Climate madness

President Obama signed the Paris Climate Agreement, refusing to send it to the Senate for ratification. Now, the United Nations is poised to claim the agreement binding on all parties.

China and India are the first and third largest greenhouse gas emitters. They signed the treaty because neither is actually required to cut emissions. India is doubling its coal use by 2020 and tripling its emissions by 2030. India has simply promised to “try to cut emissions intensity,” while China says it expects greenhouse gas emissions to peak in or about 2030 — no promises, just an expectation. China plans to build a new coal-burning power plant every 10 days for the next 10 years. China currently burns more than 4 billion tons of coal per year compared to 1 billion tons for the U.S.

For America this accord is economic suicide. We plan to shutter almost all of our coal power plants by 2030. Current EPA regulations will have a third shuttered by 2020 due to mercury and toxic air standards regulations. It’s madness. The Joker is in control.

This story was originally published November 11, 2016 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Climate madness."