The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Maryland’s National Harbor takes place from February 25 – 28. It is an opportunity for the right to project their hate onto some of their favorite targets including Tom Steyer, climate scientists, the EPA and of course President Obama.
On Thursday February 26th a panel discussion was held under the title, “What Tom Steyer Won’t Tell You.” During this discussion Tom Steyer emerged as the unofficial nominee to replace Al Gore as the most hated environmentalist in Conservative America. Steyer earned the wrath of conservatives for having invested $67 million in support of the environment in the 2014 midterm election cycle.
The Steyer panel discussion denied the existence of climate change. They also derided the vast majority of climate scientists while they lauded a ridiculously small group of climate denying scientists funded by the fossil industry.
Congressman Bill Flores of Texas was one of the speakers and he attacked the EPA, particularly its proposed ozone standards and carbon pollution cap on power plants. Flores’s made the absurd claim that due to the EPA’s regulations, Obama is on the hook for “trillions” of dollars in economic damages. Flores is clearly not very good at math. The actual cost of reducing coal pollution and shifting to cleaner energy is 9 billion per year while the savings are estimated to be around $55 billion per year by 2030.
Rick Perry spoke at CPAC on Friday February 27th and during which time he did his best to feign interest in science. Perry said that he cares about “real” pollution like nitrogen oxide levels, but inferred that climate change causing carbon dioxide is in some way not quite as real.
He was revealing his climate denying credentials even as he was congratulating himself for work he did not do. He bragged about how carbon dioxide levels are down in his state but added, “whether you believe in this whole climate change concept or not.”
The truth is Perry is a climate Luddite who has done nothing but obstruct efforts to combat climate change. Perry concluded his remarks with the comment, “open up the Keystone XL pipeline,” which brought the crowd to their feet cheering.
