PRESS RELEASE Contact:
Christine Hall, 202.331.2258
U. S. Chamber Caves to Special Interests on Energy-Rationing Legislation
CEI Invites Small Businesses to Join With CEI to Fight Kerry-Graham
Washington, D.C., November 4, 2009 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute responded today to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s announcement that it will now support energy-rationing legislation by calling on small businesses to drop their Chamber membership and join CEI in fighting this catastrophic legislation.
In a November 3 letter to Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, the Chamber announced that it would now support legislation based on a recent New York Times op-ed by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
“It appears that the Chamber has caved under enormous pressure from some of its biggest member companies. They have reluctantly enlisted in the effort to reward these big special interests with gigantic windfall profits at the expense of consumers and small businesses,” said Myron Ebell, CEI Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy.
“We invite small businesses whose interests are no longer being well-represented by the Chamber on this critical issue to drop their membership in the U.S. Chamber and join us at CEI in fighting against all energy-rationing legislation, even so-called compromises that only partly wreck the economy. We welcome their support. We will not capitulate,” said Ebell.
“In its letter, the Chamber repeatedly cites the Oct. 14 Kerry-Graham op-ed in The New York Times as the reason for cuddling up to cap-and-trade,” noted CEI Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis. “But the Kerry-Graham column was a hopelessly confused muddle.” (Dr. Lewis explains why it is a muddle here.)
- To support CEI’s efforts to defend consumers from needless energy taxes, visit CEI.org/support, or contact Al Canata.
- Read more on energy policy and global warming at Globalwarming.org
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Go ahead and switch. I’ve been using Macs since 1987, and still love ’em, despite the insane left-wing politics their board avows.
Rush Limbaugh is also a die-hard Mac user and advocate. The Mac OS is just better. So if it’s good enough for Rush (and me), it should be good for any conservative.
BTW, didn’t the Goracle leave the Apple board?
/Mr Lynn
Wasn’t there a hoax press release put out in mid October saying pretty much the same as this story? Is that same environmental activist group at it again? Has the Chamber actually had a spokesman come out and confirm this? I find it hard to believe the Chamber made the same 180 that was a hoax 3 weeks ago.
This thread (and the Chamber’s cowardly action) reminded me that I should fire off a letter to Sen. Graham. So I did, via the Comments page on his website, http://lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.EmailSenatorGraham
Here’s the letter:
/Mr Lynn
Tim Huck says:
No, they are arguing that it causes a significant warming but not “runaway global warming” in any sense that this term is usually used.
No…The “hockey stick” is just one of the lines of evidence of AGW and the most circumstantial one at that. In principle, it is possible to have the late 20th century not be the warmest period in the last 1200 years and still have AGW be correct (and, conversely, it is possible to have the late 20th century be the warmest period in the last 1200 years and still not have AGW be correct). At any rate, most scientists in the field still believe that the second half of the 20th century is in fact the warmest 50-year period in the last 1200 years, although the difficulties associated with temperature proxies make it difficult to assess the confidence in that conclusion.
No. The ice age cycle operates on significantly longer timescales. It takes thousands of years to descend into a glacial period. And, the original notion that we were about due for the next glacial period is no longer believed to be correct because of the current low eccentricity of the earth’s orbit….It is likely to be another 30000 years or so. The closest analog to our current interglacial is probably the one about 400,000 years ago, which lasted a fair bit longer than our interglacial has lasted thus far.
Furthermore, the amount of greenhouse gases that we are putting into the atmosphere are understood to be enough to overwhelm the orbital effects that trigger the ice age – interglacial cycles.
And as for the GOP boycott of the climate change bill, which only Dems voted on:
“Specter said that the vote would send a signal to other countries in advance of a climate change conference next month to hammer out a new international treaty.
“It is not the best signal, but it is a signal that the Senate is ready to move forward,” he said. ”
Not the best signal, how right you are, Arlen. It says America is poised to become a SuperVictim Nation, and it plans to sacrifice it’s small business along with the destruction of the bulk of the remaining economy.
“Sounds pedantic, but they can’t have it both ways, can they?”Tlm Huck
But of course they can. They will claim that it (CO2) leads to climate “extremes”.
This jello will take a lot of patient nailing.
My thanks to all you patient nailers. I predicted prior to 2002 that “heat” would eventually be a scare since it is inescapable when work is performed (if I remember my thermo correctly).
I was accused of being insane. Perhaps. But it gives me insight into the other side.
Joel Shore
“And, the original notion that we were about due for the next glacial period is no longer believed to be correct because of the current low eccentricity of the earth’s orbit….It is likely to be another 30000 years or so.”
Eccentricity is the weakest of the orbital cycles – the earth’s obliquity is more important by far. But as we don’t understand enough about climate, who can say when we are due?
“At any rate, most scientists in the field still believe that the second half of the 20th century is in fact the warmest 50-year period in the last 1200 years,”
Completely untrue. There is, and has been a consensus for many decades that a medieval period existed that was warmer than today and global. There are over 200 papers that span botany, zoology, archeology and history, that testify to this. They are appearing all the time. Just recently there was a paper showing that the Inca civilization enjoyed a warm period around 1000AD. Those scientists that disagree with this consensus come down to a handful based around the hockey stick team. Paradoxically, it is the IPCC that tell us we should listen to the consensus, but in this instance they are doing the exact opposite.
Memo from Overpeck: “We must get rid of the medieval warm period.” I rest my case.
I gave AARP the boot years ago because they were lobbying to impoverish my children and grandchildren by spending money on my peers, the greediest generation in the history of the nation.
Now the CofC has lost its collective mind. Google their site and read their manifesto which, under the circumstances, is
hilarious.
Don’t own much stock anymore, but will divest any companies which are members of CofC on Dec 1. Gonna buy gold and bury it in the backyard.
I thought the CoC had filed a lawsuit opposing this nonsense. A backflip of Olympic proportions.
Richard (18:35:22) :
“America is rapidly on its way to becoming a second rate power.”
No power. Wind isn’t that reliable. Just second rate.
Now a Sterling engine connected to Congress …
I wonder what Antarctica is for?
I see practical fusion is drawing near. If and when that happens, it will be interesting to see if that is attacked.
Anti-growth people, I understand your hysteria but it is the banker’s fault, just like people have been saying for hundreds of years.
Fix the banking model and we WILL have sustainable growth and prosperity. Otherwise:
Booms, busts, depressions
and never ending war.
and continued environmental damage.
Which is why instead of joining AARP I signed up with American Seniors Association (americanseniors.org) , at least ASA does not automatically support big government programs.
Likewise, I would like to know if anyone here knows of a list of the major corporations who are actively supporting cap and trade, so I can change my purchasing habits accordingly.
As far as Apple vs Microsoft, use an intel/amd X86 family computer and run a linux system such as Ubuntu, ( http://www.ubuntu.com/ ). That is what I will be running when I build my next system.
Larry
Retired Engineer (12:13:10) : Richard (18:35:22) : “America is rapidly on its way to becoming a second rate power.”
No power. Wind isn’t that reliable. Just second rate. Now a Sterling engine connected to Congress …
Completely powerless? Thanks to tree hugging advocates like Joel Shore?
Joel Shore (10:45:34) : “…The “hockey stick” is just one of the lines of evidence of AGW and the most circumstantial one at that. In principle, it is possible to have the late 20th century not be the warmest period in the last 1200 years and still have AGW be correct ..
1. It is NO EVIDENCE – IT IS A FABRICATION AND A LIE !
The rest of your argument is a load of cr..p. In 1990 the IPCC specifically said that they couldnt assign a specific cause to the current warming because THEY DID NOT KNOW what caused the past GREATER WARMINGS.
They still dont know but a lot of people spent a considerable amount of time and money to fraudulently remove the past warmings.
It maybe still possible for AGW to be correct, as you say, in that it could have caused some of the current warming, but then it would be on equal footing with a million other theories including perhaps the flying spaghetti monster.
comment got swallowed?
Two words:
[snip]
Hey Joel, since you brought it up…
“The “hockey stick” is just one of the lines of evidence of AGW and the most circumstantial one at that”
Why don’t you elaborate on the CAUSAL evidence for AGW?
If you can, Steve Milloy has $500,000 waiting for you. There’s probably a Nobel Prize too.
Here’s guaranteeing you won’t. Thanks for playing…
Joel Shore (10:45:34) :
“Furthermore, the amount of greenhouse gases that we are putting into the atmosphere are understood to be enough to overwhelm the orbital effects that trigger the ice age – interglacial cycles.”
Do you have a source for this?
“No. The ice age cycle operates on significantly longer timescales. It takes thousands of years to descend into a glacial period.”
True with respect to acknowledged glacial periodicity. But there are incidents of rapid climate cooling that cannot be explained by Milankovitch or other orbital dynamics. For example the Younger Dryas cooling of 12,000 years ago. This event began and ended within a decade and for its 1000 year duration the North Atlantic region was about 5°C colder.
The only mechanism to explain these effects seems to be ocean dynamics which we are learning plays a much larger role in climate than anthropogenic additions to trace gases.
The National Academies has published on the need for more research to explain abrupt climate change which acknowledges natural climate variability long before burning of fossil fuels.
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309074347&page=1
Just checked the C of C blog post . Most of the comments were negative , but none have been posted in a few hours . Have they shut down the comments ? BTW , I recognized the names of a couple of commenters who also post here . Guess who was all for it .
Robert Wood (18:31:26) – 4/11:
This is just sooo suicidal! American Capitalists, where are you????
There are very few if they are large. They all are Global Capitalists these days and can make a much greater profit in developing countries (China, India, etc.) or by bringing foreign workers to the U.S. either on “work visas” or as illegal aliens. Unfortunately Bush was a Global Capitalist enabler — Enron saw all the goodies in cap-and-trade and so did Bush. The Republicans are most fundamentally responsible for the financial boondoggle (Paulson).
The banks are not our banks. The honchos of the Chamber of Commerce are not American corporations anymore. General Electric is not an American Corporation; “we” don’t own our main media outlets anymore. American education is not designed to produce the best and the brightest; it is purposefully designed to give mediocracy. Many children with the guidance of their parents fight the system and strive for excellence. Middle class Americans with their community requirements, smarts, and good business sense are too expensive for Global Corporations. The latter, in company with George Soros and his leftist ilk (but remember he used/uses thuggish capitalist free market methods to gain his billions), funded Obama’s campaign, took over the DNC, and managed all the fraud (ACORN, etc) that went along with it.
Now these Global Corporations of the Chamber of Commerce have all their special dispensations so that not one of the honchos will suffer from cap-and-trade. We know how that back-room trading goes. Something like the UN “food for oil” program.
We must stop this now. November 3rd was a decent start, but we’ve a long way to go. Are we sure Glenn Beck “only” had an appendix problem? As ar as I can see, he one of the few in the “global corporate mass media” who is teaching anything about these serious problems.
Climate policy imperils China and India.
“China should roughly halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to keep the world on a safe climate path, the head of the U.S. delegation at U.N. climate talks in Barcelona said on Thursday.
The EU/UN/Al Gore CO2 “stabilization” goal — 450 parts per million by 2050 — would require heroic (suicidal?) sacrifices on the part of developing countries. Stabilization at 450 ppm would require, at a minimum, a 50% reduction in global emissions by 2050. Because most of all the increase in global emissions over the next four decades (indeed, the next 90 years) is projected to come from developing countries, meeting the stabilization target would require developing countries to lower their emissions more than 60% below baseline projections even if industrial countries magically achieve zero net emissions by 2050!”
What does this mean?
Just think with me.
1. If China at Copenhagen signs up to a 50% CO2 reduction goal, and Europe and the USA to a 80% to 95% reduction goal, this will mean that China still is a Nation by 2050 and Europe and the USA will have ceased to exist.
2. There is no talk about Russia in this article, Russia is not mentioned anywhere?
3. A voluntary Economic Suicide of Western Europe and the USA would leave China and Russia as blossoming Nations by the year 2100, even if they commit to reduce their CO2 levels by 50% by 2050.
5. Viewed from the geopolitical view from twenty years ago, the moment the Cold War ended, this would mean that the outcome of the Cold War would be reversed if we signed up to Copenhagen in December under these conditions.
Conclusion:
The entire AGW hocus pocus is nothing more but a Communist Plot to get rid of the free World.
Do you now understand where we are fighting against?
Do you now understand why Obama reversed the decision to install a missile shield
in Western Europe?
Do you now understand why Obama does not act against Iran?
Do you now understand why we have so many radicals in the Obama Administration?
It’s because the Russians are pulling the strings.
Twenty years after the Iron Curtain fell, the West has arrived at the point where it is going to lose the “Cold War”.
The Russians only have to adapt to Communism again (which they will, be sure of that) and the entire World will be under “Communist Control”.
Longer wars have been fought in human history and the Russians, they are excellent
chess players.
Does this make any sense to you or not?
http://www.globalwarming.org/2009/11/05/climate-policy-imperils-china-india/
For the record there are two sepearate positions at play here.
1) The Chamber Law Suit is directed at the EPA ruling which is a regulary agency set to fill the void caused by inaction in the Congress.
2) The Chamber has been a Pro-AGW Group for years and presented its policy framework this spring to then President Elect Obama.
http://www.energyxxi.org/reports/Transition_Plan.pdf
There is no change in stance, they oppose regulation of GHG by the EPA because that would hurt their largest members but support the rent-seeking Cap and Trade system for those same companies who are set to raise energy prices via deployment of token renewable projects and clean up on the trading of free credits. They also take as agreement the capitulation of members hoping to boost their brand image with some green paint. The Chamber represents the Large Corporate World and not the interests of most small and mid sized companies.
Nothing new here.
Unfortunately this is making more & more sense every day, especially the Helen Clarke bit.
She signed poor little NZ up despite over 70% of their electricity coming from Hydro.
http://www.thebriefingroom.com/archives/2009/07/global_governan.html
PaulK
Lindsay Graham has obviously lost his conservative mind, a sad day indeed.
Paul, I am not sure what island you’ve been marooned on, Graham has an R behind his name, but he’s no conservative. From the standpoint of the Tea Partiers, Lindsay Graham is rePUBLICan ENEMY #1. I know for a fact that there is a search underway to find a candidate who can knock him off in the primary. With Republicans like Lindsay Graham, who needs Democrats.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/PhotoPopup.aspx?id=511405
“”” Alex (07:30:00) :
The CoC knows this is bad for business and yet is climbing on board anyway. Jeers to them. I hope the manufacturers they represent abandon them in droves.
All I can hope is that the focus on health care prevents a U.S. climate change bill before 2010, when hopefully the Repubs pick up a few senate seats. At least an expensive health care bill would theoretically have benefits, unlike a carbon tax which will simply strangle economic growth. “””
So where’s your peer reviewed evidence that an expensive health care bill would theoretically have benefits.
For a practical demonstration of Obama/Pelosi/Reid’s version of government mandated Socialized medicine; go down to your local pharmacy and wait in line for a H1N1 swine flu shot; a project which is totally managed by the Federal Government that y’alls elected to run stuff for you.
I can’t believe some of the comments here about what some people think is their right to choose to do; while they rant about something else they want the government to control; presumably for other people of course.
That kind of selective morality is what folks like Lindsey Graham live for.
If everybody following their own true anarchistic bents elects to have governmnet provide for just the things they want done; the result is a government that can give you anything you want; and also take everything you have.
@george Smith: Correct, again, George. I just want what the founders wanted: As little government as possible, and the people decide what is possible.