Rep. Miller: One of the reasons why we have the lifestyle we have is because of cheap, affordable, reliable energy. We’ve created this monster called CEJA. One of the observations that President Reagan made was the most terrifying words in the English language was ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.’
We’ve created this mess and now we’re on the fourth amendment to try to clean it up. You know, I work outside every day I work in the environment. You know, when it’s 100 degrees in the shade and 90% humidity, I don’t sit around and whine about it being hot. When it’s the wintertime and I’m out feeding the cows and it’s 20 below zero, I’m not whining about it being cold. And we’ve created a complete myth that is destroying the economy in Illinois, and eventually we destroy the economy in the United States of America if we continue down this rabbit trail. You know, before CEJA happened, myself, Representative Halbrook, Representative Caulkins, we actually went on the energy tour, and we visited the Prairie State Campus. We visited Hamilton Coal. We visited the nuclear power plant in Clinton and we visited the wind farms, we visited the solar fields and we made a decision based on information, not our emotions or how we feel.
I know one of the things that we found out in these energy producing plants that everyone was running about almost 100% capacity. And at that time, we knew that there was no way in the world we could shut down our existing power and still power our grid. And the net result of it was a war on the middle class, and people can no longer afford to pay their doggone electric bills because of bad public policy. I know one thing about it for the last 69 years we’ve had a climate crisis, and we’ve gone from one thing to the other.
When I was a kid, we had global cooling. We’re gonna have the great freeze out and and 4 billion people were gonna die. And then we went to global warming where the Earth was gonna return to turn into a frying pan. We were all gonna burn up. And now we’re on this myth we call climate change. And now we’re all going to change to death. One of the common threads that links all of these ideas together is none of it ever happened. And guess what? None of it is ever going to happen. We aren’t going to be destroyed by CO2. And I would suggest that probably most of the people in this body don’t even know what carbon dioxide is. There’s a good dose of it. [*Blows into the mic*] There’s a little carbon dioxide for ya’ and guess what? Nobody’s gonna die! One of the things that-
Rep. Jay Hoffman in Speaker’s chair: Representative [laughter] Wilhour gives you three minutes.
Rep. Miller: But anyway, does anybody know how much carbon dioxide is in the entire globe? I guess and probably nobody can answer that question. There’s four hundredths of 1% of the entire world atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide. During the Obama administration, the EPA said if we do everything that we want to do by the year 2100 that we will increase the global temperature by two one hundredths of 1% of a degree. It doesn’t amount to jack squat.
There’s one thing that I know is in sound science, your observation dictates your conclusion. Your observation dictates your conclusion, and I know I am 69 years of observation, and I have come to the conclusion that this is a bunch of blunk and we need to throw this all in the garbage. One of the things that we, that I understand is Earth science as a farmer and there’s a great mechanism that we call photosynthesis. And it’s an incredible, it’s an incredible way that we clean up the atmosphere. Guess what we have millions of acres of green leafy plants that absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. It’s amazing. It’s incredible.
Another thing that takes us out of the atmosphere is sulfur. And guess what we’ve taken so much sulphur out of the atmosphere, now as a farmer, I have to buy sulfur to put in my fertilizer mixes so I can grow the maximum production of corn.
There’s one thing that I know is our biggest threat to civilization is not climate change. But I know a lot of times that I think that our biggest threat to civilization is the hot air that gets produced in this General Assembly by passing bad public policy. No one continues to whether or not Joe Biden not Barack Obama, not JB Pritzker, not John Kerry. They cannot change the climate. People do what they really believe. And when you see these guys flying around the world in their private jets, they live in mansions on the beach. If they actually thought the world was doomed because of climate change, they would have a different lifestyle. Part of the lie is convincing you that electricity comes from magic!!! We wave our magic word all of a sudden we produce electricity, and it’s just not true. We’re not having a climate crisis. But what we are having is we’re having a crisis of common sense. And the only way we’re on the fourth amendment to this bill and the only way to fix it is to have amendment number five in throw CEJA in the garbage and start over! Thank you Mr. Speaker.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:17 am:
Over 80% of US farmers understand that climate change is already happening, but this one gets a legislative vote.
- One hand //ing - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:20 am:
“Old men are dangerous; it doesn’t matter to them what is going to happen to the world.” - George Bernard Shaw
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:24 am:
…and that type of logic you don’t mess with.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:28 am:
I mean, do the scientists even know how cocaine works? It’s all a scam man.
- TheInvisibleMan - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:29 am:
–And guess what we’ve taken so much sulphur out of the atmosphere.–
Surely, he meant to say lithosphere. His poor monoculture farming practices he is bragging about, have removed sulphur from the soil, not the atmosphere.
–When I was a kid, we had global cooling.–
That’s not something that ever happened. Unless he was getting his facts from late night talk show hosts, instead of scientific journals. There was never a scientific consensus that global cooling was ever a thing, and it was in fact a counter response in the 70s to a growing pile of studies showing CO2 was going to cause warming.
Here’s a paper from 2008 on that topic that Mr. Miller seems to have missed.
https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/89/9/2008bams2370_1.xml
“A review of the literature suggests that, on the contrary, greenhouse warming even then dominated scientists’ thinking as being one of the most important forces shaping Earth’s climate on human time scales.”
–by the year 2100 that we will increase the global temperature by two one hundredths of 1% of a degree. It doesn’t amount to jack squat.–
Also, not something that was ever claimed in any study. But lets say it was. How about we increase the population of people in Mr. Millers house by 1000 people. That’s less than .01% of the population of the state. It doesn’t amount to ‘jack squat’. Therefore it must be fine. It would be a good lesson for him to learn that small macro changes lead to large micro changes.
–They cannot change the climate.–
The climate has already changed. Our growing zones have changed to the point that Packera glabella(butterweed) now grows easily in northern Illinois, where it was just 20 years ago contained to southern Illinois. That happened because the frost line is nowhere near as deep as it once was over the winter, protecting the tap root which grows in the fall from dying over the winter, and allowing a full bloom from the floret in the spring.
Not that I ever would have put any weight in this guys opinions in making decisions, but his screed here really solidified he has no idea what he is talking about.
- Vote Quimby - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:31 am:
Rep. Miller has a great knowledge of percentages… maybe he should get a cool sticker for his truck /s
Rep. Miller subscribes to the Secretary of the Interior James Watt’s view on science…. don’t worry about the future as the Lord will be coming back soon. /s?
- Walter - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:32 am:
Old man whining about whiners. That’s how I like my irony.
- Norseman - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:35 am:
=== their private jets, they live in mansions on the beach ===
Mr. Know it All, is trying to use the wealth of some of the supporters of climate action as a rhetorical attack. The irony is that the wealthy climate deniers and the funders of the pols opposing climate related laws will be far better off in living with the effects of climate change than us ordinary folks.
Miller is a tool for profiteers and an accomplice in the destruction of our planet.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:38 am:
The only thing wrong with this was not letting him drone on and on for more ridiculous thoughts.
Miller (no relation to Rich and Isabel) is ignorant by any and all definitions you’d like to apply
- Pundent - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:39 am:
Every time a member of the Freedom Caucus steps up to the microphone, the ILGOP takes another step towards permanently enshrining itself as a minority political party.
- unafraid - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:43 am:
=The resilience of Earth’s atmosphere has been proven throughout our planet’s climate history,” said Crisp, science team lead for NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite and its successor instrument, OCO-3, which launched to the International Space Station on May 4. “Humans have increased the abundance of carbon dioxide by 45 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Age. That’s making big changes in our environment, but at the same time, it’s not going to lead to a runaway greenhouse effect or something like that. So, our atmosphere will survive, but, as suggested by UCLA professor and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Jared Diamond, even the most advanced societies can be more fragile than the atmosphere is.=
=One could say that because the atmosphere is so thin, the activity of 7.7 billion humans can actually make significant changes to the entire system,” he added. “The composition of Earth’s atmosphere has most certainly been altered. Half of the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations in the last 300 years has occurred since 1980, and one quarter of it since 2000. Methane concentrations have increased 2.5 times since the start of the Industrial Age, with almost all of that occurring since 1980. So changes are coming faster, and they’re becoming more significant.”
taken from NASA Global Climate Change website.
- Enrgypolicy101 - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:49 am:
The bill is about giving Ameren a monopoly on transmission investment. Spoiler alert, new coal plants aren’t being built and the ones that exist already have transmission lines connected to them. The coming transmission investment is about moving renewable energy around.
- unafraid - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:49 am:
=Our Earth is warming. Earth’s average temperature has risen by 1.5°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 0.5 to 8.6°F over the next hundred years. Small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather.=
EPA website
- unafraid - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:52 am:
Living in the land of denial is something that Rep Miller has a firm grasp of.
However, the big question remains as to how to produce enough non fossil fuel energy that is also environmentally friendly and tha all ramifications of any alternative source be fully analyzed.
- Save Ferris - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:53 am:
Maybe Illinois company State Farm Insurance can chime in on climate change. I know they’ve been adjusting their rates for it since the early 1990s. They don’t think it’s fake.
- Frida’s boss - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 10:55 am:
2 thoughts
1 nice rant made the chamber laugh, folks probably needed a good laugh during that long drawn out night. Nothing better than a break in the action.
2 After all that he still voted for the bill with amendment 4, a massive last second deal for Ameren and a guaranteed rate increase for his constituents.
But fun speech and faux outrage sells downstate where they’ll never even know he sold them out for Ameren.
- Leap Day William - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:00 am:
Now who can argue with that? I think we’re all indebted to Representative Miller for clearly stating what needed to be said. I’m particularly glad that these lovely children were here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic frontier gibberish, it expressed a courage little seen in this day and age.”
- Rudy’s teeth - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:07 am:
Reports on ABC news and NBC news in Chicago report elevated ozone levels in the atmosphere. Air Quality Action Days alerts were issued in a neighboring state of Indiana.
If only Rep. Miller examined the science behind these proclamations, he might make informed choices rather than engage in rambling rhetoric that serves no purpose.
Miler’s comment, “We’re not having a climate crisis” is remarkable as it ignores evidence of climate change.
Did Rep. Miller fall off the tractor one too many times?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:10 am:
===authentic frontier gibberish===
It did have a Blazing Saddles vibe.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:15 am:
===Did Rep. Miller fall off===
Maybe too much time on the combine.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:19 am:
=== It did have a Blazing Saddles vibe.===
I’d be far less critical if they admitted it was a comedy bit and let us all in on the gag.
No one likes a well written comedy screed more than me.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:19 am:
=I work outside every day I work in the environment=
The environment of the air conditioned cab of his subsidized $700,000 tractor.
=Rep. Miller has a great knowledge of percentages… maybe he should get a cool sticker for his truck /s=
You win the internet today.
- btowntruth from forgottonia - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:20 am:
That person actually said that into a live mic?Came off like a cross between the loudest guy at the bar and the biggest pseudo-intellectuals I know.
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:22 am:
How many heatwaves, severe storms, wildfires, CO2 atmospheric records, etc., are needed to convince people of global warming? There was wildfire smoke from Canada creating haze in Illinois’ skies last week or so, when the GA was in session. Many Republicans may believe what the science and their very eyes tell them, but that would finish their political careers with their voters and donors.
- Anotheretiree - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:31 am:
Hilarious nonsense. There is an Achilles heel for renewables. Hot Summer nights. No solar at night and Summer has the slowest wind avg. speeds of the year. The turbines near me are barely turning this week. So at peak A/C demand, wind and solar wont be enough. IF Coal plants are to be shut down, then nuclear is the only option left that I can see.
- Henry Francis - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 11:39 am:
It really is something to see people so proudly demonstrate how ridiculously ignorant they are. And people vote for them.
We need to get unserious people out of government.
- Suburbanon - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 12:11 pm:
What saddens me is there are some legitimate criticisms about CEJA and some very practical climate friendly alternative approaches, but they get drowned out by screeds like this. This speech may warm the hearts of the deniers, but it also makes the activists dig in deeper.
- Sir Reel - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 12:19 pm:
Safe bet that Mr Miller’s debate team lost.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 1:00 pm:
I work outside therefore I’m an expert on the climate. Great argument there Representative.
- OneMan - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 1:10 pm:
As I drove into my office from Midway today and saw the haze over downtown, I was reminded of the idea that it might not be a bad thing to put less stuff in the air.
Regardless of thoughts about global warming, climate change, etc, that it would be good to put less “stuff” into the air we breathe seems to be a good idea. Energy extraction has a limited lifespan, and over time it is going to get more complicated and more expensive. National defense expenditures that are directly and indirectly related to the securing of energy resources can be used for other things.
You could say all of that.
or
You could say, hey, if Tom Skilling says it is happening, it’s happening, and we should try to mitigate the impacts and be prepared.
- Glengarry - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 1:46 pm:
There’s only so many dead dinosaurs in the ground. It’s way past time to develop additional sources of reliable energy.
- Merle Webb’s Jumpshot - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 2:06 pm:
Isabel, I appreciate that you have posted this along with the accompanying video. As a high school science educator in a rural area I have to deal with this logic more than most. This acts as a reminder that I have a lot of work to do in terms of teaching science literacy and it gives insight into the arguments I’ll face from students and parents.
- New Day - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 2:49 pm:
Gabby Johnson is right… I’m just glad the young people were here to witness this authentic frontier gibberish.
https://youtu.be/ke5Mr5eCF2U
- Pundent - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 2:53 pm:
=We need to get unserious people out of government.=
That would require unserious people not to vote for them. And I don’t see any chance of that happening. I don’t know if Miller believes anything he’s saying. But what I do know is that it’s precisely what the majority of his voters want to hear.
- OneMan - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 2:55 pm:
Saw this on CNBC today
- H-W - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 3:34 pm:
There are a lot of falsehoods in that speech. Blatant falsehoods, beginning with, “When I was a kid, we had global cooling,” and ending with, “We’re not having a climate crisis.”
It is a shame that we have decided not to call people out when they lie, or when they make things up to support a false argument. It is a shame that the “everyone is entitled to their own beliefs” mantra has led us to the point where we seem to prefer inaction due to beliefs, rather than actions based on expertise and science.
- H-W - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 3:42 pm:
I have a question for Mr. Miller. Why are there armadillos in Illinois today?
- Pundent - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 3:53 pm:
I think Arnold might be a bit generous in his explanation. To the extent that people continue to deny climate change it doesn’t seem to be due to a lack of understanding but more of an unwillingness to accept science for purely political reasons. And Chris Miller epitomizes this.
- Rudy’s teeth - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 4:41 pm:
In the news, BP Amoco is fined $40 million for hazardous air emissions in addition to $197 million for investments to address pollution.
Meanwhile, Rep. Chris Miller spouts we don’t need no science to protect the environment.
Even a train stops once in a while.
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 6:14 pm:
I worked outside shoveling lake effect snow at -40…but they still didn’t let me make decisions for the prison staff.
- Enrgypolicy101 - Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 9:21 pm:
The Freedom Caucus is making a real show out of this debt ceiling vote too. Freedom Caucus seems to mean “freedom from responsibility for governing.” And if elected officials don’t want to govern. That’s a problem. Breaking things and trashing this country’s “full faith and credit” is seriously deranged