Climate Action » James Inhofe

No Truth But Potential Consequences For Inhofe’s Strange Copenhagen Trip

Keith Schneider — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:26:05 +0000

By Keith Schneider
US Climate Action Network

COPENHAGEN — On the day that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showed up in Copenhagen to say that the U.S. would contribute to a global clean energy and climate action fund that could grow to $100 billion in spending by 2020, Senator James Inhofe also appeared in Copenhagen.

Earlier this month, the Oklahoma Republican and one of Capitol Hill’s fiercest critics of climate action, told reporters that he would travel to Copenhagen with a “truth squad.” Its express mission: dispute climate science and disrupt the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which ends tomorrow.

But the weight of urgency to meet tomorrow’s deadline and the intense diplomacy now occurring around the clock transformed the roar of perceived fact that Inhofe planned into a politically diminishing squeak. Briefly circled this morning by a group of reporters inside the Bella Center’s media center, Inhofe looked uncomfortable as he accused the news media here of “being on the far left,” asserted that climate science was “debunked,” and promised that the chance of the Senate approving a proposed climate and energy bill was “zero.”

Weak Appearance
Inhofe’s conservative allies in government and the media are certain to describe his visit as a heroic act of political principle – confront the lions of climate action in their own den and all that. But a more significant outcome of Inhofe’s three-hour Copenhagen visit could be the political consequence it may produce in Washington.

The Oklahoma Republican, who steadily elevated his career to national significance – in the model of former Alabama Governor George Wallace — through calculated confrontation and rhetoric strategically calibrated to excite and inflame, miscalculated every aspect of his trip here.

The timing was wrong. The audience was not receptive. And Inhofe’s message was a blur for foreign reporters – Senate politics, hijacked emails — and old news for American journalists.

Indeed, there was real news to report. The United States started the day here with a surprising commitment to help finance a $100 billion climate and energy fund, the first time the U.S. has formally recognized the magnitude of the investment needed globally. Clinton did not specify how much the U.S. would commit or its schedule, but did say that it was predicated on the Chinese allowing the world to measure and verify carbon reductions there.

The Chinese followed later in the day – no surprise — with assurances that it would be much more open and transparent in reporting progress on commitments it made last month to reduce carbon emissions.

A Day of Progress Ignores Oklahoma Senator
The climate negotiations, fraught with disagreement and slow progress for almost two weeks, clearly seemed to open up after both announcements. NGO experts close to the delegations said the talks were starting to move with more pace. The chance that the 192 nations here would reach a deal on climate change that makes a difference came into clearer focus. In other words, there is little space today in the momentous global conversation on climate and the economy for a whiny American senator from the Great Plains.

Inhofe, in short, left Copenhagen looking weak. No doubt, the Congressional delegation that also arrived here today, led by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, took note.

Inhofe’s revealing performance capped a tough week for free market conservatives in Copenhagen. Early in the week several meetings on climate science and the stolen emails, including one organized by Americans For Prosperity, an activist organization financed in part by coal and oil interests, attracted tiny audiences of less than a dozen participants. The stolen emails, flogged by Sarah Palin and the right as evidence of a conspiracy to cook the science on warming, were ignored in Copenhagen. Instead negotiators vigorously defended the scientific consensus on the causes of climate disruption and its consequences.

Oklahoma’s Favorite Son in DC
It’s too early to tell, of course, what effect Inhofe’s visit to Copenhagen will have on his standing in Washington. It’s almost certainly not going to injure his stature in Oklahoma.

Named a senator in 1994, to replace Senator David Boren, who resigned to assume the presidency of the University of Oklahoma, Inhofe has won with strong margins three times, the latest in 2008 by gaining 57 percent of the vote.

His primary financial support comes from the fossil fuel industries whose climate science-denying interests he vigorously advances. Since 2000, according to Oil Change International, the coal and oil industries have contributed $1.13 million to his campaigns. Oklahoma is the number three producer of natural gas, the number six producer of crude oil, and is home to seven big coal-fired power plants, according to the Energy Information Administration and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

And Inhofe’s role as one of President Barack Obama’s most aggressive opponents appears as secure as any in the Senate. Just 34 percent of Oklahoma’s voters supported the president in the 2008 election. Only Wyoming disapproved of the president more.

Keith Schneider, an environmental journalist, is media and communications director at US Climate Action Network. Reach him at kschneider@climatenetwork.org

“Immediate Operational Effect”: Climate Action Hotline, Dec. 1

USCAN — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:25:05 +0000

December 2, 2009

The countdown to Copenhagen began in earnest over the last week as the U.S., China, and India announced new emissions targets and other actions in a coordinated campaign to heighten expectations about reaching a global climate agreement that, in President Obama’s words, have “immediate operational effect.”

Meanwhile, opponents to climate action coordinated the release of a stolen cache of private email messages from a prominent climate science research unit in England. The perpetrators of the break-in have not been identified, nor is it known precisely when the hack job occurred. But the public release of the email conversations by scientists, designed to draw attention prior to the start of the Copenhagen climate conference, has attracted global cherry pickers who’ve taken snips of thoughts, strung them together, and sought to raise questions about the validity of the scientific consensus about the causes of a warming planet.

It’s an old axiom in public interest campaigning that you know you’re winning by how irresponsibly your opponents behave. The world is steadily marching to a logical conclusion to melting glaciers, drying global food bowls, intensifying storms, rising sea levels that are chasing islanders from their homes, and weather weirdness of every sort. Leaders of nations as diverse as China and India, Australia and the United States, Brazil and Spain, and more than 180 others are in agreement that significant measures must be taken to cool the planet and heat up the global economy. The decision by the Obama administration last week to announce formal U.S. emissions reductions targets, followed by equally significant measures taken by China and India are evidence of how seriously the world views the warming threat. That is why delegates from 192 nations, heads of state from 65 countries, and tens of thousands of climate activists from all over the world are on their way to Copenhagen.

The hacked emails, which follow last summer’s fraudulent letters to Congress, are powerful evidence of the understandable fear in the fossil fuel industry, and the allies they handsomely finance in government and the media, of the clean energy transition that is now unfolding worldwide. Deceit is now the global brand of those who oppose climate action.

Transition is the narrative of our time. Arguably no story of change is more important than the work to scrub the skies of climate changing pollution. In the struggle between grievance and hope, hope is winning.

For those of you on the way to Copenhagen, and also for those not going, check out our Copenhagen Climate Negotiations: The Briefing Book, a compendium of what you need to know and expect at the COP-15.

Until next week, take care, Keith Schneider

Hold Big Polluters Accountable

The EPA recently proposed a draft rule which would require the largest industrial facilities covering 70% of the country’s global warming pollution to obtain clean air permits. By generating a large number of grassroots comments into the docket in support of this rule we can strengthen the Administration’s hand in regulating greenhouse gases through the EPA and we can show Congress that Americans support action on clean energy and climate. The docket closes December 28.
Check out Sierra Club’s action alert.

For more information, contact jkurz@climatenetwork.org.

Obama Announces Emissions Target and Plan to Attend Talks

In a statement last week, the White House announced that President Obama will travel to Copenhagen on December 9 for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, along with a host of Cabinet secretaries. President Obama is also prepared to commit the U.S. to an emissions reduction target “in the range of 17% below 2005 levels” by 2020, in line with proposals in both houses of Congress.

A Scientific Hack Job That Won’t Cripple Climate Talks

Last week, the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Britain was the victim of hackers who made public thousands of electronic files and e-mails dating back to the 1990s. Climate change skeptics have tried to stir controversy, claiming the e-mails reveal plots to manipulate and misrepresent climate data, while CRU researchers have responded by saying their comments have been misunderstood and taken out of context.

China Sets Emissions Target

The world’s two largest emitters now have mitigation targets on the table, as China announced that it will reduce its carbon intensity 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Premier Wen Jiabao will also attend the negotiations next month in Copenhagen.

Senate Stepping Up Climate Debate Ahead of Copenhagen

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will meet with Senate committee leaders to discuss domestic climate and energy legislation pre-Copenhagen, while Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) are drafting an outline of their bipartisan legislative proposal.

India and U.S. Announce Climate Initiatives

During a three-day trip to Washington, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Obama pledged, “to take strong national mitigation actions” in working toward a “successful and substantive outcome” to negotiations in Copenhagen. The two countries also agreed to launch a Clean Energy and Climate Change Initiative, which includes cooperation in developing and improving access to clean technologies and energy efficiency measures.

Inhofe on Going to Copenhagen

In an interview with the New York Times, Senator James Inhofe discussed the reasons he plans to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. In particular, Inhofe suggests he will go to Copenhagen to act as “a one-man truth squad,” to tell negotiators that the Senate will not pass a cap-and-trade bill.

Kerry Urges Clinton to Increase Global Climate Aid

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today urging increased global aid to support international climate change priorities.

Fuel Efficiency Increases for 2008 Model Year

The EPA reported that the fleet-wide fuel economy for 2008 model year cars and trucks totaled 21 miles per gallon, continuing a five-year trend in falling emissions and rising efficiency that began in 2005. However, the EPA report finds Detroit’s Big Three automakers – General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler – last in average fuel economy out of the nine major automakers, with Honda leading the category for the past three years.

Major Investors Seek Disclosure of Climate Risks

A petition for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Committee to require disclosure of climate-related financial risks now includes signatories of major institutional investors with over $1 trillion in assets, along with six top state financial officers, and other labor groups. The investors argue numerous climate-related issues affect long-term corporate finances and should therefore be accounted for in investment decisions.

Climate Action Hotline is the new weekly update by the US Climate Action Network. Let us know what you think.

“It’s essential that all countries do what is necessary to reach a strong operational agreement that will confront the threat of climate change while serving as a stepping-stone to a legally binding treaty.”

-Barack Obama