OnTheIssues Fact Checking: on Energy & Oil

Donald Trump: FactCheck: falsely blames windmills for Texas power outage

FactCheck by Reuters: Wind generates 20% of total electricity in Texas, where natural gas supplies 47%, coal supplies 20% and solar supplies 1%

FactCheck by OnTheIssues: The 2021 Texas power crisis was caused by sub-zero temperatures coupled with fossil fuel power plants that had never been winterized. It's true that some wind turbines froze, but so did coal, gas, and oil generators, which account for 70% of power generation. The same problem occurred in 2011 (and is expected every ten years or so), but the state of Texas ignored the recommendations made then.

James Inhofe: FactCheck: Bush made change to "climate change," not Obama

No, it's not; the switch was made during the Bush presidency. Our staffer, Jesse Gordon, worked as an EPA contractor in 2001-03, preparing content for the epa.gov website. Gordon reports, "During that period, word came down from EPA to change all instances of the term 'global warming' to 'climate change.'" That timing means that the Bush administration changed the rule from that of the Clinton administration; Obama & Gore had nothing to do with it, so Inhofe's implication is incorrect.

Joe Biden: FactCheck:US rejoined world in GHG reduction, not vice-versa

Biden didn't persuade other countries to "join the US": In 2015, 191 countries signed the Paris Accord committing to GHG reductions. Trump withdrew the US entirely in 2017, reducing US commitment to zero.

Looking at the numbers, the US had committed in 2015 to a 26% domestic reduction in greenhouse gases by 2025 compared to 2005 levels. Biden committed to a 50% reduction by 2030--a comparable reduction rate. For comparison, the EU committed to a 40% domestic GHG reduction by 2030 compared to 1990 levels--a much lower base level. In summary, Biden's action restored the US to what the world is already doing--the US joined the other nations, not vice-versa!