Week's Worst Climate Stories (Taylor Swift's Boyfriend and... Green Tax Credits?)

How much tax money can they waste on stuff we don’t need or want? Let’s find out!

This week, as we continue to deal with the fallout from Michael Mann’s “Legal Trick” and victory in his defamation lawsuit, we’ve seen an explosion in crazy climate stories. It’s as if someone opened the floodgates, and the wall of hysteria is flowing down the valley (to mix a couple of metaphors). If the first seven weeks of the year are any indication, the climate crazies are only going to get more emboldened, and the news is only going to get more nutso.

And we’re going to be here, every step of the way, to snark about it.

This week saw too many crazy stories to fit into one column. Seriously, we had to winnow it down from a couple of dozen to give you just the top highlights. We have stories on environmentalist vs. environmentalist crime, offshore wind construction delayed by heavy winds, the Green New Deal clocking in as even more expensive than they said, China cashing in on the GND, progressive billionaires funding climate “journalism,” Tesla’s cybertruck already falling apart, and the Royal Navy implementing mandatory climate education for new sailors.

Also, in case you haven’t gotten enough of Taylor Swift’s boyfriend after the Super Bowl, he’s getting green energy subsidies to make a movie. Yes, really.

But there’s also a bit of good news this week, as one offshore wind company has completely exited the market, while scientists are finally realizing the importance of cows to the environment.

Ok, brace yourself, here comes the crazy.

Domestic Lithium Mining Slows To A Snail’s Pace

Many have noted that the electrical vehicle (EV) market faces headwinds, as slave labor-employing China and the Democratic Republic of Congo provide the vast majority of rare earth elements, like lithium, needed for the batteries. So when we find deposits in America that we can mine more safely and cleanly, we should have reason to rejoice. Except when those mines would imperil an endangered species.

That’s what happened along the Nevada-Oregon border, home of a future gigantic lithium mine under construction. A tiny snail found only in high desert springs may grind the whole thing to a halt.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced enough scientific evidence exists to warrant a year-long review to determine if they should list the Kings River pyrg as an endangered species. The snail is the size of a tip of a ball-point pen, and is only found in 13 isolated western hot springs, so you can imagine how important it is.2

Sometimes the Snark Just Writes Itself

Construction on an offshore wind farm off the northeast coast of England met construction delays due to heavy winds. That’s it, that’s the story. We have nothing really to add to that.

The Independent reported that “bad weather and supply chain issues” have delayed construction on the world’s largest offshore wind farm, causing uncontrollable snickering among skeptics of Net Zero policies.

Are You Sitting Down? The Green New Deal Costs More Than They Said

We’ll give you a moment to catch your breath.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported the climate initiatives in Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will cost over $400 billion more than what they claimed. Here’s the money quote from the CBO report: “The budgetary effects of energy-related tax provisions remain highly uncertain.”

The new estimates are roughly double the CBO’s original estimates in 2022, when they said the climate initiatives would cost around $400 billion. The latest estimate has crept ever closer to $1 trillion, depending on whether taxpayers claim more green tax credits and the requirements in the IRA to use low-emissions technologies in their green mandates.

Once again, taxpayers getting screwed—just more of the same when it comes to the Green New Deal.

Crazy Rich Asians

Contributing to that gargantuan taxpayer expense, Chinese solar companies are gonna get mad stacks. The Daily Caller reports:

Companies based in China are responsible for about 25% of the 80 gigawatts in new solar manufacturing capacity announced in the U.S. since the IRA became law in August 2022 and established robust tax credit programs to incentivize domestic green energy production, according to the WSJ. Assuming that the factory construction and expected outputs announced by these China-based solar companies stay on schedule, they could reap a combined $1.4 billion worth of value from IRA subsidies each year.

This, they note, flies in the face of one of the key selling points made when the Biden administration pushed the IRA. It was supposed to spur a domestic green energy supply chain, reducing our reliance on overseas adversaries to do our manufacturing for us.

Leftist Billionaires Continue Funding “Climate” Efforts

Two stories this week detail how leftist billionaires and foundations have continued to pour money into upending the American way of life in the name of the environment.

Hey, someone should write a book about that.

The Wall Street Journal had an exposé on the Rockefellers and other billion dollar foundations put massive pressure on the Biden administration to block new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals in red states on the Gulf of Mexico.

“The Rockefellers,” the Journal reports, “along with other wealthy donors including the philanthropy of Michael Bloomberg, have provided millions of dollars in recent years to front-line environmental groups that are campaigning against fossil-fuel projects, including LNG terminals that have been proposed on the Gulf Coast.”

A few days later, Real Clear Politics ran a piece on the “secret” partnership fueling “climate hawk journalism.” It’s not really secret, it’s just something nobody realizes that’s hiding in plain sight. “Wealthy liberal foundations have been seeking to have influence on media coverage of energy and environmental matters,” they report, “by funding workshops, courses and seminars for journalists focused on climate change – and some of the world’s most elite universities are happy to oblige.”

The average American consuming the news has little to no conception how much money the limousine liberal set has spent to skew coverage of the environment and climate to sway public opinion.

Will Sea Level Rise Lead to the Return of The British Navy As Global Superpower?

A briefing paper says all Royal Navy personnel could be required to take online courses on the impact of climate change. Citing the “relevance to defence,” the paper says the Royal Navy’s climate change and sustainability unit has considered paying for sailors to take postgraduate courses on global warming science. Great Britain has already set a goal for the entire Armed Forces to hit Net Zero by 2050, with environmentally friendly paint for ships, solar power, and EVs on the way. Now, high ranking officers worry that China could reach England via the North Pole due to melting polar ice, and some warships could become inoperable due to higher water temperatures at sea. Climate change also, according to these officials, threatens peace, could worsen gender inequality and global poverty, and could damage ports and infrastructure.

One can’t help but to wonder if global warming will also threaten our precious bodily fluids, as predicted in Dr. Strangelove:

Cybertrucks Already Rotting Away

Tesla began rolling out its Cybertruck model at the end of 2023, an EV pickup truck with a stainless steel exoskeleton that Elon Musk bragged was bullet-proof. New owners started noticing rust on the stainless finish just days after driving the trucks off the lot.  Apparently, it is a known issue that the stainless steel EV rusts in the slightest amount of rain, requiring service by the dealership to buff out the stains. The owner’s manual actually mentions this possibility:

To prevent damage to the exterior, immediately remove corrosive substances (such as grease, oil, bird droppings, tree resin, dead insects, tar spots, road salt, industrial fallout, etc.). Do not wait until Cybertruck is due for a complete wash.

No word yet on how the batteries hold up, but the EV market could really use a week here or there without bad news.

Taylor Swift’s Boyfriend Wins Super Bowl, Gets Green Energy Credits

Travis Kelce has decided to join his girlfriend in the entertainment industry. Fresh off his third Super Bowl win, Kelce jumped in as a producer on an independent film. The low budget dark comedy, My Dead Friend Zoe, uses green energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act. According to Variety:

The Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in August 2022, marks “the single largest investment in climate and energy in American history, enabling America to tackle the climate crisis, advancing environmental justice, securing America’s position as a world leader in domestic clean energy manufacturing and putting the United States on a pathway to achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate goals, including a net-zero economy by 2050,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s web site. “My Dead Friend Zoe” used money generated by green energy entrepreneur Mike Field’s sale of surplus tax credits. (Field is also a producer on the film.)

“Hollywood is risky, right? On a scale of one to 10, Hollywood, it is a 9.5. Especially in terms of independent film,” says “My Dead Friend Zoe” producer Ray Maiello, who runs California-based Radiant Media Studios with Field and is the former head of business affairs at Netflix. “These federal tax credits take the risk down to like a five.”

Just like The Squad drew it up when they proposed the Green New Deal, right? Making indie films less risky for millionaire investors and Hollywood elites will cool the oceans and stop the rising seas, or something. It’s reminiscent of the late Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who published the Subsidies of the Rich and Famous report that revealed NBA player Scottie Pippen, media mogul Ted Turner, and rocker Jon Bon Jovi got tens of thousands in farm subsidies.

Good News: Scientists Like Cows Again, and An Offshore Wind Company Went Bust

Eversource Energy, the New England energy company building offshore wind farms off Massachusetts, decided to get out of the racket altogether after it reported a huge loss in the fourth quarter of 2023. They had a total loss of $1.288 billion in the fourth quarter, and promptly decided to refocus on its “core utility businesses” like electricity and natural gas. Hopefully this will serve as a wakeup call for the rest of the energy companies dallying in green energy boondoggles in hopes of winning huge federal tax credits.

Meanwhile, scientists report that cow manure is good for the environment again. The American Spectator was the first outlet to notice an otherwise invisible panel discussion that happened at the COP28 meeting of climate elitists in Dubai in December. A panel of soil experts “presented the case for cows as climate allies.” The panel discussed the replenishing nature of cattle manure in rebuilding soils degraded by chemical fertilizers, noting that combining manure with soil acts to sequester a huge amount of carbon dioxide. They also noted fears of methane are overblown… no pun intended.

(READ MORE: Mike’s Legal Trick—Michael Mann Wins Defamation Suit Against Climate Critics)