Carbon Dioxide Cabal Finally Getting Pushback

Written by Robert Knight

What do some young activists in Montana have in common with Honolulu city officials?

It’s hysteria over carbon dioxide, the gas we breathe out, that makes all life possible.

Both groups have won recent court rulings in lawsuits to ban fossil fuels. The plaintiffs seek to punish companies that provide natural gas, oil and coal to power the electric grid, cars, airplanes, and other useful modern amenities.

This is beyond foolish. For instance, try getting to Hawaii using solar or wind power.

Thanks to the Hawaii Supreme Court, which inexplicably just gave it the green light, the city of Honolulu is accusing fossil fuel producers of causing climate change.

Nefarious energy companies have misled the public about the effects on the worldwide climate, the city argues. In Sunoco v. Honolulu, the city is asking for damages for alleged local climate impacts.

The city stopped short of listing recent volcanic eruptions, which are still considered acts of God.

Instead of tossing out the boneheaded shakedown, the Hawaii Supreme Court said the city has a right to sue for damages. That goes against many previous federal rulings that states cannot intrude on other states’ sovereignty. If Hawaii somehow got away with crippling energy companies, it would affect the other 49 states, not to mention the world.

Meanwhile, a judge in Montana has ruled for 16 young plaintiffs who assert that state agencies are violating their rights by allowing fossil fuel development.

Montana produces a lot of coal and has vast oil and natural gas reserves. In 1972, the state adopted the Green Amendment to its constitution, guaranteeing “a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.” It sounds nice, but talk about unintended consequences.

In March 2020, lawyers for the climate activist group Our Children’s Trust filed Held v. Montana on behalf of the plaintiffs, aged 2 through 18. Montana District Judge Kathy Seeley ruled for the plaintiffs in August 2023, an opinion the Montana Supreme Court upheld this past Dec. 18.

Judge Seeley rejected the state’s argument that Montana’s emissions are, on a worldwide scale, insignificant. She said they were “a substantial factor” in climate change.

“Every additional ton of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions exacerbates plaintiffs’ injuries and risks locking in irreversible climate injuries,” said Judge Seeley, who may well be wearing a secret white lab coat under her robes. Bear in mind we’re talking about a state with less than 1% of the U.S. population.

Here’s how The Associated Press summarizes climate science:

“Carbon dioxide, which is released when fossil fuels are burned, traps heat in the atmosphere and is largely responsible for the warming of the climate.”

Really? Do you know that for sure? The cycles of the sun are pretty much irrelevant?

“This spring, carbon dioxide levels in the air reached the highest levels they’ve been in over 4 million years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said earlier this month,” the AP said.

Note the certainty. They know what’s allegedly been going on for 4 million years, including super-warm epochs a few thousand years ago when people were not driving Ford F-150s or even using curling irons.

Montana’s Republican officials are determined to have Judge Seeley’s ruling overturned.

In nearby Wyoming, legislators are taking offense. Two state lawmakers — Sen. Cheri Steinmetz and Rep. John Bear — have introduced a bill titled “Make carbon dioxide great again — no net zero.”

The proposed law states that “carbon dioxide is not a pollutant and is a beneficial substance.” It lists many upsides, including this: “Agricultural production worldwide is outpacing population growth and breaking production records primarily due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide.”

Well, bully them. It’s past time that the whole “carbon dioxide is dangerous” scheme were unmasked.

A group of physics scientists formed the CO2 Coalition in 2015 to counter the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s claim that the world needs to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The coalition says this is not only impossible but life-threatening since so much of our sustenance depends on abundant fossil fuel energy.

In Canada, the United Conservative Party of Alberta passed a resolution last Nov. 2 calling on the government to abandon net-zero targets, remove carbon dioxide’s designation as a pollutant and “recognize that CO2 is a foundational nutrient for all life on Earth.”

Climate change activists counter that they want to save the planet. That’s probably true for the kids in the Montana lawsuit. They’ve been on the receiving end of climate propaganda all their young lives. But the powerful climate lobby has other motives, such as increasing their own and the government’s power and facilitating the redistribution of wealth.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Vermont independent and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, and others are blaming climate change for the horrific wildfires in Los Angeles instead of the obvious culprit: the Democrats’ mismanagement of natural resources. Never let a crisis go to waste.

Self-defeating climate policies empower the world’s biggest polluter — China. As children and leftist city officials tie up our courts with frivolous climate activism, the Chinese open new coal plants daily and laugh at Americans.

But their days of mirth may be numbered. In November, Americans spoke loudly about an administration that was forcing electric car mandates and other economically absurd schemes on us.

On Jan. 20, a new sheriff will be in town, and he doesn’t back away from the climate bullies.

This article was originally published by The Washington Times.

Robert Knight is a former Los Angeles Times news editor and writer and was a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. This column was originally published by The Washington Times.

He has been published by the Wall Street Journal, National Review, the Christian Post, AmericanThinker.com, DailyCaller.com, Townhall.com, OneNewsNow.com and many others.  He has co-authored three books and written 10, including “Liberty on the Brink: How the Left Plans to Steal Your Vote” (D. James Kennedy Ministries, 2020) and “The Coming Communist Wave: What Happens If the Left Captures All Three Branches of Government” (D. James Kennedy Ministries, 2020) . 

You can follow him on Twitter at @RobertKnight17, and his website is roberthknight.com.