I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER GODDAMN WORD ABOUT MY CARBON FOOTPRINT (CONT’D): Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm hops into gas-guzzler in Boston. “The Department of Energy did not respond to a request for comment about the Suburban and how that squares with the discussions of sustainability and efficiency. It wasn’t immediately clear what year the SUV was.”

Plus: Feds fume over Herald’s Jennifer Granholm SUV gas story.

The Herald’s story about U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm riding around Boston in a gas-guzzling SUV has the federal department fuming.

Granholm made the front page in Saturday’s paper when she followed up her comments here about the need for more investment in efficient, sustainable infrastructure through President Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill by hopping right into a Chevy Suburban Premier, which doesn’t rank particularly well in terms of environmental friendliness.

But the feds felt like the Herald’s focus on the “gas-guzzler” SUV was just pumping up a non-issue.

“Would the Herald run this kind of a story if it was a minivan? Shame to see journalism like this at a time when there a real dollars coming to Massachusetts that will lower costs and create jobs for families and workers,” a Department of Energy spokeswoman said in a statement emailed over on Saturday. . . .

The webpage maintained by Granholm’s own Department of Energy that is the government “official source” for fuel economy lookups pegs the 2021 Suburban at somewhere between 16 and 23 miles per gallon overall, depending on whether it’s using diesel, premium gas or regular gas. For city driving — as the slow going in the area right around Fenway is — the SUV can get as few as 14 miles per gallon.

A couple of quick Google searches show the Suburban — whose webpage on the Chevy website reads “Welcome to the big life” — showing up on multiple top-10 “gas-guzzlers” lists. . . .

To answer Granholm’s flak’s question about minivans — the least-fuel efficient one of those still gets overall 20 miles to the gallon, rating better than her sizable ride in both gas consumed and emissions, per her federal website.

Minivans aren’t cool, though.

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER GODDAMN WORD ABOUT MY CARBON FOOTPRINT: Sen. John Barasso demands details of White House travel to climate summit. “The letters also demand the total cost of travel, lodging, food and drink and ‘lost work productivity’ — as well as any measures taken to offset the traveling party’s carbon footprint.”

Offset the carbon footprint by shutting off heat and AC in the departmental offices.

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER GODDAMN WORD ABOUT GLENN REYNOLDS’ CARBON FOOTPRINT: Claire McCaskill’s Private Plane Used on Campaign’s RV Tour Through Missouri.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) said her campaign was “hitting the road” in an RV to tour the state, but public flight information indicates that travel also occurred on her million-dollar private plane.

The RV, named BigBlue by the campaign, was unveiled late last month by McCaskill, who said she was “very excited to hit the road” in it for an upcoming “Veterans for Claire” tour. The campaign kept a live blog of its three-day RV trip from May 29 to May 31, posting updates of its whereabouts.

Unmentioned on the blog is the role McCaskill’s private plane played on the trip. The aircraft is a single-engine turboprop valued on her financial disclosure forms at more than $1 million dollars.

Flashback to 2011, when Missouri’s unemployment rate was at 9.4 percent, and McCaskill was caught on camera cheering on bad economic news because it benefited the environment:

“Well, the good news is, our [carbon] emissions are way down because of the recession. I mean, really, if you want to find a silver lining in the cloud, the number that we were looking for [with cap and trade legislation] … we are well, well [ahead of our goal]…because we have had such a real drop in manufacturing output.”

Last week in the Wall Street Journal, Power Line’s Steve Hayward wrote “Climate Change Has Run Its Course,” because as, Glenn added in response, it became “blindingly obvious that the people who kept telling us it was a crisis weren’t acting like a crisis. They kept their big houses, SUVs full of bodyguards, and private jets. They’re like fervent abolitionists who never got around to freeing their own slaves.”

(Classical reference in headline.)

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER GODDAMN WORD ABOUT GLENN REYNOLDS’ CARBON FOOTPRINT:

Chief Executive Jeff Immelt will give up control of General Electric Co. later this year. His colleagues were relieved to learn that he will also relinquish command of the office thermostat.

Mr. Immelt, who said this week he will end his 16-year captaincy of the conglomerate, is famous for preferring refrigerator-like temperatures in GE offices and meeting rooms. “He keeps it very cold,” one person who has regularly endured the chill says. “It’s part of the Immelt lore.”

As Scott Johnson of Power Line notes in a post titled “Immelt on Ice,” “Immelt holds the preferred elite view on global warming. I wondered if he might be concerned about the possible contribution of air conditioning. You can’t be too careful to avoid the apocalypse.”

Note that Immelt’s office was freezing while GE controlled NBC until late 2009; fully divesting themselves of the network in 2013. So he was CEO when this infamous edition of Sunday Night Football ran in 2007 as battlefield preparation for the upcoming election year:

As Ann Coulter quipped that same year, when Al Gore refused to take his own pledge to limit his similarly ManBearPig-sized carbon footprint, “I kind of respect him more, it shows he is not stupid enough to believe all this global warming nonsense. He’s trying to get us to believe. Okay, fine, he may be a hypocrite but at least he’s not a moron.”

But keep the above passage regarding Immelt’s icy offices in mind the next time anyone at NBC or its sister networks goes on a global warming lecture. If you couldn’t convince your own boss to dial the temperature back; if you couldn’t convince your network not to acquire the broadcasting rights to NASCAR, don’t hector the rest of us.

I’M SURE GLENN DOESN’T WANT TO HEAR ONE MORE GODDAMN WORD ABOUT HIS CARBON FOOTPRINT: Leonardo DiCaprio flew eyebrow artist 7,500 miles to do his brows for the Oscars.

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER GODDAMNED WORD ABOUT MY CARBON FOOTPRINT: This Boeing 787 Was Converted Into a Luxurious Private Jet.

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER GODDAMN WORD ABOUT GLENN REYNOLDS’ CARBON FOOTPRINT: Guests Will Fly Halfway Around the World for Leonardo DiCaprio’s Climate Change Speech.

If only there was a method to view and listen to his speech remotely. Surely there must be top men working in DiCaprio’s industry to invent such a device, no?

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER GODDAMN WORD ABOUT GLENN REYNOLDS’ CARBON FOOTPRINT: Leonardo DiCaprio Flew 8,000 Miles on Private Jet to Accept Environmental Award.

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER GODDAMNED WORD ABOUT MY CARBON FOOTPRINT: Video shows Hillary Clinton boarding private jet just hours after launching global-warming push – and she’s using a French aircraft that burns 347 gallons of fuel every hour! “Its itineraries are secret because the owner has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to withhold flight plans from the public.”

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ONE GODDAMN WORD ABOUT MY CARBON FOOTPRINT: FOIA Request Reveals Pelosi Logged 43 Flights Covering 90,155 Miles from January to October 2010. “According to previous documents uncovered by Judicial Watch, the former Speaker’s military travel cost the United States Air Force $2,100,744.59 over one two-year period — $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol.”

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER GODDAMNED WORD about my carbon footprint.

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ONE GODDAMNED WORD ABOUT MY CARBON FOOTPRINT (CONT’D): Barney Frank’s free jet ride. “U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, immersed in one of the toughest political fights of his career, took a free private jet to the Virgin Islands courtesy of a Maine congresswoman’s billionaire fiance — whose company received a $200 million federal bailout.”

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ONE GODDAMN WORD ABOUT MY CARBON FOOTPRINT: “Arriving in a small jet before the Obamas was the first dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog given as a present by the late U.S. Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.”

UPDATE: Note the appended “clarification” to the story, which says that Bo didn’t get his own plane to himself, but was accompanied by other staffers. But reader Ed Stephens writes: “Do you think any reporter will have the nerve to ask Obama directly about flying the dog on a private jet?”

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails: “The first reporter that *does* ask about the dog’s private jet, will get immediate street cred (and Tea Party cred) that will send shock waves through the MSM.” But the lunch invitations will dry up.

WELL, THEY TRIED TO KEEP IT SECRET, but I found out. And I still don’t want to hear another goddamn word about my carbon footprint.

CLIMATE CRUSADERS MOVING UP FROM PRIVATE PLANES TO PRIVATE ROCKETS: Clean energy crusader Jerry Brown’s plan to launch Calif. ‘climate satellite’ into orbit could hit a few eco snags.

I  don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

● Shot:

The NYPD used a $3 million counterterrorism plane to shuttle Mayor Bill de Blasio back and forth from his Canada vacation to the Big Apple for an event Thursday, The Post has learned.

Hizzoner, who is in Quebec on a weeklong respite, briefly flew back to the Bronx for a memorial for slain Detective Miosotis Familia.

“NYPD is transporting him in their plane,” de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips told The Post.

“Their plane” is a Cessna 208 Caravan that cost roughly $3 million and was picked up by the department in 2017, sources said.

The high-tech aircraft is outfitted with special sensors that can detect at a distance radioactive material used to make “dirty bombs.”

Police sources questioned the use of a special plane for mayoral transportation.

“It is very unusual to go on an international flight to go pick up the mayor,” one source said.

—De Blasio used a $3M counterterrorism plane to zip home from vacation, the New York Post, Thursday.

● Chaser:

A week after a brutal snowstorm froze New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered a one-two punch Wednesday in the name of climate change, announcing he will seek billions in damages from five major oil-and-gas companies while moving to divest from fossil fuels.

“It’s time for them to start paying for the damage they have done,” Mr. de Blasio said at a press conference at the Manhattan Youth Center. “It’s time for Big Oil to take responsibility for the devastation they have wrought.”

The two-front attack was promptly pilloried by industry groups as a cynical political stunt, even as it put New York City at the forefront of the environmental movement’s campaign to recruit local governments as allies in the climate change fight.

Flanked by municipal leaders and top climate activists, the Democratic mayor said his goal is to divest the $189 billion public-pension funds from fossil fuels by 2022, which he said would make New York the first major U.S. city to do so.

Mr. de Blasio also announced that the city has filed a lawsuit against five top energy producers, blaming the companies for greenhouse-gas emissions that he said have produced disasters such as Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

“I remember those days after Sandy in the Lower East Side. I remember how desperate it was. I remember how much fear and confusion there was,” said Mr. de Blasio. “And this was a tragedy that was wrought by the actions of the fossil-fuel companies. Let’s be clear: That’s where it came from.”

—New York City mayor seeks billions from oil companies, blames them for climate change, the Washington Times, January 10.

● Hangover: NYC will pay you big bucks for ratting out idling trucks, buses.

—The New York Post, yesterday.

If he actually believed global warming is that existential a crisis, shouldn’t at the very least De Blasio fly commercial, as well as keeping the amount of his personal transportation down to a bare minimum? I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint ever again.

I’LL BELIEVE GLOBAL WARMING IS A CRISIS WHEN THE PEOPLE WHO TELL ME IT’S A CRISIS START TO ACT LIKE IT’S A CRISIS:

John Flannery, the leader of General Electric Co. for just 2½ months, has already begun dismantling the legacy of his predecessor, including the planes.

For much of Jeff Immelt’s 16-year run atop one of the world’s largest conglomerates, an empty business jet followed his GE-owned plane on some trips to destinations around the world, according to people familiar with the matter. The two jets sometimes parked far apart so they wouldn’t attract attention, and flight crews were told to not openly discuss the empty plane, the people said.

The second plane was a spare in case Mr. Immelt’s jet had mechanical problems. A GE spokeswoman said that “two planes were used on limited occasions for business-critical or security purposes.” Mr. Immelt didn’t respond to requests for comment.

If this was indeed “For much of Jeff Immelt’s 16-year run” at GE, then it would have included the period that ended in 2013, when GE still owned MSNBC and NBC, which frequently hectored (and still does so) its viewers on global warming — including this infamous moment in 2007:

So while NBC was urging its viewers to turn off its (GE-manufactured) light bulbs, its CEO was flying around with an empty emergency backup private plane. I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint ever again.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

● The best way to reduce your personal carbon emissions: don’t be rich.

—Headline, young adult Website* Vox.com, July 14, 2017.

● EXPLAINED: Why Vox Dot Com Is a Smart Investment for General Electric.

—The Washington Free Beacon, May 1st, 2014.

● “Matt Yglesias bought a $1.2 million three-bedroom condo in Washington, D.C., and a bunch of conservatives are pretty appalled that a liberal would have the gall to be rich.”

—The Atlantic, March 22, 2013.

It’s the hypocrisy, Atlantic. Not to mention the sophistry:

I’d start to take global warming seriously when the people who tell me it’s a crisis start to act like it’s a crisis themselves – oh and, I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint again.

* Classical reference.

UPDATE: “Left: We’re going to ensure ‘better jobs, better wages, better future.’ Also the Left: Stop making money:” “Vox’s indictment of both Hollywood and the music industry is rather harsh here.”

Heh, indeed.™

STRIKE A POSE, THERE’S NOTHING TO IT:

Shot:

Chaser: Back to reality! The Obamas take off in Richard Branson’s private jet from their ten day island getaway—after taking a helicopter to the airport.

Related: Joe Biden and Colin Powell drag race their ’67 and 2015 Corvettes.

I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint.

YES, THAT WAS PART OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS’ INTENT:

Shot: The electoral college is thwarting our ability to battle global warming.

—Headline, Washington Post opinion column, December 19th.

Chaser: Amazon starts flexing muscle in new space: air cargo.

—Headline, Reuters, yesterday.

If you’re writing for the Washington Post, and you believe that global warming is so severe that the electoral college serves as a hindrance because at least half the American public disagrees with your secular religion, getting the paper’s boss to terminate his giant empire would make a pretty good dent in and of itself in reducing America’s carbon footprint. If you can convince Jeff Bezos to go along, then we’ll talk again about the electoral college. (Pro tip: Convincing him to shut down the Post’s giant air-conditioned server farms would be an excellent first step.)

In the meantime, I still don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

“Mayor de Blasio Commits to 80 Percent Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050,” said the Sunday news release, outlining what would be a truly impressive feat if he actually were able to make good on that promise. But there is not going to be any 89-year-old, 10-term mayor named de Blasio declaring a local victory in the battle to save the planet. This is a long march to a distant goal. The commitment Mr. de Blasio made over the weekend — an excellent and necessary one — was to do his part now to keep the city moving in the right direction: Promised Land, that way.

—“Mayor de Blasio Takes On Climate Change,” the New York Times, September 22, 2014

The de Blasio administration is trying to limit the number of food trucks in the city by claiming that each hot-dog and kabob cart causes more pollution than a truck ride to Los Angeles.

Deputy Health Commissioner Corinne Schiff made the claim at a City Council hearing Wednesday, in an apparent effort to sink a bill that would nearly double the number of food-vendor permits in the city by 2023.

“Meat grilling is a significant source of air pollution in the city,” Schiff said. “One additional vendor grilling meat emits an amount of particle pollution in one day equivalent to what a diesel truck emits driving 3,500 miles.”

—“De Blasio administration finds a way to ruin food trucks,” the New York Post, October 27.

As CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported exclusively, documents obtained by CBS2 show the mayor has dramatically increased helicopter travel around the city.

On Oct. 14 near dinnertime, an NYPD helicopter landed near the baseball field in Prospect Park. At the time, police were coy, saying they were transporting “a dignitary.”

That dignitary turned out to be Mayor de Blasio, who after hanging around his old Park Slope neighborhood, wanted to avoid traffic on a seven-mile trip to Queens.

Suddenly, there were questions. What was the man who bragged that riding helicopters was “not my thing” doing? And he had apparently suddenly decided that avoiding the city’s epic traffic jams was the way to go.

CBS2 filed a Freedom of Information of Act request, discovering that yes, Mayor de Blasio is now subscribing to the joys of flying.

—“CBS2 Exclusive: Documents Show Mayor De Blasio’s Helicopter Flights Have Dramatically Increased,” Wednesday.

I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint ever again.

HUH. I THOUGHT THE STUFF WAS AS DANGEROUS AS ISIS*: On Antarctic Trip, Kerry Producing As Much CO2 as Average American Does in One Year.

* No really, that’s what he said, just a few months ago. I say, I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint. (Though the timing of Kerry’s trip — exiling himself to Siberia the same week Trump wins — was an unintentionally brilliant metaphor by the Botoxed Brahman, and just added to the joy that was Happy Fun Victory Week.™)

TWO GRAY LADIES IN ONE:

Shot:

For many people reading this, air travel is their most serious environmental sin. One round-trip flight from New York to Europe or to San Francisco creates a warming effect equivalent to 2 or 3 tons of carbon dioxide per person. The average American generates about 19 tons of carbon dioxide a year; the average European, 10.

So if you take five long flights a year, they may well account for three-quarters of the emissions you create. “For many people in New York City, who don’t drive much and live in apartments, this is probably going to be by far the largest part of their carbon footprint,” says Anja Kollmuss, a Zurich-based environmental consultant.

It is for me. And for people like Al Gore or Richard Branson who crisscross the world, often by private jet, proclaiming their devotion to the environment.

Though air travel emissions now account for only about 5 percent of warming, that fraction is projected to rise significantly, since the volume of air travel is increasing much faster than gains in flight fuel efficiency. (Also, emissions from most other sectors are falling.)

—Your Biggest Carbon Sin May Be Air Travel, the New York Times, January 26, 2013.

Chaser:

The New York Times, a newspaper that is nominally and editorially aggrieved about income inequality in America and human-rights violations abroad, is offering its elite, ultra-wealthy readers a chance to see some of the world’s most despotic destinations in a private jet for just $135,000 per person.

“Circle the globe on an inspiring and informative journey by private jet, created by The New York Times in collaboration with luxury travel pioneers Abercrombie & Kent,” reads the promotional material for this exclusive voyage of a lifetime. “This 26-day itinerary takes you beneath the surface of some of the world’s most compelling destinations, illuminating them through the expertise of veteran Times journalists.”

Sound like fun? The private Boeing 757, which can hold up to 50 passengers in “first-class, fully lie-flat seats,” is departing in February 2018, so be sure to reserve your seats now. Travelers can fork over $135,000 for the full trip, or a stunningly cheap $13,500 to partake in a single segment of the trip.

— New York Times Offering Luxury Jet Tours for the 1% – Iran, Cuba, Morocco and More!, Heat Street, yesterday.

As Glenn would say, I’d be more inclined to believe global warming is a crisis if and when the people who tell me it’s a crisis start to act like it’s a crisis themselves. In the meantime, I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about my carbon footprint.

I BLAME GLOBAL WARMING: Early humans were plagued by Supervolcanoes: Huge eruptions closed off migration routes for our ancestors.

I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Fred Flintstone’s carbon footprint.

REPORT: HILLARY FLIES 20 MILES IN PRIVATE JET FROM MARTHA’S VINEYARD TO NANTUCKET.

I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint – or about the dangers of “binge flying” from Hillary’s biggest corporate supporters.