Sen. Inhofe says environmentalist policies undermine US economy and national security

By KEVIN MOONEY, CONTRIBUTOR • 3/23/17 2:19 PM

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., has “some good news” for Americans who have been burdened by environmental regulations and the dubious scientific findings that have been used to justify those regulations.

“Obama’s war on fossil fuels is temporarily over,” he said during a video presentation this morning addressing scientists, economists, engineers, and policy experts who are taking part in the Heartland Institute’s 12th annual International Conference on Climate Change. Since 2008, the Chicago-based free market think tank has brought together more than 4,000 people from across the globe to participate in the conferences.

President Trump’s victory, combined with Republican majorities in Congress and in statehouses across the country, strongly suggests that most Americans are not beguiled by alarmist theories on global warming, top officials with Heartland have argued. Inhofe, who is one of the leading climate skeptics in Congress, drove this point home during his presentation. But at the same time, he also urged conference participants to “remain vigilant” in anticipation of coming political battles.

“The outlook for environmental activists and climate change alarmists is grim,” he said. “With significant losses in the White House, and Congress and the Supreme Court, and a persistently skeptical public, their political leverage and relevance has dwindled.”

Even so, Inhofe warned, that “liberal extremists are not going to give up.” During Obama’s eight years in office, the former president “built a culture of radical alarmists,” who will “be back,” Inhofe said.

America’s economic and national security posture deteriorated significantly under Obama as a result of climate change policies that absorbed vital resources that could have been better invested, Inhofe told the conference.

“Every administrative entity under Obama was forced to embrace climate change as a top priority and it was used as a convenient sounding board,” Inhofe said. “We’ve seen this with agencies such as the Department of Defense diverting resources away from their core responsibility of defending America.” Inhofe also quoted Obama as saying that “climate change is a greater threat than terrorism.”

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