Environmental Groups To Obama: You Can’t Have it Both Ways
Barack Obama has done a lot of good things, unfortunately taking care of the environment hasn’t always been one of them. As a matter of fact his environmental policies have often been likened to “worse than Bush.”
It appears he may be stuck between a melting icecap and a hard place. Environmental groups have grown weary of the administration’s “all of the above” energy strategy—which has seen it hold tight to domestic natural gas, oil, and coal production even as it works to limit coal-fired power plant pollution—and the fossil-fuel industry is just as peeved. “You can’t have it both ways,” an environmentalist tells the Washington Post.
In a letter sent to Obama yesterday, some 18 groups have announced their displeasure, showing the administration could “risk losing support from a critical part of its political base during an already difficult election year,” the Post notes.
“An ‘all of the above’ strategy is a compromise that future generations can’t afford,” the letter reads, per Bloomberg. It suggests what the Post calls a “strict climate test” be applied “to all decisions regarding new fossil fuel development,” from ocean drilling to the Keystone XL pipeline.
Yesterday was a sort of double whammy for Obama, with the American Petroleum Institute announcing a new ad push that will champion domestic oil and gas production, and with Mitch McConnell tasking the Government Accountability Office with figuring out whether the Senate can reverse these emissions limits. This, as a UN report finds our carbon emissions rose slightly last year (though they still fall below 2005 levels) and notes that governments worldwide are spending more money subsidizing fossil fuels than moving toward cleaner energy, the New York Times reports.
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Professor Mike
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BHO’s lack of compassion for our wildlife has shocked me. He condemned the Grey Wolf among other things, just so he and the republicans could get in bed over the budget. There’s so much more but so little time. Big disappointment, then again he’s from Chicago so what can you expect?
“You can’t have it both ways?” What politician can even understand the concept of that statement. Even the “Guns Vs butter” idea is foreign to them.
Very true James, especially with this president. He’s forever trying to play both sides and in the process the people are forever losing.