Wednesday, December 18, 2019

The 2020 Update, Part 2




Let me finish up with Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg before moving on.


To paraphrase Obama, don't bother hoping; "nothing would fundamentally change" for the fossil fuel companies or climate change if Biden stumbles into the White House.

Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, the Biden campaign’s national co-chair, has one of the most pro-oil and gas industry voting records among all congressional Democrats.

Despite representing a low-lying Louisiana district that could be one of the areas in the U.S. most immediately impacted by climate change, Richmond has voted reliably in favor of expanding production and exports of natural gas and oil. [...] In 2015, Richmond was one of 28 House Democrats to vote in favor of approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which will transport crude oil from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast. Last year, he voted in favor of a bill from Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) that would undermine the environmental review process for natural gas pipelines by stating that all pipelines that transport 0.14 billion cubic feet per day or less should be immediately approved.

Richmond, a member of the moderate New Democrat Coalition, has voted in favor of many Republican bills opposed by environmentalists over the years, including Rep. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-Okla.) bill to exempt cross-border pipelines from environmental review, Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-Texas) bill to reverse the crude oil export ban, Rep. Doc Hastings’ (R-Wash.) bill to expand offshore drilling, and Rep. David McKinley’s (R-W.V.) bill to block the Environment Protection Agency from regulating the disposal of toxic coal ash.

In 2011, Richmond signed a letter from Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) calling on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to expedite approval of the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, a project of Cheniere Energy, the natural gas company where Heather Zichal -- Biden's climate adviser -- would become a board member.

Sad Old Joe's "No Malarkey" Iowa bus tour was in fact full of more malarkey than could be measured with modern technology, most of it spewing from Biden's own piehole.  Thankfully he kept reminding those present they could vote for someone else.

And it looks as if #WineCavePete may have shifted his demographic strategy to a lighter shade of brownBuena suerte, pal.

Still to come in Part 3: Bernie, Bloomberg, and the rest ahead of tomorrow night's showdown.