Several bills pending in the Colorado legislature target the state’s oil industry.
State Senator Kevin Priola, responsible for two of the bills, says he’s acting to stop climate change. To prevent the mass extinction of species, he claims.
One of his proposed statutes would outlaw new oil wells in Colorado after 2030. Another bill would, among other things, outlaw fracking from May through September unless drillers use special hard-to-get electric equipment. The same bill would also direct an agency to reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled.
Another lawmaker’s bill would make it harder to produce new wells.
Priola explains that since 50,000 wells already operate in Colorado, his legislation would not much impair production. But Dan Haley, president of Colorado Oil & Gas Association, observes that the highest production of oil wells comes in their first 18 months. Within two years of the 2030 ban, then, the state’s oil industry would sharply decline.
We’re seeing this more and more. Bans and plans to ban gas-powered lawn mowers, gas-powered cars, gas, coal, oil. Lawmakers working to shut down civilization. Not all at once, but via ever faster and bigger Interim Steps.
Don’t they see that they too will be harmed when things are no longer permitted to function? Do they imagine that if they achieve all their industry-killing dreams, all the food, clothing, shelter, transportation, communication will continue just as smoothly and abundantly as ever?
Don’t they think about the day after tomorrow?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Illustration created with PicFinder and Firefly
—
See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
2 replies on “Ban These Energy Bans”
I don’t believe that most elected officials think very far into their futures. But those who do can look at the history of politics and see that, absenting violent upheavals, political officials are very often allowed to transform themselves and then to return to office if indeed they were every removed.
If Mr Priola is ever compelled to acknowledge that his proposals were detrimental to the well-being of most people, he can simply claim that he was well-intentioned, relying upon the best science available at the time, and had since learned from experience and grown.
I say “detrimental to the well-being of most people” advisedly; because, even if the world becomes darker and colder for most of us, these measures will make it brighter and warmer for an elite. And one may fairly guess that Mr Priola seeks to be in that elite, using these bills as part of his strategy to get there.
According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change( IPCC), Antarctica is expected to be ice-free by the year 2033. With associated massive rises in sea level.
Predicted and massively reported in 2013.
However, the actual decline in sea ice between September 2007 and September 2023 has been essentially zero.
The IPCC has no idea why this is. However they have restudied the issue and are happy to report that they expect Antarctica to be ice-free by 2050.
(And it’s an emergency)
(And they need more money and power to regulate)