<p>Just like the nuclear agreement with Iran, the recent UN climate change conference termed &lsquo;COP21&rsquo; has devolved from good intentions to no more than a joke. Turns out that joke will cost the US $80 billion a year. And the summit couldn&rsquo;t even accomplish its one goal of designing an agreement that would force the world to cut back on CO2 emissions. ; ;</p>
<p>After considerable &#8216;hot air&#8217; emissions, if you catch my drift, world leaders ;have agreed that all countries involved will provide annual reports on CO2 ;reductions. But with no way of supervising these reports, I am once again reminded of the massive failure that is the JCPOA. ;</p>
<p>The last two days of the conference were &ldquo;among the most chaotic I have ever seen,&rdquo; one official has been quoted as saying.  ; ;</p>
<p>According to the <em>New York Times</em>, reducing CO2 emissions is &ldquo;essentially voluntary.&rdquo; Even worse, wealthy countries (that&rsquo;s us) are required to give $80 billion each year to poor countries. If you were watching, you&rsquo;ll note that a score of beautiful women appeared on screen after that announcement, smiling about the unearned money they expect to enjoy every year. ;</p>
<p>What happens next? Well, the Sierra Club has just announced a new program called <em>Keep in the Ground</em> that will strive to &ldquo;prevent the extraction of fossil fuels right from the start,&rdquo; according to the group&rsquo;s executive director Michael Brune. ;According to <em>The Hill</em>, the plan is to &ldquo;shut down coal mines and crack down on hydraulic fracturing, along with stopping the transportation of fossil fuels in oil trains, pipelines, and coal export terminals.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>This plan, which seems anything but legal, sounds crazy to anyone who understands energy. Not surprisingly, President Obama seems to like the idea. During the speech in which he rejected Phase IV of the Keystone Pipeline, he said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to keep some fossil fuels <em>in the ground</em> rather than burn them.&rdquo; ;</p>