Penna Dexter

When global warming began losing credibility as an environmental catastrophe, the Left substituted the term climate change because there is no doubt that the climate is changing. It always has been. Progressives act very panicky and claim that if they get enough money and power, they can somehow lessen the bad effects of climate change. Their real goal, however, is to re-engineer the entire energy economy. Of the $3.5 trillion in the White House and Congress’s proposed spending bill, about $2 trillion is reportedly earmarked for climate-related measures. Much of this spending is aimed at getting American companies and individuals to quit using fossil fuels. They claim this will reduce global temperatures. But their studies show only minimal reductions. Fossil fuels are still the best way to provide cheap, abundant and reliable electricity and innovation is making them cleaner all the time. Renewables — namely wind and solar — are not always available when you need them. It’s expensive and often impossible to obtain the electricity to back them up. Hence, in California, environmentalists’ poster child for central planning, blackouts are a near-daily event. The Wall Street Journal reported record sales of home generators to Californians this summer. As millions of Californians leave a state where joblessness, cost-of-living, and over-regulation are making their lives harder, Congress is actually considering two bills which take California’s policies national. The Senate’s trillion-dollar bill for “infrastructure” provides a down payment on the effort to banish carbon from the US economy. The proposal tasks Transportation Secretary Pete Buttegeig with rolling out a national electric-vehicle charging network. EV’s are more expensive, even with government subsidies. Yet, as The Journal explains, “liberals believe that building more chargers in low-income areas will encourage more EV sales.” This type of incentive has failed in California. This EV push is just one of many drastic transformations funded by the legislation being considered in Washington DC. Central planning cannot spawn a thriving economy. We should not fund such arrogance.