BAKU, Azerbaijan — The United States will move full-speed ahead on expanding energy including oil and gas, explained Republican lawmakers who arrived at the 29th annual United Nations climate summit in the wake of climate skeptic Donald Trump’s victory. It is a matter of national security, the members of Congress said.
However, the GOP congressmen also appeared to embrace some Democratic climate policies, and even the UN-backed government controls on carbon dioxide, a gas known to scientists as the “gas of life.” The Republicans also offered no resistance to the increasingly discredited hypothesis that human emissions of CO2 represent “pollution” that is causing dangerous “climate change.”
Public Perception
Aside from the vows to expand energy production, the remarks by GOP lawmakers are sharply out of touch with Americans generally, and especially with their own constituents. According to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, most Americans do not even believe the man-made global-warming hypothesis. That is especially true among Republicans, only one-third of whom believe the theory.
Meanwhile, only about one-third of Americans are willing to pay a single additional dollar on their monthly energy bill for “climate,” the survey found. The “carbon capture” and “emissions reductions” policies and technologies embraced by even the Republican members of the congressional delegation (Republicans Troy Balderson [Ohio], Morgan Griffith [Va.], John James [Mich.], Jay Obernolte [Calif.], and August Pfluger [Texas], and Democrats Edward Markey [Mass.] and Sheldon Whitehouse [R.I.]) would cost consumers and taxpayers countless billions, enriching megabanks, Big Oil, and other government cronies at public expense.
The embrace of man-made warming alarmism by GOP lawmakers also goes against recent comments made by President-elect Donald Trump. “One of the most urgent tasks, not only for our movement, but for our country, is to decisively defeat the climate hysteria hoax,” Trump argued during a 2022 talk lambasting “green” schemes. His nominee for energy secretary, Chris Wright, has also blasted the dishonest climate fearmongering.
Inflation Reduction Trap
The GOP congressional delegation would not even commit to overturning the Democrats’ highly controversial Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). That scheme, which U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told The New American last year was “inartfully named,” sent tens of billions of tax dollars to states to impose “green energy” programs while building a political constituency for climate alarmism.
This is exactly what Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) predicted last year in response to a question from The New American at COP28 in Dubai about Trump returning to the White House. Thanks to the handouts under the IRA, even Republican districts are now hooked, he said. “We’ll continue to move forward regardless,” concluded Coons, celebrating Democrats’ dishonest scheming.
Pfluger Touts CO2 Controls, but Notes Need for Change
During his remarks, House Energy Committee Chairman August Pfluger (R-Texas), who led the congressional delegation to the UN climate summit, repeatedly touted technologies to reduce CO2 emissions. And even when asked directly, he did not comment on what Trump may do on “climate finance” (wealth redistribution) or the UN Paris Agreement.
That UN deal, adopted in 2015 without U.S. Senate ratification, saw then-President Barack Obama promise to slash U.S. emissions and energy using executive decrees. Communist Chinese (CCP) rulers and other geopolitical foes, meanwhile, promised to keep increasing their own CO2 output.
Several of the lawmakers did point out that handing over economic dominance to the CCP under the guise of “climate” was foolish. Explained Pfluger:
A rush to a one-size-fits-all agenda has weakened our energy security and made us overly dependent on nations like China, the world’s largest polluter. China is responsible for almost 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than the entire developed world combined. And we cannot allow our energy future to be dictated by those who do not share our values.
Pfluger did recognize that Americans voted for change. Vowing U.S. energy expansion including oil and gas in the months ahead, he explained:
Last week, the people of the United States overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump’s promise to restore America’s energy dominance. The needs of the world are going to continue to include increased supply.
As part of that, Pfluger noted, Congress has the power to repeal broad segments of Biden’s climate schemes, including the Inflation Reduction Act, widely known as the single most significant federal climate legislation in history. Overlooking the role of massive currency creation by the Federal Reserve, though, Pfluger claimed that the Biden administration’s energy policies (many from the IRA) fueled dramatic increases in prices.
Noted the congressman, who represents the largest oil-and-gas-producing region in America:
The United States of America, like many other countries around the world, has seen this crazy inflation. Those costs, we believe, have a very strong tie to energy — unleashing affordable, reliable baseload capacity. If there are pieces and parts of the IRA that are not compatible with that, that’s going to be looked at in the 119th Congress starting in January.
Ironically, the Democratic climate scheme masquerading as “inflation reduction” poured fuel on the fire of inflation by spending more money and driving up energy prices. Despite the criticism, Pfluger did not offer any firm or specific commitments about which of the Democrats’ inflation-fueling energy policies might be rolled back, if any.
However, he did suggest it was very likely that broad parts of Biden’s deceitful “climate” bill would stay in place. In response to a question about “climate finance,” he said:
If there are pieces of the IRA that will support lower energy costs, helping Americans, helping our partners and allies have access to affordable, reliable energy, then I bet that those will stay in place.
Is CO2 Bad?
Buying into the underlying narrative pushed by the UN and its allies, Pfluger repeatedly boasted about reduced U.S. emissions as if it were something to gloat about. “Since 2007, our CO2 emissions from the energy sector alone have declined by 14.5 percent,” he gushed. “And from the electric sector, we’ve seen a remarkable drop of over 28 percent since 2005.”
While he did not specifically say why he thought the steep reductions in CO2 output were something to brag about, the Texas congressman said it was a “testament” to American businesses seeking a “cleaner, more sustainable future.” It was not clear what he thought was dirty or unsustainable about CO2, which is exhaled by all people and required by all plants. Human emissions of CO2 make up a fraction of one percent of all “greenhouse” gases in the atmosphere.
Touting Hydrocarbons and Emissions Controls
Other members of the delegation also touted hydrocarbon energy — and the escalating war on the invisible gas CO2, which former Trump climate advisor Dr. William Happer of Princeton told The New American should be celebrated and encouraged. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), for instance, promoted what he described as “clean coal power” burned using “carbon capture technology.” He also argued for using natural gas.
However, among other talking points, Griffith, whose district also produces hydrocarbon fuels, emphasized new “pollution control” and “emissions capture” technologies that will funnel billions to well-connected cronies:
We need to work to have a cleaner industry to address climate change throughout the world. I don’t think we’ve looked closely enough at new pollution control and emission capture technologies our country has.
Congressman Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), meanwhile, touted “fracking,” a method for extracting previously unreachable reserves of hydrocarbon energy, but then called for more “innovation” to suppress CO2. He said that GOP lawmakers are committed to turning America into a bastion of “innovation rather than regulation,” and suggested that even more resources would be squandered finding “innovations” to reduce CO2.
Supporting Nuclear, Fusion
U.S. Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), who serves as co-chairman of the “Fusion Energy Caucus,” also readily embraced the climate narrative pushed by the UN and Democrats, though he thought there were other ways to “meet” the objectives. “I am absolutely convinced it’s impossible for us as a worldwide community to meet our climate-change goals without nuclear,” he said.
Obernolte touted advancements in fission energy production and fusion energy, which may someday make hydrocarbon fuels irrelevant anyway. “Fusion energy will be by far the cleanest energy that mankind has ever learned how to produce,” he said. “And the environmental consequences of fusion are far lower than any other generation technology.” What such plentiful energy would mean for the climate agenda remains to be seen.
Congressman John James (R-Mich.) highlighted the national security implications involved, telling the summit:
Energy security is national security. And moreover, when America is energy independent, it greatly benefits our allies. The greatest example is just a few years ago, prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The invasion of Ukraine was funded in large part because of Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.
The Narrative
But despite the rhetoric promoting traditional energy sources, the Republican lawmakers at the summit were all participating in a very dangerous game by buying into — or at least pretending to buy into — the underlying UN narrative that human emissions of CO2 are “pollution” that is producing dangerous “climate change” or “global warming.”
As countless leading scientists, including Trump’s then-climate advisor Happer, have told The New American, CO2 is actually good for the planet. And as farmers know, there is currently not enough CO2 for plants to grow at optimal levels unless it is pumped into greenhouses. Historically, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have been far higher, with no problems at all for temperatures or sea levels.
The growing GOP embrace of the man-made warming hypothesis is aimed at introducing supposedly “conservative” solutions to the alleged “problem.” These include dangerous and costly “carbon capture” schemes, “cap and trade” programs, and the emergence of fraudulent “carbon markets.” These would allow the UN and its corporate allies to regulate, tax, and control humanity.
Just as importantly, the phony “solutions” will allow Big Banks and Big Oil to profit from an entirely new source: carbon trading. That is one reason why banking and hydrocarbon lobbyists are crawling all over the UN climate summit. Over a dozen Republican lawmakers have already asked congressional leaders to preserve Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act,” too, according to news reports.
GOP Carbon Markets
Writing at Unlimited Hangout, investigative journalist Whitney Webb noted that several key Trump transition-team leaders are deeply intertwined with the effort to impose a “carbon market” on humanity. In a report headlined “Get Ready for the Republican Carbon Market,” Webb names names and sounds the alarm, warning that, despite the historic GOP victory, the climate agenda is set to march on.
“Many of the most influential names in the incoming Trump administration, as well as the previous one, have become intimately involved in creating carbon markets in recent years, while others have a long-standing track record of pushing carbon taxes and other forms of ‘carbon pricing’,” wrote Webb. “Chief among these is Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of Trump’s transition team.”
Department of Government Efficiency co-leader Elon Musk, who has a major financial stake in the demonization of CO2, has also been a vocal proponent of carbon taxes. And EPA chief nominee Lee Zeldin has embraced the warming theory, too, even joining a handful of other alarmist Republicans in Congress to seek “climate solutions.”
But pushback is growing. The U.S. congressional delegation arrived just days after the Argentinian government withdrew their negotiators. The order to leave the UN summit was given shortly after Argentinian President Javier Milei, who has ridiculed the man-made global-warming hypothesis as a “socialist lie,” spoke to President-elect Trump.
To Stop or Not to Stop?
By contrast, outgoing U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm claimed at COP29 that the “transition” to “renewable” (government-backed, inefficient) energy would continue “regardless of who is actually occupying the White House.” That message echoed comments made by Coons, former EPA boss Gina McCarthy, and numerous other Democrats who have vowed that the “climate” scheming will keep going regardless of Trump or voters.
Speaking to Bloomberg News, founded by billionaire climate alarmist Michael Bloomberg, former secretary of state and “climate” czar John Kerry warned about the supposed damage Trump could do by withdrawing from the UN scheme. But, like other alarmists pushing the climate narrative, Kerry seemed confident that nothing would be able to stop the agenda now.
Knowing that virtually all attendees at the UN COP29 summit are either alarmists or pretending to be, it is possible that the Republican congressmen were just being diplomatic. However, if the GOP ends up embracing the dangerous and discredited notion of CO2 as “pollution” that must be “controlled,” the totalitarian agenda behind alarmism has already won, as the tyrants get to define the terms and control the battlefield.
As Trump said two years ago, destroying the climate hysteria hoax is essential — and not just for energy security, prosperity, and national sovereignty. The man-made warming theory underpins a highly calculated effort to undermine human liberty, prosperity, Christianity, and Western civilization. We must educate Republicans in Congress and beyond, and hold them accountable on this issue. The stakes could not be higher.
