Despite Steady Temperatures, Policymakers Plow Forward with Climate Change Agenda

While pundits continue to talk about the dangers of global warming, the globe actually hasn’t seen warming since 1998, says Institute for Energy Research CEO Robert Bradley. Despite increases in carbon dioxide emissions, Bradley notes that the world has not seen the explosion in extreme weather events, famine or loss of ice forecast by warming activists. In fact, he cites research from scientist Roy Spencer who analyzed 90 different climate models and found that 95 percent of climate simulations have overestimated warming since 1979.

Despite this reality, Bradley says lawmakers and government actors are doubling down on global warming policies:

– The United Nations is working on a global agreement to combat warming by limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
– The United States and China recently entered into an agreement that could require U.S. carbon emissions to fall by 28 percent below 2005 levels.
– The EPA is plowing forward with its Clean Power Plan rules to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. Research firm Energy Ventures Analysis says the plan would increase customers’ household energy costs by 35 percent between 2012 and 2020.
– President Obama has refused to approve the Keystone XL pipeline out of concerns about the environment, despite a State Department report concluding the pipeline will have no impact on emissions.
– Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-N.H.) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) have introduced a $2 trillion tax bill that would tax carbon emissions at $42 per ton.

And climate legislation is not limited to the national level. Bradley writes that city councilmen in Berkeley, California, recently voted to put stickers on all gas pumps reminding drivers that emissions lead to global warming.

When it comes to global warming, policymakers are out of touch with reality, as well as out of touch with everyday voters — Bradley notes that just 3 percent of voters identified climate change as the United States’ biggest concern in a recent Reuters poll.

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