by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
By blaming ‘climate change’ for California’s disasters, there is no accountability for politicians
Californians are paying the price for climate change events and catastrophic wildfires happening in the middle of winter, said Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), as he announced his new bill, Senate Bill 222, “the Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act.”
But Senator Wiener has a surprise waiting in his bag of tricks – he wants you to be distracted by the Big Oil boogey man instead of focusing on irresponsible lawmakers who have been passing ridiculous, ruinous laws for years: These “climate driven disasters…” these “climate fueled disasters…” according to Sen. Wiener, “are causing all kinds of harm in our state.”
“Who pays for them?” he asked. “It’s us, taxpayers and insurance policy holders.”
But says Senator Wiener, one industry is not paying for the disasters, and he wants them to pony up.
“The fossil fuel industry is fueling climate change,” Sen. Wiener said. “They [fossil fuel industry] knew it was leading to disaster for decades, and have incapacitated lawmakers” to make money, he said.
Senator Wiener says his bill, SB 222, “will ensure that the fossil fuel industry and those harmed by climate change disasters” will be made whole.
