On Climate, "Concerned" Republicans Apparently Aren't Keeping Up With Bad News On Carbon Capture
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Spoiler alert: there’s no indication the GOP is giving up on fossil fuels, and there’s still no sign this shift on climate is anything but empty rhetoric. Graves said as much, telling the New York Times that “if we can find strategies that allow us to reduce emissions while continue to use fossil fuels, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.” What about those strategies? Well, the only way to burn fossil fuels without destroying the climate is to capture the carbon emissions. How’s that technology doing? Not good, to put it mildly.
Don’t take our word for it: in response to Graham’s Rubicon comment, Marlo Lewis Jr at CEI pointed out that carbon capture and storage is so expensive that it isn’t commercially viable. In rolling back Obama-era regulations, even Trump’s EPA is arguing that CCS isn’t the “best system of emission reduction,” and CEI agrees its cost are simply too high. Especially compared with renewables, which are already out-competing coal plants without the costly CCS upgrades.
Hmm, so maybe Graves just doesn’t know the latest bad news about the continued failure of the technology capable of reconciling fossil fuel use with a livable climate. Maybe he’s more of a moderate on other climate issues, like the Paris agreement! A coalition of Koch-ed up groups just sent a letter to Reps to oppose HR. 9, the House Resolution to force us to stay in the Paris agreement.
Perhaps Graves can prove his moderate mettle by opposing the fossil fuel industry’s attack dogs...but that doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon. Graves recently told PoliticoPro that “one of the flaws of Paris” is that it “doesn’t look globally.” That’s right: the supposedly sensible and moderate new position the GOP is taking on an international climate agreement signed by literally every nation in the world is that it isn’t international enough.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/5/1/1854522/-GOP-S-Rhetoric-On-Climate-Changing-But-Policies-Remain-The-Same-Fossil-Fuels-Forever
