GWPF | 11 Feb 2016
U.S. Attorneys General Say States Should Ignore Obama’s ‘Illegal’ Climate Rules
State attorneys general called on all states Wednesday to cease all activity on meeting the goals of President Obama’s far-reaching climate rules for power plants, given Tuesday night’s decision by the Supreme Court to stay the regulations. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is leading 29 states in a fight against the regulations, said on a call with reporters that the decision by the Supreme Court’s five conservative justices was “historic,” freezing Obama’s “illegal Clean Power Plan” and lifting all obligations to meet their deadlines until a federal appeals court makes a decision on the merits later this year. Morrisey said all states, even those that support the administration’s plan, are obligated under the court’s decision to stop all activity related to complying with the plan’s goals. –John Siciliano, Washington Examiner, 10 February 2016
Mr. Obama’s six years of governance-through-executive-order make his a fragile legacy. Unilateral gambits can be reversed by the next President, and the other branches of government are finally reasserting their constitutional powers. As anarchic as politics can seem these days, the American system of government is still on track—sometimes. –Editorial, The Wall Street Journal, 11 February 2016
The only consensus among climate scientists now is that taxpayer funding is really cool and climate researchers want a whole lot of it, forever. Well, those days are gone. –Tim Blair, The Daily Telegraph, 9 February 2016
1) U.S. Attorneys General Say States Should Ignore Obama’s ‘Illegal’ Climate Rules
Washington Examiner, 10 February 2016
2) Supreme Court’s Blow To Obama’s Green Agenda Casts Doubt Over His Paris Promises
The New York Times, 11 February 2016
3) Editorial: A Supreme Carbon Rebuke
The Wall Street Journal, 11 February 2016
4) Australia To Sack Hundreds Of Climate Scientists Because ‘The Science Is Done’
The Independent, 9 February 2016
5) Tim Blair: Climate Science Is Settled, Except When It’s Not
The Daily Telegraph, 9 February 2016
6) CSIRO Boss Attacks Climate Lobby: ‘More Like Religion Than Science’
ABC News, 10 February 2016
The Supreme Court’s surprise decision Tuesday to halt the carrying out of President Obama’s climate change regulation could weaken or even imperil the international global warming accord reached with great ceremony in Paris less than two months ago, climate diplomats say. In the capitals of India and China, the other two largest polluters, climate change policy experts said the court’s decision threw the United States’ commitment into question, and possibly New Delhi’s and Beijing’s. “If the U.S. Supreme Court actually declares the coal power plant rules stillborn, the chances of nurturing trust between countries would all but vanish,” said Navroz K. Dubash, a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. “This could be the proverbial string which causes Paris to unravel.” –Coral Davenport, The New York Times, 11 February 2016
When President Obama hasn’t had his way on climate, immigration and so much else, he’s rewritten the law and dared critics to stop him. Well, the Supreme Court has accepted his invitation with an extraordinary rebuke. On Tuesday the High Court put a legal stay on the Administration’s rules to control carbon emissions in the states, known as the Clean Power Plan, pending judicial review. The stay means in practice that the Clean Power Plan is stopped cold through Mr. Obama’s Presidency, and states can safely ignore the EPA’s threats until the courts rule on the merits. Even Democratic Governors may decide to wait given the uncertainty and billions of dollars their taxpayers would have to foot. –Editorial, The Wall Street Journal, 11 February 2016
During the past decade, researchers at the CSIRO — along with global warming alarmists everywhere — have been telling us that the “science is settled” when it comes to climate change. In other words, they’ve delivered their verdict. Bad move. Reasonably enough, with that question answered, Marshall is now taking steps to throw most of the CSIRO’s climate researchers out on the street like common circus midgets. More than 300 climate scientists are set to be dismissed over the next couple of years. “Climate will be all gone, basically,” one senior scientist told Fairfax as news of the cuts emerged. Naturally, this caused an immediate reversal of opinion among Australia’s cashed-up climate change community. Suddenly the science wasn’t settled at all. In fact, the science was almost completely unknown! –Tim Blair, The Daily Telegraph, 9 February 2016
I feel like the early climate scientists in the ’70s fighting against the oil lobby. I guess I had the realisation that the climate lobby is perhaps more powerful than the energy lobby was back in the ’70s – and the politics of climate I think there’s a lot of emotion in this debate. In fact it almost sounds more like religion than science to me. I’ve been told by some extreme elements that they’ve put me at the top of the climate deniers list and what perplexes me is how saying that we’re going to shift more resources to mitigation – i.e. doing something to address climate change versus just measuring and modelling it – I don’t see how that makes me a climate denier. –CSIRO chief Larry Marshall, ABC News, 10 February 2016
1) U.S. Attorneys General Say States Should Ignore Obama’s ‘Illegal’ Climate Rules
Washington Examiner, 10 February 2016
John Siciliano
State attorneys general called on all states Wednesday to cease all activity on meeting the goals of President Obama’s far-reaching climate rules for power plants, given Tuesday night’s decision by the Supreme Court to stay the regulations.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is leading 29 states in a fight against the regulations, said on a call with reporters that the decision by the Supreme Court’s five conservative justices was “historic,” freezing Obama’s “illegal Clean Power Plan” and lifting all obligations to meet their deadlines until a federal appeals court makes a decision on the merits later this year.
“Don’t let them [the administration] spin out of this, this is a very significant win,” he said.
The Clean Power Plan is the centerpiece of the president’s agenda to fight climate change. The plan requires states to cut their greenhouse gas emissions a third by 2030, which the 29 states argue is an unconstitutional imposition of the federal government on states. The White House said Tuesday night that it will continue to work with states on compliance, downplaying the court’s decision as procedural.
Morrisey said all states, even those that support the administration’s plan, are obligated under the court’s decision to stop all activity related to complying with the plan’s goals. The Environmental Protection Agency requires states to begin filing plans on meeting the plan’s goals, or ask for extensions, beginning in September.
A number of state utility and environmental regulators, with governor-appointed energy officials, were in Washington to hold a two-day meeting on Clean Power Plan compliance when the decision came down from the court. Morrisey said it is a waste of state resources for them to continue their planning with a stay in place.
“States and utilities are not required to prepare a plan,” Morrisey said. He added that the need to change state laws and energy portfolios to comply with the emission regulation “are stayed as well.” The court’s decision says “put down your pencils because EPA has no authority,” he said.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy is slated to address the regulators Thursday.
Morrisey told reporters on the call that the court’s decision gives states the confidence they will prevail on the merits of their case in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is scheduled to hear the case in June. He said the justices would have never halted the rule if they didn’t believe the chances are high the states will win on the strength of their arguments.
2) Supreme Court’s Blow To Obama’s Green Agenda Casts Doubt Over His Paris Promises
The New York Times, 11 February 2016
Coral Davenport
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s surprise decision Tuesday to halt the carrying out of President Obama’s climate change regulation could weaken or even imperil the international global warming accord reached with great ceremony in Paris less than two months ago, climate diplomats say.
The Paris Agreement, the first accord to commit every country to combat climate change, had as a cornerstone Mr. Obama’s assurance that the United States would enact strong, legally sound policies to significantly cut carbon emissions. The United States is the largest historical greenhouse gas polluter, although its annual emissions have been overtaken by China’s.
But in the capitals of India and China, the other two largest polluters, climate change policy experts said the court’s decision threw the United States’ commitment into question, and possibly New Delhi’s and Beijing’s.
