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In “Climate Change, Markets, Economics – Part 1” we discussed the extreme environmental risk from proposals in the Project 2025 document.
Here’s the link to Part 1:
Now, let’s get very specific. There is serious, life-threatening harm that can occur if Project 2025 is implemented. I want to reiterate that Trump has “disavowed” Project 2025. What he hasn’t done yet is condemn it. We know that the leader of the project has resigned, although it appears that he is still active with the Heritage Foundation. I also note that Kamala Harris has condemned Project 2025.
IMO, the writers of this 900-plus-page document did a disservice to their political allies and ignored the national interest of the United States. I now personally rebuff the Heritage Foundation and will not support them nor give them money. What may once have been a conservative think tank favoring low taxes and lighter regulation has now, IMO, become a radicalized and dangerous organization that threatens your health and mine. Others can decide for themselves. Please take just 5 minutes reading time to consider the example below.
Let me use this specific example to illustrate why I make these assertions about Project 2025.
Below is the section of Project 2025 that deals specifically with HFCs. Hydrofluorocarbons are the manmade substances that were introduced to replace chlorofluorocarbons (also manmade) once the evidence of the shrinking ozone layer was generally accepted. Prior to that acceptance, there were many anti-regulation arguments in favor of chlorofluorocarbons. Only when death and destruction appeared obvious to a wider and wider audience did many people in governments worldwide act to stop CFCs.
That worldwide action worked. The mitigation of the ozone layer damage is succeeding and some of the damage has been reversed, so far. See our Part 1 for details.
HFCs don’t damage the ozone layer. Instead, they create a lot of heat. Their impact on global warming can be hundreds to thousands of times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2) per unit of mass. Remember, just like CFCs, HFCs are manmade; they are not found in nature. They are destructive of nature.
Worldwide, governments have now accepted these facts, just as they did with CFCs. As a result, a global agreement to phase down HFCs, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, was reached. The amendment, which entered into force on 1 January 2019, has been ratified by more than 140 countries, including the US (in 2022). Under the amendment, countries commit to cut the production and consumption of HFCs by more than 80% over the next 30 years to avoid more than 70 billion metric tonnes of CO2equivalent emissions by 2050. In July 2023 the EPA finalized a rule to reduce US HFC use 40% by 2028. (“Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),” https://www.ccacoalition.org/short-lived-climate-pollutants/hydrofluorocarbons-hfcs)
Project 2025 wants to stop mitigation of HFCs and reverse the US policy and nullify our agreement with 140 countries!
Here’s what Project 2025 says. (See page 425 of the document.)
Subtitle: Regulating Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) Under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act22
Repeal Biden Administration implementing regulations for the AIM Act that are unnecessarily stringent and costly.
Refrain from granting petitions from opportunistic manufacturers to add new restrictions that further skew the market toward costlier refrigerant and equipment.
Footnote 22 in section subtitle links to the Cornell Law School brief that sets forth the implementation schedule to address the present disaster unfolding from HFCs. It contains the very evidence that proves that Project 2025 is downright dangerous, IMO. Project 2025 wants to repeal it.
In the reading list below, readers can find details to describe the problem with HFCs.
My question for my friends and colleagues who write, comment, blog or podcast is, why hasn’t this specific issue been featured in enough editorials and presented widely enough to the public?
If the Floridian whose homeowner’s insurance cost is skyrocketing were to connect the dots, the targeted removal of HFCs by the Heritage Foundation would be stopped. If the governments and the public in the Western states connected the impact of HFCs on global warming to growing risk from wildfires, HFCs would be stopped. If the dots get connected, the half-million folks in Houston who lost electricity for nearly a week in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, and the folks in places like Phoenix and Las Vegas whose heat prostration is putting them in hospitals and whose energy bills to run air conditioners would clamor for this to stop. The dot connection is lacking because those of us who comment on issues aren’t reaching those who are suffering.
Why isn’t dot connection taking place? Dot connectors unite! We must toss off the chains and make the case for people to understand the risk.
Having asked that question, I want to compliment the NY Times for their reporting on deaths from heat that are not being counted. See “Heat Kills Thousands in the U.S. Every Year. Why Are the Deaths So Hard to Track?” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/us/extreme-heat-deaths.html As more and more people die from the heat, I am starting to see more and more publicity about the issue and about the way deaths are being reported. It seems heat causality is understated as the cause of death.
Please note the comment at the bottom about municipal bonds. This is a money issue, too.
You’ll find proof of the damaging effects of HFCs in the following reading list.
“Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),” https://www.ccacoalition.org/short-lived-climate-pollutants/hydrofluorocarbons-hfcs
“HFC Policies & Refrigerant Regulations By State,” https://nasrc.org/hfc-policy
“Frequent Questions on the Phasedown of Hydrofluorocarbons,” https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction/frequent-questions-phasedown-hydrofluorocarbons
“HFC Refrigerant Phase Down: FAQ for Technicians,” https://hvacrcareerconnectny.com/hfc-refrigerant-phase-down-faq-for-technicians/
Additional resources on climate warming and its effects
“Millions of Americans face blistering temperatures as heat dome blankets Gulf Coast states,” https://www.yahoo.com/news/millions-americans-face-blistering-temperatures-053949365.html
“2024–2030 National Heat Strategy,” https://cpo.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/National_Heat_Strategy-2024-2030.pdf
“Why are we seeing so much flooding?” https://theclimateadaptationcenter.dm.networkforgood.com/emails/3472094
Cumberland’s John Mousseau, in his weekly edition of “Moose on Bonds” video, describes a severe-heat-related municipal bond default involving Clyde, Texas: “Moose on Bonds for August 19-23, 2024,” https://vimeo.com/1002129175
See also: “Texas drought forces small town to default on water system debt,” https://www.dallasnews.com/business/economy/2024/08/19/texas-drought-forces-small-town-to-default-on-water-system-debt/
