In Response to OD's VIEW: New energy plan bad for ADKs, environment
It is wrong when an editorial board plays upon people's ignorance to advance a political agenda.
The culprit in acid rain is SO2 and NOx, NOT Greenhouse Gases, and it is misleading to conflate the two. The mechanisms producing Acid Rain are well understood, SO2 and NOx emissions have already been limited, and the benefits are capable of being calculated and documented.
The Obama Clean Power Plan, however, was targeted to preventing Climate Change, not Acid Rain, by curbing Greenhouse Gas emissions (mainly CO2). While many claim that CO2 is driving climate change, the mechanisms producing climate change are not as clear as those producing Acid Rain, and the benefits of restricting CO2 through the Clean Power Plan are speculative. Accepting UN calculations, the Paris Accord would only shave an imperceptible fraction of a degree from world temperature -- meaning that US citizens would have been forced to suffer a reduction in their standard of living to achieve virtually nothing.
Unfortunately those of us in Upstate NY have been forced to sacrifice our economy for the "environmentally virtuous" policies of Andrew Cuomo and his predecessors going back to Mario Cuomo.
"Protecting the Environment" is emotionally appealing, but unintended consequences to Ordinary People need to be determined and understood, too, if public policy is to be sound.
5 comments:
Virtually all of the OD editorial opinion is based on progressive politics which substitutes fact for belief.
Anonymous 9:51
And, that's the type of comment that keeps us in separate tribes, unable to work together on anything.
Maybe protecting the enviroment is just "emotionally appealing" to you. But some of us would like to preserve what we have for future generations instead of paving over & raping the enviroment for profit. Yea, yea I know. I'm a "tree hugger". Go heat your home with coal & see how much you like it.
I love the usual baloney that "working" together invariably translates to the belief of extreme left opinion and position. What is so difficult about acknowledging the obvious fact that the OD got it wrong and often does? Coal is critical at this point in time to providing electricity. You cannot read, at least at night, the books resulting from hugging your trees too tightly without it.
So, have you installed your coal furncae yet or are you just parroting more Trump stupidity?
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