Henry Payne

With energy czar gone, Michigan wins

Climate czar Carol Browner resigned last week.

The former Clinton EPA chief, commissioner of Socialist International and Obama climate czar, pushed policies that have done immense destruction to Michigan and its economy.

Browner was Al Gore's ghost-writer on "Earth in the Balance," the Tennessee senator's 1992 Apocalyptic call to arms against alleged global warming.

Her radical policies as EPA chief in the 1990s also drew a target around Detroit's urban poor.

Browner championed the effort to apply Title VII of U.S. civil rights law to industrial plant permitting, arguing that locating industrial facilities in black cities "disproportionately impacted" minorities and was therefore "environmental racism."

Horrified by Hurricane Carol's threat to his community, Detroit mayor Dennis Archer successfully led a coalition of Midwest Republicans and black mayors to scrap "green redlining."

When she stepped down, the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Chris Horner cited "knowledgeable sources (who) say Browner is resigning to avoid testifying under oath to a House oversight committee" led by Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, after evidence emerged that "her office got caught doctoring a report to make it appear as if the administration's drilling moratorium was approved by a panel of scientists."

But Browner's anti-scientific practices had long ago been felt in Michigan — a sort of state laboratory for her destructive policies.