Dems unveil ‘Green New Deal’
Texas energy industry stamps it as a disaster for state
WASHINGTON — A Democratic plan to address climate change would cut net U.S. greenhouse emissions to zero in 10 years through measures that include shifting the power grid to renewable energy and investing in chargers and other technology to support electric vehicles.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, DMass., introduced a resolution that calls for the government to undertake a massive spending program on the scale of the Depression-era New Deal to shift the U.S economy from fossil fuels, a major source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are accelerating climate change. Supporters call it the Green New Deal.
“Even the solutions that we have considered big and bold are nowhere near the scale of the actual problem that climate change presents to us,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with National Public Radio. “It could be part of a larger solution, but no one has actually scoped out what that larger solution would entail.”
Cortez and Markey called on the Federal Reserve to extend credit to finance clean energy projects, much as it did for public works projects during the Depression and the nation’s largest banks during the financial crisis.
The proposal was sharply criticized by oil and gas interests in Texas.
A rollback of fossil fuel on the scale described in the resolution could be disastrous for the state’s energy industry, a pillar of the state economy in which hundreds of thousands of Texans are employed, they said.
“Supporters of this radical plan claim there would be a ‘just transition,’ but that’s easy to say when it’s not their job that will be eliminated,” said Steve Everly, an energy consultant and spokesman for the industry group Texans for
Natural Gas.
Others in the fossil fuel sector have called the Green New Deal unrealistic.
The American Petroleum Institute said Thursday that any climate change policy must take into account the decline in emissions caused by the switch from coal in power generation to natural gas, a far cleaner-burning fuel.
“Congress’ goal must be to balance meeting record consumer energy demand reliably and affordably for every American family while enabling environmental progress,” the trade group said in a statement. “API will evaluate and support proposals that strike this necessary balance.”
Among the ideas proposed by supports of the Green Deal Deal were:
Building high-speed rail networks on “a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary.”
Upgrading all buildings to reduce energy demand.
Replacing “every combustion engine.”
Building protection against rising sea levels and other climate change effects.
The proposal drew immediate applause from prominent liberals, as well as environmental groups that maintain swift action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to prevent the worst impact of climate change.
“We are thrilled to see so many members of Congress following through on the climate action that voters clearly said they wanted from their leaders on Election Day,” League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski said in a statement. “The climate crisis is a problem of epic proportions that requires a level of ambition just as big. This is an all hands-ondeck moment, and now is the time to challenge ourselves as never before.”
But the proposal faces a stiff climb among Republicans and more centrist Democrats.
House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., questioned Thursday whether Democrats atlarge would back a Green New Deal bill.
“It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive,” Pelosi told the online news organization Politico. “The green dream, or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it, right?”