It is getting into fall and time fr apple pie. This is not a hard pie to make and neither is reducing emissions.
Like most Americans, the rule of personal responsibility was drummed into my life from childhood. It was an endless refrain from authority figures at home, in the community and at school anytime my decisions produced painful results – and especially if I asked for help escaping those results. You know the lectures: Actions have consequences. God helps those who help themselves. There’s no free lunch. We won’t throw good money after bad. So it was no surprise I couldn’t shake the echoes of that fundamental American belief when I saw that the price for a desperately needed hurricane storm surge levee for the River Parishes had jumped from $760 million to a whopping $3.7 billion – a huge bill our representatives in Congress will be asking the federal government to help pay for. Those echoes got even stronger when I saw research showing that Louisiana’s levee is just one small part of an estimated 50,000 miles of levees and sea walls that could cost $550 billion (half a trillion!) in 22 states that have become ”woke” to the fact that rising sea levels are now – or soon will be – causing horrific damage to homes and infrastructure. And like Louisiana, all those states will be asking the nation’s taxpayers to cover most of the expense. But those echoes brought up this question: Would that really be the American way?
nola.com
Is is a need for us to protect us from water in hurricanes.
You see, those levees and floodwalls are needed because the oceans are rising at dramatic rates and hurricanes are getting larger due to climate change caused mainly by the use of fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. And here’s the thing: For many of those states – especially Louisiana – those heightened risks are the result of their own actions: Electing politicians who oppose almost any regulations or government subsidies that could lower emissions by reducing the use of fossil fuels. The latest example was President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act – the nation’s first major attempt at reducing emissions. It will spend roughly $374 billion on decarbonization and climate resilience over the next 10 years, primarily in the form of federal grants to states and private industry. The result could get the nation two-thirds of the way to reaching emissions reduction goals that could slow the rate of sea level rise. And if that isn’t done, the new levees will have to be raised again in another 30 to 40 years – for more than $550 billion. Yet not a single Republican member of Congress voted for the bill. That included the majority of the delegations from Florida, which was estimated to need about $77 billion in levees and floodwalls, Texas ($32 billion), South Carolina ($20 billion) and Georgia ($15 billion). And, of course, Louisiana, currently trying to raise more federal funding for its $50 billion plan to keep its bottom third from being swallowed by the Gulf of Mexico after allowing it to be ravaged for oil and gas development.
It appears we like to cut off our nose to spite our face.
But these politicians didn’t stop at trying to block the nation’s first attempt to slow sea level rise. Many have spent the last two years voting to gut funding for the programs in the bill – even though the majority of the projects would be in ”red” states. Understanding this, and remembering that personal responsibility is such an important part of America’s national creed, one has to wonder: Is it right to reward states that are suffering the consequences of their own actions? Yes, politicians are making those votes. But they’re repeatedly sent to Congress by the people living in those states. If America’s taxpayers keep paying for their mistakes, will they ever learn a lesson?
A simple lesson.
No, I’m not suggesting we let them drown. There is a reasonable solution. Any federal project to reduce the impacts of climate change should only be granted if that state agrees to take measures to reduce emissions by a commensurate amount. Call it a mandatory climate change quid pro quo. Or, better yet, call it the American way.
The American way in the past meant we helped others. But not today party trumps the common good.
