USA CLIMATE LAWSUITS COLLAPSING

Climate Change Lawsuits Collapsing Like Dominoes
Inside Sources, 5 March 2020

Climate change activists went to court in California recently trying to halt a long losing streak in their quest to punish energy companies for aiding and abetting the world’s consumption of fossil fuels.

A handful of California cities — big consumers of fossil fuels themselves — asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reverse the predictable dismissal of their public nuisance lawsuit seeking to pin the entire blame for global warming on five energy producers: BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell.

The cities hope to soak the companies for billions of dollars of damages, which they claim they’ll use to build sea walls, better sewer systems and the like in anticipation of rising seas and extreme weather that might result from climate change.

But no plaintiff has ever succeeded in bringing a public nuisance lawsuit based on climate change.

To the contrary, these lawsuits are beginning to collapse like dominoes as courts remind the plaintiffs that it is the legislative and executive branches — not the judicial branch — that have the authority and expertise to determine climate policy.

Climate change activists should have gotten the message in 2011 when the Supreme Court ruled against eight states and other plaintiffs who brought nuisance claims for the greenhouse gas emissions produced by electric power plants.

The Court ruled unanimously in American Electric Power v. Connecticut that the federal Clean Air Act, under which such emissions are subject to EPA regulation, preempts such lawsuits.

The Justices emphasized that “Congress designated an expert agency, here, EPA … [that] is surely better equipped to do the job than individual district judges issuing ad hoc, case-by-case injunctions” and better able to weigh “the environmental benefit potentially achievable [against] our Nation’s energy needs and the possibility of economic disruption.”

The Court noted that this was true of “questions of national or international policy” in general, reminding us why the larger trend of misusing public nuisance lawsuits is a problem.

The California cities, led by Oakland and San Francisco, tried to get around this Supreme Court precedent by focusing on the international nature of the emissions at issue.

But that approach backfired in 2018 when federal district judge William Alsup concluded that a worldwide problem “deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case.” Alsup, a liberal Clinton appointee, noted that “Without [fossil] fuels, virtually all of our monumental progress would have been impossible.”

In July 2018, a federal judge in Manhattan tossed out a nearly identical lawsuit by New York City on the same grounds. The city is appealing.

Meanwhile, climate lawfare is also being waged against energy companies by Rhode Island and a number of municipal governments, including Baltimore. Like the other failed cases, these governments seek billions of dollars.

Adding to the string of defeats was the Ninth Circuit’s rejection last month of the so-called “children’s” climate suit, which took a somewhat different approach by pitting a bunch of child plaintiffs against the federal government.

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CLIMATE SCEPTICS AIRBRUSHED BY WIKIPEDIA

Censorship is being used to stop the climate sceptic scientists being known to those interested. Just another small part of the propaganda war being fought every day. 

WHY NET ZERO COULD CRIPPLE THE UK

Here's an excellent article by Matt Ridley explaining clearly why the Government's Net Zero policy on CO2 could cripple the UK.

BBC - HAVE OUR CLIMATE MODELS BEEN WRONG?

Here are the details of a BBC radio programme which discussed this subject with a few scientists. It shows that the BBC and other media have been exaggerating the case for global warming for a long time, based on figures based on a "worst case scenario" which is practically impossible. So the public has been duped, as we knew all along.

RECENT UK FLOODS NOT DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

This analysis of the climate records proves that the UK Environment Agency is simply incorrect in saying that the recent rainfall is unprecedented or record-breaking. Certainly it is at the wetter end of the spectrum, but to say it is evidence of a "climate emergency" is complete nonsense as the linked post ably demonstrates. No one should be fooled by this, but sadly the main media will not publish anything but this sensationalist tripe.

HERE'S WHY THE GREEN NEW DEAL IS MADNESS

This article looks at what it would mean to the economy if the "deal" was implemented in the USA. Our own Climate Change Act would give similar results.

ELECTRICITY PRICES TO GO UP AND UP IN VAIN ATTEMPT TO CONTROL CLIMATE

UK Govt Punishes Voters As Costly Climate Policies Drive Up Electricity Bills
Bloomberg 4 March 2020
 
Electricity bills are headed higher for British households even though costs in the wholesale market are falling, a phenomena that one utility blamed on the government and grid operators. Grid costs are set to increase even more. Last year, the U.K. became the first major country to target net-zero emissions by 2050.

Bulb Energy Ltd. became the first energy supplier to raise its prices, citing higher network and policy costs. It blamed a 3% increase in the charges it pays for grid maintenance and expansion for the higher consumer rates.

Other suppliers will be facing similar pressures and are likely to raise prices too, said Stephen Murray, an energy specialist at MoneySuperMarket, a price comparison provider.

Suppliers usually make price changes in early April, Murray said. “I don’t think Bulb will be on their own.”

The amount that energy companies charge customers for power and gas has come under intense scrutiny in Britain with the energy regulator, Ofgem, enforcing a cap on the amount that customers on default tariffs have to pay. With wholesale power prices 32% lower than a year ago consumers may struggle with the idea of bills rising.

Bulb’s justification is fair as policy and network costs are rising, according to Dan Starman, a consultant at Cornwall Insight Ltd. A model by Cornwall that includes 12 different charges on the domestic electricity bill shows these costs are expected to go up by about 6% year-on-year.

Bulb, a small energy supplier with 1.6 million customers, lowered its retail gas prices Monday due to “significant falls in wholesale costs.” Overall, a typical member using both electricity and gas will save 56 pounds per year. A typical member who only uses electricity will see an increase of 22 pounds per year.

Grid costs are set to increase even more. Last year, the U.K. became the first major country to target net-zero emissions by 2050. This will require the electrification of heating and transport causing a huge boost in demand. It’s likely that some policy intervention will be needed as falling gas costs will drive customers to use more of the fossil fuel rather than switch to greener options.

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COP 26 COULD TURN OUT TO BE A DAMP SQUIB

Well that's a relief! My fear was that they might take drastic action which could cost us all dearly. Here is the article which suggests things are not as bad as feared. What with corona virus causing mayhem I think we have enough economic damage without more self-inflicted climate change stuff added.

CLIMATE PROPAGANDA AFFECTING CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH

This piece explains what a recent survey of children has discovered. Young impressionable minds are being damaged by a non-stop barrage of lies and exaggerations. This must  stop but many adults are also brainwashed and can offer no reason to doubt the stuff that children are bombarded with at school and on TV. 

HERE'S WHY A TAX ON CO2 WON'T WORK

This article explains why a CO2 tax just won't work. Here is an extract: 

"The sole purpose of a carbon dioxide tax is to dramatically reduce or eliminate carbon dioxide emissions. To do this, a carbon dioxide tax must make conventional energy so expensive that wind and solar power become a bargain by comparison. Yet wind and solar power are currently more than twice as expensive as conventional energy. So, the net result of a carbon dioxide tax will be to send electricity and gasoline prices through the roof. Not only will people have to pay much more in direct electricity bills and gasoline prices, but goods and services throughout the economy will become much more expensive as high energy prices will raise production costs for virtually all goods and services."

WILL NEW PETROL AND DIESEL CARS BE BANNED BEFORE 2040?

This article explains why the politicians will be proved wrong when they claim that new petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned before 2040. Who will be proved right? Only time will tell, but my money is on the experts, rather than politicians.

Manufacturers are in an impossible position. If they stop production of petrol and diesels then they face a dramatic slow down as drivers hang on to their old vehicles. 

WARWICK DISTRICT COUNCIL TAX MADNESS

As some councils compete to see who can have the most outrageous and costly plan to "tackle the climate emergency" one council has emerged as a clear favourite. Warwick District Council (DC) is proposing to increase it's council tax by 34% specifically to tackle climate change. You can read it all here on their own website.

Here in the New Forest, where I am a district councillor, the opposition Lib Dem group proposed spending £100,000 to employ a "climate change officer" and give him/her a budget to tackle climate change. This was soundly defeated. We also rejected opposition attempts to declare a climate emergency here.

Although I am not a resident of Warwick, I feel your pain. This monstrous tax grab must be defeated in the forthcoming referendum - not only for your sake, but for the sake of the many other councils who will follow this if it were to succeed. 

I suggest a good title for Warwick's campaign would be Warwick Residents Against Tax Hike (WRATH). It's time to bring your wrath down on this soppy council!

I hope there is a serious organised opposition to this who can get out leaflets to ensure residents turn out in numbers to vote this down. It will be a simple majority and no doubt there is a hard core support by the Extinction Rebellion brigade aide and abetted by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, etc.

If I were writing a leaflet I would include the following:

1. No measures taken by Warwick DC will have the slightest effect on the climate. 

2. Greenhouse gas levels will continue increasing even if the UK reaches zero emissions as long as other major nations such as China and India continue to increase their emissions.

3. Severe weather events such as the Australian heatwave (which led to the widfires) and UK flooding have occurred many times in the past and statistics show they are not increasing - just being reported more prominently.

4. We are at greater risk of flooding because we continue to build on flood plains, and do not dredge rivers as much as we used to.

5. I urge all residents to listen to a lecture by a leading climate scientist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvO7bBuTRno.

It's time for us to stand up to this nonsense, enough is enough. If Warwick DC get this through our taxes will rocket not ust in Warwick but all over the country.

HEATHROW EXPANSION HALTED BY UK COURT OF APPEAL

Now will the Government realise what their climate change act means. This report explains the case. "From now on, every infrastructure spending decision in the UK could face legal challenge if it doesn't comply with the Climate Change Act, which mandates virtually zero emissions by 2050." 
So we can now look forward to an ever shrinking economy as more and more legal challenges prevent any activity which results in an increase in CO2 emissions.

GRAND CLIMATE DEBATE PLANNED BY CLINTEL

This article looks at plans by a new climate sceptic organisation to hold a grand climate debate where both sides present their arguments. I like the idea but I have doubts about its effectiveness, as if it is to have real impact with the public then it needs media coverage and the media do not seem to give this kind of thing any coverage. 

THE STAGGERING COST OF NET ZERO EMISSIONS REVEALED

This report reveals what the government don't seem to want to tell us - that the cost of getting to net zero emissions is an eye-watering £2.3 trillion in total by 2050. This works out at a cost to each household in the UK of £82,000. The report looks at the cost of upgrading insulation to homes and the cost of changing all gas and oil heating systems to heat pumps. It seems a fair and reasonable estimate. The government claims it has not done such an estimate which is either reckless of very careless!

PROOF THAT CLIMATE DATA HAS BEEN FIDDLED

This short video proves that climate data is being tampered with. How are they allowed to get away with it? Surely there must be some judicial body who can stop this happening. Scientists are being accused of fraud and yet nothing is being done about it.

REMEMBER THE GLOBAL COOLING SCARE OF THE 1970's

This short video by the magnificent Tony Heller explains just how strongly leading scientists at the time were pushing it. It is very revealing how they used the same arguments then that they now use to push the global warming hypothesis. It makes it all seem very cynical and it is understandable that they now want to play gown the whole global cooling episode. 

END OF THE HUMAN RACE AS WE KNOW IT

This article is about a report sent to clients of JP Morgan bank by its analysts. It is so dire that no one could take it seriously, could they? This is exactly the kind of over the top stuff that makes people doubt the whole climate change hypothesis.

This quote grabbed my attention: "No government seems willing to sacrifice the income of their current citizens either in favour of their children and grandchildren or in favour of citizens in other countries." 

Yes I think they got that right!

HERE'S WHY THERE IS NO CLIMATE EMERGENCY

This article by Melanie Phillips is a good account of the global warming issue and well worth reading. It puts the arguments in perspective and shows how weak the arguments are for a climate emergency.

DID THE UK GOVERNMENT REALLY PAY FOR THIS REPORT?

This report could be a spoof in a comedy show, but apparently it isn't. It is allegedly paid for by us taxpayers. We really should not be surprised. It actually is probably correct if we are to achieve net zero emissions. One prediction I will make is that the flying ban will not include those of the government.

CLIMATE VANDALS GIVEN AN EASY RIDE BY POLICE

This article in the Mail gives the shocking details. These vandals dug up lawns and blocked roads while the police stood and watched. Here's what a senior police officer said:

‘The law requires us to protect people’s right to peaceful assembly,’ he said, citing the 1988 Human Rights Act. ‘Simply a road being blocked does not make a protest itself unlawful.’

Clearly he is siding with the vandals. So much for the law! Time to scrap the wretched Human Rights Act and replace it with something better.

A CLIMATE OF BETRAYAL

This article is in Tuesday's Daily Mail and really hits the nail on the head. Referring to the recent UK floods it says:

"What makes flooding more common now is that while we persist in building new homes on natural floodplains which, in the past, were key to flood management, we refuse to invest in the defences needed to protect them.

Blaming it all on climate change is a feeble excuse. It does, however, beg a question: if climate change is making the country more vulnerable now and in the future, as government bodies keep telling us, why aren't they taking flood defence more seriously?"

Exactly - the government has plenty of money to lavish on its cherished net zero CO2 emissions mantra, but is really penny pinching when it comes to actual measures to mitigate the real flood risk which exists now. I don't think many citizens would agree with those priorities.

ENGLAND AS WARM AS IN 1736 LAST MONTH

This article gives the details. What it tells us is that our weather is extremely variable and so a warm, or cold, month/year is not something that should cause concern. Weather varies and we had better prepare for it as best we can and stop pretending that we can control it, which we can't.

WILL THE WEST CEDE NUCLEAR ENERGY TO RUSSIA?

Is nuclear energy the future or will its enemies see it stopped? This article looks at this important issue and the role of Russia in its progression. "Putin spoke glowingly of the work of Russia’s Kurchatov Institute, which has already begun a project on a fission-fusion hybrid reactors expected to be operational later this year, and its role in driving the advanced science". 

CORONA VIRUS MUCH SCARIER THAN CLIMATE CHANGE

Which is more scary, a half a degree temperature rise in 50 years or a flu that kills 1% in coming months? The answer is obvious. Once the world faces an immediate and real threat all other problems diminish, just as our own health does the same. This piece gives a look at what is happening. 

CAN TRUMP WIN AGAIN?

The writer of this article seems to think so. There is no doubt that climate sceptics will want him to win, as he is the only major political leader who is standing up to the climate lobby. As long as the USA stands firm there is hope.

ARCTIC SEA ICE MORE RESILIENT THAN PREDICTED

This article explains the details. Clearly there is a lot we still do not understand about the cause of ice melt and one factor is the ocean current which changes from a warm to a cold phse in cycles.

THE WORLD MAY NEVER DOUBLE THE AMONUNT OF CO2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE

This article explains why. The conclusion of the article is that, given the latest projections of CO2 emissions, future CO2 concentrations will not only be well below the highest predictions, but might not be as high as the lower ones, with atmospheric CO2 concentrations not even reaching a doubling (560 ppm) of pre-industrial levels (280 ppm) before levelling off.

AFTER THE DROUGHTS, HEATWAVES AND FIRES COMES THE FLOOD

This is in Western Australia where the heavy rain is finally quenching the bush fires. Of course the alarmists will try to say that all this is down to "climate change", but since all this has occurred in one year it is certainly not "climate" and it is typical of the weather of the region. So let's stop all this nonsense talk of all this being climate change and accept that we are all subject to extreme weather and it can be very dangerous. We just have to get used to it and do our best to mitigate it.

WHY WE WILL NEED TO BE FORCED TO CHANGE TO ELECTRIC VEHICLES

I'm certain that the government will have to apply a good deal of force, or as they will call it "incentives" in order to get us to replace our petrol or diesel cars with pure electric ones (hybrids are also to be banned). This article explains why.

SO MUCH FOR THE "DRAMATIC" WARMING OF THE ANTARCTIC

This piece explains why the claims are just hot air (unlike the Antarctic!). When we check the actual data though, we find nothing of the sort. Temperatures have in fact barely changed at all since the 1970s.

RELENTLESS PROPAGANDA - CAN THE TIDE BE TURNED?

As a local councillor I receive a regular magazine from the Local Government Association called "First". Like many other trade magazines it regularly incudes articles on climate change. In the latest issue it has given it a lot of one-sided propaganda, starting with its front page with an image of chimneys pouring out black smoke.

One article inside begins "In 2019 the policy debate on carbon reduction changed for good, with the publication of the Committee on Climate Change's report Net Zero, and rising citizen interest in climate change through the school climate strikes and Extinction Rebellion protests." and so on -you get the picture. And so a few more brains are "washed" into accepting that it is inevitable that we must all reduce our carbon footprint by having an electric car and lose our gas central-heating and cooker. You can read the magazine yourself here.

While it is certainly true that the people who write in these magazines seem to be on-message and a lot of councillors resigned to this, I don't believe the majority of the public are convinced. Most of them are totally disengaged. They are not members of Extinction Rebellion nor have they been involved in school strikes (or their children). No, the policy debate could easily change if a movement against the present policy got activated. 

There are a few individuals who actively write letters refuting the climate scare, but we need many more. The fact is that unless people rebut these scares the policies will become inevitable.  

WHY CHINA AND INDIA CANNOT BE IGNORED IF EMISSIONS OF CO2 ARE TO REDUCE

This article tells the uncomfortable truth about reducing CO2 emissions. It is a key argument that all the activists don't want to mention. All of them concentrate on UK emissions even though they know that it is India and China who are increasing them year on year.

BORIS IN DEEP WATER OVER UK CLIMATE CONFERENCE

This piece looks at the problems being faced by Boris Johnson in hosting the next big climate conference in Glasgow later in the year.  Here is a flavour of the article:

"Regardless of one’s views on climate change, one should welcome the fact that Boris Johnson removed Claire Perry O’Neill* from her post as president of this year’s Conference of the Parties (COP 26), which will be held in Glasgow. He is at last trying to exercise the power of patronage." 
*She was the Climate Minister who stood down at the last election.
Read the rest to find the details