President Biden has long been trumpeted by the liberal media as being a champion of the environment, but is this really true? As renowned conservative lawyer and activist Dan Backer argues in a new op-ed in Townhall, nothing could be further from the truth:
Fast forward to 2022, and newsflash: President Trump was proven absolutely right to favor individual action over government coercion. He is still right about climate change. Under the Trump administration, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions plummeted, so much so that even the liberal media took notice. In 2020, the United States generated under six billion metric tons of emissions—down nearly 10 percent from 2019 and on par with the early 1980s. Pollution receded, leaving America as only the world’s 10th largest per-capita polluter—not ideal, but a substantial improvement and still better than the likes of Australia and Canada.
While rolling back more than 100 environmental rules, President Trump successfully advanced the cause of environmental protection—by allowing Americans to recycle, reduce, and reuse as we see fit, and propelling market demand to drive economic change. He gave even the Left’s most ardent climate-change activists much to celebrate.
But when it comes to comparing President Biden to his Republican predecessor, as Backer notes, the results aren’t pretty:
Well, not so well. In 2021, America’s greenhouse gas emissions rose by more than six percent, compared with 2020. Not only that, but the U.S. economy saw a nearly 20 percent increase in coal generation—the first annual increase since 2014. Ironically enough, the 2021 spike means the United States is no longer on track to meet its commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement to cut 2005 emission levels by 50 to 52 percent within the next eight years.
…
President Biden’s failure on climate change is the end result of every progressive pipe dream. From limousine liberals like U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry exorcising their guilt while zipping around in private jets to Pelosi Democrats ignoring mask mandates that punish our children, the stench of hypocrisy obscures the stated goal of progressive policies. Americans need to stop relying on big-government Democrats to solve our problems, and continue to solve them on our own.
Makes sense, Biden is ruining everything.