Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm addresses reporters Thursday April 8, 2021, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)
Foot Soldiers for Leftist Orthodoxy
The Manhattan Contrarian is currently involved in a legal case in which Francis Menton’s client seeks to compel EPA to reconsider and revoke the 2009 action by which the agency claimed to determine that CO2 and other “greenhouse gases” constitute a “danger to human health and welfare.”
“That agency action could well be the single most absurd and destructive thing that the U.S. government has ever done in its 234-year history,” argues the Manhattan Contrarian on his website:
The “Endangerment Finding” is the regulatory foundation that underlies all (…) the more than one hundred initiatives of the Biden Administration to destroy our energy infrastructure, drive up the cost of gasoline, heat, and electricity, and leave the American people impoverished and freezing in the dark.
As the Manhattan Contrarian explains, there is an assortment of non-profit organizations who would otherwise be strangers to the litigation. Nonetheless, these organizations are seeking to “intervene” in the case to support the position of the government.
… these are organizations whose core missions would seem to be far removed from the question of whether CO2 or other “greenhouse gases” do or do not cause noticeable global warming.
So why, asks Mr. Menton, do they get involved here?
They have totally lost track of their supposed missions and have become just another collection of foot soldiers in the enforcement of the leftist orthodoxy of the moment.
Mr. Menton gives examples:
The American Lung Association?
From its name, you’d get the impression that its mission entirely relates to lungs and their health. Not so fast, advises Mr. Menton.
Go to the website, and that impression is only reinforced. The headline is “Our Vision Is a World Free of Lung Disease.” Prominently featured initiatives relate to tobacco, radon, and Covid-19. What do CO2 and “greenhouse gases” have to do with lung disease or lung health? The answer is nothing. The plea for donations is headed “Help Us Create a World Free of Lung Disease.” Well, it turns out that these people are taking the donor money and devoting it to the current fashionable cause of having the government use its coercive powers to undermine the U.S. energy system.
American Public Health Association?
Think this group has something to do with public health? Read on:
Maybe at one time it did. Go to the website, and it’s a collection of current left-wing talking points. “Abortion is essential healthcare,” “Creating health equity is a guiding priority and core value of APHA,” “Racism hurts the health of our nation.” There is unabashed vaccine advocacy, without any mention that some vaccines might have serious side effects or might not be right for everyone. OK, but at least all of those arguably have at least something to do with “public health.”
CO2 in the atmosphere has exactly nothing to do with “public health,” at least as that term would be commonly understood.
Appalachian Mountain Club?
You’d be partially correct in thinking this group maintains the Appalachian Trail and other such pieces of outdoor infrastructure. At the top of the AMC’s website, however, is its mission statement: “we advocate for science-based policies that advance clean energy, air and water quality, and land protection.”
Mr. Menton wonders, could using these trails make any difference if average temperatures went up a couple of degrees a hundred years from now?
No. But somehow (AMC’s) mission too has crept into spending donor money to hire lawyers to support the government in its coercive efforts to ban your gas stove and drive up your cost of electricity.
As if the mission creep isn’t embarrassing enough, these organizations, take it upon themselves to try to help the government by getting our organization thrown out of court on the technicality of “standing,” writes Mr. Menton,
The doctrine of “standing” requires that a party seeking relief in federal court must demonstrate that it has or will suffer some sort of concrete injury. It’s a reasonable enough requirement, but actually very flexible, as shown by the fact that standing is universally recognized for anyone claiming to be harmed by damage to the environment, no matter how minimal or general. Will my local river be warmed 2 degrees by release of water that cools a nuclear power plant? That’s clearly sufficient to convey “standing.”
Do the likes of the American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, Appalachian Mountain Club, et al. (Clean Air Council, Clean Wisconsin, National Parks Conservation Association, National Resources Council of Maine, and Natural Resources Defense Council) have any expertise in this subject? “None whatsoever,” continues Mr. Menton, “But that does not keep them from weighing in.”
Bottom line: pretty much any organization today that is not explicitly right wing has become a foot soldier in the enforcement of leftist orthodoxy.
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