At the March 11 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on DEP’s budget request with DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell, Sen. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson) made these remarks about the issue of climate change--

“I’d invite you, Mr. Secretary, as well as a number of the speakers here today to Google “Hidden In An Unknown Corner Of Inner Mongolia Is A Toxic, Nightmarish Lake Created By Our Thurst For Smart Phones, Consumer Gadgets, Green Tech.” [April 2015]

That Larry Fink [BlackRock investment firm mentioned earlier in the same hearing], he’s directing the money towards that kinda stuff.

He’s directing money toward the children in the mines in the Congo.

I mean every time I see a Tesla out there right now, I see it being carried on the backs of little Black kids.

And like I said, it disgusts me, what’s going on. And I’m going to ask you something, Mr. Secretary, Every time… I've got a conditioned response now every time I see or hear the phrase "the science" coming out of politicians.

In the 1970s, science said air pollution may obliterate the sea, or the sun and cause a new Ice Age.  Did that happen, Mr. Secretary?

The science said America will be subject to water rationing by 1974. That was in 1970. Did that happen?

That was the science. Brown University, the impacts of the industry in America was gonna be a trigger of an order of magnitude to create an Ice Age. Did that happen?

And the answer is no.

Then we turn around, and now it's global warming. The science was saying when Al Gore was talking about it [in] 2008, Montana's Glacier National Park weren't gonna be any glaciers. Did that happen?

We're past that date by 2020. It hasn't happened.

In fact, they took the signs down in 2017 at Glacier National Park saying that it was going to happen.

The arctic summers may be ice-free by 2020. That didn't happen.

Florida would see a sea level rise of two feet by 2020. That hasn't happened.

The science said in 1987 by the end of the '90s, the temperature would be up in the world by a half to one degree.

So far right now, even 30 years later, it's not even a half a degree.

That's why so many people have a conditioned response to the science.

Every time a politician or some university professor who stands to gain by creating panic in people... People don't believe it anymore.

And there's good reason. The history of it is good reason.

In fact, speaking of history, the Roman Warming Period, 250 to 400 AD. No human activity, but the world warmed.

The Medieval Warming Period, which the professor from Penn State, Mr. [Michael] Mann, left out of his computer models, conveniently.

The Global Warming Period from 950 to 1250, Erik the Red and his son Leif Erikson, they named Greenland Greenland for a reason. It was lush, it was bountiful. There was no polar ice cap.

We've got the foundations for a forest in Alaska, where the ice sheet is withdrawing, and we see the stumps.

And yet, the ports of Nice, Constantinople, the port in London, Londinium at the time, they weren't flooded.

All these scare tactics are disgusting.

The billions, no, the trillions of dollars that have been spent worldwide on this farce are killing the incomes of people.

And it's having an effect on people who are providing a way to live and sustain their lives, the plastics that we get, the things that we use for our syringes, the bags that hold the saline solutions, there's so much that we get.

And there are more deaths from cold than there are from warming around this world.

Mr. Secretary, this RGGI [Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative] scheme is killing Pennsylvania and it's going to kill the jobs and the livelihoods for no real sustainable and provable....

As the history's shown over the last 50 years that I can remember, no provable science.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary.”

[Note: Sen. Dush’s comments begin at 2:21:26 [or so] in the Senate video of the hearing.]

[Note: The issue of responsible sourcing of materials going into electronic devices and batteries is being resolved by aggressive policies adopted by companies, reporting requirements by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, pressure by groups like Amnesty International and other steps.  See more in Foreign Policy Magazine-- Read more here. The Guardian-- Read more here. The Financial Times-- Read more here.]

Sen. Chris Dush (R) represents Carmeron, Clearfield (part), Clinton, Elk, Jefferson, McKean, Potter and Tioga Counties.  He can be contacted by calling 717-787-7084 or 814-646-7272 or fax 814-646-7275.  He does not have a publicly available personal email, but has a website contact form.

NewsClip:

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[Posted: March 16, 2021]

3/22/2021