AOC and Tulsi Gots Some S'plainin To Do

You can't have your cake and eat it too. Or can you?

House Democrats Voted for a Natural Gas Future, and Nobody Noticed

Last week, a video went viral of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) offering up an impassioned rebuke to Senate Republicans for bringing her Green New Deal to a premature vote the day before.

“This is about our constituents and all of our lives,” she fumed. “Iowa, Nebraska, broad swathes of the midwest are drowning right now, underwater—farms, towns that will never recover; will never come back. And we’re here, and people are more concerned about helping oil companies than helping their own families? I don’t think so. I don’t think so!”

Something that got less attention, however, was the vote the environmental champion and the vast majority of her Democratic colleagues cast two days earlier. Ocasio-Cortez had been one of 224 House Democrats to back a bill that, if passed, would allocate roughly $580 million in federal funding over two years to public and private energy development projects in Europe and Eurasia, including natural gas infrastructure.

Environmental groups hardly seemed to notice H.R. 1616. The Sierra Club told us it had not even taken an official position on the measure. But if passed into law, activists say the bill could solidify a decades-long transition to a natural gas energy future at a critical time for the environment.

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snoopydawg's picture

Yeah I can see how electing Beta will help with wealth inequality, jobs, infrastructure and decreasing our military footprint.

Scratch one-s head

Niko meant to say, "it's a good thing that drug testing isn't mandatory." This isn't the first time Beta has said some fluffy words that I have no idea what he meant. It's almost like he is asking us to come together and sing kumbaia.

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@snoopydawg @snoopydawg

from all the things he stands on. As far as Tulsi and AOC - "beware of good looking liberals no matter how well spoken they are ~ Jane Fonda"

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Pricknick's picture

Even the newcomers learn the script quickly.
Thanks to obama and the clinton cabal, natural gas has become the go to for clean energy. A transition fuel they say.
Most americans in general believe it.
We are so fucked.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

would have been better spent on beer.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

@on the cusp

Drinks

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Pluto's Republic's picture

The thinking must be if the US provides natural gas to Europe through a new US approved pipeline, then Europe won't buy it from Russia. No extra gas will be burned in this zero-sum game.

And it is patriotic to do everything possible to destroy Russia's economy because Crimea.

Here we are in April. This is exactly the point that Trump was broken by the Neocons with the Tomahawks and the fake chemical weapons bombing in Syria. It takes approximately 3 to 4 months to make new congress members vote for stupid and vindictive shit that damages other nations. Their best days are behind them.

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Lookout's picture

H.R. 1616: To prioritize the efforts of and enhance coordination among United States agencies to encourage countries in Europe and Eurasia to diversify their energy sources and supply routes, increase energy security in the region, and help the US.

Perhaps this refers to the Russian-Germany pipeline?

Tulsi's bill (I hope) expresses her aims...
https://gabbard.house.gov/sites/gabbard.house.gov/files/H.R.%203671%20OF...

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

@Lookout

Here's more from the article.

H.R. 1616 was introduced by Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-AL) early last month. Disguised as a measure to crack Russia’s energy dominance in Europe and Eurasia, it passed the House easily on March 25 with a margin of 391-to-24 and no Democratic opposition—though 10 Democrats did not vote, including six members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The bill’s true intention, however, seems to be opening up new energy markets to American fossil fuel companies, enabling the easy export of liquid natural gas.

In fact, it practically said so in its statement of policy.

“It is the sense of Congress that the United States has economic and national security interests in assisting European and Eurasian countries achieve energy security through diversification of their energy sources and supply routes,” it read, continuing on to explain that this would be accomplished by encouraging “United States public and private sector investment in European and Eurasian energy infrastructure projects” and by helping “facilitate the export of United States energy technology and expertise to global markets.”

In service of this aim, the bill resolved to provide “diplomatic and political support to the European Commission and such countries, as necessary to—A, facilitate international negotiations concerning cross-border infrastructure; B, enhance Europe’s and Eurasia’s regulatory environment with respect to energy; and C, develop accessible, transparent, and competitive energy markets supplied by diverse sources, types, and routes of energy.”

The middle provision is noteworthy in light of how strong the anti-fracking movement is in Europe. Thus far, four countries—France, Germany, Bulgaria, and Ireland—have banned the practice while the Netherlands has halted it until at earliest 2020. However, battles are still waging across the continent, which raises the question of what ‘enhancing’ the regulatory environment means....... ..
....

“We are transforming our energy system to natural gas, right now,” documentary filmmaker and globetrotting environmental activist Josh Fox told Paste. “That transition will last 40 years. That transition has to be halted immediately if we’re going to stand any chance of staying within reasonable climate goals.”

Fox, whose critically-acclaimed 2010 documentary Gasland was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, has been fighting this fight for years and sees fossil fuels as inherently linked to tyranny around the world. In 2016, he even helped write the Democratic platform as a surrogate for Bernie Sanders, securing the inclusion of language pledging to disincentivize the development of natural gas power plants. To him, Democratic votes for H.R. 1616 represent a betrayal.

“If Democrats are supporting bills that say fracked gas and fracked gas infrastructure should be developed in Europe then they are flying in the face of their own climate policy,” he explained. “It means that they’re encouraging a kind of climate denialism, it means that they’re pushing another kind of fossil fuel, and it means that they’re playing into the hands of these tyrannical forces that are going to commodify energy, whether that’s oil, coal, or gas.”

The ambassador to Germany has been telling them to not get gas from Russia through their new pipeline. Why? So we can sell it to them from our special interests oil and gas companies.

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gulfgal98's picture

@Lookout are one of the most important parts of any regulation. I used to work with regulations in local governement on a daily basis and I can attest to the importance of definitions. Tulsi's bill clearly defines natural gas as a fossil fuel.

FOSSIL FUEL.
—The term ‘‘fossil fuel’’ means coal, petroleum, natural gas, or any derivative of coal, petroleum, or natural gas that is used for fuel.

For the life of me, I fail to understand why Tulsi would have voted for the other bill. I hope she will issue a statement explaining her position.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

@gulfgal98

(which has an even higher carbon footrint in the short run) to beat the band as well, and the water amounts required to frack each hole are epic. not to mention new evidence that fracking causes mini-earthquakes, causing methane and gas to leak into the water table below, even well water, and sincerely f's up the dirt/earth below with the toxic chemicals used to bring the 'natural' gas.

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snoopydawg's picture

“I don’t understand what lawmakers don’t get about ‘climate crisis’ and ‘uninhabitable planet,’” she told Paste, pointing out that need for fossil fuels is quickly dwindling in light of advancements in renewable energy. “If you’re trying to get back at Russia, help the whole world move forward with renewable energy. That’s what people want. They don’t want to stay stuck on oil and gas. Help the world move forward w/ renewable energy. What can Russia do about that? They can’t control the sun; they can’t control the wind.”

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snoopydawg's picture

I will be glad when Russia stops meddling in our country so we can go back to living in peace and equality again. Won't you?

A better way to keep people from kneeling during games is for cops to stop murdering us. Let's give this a try.

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Bollox Ref's picture

I just baked some bread, and I can eat it too.

When it comes to these two individuals, the proof is in the pudding.........

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

snoopydawg's picture

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@snoopydawg
the comments in that thread are pretty hilarious. mostly they boil down to:

A. SOCIAMALIZM!
B. Get off the floor and stop eating, you pig.
C. "All" genders? There are only two!

I'm particularly impressed by the number of people who are appalled to see a congresswoman acting like ... well, any other middle class urban slightly-post-millennial. Lots of people who gleefully support a pussy-grabbing president, but hate on someone who (i will admit) lacks basic manners with respect to eating and talking.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

gulfgal98's picture

@snoopydawg in that we do not have a draft in the United States. And for the record, all of us who were in the Peace vigil supported having a military draft of all able bodied citizens with no deferments or exceptions. One of our Peace vigil members was drafted out of medical school during the Korean War era.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

brought this; i'd seen their abject hypocrisy cited in the twittersphere. oh, those aoc Green New Dealers; they just can't help stepping on the brands.

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