IN WHAT MUST SEEM LIKE THE GREATEST OF IRONIES to the current Republican Party, President Richard Nixon, the most infamous Republican president of all time, has become, in retrospect, a huge hero for the environment.
Nixon, following in the tradition of another Republican president, the iconic Teddy Roosevelt — whose love for our land’s natural beauty awakened a national respect for wild and open places and led to the creation of the U.S. parks system — promised in his 1969 State of the Union address to protect the environment. His ambitious and direct efforts led Congress to establish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in late 1970. It was the first time any administration specifically addressed environmental problems through a newly created, independent agency.
At the EPA’s establishment, Nixon claimed, “a new era of environmental protection began.”
Nixon’s actions were in line with an extraordinary legacy of Republican environmental sensitivity — one that has sadly been under attack ever since, with one partial exception: President Ronald Reagan balanced his James Watt-led raids on public land with 38 bills signed into law that added more than 10.6 million acres of spectacular forests, mountains, deserts and wetlands to the National Wilderness Preservation System.
But from then on, Republicans have relentlessly championed the interests of fossil fuel industries, who in their greed have treated the environment and the atmosphere as their garbage can.
Now, with the midterm elections over and additional seats in the House and Senate filled by Republicans, the “Grand Old Party” has been creating as much environmental mischief and corporate pillage as possible.
The latest affront comes from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, under the signature of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, the chamber’s affiliate, and a lobbying group for domestic fossil fuel industries. In a recent email blast they accuse the EPA, along with President Obama, of trying to take over the U.S. electricity system. They go on to claim that the president’s agreement with the Chinese to jointly reduce greenhouse gas emissions “gives an unfair advantage to Chinese manufacturers … (and) will raise prices, threaten reliability and increase the burden on hard-working American families.”
For those who do not know, the Institute for 21st Century Energy was launched in July 2011 as the Partnership to Fuel America. It is a Nebraska front group whose mission is to recruit businesses to support the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline project that would transport crude oil from the Athabasca Tar Sands in northeastern Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma, and further to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
According to a February 2010 analysis by SolveClimate News based on publicly available records, the Koch brothers through their Koch Industries are responsible for close to 25 percent of the tar sands crude oil imported into the United States. They are, indisputably, in position to benefit the most from Keystone.
A Koch Industries operation in Calgary, Alberta, called Flint Hills Resources Canada LP, supplies about 250,000 barrels of tar sands oil a day to an oil refinery in Minnesota, also owned by Koch. Flint Hills Resources Canada also operates a crude oil terminal in Hardisty, Alberta, the starting point of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. The company’s website says it is “among Canada’s largest crude oil purchasers, shippers and exporters.” Koch Industries also owns Koch Exploration Canada, L.P., an oil sands-focused exploration company also based in Calgary that acquires, develops and trades petroleum properties.
Koch-backed groups such as Americans for Prosperity aired tens of millions of dollars in negative ads against incumbent Democratic lawmakers in 2014. Flexing their financial might and further pushing their Big Oil agenda, the billionaire Koch brothers said this month they plan to up the ante, spending about $900 million ahead of the 2016 election. The sum would dwarf expected spending from all official GOP campaign committees, according to the Associated Press.
Shamefully, the Republican Party has run away from its early and traditional respect for our fragile planet. The lure of big money from the Koch brothers and others in the extraction and fossil fuel industries has overcome the party’s heritage, and the nation is the worst for it.
I’m not naïve; I remember how corrupt Nixon was, and how murderous Reagan was (Cold War atrocities, death squads in Latin America) — but at least they had some respect for our nation’s natural beauty. Heaven help me, but as an environmentalist I’d almost trade those two for this present group that consistently and greedily defiles our planet.
Benicia resident Grant Cooke owns Sustainable Energy Associates, a mechanical engineering company committed to energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation. Cooke is also an author, and his current book with Woodrow Clark, “The Green Industrial Revolution: Energy, Engineering and Economics,” is available from Amazon.
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The health of the environment for all of us may become the death knell for the Repub party. Human health exceeds the need for greed. Blatant stupidity in the long run profits no one. If that’s their game plan, it’s over.
pb
Beyond party politics — More science news the community can use.
From the above article: “But from then on, Republicans have relentlessly championed the interests of fossil fuel industries, who in their greed have treated the environment and the atmosphere as their garbage can.”
From the above commenter: “Human health exceeds the need for greed. Blatant stupidity in the long run profits no one. If that’s their game plan, it’s over.”
Well stated, Mr. Bray!
Below more information and news for democrats and republicans, Mr. Cooke, citizen voters and our appointed and elected representatives to seriously consider…
“Is abrupt climate change already here?”
“There are some serious scientists who believe it is already here. If their analysis is correct, the world could turn nearly uninhabitable within current lifetimes.”
“Based upon historic records, once abrupt climate change commences, and when viewed on a geological-time basis, it has the potential to take off like a house on fire. According to Paul Beckwith, unfortunately: “We’re undergoing the early stages of abrupt climate change,” already, right now! As such, a rapid self-fulfilling temperature rise of 5C or 6C would be devastating for life as we know it.”
“Scientists are radically divided on the issue of abrupt climate change and few predict an upsurge any time soon. Nevertheless, it’s the scientists who base their opinion on first hand knowledge, “boots on the ground,” who are screaming the loudest. They do not let the “ computer models” override what they personally experience. In contrast, they see and feel the reality “in the field.” They are like scientific pioneers in the field, in the marsh, below and above the ice, on expeditions into the wilderness where nobody cares to tread. It’s hard work.”
“Those scientific pioneers, like John Nissen, Chairman of the Arctic Methane Emergency Group (AMEG), are deeply concerned about the rate of melt of the Arctic, and the attendant enormous plumes of methane, already observed in the Arctic seas, especially in the East Siberian Ice Shelf where waters are shallow and easily warmed, threatening to release gigatons of methane. Expeditions above, below, and on the surface have convinced these scientists that we’ve got a huge problem coming up, maybe soon, maybe too soon.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/01/abrupt-climate-change-already/
Thank you, Will…
…all the 1%ers money isn’t worth squat when the planet’s weather turns to crap. Death Valley is a desert because the jetstream takes no rain there…Go figure…I’ve read Dr. Jim Hansen’s NASA-based Global-Warming papers. No half-witted “science-denier” with petroleum cash in his pockets can compete with Hansen’s observations for validity. I refuse to be a pawn to Koch Brothers’ moneyed stupidity.Or all their lackeys currently in Congress.
I support ALL environmentalists. – pb
Would someone please be so kind as to wake me up when all of this climate change nonsense is over and done with. I am bored to death over this worn out subject matter.
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Again with the Koch Brothers. Again and again and again.
Has this drum not been beaten to death?
You obviously don’t get it, Dennis. We’re sick of the BIG MONEY allowed by the Supreme Court to go into politics to fuel the greed of some at the planetary ill health of us all. Obviously you and your fellow Repubs don’t give a damn about the planet or the consequences of Global Warming. I thought you were an engineer or did you skip the science portion of your curriculum so long as greed occupied a front row seat?
The beat will continue on until democracy is dominated by people and not global polluters. Invest and support alternative fuels, solar and wind energy. Get used to it. Whale blubber and camel dung are no longer major fuels either.
Peter Bray, Benicia, CA
Here are a few of the things I “get” Peter:
** Some people are not capable of holding a discussion without attacking those with whom they disagree.
** Those same people will be the first to complain about the “juvenile” level of the discourse on the board.
** Intellectual midgets, like former Senate Majority Leader (gosh, that sounds good….FORMER!) Harry Reid, need to lie about people like the Koch’s (“THE MAJOR cause of global warming”) so that the lap dogs and ankle bitters can parrot what they have been told.
** The money donated by the Koch’s pales in comparison to the money donated by liberal multi billionaires. The Koch’s barely make the top ten, the balance are mostly Democrats.
** I never hear the lap dogs complaining of money being used for political purposes unless it is by the Koch’s.
** The hatred relentlessly spewed out against the Koch’s is disproportionate to the sins committed.
** The Koch’s are battered continuously because those who do so find it easier to focus on them then to actually discuss the arguments on both sides of the issue.
** Citizen’s United also applies to Unions, yet the minions remain silent on that point.
Dennis:
Why not just list all the “science-deniers” you know, and how important it is to die from a foul environment with a pocketful of tainted money? It’s real simple, all the BS rhetoric just dies away. The chickens no longer cluck, they’re dead or underwater.
pb
Amen to that last bullett Dennis
“** Citizen’s United also applies to Unions, yet the minions remain silent on that point.”
Mendacity or stupidity? Tough call.
D-D-Dennis: You’re resorting to juvenile name-calling again..something that you criticize me for…Are you up a tree and your liberal adversaries have you out on a limb? Your vulnerability’s showing..where’s that stoic pomposity that Livesay tries so hard to project????? I think they have you in a Gotcha…maybe time to go in for a nap?…pb
Paper thin.
Hey Peter,
Did you hear that Sen. Lindsey Graham may run for president, and by ‘may’ I mean dream on, Senator.
They roll those clowns out on a dolly like empty-headed mannequins, they have sound bytes, sound like each other or Donald Duck, then they go back to the Dry Cleaners for another season or two. Collect their pay, benefits, and use up their vacation days and sick leave. Nipples on a bore hog serve more purpose. You wanna be Mediocre? Really Mediocre? Be white and stupid and a part of Congress or even state government. Beats working for a living and accomplishing something. These clowns are NOT role models, They are old guard, old duck, old pizza. And boring too.
pb
Yup! Out with the old, in with the old.
confimed Petr is a Socialist.
Petr go read the light bulb changing manual if you can. Petr you are just a very clueless person. I am sure yoy are a nice person, the hero at the coffee shop. But Petr do yourself some good abnd stay out of things that make you look like a fool.
Bob
Remember your comments to me a few weeks back about my back and forth banter with the mole HH? Back at ya buddy! LOL
I don’t blame you Peter for looking forward to 2016, I am sure you want to forget the beat down of 2014 as quickly as possible. There has not been a similar ass kicking since Cassius Clay thrashed Sonny Liston.
Apparently so does Joe Biden. He just said they have endured the past 6 worst years for their party. Could that be an acknowledgment of Obummer the failure even from the lips of the VP? I think so!
JLB stated: He just said they have endured the past 6 worst years for their party.
You know you are in deep cow dip when Uncle Joe Biden is smart enough to drive the bus over the loser.
The entire state of California has been driven by fossil fuel production for years. The San Joaquin Valley is still dark many months out of the year as it has always been. .At last look we are still all standing and so is Yosimite. Is it OK to put windmills and solar panels all over the state of California? I do believe John Muir would disagree. He also knew that geography was a major cause of the not so clean air as many call it. It was there many years before so called enviromentalist who at one time called themselves conservationist. Enviromentalist are not at all true to their own back ground of beliefs. In their mind set it is ok to destroy the valley all in the name of anti fossil fuel. They apparently do not know the difference.
If John Muir were alive today he might not agree with you, Bob Livesay. Denying science does not clean the air, you’re either a part of the solution or a part of the problem. I lessen my carbon footprint daily by driving less and focusing my customer base, and NOT buying from the businesses that are the major polluters. What do you do to do less harm to OUR environment? I presume if you were a smoker, you’d still be smoking?
pb
Peter you know nothing about me. I did smoke at one time. Have not smoked in about 50 years. So much for your theory. Peter do you have solar panels, use natural gas, drive an all electric car, windmill on your roof, landscaping that requires no water, ? Do you work in houses were the folks smoke? Peter just what is your contribution to the enviroment besides words?
Mr. Livesay:
When you invent something besides “”right-wing rhetoric” somebody may pay attention to you. Your smoking was a passing comment, to test your waters of integrity. But you naturally chose to highlight it as a part of your obtuse logic. Ask yourself all the questions you ask of others. Are you a part of cleaning the environment or fouling it? The geography of the land is NOT the cause of pollution, it’s just a fence that traps it…solve the problem by eliminating the source not obfuscating the issue. But that’s not your “science-denying” way is it? Good luck avoiding asthma and COPD and rising waters.
pb
Bob,
It is important that all of us contribute in some way to reduce our individual contributions to global pollution. This weekend I am doing what I can; Instead of driving up to the nearby snow-capped mountains, thus burning carbon producing fossil fuels supplied by the Koch brothers, we are going to stay home fire up the smoker and smoke some pork shoulders and cheese.
Pulled pork sandwiches with smoked Cheddar sounds great for Sunday!
That reminds me, Shoulders take all day, better get some more pellets for the Traeger.
Peter,
If there is one thing conservatives hate, it is when folks that think differently than them take aim at the failings and nefarious activities of conservative role models. They like to think that these folks should be free to do what they want strictly based on their wealth. .
What really needs to happen is for the Koch brothers to be held accountable for their actions and the results of shady business dealings.
Peter,
They also don’t have much integrity.
Hey, here come a couple of conservatives now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVNHcob3oJg
Backslappers, one and all.
Classic.
That is funny!
I also liked it the first two times it was posted.
Classic: of enduring interest, quality, or style.
Thanks, I agree.
What is not so classic? Flute solos and hobbit rock.
Seriously Thomas, as if the same can’t be said about the left. Bloomberg, Diblasio, Soros ……. Give me a break!
By all means, take a break.
Remember JLB while all these Liberals are drinking coffee at local coffee houses and occassionally changing a light bulb or cleaning a drain we Conser vatives ARE investing. Like land, real estate,, startups, stocks and not complaining or asking for a handout. Yes it is honest work..
“The entire state of California has been driven by fossil fuel production for years.”
Operative words: has been.
Still is. Five refineries in the bay area. More cars in California than any where else. Just a couple of notes.
Not for much longer. But what do you care?
How much longer H H.? Let us all know how this is going to shake out. Less Cars? Less refineries? H H you do not know.So that is the end oh your story.
The last two paragraphs tell you all you need to know about Grant. The enviroment over all else. He wants to destroy the hills, deserts, mountains and any thing else that gets in the way of his wind turbines or solar panels. The hell with all else. Talk about a very selfish person. This man is a representative of the local enviromentalist. He is a very mixed up person and not at all cares about open space or quality of life. Only his own personal odeals.. Sorry Grant you are a very selfish person and also what you will trade for his very disturbing. Better rethink those last two paragraphs.
Grant’s doing just fine…I doubt that he’s as oil-soaked as many of the science-denying Frakkers and Koch Brothers lackeys…
pb
JLB my comment was not intented to be negative. I hope you understand. Thanks.
Absolutely I do understand. In fact, I considered it sounds advice. So I was just passing some good advice along.