A billionaire climate-change activist has accused New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox of making “false and defamatory” statements about him while discussing a state probe of Exxon, The Post has learned.
Tom Steyer, a California hedge-funder who founded the group Next Gen Climate, had his lawyer send a threatening letter to Cox after objecting to statements the Republican Party chairman made to the Dailycaller.com.
They also sent a complaint to the Daily Caller.
Cox was commenting on state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s Exxon probe, which he slammed as a political hit job. Cox also speculated whether Steyer prodded Schneiderman to launch the Exxon probe, which seeks to determine if the oil behemoth violated consumer-protection laws by selling fossil fuels without disclosing its effect on climate change.
“Mr. Cox made false and defamatory statements . . . The media outlet removed Mr. Cox’s false statement from its story after being informed of its grossly inaccurate and defamatory nature,” Steyer spokesman Gil Duran told The Post.
The letter sent to the Daily Caller Foundation in March complained that the quotes attributed to Cox could be interpreted as saying Steyer “made political contributions in exchange for influence, access or favors, which is unethical and/or unlawful.”
Read more at NY Post
“the Exxon probe, which seeks to determine if the oil behemoth violated consumer-protection laws by selling fossil fuels without disclosing its effect on climate change.”
This statement is outrageous. These morons have assumed that CO2 released from burning fossil fuels is causing global warming, hence climate change.
The catastrophic greenhouse effect has NEVER been proven empirically; has been debunked mathematically; and debunked experimentally twice.
The AGW meme is strictly political and has no valid science backing the man-made CO2 claim.
Guys like Steyer and Mike Mann can’t figure out that if they just STFU about it, no one would even hear about or remember the bad press. When they go full Leftard and start dragging things through the courts, everyone remembers… Remembers the bad news. It then sticks to them like Shiite to a prayer blanket.
The problem in the USA is superpacs owned by billionaires own the politicians . Steyer and a little clique of billionaires on both sides have far too much influence and pull the strings that have created a poisonous , uncooperative climate in the USA . They are the T Rex
predators who are used to getting their way and chaff at the other billionaires who arrogantly think they are so clever.
These billionaires aren’t in it because they support democracy they just want all the marbles and to set the rules .
America will be great again when they drain the swamp of the
T Rex billionaires destroying the USA from within .
Screw climate change . It’s always changed and anyone who thinks Mother Nature has given up her day job or humans are magically going to set the temperature via a trace gas favourable to life
are just using it as an excuse . The subsidized “renewable industry ”
that the little clique of AG’s lobby for expect tax payers to make them rich while doing virtually nothing to adjust the worlds temperature .
No more Super Pacs !
Killer Coal & Big Oil have bought control of our political System.
13.8 Times MORE FEDERAL AND STATE DOLLARS flow to these profitable industries than ALL CLEAN ENERGY COMBINED.
*
A huge chunk of the cost of transitioning away from the KILLER Coal & OIL monopoly, can be paid for by STOPPING
the endless subsidies,
industry specific Tax Breaks,
industry specific Tax Deferrals (most never to be paid) ,
free land,
free land use,
free infra structure, etc.
.
Paul Ryan, August of 2016, estimated that by the end of 2016 Coal & Oil will have received just over a TRILLION DOLLARS
in subsidies, free land, free infrastructure, industry specific tax breaks and tax deferrals etc.
.
…including EVEN foreign aid used as a dollar-for-dollar reimbursement to foreign nations for their subsidies to Our Oil & Coal Companies.
*
*
“…There are numerous damaging & TOXIC environmental impacts of coal electric Generation that occur through its mining, preparation, combustion, waste storage, and transport.
This article provides an overview:
.
**Acid mine drainage (AMD) refers to the outflow of acidic water from coal mines or metal mines, often abandoned mines where ore- or coal mining activities have exposed rocks containing the sulphur-bearing mineral pyrite.
Pyrite reacts with air and water to form sulphuric acid and dissolved iron, and as water washes through mines, this compound forms a dilute acid, which can wash into nearby rivers and streams.[1]
.
**Air pollution from coal-fired power plants includes sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter (PM), and heavy metals, leading to smog, acid rain, toxins in the environment, and numerous respiratory, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular effects.[2]
.
**Air pollution from coal mines is mainly due to emissions of particulate matter and gases including methane (CH4), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx), as well as carbon monoxide (CO).[3]
.
**Climate impacts of coal plants – Coal-fired power plants are responsible for one-third of America’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, making coal a huge contributor to global warming.[4]
**Black carbon resulting from incomplete combustion is an additional contributor to climate change.[5] CHINA reported an 18% loss of snow pack and glacial ice due to Black Carbon.
.
**Coal dust stirred up during the mining process, as well as released during coal transport, which can cause severe and potentially deadly respiratory problems.[6]
.
**Coal fires occur in both abandoned coal mines and coal waste piles. Internationally, thousands of underground coal fires are burning now.
.
**Global coal fire emissions are estimated to include 40 tons of mercury going into the atmosphere annually, and three percent of the world’s annual carbon dioxide emissions.[7][8]
.
**Coal combustion waste is the nation’s second largest waste stream after municipal solid waste.[9] It is disposed of in landfills or “surface impoundments,” which are lined with compacted clay soil, a plastic sheet, or both.
.
**As rain filters through the toxic ash pits year after year, the toxic metals are leached out into the local environment.[10][11]
.
**Coal sludge, also known as slurry, is the liquid coal waste generated by washing coal. It is typically disposed of at impoundments located near coal mines, but in some cases it is directly injected into abandoned underground mines.
Since coal sludge contains toxins, leaks or spills can endanger underground and surface waters.[2]
.
**Floods such as the Buffalo Creek Flood caused by mountaintop removal mining and failures of coal mine impoundments.
.
**Forest destruction caused by mountaintop removal mining – According to a 2010 study, mountaintop removal mining has destroyed 6.8% of Appalachia’s forests.[12][13]
.
**Greenhouse gas emissions caused by surface mining – According to a 2010 study, mountaintop removal mining releases large amounts of carbon through clearcutting and burning of trees and through releases of carbon in soil brought to the surface by mining operations. These greenhouse gas emissions amount to at least 7% of conventional power plant emissions.[14][15]
.
**Loss or degradation of groundwater
– Since coal seams are often serve as underground aquifers, removal of coal beds may result in drastic changes in hydrology after mining has been completed.
.
**Radical disturbance of 8.4 million acres of farmland, rangeland, and forests, most of which has not been reclaimed
— See The footprint of coal
.
**Heavy metals and coal
– Coal contains many heavy metals, as it is created through compressed organic matter containing virtually every element in the periodic table – mainly carbon, but also heavy metals.
The heavy metal content of coal varies by coal seam and geographic region. Small amounts of heavy metals can be necessary for health, but too much may cause acute or chronic toxicity (poisoning).
Many of the heavy metals released in the mining and burning of coal are environmentally and biologically toxic elements, such as lead, mercury, nickel, tin, cadmium, antimony, and arsenic, as well as radio isotopes of thorium and strontium.[16][17][18]
.
**Mercury and coal – Emissions from coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury in the United States, accounting for about 41 percent (48 tons in 1999) of industrial releases.[19]
.
**Methane released by coal mining accounts for about 10 percent of US releases of methane (CH4), a potent global warming gas.[20]
.
**Mountaintop removal mining and other forms of surface mining can lead to the drastic alteration of landscapes, destruction of habitat, damages to water supplies, and air pollution.
Not all of these effects can be adequately addressed through coal mine reclamation.
.
**Particulates and coal – Particulate matter (PM) includes the tiny particles of fly ash and dust that are expelled from coal-burning power plants.[21]
Studies have shown that exposure to particulate matter is related to an increase of respiratory and cardiac mortality.[22] [23]
.
**Radioactivity and coal – Coal contains minor amounts of the radioactive elements, uranium and thorium. When coal is burned, the fly ash contains uranium and thorium “at up to 10 times their original levels.”[24]
**Subsidence
– Land subsidence may occur after any type of underground mining, but it is particularly common in the case of longwall mining.[25]
.
**Sulfur dioxide and coal
– Coal-fired power plants are the largest human-caused source of sulfur dioxide, a pollutant gas that contributes to the production of acid rain and causes significant health problems.
Coal naturally contains sulfur, and when coal is burned, the sulfur combines with oxygen to form sulfur oxides.[26]
.
**Thermal pollution from coal plants is the degradation of water quality by power plants and industrial manufacturers
– when water used as a coolant is returned to the natural environment at a higher temperature, the change in temperature impacts organisms by decreasing oxygen supply, and affecting ecosystem composition.[27]
.
**Toxins
– According to a July 2011 NRDC report, “How Power Plants Contaminate Our Air and States” electricity generation in the U.S. releases 381,740,601 lbs. of toxic air pollution annually, or 49% of total national emissions, based on data from the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (2009 data, accessed June 2011). Power plants are the leading sources of toxic air pollution in all but four of the top 20 states by electric sector emissions.
.
**Transportation
– Coal is often transported via trucks, railroads, and large cargo ships, which release air pollution such as soot and can lead to disasters that ruin the environment, such as the Shen Neng 1 coal carrier collision with the Great Barrier Reef, Australia that occurred in April 2010.
.
**Waste coal,
also known as “culm,” “gob,” or “boney,” is made up of unused coal mixed with soil and rock from previous mining operations. Runoff from waste coal sites can pollute local water supplies.[28]
.
**Water consumption from coal plants
– Power generation has been estimated to be second only to agriculture in being the largest domestic user of water.[29]
**Water pollution from coal includes the negative health and environmental effects from the mining, processing, burning, and waste storage of coal.
TODAY!
CLEAN SOLAR AND WIND, unsubsidized, SPANK COAL, GAS, Nuclear electric prices.
.
TODAY over 4 TIMES as many people are employed in CLEAN ENERY SOLAR AND WIND than in ALL of KILLER COAL.
So what is Pres. TRUMP talking about saving JOBS in COAL?
AMA
COAL CAUSES just over 1 million confirmed cases of ASTHMA in the US every year.
The Death Rate from those cases is 23 deaths PER 100,000 cases of asthma.
It is very common for you to make a comment on an article that has nothing to do with that article. As far as the ability to discuss climate change, this is dysfunctional.
Any time someone has as many points are you do against coal, it is obvious a list of excuses rather than legitimate reasons. I don’t have time to research them, but know off of the top of my head that mercury released from the use of coal is about equal to that released by forest fires every year. Forty tons may sound like a lot, with a nation as large as the US, it isn’t.
The main reason that alarmists are so opposed to coal is it releases more carbon dioxide per unit of energy and any other fossil fuel. Since global warming isn’t a problem, there is nothing wrong with this. The same can be said of the release of methane.
Contrary to your other post, the earth is not following the UN climate models.
There are very good reasons not to use wind and solar power. It is much more expensive. All we have to do is look at Germany with electric rates three times that of the US due to their use of renewable energy. That has resulted in 300,000 customers having power cut off because they couldn’t pay the bill. Tidal energy is even more expensive.
Hydro and geothermal energy are great, but there isn’t enough of it. To make it worse, some of the same people who are very concerned about climate change are demanding the dams be demolished, and they are often successful.
We do need to develop some nuclear energy because when we eventually exhaust all fossil fuels (this will happen) nuclear will be our best option. Natural gas is great option, but there is no reason to completely replace coal.
In this statement you made a big logical error. ““UNSUBSIDIZED” SOLAR, WIND generated electricity are substantially less expensive than cheapest KILLER COAL today!!”
If this were true, everyone would be rushing to use it. The Paris treaty wouldn’t be necessary.
Sorry David that you had to waste your time with this serial shiller.
He constantly changes his screen name so as to make us think he is a multi-person united front… his first dishonesty. He then produces such volume of intellectual garbage that his only hope is to take up so much space that people grow tired of scrolling past his screeds. His copious use of ALL CAPS speaks only to his desperation as the fraud of MMGCC is exposed daily..
If you do take some time to read a chapter or two, you find nothing but cut & paste regurgitated left-wing boiler plate – an alternate reality leftist freak show. His writing itself is worse yet, showing no train of logic or real purpose, other than hating free market capitalism. I’ve sometimes read his phrases five or six times and still could not decipher the point he was trying to make.
We cannot reason with the unreasonable.
There is no logic for the illogical.
This guy is a waste of time.
G, thank you for the concern. I haven’t been able to get back to this for days, so time is an issue for me and you probably won’t even see this.
One purpose in answering RAKOOI is he presents some of the most common miss conceptions of the radical left so there is an opportunity to show why they are not valid.
Cry us a river Tom. You love to pull the strings but as soon as someone else doesn’t play by your rules you act like a spoiled child.
Oh stop your whining you pathetic little snowflake and Get A Life Grow Up and climb out of that playpen