On Tuesday at Georgetown University, Obama unilaterally declared war on coal and the U.S. economy, directing the Environmental Protection Agency to set limits on how much carbon electric power plants may emit.
He said he is doing this because “science, accumulated and reviewed over decades, tells us that our planet is changing in ways that will have profound impacts on all of humankind.”
He said the 12 warmest years in recorded history have all come in the last 15 years, Arctic ice is shrinking, New York Harbor is a foot higher than a century ago, 2012 was the warmest year in our history. “These are facts.”
Obama wipes brow at speech at Georgetown University.
He proclaimed there is no doubt. It is set in stone. No uncertainty whatsoever: “So the question is not whether we need to act. The overwhelming judgment of science — of chemistry and physics and millions of measurements — has put all that to rest. Ninety-seven percent of scientists, including, by the way, some who originally disputed the data, have now put that to rest. They’ve acknowledged the planet is warming and human activity is contributing to it.”
Well, maybe there is a little doubt. A couple of days ago in an interview in Spiegel, Hans von Storch, a German climate scientist and empathic believer in the presence of anthropogenic planet warming, conceded that almost all the climate change models had predicted temperatures would rise 0.45 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 10 years, but instead the increase in the past 15 years was just 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit — almost zero.
This is a fact.
“If things continue as they have been, in five years, at the latest, we will need to acknowledge that something is fundamentally wrong with our climate models,” von Storch said. “A 20-year pause in global warming does not occur in a single modeled scenario. But even today, we are finding it very difficult to reconcile actual temperature trends with our expectations.”
Asked what could be wrong with the models, von Storch, replied, “There are two conceivable explanations — and neither is very pleasant for us. The first possibility is that less global warming is occurring than expected because greenhouse gases, especially CO2, have less of an effect than we have assumed. This wouldn’t mean that there is no man-made greenhouse effect, but simply that our effect on climate events is not as great as we have believed. The other possibility is that, in our simulations, we have underestimated how much the climate fluctuates owing to natural causes.”
So, those 97 percent of scientists might have been wrong, according one of the 97 percent.
Yet Obama shouts damn the costs and orders the EPA to push on, by passing Congress.
Sen. Dean Heller put out a statement Tuesday afternoon addressing the cost aspect of Obama’s unilateral move:
“Middle-class families across Nevada and this entire nation have already been forced to tighten their belts, and the last thing they need is to feel the squeeze of higher energy prices. Now, the President is using his executive orders to institute what amounts to a new tax on the American people, which would crush job growth and make life even more difficult for Nevadans. Instead of pursuing a far-left agenda with a new national energy tax, President Obama should focus on a comprehensive energy policy that allows us to develop our own resources, as well as find ways to develop renewable resources efficiently and affordably.”
Renewables cost double and triple what coal and natural gas cost to produce electricity, and there is no technology in sight to reduce the cost.
The cost-benefit ratio should be recalculated based on facts, not on flawed models and consensus.
Also Tuesday afternoon, I got an email from Barack. We’re on a first-name basis, you know.
Barack wrote:
Tom —
I told Congress in February that if they didn’t take action to fight climate change, then I would.
Today, I announced a plan of action to make good on that promise.
My administration is taking steps to cut carbon pollution, prepare our nation for the unavoidable impact of climate change, and put America’s best and brightest to work to solve this issue on a global scale.
One thing we know is we’ll face a well-organized and well-financed opposition by the special interests that profit from keeping things the way they are — and there are members of Congress who fundamentally deny the science on this issue.
But we cannot stand by any longer.
I need to know you’ll fight alongside me. Say you will.
Over the next few months and years, I’m going to need the millions of OFA supporters who understand that we have a responsibility to future generations to fight climate change to join me, and be a force of change in your communities.
We owe it to our children and grandchildren to take action — and now is the time.
Today, I’m here to tell you I am committed to doing my part.
Say you’ll do yours:
http://my.barackobama.com/Stand-Up-Against-Climate-Change
Thanks,
Barack
What climate change, Barack?
For good measure, the folks at the Heritage Foundation report what glorious achievement this nation could achieve if we went to the extreme, far beyond what the president is dictating:
“But let’s pretend we were able to stop emitting all carbon immediately. Forget the electricity to cool our homes in the summer months. Shut down the power plants. Stop driving our cars. No talking. The Science and Public Policy Institute found that the global temperature would decrease by 0.17 degrees Celsius—by 2100. These regulations are all pain no gain.”
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