Mark Trahant: A Test of U.S. Climate Leadership Will Be How We Treat the Standing Rock Sioux

[Mike__M]

Test of U.S. Climate Leadership Will Be How We Treat the Standing Rock Sioux

Can we trust Clinton-Kaine promises of an energy future “where no one is left out or left behind”?

My ears perked up when I heard that Hillary Clinton was giving a speech on American Exceptionalism. I cringe every time this is a topic; the idea is far too close to Manifest Destiny.

“The United States is an exceptional nation. I believe we are still Lincoln’s last, best hope of Earth. We’re still Reagan’s shining city on a hill. We’re still Robert Kennedy’s great, unselfish, compassionate country,” Secretary Clinton said Wednesday. She went on to say that “we are the indispensable nation. People all over the world look to us and follow our lead.”

If that’s true, that’s not a bad thing. But it all depends what happens over the next few weeks and months near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. If the United States is to be that “indispensable nation,” it has to lead on the most important crisis Mother Earth faces, climate change.

This is not what Clinton was talking about. Her speech was all about global security, the military, and global alliances. But her words were exactly on point on the issue of climate change.

[malthaussen]

1. Hey, she quoted Bobby Kennedy and Reagan.

That covers all the bases, there.

-- Mal

[riderinthestorm]

2. K&R! nt

[LWolf]

3. I read this earlier today.

It was worth the reading.

Last year, Clinton praised the Paris Climate Change Agreement. “The Paris agreement is testament to America’s ability to lead the world in building a clean energy future where no one is left out or left behind,” she said … “we will only succeed if we redouble our efforts going forward to drive innovation, increase investment, and reap the benefits of the good-paying jobs that will come from transitioning to a clean energy economy. The next decade of action is critical—because if we do not press forward with driving clean energy growth and cutting carbon pollution across the economy, we will not be able to avoid catastrophic consequences.”

So let’s be absolutely clear here: The tribal community of Standing Rock and the people downstream on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation are those who would be left out and left behind unless the Dakota Access Pipeline is stopped.

[LWolf]

4. More:

Let’s connect the dots. Paris Mismatches: The Impact of the COP21 Climate Change Negotiations on the Oil and Gas Industries , a report last month by The Chatham House, says that in order to meet global targets (you know, the ones the United States agreed to reach) the “impact on the oil and gas sector will intensify.”

Three key points from that study:

First, the United States and other nations that signed, must apply “additional and more stringent measures” on fossil fuels going forward. Second, “as a result, the impact of regulation on the oil and gas sector is set to intensify.” And third, in language that should say in bold—No Dakota Access Pipeline— “avoid over-investment in potentially unnecessary projects.”

The report says if nations do not do this then “investment in consumption and production of fossil fuels will continue and oil and gas companies will make risky investments to meet unsustainable demand.”

That is exactly the problem in North Dakota. The same day Secretary Clinton was outlining “American Exceptionalism,” the chief executive officer of Chevron, Steven S. Watson, was posting on LinkedIn why he thinks oil and gas are indispensable.