Democratic governors want to destroy the economy over climate change
by Tim Murtaugh · The Washington TimesOPINION:
When 10 Democratic governors sign a letter urging Congress to stop conservatives from doing something, it probably means the conservatives are on the right track.
When the topic is climate change and the lefties are howling mad, you know the conservatives are directly over the target. That is happening now, and it is painfully obvious to everyone.
Environmental extremists in Democratic states want to sue oil and gas companies for untold billions or even trillions of dollars and pass state legislation to make them pay further, because they hate fossil fuels and believe the use of them is destroying the planet.
Adherents of this philosophy — which has become like a religion to many — want to force these companies to fund leftist policy priorities, even though the activities being punished were perfectly lawful and fully permitted by the localities and states in which they occurred.
Of course, if they achieve their goals, they will destroy the U.S. and world economies.
The blue-state governors wrote to Congress last month to ask to continue these plans. The letter exposed their ignorance of basic economics.
“Congress should be helping to make life more affordable for American families,” they wrote, apparently oblivious to what happens if you intentionally increase the cost of doing business.
They also demanded that Republicans stop trying to prevent them from ruining everything.
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Specifically, the Democratic governors want Congress to kill legislation introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in the Senate, with a companion bill from Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming in the House, that would put a halt to this brazen extortion of legitimate industries. The bill would stop the lawfare waged against energy firms, as well as “superfund” laws that squeeze cash out of the companies for leftist projects.
“Energy security is national security, and we will not self-sabotage our critical industries with a cascade of costly lawsuits and extreme penalties that jeopardize American drilling,” said Ms. Hageman, who is a client of my public affairs firm.
Outwardly, Democrats do not seem to understand that if you make it more expensive for energy companies to produce energy, the price of nearly everything will rise. Ironically, though they loudly complain about rising costs to consumers, this is actually not a problem in the true view of leftists. In fact, it is their policy goal.
They want prices to be higher so that people turn away from fossil fuels completely. Leftists publicly complain about increasing costs only because it is the way they disingenuously try to sell their extreme ideas to the public.
You can see the tensions of their illogic playing out in other ways as well, on a larger scale.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case from Colorado in which local officials seek to have energy companies pay for alleged climate-related expenditures incurred by local governments. One of the early attorneys on the case even acknowledged that the lawsuit is simply a way to implement a backdoor carbon tax.
While this legal action was underway, the state of Colorado was also desperately trying to keep one of its coal-fired power plants in Pueblo — with Xcel Energy leading the effort and state support — operational through the end of 2026 because it feared failing to meet electricity demand.
This is a tacit acknowledgment that they cannot exist without the very industry they are at the Supreme Court trying to kill.
At the same time, California has made a similar confession through its own actions.
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The Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board targeted Valero Refining Co. with nearly $82 million in sanctions and fines over its Benicia refinery, then reacted with horror when the company announced it would close the facility. Efforts to find another private sector buyer for the site have so far failed, and now California — already home to some of the highest gasoline prices in the country — is without 9% of its typical gasoline supply, while the town has lost $10.8 million in annual tax revenue.
Even though they have proved to themselves that they need the industry they are seeking to destroy, leftists insist on continuing down the same path. The comparison has been made before, but the Democrats are actively trying to kill the cow they need for milk.
It is suicidal behavior, never mind that it would be disastrous to let national energy policy be dictated by a handful of states that are guided by whatever extremist beliefs happen to be in style on the left at any given moment.
The abundant availability of domestic energy helped establish the United States as a world leader, yet many in this country would eagerly forfeit our position in the name of their climate religion.
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They oppose American success, their policies are economically backward, and they must never be allowed to succeed.
• Tim Murtaugh is a Washington Times columnist and founder of Line Drive Public Affairs. He served as a senior adviser on the 2024 Trump campaign and as communications director on the 2020 Trump campaign.
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