Obama’s Bipolar Approach To Energy And Climate Change

[RiverLover]

Obama’s Bipolar Approach To Energy And Climate Change
6/13/15

With less than two years to go in office, President Obama has already sealed his fate with regards to his legacy on climate change. When historians look back and assess his actions on what could be one of the biggest issues of his presidency, they will undoubtedly be using the term “disappointing” quite a bit.

The main problem is not that he has ignored the issue as his predecessor, President George W. Bush, did; it is that he has consistently said one thing about the threat of climate change and then done the exact opposite of what he has called for.


.... But what is unique in this situation is President Obama’s constant public reminders that climate change is a threat to the United States, proclamations that are typically followed by an anti-environment executive action.

These past few weeks have given more great examples of the President’s bipolar disorder on climate change.

At the end of May, the Bureau of Land Management announced that it would issue a total of 28 new coal mining leases for the Powder River Basin. Greenpeace points out that the amount of coal that could be excavated and burned from just these new coal leases is enough to completely negate (and surpass) the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that would be cut by President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. In sum, Obama’s most ambitious action on climate change is already being made useless by his administration’s decision to lease more coal mining operations.

...But seven years later, President Obama’s stance on offshore drilling has clearly changed. Rather than worrying about the immediate economic impacts, and certainly without considering the environmental impacts, President Obama has proposed opening up previously off-limits areas of the Atlantic coast for oil drilling; he has increased the number of offshore oil drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico (after he presided over the single largest environmental disaster ever to take place in the Gulf); and he’s even allowed the fracking industry to operate in near secrecy in the Gulf of Mexico.

It seems like every action the president has taken to combat climate change has been met by an equal attempt to appease the dirty energy industry.

http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/06/13/obama-s-bipolar-approach-energy-and-climate-change

From Ring of Fire~

(xposted in E & E Group)

[cali]

1. He gives wonderful lip service to the environment and climate change

He takes actions that could help and then spins around and takes an equal or greater action that negates his previous actions entirely and actually moves us backward from his stated goals.

In other words, it's one step forward, two steps back.

He wants to be lauded for doing something about climate change and protecting the environment but he seems to need to placate big oil and gas and the rest of the corporate world.

He won't be remembered well on the environment or climate change.

In fact, I'll hazard a guess that history won't be kind to him in a number of areas.

[RiverLover]

2. I agree.

Its just a shame. Never have I seen the country as energized around issues and change for the better as I did in 2008. Only to have more of the same.

[MisterP]

13. just like his foreign and social policies, I'm afraid

[Agony]

3. Powder River Coal! mmmmmm! Warren Buffet's favorite cash cow

no surprise about Powder River coal leases since the iconic philanthropist and supporter of Democrats makes those mega-dollars he donates from shipping coal with his BNSF railroad duopoly. What politician would knowingly cut off their own supply of oxygen?

from Wikipedia:
Warren Buffett and coal

Buffett's holdings include the $44 billion purchase of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway in 2009, and 90 percent of MidAmerican Energy, a utility that operates 11 coal-fired power plants, four of them in Wyoming. In November 2010, Warren Buffett and billionaire Bill Gates, a Berkshire director, visited the Black Thunder Mine in Wyoming, the biggest coal mine in the country. On March 22, 2011, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar opened 750 million-2.4 billions tons of coal on public lands in Wyoming's section of the Powder River Basin.[3][4] It was reported in March 2012 that it was unlikely Buffett was interested in investing in the coal sector.[5]
Mid-American Energy

In 2007, Buffett's PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of his MidAmerican Energy, cancelled six proposed coal-fired power plants. These included Utah's Intermountain Power Project Unit 3, Jim Bridger Unit 5, and four proposed plants previously included in PacifiCorp's Integrated Resource Plan. The cancellations came in the wake of pressure from regulators and citizen groups, including a petition drive organized by Salt Lake City commercial real estate broker Alexander Lofft and directed at Buffett personally. The 1,600 petitioners, who described themselves in a letter to Buffett as "a collection of citizens, business owners and managers, service professionals, public servants, and organization representatives ... your friends and new customers here in Utah," explained that, in their view, any further expansion of coal generation in Utah would "compromise our health, obscure our viewsheds, shrink and contaminate our watersheds, and thin out our most beloved snowpack," concluding that "our attractiveness as a place to live and work is also threatened, and so is our economic competitiveness as a major metro area and a state, compromising our recent gains in income and property values."[6]
BNSF Railway

In November 2009 Berkshire Hathaway bought Burlington Northern Railroad, known as BNSF Railway, for $34 billion.[7] According to BNSF's website, the coal the railway hauls each year could produce more than 10 percent of the nation's total electricity. BNSF supplies 60 utilities in 28 states, as well as power plants in Canada, Mexico, Asia, and Europe. In 2008, BNSF transported 297 million tons of coal.[8] 90% of the coal BNSF transports is mined in the Powder River Basin.[9]

[RiverLover]

5. Thanks for this additional info.

Loved your line~

"What politician would knowingly cut off their own supply of oxygen?"

They just don't care if their great-grandkids won't be able to breathe.

[nc4bo]

4. There's a pattern....

it's not just with environmental and energy issues. I'm sure many would strongly object if a candidate had this type track record during a GE year.

But it's not, he can't run again and it is what is, I guess we have to suck it all up

[polichick]

6. Smoke and mirrors.

[GreatGazoo]

7. If the man who was elected in 2000 was allowed to take office

we might have made real progress on climate change.

Btw, love the appropriate freeze frame of Obama looking warm in the context of climate change.

[Vinca]

8. Sometimes you feel like a victim of "bait and switch."

I'm particularly upset about arctic drilling. It's a 100% certainty there will be a spill and they have no plans for how to clean it up . . . or if it could even be done.

[hatrack]

9. They couldn't even move the same rig last time without running aground . . .

Oh, and did I mention the dry holes?

[99Forever]

10. This is typical Obama, in fact, all neoliberals, across the board.

Talk talk one way, then do the opposite.

Anyone tired of being played for suckers yet?

Yes?

Vote Sanders 2016.

[RiverLover]

11. Neoliberals. Bingo!

Neoliberalism poisons everything

[ananda]

12. Since Obama is basically a Corporatist and has been from day one...

... it can't be easy not being a climate change denier.