After weeks of an embarrassingly inept impeachment inquiry, House Democrats have done little more than erode the legitimacy of legislative oversight and expose their purely political motives. In the face of the failed Russia collusion narrative, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is desperate to prevent the American people from reelecting President Trump in 2020 with the impeachment sham.
Sadly, impeachment is not the only area where Pelosi relies on misinformation and anti-American activists to push a false narrative. She is now using these same tactics to shift focus back to the matter of climate change and the already failed Paris Climate Agreement. This week at the start of the 25th climate conference in Madrid, Spain, Pelosi opened up a press conference stating: “By coming here we want to say to everyone, we’re still in … The United States is still in.”
Despite the fact that President Trump has ceased all Paris-related implementation actions and formally initiated the withdrawal process – which will automatically be complete on Nov. 4, 2020 — Pelosi is also trying to divert the international community’s attention away from well, reality. President Trump has not only made clear the United States is getting out of the Paris Climate Agreement, he’s moved on.
Since exiting Paris, President Trump has made the United States an economic powerhouse while improving our world-leading environmental progress. He has created over 6 million jobs, broken just about every modern unemployment record and this month made the United States into a net energy exporter of oil and petroleum products for the first time since government records began in 1949.
American citizens are breathing the cleanest air on record and enjoy access to the cleanest drinking water in the world. Under President Trump’s direction, the Environmental Protection Agency has been busy strengthening the clean air and clean water programs behind our nation’s proven, environmental success.
When it comes to greenhouse gases, the United States continues to lead the world in overall reductions. In June, the Trump administration finalized the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which is the first-ever legally viable greenhouse gas emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants. While emissions ticked up slightly in 2018 due to unprecedented economic growth, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts emissions will continue to decrease in 2019 and 2020.
Meanwhile, countries that remain committed to the Paris Climate Agreement have displayed a lack of environmental progress. China’s carbon emissions in 2017 wiped out U.S. reductions more than threefold and grew even faster last year. Despite China committing to “highest possible ambition” to fight climate change on paper, the country continues to build out its coal fleet at an unprecedented rate. Because many of these coal plants fail to use basic pollution control technologies, these new plants are exacerbating the problems of their highly polluted air.
It’s not just China that is off track. In 2017, India saw emissions rise nearly 5 percent. According to a 2018 report, all EU countries are off target in reaching initial Paris commitments and have failed to adjust domestic policies to meaningfully advance them. In Germany, despite spending $580 billion on renewable energy, the country has failed to achieve meaningful carbon emissions reductions while leaving its citizens to foot this expensive bill.
Given the stark contrast between American success from both an economic and environmental perspective, it leaves one wondering what Pelosi is really trying to achieve. Where feelings over facts is failing in the halls of Congress and among the American people, perhaps she is seeking a more favorable reception in the United Nations where decisions are premised on making high profile attendees feel like they are making a difference without producing any meaningful change. This mentality is how “climate warriors” justify the use of high emitting private jets to faraway places for the sake of the planet.
Thankfully for the United States, President Trump understands that the international climate change process and its high-cost, ineffective outcomes are not worth his time nor the American taxpayers’ resources. While Pelosi will continue peddling false information at home and abroad, President Trump will continue to deliver on his promise to put the American people and their well-being first.
Mandy Gunasekara is the founder of the Energy 45 Fund. She previously served as a senior official in President Trump’s EPA and was a former counsel to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.