While the leaders of nearly 200 nations will gather later this month in New York City to sign the Paris climate agreement pushed by President Obama, Oklahoma U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe says it will be nothing but a pipe dream from the Obama administration.
In a senate floor speech this week, the Republican Senator who is well known with a reputation as a global-warming nay sayer, called the document to be signed April 22 “another stack of empty promises on global warming,” and that President Obama knows it and won’t even attend the agreement signing event.
He warned the international participants that the President’s commitment lacks the support of his own government and will fail.
“I can say this because history is already repeating itself, and I have been on the front lines dating back to the failed Kyoto treaty of 1997,” Inhofe said in the speech. “Congress has continuously shown that the American people do not want the federal government imposing harsh penalties—like cap and trade—to address the highly contested theory of man-made global warming.”
Senator Inhofe also pointed to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that blocked implementation of the President’s Clean Power Plan while it is being litigated by Oklahoma and a few dozen other states.
“This decision likely delays implementation of the rule until the next President and completely upends Obama’s Paris agreement,” he added.” Without the central component of his international climate agenda, achieving the promises he made in Paris are mere pipe dreams.”
Listen to part of his speech.