The past week has held some serious surprises - among them the US Supreme Court's decision to stay enforcement of the Clean Power Plan, and the subsequent death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But a smaller surprise - at least to me - was an article in the Silicon Valley Business Journal, about how businesses were thrilled about the SCOTUS decision.
Now, maybe I'm just naive - but I find it odd that the main business newspaper of Silicon Valley would be saying stuff like this:
“The National Federation of Independent Business said the rule would result in “substantially higher energy costs” for small businesses as well. The court’s stay “gave small businesses and the states some breathing room until it can decide the matter.”
Funny - I thought businesses were actually pretty pleased with the Clean Power Plan, as it finally gave them some certainty about how the government was going to start dealing our massive and mounting carbon problem. Staying its enforcement just throws the American business environment back into murky waters. Who was this National Federation of Independent Business, anyway?
Turns out - and I know, I shouldn't be surprised, but I am - they're a shill for Koch Industries and their cronies, as were most of the others interviewed for the article.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
I was surprised to read your Feb. 10, 2016 article on the recent Supreme Court stay against enforcing the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (“Business groups pleased Supreme Court put EPA's power plant rule on hold”). To read the article, it would seem the entire business community is lined up in opposition to the Clean Power Plan. Nothing, however, could be farther from the truth.
Last July, no less than 365 leading companies and investors sent a public letter of support for the Clean Power Plan - including industry giants such as General Mills, Mars Inc., Nestle, Staples, Unilever and VF Corporation. “Our support is firmly grounded in economic reality,” they wrote - a reality that includes some statistics conspicuously missing from your February article, such as:
- The average price of a commercial PV system dropped nearly 30% from 2012-2015, and continues to fall precipitously
- Electricity generated by large wind farms is now cost-competitive in many places with coal and natural gas
- 60% of Americans support the Clean Power Plan
The article is not only inaccurate, it underestimates (if not outright insults) the American business community. Are we really so short-sighted as to ignore the fact that power plants account for nearly 40 percent of US carbon pollution? Are we really so immoral as to ignore the fact that this pollution contributes to life-threatening illnesses, like childhood asthma, that cost us billions of dollars in healthcare costs and thousands of lives each year?
Experts say the Clean Power Plan is the single biggest step the US has ever taken to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change (and all the problems that come with it). As a small business owner, a mother, and a concerned citizen of Silicon Valley, I am pleased to know that the business community does in fact care about the world we live in, and sees the financial benefits of moving away from the dirty, destructive fuels we no longer need for economic growth. Despite the recent misguided decision by the Supreme Court, I hope you will share with your readers that there are, in fact, many in the business community working hard to ensure a safe and secure future for our children.