Obama Flips The Bird To Trump & The Economy W/ Wide-Ranging Arctic Drilling Ban
…
Congress: Obama Admin Fired Top Scientist to Advance Climate Change Plans
BY:
A new congressional investigation has determined that the Obama administration fired a top scientist and intimidated staff at the Department of Energy in order to further its climate change agenda, according to a new report that alleges the administration ordered top officials to obstruct Congress in order to forward this agenda.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, released a wide-ranging report on Tuesday that shows how senior Obama administration officials retaliated against a leading scientist and plotted ways to block a congressional inquiry surrounding key research into the impact of radiation.
A top DoE scientist who liaised with Congress on the matter was fired by the Obama administration for being too forthright with lawmakers, according to the report, which provides an in-depth look at the White House’s efforts to ensure senior staffers toe the administration’s line.
The report also provides evidence that the Obama administration worked to kill legislation in order to ensure that it could receive full funding for its own hotly contested climate change agenda.
The report additionally discovered efforts by the Obama administration to censor the information given to Congress, interfering with the body’s ability to perform critical oversight work.
“Instead of providing the type of scientific information needed by Congress to legislate effectively, senior departmental officials sought to hide information, lobbied against legislation, and retaliated against a scientist for being forthcoming,” Smith said in a statement. “In this staff report based on lengthy record before the committee, much has been revealed about how senior level agency officials under the Obama administration retaliated against a scientist who did not follow the party line.”
“Moving forward, the department needs to overhaul its management practices to ensure that Congress is provided the information it requires to legislate and that federal employees and scientists who provide that information do so without fear of retribution,” Smith said.…
Trump’s Weapon To Reverse Obama’s Climate Policy – Social Cost of Carbon – Unravel Climate regs
This calculation, known as the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), serves as the linchpin for much of the climate-related rules imposed by the White House over the past eight years. From capping the carbon emissions of power plants to cutting down on the amount of electricity used by the digital clock on a microwave, the SCC has given the Obama administration the legal justification to argue that the benefits these rules provide to society outweigh the costs they impose on industry. It turns out that the same calculation used to justify so much of Obama’s climate agenda could be used by President-elect Donald Trump to undo a significant portion of it. As Trump nominates people who favor fossil fuels and oppose climate regulation to top positions in his cabinet, he already appears to be focusing on the SCC. —Bloomberg, 15 December 2016
1) Trump’s Secret Weapon To Reverse Obama’s Climate Policy
Bloomberg Government, 12 December 2016
2) How Obama’s Climate Rules Might Unravel
Bloomberg, 15 December 2016
3) Reminder: Experts Debunk Obama’s ‘Social Cost Of Carbon’ Estimate — It Might Be Negative
The Daily Caller, 6 July 2016
4) Mark Mills: U.S. Frackers Beat Putin’s Hackers
RealClearWorld, 14 December 2016
5) Judith Curry: The Latest Climate ‘Conspiracy Theory’
Climate Etc. 15 December 2016
6) And Finally: ‘Mammon Is Coming Over To Our Side’: Green Mentality In The Age Of Trump
London Evening Standard, 15 December 2016
The Trump team could come, announce a reevaluation of the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), and then put the range at 5% — or 7%. That would turn a price that’s pushing broad changes in everything from microwave ovens to coal leasing decisions to one that would have practically little or no impact on policy. A 7% discount rate, which has been used by EPA for other regulatory analysis, could actually lead to a *negative* carbon cost. This change to the SCC makes sense for another reason. Listen to Trump discussing climate change with the New York Times: “It also depends on how much it’s going to cost our companies.” Lowering the SCC means lowering the costs to companies, such as power producers and refineries. –Catherine Rolfe, Bloomberg Government, 12 December 2016
A soon-to-be-published paper challenges the Obama administration’s so-called “social cost of carbon” estimate, which puts a monetary value on the supposed future damages from global warming. But the new study’s authors
‘The Impending Collapse Of The Global Warming Scare’
December 14, 2016/ By Francis Menton
Over the past three decades, the environmental movement has increasingly hitched its wagon to exactly one star as the overwhelming focus of the cause, namely “climate change.” Sure, issues of bona fide pollution like smog and untreated sewage are still out there a little, but they are largely under control and don’t really stir the emotions much any more. If you want fundraising in the billions rather than the thousands, you need a good end-of-days, sin-and-redemption scare. Human-caused global warming is your answer!
Even as this scare has advanced, a few lonely voices have warned that the radical environmentalists were taking the movement out onto a precarious limb. Isn’t there a problem that there’s no real evidence of impending climate disaster? But to no avail. Government funding to promote the warming scare has been lavish, and in the age of Obama has exploded. Backers of the alarm have controlled all of the relevant government bureaucracies, almost all of the scientific societies, and the access to funding and to publication for anyone who wants to have a career in the field. What could go wrong?
…
In fact, under Obama, EPA’s principal role on the “science” has been to prevent and stifle any debate or challenge to global warming orthodoxy. For example, when a major new Research Report came out back in September claiming to completely invalidate all of the bases on which EPA claims that CO2 is a danger to human health and welfare, and thus to undermine EPA’s authority to regulate the gas under the Clean Air Act, EPA simply failed to respond. In the same vein, essentially all prominent global warming alarmists refuse to debate anyone who challenges any aspect of their orthodoxy. Well, that has worked as long as they and their allies have controlled all of the agencies and all of the money. Now, it will suddenly be put up or shut up. And in case you might think that the science on this issue is “settled,” so no problem, you might enjoy this recent round-up at Climate Depot from some of the actual top scientists. A couple of excerpts:
Renowned Princeton Physicist Freeman Dyson: ‘I’m 100% Democrat and I like Obama. But he took the wrong side on climate issue, and the Republicans took the right side. ‘ . . .
Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Dr. Ivar Giaever: ‘Global …
Trump’s EPA pick will make Obama regret his environmental overreach
As long as the Endangerment Finding stands, any EPA, including one headed by Pruitt, will be in court defending against any subsidiary attempt to halt or reverse any regulation of carbon dioxide.
It may very well be held that the EPA remains responsible for regulation under the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision unless there is a specific act of Congress reversing its progeny policies, such as the Clean Power Plan. So the Endangerment Finding must be reversed.
But how to do it? For years, federal agencies have thrown massive support at scientists who, as human beings, serve their best interests (and their employer-universities) by generating horror-show results that also generate more support and professional advancement.
The Trump administration is going to have to stock up on scientists and administrators who are savvy to this game, and they are going to be very hard to find, as there’s very little incentive to not play along.
There’s going to have to be a massive effort to pick apart failing climate models and questionably-adjusted data. They’re going to have to find people willing to expose the current regime’s blatant abuse of logic in generating inflated “costs” of global warming, while largely ignoring the co-benefits of fossil fuel power, like doubled life expectancy and undreamt-of wealth.
…
The academy is going to howl, and Washington’s science lobbies, like the American Association for the Advancement of Science (headed by Democratic ex-congressman Rush Holt) are going to go berserk.
Fasten your seat belts, for we may be about to witness the scientific-cat fight of our time.
On one side will be a massive and entrenched establishment, defending models that we now know were (and this is truly shocking) often adjusted to give a predetermined result. On the other will be a dogged and far smaller clan, tearing apart the code of these models, much like the ENIGMA busters of Bletchley Park. This will get ugly.
…
…
Study: Obama ‘war on coal’ responsible for 84% of decline in coal use – Fracking only 16% responsible
…
New EPA rules push regulatory costs past $1 trillion, $3,080 per person
The new implementation of EPA rules on heavy trucks has boosted the 10-year regulatory burden on America past $1 trillion, 75 percent of which have been imposed by the Obama administration.
That amounts to a one-time charge of $3,080 per person, or an annual cost of $540, according to a new analysis from American Action Forum.…
Watch: ‘Collateral Damage’ – ‘Forgotten Casualties of the Left’s War on Coal’ – See Human Devastation of Anti-Coal Policies
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Several months ago, MRCTV sent a camera crew to the southern counties of West Virginia to document the impact of EPA regulations on communities that have historically relied on the coal industry for their livelihood. What the team found was devastating.
The effect of shuttered coal mines and the loss of thousands of coal jobs have trickled down into nearly every facet of these communities, crippling local businesses, destroying housing markets, and forcing desperate families from their homes. Thousands are without work, while still thousands more live under the constant threat of job loss and economic ruin. Local charities struggle to meet the needs of their communities. While the media are focusing on macro issues like “climate change,” hardworking Americans are left to wonder how they will keep food on the table and lights on in houses they’re struggling to hold on to.
Through up-close footage and a compelling series of brutally honest interviews, “Collateral Damage” exposes in stark detail the real, human impact of President Obama’s promised and delivered assault on the coal industry, and on the hardworking American families of Appalachia.
This is a real story about real people. Please help us tell their story by sharing this video.…
FLASHBACK: Fidel Castro Once Hailed Obama For Blaming Climate Change On US
Recently deceased Cuban dictator Fidel Castro once hailed President Barack Obama for suggesting developed nations were partly responsible for man-made global warming.
Castro, who died on Friday after years of declining health, called Obama brave in 2009 for speaking out against global warming during a speech in front of the United Nations (U.N.) at the time.
“No other (U.S. president) would have had the courage to say what he said,” said Castro, age 90, who ruled Cuba with an iron fist for nearly five decades before ceding control to his 78-year-old brother, Raul Castro.
Castro was referring to Obama’s speech at a U.N. summit seven years ago in which the president warned that failure to move quickly on global warming could create a worldwide catastrophe.
Castro added: “The problem now is that everything he (Obama) affirms is in contradiction with what the United States has done for 150 years.”
“The societies of consumption and squandering of material resources are incompatible with the idea of economic growth and a clean planet,” the now-deceased dictator wrote in a column published in Cuba’s state-run media in 2009.
“The President of the United States admitted the developed nations have caused most of the damage and must assume responsibility,” Castro added.
EPA Chief Urges Staff To Finish Obama’s Agenda Before Trump Takes Over
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urged employees to finish out the last weeks of the Obama administration “running” to finish implementing what they can of the president’s environmental agenda.
“As I’ve mentioned to you before, we’re running — not walking — through the finish line of President Obama’s presidency,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy wrote in an email to staff after Republican nominee Donald Trump won Tuesday’s election.
“Thank you for taking that run with me. I’m looking forward to all the progress that still lies ahead,” McCarthy wrote, according to Politico.