By Andy Kessler
U.S. presidents can declare national emergencies, as spelled out in the 1976 National Emergencies Act, but they must be explicit: “When the President declares a national emergency, no powers or authorities made available by statute for use in the event of an emergency shall be exercised unless and until the President specifies the provisions of law under which he proposes that he, or other officers will act.” I’ve searched far and wide for such provisions and can’t find them.
No matter, we’re living as if we’re already under emergency conditions. As of Aug. 1, the Biden administration has halted the sale of lightbulbs with less than 45 lumens of brightness per watt. Incandescent bulbs don’t make the cut and are now banned. Thomas Alva Edison is rolling over in his grave. Will electricity be rationed next?
Oops, too late. In September 2022, the California Independent System Operator—which runs the state’s power grid, attached to sporadic renewables—declared an “energy emergency alert,” urging residents to ration power from 4 to 9 p.m. In March, the European Union mandated energy consumption be cut by 11.7% by 2030. Brits are urged to turn their heat off at night for “emissions savings.” The Swiss considered jail time if your thermostat is set above 66 degrees in the winter. Sit in the cold and dark and like it! And wait till you see the menu. The EU already allows crickets and mealworm larvae as food. Are high-protein maggots next?
This nonsense could never happen in the U.S., could it? Well, in 2016, New York University professor Matthew Liao suggested, “possibly we can use human engineering to make the case that we’re intolerant to certain kinds of meat.” He even suggested deploying a “Lone Star tick where, if it bites you, you will become allergic to meat.”
When you declare an emergency, anything goes. The Biden administration pushes electric vehicles, and this summer we had a glut of them—inventories were 92 days, double what is typical. As of midyear, Ford had 116 days of unsold Mustang Mach-Es. Maybe because saner Americans are becoming preppers and loading up on good old gasoline-fired cars before California’s Advanced Clean Cars II Regulations, which other states follow, outlaws them in 2035. Vroom, vroom.
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Emergency-preparedness edicts abound: Gas stove bans. No plastic bottles for sale at San Francisco Airport. A new proposal from New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection would effectively ban coal- and wood-fired pizza ovens. A city official reports that fewer than 100 restaurants would have to install prohibitively expensive emissions controls, so it must be a real emergency if New York is tracking down these last few ounces of carbon.
Climate lockdowns still sound like crazytown, but the urge to curtail individual freedom is visible in countless government, media and think-tank blueprints for a controlled future. Saner minds should prevail—the Climate Emergency Act of 2021 evidently died in committee—but we need constant vigilance to stand guard against the climate-excuse assaults on our liberties. To show how adolescent this has become, last year Swiss Environmental Minister Simonetta Sommaruga suggested that residents “shower together” to save energy. OK, now we’re getting somewhere.
