Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., is working overtime to save Americans from the threat of cleaner air. ADVERTISING Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., is working overtime to save Americans from the threat of cleaner air. “I will be working with my Senate
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., is working overtime to save Americans from the threat of cleaner air.
“I will be working with my Senate colleagues in pursuing legislation to protect American taxpayers from EPA’s aggressive regulatory agenda,” Inhofe said in response to new ground-level ozone standards introduced by the Obama administration.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “aggressive regulatory agenda” includes lowering the acceptable level of surface ozone from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion, resulting in a lawsuit by Murray Energy Corp., one of the nation’s largest coal companies.
Inhofe also is considering a trip to Paris to crash the upcoming United Nations climate change talks as a “one-man truth squad” in an attempt to convince other nations cleaner air is bad for their citizens, too.
It’s almost funny, but we no longer can afford for climate change denial to be a laughing matter. Inhofe, a former insurance executive, not a scientist, says there is no global warming because there is snow in Washington, D.C., in February. And he’s going to serve as a truth squad?
Environmentalists also were less than pleased by the new rule, arguing scientific studies and the EPA’s own independent advisers make a convincing case for a more protective 60 parts per billion standard. If energy company executives’ heads are exploding at the 70 parts per billion level, can you imagine what might happen with a stricter standard? …
The goal of all these climate talks has been to keep the increase in global average temperature below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels. This doesn’t mean 4 degrees is safe, only that it will forestall the most calamitous consequences: rapid sea level rise, global crop failures, the collapse of coral reefs and more as climate systems careen out of balance.
To keep us within a safe range, a new scientific paper argues, humanity must limit how much additional carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere to about 765 gigatons. …
Humanity’s long-term viability as a species demands we think beyond the fourth-quarter profit statement of any given coal company.
The Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which has the coal industry even more up in arms than the ozone regulations, might have been a decent starting place at the beginning of his first term. Seven years later, it is far too little, and far too late.
But even that effort is too much for the coal industry and its supporters.
This unfolding crisis demands serious action by serious people. It will require painful sacrifices that will do real harm to fossil fuel industries, especially coal.
That harm flows not from animosity toward coal on the part of President Barack Obama or anyone else, but from pure, simple necessity. The threat from unchecked carbon dioxide emissions is real, and it is anything but trivial.
It is impossible to burn coal without releasing carbon dioxide, which means transitioning from coal is a global imperative. That’s not good for coal companies, but it is essential for everyone else.
As amusing as they might seem, there is no room for Inhofe’s antics in this discussion. He cannot be taken seriously, but this debate must be serious. Far too much is at stake.
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch
