Dear Sen. Kaine,
You recently sent me an unsolicited email regarding transparency for oil and gas companies to which I feel obliged to respond. It starts,
Dear Friend,
Climate change is a pressing challenge for low-lying coastal areas of Virginia and for the world. We can discuss and debate the solutions…
We can debate the solutions, but not the evidence? This has become a hallmark of the agenda so aggressively pursued by you and the previous administration — not only a complete unwillingness to debate the evidence supporting or not supporting the hypothesis of anthropogenic global warming (AGW), but expending great effort to stifle any such debate, including the threat of prosecution for anyone who dares to suggest that the hypothesis of AGW is not well-supported by observations.
…but our country’s chief diplomat should be able to acknowledge the basic reality agreed upon by the world’s preeminent scientists, our country’s military leaders, and Pope Francis: climate change is real, it is caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, and we must do something about it.
Yes, Sen. Kaine, climate change is real. The planet is subject to many periodic oscillations between warmer and cooler temperatures, ranging from decade-long to million-year long periods. But the basic reality that you and the previous administration have denied is that these oscillations and other mechanisms affecting changes in climate are only partially understood, and models predicting future climate change have not proven accurate. Many preeminent scientists do not support the hypothesis of AGW, and your refusal to accept any debate on the issue has led to policy-based science, rather than science-based policy.
When former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing to be Secretary of State, I asked him point-blank whether his former company has funded or continues to fund climate denial efforts…
I’m going to assume that “climate denial efforts” is your shorthand for any research that doesn’t support the hypothesis of AGW. This is the real tragedy of the previous administration’s preoccupation with AGW for a political agenda — resources have been diverted away from legitimate climate research that could actually save lives.
…despite its own internal awareness of the reality of climate change, as numerous reports have described.
Mr. Tillerson refused to answer my question.
With rising sea levels threatening our military and communities in Hampton Roads…
I have a question for you, Sen. Kaine — what is the rate of sea level rise at Hampton Roads, and has that rate accelerated as atmospheric CO2 has increased? Sea level data at Baltimore MD shows mean sea level rising at a rate of one foot every 100 years, with no increase in that rate even as atmospheric CO2 has increased:
…and the President threatening to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, I was troubled by Mr. Tillerson’s refusal to answer my question or agree with the overwhelming scientific consensus on the causes of climate change. For that reason and others, I voted against his confirmation on Wednesday.
Studies show that the US contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement would only result in a temperature reduction of 0.03 degrees Celsius, at a reported cost of up to 176 billion dollars annually. There is no overwhelming scientific consensus on the causes of climate change, so what the Paris Climate Agreement really amounts to — an agreement which was not a treaty ratified by the US Senate, as you know — is a payment of billions of dollars from US taxpayers for no discernible benefit.
On Thursday, Senate Republicans voted to scrap a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that energy companies disclose their payments to foreign governments. I voted against this, and I was troubled by the appearance of confirming the world’s foremost oilman to our country’s top diplomatic position, then the very next day voting to make the oil and gas industry less transparent.
You can watch my speech opposing the elimination of the SEC transparency rule here.
Sincerely,
Senator Tim Kaine
The question over whether energy companies — or any other company — should disclose payments to foreign governments is a valid one, and I encourage debate on that policy issue. But linking that debate to “climate change” — and let’s be honest, that was the real intention behind your email, wasn’t it — is a disservice to your constituents.
Sincerely,
Dan Grogan
Coal Matters 