「地球輸了」 美國共和黨掌國會 環團憂心

Voters gave Republicans control of the Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections with a majority of 52 seats to the Democrats’ 48. The GOP also maintained control of the House of Representatives, making Congress entirely Republican.

For the environment, this will mean fossil fuels such as coal and oil will receive congressional support, while renewable energy and environmental protections will be left behind.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell from the coal-producing state of Kentucky has often railed against “the burdensome regulations placed on Kentucky coal jobs by the Obama Administration”.

Calling President Barack Obama’s policies a “War on Coal,” in the same speech, McConnell took aim at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s rule to limit greenhouse gas emissions from coal-burning power plants, signalling the Republican direction when the new majority takes its seats in January.

Claiming that Obama’s policies “have contributed to a loss of 7,000 Kentucky jobs in that industry” since 2009, McConnell said, “Those of us who represent coal states have made numerous attempts to rein in the EPA, but the Senate Majority Leader and fellow Democrats here in Washington have blocked us at every turn.”

“Last September, I introduced the Saving Coal Jobs Act,” said McConnell. The bill was another attempt to rein in the EPA’s actions to curb heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.

McConnell’s bill included language prohibiting any new carbon emissions standards on new or existing power plants as mandated by federal agencies without the approval of Congress.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court in June authorized the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas, from coal-fired power plants, but only if these sources emit air pollutants other than greenhouse gases as well.

When the new Congress reconvenes in January, Republican Senator James Inhofe, an avowed climate denier who represents the oil-producing state of Oklahoma, ‎will likely head the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He is presently the Ranking Member of that committee.

Inhofe has called climate change a “hoax” and has traveled to the UN international climate negotiations to make his views known.

On Monday, in response to the release of the International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Synthesis Report, warning of irreversible and cataclysmic climate changes, Inhofe said, “The idea that our advanced industrialized economy would ever have zero carbon emissions is beyond extreme and further proof that the IPCC is nothing more than a front for the environmental left.”

In fact, the IPCC is a United Nations body, founded in 1988, which evaluates climate change science. The IPCC assesses research on climate change and synthesizes it into assessment reports every five to seven years.

The current IPCC assessment is the work of more than 830 coordinating lead authors, lead authors and review editors from over 80 countries, covering a range of scientific, technical and socio-economic views and expertise. More than 1,000 contributing authors and 2,000 expert reviewers participated in the process of review and revision.

Nevertheless, Inhofe said Monday, “It comes as no surprise that the IPCC is again advocating for the implementation of extreme climate change regulations that will cripple the global economy and send energy prices skyrocketing. The United States is in the midst of an energy renaissance that has the potential to bring about American energy independence, which would strengthen our national security and energy reliability for generations into the future. At a time of economic instability and increased threats to American interests, the IPCC’s report is little more than high hopes from the environmental left.”

With senators with such views in the majority, there is no chance that the Senate with ratify the legally-binding global treaty to limit climate change that world governments are expected to agree at the UN climate summit in December 2015 in Paris.

But environmentalists are not giving up or retreating.

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said, “Despite the climate movement’s significant investments and an unprecedented get out the vote program, strong voices for climate action were defeated and candidates paid for by corporate interests and bolstered by sinister voter suppression tactics won the day.”

“But don’t be fooled. This election marked a pivotal change in how candidates confront the climate crisis,” said Brune. “Even the most anti-environmental candidates were compelled to greenwash their voting records and change their tune on climate denial. The climate on climate is changing.

Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica said today, “The election’s over – and the planet lost.”

“The next Congress will be controlled by politicians elected with millions of dollars of the Koch brothers’ oil money – putting at risk the vital environmental protections we’ve fought so hard to achieve,” said Pica.

Right now, the only barrier to the wholesale dismantling of our existing environmental laws is President Obama and his veto pen. So, for the next two years, you and I have a new job – telling the President to keep that veto pen warm.”