Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance has warned that the “climate crisis” narrative was “created” by powerful elites who donate to the Democratic Party.
President Donald Trump’s running mate argues that claims of a “crisis” seek to stoke fear among members of the public to push them “to buy more Chinese-manufactured electric vehicles.”
During Monday’s first day of the Republican National Convention, Trump, who narrowly avoided death when he was shot during a failed assassination attempt on Saturday, announced Vance as his running mate for the November election.
Now that the battle for Trump’s VP is over, many are taking a closer look at Sen. Vance (R-OH) and where he stands on certain positions.
When it comes to “climate change,” Vance is extremely dismissive of the globalist green agenda.
Vance’s energy and environmental agenda in the Senate has aligned closely with the Republican Party.
“Even if there was a climate crisis, I don’t know how the way to solve it is to buy more Chinese-manufactured electric vehicles,” he said in 2022.
He warns that the idea of an environmental crisis was “created” to please Democratic Party donors and Chinese elites.
Two years earlier, Vance said society had a “climate problem.”
He argues that Western nations have been under pressure to reduce “emissions,” while China, the largest polluter in the world, gets a free pass.
In recent years, as the nation continues to expand, China has only drastically increased its fossil fuel use.
In fact, China is listed as contributing 26% of the global “greenhouse gas emissions.”
China also produces more emissions than the rest of the top five polluting countries combined.
Yet, China is not under any pressure from the globalist World Economic Forum (WEF) and the United Nations (UN) to meet their “Net Zero” goals.
In response, Vance has sought to put significant blame on China for greenhouse gas emissions.
In a 2023 hearing with Kevin Welsh, the Federal Aviation Administration’s top official for environmental policy, Vance criticized the Biden administration’s endorsement of climate policies from the International Civil Aviation Organization.
He also dismissed carbon offsets in aviation as “climate reparations.”
“Why are we doing so much to follow ICAO’s recommendations, when the Chinese themselves are not doing very much?” Vance asked.
“When you think about the fact that China is the dirtiest economy in the world — they emit about two times as much carbon as we do — why are we effectively penalizing the American aviation while we don’t require, or even attempt, to force the Chinese to do the same to their aviation industry?”
Vance, an author and former venture capitalist, last year introduced the “Drive American Act,” S. 2962.
The bill would repeal the federal tax credit for electric vehicles and instead offer tax credits for U.S.-made vehicles powered only by gasoline or diesel.
He also introduced legislation to double the maximum penalties for climate change protesters and others who target exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution and National Gallery of Art.
Vance has opposed and sought to scrutinize EPA regulations, including on gasoline-powered generators.
He’s also warned that “environmental justice” is just an excuse to offshore American jobs.
Vance has called Democrats’ climate agenda “dumb” and warned that it is a “handout to Chinese companies at the expense of Ohio workers.”
He recently told Politico’s E&E News that if some local companies support certain Inflation Reduction Act provisions, lawmakers might want to keep them instead of repealing the entire law.
“The Inflation Reduction Act is mostly a lot of green energy stuff,” said Vance.
“And I think it’s made our economy less energy independent.
“It’s also added a lot of costs out there and a lot of federal spending that’s forced the inflation prices.
“And I also think that it’s sort of hastening a transition away from things like the gas-driven cars that most Americans don’t want.
“So I think there’s a lot of bad policy in there.
“Also a lot of inflationary policy in there.
“And I’d like to see a lot of it gotten rid of.”
Green agenda advocates who support Biden quickly denounced Trump’s choice of Vance as his running mate.
David Kieve, president of EDF Action, complained about Vance running for vice president in a statement.
EDF Action is the advocacy arm of the Environmental Defense Fund.
“Donald Trump’s anti-climate, anti-environment agenda is reinforced with his pick of J.D. Vance as the Republican vice-presidential nominee,” Kieve said in a statement.
Lori Lodes, executive director of the group Climate Power, said:
“J.D. Vance is Donald Trump’s dream come true — a climate denier who is all too happy to do Big Oil’s bidding and pad their profits at the expense of working people.”
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