Publicly Despairs

Key concepts: Fredrick D. Palmer, President of Greening
Earth Society; de-carbonization of American economy, Earth Day 2000, Earth Day Network, British de-carbonization

Attention Conservation Notice: It's rare Viridian editorial appearance by virulent pro-carbon activist Fredrick D. Palmer, President of Greening Earth Society.

Links: http://www.westernfuels.org/
http://www.greeningearthsociety.org/ Oh yeah == I really trust these guys about climate policy: http://www.westernfuels.org/board.htm

Source: Heartland Institute
http://www.heartland.org
"Environment and Climate News," Vol 3 No. 4, April 2000, page 10

"Fredrick Palmer, in addition to being President of the Greening Earth Society, is General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of Western Fuels Association Inc., a not-for-profit fuel supply cooperative comprised of consumer-owned electric utilities." (((In other words, he's a coal miner and a lobbyist.)))

"Climate Comments: Earth Day 2000

by Fredrick D. Palmer

"Go online." (((We live to serve!))) "Take a look at http://www.earthday.net. It's the home page for Earth Day Network. On Earth Day, April 22, 2000 (my birthday), there will be a huge celebration sponsored by Earth Day Network on the Mall in Washington DC. My wife and I will attend, but I'll be wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses."

(((Pity Fred didn't sneak into the Seattle anti-WTO demo in that outfit == he'd have been summarily peppergassed.)))

"The home page tells you the game.

"'It's been a blast, fossil fuels, but now we're into payback time. Carbon pollution, great gobs of it from the U.S., is giving Mother Earth a fever. Weird weather is just the warm-up act.'"

"The environmental community wants each of us to quit using fossil fuels and switch entirely to renewables.

"Are you surprised? Are you shocked? If you are, you haven't been paying attention." (((I've been paying rather a lot of attention, and I'm shocked to see Fredrick Palmer, of all people, finally panicking. With Ford, Shell, and GM gone, the last rat off the sinking ship gets indicted.))) "President Clinton, after all, calls the Kyoto Protocol 'a good first step.' Obviously, he means a first step to a fossil-fuel free future.

"It's been clear for years that the goal of modern- day environmentalism is the elimination of fossil fuel as an energy source. Those of us in the energy business know how nonsensical this goal is." (((Except for those of us in the renewable energy business, presumably.))) "Those of us in the energy business know that the American economy succeeds because of fossil fuels, not in spite of them." (((Yeah, but what if America does succeed "in spite of them?" Interesting of him to raise that possibility, even rhetorically.))) "Those of us in the energy business know that societies that are fossil fuel intensive are the most successful, and that people in those societies have greater health and greater wealth than societies that are less fossil fuel intensive." (((Think of the bountiful coal in booming Appalachia, for instance.)))

"It's also clear that the environmental community (((Why is there no "energy community," one idly wonders))) has the attention of the popular media (((as opposed to the ever-whirring propaganda mill of Greening Earth Society))) and substantial backing not just from politicians, but also from the federal government generally, academia, and state governments as well. This support extends even into state capitals, where their economic heath depends on a robust fossil fuel industry." (((Yo! Hey! Down here! In the oil belt! Austin, Texas! http://www.austinenergy.com/greenchoice )))

"Why is this? There's a simple answer and it's one word: ourselves.

"Industry in the United States seems incapable of standing up for itself. Industry in the United States seems incapable of telling the American people == with a consistent voice == that it's OK to be human and OK for humans to engage in industrial activity; that industrial activity is good and not bad; that we live longer and better because of it; that more people on Earth living better ought to be our goal; and that government policies designed to the contrary are bad ideas." (((Go tell your backers that lots of Communist Chinese industrial activity is "good and not bad," and see how far that gets you.)))

"(...) We have been at our advocacy work for ten years. I have delivered with mixed success this message in one form or another to literally scores of executives in the coal, electric utility, oil, and natural gas industries. There are times when I feel like I'm talking to a wall." (((Give it a few more years of ocean warming, and you can talk to a seawall.)))

(...) "Let me say again here as clearly as I can == on the record before an audience much broader than industry executives == if industry does not get off its collective duff and take the environmental community head-on, including putting forward a well thought-out, sophisticated case as to why Earth Day Network and those in alliance with them are simply wrong, we will all lose our collective enterprises over the long term.

"The view from here is that Vice President Al Gore will be the next President of the United States. Under a Gore Presidency, the efforts of the last eight years to de-carbonize the American economy will intensify. But I also submit that those efforts will go on even if there is a Republican in the White House. After all, it was President George Bush who signed the Rio Treaty and put all of this into play.

"You may think a de-carbonized American economy sounds like a good idea." (((Why, yes!))) "I don't, and not just because I'm in the fossil fuel business." (((So you'd be pumping millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere even if it didn't make you any money, then; as a kind of public-spirited hobby, apparently.))) "I am convinced that if you agree with me and thing de- carbonizing the U.S. economy is a bad idea, then it is time for you to engage. If you don't, I submit the American economy ultimately will de-carbonize, no matter who is the next President of the United States."

(((A specter is haunting the coal fields: a "de- carbonized" America! And all that's required is for Fred and his friends to do nothing! What would that American economy look like? Something like today's British economy, presumably. Britain is relatively untroubled by Fredrick D. Palmer and his ilk, so Britain is meeting its own Kyoto Accords with a near-total absence of effort.)))

Source: http://www.bridge.com/
Bridge News, Bridge Information Systems Inc

"UK's DTI says 1999 CO2 emissions down 7.5% on 1990 levels

By Bridge News

"London == Mar 30, 2000 == Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the UK for 1999 were down 7.5% compared with levels in 1990, according to provisional estimates published Thursday by the UK's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Energy minister Helen Liddell said the figures showed the UK was 'well on course to meet (its) target to keep emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases below 1990 levels by 2000.'

"Liddell pointed out that 1999's 7.5% decrease against 1990 levels was set against 20% growth in the UK economy over the same period.

"'We have made considerable progress in uncoupling energy consumption from economic growth," she said. (...)

"Lidell added that the forthcoming Utilities Bill 'places an obligation on electricity suppliers to purchase 10% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010."