When Youngkin Says “All of the Above,” He Means Drill, Baby Drill

By Bill Muth

(This is the first of a two part series. Stay tuned for part two entitled, “Why Dominion Loves Drill Baby Drill.”)

On July 18, 2024, Glen Youngkin belittled the worlds’ climate scientists:

“We need all of the above…We need more gas. We need more

solar and wind and we need nuclear and we are going to lead

the nation here and that is going to be a wonderful thing to

see…I get frustrated by people who talk about ‘either-ors.’

Small minded people, in my mind {*1} .”

He must have meant, “…small minded people, in my closed mind.” Only a closed-minded person could ignore the clarion call of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC){*2}. The project was comprised of 195 members and 700 climate researchers from 91 countries{*3} who, unlike Youngkin {*4} , had no personal investment in the outcome of their research. Their synthesis confirms what most Americans now grasp{*5} about the acceleration of catastrophic weather events happening ever- closer to home, that: (a) climate change is here, (b) human-generated greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the primary cause, and (c) it’s bad and going to get worse in the decades ahead {*6}.

The remedy—to begin immediately phasing out fossil fuel and ceasing all new construction—is obvious. But Big Oil is doing everything in its power to disguise, dilute, and deny these conclusions. To stand up to them, politicians must be open-minded enough to consider the possibility that the IPCC findings are not small minded, not ideological, and have no ulterior motive other than saving the planet for generations to come.

Youngkin may be open for business {*7} but he’s closed to science. The National Center for Science Education {*8} gave our outdated Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) an “F” for failing to make clear that climate change is caused mostly by humans. Last year Youngkin vetoed a bill that called for updating climate-related SOLs. His closed-minded reason: “The SOLs already provide instructional material related to environmental issues {*9} .” No matter that these materials include units like “clean coal” and “nifty natural gas” and raise misleading doubts about global warming’s cause where no doubt exists.

Youngkin’s SOL stance is one example of MAGA-inspired disinformation campaigns. Here’s another: He says “all of the above” while doing everything he can to undo environmental protections and usher in a new golden age of fossil fuels. Dominion Energy (Dominion)—which profits much more from fossil fuels than from wind or solar {*10} —understands “all of the above” perfectly. Their 2024 10-year plan excludes any new solar or wind yet adds six new gas plants claiming without evidence that this is driven by data center buildout rather than profit {*11} (developed further in Part Two: Why Dominion Loves Drill Baby Drill).

“All of the Above” is code for “Drill Baby Drill.” Call us narrow minded, but we know how to decode and how to expose the profiteers and catastrophic effects of “All of the Above.” And we will remember Youngkin’s self-serving MAGA-miming this November. That’s code for: VOTE ALL CLIMATE DENIERS OUT OF OFFICE!

TAKE ACTION:

Between now and November 4, 2025, expose the deadly consequences of the extreme MAGA agenda.

Contact Third Act Virginia (https://thirdact.org/virginia/) to join the resistance!

Follow Third Act RVA on Facebook here.

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Picture credit: Washington Post, 6-28-24. Creator: Steve Helber/ Credit: AP

{*1} https://virginiamercury.com/…/youngkin-speaks-about…/

{*2} https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/

{*3} https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-ipcc-wraps-up-its-most-in…/

{*4} https://www.opensecrets.org/…/youngkin-fossil-fuels…/

{*5} https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/…/climate…/

{*6} https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/