Energy Taxes Won't Help Pakistan
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Category: Government CommitteesType: News
Source: U.S. House Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
Party: Republican
Date: Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
Washington, D.C.- U.S. Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., ranking Republican on the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, made the following statement during today's briefing titled, "Extreme Weather in a Warming World:"
"I'd like to begin by reading an excerpt from Time Magazine:
'Across eastern India and Pakistan, monsoon rains swept in mighty torrents between the Himalayas and the sea. In the heart of the populous Ganges valley, 10,000 villages crumbled and vanished, and farmers shared tree trunks with cobras in the worst floods since 1871. In the coastal state of Orissa, 8 rivers thundered simultaneously into spate, killing at least 150, inundating 3,500 sq. mi. of drought-seared cropland. The state's 138 legislators dropped everything and rushed homeward to find out their families' fate.'
"This excerpt was published in 1955.
"The flooding in Pakistan is a tragedy, and I offer my sincere sympathies and hopes of a speedy recovery.
"We're not here to talk about how Pakistan can recover from the flood, a topic I would be interested in discussing. This is about how to tie this natural disaster to the Democrats' environmental agenda, which will do nothing to stop the monsoon rains in Pakistan.
"There is no evidence of a direct link between climate change and these floods. Listen carefully, as the words 'may' and 'could' are often used as qualifiers. IPCC chief R.K. Pachauri said it was 'scientifically incorrect' to link this flood to the theory of man-made climate change. He did add, however, that these types of floods 'may' become more frequent.
"Last month, a paper published by the American Meteorological Society attributed the rise in damage and losses from extreme weather not to climate change, but to increased development in hazardous areas.
"Pakistan's floods are a natural disaster of epic proportion, and its people deserve aid and compassion. But we're not here to talk about that. This briefing is about raising energy taxes on Americans in an effort to advance the Democrats' policy of cap-and-tax. And you won't hear the words 'may' and 'could' when I say this agenda will hurt America's economy. It's shameful that Democrats are putting politics before people and are using this tragedy as a platform for grandstanding."
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