1. NC General Assembly should rethink the eco agenda: No. 1, repeal SB 3
Over the past decade, the extreme environmentalist agenda took off like a rocket in North Carolina. In 2002, North Carolina was the only state in the nation to pass the Clean Smokestacks bill, legislation handcrafted by the New York City-based eco-pressure group Environmental Defense. The bill is costing the state billions of dollars while showing improvements in air quality that differ little from the improvements by neighboring states — states that, unlike North Carolina, chose to ignore the pressure from the eco-left. In 2002, again under pressure from environmental pressure groups, the state formed a commission on global warming. And then, in 2007, the state passed SB 3, which caps the amount of electricity that can be generated from the least expensive sources. All of this legislation was passed with overwhelming support from Republicans in the legislature.
Yesterday, the John Locke Foundation released a new Spotlight report detailing this legislative history and calling on the new Republican legislature to turn a new leaf on environmental policy. Going forward, the new legislators should take to heart the principles of limited government and free enterprise that they ran on in 2010. A good start would be to repeal SB3, which has no provable environmental benefits, and certainly none that outweigh its costs. Also, no new regulation should be passed unless (a) it addresses a verifiable environmental harm, (b) it will at least ameliorate that harm, and (c) the costs associated with complying with the regulation are less than the damage done by the harm.
The title of the Spotlight is "Time For A Change: New legislature should realign its positions on environmental issues." It can be accessed at https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/spotlights/258.
2. Alarmists attempt ambush of Inhofe: confront him with phony poll numbers, not arguments
What happens when Sen. James Inhofe, the most prominent critic of global warming alarmism in the U.S. Senate, is confronted in the halls of Congress by a wild-eyed alarmist? Does he run away, as Al Gore might do if the table were turned, or would he grab the inquisitor and yell "Who are you?" Actually, he stops and tries to have a civil conversation.
This is what happened when Inhofe had a microphone and camera shoved in his face by alarmist author Mark Hertsgaard, who is trying to promote his new book called Hot. The entire confrontation and Inhofe’s very civil response can be viewed here.
What was interesting is that what Hertsgaard apparently thought was the most compelling evidence that he could confront Inhofe with was a poll claiming that 98 percent of climate scientists essentially held the same alarmist views of people like Hertsgaard and Al Gore. Of course, polls are not an argument, but this poll was especially shady. Here’s the background (look under graph, which also tells an interesting story of recent temperature trends).
3. Oh, the irony: Soros-sponsored Hertzgaard event cancelled …
4. A place for Congress to cut
The new Republican Congress is looking for ways to cut federal spending. In fact, they are planning to cut $100 billion from the last six months of the 2011 budget. You know, the one that Congress never actually passed. A good place to look is subsidies for expensive, inefficient energy sources like wind power, and a good place to start is with what are called Section 1603 grants for building new wind farms. To get some background on these grants, check out this article on the Master Resource blog. If you want to recommend to Congress that it cut this program, you can go here.
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