GOP undercuts Obama: Senate votes to upend centerpiece of Obama climate pledge
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/senate-rejects-obama-climate-rule-215984
The Senate approved a pair of resolutions on Tuesday aimed at killing the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s climate agenda, part of a Republican-led effort to undercut the White House goal of striking a new global warming deal in Paris next month.
The Senate voted to green-light two disapproval resolutions under the Congressional Review Act, a seldom-invoked law that allows lawmakers to reject a recently finalized regulation with a simply majority vote. One resolution targeted EPA’s climate rule for existing power plants, and a second focused on EPA’s climate rule for new and modified power plants. Both passed 52-46, largely along party lines.
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But the resolutions will not succeed in overturning the EPA regulations. Obama will smack the measures down with vetoes, and lawmakers do not have enough support to override him.
Republicans have been plotting for months to complicate the Obama administration’s push for a deal in Paris.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/senate-rejects-obama-climate-rule-215984#ixzz3rnlPb0ol
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/senate-rejects-obama-climate-rule-215984#ixzz3rnl8M5EP…
Did allegations against Exxon originate at a climate conference 3 years ago?
…UN rejects over 1,000 journalists as Paris Climate Summit security is tightened
Via Politico.EU (Subscription Required)
UN rejects over 1,000 journalists as COP21 security is tightened
By Sara Stefanini
11/17/2015 12:05 PM EDT
The COP21 climate summit organizers have turned away more than 1,000 journalists because of tougher security following last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris.
“We had hoped to have some flexibility regarding increased media accreditation for COP21; however, due to overwhelming demand and now facing tighter security in light of recent events, we are sorry to inform you that your application has been declined,” the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s press office said in an e-mail sent to journalists today.
It also advises reporters not to visit the Le Bourget conference center, in northeast Paris, unless they are accredited.
The French government has promised to step up security for the two-week summit, which starts November 30.
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met with climate campaigners today to discuss the extent to which marches, rallies and other side events would be allowed to proceed. A decision is expected in the coming days.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Monday that the summit would be “reduced to negotiations.”
This article first appeared on POLITICO.EU on Nov. 17, 2015.
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‘PEOPLE WHO SAY CLIMATE CHANGE IS WORSE THAN TERRORISM ARE DANGEROUS LIARS’
…Flashback 2002: BBC – Skeptics Denounce Climate Science ‘Lie’
Morano: ‘No one seriously believes the Middle East was a peaceful place when CO2 was below 350ppm’
Does climate change provoke terrorism? An old feud rekindles
Jean Chemnick, E&E reporter
Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Last week’s deadly attacks on Paris have reignited the debate over whether climate change is a distraction from legitimate security threats like terrorism, or a contributor to them.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) lit the match during Saturday’s Democratic presidential debate, which was overshadowed by the previous night’s assault on the French capital by Islamic State Group operatives. Climate change, the presidential contender said, is “absolutely” the largest single largest threat to U.S. security.
“In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism,” he added.
His words drew immediate pushback from Republicans, conservative bloggers and even former Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod, who said the Vermont senator had been “a little tin-eared”
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Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the Defense Department and who does not believe that warming is human-induced, has long complained that too much of DOE’s budget is frittered away on programs to boost energy efficiency or alternative fuels — which he says have little to do with the military’s mission.
“And I think people need to understand that there’s a price we’re paying for all these agendas that have been rejected by Congress,” he said. Inhofe estimates that during Obama’s first five years in office, the DOD spent $120 billion on what he calls “the environmental agenda.”
Marc Morano, a former Inhofe aide who now runs the skeptics blog Climate Depot, disputed any link between climate change and national security.
“These claims amount to nothing more than ideological grandstanding to say whatever they can to make ‘global warming’ an urgent priority,” he said. “In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris, claiming that attempting to ‘solve’ global warming is even more urgent, is baseless and absurd.
“No one seriously believes that the Middle East was a peaceful place when carbon dioxide was below 350 parts per million,” he added, referring to the ratio of carbon dioxide molecules that