Government actions destroying life, pretending to improve the economy, ignoring public health and environmental justice, are crimes of corruption.
Corruption is dishonest behavior by people entrusted with positions of authority for personal gain. Corrupt behavior takes many forms, from flying every weekend to Mar-a-Lago and renting hotel rooms to the security detail, to a private meeting with an intelligence agent, the head of the Russian Federation.
The Thai boys’ rescue required the world’s best divers and more than 5,000 people. On a hot planet, our top priority is to deal with the climate emergency. The actions taken by the administration promoting war, nuclear weapons, fossil fuels, deforestation, and a deceptive resolution on carbon taxes are climate crimes. Let’s connect some dots.
Pulling out of the UN Paris Climate Agreement
To get a better deal Trump decided last June to pull out of the UN Paris Climate Agreement. This opened the door to remove environmental protections and promote “clean fossil fuels” with offshore deep-sea drilling and mining on public lands.
Trade wars and nuclear weapons for profit?
Are Trump’s trade wars with China and our allies, and his demands from NATO, just to sell weapons? Putin has the best nuclear weapons and Trump wants nuclear warheads he can use. Is the Art of the Deal writer a 10-dimensional Chess Master, or a Tic-Tac-Toe bully?
Who will benefit from a dead planet?
Choosing profits over climate, based on false GOP claims, is beyond comprehension. Here are some of the lies:
- The U.S. economy is booming. False, our economy is in bad shape and getting worse. A massive deficit and public debt, high unemployment, low wages, high incarceration rates, attempts to eliminate Medicare and food stamps. Like Arkansas Works, Rep. Bruce Westerman wants work requirements for food stamps recipients, “to encourage able-bodied adults to work.”
- The unemployment rate is 3.9 percent. False, the true rate is 30 to 40 percent, including the population not in the labor force and part time workers. Without food stamps many full-time workers could not pay their bills, with nothing in the bank.
- Natural gas has significantly reduced carbon emissions. False, studies show methane emissions from fracking and storage are much higher than reported.
- Exporting shale crude oil and Liquefied Natural Gas are needed for energy dominance and the U.S. economy. False, fracking gets massive subsidies; the true cost of a barrel exceeds the market price. Qatar owns the LNG market. U.S. fracking is high cost, and the U.S. lacks LNG infrastructure.
Deforestation
Rep. Bruce Westerman claims EPA’s biomass designation is “a victory for Arkansas forests.” False, it is a victory for Big Timber and the people giving Westerman more than $100,000 for his “resilient” National Forests harvesting project. Westerman is going after endangered species to help Highland Pellets and other mills destroy wetlands and freshwater mussels, with his Petition Act.
Scott Pruitt’s environmental polluting agency destroyed years of environmental protections. Pruitt was fired for the wrong reasons; claiming biomass is carbon-neutral is evidence of his corruption.
Anti-Carbon Tax resolution passed
Congressional Resolution 119 claiming a carbon tax “would be detrimental to American families and businesses and is not in the best interest of the United States,” passed last week. Rep. Hill, Womack, Westerman and Crawford, the Magnificent Four Arkansans in the House, approved the resolution. Go Hogs!
This is a sad example of the deceiving GOP playbook. Carbon taxes are not proposed as a climate solution. Resolution 119 was passed to create the illusion polluters get a free pass. Carbon fees paid by polluters and carbon dividends paid to every household (CF&D) gives polluters an incentive to innovate their process and eliminate pollution. Alcoa, to meet Apple Inc. requirements, changed their aluminum smelting process used for more than 100 years, eliminating greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s up to you
We must vote for a new Congress and a new Administration.
There is hope. France is taking the lead to deal with the climate emergency. President Emmanuel Macron’s climate initiative Making Our Planet Great Again wants U.S. climate experts to join his team. Vive la France, Vive la liberté.
Dr. Luis Contreras