Posted on 10/17/2020 4:05:12 PM PDT by John Semmens
In a move to implement what he characterized as "a more efficient form of government," Gov. Tom Wolf (D-Penn) has signed on to a multi-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) agreement that will result in higher taxes on the state's inhabitants. This bypasses the state constitution's delegation of the taxing power to the legislature.
Wolf explained that "we are in a climate crisis. Waiting for the legislature to act wastes precious time. Rather than let the people of Pennsylvania, the United States, and the world suffer while legislators dither is unacceptable."
For its part, a bipartisan majority of the legislature passed a bill explicitly prohibiting the very action that Wolf has taken. Wolf vetoed this legislation, calling it "an unnecessary infringement on executive authority. In an emergency we must look to an active executive to solve the problems that a diverse legislature cannot handle. I am that 'active executive' and will continue to do what I think is best regardless of what anybody else thinks as long as I am the governor of this state."
State Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23rd District) challenged Wolf's assertion that his unilateral action is warranted by pointing out that "Pennsylvania has already reduced carbon emissions at a greater pace than what the RGGI states have achieved since they began in 2009. This was all accomplished without a government mandate and at great savings to consumers."
"Savings on utility bills are the exact opposite of what is needed to wean consumers off of fossil fuels," the Governor argued. "If energy is cheap and plentiful people will never do what we want them to do. The pain we inflict today is a necessary step in the Green New Deal this country needs to adopt. If legislators disapprove they can try to impeach me, but I'll veto that too."
Ironically, a report titled Energy and Climate Policy – An Evaluation of Climate Change Expenditure 2011-2018 published in the scientific journal Energies found that "renewable energy is cripplingly expensive, hopelessly unreliable, massacres wildlife, destroys landscapes, destabilizes the grid, harms indigenous peoples, and causes climate change."
if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?topic=417372.0
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