13 June 2014

In the News
The Poor Are Bearing the Cost of Solar
Monica Martinez, Forbes, 13 June 2014
How Can EPAs Clean Power Plan Deliver $ Billions in Climate Benefits If It Has No
Detectable Impact on Global Temperatures, Sea-Level Rise, or Other Climate Indicators
Marlo Lewis, GlobalWarming.org, 12 June 2014
Obama & the EPA: Its about Rewarding Friends and Punishing Enemies
Benjamin Zycher, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2014
Winds PTC: The Opposition Mounts
Robert Bradley, Jr., Master Resource, 11 June 2014
Watchdog Rebuffed on EPA Data Turns to NSA
Stephen Dinan & Jim McElhatton, Washington Times, 10 June 2014
Chinese Official Plays Down Emission Cut Expectations
David Stanway, Reuters, 9 June 2014
News You Can Use
Antarctic Sea Ice Sets May Record
According to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, Antarctic sea ice reached its
greatest extent for any May in the satellite record.
Inside the Beltway
Myron Ebell
Cantors Defeat Paves Way for McCarthys Move up to Majority
Leader
The very surprising defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in the
Republican primary election in Virginia on 10th June by David Brat means that House
Republicans must elect a new majority leader. Representative Cantor announced the
next day that he will serve out his term, but will resign as majority leader on 31st
July. The House Republican Conference then announced that elections will be held on
19th June.
House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) quickly drove potential conservative
challengers out of the race. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), chairman of the Financial
Services Committee, sounded out his colleagues for support and announced that he
would not run. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) announced that he would run and then
withdrew when he discovered he could not beat McCarthy. Rep. Raul Labrador (R-
Idaho) then announced that he would run so that conservatives at least had a
candidate. Labrador is a solid conservative and clearly a potential future leader of his
party in the House, but has little chance to defeat McCarthy. Of course, no one thought
that Brat would beat Cantor.
Pre. McCarthy probably has more windmills in his California district than any other
House member and has supported the federal wind production tax credit. Recognizing
that one of Brats top issues was his attacks on crony capitalism, McCarthy in an
interview with the Wall Street Journal indicated that, while he supports the wind
industry, he no longer supports the wind PTC.
If McCarthy is elected majority leader, then House Republicans will vote on a new chief
whip. A leading candidate is the current chief deputy whip (an appointed position), Rep.
Peter Roskam (R-Ill.). Like McCarthy, Roskam is a moderate, establishment
Republican. The other candidates are Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the current chairman
of the conservative Republican Study Committee, and Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.),
who was elected in 2010 with tea party support. It has been reported that Scalise has
more commitments so far, but has not yet secured a majority. Members have been
known not to keep their commitments in past leadership elections.
White House Dismisses Petition to Correct Holdrens Junk
Science
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has dismissed a
petition for correction under the federal Information Quality Act of a two-minute video
that OSTP director John Holdren made in January, in which he explains that the very
cold winter was caused by global warming. In a letter dated 6th June to my CEI
colleague Hans Bader, assistant OSTP director Tamara Dickinson states that Holdrens
claims were an expression of Dr. Holdrens personal opinion and expert judgment. In
other words, the White House is claiming that the ridiculous public musings of a crank
working at the White House are not covered by the Information Quality Act.
This is extremely worrying. President Barack Obama in an interview with Tom
Friedman of the New York Times said this week that he gets frequent briefings from his
top science advisor:
Every morning you get a security briefing from the intelligence community on
global threats; do you now also get the same on environmental threats? I do,
said Obama. Science adviser John Holdren typically makes presentations when
there are new findings, and his reports show that environmental stresses are now
impacting both foreign and domestic policy.
A video of the interview was part of the final episode of Showtimes Years of Living
Dangerously, the most recent piece of global warming propaganda that no one
watched.
Across the States
William Yeatman
California Commits Cap-and-Trade Revenues to High-Speed Rail
Boondoggle
California Governor Jerry Brown this week reached an agreement with Democratic
leadership in the Legislature to spend up to $250 million of the 2014 proceeds from the
states cap-and-trade energy rationing program on a planned high speed rail in the
hinterlands. Under the plan, many billions more would be spent on the project through
2020. Pacific Legal Foundations Harold Johnson told ClimateWire that the decision was
a gift to opponents of Californias climate policy, and he is spot-on. The states high
speed rail is the ultimate boondoggle, as has been reported by my colleague Marc
Scribner. The first portion would connect Merced to the San Fernando Valley, at a cost
of $31 billion. Anyone even remotely acquainted with California demography could tell
you that this is an outrageous price to pay to connect these lightly populated regions.
Around the World
Myron Ebell
Australian PM Abbott Asks Canada To Join Coalition to Oppose
Global Carbon Caps
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited Ottawa and Washington this week for
talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama. It
was reported that Abbott talked to Harper about creating a coalition to oppose global
efforts to conclude a new international agreement that puts a price on carbon dioxide
emissions. It was also reported that he hoped to recruit the prime ministers of the
United Kingdom, New Zealand, and India to join the coalition. British Prime Minister
David Cameron seems an unlikely opponent of global energy-rationing policies, but
China and Japan are in fact already allies, although their rhetoric is designed to conceal
their opposition to new global carbon caps.
White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed that President Obama and Prime
Minister Abbott did discuss climate policies during their meeting, but did not share any
details. Since Obama is creating an energy-rationing regime through executive fiat and
Abbotts government is moving to repeal Australias carbon tax and dismantle its climate
bureaucracy, the lack of details almost certainly means that they found no common
ground.
The Cooler Heads Digest is the weekly e-mail publication of the Cooler Heads Coalition.
For the latest news and commentary, check out the Coalitions website,
www.GlobalWarming.org.

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