As climate evidence solidifies, some U.S. energy companies request regulations
This climate-change conspiracy is getting elaborate: now leaders of some of the largest energy companies in the U.S. are in on it. Faced with a mish-mash of state-level regulations, behemoths like Shell Oil and Duke Energy are pushing for a federal cap on greenhouse-gas emissions, and an end to climate squabbling. “From Shell’s point of view, the debate is over,” company president John Hofmeister said recently at the National Press Club. “When 98 percent of scientists agree, who is Shell to say, ‘Let’s debate the science’?” As other businesses, including ski resorts and hydroelectric plants, wrap climate concerns into their planning, the Supreme Court is preparing to hear a case this week on whether the EPA should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Meanwhile, a recent review of 866 studies on the effects of the global-warming crisis on wildlife says it has likely caused the extinction of some species and mass migration of others. Did we say “crisis”? We meant to say conspiracy.
