How, I wonder, do climate-denying Americans manage to ignore the mounting evidence of climate change? I suppose I can understand that people might once have dismissed the overwhelming majority of scientists who’ve been warning us for many years. After all, the changes we actually have experienced until recently–things like spring coming earlier each year–have been subtle. But you’d think our recent episodes of weather disasters, the fires following unusual droughts, and the hurricanes made more powerful and destructive thanks to their paths over warming oceans, would have convinced them.
Evidently not. At least not Hoosier Republicans.
Not only did Mike Braun and Jim Banks vote against added funding for FEMA, Braun and Rokita have opposed Indiana utilities plans to phase out their dependence on coal. According to the Capital Chronicle, Braun just sent a letter to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) opposing a coal plant’s proposed conversion to natural gas.
He urged commissioners to deny the conversion, and encouraged collaboration with policymakers to preserve coal’s role — “the most reliable baseload fuel” — while “looking to the future.”
Todd Rokita, Indiana’s embarrassing Attorney General, has been an even more avid protector of the fossil fuel. As another article from the Chronicle has reported, the Attorney general has urged utility regulators to deny early coal plant retirements.
Coal plants have historically had 50-year lifespans, according to a 2019 article published in Nature Communications. But they can last longer with fixes and upgrades.
U.S. coal plants are about 44 years old, in a capacity-weighted average, according to an analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Plants scheduled for retirement this year averaged 54 years of age: almost a decade older.
But coal plants decommissioned amid their expected decades-long lives have become a political flashpoint.
The IURC says it lacks the authority to prevent a utility from converting from coal–that the agency’s jurisdiction is limited to assessing the reasonableness of rates and other tasks spelled out in the legislation that established it. Rokita, however, argues that the IURC doesn’t need explicit authority. Meanwhile, Indiana’s Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would grant the IURC that specific authority. The article noted that the legislature might also require that such action be made mandatory and not discretionary.
House Bill 1382, introduced last session, would’ve spelled that out. It also laid out conditions utilities would’ve had to meet in order to apply for permission to close any “fossil fuel fired” plant. The proposal never got a hearing and died.
The Hoosier Environmental Council said that bill would slow Indiana’s transition away from coal, a dirty fossil fuel, to greener energy sources.
“Besides adding an unnecessary burden to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, this bill encourages our public utilities to keep their current energy generation sources running as long as possible, which are majority fossil fuels,” the council said on its website.
Indiana’s GOP characterizes concern for the environment as an attribute of “far Left liberalism.”
The digitally-altered Braun attack ad against Jennifer McCormick is telling. (It was also illegal…) That altered ad was intended to demonstrate to Hoosier voters that McCormick is “unacceptably liberal.” The evidence for that assertion included her prior support for Hillary Clinton and her current support for Joe Biden, a purported attack on gas stoves, and her intention to create a state office that would focus on environmental issues.
The altered ad was visually and textually dishonest. McCormick had never even mentioned gas stoves, and has made it clear that she’s concerned with weightier matters–like women’s reproductive rights. But that accusation was clearly intended to buttress the case for her “unacceptable liberalism.”
What is truly notable about that bit of egregious dishonesty is the obvious assumption that voters will agree with its premise: the only Americans who take climate change seriously are “far Left”– that people who care about the environment are by definition “too liberal” for public office.
According to Indiana’s GOP, basic scientific literacy–not to mention common sense–is disqualifying.
I don’t understand when climate change became a culture war issue. I don’t understand people who dismiss knowledge and expertise as some sort of phony elitism. And I really don’t understand how anyone even remotely aware of Hurricanes Helene and Norman can continue to ignore the evidence of their senses.
The Republicans’ rejection of fact, science and evidence does explain the party’s animosity toward education, and GOP support for the vouchers that encourage parents to send their children to schools that will “protect” them from “theories” like evolution and climate change.
It’s just another example of Republicans’ rejection of reality. Hoosiers need to vote Blue.
Very timely issue, Shiela.
We relocated from Indianapolis to Asheville N.C. last March. Three weeks ago two separate storms back to back hit Buncombe County. The first was a heavy rainstorm that saturated the watershed then the eye of Hurricane Helene followed what weather experts rated a 1,000 year event. Buncombe County was hardest hit than other affected counties in North Carolina.
I do not even have adequate language to describe devastation to our community. Swift water rescue teams still searching for missing people. Overnight, our community became a third world nightmare with skilled rescue teams immediately summoned from other states thanks to FEMA.
Braun would do well to consult with his Republican colleague, Congressman Edwards in our Congressional District 11, North Carolina, before initiating legislative action to reduce funding of FEMA. Power restoration crews came to North Carolina from sixteen states and Canada. Once again, thanks to immediate mobilization from FEMA once state officials declared a disaster. All they had to do was look out their own window to witness a catastrophe.
I do not know if Indiana showed up among the sixteen states, but believe me people here as in other states have long memories who showed up (what comes round goes round)… including an aspiring politician like Braun defunding FEMA based on spurious claims for lack of evidence of climate change. Perhaps for Braun the story of Noah in The Bible is just another fairy tale. Poor Braun! He may be confused who to listen to to swell his far right base.
Back to work. Thank you Sheila for the thoughtful post today.
Further search … YES:
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/hoosier-helpers-stepping-up-after-hurricane-helene-indiana-task-force-1-one-north-carolina/531-59b80b1f-fa4f-4d0c-94b3-50eba298c414
A crew from Indiana did show up in North Carolina and immediately tasked by FEMA to McDowell County N.C. Did Braun consult with Hoosiers before deciding to initiate defunding of FEMA?
“How you can profit from Armageddon”
Norris, my heart goes out to you and your family as it does to all of those caught up in these recent disasters. Recovery from such events will be long and hard, but with the help of the entire nation it will happen. One of the obstacles to recovery is the continued blind and obstinate resistance to change as demonstrated by Braun and Banks.
Going forward, could you please keep us all informed of what is happening there and how we may help?
I see today’s Republican party as being stuck in the past. With school vouchers, they want to preserve the past’s segregation. As for climate change, they want to preserve the past when we burned coal and they want to preserve coal mining jobs. They are against teaching evolution because they want to preserve the past’s literal interpretation of the Bible. As far as reproductive freedom is concerned, Republicans want to return us to a time before the birth control pill was invented and abortions were done in back rooms. As for vaccinations, they want to go back to an era when children died of infections. In summary, today’s Republican party is about bigotry and anti-science. Let’s not go back. Vote Blue!
“I don’t understand when climate change became a culture issue.”
It happened when fossil fuel companies realized that responding to it would cut into their profits and mounted a very deliberate campaign to deny it. For evidence of this, read “Merchants of Doubt.”
Author’s name is Naomi Oreskes.
Lately I have heard grudging acknowledgment of global warming* by conservatives, but now they argue we can’t do anything about it because China, India, etc. continue to build coal fired power plants.
* Frank Luntz, pollster and strategist found Republican focus groups thought “climate change” sounded less alarmist.
Until Helene, Asheville was considered, “out of the zone” for hurricanes. I bought my home in Ft. Myers in 2003, when it seemed that a major hurricane would only hit here about once in 30 years. Now, we know that that has changed rather dramatically. We’ve had Ian, Idalia, Helene, and Milton in 2 years. The only good thing I can say about it is, since Ian took my roof, I didn’t have to quibble with the roofing company about the relatively minor damage from Milton.
Senator Scott, famous for pulling off the biggest heist of Medicare in history, complained that FEMA is underfunded, until people started telling Floridians that he voted against funding for FEMA. I would also like to note that, when on the stand at the trial, he seemed to have amnesia (looks like a continuing condition). He just didn’t remember signing that document or approving this or that. He never paid any fines or fees and he didn’t do a minute of time behind bars.
I did wonder if Mr. Braun has already been appointed as governor? Am I wrong in thinking that orders to IURC should come from Mr. Holcomb?
Republicans complaining about “socialist Democrats” out of one side of their mouths while dictating business decisions to a company out of the other? I’m shocked! Shocked!
Milton, not Norman, btw.
Greed is the answer, I believe, when it comes to the politicos. Either they are being funded by coal entities, and they think that challenging them would cost, or
accepting climate change to be real, would be too “woke.”
I think that we who engage in Sheila’s blog are not afraid of science, and the evidence the scientific method uncovers. But the MAGA crowd, and many right-leaning people, I believe, have long dismissed science as elitist fluff, despite the FACT that it has brought them cell phones, computers, and so much more.
As for the likes of Rokita and Braun, my comments would not be proper on a “family oriented” platform such as this.
Great comments above!
I believe the Koch-owned puppets of the GOP have let themselves be known. You would think that a business owner like Braun (who claims to reject government interference and be pro-market) would be the last person advocating for a regulatory body to tell a publicly-owned company what it can and cannot do. That is the role of the shareholders/members.
What about the free market moving toward alternative fuels besides those owned by Koch and his ilk?
The hypocrisy is rich within the GOP.
The lies they spew are more than sickening. I am tired of fact-checking for my social media “friends” when they post a lie directly from Trump or any other Republican. And most of those lies are spewed on Fox News. Mourdock has placed lies on the same plane as truths in the US. As long as Republicans can run to Fox News and spew whatever they want without being fact-checked, the lemmings on the right will continue jumping off the cliff and making an ass of themselves.
For those interested, FEMA established its own webpage to debunk rumors because of all the Trump and MAGATs lies. #sad
https://www.fema.gov/disaster/recover/rumor/hurricane-rumor-response
Indiana government’s relationship with corporate donors reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon about the relationship between his company’s marketing and sales department:
“Marketing people don’t screw our customers, they just hold the customer while the salesman screws him.”
I worked for IPL for a dozen years. They used to burn a LOT of coal. While I was there, they shut down the old coal fired Martinsville power plant. It was built in the 1950’s. Next to it they built a new Combined Cycle Gas Generation Plant, which is a fancy way of saying they built two gas turbine powered generators and then used the waste heat to run a steam powered turbine powered generator. Before I left IPL they were working on adding to their solar and wind portfolios, usually working in partnership with other companies rather than outright ownership, since the company expertise was not in either of those areas. The warehouse sized building right off of South Harding street is a pioneering battery storage unit that is designed to be a key factor in grid reliability. After I left IPL, they converted all of the coal fired units at Harding Street to burn natural gas, saving them half a billion dollars in coal exhaust scrubber upgrades while lowing the cost of the fuel supply and now they don’t have to deal with coal ash either. Burning coal is nasty. There is mandatory employee safety training on how to avoid exposure to coal ash. It contains arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, and other heavy toxic metals. Burning it releases those and sulfur into the atmosphere as well. They are converting the Petersburg plant to gas, and adding $500 million in battery storage and $500 million in solar. So there has basically been no decrease in base load capacity, increases in reliability and in all of these conversions, much more of the power comes from green sources. All of this is happing at lower cost than maintaining the old coal fired plants. The future is NOT burning coal.
As for gas stoves, my wife and I cook at home 5 days a week. It is our relaxing time. We owned a gourmet gas stove with six burners and big exhaust fan. I used to declare that I would never give up my gas stove. We downsized and the new place is all electric and we UPGRADED to an electric induction range. It heats quicker than gas. The surfaces stay cooler than gas or old electric stoves, so they stay cleaner and are easier to clean. There is so much less heat in the kitchen because all of the energy goes directly into only heating the pan. The control is just as sensitive as gas AND it is even more responsive than gas since the burner doesn’t heat up and as soon as you turn off the heat, there is no additional heat to transfer to the pan. I don’t have to worry about handles of pans or spoons heating up. I don’t worry about catching towels on fire now either. I don’t have to worry about exhausting gas combustion byproducts or extra heat out of the house either. We now have something much better than a gas stove and now we just need to overcome 50 years of lobbying by the American Gas Association and educate people on the benefits of electric induction ranges. Unfortunately, right now induction ranges are more expensive and some pans won’t work on a induction range, so there is some premium to upgrade. If the education happens and the demand keeps up I hope the price will come down on the ranges. I am already seeing a lot of the pans being sold in places like Target and Walmart are “induction ready”. The future is NOT gas stoves.
sha·man
/ˈSHämən,ˈSHāmən/
noun
a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits, especially among some peoples of northern Asia and North America. Typically, such people enter a trance state during a ritual…….
Shamen have existed in human culture for 250,000 years, the entire time our species has existed.
Trump believes in fascism, so in exchange for power and wealth, he will perform the role of a shaman in our culture by reciting incantations of myths. Anyone who ignores his words as lies can be fooled into seeing evidence of those words around them. His rallies are his rituals.
Some of us have practiced life free of them, but not all of us.
Can we yet be described as a nation defined by this ritualism? Over the last quarter of 2024, we will know more about what defines us.
Engineers began siting vital structures above the 500-year flood elevation ca. 5 years ago. (The previous standard was 100-yr flood elevation, which was insufficient to prevent flooding)
Empirical evidence of rising surface water elevations was the rationale for that change.
There are two hypotheses for the cause of that observed weather change over recent decades:
Hypothesis A:
The average Earth satellite-observed cloud cover has fallen over the last 24 years. The average Earth temperature has risen over 24 years. A correlation between those two variables, plotted against time and using simple linear regression, can be seen. The correlation is strong enough to hypothesize that there is a causal relationship between those variables of Cloud Cover (which reflects heat away from the Earth and into space) and Earth Temperature. The cause of the 24-year reduction in cloud cover is unknown so future Earth temperatures cannot be predicted.
Hypothesis B:
Earth’s atmosphere is comprised chiefly of Nitrogen (78%), Oxygen (21%) and Argon (0.93%). These three gasses total 99.93% of the atmosphere. This hypothesis relies on demonstrating that the properties of the remaining 0.07% of the atmosphere (comprised of 0.04% CO2, well as trace amounts of neon, helium, methane, krypton, ozone and hydrogen, as well as water vapor) is causing the earth to warm over time. This hypothesis is more difficult to demonstrate as there are so many variables. Its key assumption is that 0.07% (a very small mass) of the Earth’s atmospheric composition, govern’s Earth’s (a very large mass) past and present temperature, and somehow stores sufficient quantifiable heat to enable prediction of Earth temperatures years into the future.
If presented only with these above two hypotheses, A or B, which do readers of this blog find to be more plausible?