Today, President Donald J. Trump announced that he will pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord. Me, I’m with the Weather Channel on this move:
Weather Channel brings the fire pic.twitter.com/ScTkqlKNTA
— Ryan Teague Beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) June 1, 2017
But T. Boone Pickens sees things differently. Here’s the statement he posted to his website:
“Without question, America is a nation committed to environmental leadership. All you have to do is look at how much cleaner our country has gotten over the last 10 years through the expanded use of natural gas. But the Paris Climate Accord is another bad deal negotiated by the Obama Administration, and America should applaud President Trump’s decision to exit. We should pursue a new environmental agreement on the global stage that achieves a fair, balanced and achievable commitment by all nations. This will protect American jobs and create yet another opportunity to focus on utilizing everything American when it comes to energy. Let’s build upon the progress we have made by expanding the use of natural gas in any plan going forward. Make America Great Again.”
The first sentence of that statement is nonsensical. Our president just said he is going to bail on the biggest, most important step taken by world leaders to address an environmental disaster that will, in just a few decades, swallow large swaths of Florida’s coastline (just to pick one small result of the climate change that we, as a species, have accelerated). So, yes, there is a question as to whether America is committed to environmental leadership. There are lots of questions.
As for the rest of his statement, I’m not qualified to assess it. I stopped reading after that first sentence.
