WASHINGTON, D.C. (WBOY) — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R, WV) and two other senators say they are introducing the Executive Branch Emissions Transparency Act in an attempt to draw attention to the fossil fuels emitted by the travels of the president, his climate czar John Kerry, and the rest of the Biden Administration, despite the administration’s “green agenda.”
In a joint press release from the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, the senators said a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that even though President Biden signed an executive order requiring agencies to track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from travel, the State Department still does “not have a systematic way to calculate greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. delegation travel.”
The legislation was introduced during last year’s Congressional session as well. It was introduced in the Senate, but government records show that it was never referred to a committee during that session.
The senators pointed to several examples of fossil fuel usage they called excessive “in the name of ‘saving’ the planet”:
Climate Envoy John Kerry led a delegation of 259 officials from 17 different agencies and offices that flew to Egypt, where they “launched the Net-Zero Government Initiative, inviting governments to lead by example and achieve net-zero emissions from national government operations.”
Kerry flew to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, stating “it was truly extraordinary” to be part of a “select group of human beings … able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet.”
Kerry flew to Japan in April to attend the G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Climate, Energy, and Environment.
The senators are calling it hypocrisy.
“Joe Biden and his officials say they are addressing an ‘existential’ crisis by participating in climate conferences, all while traveling on private jets to and from the conferences. The Biden administration should instead focus its efforts on American energy production—or at the very least, let American taxpayers know about the private travel they are paying for,” Senator Tom Cotton (R, AR) said in the press release.
“Americans are tired of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. who don’t practice what they preach when it comes to protecting the environment,” Capito said in the release. “In the Biden administration, the same people who are closing down power plants across the country and forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles are also the ones flying to climate conferences and using fossil fuels without apology. I’m proud to join Senator Ernst in continuing our push for accountability and stand up for those who are understandably frustrated by the hypocrisy we’ve seen time and time again.”
The text of the 2023 version of the bill is not yet available on Congress.gov., but the 117 version would have required the executive branch to disclose:
(A) the name of each covered individual on the covered travel;
(B) the mode of travel;
(C) the origin and destination;
(D) a description of the covered travel;
(E) miles traveled;
(F) the estimated carbon emissions resulting from the covered travel; and
(G) a description of any action taken to limit the carbon emissions associated with the covered travel.