(USNewsMag.com) – On May 3, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) left David Turk, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE), practically speechless when appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2024 budget proposal.
Kennedy highlighted that the budget proposed a 38% rise in green energy spending while barely increasing energy from fossil fuels and decreasing nuclear energy. He stated Turk’s colleagues gave a $50 trillion number.
He asked Turk how much this enormous investment would affect temperatures. He asked Turk how $50 trillion would lower the world’s temperature and what the price would be by 2050 to become carbon neutral.
Turk spoke about the benefits of getting serious, net costs, and minimizing climate benefits. He didn’t provide a number.
After interrupting Turk’s non-answer, Kennedy asked him to estimate the global temperature reduction if $50 trillion is spent on becoming carbon neutral by 2050 in the US.
Turk said again that this has become a worldwide issue and we must do all we can.
Kennedy said he’d ask again, implying he wasn’t clear. He rephrased it by saying that investing $50 trillion to make the US carbon neutral in 2050 will lower global temperatures, and he asked for a figure.
Turk again avoided the subject by saying that we must lower our emissions and that our country constitutes 13% of world emissions.
Kennedy repeatedly interrupted Turk’s generic responses without a number. Turk continued giving the same basic answers to his repeated questions.
Kennedy urged him to acknowledge that he didn’t know or answer the question. Turk, the deputy energy secretary, should know this answer. Turk was astonished and told Kennedy to calculate the figures. Turk stated that going to zero would reduce emissions by 13%.
Finally, Kennedy told Turk that he must not know. He wants our country to invest $50 trillion without knowing whether it will lower global temperatures. He is the Deputy Secretary of the DOE, and he wants to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars to achieve carbon neutrality without knowing how much it would decrease global temperatures.
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