Europe provides a prelude of the green new deal disaster

 The Hill:

As congressional Democrats continue to push their $3 trillion green energy bill and the U.N. General Assembly meets this week during “Climate Week,” a crisis across the pond is foreshadowing what may happen as America looks to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and meet the goals of the Paris Accord.

European nations are experiencing record surging natural gas prices, resulting in halted operations and a rise in energy prices for consumers that have gotten so high some countries have been forced to take action to subsidize customers’ bills. Natural gas futures in the United Kingdom and all over Europe climbed double digits this week, and in the UK, gas prices have risen more than 250 percent with some firms expected to collapse as a result. Energy bills are now expected to go up by 20 percent for households across Europe, according to Citigroup. Greece and Spain have now announced subsidies to lower bills while France and others are now saying they are considering the measure.

What’s to blame? European countries like Germany and others have for years moved to restrict fossil fuels — citing the need to address climate change and meet the goals of the Paris Accord. Europe has heavily subsidized weather-dependent renewable wind and solar energy, shutting down its coal and nuclear plants. Yet global demand has skyrocketed as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and at the same time, the wind in the North Sea has suddenly stopped blowing over the summer, leading to gas and coal making up for the shortfall. Not surprisingly, prices are blowing up.

Other factors at play also stem from Europe’s decision to shut down fossil fuels at home. Russia, Europe’s top exporter, is not sharing as much gas as it traditionally has with Europe, and stronger demand for liquified natural gas (LNG) imports in Asia has diverted LNG cargoes away from Europe. But Europe’s over-reliance on imports is again the inevitable result of a disingenuous policy of banning fossil fuels to address climate change with the full knowledge that fossil fuels will still have to be used in the mix from somewhere else.
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California is another example of why we should reject the Green New Deal.  Climate change is one of the more overrated forecasts in history.  Its proponents have been serially wrong with their predictions of global warming or just bad weather.  The poles are still not ice-free and New York City is still not underwater.  The climate has been changing since well before the use of fossil fuels.