Is anyone more hypocritical than a professional environmentalist? In case folks need a hint, see this month’s exhibit: As North American environmental activists throw all of their energy and resources into blocking Canada from selling its oil to the United States, they have haven’t made a peep over Iran increasing its own oil exports.
And one would think they’d care, as the environmentalists’ entire rationale for opposing Keystone is that if a pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is built, more carbon will be put into the atmosphere. But their problem here — and often — is that the facts don’t support their claims.
Professional environmentalists don’t seem to mind that if this pipeline is not built to the gulf, it could be built to China, where the oil will be used anyway — and with less oversight by a government unconcerned with carbon emissions and hostile to American interests. President Barack Obama’s Department of State even agreed, saying earlier this month that the fuel would be used whether or not Keystone is built.
Nor did professional environmentalists seem to care that the State Department’s final report pointed out that the building or scuttling of the project won’t impact how much oil is burned by our own gulf refineries — oil imports will simply come from other, less friendly countries: “When this demand is not met by heavy Canadian supplies in the model results, it is met by heavy crude from Latin America and the Middle East.” (Off the reservation: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz clashes with greenies over his support of Keystone Pipeline)
Nor are professional environmentalists much bothered that Canada is an ally of the United States, and it’s oil would create American jobs while posing minimal danger to the environment; while Iran is a sworn enemy of the United States, and it’s oil exports are refilling Iranian coffers while threatening security for the U.S. and her allies.
For the past five years, environmentalists have spent millions to block the pipeline through lobbying, activism, research and P.R. campaigns. For the past five months, environmentalists have sustained a Washington, D.C. campaign, “Oh No Canada,” calling our northern neighbors “the dirty old man of the climate world.”
Meanwhile, with nary a peep, Iran’s crude-oil exports rose to 1.32 million barrels from December’s high of 1.06 million barrels, the Washington Free Beacon reports.
That Iran is the same country that wants to build atomic weapons; the same country that wants to wipe Israel off the map; the same country that has promised the destruction of the United States. Still, we’re told by Mr. Obama’s top diplomat that Iran is simply not as dangerous as carbon emissions. (ANALYSIS: Green hypocrisy in Keystone XL pipeline opposition)
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that your entire way of life here [in Indonesia] is at risk,” Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Sunday.
“In a sense, climate change can now be considered the world’s largest weapon of mass destruction,” he added without a hint of irony. “Perhaps even, the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.”
“Secretary Kerry is right: The global community needs to come together to combat climate change,” said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, director of the International Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “And the United States must take a leadership role. Most immediately, that means moving forward expeditiously with limits on carbon pollution from America’s power plants. And it means saying no to the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.”
Meanwhile, the administration isn’t concerned about Iran’s “carbon footprint.”
“Under the Joint Plan of Action, the United States will ‘pause efforts to further reduce Iran’s crude oil sales, enabling Iran’s current customers to purchase their current average amounts of crude oil,’” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told the Free Beacon.
“It amazes me how quiet the environmentalists have been with the White House allowing Iran’s oil sales to grow and flourish, yet they work tirelessly to squelch our energy opportunities in North America and among our allies,” Sen. James Inhofe, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told The Daily Caller.
“Just look at Secretary Kerry’s statement on their behalf this weekend that climate change is the new ‘weapon of mass destruction,'” Mr. Inhofe continued. “All the while, the United States is loosening sanctions on Iran while Iran maintains their resources to develop and launch a nuclear weapon — the real weapon of mass destruction — that could hit the East Coast by next year.”
Such geopolitical hypocrisy among the professional environmentalists is not even confined to the Keystone fight. For example, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman infamously wished the U.S. was more like China on environmental issues — China being a brutal dictatorship with an environmental record so bad it can be deadly to breath the air. (The Assumption of Al: 3 reasons Al Gore is the greatest progressive in all the known world)
And the professional environmentalists aren’t just hypocrites about foreign oil — they’re hypocrites right here at home on the issues that affect American workers and families. Their spokesmen burn massive amounts of CO2 jetting around the globe lecturing Americans on saving energy to stop warming — during one of the coldest winters Americans have ever had. They propose spending a billion dollars on new jobs for climate researchers — while barring recession-struck Americans from working in new coal, new pipelines or new oil platforms. (RELATED: Obama may talk global warming in coldest State of the Union in history)
But don’t expect the professional environmentalists to figure all this out. They’ve got their heads shoved too far in the tar sands to notice our problems. And their fingers are too into our Americans wallets to quit.
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