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Morano to testify on Capitol Hill – Warmists Outraged – Accuse GOP of stacking Congressional Green New Deal forum with ‘prominent climate deniers’

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/26/gop-stacks-green-new-deal-forum-with-climate-deniers-industry-groups.html

GOP stacks Green New Deal forum with climate deniers and industry groups

  • The Republican-dominated Congressional Western Caucus is hosting a forum on the Green New Deal on Wednesday.
  • The confirmed guests are mostly prominent climate-change deniers and industry-linked groups.
  • “It’s clear to any thinking person that this isn’t a serious forum,” says Demond Drummer, executive director of the think tank fleshing out the Green New Deal.

The Congressional Western Caucus will host a forum on Wednesday that the Republican-dominated group is billing as the “first in-depth public review of the Green New Deal” by Congress.

But there is just one hitch: The list of confirmed guests is stacked with prominent climate-change deniers and representatives of industry-linked groups.

Republicans have come out forcefully against the Green New Deal, a plan put forward by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to stave off climate change by overhauling the U.S. economy and energy system. Among other things, the deal calls for generating 100 percent of U.S. power from renewable sources and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and industry in about 10 years.

In a press release, the Congressional Western Caucus says the forum will address “how a transition of this magnitude might occur, analyze how the proposal will be paid for and the estimated costs, and review the overall feasibility of and opportunities associated with the Green New Deal.”

However, comments from caucus members on the group’s website suggest they have already made up their minds about the proposal.

“The Green New Deal is another climate change, socialist pipe-dream that attacks American jobs and our way of life,” said Rep. Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona and chairman of the caucus, which focuses on several issues, including energy, water issues and private property rights.

The guest list for Wednesday’s forum also suggests a strong bias against the plan.

Instead, the witnesses include prominent climate-change skeptics, such as Myron Ebell, who led the EPA’s transition team for then President-elect Donald Trump; Marc Morano, the founder of Climate Depot, a blog dedicated to challenging climate science; and Dr. David Legates, a professor of climatology at the University of Delaware who regularly speaks at gatherings of climate deniers.

The rest of the confirmed guests include representatives of industry-linked groups such as the Consumer Energy Alliance, the American Energy Alliance and the Federal Forest Resource Coalition. The libertarian group Americans for Limited Government is also scheduled to attend.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talks with reporters outside the Senate chamber about a continuing resolution to re-open the government on Friday, January 25, 2019.

McConnell wants to force vote on Ocasio-Cortez’ Green New Deal  

The Congressional Western Caucus did not immediately return a CNBC request for comment about the guest list.

Ocasio-Cortez initially accepted an invitation to attend the event but later said she would be preoccupied monitoring former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s testimony on Capitol Hill. The Congressional Western Caucus says it invited New Consensus and the Sunrise Movement, two of the main backers of the Green New Deal, as well as the Sierra Club and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.

Representatives for New Consensus and Sierra Club told CNBC they will not attend the forum.

“It’s clear to any thinking person that this isn’t a serious forum,” said Demond Drummer, executive director for New Consensus.

Liz Perera, climate policy director at Sierra Club, called the forum a “political circus.”

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