Obama Unites Global Warming Alarmists, Skeptics In Presidential Debates

Tuesday night’s presidential debate surprisingly united global warming alarmists with global warming skeptics. Who would have thought silence on the topic could be so unifying?

As Mitt Romney and Barack Obama laced up their rhetorical boxing gloves to square off on everything from taxes to Benghazi to energy policy, prominent global warming alarmist Brad Johnson tweeted, “When Obama talks about energy without mentioning climate, he ignores the fundamental basis of his energy policy.” Brad Johnson and I don’t agree on many things, but we certainly agree that Johnson’s tweet hit the issue squarely on the head.

President Obama’s unprecedented renewable energy subsidies, combined with unprecedented restrictions on conventional energy production and use, make no sense outside the realm of global warming policy. Wind power and solar power, the crown jewels of Obama’s American electricity agenda, are substantially more expensive than the coal and natural gas power that produces most of America’s electricity. Forcing Americans to directly subsidize these economic losers on the front end and then forcing them to purchase this more expensive energy on the back end is a sure-fire way to weaken our economy and weaken our nation.

Nor do wind and solar power make much environmental sense outside the realm of global warming alarmism. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conservatively estimates that wind turbines already kill 440,000 birds in the United States each year, even while providing just a tiny portion of U.S. electricity. The wind turbines kill indiscriminately, slicing to death federally protected bald eagles, golden eagles, and other cherished species. The turbines also kill thousands of bats each year, contributing to an alarming decline in the nation’s bat population.

Wind power also requires developing vast tracts of pristine lands. Even under optimum conditions, it takes anywhere from 300 to 600 square miles of wind turbines to generate as much electricity as a single conventional power plant. Unfortunately, the optimum places for wind farms tend to be atop scenic mountain ridges and just off our nation’s shorelines. It is difficult to think of places more deserving of protection from towering, unsightly turbines than mountain ridges and shorelines.

Solar power similarly despoils large stretches of land while producing minimal electricity. Solar thermal power, which is the most economical form of solar power production, additionally consumes at least double the water of conventional power plants. Because solar power production makes the most sense in sunny, arid climates, this is precisely where consuming scarce water resources is most harmful to the environment.

Read rest…