Page 29 - Flathead Beacon // 12.30.15

CLOSING RANGE DAVE SKINNER LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND
GUEST COLUMN RYAN ZINKE
ON THE OMNIBUS, I DID YWHAT I SAID I’D DO
ES, I VOTED FOR THE 2,000- cannot a ord more debt, and I am ada- page spending bill which funds mant about xing our nation’s nances. the government next year, I support a balanced budget amend-
WELL! WINTER FINALLY GOT here – a time of year during which I especially appreciate my 21st century existence. Baby, it’s cold outside (kind of), but here sit at my not- so-nice computer, with a hot cup of co ee while the akes drift down on the other side of the glass, my tummy happily pro- cessing some smoked turkey and mashed spuds while I ponder.
What to ponder, with 16 hours of cold darkness each day? Global warming, of course! In the past several months, I’ve been hearing a new, extraordinarily stu- pid environmental buzz-phrase that seems to be gaining popularity: “Leave It in the Ground.”
According to the LINGO website – yep, there’s a website and acronym, kids – the “problem” is that “conventional [fossil fuel] reserves are so plentiful that we will pass critical thresholds” if those reserves get used.
LINGO has been developing ever since climate change “experts” ran the math on carbon mass in the atmosphere about 10-15 years ago and developed a “carbon budget.” Ever since, the hard-core believ- ers have fought fang and claw (success- fully, with hundreds of millions of tar- geted “nonpro t” dollars) to prevent new mining and uses of coal.
For a while, Greens also hyped the idea (with money from natural gas bar- ons like T. Boone Pickens) of using natu- ral gas as a temporary “bridge fuel” away from coal until the miraculous day when windmills and solar panels covered our “saved” planet.
Then, of course, frack happened, with all the Greens formerly making lov- ey-dovey with the gas barons suddenly opposing drilling for anything, espe- cially in the four or so years since climate change acolyte Bill McKibben declared that burning known reserves of oil and coal would destroy the Earth. There- fore, the impeccable logic would be to, of course, of course, stop burning fossil fuels. Now!
Finally, in the hype leading up to the Paris agreement signed by all those jet-setting planet-savers, the warmunist cult leaders latched onto a new narrative commandment for the congregation – bingo, LINGO.
Really? Leave it in the ground?
Forget fossil fuels for just a second – let’s take the fancy-pants mobile phones cool people walk behind these days. The niftiest material is indium, which along with tin makes an oxide that is transpar- ent and conductive. No indium, no touch- screen, no appy-tappy, no Paris updates.
Extracted mostly from zinc ores, indium was rst discovered in 1863, rst found useful in the mid-1920s, with things getting really interesting and important in electronics and nuclear engineering starting in the 1950s. But since 2000, indium production has tri- pled – against estimates that only 14 years of reserves remain.
Then there’s gold, silver, platinum, tungsten, copper – boring stu , and rare earths like neodymium that go into the speakers and tiny motors. Oh, and plas- tic, re ned from oil. Ick. So, let’s just leave all that in the ground – or more likely, China, which digs up 97 percent of the world’s rare earths and about 400 tons of the world’s 650 tons of indium pro- duction. America has rare earths, but the biggest known American reserve (in California) has been hung up on environ- mental permitting for at least a decade.
Ironically, rare earths are a hugely critical mineral for both solar and wind energy production, without which both would be hugely ine cient at convert- ing sun and wind into useful energy – so much for “conservation,” right?
What if we left less-sexy stu in the ground? Gravel! No concrete, no asphalt, no sand for glass. No dams blocking riv- ers and sh, no turbines generating juice for our computers and cell phones. No footings for wind generators, either!
Let’s leave iron in the ground! No sky- scrapers or bridges or automobiles. No light-rail trolleys, not even Chinese-style black iron bicycles! Walk on bare feet – rubber comes from fossil fuel!
Heck, let’s leave stu on the ground, too! No more cutting trees! No books, newspapers, not even the paper to print copies of climate change treaties. And so on....
I suppose plenty of climate changeists will be resolving to “Leave it in the Ground” for New Year 2016 – but I won’t. I resolve to dig modern life – Happy New Year!
known as the Omnibus. Yes, my sta and I read it. And yes, it was a di cult vote. I assure you, the easy thing to do in these situations is vote no. It’s easy to vote no. But before judgment is deliv- ered, you deserve to hear the reasoning behind my decision.
Several Montana provisions that I’ve fought for in Congress over the past 12 months were included in the bill: LWCF, PILT, lifting the ban on crude oil exports, tax relief, etc. But the most important was my constitutional duty to “provide for the common defence” at a time when this president seems hell-bent on doing everything he can to weaken our posi- tion around the globe.
I swore an oath to keep America safe, both here at home and abroad. This bill fully funds our military and helps prevent domestic attacks by terrorists who could exploit the loopholes in the visa waiver program. It is clear to me that this president’s foreign policy is a failure, but he will not be in o ce for- ever. Congress needs to start laying the groundwork today for the next president to take over the strongest military possi- ble and be ready to go day one.
Next year Montanans will vote for a new president. Regardless of whether that president is a Republican, Demo- crat, Libertarian or, god-forbid, a Social- ist, my job as a congressman and former Naval commander is to ensure our mili- tary is the strongest possible. I weighed it against the alternative, a continuing resolution, which would have under- funded the military by more than $22 billion, leaving the Persian Gulf with- out an aircraft carrier for the rst time since 2007. It would also cost the mili- tary about 30,000 troops across four branches and put our readiness at risk. As it stands, only a small fraction of our brigades are combat ready.
I understand the argument that we
ment, biennial budgeting, and deny- ing members of Congress pay if they don’t balance the budget. I even voted against the Obama-Boehner budget ear- lier this year, which raised the spending caps. But opponents in the Senate who claim the tax credits for Montana fam- ilies, workers, farmers and ranchers are “too expensive” don’t understand how hard the average Montanan works to earn their paycheck. Never once did we hear suggestions for spending cuts from them; I gladly welcome spending cuts. Let’s start with the EPA and IRS. Whether it’s stopping the medical device tax, renewing the Crow’s coal tax credit, or making the section 179 and research and development credits permanent, every single one of these tax credits means another dollar in the pockets of hard-working Montanans.
Congress needs to abandon the prac- tice of creating arti cial crises and rather get the work done on time. This massive bill is more than 2,000 pages. This is no way to govern. The House is far from perfect, but we passed most of the appropriations bills last summer well before the deadline, but the Senate Democrats libustered and shut down regular order. If the funding bills had moved through the Senate in the rst place, we would not be faced with this arti cial funding crisis
Like all massive pieces of legislation, the Omnibus contains the good, the bad and the ugly, but LWCF, visa reforms, lifting the ban on crude exports and funding our troops are far too important to Montana and our national security to vote no. Those who know me know that I say what I’ll do and do what I’ve said. When I asked for this job, I told Montan- ans that I would put our national secu- rity rst, develop our energy industry and conserve our public lands. That is what I said; that is what I did.
“IRONICALLY, RARE EARTHS ARE A HUGELY CRITICAL MINERAL FOR BOTH SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY.”
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
“LIKE ALL MASSIVE PIECES OF LEGISLATION, THE OMNIBUS CONTAINS THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.”
Ryan Zinke is Montana’s U.S. congressman. He is from White sh.
DECEMBER 30, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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