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hatrack

(59,436 posts)
Thu Feb 6, 2020, 09:10 AM Feb 2020

Shitstain's Big Speech: Lies On US Energy Independence, Not A Single Word On Warming

EDIT

"America is now energy independent," Trump said in his address to the joint session of a deeply divided Congress. But his Energy Department's own figures show that the U.S. is importing some 9 million barrels of oil per day, or 45 percent of the 20 million barrels a day the nation consumes. By contrast, when the Arab oil embargo pummeled the U.S. economy in 1973, the nation was only importing 6.2 million barrels per day, or just 37 percent of its oil. In fact, the U.S. energy sector has become dependent on other nations in another way—the oil and gas industry is relying on Trump to continue to smooth its path to greater exports, as it did in the newly negotiated North American free trade agreement. Without access to those foreign markets, oil and gas prices would be too low for U.S. producers to turn a profit.

Producers also have relied on Trump to help cut their costs through deregulation. And indeed, embedded in Trump's boasts about energy production was a defense of his relentless policy of eliminating environmental protections—more than 60 major actions to relieve industry of government requirements to cut greenhouse gases or protect land, air, or water, according to the Brookings Institution, a center-left think tank.

EDIT

Trump gave only a hint that he is aware of the forces that Cramer and Wall Street are watching. As in his previous State of the Union addresses, he did not mention "climate change." But he did reprise the promise he made at the World Economic Forum in Davos to join an initiative to plant one trillion trees. It seemed a subtle sign of the White House's recognition of the potential vulnerability Trump faces on his environmental record. A more obvious sign of concern was an unusual, lengthy statement released by Trump's Environmental Protection Agency administrator, former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, after the speech. Wheeler touted Trump's environmental record, including the replacement of the Obama Clean Power Plan with a weak alternative that "will reduce CO2 while allowing energy generation at an affordable price."

But with the first results in the 2020 presidential race now coming in, it seems clear that at least Democratic voters are intently focused on the costs of continued inaction on climate. In Iowa, where climate change was second only to health care as a key issue for voters, unabashed climate hawk Bernie Sanders took the popular vote, while Pete Buttagieg—the moderate who has crafted a rural-focused climate plan and opposes pipeline expansion—led in the delegate count. The coming months will tell whether Trump will be able to navigate the swelling public alarm on climate change in the meager vessel of his energy dominance narrative and the pledge of a trillion trees.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05022020/state-of-the-union-donald-trump-climate-change-energy-independence

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