Photo Credit: usarmyalaskaJoe Miller today is calling on Republican challengers Dan Sullivan and Mead Treadwell to come clean with voters on their history of support for the man-made ‘global warming’ agenda.
“Clearly, both of my primary opponents have joined with climate change alarmists to push for top-down federal regulation,” Miller said. “It’s unclear how empowering the federal government to control even more of our economy, on the authority of dubious scientific claims, comports with free-market economics and Constitutional liberty. Mr. Treadwell and Mr. Sullivan have either had an election-induced conversion, or they’re conveniently side-stepping this issue that could have a profound impact on the lives of ordinary Alaskans.”
A recent study conducted by the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks concluded that the average temperature in Alaska declined by 2.34 degrees between 2000-2010, and a Fox News story last fall cited a National Snow and Ice Data Center report that found a 60% increase in Arctic sea ice between 2012-2013.
During his time at the State Department, Mr. Sullivan gave numerous speeches and interviews addressing the so-called ‘climate change’ problem. In them, he unequivocally accepted the premise that climate change is man-caused and embraced numerous mitigation strategies: including a national goal of steep reductions in the consumption of fossil fuels, an aggressive regime to increase the use of economically non-viable bio-fuels, billions in grants for government research to develop new environmentally friendly technologies, and subsidies and tax breaks for unsustainable “green energy” projects.
Mr. Sullivan’s views can be summed up in the following excerpts taken from his speeches:
Our energy challenges and climate change challenges stem primarily from a common source—an over-reliance on hydrocarbons as the world’s primary form of energy.
On the climate issue . . . we want to underscore . . . the seriousness with which we take this initiative. It will be the beginning of a process by which we hope to work with the major economies to achieve . . . [our] greenhouse gas reduction goal.
Mr. Treadwell has also voiced support for a similar agenda, testifying before the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2009:
In the global dialogue on climate change . . . Arctic research is warning us now that Arctic ‘feedbacks,’ already observed from the loss of sea ice, the release of stored carbon, and the acidification of the ocean are dramatically ‘raising the bar’ for the global climate mitigation strategy the world seeks to agree upon in Copenhagen later this year.
Mankind cannot build an effective regime to limit its own emissions without understanding emissions coming natural sources in the Arctic. The U.S. is committed, with other Arctic nations, to build a sustainable Arctic Observing Network, known as SAON. Further, because the Arctic region is one of the largest terrestrial storage zones of carbon on earth, research could help us find ways that the Arctic can be part of the global mitigation solution. Forest and fire management, carbon sequestration, development of new energy sources in the Arctic, and other products of research, including so called methods of ‘geoengineering,’ may ultimately add to an effective global mitigation strategy.
Research underway aims at using cleaner fuels and methods to avoid emissions of soot, black carbon which promotes Arctic warming.
Both Mr. Treadwell and Mr. Sullivan also supported Lisa Murkowski’s campaign against the Republican nominee in the state’s last US Senate election. Their support came after the senator had co-sponsored Cap and Trade legislation that, according to Fox News, would have cost the private economy as much as $1 trillion. She has also entertained a carbon tax, something for which Mr. Sullivan, ironically, has sharply criticized Democrat Senator Mark Begich during this election cycle.
Miller concluded, “It never ceases to amaze me how during election time everyone’s a champion of liberty. It is vitally important to weigh what candidates say against what they’ve actually done.”
Joe Miller is a husband, father, combat veteran, and advocate of Constitutional liberty who believes in individual rights, private property, free markets and the sanctity of human life.
