By now everyone has heard about the Senator from Oklahoma, James Inhofe. He’s a climate denier in the first degree. This senator thinks that climate change is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated by man. Of course, the $1.3 million dollars in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry that Mr. Inhofe receives no doubt plays a pivotal role in forming his opinion. Mr. Inhofe’s snowball stunt got lots of media attention
We get it. Mr. Inhofe is clearly a climate denier. Not a climate champion in any sense of the word, but not a hypocrite either.
Hypocrites are, in a way, even worse than climate deniers. A hypocrite is someone who professes certain ideals, but fails to live up to them. They often parade around as “climate champions” and are quite good at spewing appropriate climate soundbites.
One hypocrite who comes to mind is Rhode Island’s “climate champion” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. He participated in the all night senate discussion on climate change, he is against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
“We are a great country, but not when we’re lying and denying what’s real,” he said. “The atmosphere is warming; ice is melting; seas are warming, rising, and acidifying. It is time for the misleading fantasies to end.”- Sheldon Whitehouse, November 2013
Sheldon gets it. Climate change is real, it is the result of burning fossil fuels, it is happening now.
Rhode Island’s Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: Climate Hypocrite, this guy thinks natural gas is a blessing! He supports gas pipelines in his state
BUT, this Senator does not walk his talk.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is a huge hypocrite when it comes to natural gas.
- Spectra Energy’s website lists Senator Whitehouse as a supporter of their so-called “Algonquin” pipeline expansion in the Northeast states.
- Senator Whitehouse praised fracking as a “blessing” in a 2014 interview: “I think it’s been an economic and environmental blessing to have gas as a bridge.”
- Senator Whitehouse’s third largest campaign contributor in 2012 was Goldberg, Lindsay & Co., an investment firm that owns several natural gas distribution and pipeline companies. Goldberg, Lindsay & Co. also contributed $20,000 to the Senator’s “OCEANSPAC” that distributes money to candidates who support “ocean and environmental issues.”
With friends like this, who needs enemies? You cannot have it both ways. You cannot be a “climate champion” and then talk about gas as some super duper “bridge fuel”. Natural gas is not clean, it is not safe.
Building gas infrastructure will delay development of wind and solar, also note that fracked gas has a larger greenhouse gas footprint than coal and oil. Gas is a bridge to nowhere.
It is time for everyone to start asking the real questions of their leaders.
Which side are they on?
Do they understand the science? That climate change is real, is accelerated by the burning of fossil fuels and that our future is on the line?
Are they in favor of “energy independence”? That is code for “yeah- I dig that fracked gas”
Are they a-ok with exporting natural gas? Are they looking the other way or making tepid statements about gas infrastructure projects in their states and communities? Are they using words like “clean” or “bridge fuel”? These words are often used when elected officials are under the influence of gas industry lobbyists.
Give your elected officials a call. Ask them these questions and learn what side they are on. After all, they are supposed to serve you. Not the corporations with the deep pockets. Pick up the phone!
