Not long ago I tweeted something that I consider an obvious truth:
You've probably heard of the "Son of Sam" law. Named after the infamous serial killer of the 1970's, it says that a criminal may not profit from their notoriety. For example, they may not write books about their crimes.
Now follow that thought: In general, we can all see the intrinsic wrongness of profiting from a mess that you've created. But what about the tire store owner who goes on a tire-slashing rampage? The plate glass business owner who goes around shooting out windows? Or the arsonist who works for the fire department? As far as I know, there are no additional laws for these felons beyond the initial crimes they've committed. Nothing bars the tire store owner from selling tires for the cars which he vandalized.
Now what if the mess you've helped create is Global Warming, and your name is Koch Industries? Have you ever stopped to wonder if Global Warming is thought of as a feature for these polluters? Fossil fuel's days may be numbered, but it will be replaced by a bigger, more urgent effort to reverse the damage. And the longer they continue to produce fossil fuels, the longer and more profitable becomes the clean up effort.
So logically my next thought was this:
Immediately after presenting this idea I met criticism that accused me of forcing pledges upon the fossil fuel producers. But that's not the gist of the idea. I'm upset because I can predict this train wreck a long, long way off. They are going to have it both ways. They are actively denying Global Warming, not just so that they can continue to profit from fossil fuels, but also because they are creating job security for the time when they decide to do an about face.
It's the most despicable act of the modern era.
Our government has many regulations and restrictions that dictate which companies are allowed to obtain government contracts. Anything from safety and ethics violations to doing trade with the wrong country can disqualify a company from government contracts. And of course the old conflict of interest is a big no-no.
So it seems to me that it is well within the powers of Congress to declare that any company who denies the problem of Climate Change today shall be prevented from obtaining government contracts which seek to alleviate the problem of Climate Change in the future.
Call it the Climate Change Hypocrisy Act.
And then we'll see just how quickly the dialogue changes.
*N.B. "Climate Change" and "Global Warming" have been used interchangeably in this diary. Please don't nit-pick.
11:36 AM PT: From my most recent comment:
It's essentially a policy that says "Whoever wants to participate in Climate Change remediation sign up now and we'll contact you."