that could result from rejoining the U.N.’s Paris Climate Agreement. By 2040, the U.S. could experience an average employment shortfall of more than 1.2 million lost jobs, loss of income of more than $87,000 for a family of four, and up to a 30% increase in household electricity expenditure, with an aggregate $7 trillion loss in GDP, Dayaratna said.In Pennsylvania, the state-level outlook is every bit as bleak. The Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market group based in Harrisburg, has just published an <a href="https://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/2022/11/30/pennsylvania-electric-bill-carbon-tax/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">analysis</a>  that finds RGGI’s “carbon tax regime” could lead to a 114% hike in electricity bills. Although Wolf had Pennsylvania <a href="https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/DEP_details.aspx?newsid=1594" style="text-decoration-line: none;">join RGGI</a> this year, the state has not participated in the most recent auctions since Wolf’s executive actions are the subject of legal challenges. <a href="https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.108.173/o91.197.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Memorandum-Opinion-Filed-3-copy.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Industry and labor groups</a> have filed suit challenging the governor’s ability to act unilaterally on climate change policy as have <a href="https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.108.173/o91.197.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Injunction-Opinion-A8866129-copy.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">state senators</a> who have raised questions about the separation of powers. As a solution, the Commonwealth Foundation has proposed passing a <a href="https://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/2022/11/30/pennsylvania-electric-bill-carbon-tax/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">constitutional amendment</a> to allow the General Assembly “to disapprove regulations as a check on an agency’s power to restrict energy development in the state.”Josh Shapiro, the incoming Democratic governor, <a href="https://www.indianagazette.com/local_news/shapiro-tours-downtown-indiana/article_36a17284-6c05-5661-804b-f26eea5f8b79.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">expressed misgivings</a> about Wolf’s approach toward RGGI while on the campaign trail. Since being elected, he hasn’t made any firm commitments about the state’s future participation. A constitutional amendment offers him a way out.With his party poised to take a <a href="https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/with-no-majority-in-the-pa-house-democrats-and-republicans-are-fighting-over-who-calls-the-shots/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">slim majority</a> in the House next year, Shapiro will still need to contend with labor constituents and House Democrats residing in energy producing regions who are opposed to RGGI. Meanwhile, the scientific and economic rationale for the climate change initiative continues to unravel. Gregory Wrightstone, a geologist, and executive director of the Co2 Coalition, has repeatedly informed Pennsylvania House members that Co2 is a <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/TR/Transcripts/2019_0135T.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">“miracle molecule”</a> that greatly benefits humanity and deserves greater appreciation.“Critics of fossil fuels routinely exaggerate, and sometimes outright fabricate, their negative effects while ignoring altogether their enormous benefits,” Wrightstone said during his <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/TR/Transcripts/2022_0123_0001_TSTMNY.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">latest testimony</a> before the Pennsylvania House.“Coal and oil fueled the Industrial Revolution, which gave us unprecedented prosperity and health. Together with natural gas, they promise to raise billions of people in developing countries from poverty and deprivation. Modern economies cannot long survive without fossil fuels. In short, we love CO2 and so should you.”In a victory for free speech, climate skeptics have found expression before the Pennsylvania legislature like they have in few other public venues. In a potential victory for American energy, these same skeptics have also exposed the faulty assumptions underpinning costly regulations while also calling attention to unconstitutional executive actions.Kevin Mooney is an investigative reporter with both the Commonwealth Foundation and the Heritage Foundation. </div></div></div><div></div><p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">=<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">pow lachlan markey<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom"><a href="https://www.realclearenergy.org/authors/kevin_mooney/">https://www.realclearenergy.org/authors/kevin_mooney/</a><p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">October 10, 2022<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Connecting “Energy Inflation” With “Climate Extremism”<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">In the approaching 2022 midterm elections, American voters will have the opportunity to decide whether oil industry executives are really to blame for high energy prices—or if...<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
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<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">April 13, 2022<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">How Big Green Undermines Pennsylvania’s Energy Potential<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Pennsylvania sits at the epicenter of what is aptly described as America’s “natural gas revolution,” which is why the state is well positioned to help free America...<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
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<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">2021<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">November 20, 2021<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">“Hot Talk, Cold Science” and The Dangers of Centralized Planning in the Name of Climate Change<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">When former President Barack Obama says “We are nowhere near where we need to be” in terms of climate change, he’s not  talking about reducing carbon dioxide...<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">October 11, 2021<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Would the Real Climate Change Hypocrite Please Stand Up!<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">ExxonMobil has not backed away from its commitment to carbon taxes contrary to what media reports built around the comments of one lobbyist suggest. In fact, the oil and gas company...<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
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<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">July 20, 2021In Pennsylvania, Scientific and Economic Realities Unsettle Climate Change Morality Plays<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Urgent action is needed to combat climate change for the benefit of Pennsylvania’s children and grandchildren, Governor Tom Wolf said while commenting on his...<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">May 19, 2021<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Why Joe Biden Is More Damaging Than Cyberattacks<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">What’s more destructive to America’s long-term economic well-being and national security? Is it a cyberattack on an East Coast pipeline? Or, is it President Biden’s...<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">April 20, 2021UN-Backed Climate Activists Plot to Circumvent US Congress in Run Up to Earth Day, Government Records Show<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Just in time for Earth Day, the Biden administration is poised to unleash a major transformation of the American economy under the guise of climate change. But elected officials in...<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">February 16, 2021<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Biden’s Drilling Ban Devastates New Mexico While Boosting America’s Competitors<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Of all the states that will be most impacted by President Biden’s decision to halt new oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters, New Mexico may the one with the most to...<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">January 21, 2021Coronavirus Vaccines Wouldn't be Possible Without Oil, Gas<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">The oil and gas industry is the recipient of plenty of ire, but critics ought to realize that without it, the COVID-19 vaccination campaign would have no chance. For one, vaccines...<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">---<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">random 11 22<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Joe Biden's “Alternative Energy” Fantasy<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">By Jude Clemente, RealClearEnergyVoters Veto Big Wind In Ohio and Michigan: Rejections Now Total 375 Since 2015<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">By Robert Bryce, RealClearEnergyFERC Is Doing Joe Biden's Bidding –and Surging Energy Prices<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">By Daniel Turner, RealClearEnergy<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">There Will Be No Climate Amnesty<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">By Jason Isaac, RealClearEnergy<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">Preserving Energy Choice Helps Protect Vulnerable Americans<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom"><p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">By John Olshefski, RealClearEnergy<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">
<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" margin-top="margin-top" px="px" margin-bottom="margin-bottom">==921http://redgreenandblue.org/2021/09/03/organized-climate-denial-machine-fighting-action-state-level/
kos
by  Climate Denier RoundupWhich perhaps is why they appear to be setting their sights a little closer to home, attempting to run the denial playbook at the state level.For example, Pennsylvania has been moving towards joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon market that’s driving down emissions and power bills across the Northeast. In response, industry has <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/in-pennsylvania-a-complex-network-of-climate-deniers-business-groups-is-working-to-kill-rggi/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">set up a web of front groups</a>, and over the summer, even brought in the <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/6/23/2036666/-Supposedly-Pro-Climate-Conservative-Group-ACC-Greenwashes-GOP-s-Climate-Denial" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">big guns of career deniers</a> like Steve Milloy and Marc Morano to speak at a House committee meeting.The state’s <a title="" href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2021/08/pennsylvania-gop-legislators-escalate-resistance-to-state-joining-rggi-3990645?" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Republican party has been working hard</a> on behalf of its fossil fuel benefactors to try and prevent the Democratic governor Tom Wolfe from joining RGGI, and even <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/7/1/2037883/-Heritage-Concerned-About-Big-Salary-For-Green-Group-CEO-Despite-Having-Paid-Its-Own-CEOs-Far-More" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">national-level</a> <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/6/2006280/-Steve-Milloy-and-Chris-Horner-Leading-Deniers-On-Pointless-Pursuit-of-Paris-Agreement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">professional</a> <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/24/1874027/-Not-A-Lord-Monckton-and-That-s-Not-An-Exclusive-Mooney-Think-They-re-Very-Smart-They-re-Not" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">denial lackey</a> Kevin Mooney <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/08/29/climate-regulations-reach-critical-turning-point-in-pennsylvania/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">wrote up the situation</a> for the Daily Signal, the<a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Heritage_Foundation#Funding" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"> Koch/Mercer/tobacco/polluters-funded</a> Heritage Foundation’s fake news website.While RGGI started as a Northeast and Mid-Atlantic initiative, in 2020 Virginia announced that it would be the first southern state to join. And like its northern counterparts, the state’s seen an influx of disinfo carpetbaggers. For example, the industry-funded CFACT’s Collister Johnson Jr. <a href="https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/08/31/virginias_coming_elections_to_present_showdown_over_renewable_energy_mandates_792461.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">recently bragged in</a> Koch-funded RealClearEnergy that Republicans in Virginia oppose the Virginia Clean Economy Act thanks to CFACT’s hard work and dedication of publishing “a series of articles” starting in 2021. VCEA passed with only Democratic support the year before, but thanks to CFACT’s lobbying on a bill that had already passed, Johnson wonders to what extent the 2021 Virginia state elections will be influenced by their “Repeal VCEA” message.(Given that the only other big thing Collister has to brag about in life besides being <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/6/3/2033433/-Who-s-Dumb-Enough-To-Fall-For-Big-Oil-s-Greenwashing-Old-Deniers-Struggling-With-Emissions" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">frequently</a> <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/27/1940726/-Carbon-Dioxide-Is-Small-Therefore-It-s-Unimportant-Global-Warming-Deniers-Argue-During-Pandemic" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">wrong</a> on <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/6/1924972/-Deniers-Think-They-Have-Something-With-Fact-That-US-Can-t-Fight-Global-Warming-Alone" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">purpose</a> is that he was given a seat on the board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation by his Yale roommate, George W. Bush, we’ll forgive his eagerness to brag about the amazing feat of turning Republicans in 2021 against climate action passed in 2020.)Across the country, but just a click away at the organized denial clearinghouse RealClear, Duggan Flanakin, also working for CFACT, <a title="" href="https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/08/31/spokane_residents_spark_fight_over_natural_gas_ban_proposal_792274.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">describes the effort in Washington state</a> to oppose a Spokane city council ban on new methane gas hookups.Now, what Flanakin definitely won’t tell you is that, like <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/02/23/climate-change-natural-gas/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">it is across the country</a>, the gas industry in Washington is <a title="" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/natural-gas-industrys-1-million-pr-campaign-sets-up-fight-over-northwests-energy-future/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">pouring at least a million of dollars</a> into opposing these individually small but collectively mighty moves to kick the fossil fuel addiction, with Washington <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/1063731537" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">being home to at least one of the trade groups</a> working nationally to fight electrification.So if you’re looking at the reconciliation fight, and <a title="" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/17/2046386/-LA-Times-Points-Floodlight-At-Shady-Fossil-Fuel-Front-Group-That-Tricked-People-Into-Supporting-Gas" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">wondering where the climate deniers vocal opposition is</a>, you might want to check a little closer to home!==last week, President Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/08/05/executive-order-on-strengthening-american-leadership-in-clean-cars-and-trucks/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">signed an Executive Order</a> encouraging U.S. leadership in the clean car sector with a goal of half of all new car sales in the U.S. being zero-emission by 2030. It took them a few days, but deniers seem to have assembled their response by cobbling together a mix of old lies, new misrepresentations, and bizarre logical fallacies.
For example, a response that in any sane outlet might be praise for Biden’s plan was published in the Koch-funded RealClearEnergy as an attack: <a title="" href="https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/08/11/president_bidens_electric-car_future_is_union_made_789575.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">President Biden’s Electric Car Future is Union Made</a>. Bruce Yandle, a fellow at the Koch-funded Mercatus Center at George Mason University, is upset that Biden invited three major U.S. car companies to attend the announcement because they were the largest employers of workers in the United Auto Workers union, and didn’t invite non-American companies with non-union workers to his event promoting good American jobs.By Climate Denier RoundupObviously, it’s no surprise that a Koch crony is anti-union and anti-EV, unless you confuse organized labor with organized denial.Speaking of organized denial, while the <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/21/1814443/-Koch-Foundation-Funds-Conservative-Media-Like-The-Daily-Caller-American-Spectator-and-Reason" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">once-Koch-funded</a> Daily Caller has since <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/21/1866305/-Is-Tucker-Carlson-Getting-Woke-On-Koch-Is-It-Because-They-re-Their-Cutting-Daily-Caller-Funding" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">basically given up</a> on regular climate denial reporting, and its IPCC story was <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2021/08/09/code-red-un-report-climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">a straightforward rip-off</a> of the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-science-climate-environment-and-nature-united-nations-1d89d5183583718ad4ad311fa2ee7d83" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">AP’s “code red” coverage</a> (sans any Koch-network denial quote, because no-pay, no-play, we assume). The Caller still occasionally publishes guest opinion pieces and <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2021/08/10/whelan-president-biden-wants-you-to-listen-to-the-science-just-not-when-it-comes-to-electric-vehicles/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">ran one from Charlotte Whelan</a> of the (<a href="https://www.desmog.com/covidenial-reopen-movement/#Independent%20Women's%20Forum" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">pro-Covid</a>) Independent Women’s Forum and Steamboat Institute (which is hosting <a title="" href="https://www.steamboatinstitute.org/event/13th-annual-freedom-conference-and-festival/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Marc Morano and a slate of other rightwing pseudostars at an upcoming festival</a>).Whelan is also upset the White House invited union workers to its pro-union-jobs event, and adds (with a deliberately misleading citation) the claim that “it could take more than 15 years to recoup the upfront extra costs in fuel savings. The average American certainly can’t wait that long to ‘make back’ the additional upfront cost” But the work cited (<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/electric-vs-gas-it-cheaper-drive-ev" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">an NRDC post</a> based on <a href="https://www.cell.com/joule/pdfExtended/S2542-4351(20)30231-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">a peer-reviewed study</a>) doesn’t even measure how long it would take to recoup the upfront cost of an EV with cheaper charging and a more efficient propulsion system. The study did, however, use 15 years as the unit of measurement for a car’s life. So the calculations show that over an average 15-year lifespan of ownership, it can be almost $15,000 cheaper to go with an electric car.Over at the Koch-funded Heritage foundation’s media arm, their policy analyst <a title="" href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/08/09/what-you-need-to-know-about-bidens-ill-conceived-executive-order-on-electric-vehicles" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Katie Tubb makes a similar claim</a> about EVs being for rich people, which we’ve addressed before as part of <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/15/1953275/-Big-Oil-s-Latest-Attempt-To-Undercut-Electric-Vehicles-Co-Opts-Issues-Of-Fairness-Justice" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">their propaganda campaigns</a>, as well as the <a title="" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/6/7/2033988/-Will-Energy-Transition-Materials-Be-Big-Oil-s-Newest-Anti-Electric-Vehicle-Buzzword" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">old racist dog whistle about China</a>.Finally, we get to a new name to us, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, who wrote that Biden’s move was “costly and counterproductive” in the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Manhattan_Institute_for_Policy_Research" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">industry-funded</a> Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.After a column <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/fcc-reallocation-of-transportation-safety-band-endangers-american-drivers" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">defending the auto industry from 5G in January</a>, and another in March with the phrase “nothing beats personal vehicles for social distancing.” Furchtgott-Roth makes similar points to the other professional disinformers in her most recent City Journal piece, but she also <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/biden-electric-vehicle-executive-order-could-prove-counterproductive" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">adds a particularly baffling claim</a> that because “the United States has achieved energy security by becoming a net exporter of oil and natural gas,” then “mandating sales of electric vehicles would weaken that security.”But if exporting oil makes us stronger (by her logic) then wouldn’t having more of it to export because our own cars are using less of it be a good thing, that would make us stronger?Why would someone write something so inane and illogical, despite a byline that includes “former deputy assistant secretary for research and technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation” and “adjunct professor of economics at George Washington University?” Those are both legitimate organizations, not industry-funded disinformation operations!Well it turns out that the DOT appointment was made by notoriously-bad-hiring-manager Donald Trump, and prior to that, <a href="https://www.ttnews.com/articles/trump-transportation-nominees-finch-fulton-diana-furchtgott-roth-advance-senate-floor" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Furchtgott-Roth was an economist for the American Petroleum Institute</a>, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/12/7/2000410/-RealClearEnergy-s-Posts-Range-From-Why-Electric-Cars-Are-Bad-To-Why-Oil-and-Gas-is-Good" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">proving once again</a> that <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/24/1955593/-Yet-Another-Attack-On-Electric-Vehicles-From-A-Covert-Fossil-Fuel-Fundee-This-Time-In-FT" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">when someone says something stupid about EVs</a>, it’s <a title="" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/5/16/1764718/-Why-Is-It-Only-Fossil-Fueled-Pundits-Criticize-Electric-Cars" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">probably on purpose</a>.(Originally appeared at <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/12/2045354/-Biden-s-EV-EO-Triggers-Organized-Denial-s-Anti-EV-Responses" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">DailyKos</a>.)===