The Sun (Lowell)

Freedom will fall if the US declares climate emergency

- By Nolan Finley

Disappoint­ed the recent internatio­nal climate summit closed without producing much of consequenc­e to stop temperatur­e creep, activists are now pushing both the United Nations and the United States to declare climate emergencie­s.

Doing so would be largely symbolic for the U.N. But in the U.S., a national emergency declaratio­n would enable President Biden to seize broad control of the economy and intrude deeply into the personal lives of Americans.

We know what that looks like. We just lived through it.

Within days of the COVID-19 outbreak, governors across the nation suspended civil liberties in a vain attempt to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

Doors to private businesses were closed by government fiat. Churches were shuttered. Executive orders criminaliz­ed family gatherings and outlawed funerals. Travel bans were imposed.

A presidenti­al emergency declaratio­n would be much more tyrannical. It would trigger 100 special powers Biden could use to basically become a carbon dictator.

The powers would enable him to close the oil spigot and redirect vast resources from defense to building clean energy systems, and much more. Presidenti­al actions to address the climate emergency would not need congressio­nal approval.

Biden could sit Congress on the sidelines just as governors have done to state Legislatur­es during the pandemic.

A key piece of the climate emergency legislatio­n introduced by Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-cortez of New York and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders would cover what they contend is the disparate impact of climate change on minority communitie­s.

Doing so would lead to harsh restrictio­ns on industry in urban areas and flood tax dollars into those communitie­s for initiative­s that have little to do with climate change.

Armed with an emergency declaratio­n, a president could force compliance with a collective agenda through unchecked powers.

And there would be no end in sight.

The Cortez-sanders legislatio­n would keep the emergency powers in place until the nation achieved net-zero carbon emissions.

Americans largely accepted the COVID-19 mandates out of great fear of the virus. Fearmonger­ing was paramount at the climate conference, where the world was pronounced to be “hanging by a thread.” The vaccine has partially saved us from the tyranny of the COVID emergency.

Nothing will free us from the grip of a climate emergency once the jettisonin­g of liberties is set in motion.

a presidenti­al emergency declaratio­n would be much more tyrannical. it would trigger 100 special powers Biden could use to basically become a carbon dictator.

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