Climate-change bills in Calif. go down to the wire
By Jessica Calefati, San Jose Mercury News
SACRAMENTO — With the deadline for lawmakers to finish their work less than two weeks away, Gov. Jerry Brown and state Senate leader Kevin de León are working feverishly to pass what they call the year’s most important legislation — measures that both men believe will enhance their political legacies.
The bills, which would dramatically reduce the state’s reliance on oil and help to combat climate change, have been praised by everyone from Pope Francis to President Obama to the world’s leading scientists. If enacted, the legislation would set international precedent and cement California’s reputation as a leader in the fight against global warming.
But standing in the way is one of Sacramento’s most powerful lobbies, the oil and gas industry, which has spent millions of dollars on advertising that paints a dystopian vision of the future: an out-of-control bureaucracy that would have the power to ration gasoline, punish SUV owners and limit the number of miles Californians drive.
“measures that both men believe will enhance their political legacies.”
And there you have it. THAT is what it’s about.
“Kathryn Phillips, executive director of Sierra Club California. “There are few times in these lawmakers’ careers when they’ll face something this big — and history doesn’t look kindly on those who turn away from the public interest.”
I think we have a serious failure to agree on exactly WHAT is the “public interest”. Yes, we all want clean air and water. But we also need to be able to afford to live and work and raise our families. The elites in the coastal areas have no problem. I believe they are so far out of touch with how the working class lives, that their feel-good plans for the rest of us will kill what little bit of a competitive edge the state has. Might as well just turn the whole state into a park and keep the worker bees out completely.
The debate about climate change is over-the only questions that remain are about solutions-the pathetic anti-science, young earth morons must be ignored-
a chance for a better life for of our children and grandchildren is the public interest that normal people want-
and it may take some sacrifice by those baby boomers that take the ‘American Dream’ for granted
Anyone who claims the debate is over is no scientist. He’s just a shill.
Dogism-YAWN
The sky is falling, the sky is falling
oh the horror…
Today I talked to someone who tried to convince me to spend 30 minutes reading about ‘flat earth theory’.
Earlier in the day I spent 2 hours reading about geodesy. They got mad when I laughed. I wasn’t laughing at them, just their existence. Those people actually exist… they aren’t even smart enough to know that they shouldn’t talk.
Ignore them.
is it possible greenhouse gases are saving us from another ice age?
Duke, what would be the literature you read explaining “flat earth theory”? I need a good laugh…