Believe it or don’t, Mitch McConnell that longtime champion of the coal industry, has emerged as the John Muir of the Kentucky Republican congressional delegation.
That’s right. According to the League of Conservation Voters, which annually issues a report card on congressional votes related to the environment, the Senate GOP leader from Louisville has shown himself to be a real tree-hugger, outdistancing the other members of the Republican delegation by a wide margin.
According to the LCV, McConnell registered pro-environment votes an astounding 9 percent of the time – that’s right, a rollicking nine times out of 100 — during the second session of the 117th Congress that ended in January. That places him well ahead of fellow Kentuckian and former best-friend-in-the-world, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, who came in at 4 percent.
Meanwhile, the gang in the lower chamber, Rep. James Comer, R-Whereverhehangshishatishishome, Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green (winner of the Most Anonymous Member of Congress Award), Rep, Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, and Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, all came in at a whopping five percent.
Which leaves us with the electric-car-driving, self-proclaimed greenest member of Congress, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-SomewhereorotherLewisCounty, who produced a result matching John Blutarsky’s grade point average – 0.0.
(Yeah, I’ve used that line before but I couldn’t pass it up).
Apparently, our Wonder Boy considers himself environmentally conscience but wouldn’t stand in the way if others decide to burn the joint down.
Now, it would be misleading to say that every vote graded by the League of Conservation voters had a direct and understandable link to the environment. Issues dealing with abortion access, court appointments and changing filibuster rules, for instance, can be considered tangential.
But all five lower chamber GOP lawmakers, for instance opposed final passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, moved by Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, then-chair of the House Budget Committee, now retired, which stands as the single largest investment in climate action in U.S. history, investing about $369 billion on environmental initiatives, clean energy and environmental justice.
The LCV analysis noted that the measure provided incentives for clean renewable energy, domestic manufacturing, clean vehicles, innovative technologies and energy efficiency that, it claims, will save families hundreds of dollars annually.
The bill also invested $60 billion in areas like environmental and climate justice block grants, clean ports, the Superfund tax reinstatement and a methane emissions fee and reductions.
“Taken as a whole, however, the IRA is a once-in-a-generation bill that makes transformational investments to protect the planet from current and future climate devastation,” LVC said.
And the entire Kentucky GOP House gang lined up against it.
If that weren’t enough, every GOP member of the state’s House delegation supported an amendment to rescind U.S. participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opposed the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act which included funding for the creation of a domestic supply chain for renewable energy materials, opposed the establishment of an Office of Climate Resilience within the White House to coordinate climate activities across all governmental agencies and embraced various measures to cut funding for various programs, including historic funding levels for the Environmental Protection Agency.
It’s obvious by now that Kentucky Republicans in Washington won’t be asked to serve on the Sierra Club Board of Directors. Their record is awful. Overall, the House total grade jumped a bit to 19 percent thanks solely to the departed Yarmuth who supported the LVC position 95 percent of the time.
All of this comes at a time when the world is overcome by weather conditions that establish an urgent need to deal with global climate change, an issue that Wonder Boy Massie and his mates snub at almost every given opportunity, usually as a result of being subservient to the commonwealth’s waning coal industry.
In the past few months, the nation has experienced a blanket of smoky haze over much of its eastern sector as a result of wildfires in Canada. Western Maui was in flames just a few short days ago.
California was hit by the first tropical storm in that region since 1858. Earlier this month Phoenix finally ended a record 31-day streak of temperatures in excess of 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Tornados wrecked Mayfield and Dawson Springs. A severe drought settled over parts of Louisiana and Texas due to the unrelenting heat and ocean temperatures are rising.
Reports are that the high temperature in Louisville on Friday will reach 99 degrees, which could set or tie a record for the date. The average high is around 87 degrees.
Let’s be clear, it’s late August and it can get kinda hot in Louisville and, indeed, every other corner of the state. Kentucky, especially the western half, is susceptible to tornados. But the accumulation of weather incidents here, there and everywhere points to the global population’s inability, or indifference, in dealing with climate change.
According to Earth.com, carbon dioxide in the air has reached 419.76 parts per million, the highest level in 4 million years. Worldwide temperatures have increased by slightly more than two degree Fahrenheit since pre-industrial days. Temperatures in Antarctica have recently been recorded at 68 degrees. There is permafrost melt in Arctic regions and locusts are swarming parts of Africa.
Now maybe – maybe – some of these events can be brushed off as the normal order of things. But certainly not all of them. Given the opportunity on numerous occasions to address the situation, Kentucky Republican lawmakers have turned their backs.
They’re not the only ones. Most of the participants in the GOP presidential candidate debate Wednesday night started looking for the exit door when a climate change question was raised. Vivek Ramaswamy, a wealthy businessman who, like former President Donald J. Trump, is jumping into electoral politics for the first time by seeking the presidency, proved to be a global climate change denier, rejecting all evidence to the contrary.
“Let us be honest as Republicans,” Ramaswamy said. “I’m the only person on the stage who isn’t bought and paid for, so I can say this — the climate change agenda is a hoax.”
He wasn’t finished.
“And so the reality is more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change,” he added.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis changed the subject by criticizing President Biden’s response to the wildfires in Hawaii. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley sought to shield the U.S. from any responsibility, shifting the blame to nations like China and India.
And the guy who wasn’t there, the Trumpster, preparing for his arraignment on election interference charges in Atlanta, has long been an advocate for what he dishonestly has referred to as “beautiful, clean coal,” the burning of which has contributed mightily to global warming problems.
In the end it might not matter. For one thing the world may have already run out of time. But then there’s the Supreme Court. The conservative majority, in a 6-3 vote on June 30, cited something called “the major questions doctrine” in a ruling that basically prohibits the EPA from adopting regulations that affect the economy unless Congress has specifically authorized the agency to address a specific problem, like climate change.
Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts held that the agency must point to clear congressional authorization for the power it claims.
Given the makeup of the Republican majority in the House, coupled with the filibuster power available to the Republican minority in the Senate, led by McConnell, the EPA and President Biden may find they have their hands tied in dealing with the scourge of global climate change
Oh well, let’s leave it to future generations to deal with shvitzing in 117 degree temperatures in that new Atlantic Ocean resort on the shores of Possum Trot.
