In attacking Paris accord, Texas oil regulator selectively cites economic numbers
Wayne Christian is fed up with environmentalists and what he described as the “woke” liberal policies threatening to disrupt the smooth recovery of Texas’ energy sector from pandemic blows.
The Republican oil and gas regulator, one of three commissioners of the Texas Railroad Commission, penned a missive earlier this month that took aim at those who’ve recently cast Texas natural gas in a bad light — the French government for cutting ties with a Houston company over environmental concerns, the “sensationalist fake-news media” for downplaying improvements in emissions, and the “environmental extremists” for promoting Green New Deal policies.
In the letter, posted to the agency’s website on Jan. 5, Christian took a swipe at President Joe Biden’s pledge to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, which he fulfilled on his first day in office by executive order. Former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2017 from the international treaty, designed to reduce carbon emissions, although terms of the agreement stipulated that the U.S. could not formally exit until Nov. 4, 2020.”
This would be a tremendous mistake,” Christian wrote. “The accord carries sky-high costs with very low benefits and unfairly imposes a double standard based on unproven assumptions and climate models that are wrong nearly all the time.”
Then Christian pointed to a 2017 study released by an economic research firm on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Council for Capital Formation, a pro-business think tank on economic policy.
“The cost of the Paris Climate Accord to the American economy is steep. The agreement will cost American workers 6.5 million jobs and $3 trillion in economic growth by 2040,” Christian wrote, citing the 2017 study.
The study, entitled “Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Regulations On the Industrial Sector,” was also cited by Trump when justifying his decision to withdraw from the Paris accord.
“The cost to the economy at this time would be close to $3 trillion in lost GDP and 6.5 million industrial jobs, while households would have $7,000 less income and, in many cases, much worse than that,” Trump said in his 2017 announcement from the Rose Garden…
How did Christian’s claim rate? Read the full story at PolitiFact.
Also, listen to the full interview with PolitiFact’s Brandon Mulder in the audio player above.
