A monthly review of climate, energy, environmental, and political policy issues
Articles compiled by Jonathan DuHamel wryheat@cox.net
COMMENTS ON THE STATE OF THE UNION
“Energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks; it is not less essential to the steady administration of the laws; to the protection of property against those irregular and high-handed combinations which sometimes interrupt the ordinary course of justice; to the security of liberty against the enterprises and assaults of ambition, of faction, and of anarchy.” —Alexander Hamilton (1788)
“A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever may be its theory, must be, in practice, a bad government.” —Alexander Hamilton (1788)
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” —Thomas Jefferson (1809)
“If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.” —Samuel Adams (1772)
“The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” —Thomas Jefferson (1816)
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: American Paralysis And Decline (link) ☼
Biden Is Still Trying To Take Your Gas-Powered Car As His EV Dreams Collapse
by Kristen Walker
The EPA recently finalized its tailpipe rule, which aims for a fleetwide emissions standard target of roughly 57 miles per gallon. The proposal estimates that electric vehicles (EVs) would account for 67% of all new light-duty vehicle sales and 46% of new medium-duty vehicle sales by 2032.It is as if the Biden administration has failed to read between the lines or is completely tone-deaf. The majority of Americans are not exactly jumping on the EV bandwagon, and the last several months have been proof positive of that fact. Just look at the car industry. Ford Motor Company, one of the top auto manufacturers, lost $32,000 per EV and closed out 2023 with close to $5 billion lost in their EV division. It announced in January that it was slashing its F-150 Lightning truck production in half on account of softened EV sales. (Read more) ☼
Foundations of Science Under Attack in U.S. K-12 Education
by Ralph B. Alexander
Little known to most people is that science is under assault in the U.S. classroom. Some 49 U.S. states have adopted standards for teaching science in K-12 schools that abandon the time-honored edifice of the scientific method, which underpins all the major scientific advances of the past two millennia.
In place of the scientific method, most schoolchildren are now taught “scientific practices.” These emphasize the use of computer models and social consensus over the fundamental tenets of the scientific method, namely the gathering of empirical evidence and the use of reasoning to make sense of the evidence. (Read more) ☼
Did Biden Just Create A Constitutional Crisis?
I & I Editorial Board
The Supreme Court told President Joe Biden that he didn’t have the authority to forgive student loan debt. But he did anyway, bragging that the Court “didn’t stop me.” So why do we even have a legislative branch and a high court if the president is going to make law as if he were a king?
It’s Biden’s party, and its activist media, that has been carping for years about losing “our democracy.” Yet when a Democratic president bypasses the checks and balances that are the backbone of our republic, the three co-equal branches framework of government that is intended to guard against descending into a dictatorship, they celebrate rather than condemn. (Read more) ☼
President Biden’s Climate Agenda Is Contributing To Ballooning Deficit, CBO Reports
by Nick Pope
President Joe Biden’s massive climate agenda is contributing to the ballooning federal deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The administration’s green spending, which Vice President Kamala Harris recently estimated to cost $1 trillion, is playing a role in the growing federal deficit, according to a new CBO report that assesses the outlook for the budget and the general economic situation in the country for the next ten years. The CBO says that energy-related tax credits are actually more costly than initially understood, and that other climate regulations and actions are also contributing to the costs as well. (Read more) ☼
‘Net-Zero’ Policies, ESG Reporting Raise Farm Costs, Food Prices
by Tim Benson
So-called “net-zero” climate policies are imposing significant costs on American farmers and families, according to a new report from The Buckeye Institute.
A model developed by Buckeye for the report, Net-Zero Climate-Control Policies Will Fail the Farm, indicates that complying with net-zero emissions mandates, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting standards is likely to increase annual operating expenses for farmers by at least 34 percent. In addition, the model indicated the mandates will result in a 15 percent annual increase in grocery bills for families, as well as significant increases in individual grocery item prices, such as American cheese (79 percent), beef (70 percent), bananas (59 percent), rice (56 percent), and chicken (39 percent). (Read more) ☼
The Democrats’ Long Game for 2030 Census
by Dennis Lund, American Thinker
Much has been written analyzing the issues regarding the Biden Border Crisis. One aspect, however, that has not been adequately covered should be deeply troubling to all honest Americans: The impact of 8-10 million illegal residents on the future make-up of Congress as a result of the allotment of congressional districts. (Read more) ☼
Government-Run Education
Democratic government depends on people being at least knowledgeable enough to make basic choices about how their government operates. But is it wise to put government in charge of education? Timothy Sandefur, Vice President for Legal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute, explains everything you need to know about government-run education in this Foundations of Freedom video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruR_PBnhFso (13 minutes) ☼
Congress Wastes Billions With Bogus Emergency Declaration
And it isn’t the first time.
by Emma Camp |
What constitutes an emergency? According to Congress’ new spending package, research equipment and facilities for the National Science Foundation is an emergency. So are the 2024 Democratic National Committee convention and the Republican National Committee convention. So is NASA space exploration.
By classifying all these line items as emergencies, Congress can get hundreds of millions of taxpayer funding for them with reduced oversight.
Congress’ latest spending package, released this week, is hardly the first time obviously nonemergency projects have been given this special funding designation. According to a January report from the Cato Institute, Congress has approved over $12 trillion in spending for emergencies over the past three decades, making up around 1 in 10 federal budget dollars spent—more than both Medicaid and veterans programs combined.
How is this possible? Much of it comes down to lax rules that let lawmakers classify regular spending projects as “emergencies.” (Read more) ☼
A $7.3 Trillion Nightmare
Joe Biden’s budget proposal is a campaign pitch that would be disastrous in practice.
by Nate Jackson
When Biden took office, the national debt was $27.7 trillion, but here we are, $34.5 trillion in debt and counting, and all President Fiscal Responsibility wants to do is tax more and spend even more than that. His budget represents an 18% increase over two years, and he’s proposing massive deficits as far as the eye can see. He wants spending to reach nearly 25% of GDP on federal outlays, which is a major increase over the 21% average of his 50 years in Washington. It’s also a lot more than tax revenue will provide — even at roughly 20% of GDP, which is far higher than the 50-year average of 17.3%. Biden wants almost $5 trillion in tax hikes, yet that won’t even begin to fund his spending plans. (Read more) ☼
Unlawful and Unconstitutional Federal Agencies (link) ☼
Many federal agencies could be deemed unconstitutional (link) Examples: The Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and many other federal agencies. ☼
U.S. at Risk of Being ‘Largely Reliant’ on China for Syringes and Other Critical Supplies, Senators Warn
by Kristina Wong
The United States has more than doubled its reliance on imported needles and syringes from China and other countries in the last six years, putting Americans at risk, despite President Joe Biden recently touting efforts to manufacture goods in America.
According to Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), in 2018, the U.S. imported only 15 percent of the 10 million needles and syringes used every day in America. However, that percentage is now 40 percent, the senators said in a recent op-ed. Not only is that putting Americans’ lives at risk from faulty Chinese needles and syringes, but it has caused the shutdown of four out of six manufacturing sites in the U.S., the senators said. (Read more) ☼
Plastic Bag Bans Backfired in California and New Jersey, Increasing Waste (link) ☼
PROTERTY RIGHTS
Organized Theft in the Name of Government
by Tom Deweese
Most Americans today tend to think of private property simply as a home – the place where the family resides, stores their belongings, and finds shelter and safety from the elements. It’s where you live. It’s yours because you pay the mortgage and the taxes. Most people don’t give property ownership much more thought than that.
There was a time when property ownership was considered to be much more. Property, and the ability to own and control it, was life itself. The great economist John Locke, whose writings and ideas had a major influence on our nation’s founders, believed that “life and liberty are secure only so long as the right of property is secure.”
America, be aware, private property is quickly being destroyed across the nation, and note the growing lawlessness beginning to surround you. The fear of climate change has become the excuse for government to grow and dictate how every strip of land will be used.(Read more) ☼
ENERGY
“The cavemen had the same natural resources at their disposal as we have today, and the difference between their standard of living and ours is a difference between the knowledge they could bring to bear on those resources and the knowledge used today.”—Thomas Sowell
Electric Transmission Buildout Could Cost Americans Trillions of Dollars
by Bernard L. McNamee
Though windmills and solar panels get the headlines, the big energy topic in Washington is electric transmission. Whether it is Congress’s newfound interest in permitting reform, the U.S. Department of Energy’s new Grid Deployment Office, or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) upcoming final rule on transmission planning and cost allocation, how to build and pay for long-range transmission to connect generators to customers is considered the final piece in the quest to meet net-zero goals. Like so many issues in Washington, the need for more transmission lines is accepted without question and the costs are not considered. But for American consumers, especially low-income and elderly, as well as small businesses and energy intense manufacturers, building new transmission lines could result in much higher monthly bills and leave them on the hook for stranded assets. According to the “Net-Zero America” analysis published by Princeton researchers, achieving net zero goals with 100% wind and solar by 2050 will require an additional $3.5 trillion in capital spending for new transmission lines. (Read more) ☼
Four Ways Net Zero Ruins Us
by Ron Clutz
This is a beginning post toward infographics exposing the damaging effects of Climate Policies upon the lives of ordinary people. And all of the pain is for naught in fighting against global warming/climate change, as shown clearly in the image above. This post presents graphics to illustrate the first of four themes:
Zero Carbon Means Killing Real Jobs with Promises of Green Jobs
Reducing Carbon Emissions Means High Cost Energy Imports and Social Degradation
100% Renewable Energy Means Sourcing Rare Metals Off-Planet
Leave it in the Ground Means Perpetual Poverty (Read more) ☼
See also: Net Zero an urgent threat to national security (link) ☼
The Political Sabotage of Nuclear Power
by Zach Weissmueller, Reason Magazine
Once upon a time, America embraced nuclear power as the future of energy. Today it accounts for a mere 18 percent of the nation’s electricity generation, while fossil fuels remain dominant at 60 percent. Why did nuclear fail to take off?
From 1967 to 1972, the nuclear sector experienced significant growth, and 48 new nuclear plants were built. But in March 1979, a meltdown at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, which resulted in no casualties and no lingering environmental damage, spooked the entire nation and empowered anti-nuclear activists.
After the incident, the momentum behind nuclear reactor construction tapered off and no new reactors were built for the next two decades. Nowadays, the landscape remains unchanged: The federal government makes permitting arduous, while many states impose severe restrictions on new plant construction and force operational ones to shut down prematurely. (Read more) ☼
More stories:
Report: Bill to End Colorado Oil, Gas Permitting Could Have $2B Impact on Tax Revenue (link) ☼
Politico: ‘Democrats pushed climate action. Then utility bills skyrocketed’ – ‘Electricity bills are biting lawmakers in coastal, Democratic-leaning districts’ (link) ☼
The myth of cheap “Renewables” (link) ☼
How International Climate Treaties Benefit China At America’s Expense (link) ☼
DOE Poised To Zap Nation’s Critical Power Transformers In Net Zero Crusade (link) ☼
CLIMATE
Climate The Movie: Watch Here (1 hour, 20 minutes) (link)
This film exposes the climate alarm as an invented scare without any basis in science. It shows that mainstream studies and official data do not support the claim that we are witnessing an increase in extreme weather events – hurricanes, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and all the rest. It emphatically counters the claim that current temperatures and levels of atmospheric CO2 are unusually and worryingly high. On the contrary, it is very clearly the case, as can be seen in all mainstream studies, that, compared to the last half billion years of earth’s history, both current temperatures and CO2 levels are extremely and unusually low. We are currently in an ice age. It also shows that there is no evidence that changing levels of CO2 (it has changed many times) has ever ‘driven’ climate change in the past. ☼
The Greatest Scientific Fraud Of All Time — Part XXXII (Sea Level Rise Edition) (link)
by Francis Menton
The Greatest Scientific Fraud Of All Time is the fraud by which government functionaries alter data collected and previously reported in official data bases in order to support a narrative of impending catastrophic global warming. No other scientific fraud in world history comes close to this one in scope or significance. While prior frauds may have scored a crooked scientist some funding or maybe some temporary fame, this one drives trillions of dollars of worldwide government spending and seeks to transform the entire world economy. The prior 31 posts in this series are all collected for your reading enjoyment at this link. (They are in groups of six posts each, beginning with the most recent. After each six, you must go to the bottom and click the “NEXT” button to get the next six posts.) ☼
The Little Ice Age Enigma: Exploring Other Factors Beyond CO2
by Matthew Wielicki
The Earth’s climate is a coupled, nonlinear, and chaotic system, influenced by a multitude of factors beyond any single variable.
While the current rise in global temperatures is a concern, it’s crucial to understand that climate history is full of changes in surface temperature with little change in GHG concentration. For example, the Little Ice Age (LIA), a period of regional cooling between the 16th and 19th centuries, offers a valuable case study for understanding the limitations of solely attributing global temperature variations to CO2 levels. During the Little Ice Age, Earth experienced a significant cooling period although CO2 levels were relatively stable.
During the LIA there were periods of significantly diminished solar activity known as the Spörer Minimum (1460-1550) and Maunder Minimum (1645-1715). Large volcanic eruptions during the LIA injected vast amounts of ash and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, which reflected sunlight and caused cooling. Changes in ocean currents during the LIA redistributed heat around the globe, leading to regional cooling. The Earth’s orbit around the Sun is not a perfect circle, and its tilt and orientation change over time. These variations, known as Milankovitch cycles, can influence the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface. (Read more) ☼
Climate Fact-Check February 2024 Edition
by Steve Milloy
Editor’s note: This summary serves as a fact check on the biggest false claims made in the media in February, 2024. The naturally caused El Nino that started in 2023 is still here and warming the NASA satellite data. (Read more for fact checks on the issues) ☼
Problems With Climate Change Data
by tyler Durden
Temperature records used by climate scientists and governments to build models that then forecast dangerous manmade global warming repercussions have serious problems and even corruption in the data. Problems with temperature data include a lack of geographically and historically representative data, contamination of the records by heat from urban areas, and corruption of the data introduced by a process known as “homogenization.”
The flaws are so significant that they make the temperature data—and the models based on it—essentially useless or worse, three independent scientists with the Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES) explained. (Read more) ☼
Climate Change Skeptics’ Arguments Are Inconvenient Facts, Won’t Ever Be Refuted!
by P Gosselin
Huge data gaps, crude models, system complexity and endless unknowns frustrate climate scientists The science of climate change is very complex and there are many different points of view. This post summarizes some of the strongest arguments of climate skeptics. (Read more) ☼
The Conclusion Humans Drive Atmospheric CO2 Increases Is Undermined By Carbon Isotope Data
by Kenneth Richard
“From modern instrumental carbon isotopic data of the last 40 years, no signs of human (fossil fuel) CO2 emissions can be discerned.” – Koutsoyiannis, 2024
It is routinely claimed that a telltale sign human emissions (fossil fuels) have irrevocably altered the atmospheric CO2 concentration is a declining trend in carbon isotope 13 (δ13C), considered an interruption of natural carbon cycle processes. But new research examining isotopic data from four observation sites (South Pole, Mauna Loa, Barrow, La Jolla – regarded as “global” in their coverage) indicates there is no isotopic pattern consistent with a human fingerprint. (Read more) ☼
New Report: History Of ‘Extreme Weather’ Reveals Little Has Changed
by Dr. Benny Peiser
A new report published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation challenges the popular but mistaken belief that weather extremes – such as flooding, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires – are more common and more intense today because of climate change. Drawing on newspaper archives and long-term observational data, the report, written by Dr Ralph Alexander, documents multiple examples of past extremes that matched or exceeded anything experienced in the present-day world. (Read more) ☼
CLIMATE SCIENCE BACKGROUND:
by Jonathan DuHamel
Geologic evidence shows that Earth’s climate has been in a constant state of flux for more than 4 billion years. Nothing we do can stop that. Much of current climate and energy policy is based upon the erroneous assumption that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, which make up just 0.1% of total greenhouse gases, are responsible for “dangerous” global warming/climate change. There is no physical evidence to support that assumption. Man-made carbon dioxide emissions have no significant effect on global temperature/climate. In fact, when there is an apparent correlation between temperature and carbon dioxide, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been shown to follow, not lead, changes in Earth’s temperature. All efforts to reduce emissions are futile with regard to climate change, but such efforts will impose massive economic harm to Western Nations. The “climate crisis” is a scam. U.N officials have admitted that their climate policy is about money and power and destroying capitalism, not about climate. By the way, like all planetary bodies, the earth loses heat through infrared radiation. Greenhouse gases interfere with (block) some of this heat loss. Greenhouse gases don’t warm the Earth, they slow the cooling. If there were no greenhouse gases, we would have freezing temperatures every night. Submarine volcanoes must be considered when evaluating the causes of climate change. Usually, these changes are regional, not global, however they may have global influences such as changing precipitation patterns as seen with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
For more on climate science, see my Wryheat Climate articles:
A Review of the state of Climate Science
The Broken Greenhouse – Why Co2 Is a Minor Player in Global Climate
A Summary of Earth’s Climate History-a Geologist’s View
Problems with wind and solar generation of electricity – a review
The High Cost of Electricity from Wind and Solar Generation
The “Social Cost of Carbon” Scam Revisited
ATMOSPHERIC CO2: a boon for the biosphere
Carbon dioxide is necessary for life on Earth
Impact of the Paris Climate Accord and why Trump was right to drop it
Six Issues the Promoters of the Green New Deal Have Overlooked
Why reducing carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuel will have no effect on climate ☼
THE SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY PROJECT REPORTS
[SEPP provides a weekly roundup of news available every Monday as The Week That Was (PDF) and reprinted as a blog post here as Weekly Climate and EnergyNews Roundup. Click on date for full reports.]
Scope: This TWTW presents the comments SEPP made to the EPA on Scientific Integrity. It discusses a major problem in global climate models – the failure to accurately account for changes in humidity. The bias of fact-checking social networking organizations is discussed. A follow-up on the failed appeal of the Concerned Household Electricity Consumers Council against the EPA for its Endangerment Finding is presented. Also discussed are some of the problems involved in changing electricity markets including those associated with increased reliance on unreliable, weather-dependent electricity generation.
SCOPE: A paper by Russian climate modelers is presented that discusses a possible technique for modeling the important El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and that emphasizes the failure of the global climate modeling enterprise to successfully model cloud formation and dissipation. A post on Climate Etc. discussed the latest IPCC hockey-stick and brings out the failure of clear standardization to assure quality control of proxy data. A post by Jim Steele addresses the failure of “ocean acidification” advocates to understand the organic processes in the formation of mollusks and corals. A German power plant engineer addresses the important distinction between grid forming electricity generating machines and grid following generating machines. The inability of the high-tech industry to succeed in transportation is discussed. Also discussed is the failure of the EPA to recognize the difference between the air used in laboratory experiments on greenhouse gases and the atmosphere and its consequences. Several papers show evidence that climate models are wrong.
Scope: This TWTW addresses the lack of mature, critical thinking shown in the UK and the EU policies on Net Zero carbon dioxide emissions which are being followed in Washington and certain states. It questions what is meant by the green slogan Beyond Carbon. Apparently, a reporter for the Washington Post has become aware that “clean tech” and “high-tech” means a high need for reliable, affordable electricity. Also discussed are a new solar facility with storage at Edwards Air Force Base and the pursuit of bats.
Scope: This TWTW addresses the following issues. The US film premier of “Climate: The Movie (the Cold Truth).” The use of a probability tree for rational decision making on policy alternatives with suggested additions of the benefits of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide. Issues arising from trying to claim Earth is exposed to a constant sun. The failure of many scientists and commentators to understand that atmospheric carbon dioxide depletion has resulted in mass extinctions. The efforts of Ted Nordhaus and Roger Pielke Jr. to demonstrate that humans are not experiencing an increase in extreme weather events and have never been safer from such events.
MARCH 23: Scope: This TWTW addresses scientific integrity and how it is lacking in a great number of government reports. Also mentioned are issues of nuclear waste storage, the need for standardization when different procedures or instruments are used, and a questioning of net zero in Canada.
Geoengineering The Sky, Part 2.0
by Lynne Balzer
The people pushing the “climate crisis” narrative are finally starting to realize that the measures undertaken to cool the Earth by reducing carbon dioxide are not working as well as they had hoped. So now they’ve decided to take more extreme measures. [some of which are very dangerous to plant life and to the ozone layer which protects us from ultraviolet radiation] (Read more) ☼
The Climate Conundrum of Project Tundra: More Emissions Than Solutions
by Jonas Bubach and Miles Pollard
A “green energy” project in rural North Dakota is yet another such initiative that misses the mark. Despite the Energy Department’s admission that the Tundra Project would emit three times more carbon dioxide than it captures, a department grant worth up to $350 million is going to this proposed carbon capture and storage endeavor. The venture is backed by two American companies, Minnkota and Kiewit, as well as Canada’s TC Energy and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. But Project Tundra, planned for North Dakota’s Oliver County, presents a climate problem of its own. The project could emit more greenhouse gases than it stores because of the energy it takes to transport the carbon dioxide. (Read more) ☼
Biden Admin Shells Out Taxpayer Dollars On Getting Americans To Eat Trash-Fed Crickets
by Robert Schmad
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) began funding research into trash-fed crickets as an alternative to conventional and “unsustainable” protein production in July 2023, a federal grant listing shows. The $130,000 grant supports research that “addresses the need for more cost-efficient production of crickets as a sustainable protein source,” according to the listing. Specifically, the grant will support research into using municipal landfill waste to feed crickets that will later be harvested for human consumption. (Read more) ☼
Climate Bureaucrats Give China a Free Pass
by Oliver McPherson-Smith
China’s annual greenhouse gas emissions have soared over the past 20 years, dwarfing those of the U.S. But according to our progressive federal bureaucrats, America’s cumulative historical emissions are the problem and Beijing now deserves a free pass. The federal government’s climate.gov site ostensibly provides “timely and authoritative scientific data and information about climate science, adaptation, and mitigation.” This mandate apparently includes trying to guilt Americans out of questioning progressive policies while the world’s second-largest economy emits greenhouse gases at an unparalleled level. (Read more) ☼
NY AG Letitia James Sues Meat Company For Selling Too Much Meat (Think Of The Emissions!) (link) ☼
Let them eat–snake?! Python farming could offer one of the most sustainable sources of meat in the world – ‘Much less carbon intensive’ (link) ☼
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
After Billions In Subsidies, Reality Is Sinking In That EVs May Be The New ‘Edsels’ (link)☼ ☼
Biden’s Electric Car Fiasco Is Already Causing An Economic ‘Bloodbath’ (link)☼
Electric cars release MORE toxic emissions than gas-powered vehicles and are worse for the environment, resurfaced study warns
by Nikki Main Science Reporter for Dailymail.com
Electric vehicles may release more pollution than gas-powered vehicles, according to a report that has recently resurfaced.
The study, which was published in 2022 but has begun circulating again after being cited in a WSJ op-ed, found that brakes and tires release 1,850 times more particulate matter compared to modern tailpipes which have filters that reduce emissions. It found that EVs are 30 percent heavier on average than gas-powered vehicles, which causes the brakes and tire treads to wear out faster than standard cars and releases tiny, often toxic particles into the atmosphere. (Read more) ☼
Child Labor in the EV Supply Chain (link)☼
END
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