Rick Perry Has Brain Fart, or Did He Come to His Senses for a Moment?

Somewhat big news in environmental and energy politics today is Rick Perry’s major slip-up in the Republican presidential debate last night. The problem? He couldn’t remember the third federal agency he wants to kill (other than the Department of Energy and Department of Commerce) — the Department of Energy.

The funny thing is, the number one request from utility company CEOs seems to be a clear national energy policy in order to move forward with solar and other clean energy options at a faster clip (something 9 out of 10 Americans support and climate scientists say is a must if we want to avoid tremendous, catastrophic climate change in the coming years). So, maybe it wasn’t a brain fart but was actually Rick Perry coming to his senses for a moment. But, oh yes, it seems it was the former….

Now, coming back to the ridiculousness of his intention to kill this agency (or these 3 agencies, for that matter), let’s think for a moment: the U.S. has over 300 million people. It’s the third largest country in the world when it comes to population. It should have no guiding policies or regulations about some of the most important matters for the country?

We should leave the energy industry to anarchy on the national level? I somehow don’t think that’s a good route to go.

We deregulated the financial services industry and ended up with multiple economic collapses, unprecedented economic problems, which we are still struggling to recover from.

We are turning the heat up on our planet. And we are going to be purged for doing so. Our only hope (that is at all logical or safe at the moment) is cutting our greenhouse gas emissions. In the U.S., the largest contributors to global warming are burning of coal and oil. We shouldn’t have the federal government working to address that problem?

Well, shoot me in the foot and call me stupid, that sounds idiotic.

Let’s remember, though, that Rick Perry, whose state set the U.S. record for the hottest summer ever recorded and is struggling to survive in the midst of truly extreme drought, doesn’t actually trust the climate scientists. Well, that explains it….

But for all those of us who have enough sense to trust 97% of heart doctors who tell us we need heart surgery or 97% of climate scientists who tell us we need climate change action now, the stupid thing about Rick Perry’s remarks in the debate last night was not that he couldn’t remember he wanted to shut down the Department of Energy but that he actually does want to do so.

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