Is ignorance, incompetence, a lack of self-awareness, greed, or pure malevolent power politics driving a continuing agenda against the fossil-fuel economy?
A phantom crisis...
A phantom crisis is occurring due to the public’s lack of information and understanding about the deliberate, politically-driven manipulation of the energy market based on a distortion of scientific research and data for gain--including fudging data, selectively reporting results, or suppressing dissenting views. And the deliberate failure to verify and replicate research results to ensure the integrity of scientific research used to justify public policies.
The truth about global climate change is simple and unimpeachable at this point in time.
1. Man cannot identify, isolate, and measure man’s climate signal against the noise of natural climate variability.
2. Man cannot determine the optimum temperature of the Earth beneficial to life from the equatorial latitudes to the polar regions.
3. Carbon dioxide is required for life, is not a pollutant, and is not a significant driver of climate change other than in computer models with incomplete or faulty assumptions and highly-manipulated suspect data.
4. The significant drivers of climate change are: the Sun’s energy output in all spectral bands, cosmic ray production, the Earth’s position relative to the Sun, the Earth’s rotational and precessional dynamics, plate tectonics and vulcanology, deep ocean currents, and the most significant greenhouse gas: water vapor. All seemingly interlinked with feedback and response mechanisms to support life on our planet. And all impervious to man’s control.
5. There is no evidence that any public policies or initiatives have altered or can alter our short-term weather or long-term global climate.
6. It appears that the elite climate change activists and supporters have accumulated additional wealth and power at humanity’s expense.
The dire consequences of malevolent actors, useful idiots, and a corrupted, corporatized media...
It is a fact that fossil fuels dominate the economy, from producing food that requires fertilizer derived from natural gas and diesel-powered farm vehicles to creating petrochemical and plastic feedstocks to transporting critically essential goods locally, regionally, nationally, and globally.
Phantom energy crises can have severe economic and social consequences, leading to higher energy prices, shortages of goods and services, and disruptions to daily life.
We have already seen economic instability with distortions and disruptions in our GDP growth, inflation, unemployment rate, personal income, cost of food, cost of fuel, lower standards of living, limits on our mobility, and other factors affecting daily life.
How dare they?
A question asked in a different context by a teenage Swedish climate activist blaming the world’s political leaders for not doing enough to destroy the capitalism that is driving so-called climate change.
But it is a valid question. How is it that our leadership has allowed the perversion of science to justify actions that are leading to a humanitarian crisis? A crisis that should see these very same leaders charged with crimes against humanity and deserving of the ultimate punishment?
It appears that we are living in an era of intentional man-made crises and allowing those who have created these preventable catastrophes to profit from them by proposing self-serving solutions.
I find it disingenuous and frankly insulting when our leadership points at me and says, “you are responsible for the problems we are facing because you failed to surrender your freedoms, fund our prescriptive programs, and turn down your thermostat.
An example of manipulation?
My local gas company, Southern California Gas Company, a subsidiary of Sempra, brags about implementing California’s Net Zero initiative while charging sky-high rates for natural gas while excusing themselves for the catastrophic rise of a gas bill from $100 to $300 without warning.
“SoCalGas does not set the price for natural gas. Instead, natural gas prices are determined by national and regional markets. SoCalGas buys natural gas in those markets on behalf of residential and small business customers, and the cost of buying that gas is billed to those customers with no markup, meaning SoCalGas does not profit from the movement of gas commodity prices.”
The question I cannot get answered: Is Southern California Gas Company purchasing gas in the spot markets at retail from other Sempra subsidiaries, or are they purchasing it wholesale from their parent Sempra? Is Sempra helping to ship vast quantities of natural gas out the back door at wholesale?
In a January 19, 2023 letter to the California Attorney General, Consumer Watchdog asked for an Investigation of So Cal Gas Over Natural Gas Prices.
The doubling of natural gas prices is unique to California. While the utility has made natural gas available to its customers as it is required to do, it has purchased gas at unreasonably high prices, with higher profits for So Cal Gas’s parent company SEMPRA, that sells natural gas to So Cal Gas through its other subsidiaries.
Most importantly, Southern Gas has deceived its customers about the fact that it is profiting from the increase in natural gas costs.
In fact, SEMPRA, the parent company of both utilities, and its other subsidiaries, profits greatly from the increase in natural gas prices and that benefits So Cal Gas’s management financially as well – which is rewarded for feeding the cash cow that is SEMPRA. Put another way, would it be an unfair business practice if a plumber charged a consumer double for piping, claiming he has no financial interest in the added costs of the pipe and is just passing those costs along, and neglects to mention his father owns the piping company.
What role did SoCal gas play in the scarcity of natural gas for its customers? Evidence shows that So Cal gas did not adequately purchase gas for the 2022 – 2023 season. Ordinarily the utility would purchase, transport and store ahead of the season to plan for winter surges. This failure of planning created conditions where it had to buy from its parent company SEMPRA’s subsidiaries on the spot market at twice the normal price, passing the costs on to its customers.
Bottom line...
I would like to see those who knowingly implement harmful policies to advance their self-serving political agenda surrender their pensions and personal wealth to the treasury as reparations for the harm they have inflicted on the country and its citizens.
Unfortunately, under the present administration, it is unlikely that any corrupt politician will be held accountable for their actions and thoroughly punished under the law.
The only answer to why an individual, corporation, community, or nation would knowingly commit suicide is that we are facing evil and its disciples.
What is more harmful to consumers than inflation in fuel and food? Answer: the professional self-serving politician who doesn’t give a damn.
We are so screwed.
-- Steve