Washington – Republican lawmakers have organized into an offensive to undermine President Obama’s Clean Energy Plan to reduce polluting sources of energy and to tackle global warming. The offensive includes outreach to foreign officials to seed doubts about the President’s climate policies at home and abroad.
In all parts of America they are experiencing the unavoidable consequences of climate change: rising temperatures, rising seas accompanied by brutal storms, disrupted precipitation patterns and more severe weather events. After Obama’s last visit to Alaska and Exit retreating glacier, he has stated that he will work for controlling the U.S. carbon emissions and reversing climate change before it’s too late.
“Human activity is disrupting the climate, in many ways faster than we previously thought. The science is stark. It is sharpening. It proves that this once-distant threat is now very much in the present” the President said.
Obama remarked the progress made in the last six years regarding cleaner energy. America now generates 20 times as much solar power as it did in 2008, and today 60 million consumers have access to detailed information about how much energy we use, how we use it, and when we use it; but congressional Republicans are mocking Obama’s climate protection policies and working to frustrate them.
The GOP strategy includes sowing doubts about Obama’s climate policies at home and abroad through Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office, trying to block key environmental regulations in Congress, and challenging the legitimacy of the president’s attempts to craft a global agreement without submitting a treaty to the Senate.
The Administration is targeting a 26-28 percent emissions cuts by 2025, by passing a universal, legally-binding deal to limit emissions at the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Paris in December.
“[…] a weak try hardly described as honest, courageous, or responsible in the face of a crisis that threatens the continued existence of humanity” is what a group of scientists and environmental leaders have described the President’s target.
Main opponents argue that is it mainly a political trick to put the issue of climate change squarely back on the political agenda in the upcoming presidential election season and force candidates, especially the Republicans, to take a stance on the issue whether they want to or not.
McConnell’s strategy
“Proceed with caution before entering into a binding, unattainable deal with Obama […] consider two-thirds of the U.S. federal government hasn’t signed off on the president’s plans” is what McConnell has warned foreign leaders about the President’s policies.
In reality republicans have no actual way of interfering with the Paris Climate Summit in December and Obama’s domestic strategy relies on executive branch regulations independent from Congress, but if the GOP retakes the White House in 2016 it could threaten the execution of Obama’s policies. Also McConnell tactics are partly aimed at countries that have expressed their doubts about United States’ good intentions regarding climate change.
Source: Reuters