Did DEP Commissioner Dupe Radio Audience?

Governor Dannel Malloy's handpicked choice to lead the Department of Environmental Protection, Commissioner Daniel Esty, is either playing fast and loose with the truth, or was for higher gasoline prices, before he was against them. Whatever, he was not being true to the audience of my colleague, Brad Davis, during the Brad Davis radio broadcast Thursday morning, heard on five radio stations across the state of Connecticut. Esty, a true believer in global warming, has been making the rounds, advocating higher gasoline prices, saying, "Let's make people pay for the harm they cause." It lead to the following exchange on the legendary Davis' broadcast:

Davis: A state senator told me, and I had trouble believing it to tell you the truth, that you made the comment, recently, that you thought gasoline prices should be hire than they are?

Esty: Totally untrue.

Davis: Thank you. I couldn't believe it.

Esty: That's a crazy suggestion.

Davis: But have you heard that?

Esty: The New York Times put a crazy headline on something that I wrote. Of course, I didn't say that. I would never support it. I support cheap energy. A different energy future, where we are not vulnerable to these kind of price spikes, that are causing real pain for all of us.

In reality, Esty not only is promoting higher gasoline prices, he said it and he wrote it in the New York Times article he is now attempting to throw under the bus - electric powered, I would imagine.

Last Monday, appearing before the Common Ground High School, a charter school in New Haven, the DEP Commissioner lambasted the oil industry to impression-minded students. New Haven Register reporter, Abbe Smith, who covered the commissioner's appearance, also wrote: "And he (Esty) told the students about an opinion piece he co-wrote for the New York Times last month that advocated for the establishment of a carbon emissions charge that would translate to higher gas prices for Americans. He said the purpose of the emissions charge is relatively simple: It would incentivize a shift away from reliance on fossil fuels. 'Let's make people pay for the harm they cause,' he said."

And in that now famous NYT piece, Esty not only touted a carbon emissions charge, he wrote, "An emissions charge is not a radical idea; making people pay for the harm they cause lies at the heart of property rights.

"Our proposal would apply to all greenhouse gas emissions, so that everybody, and every fossil-fuel-dependent form of energy, would be included. Oil companies would pay for every gallon of gas or oil delivered. Yes, these costs could be passed on to consumers, but this is what motivates changes in behavior and technological investments."

And now the Commissioner is claiming he never advocated for higher gasoline prices? His doublespeak may be why Sen. Joe Markley, R-Southington told me on my radio show last week, "In Dan Esty, we've got a very smart, very articulate and very dangerous man, a real idealogue, a real left wing, aggressive person, that has a vision, which is anti-growth, anti-consumer, anti, let's say the structure of American society."

The Commissioner not only needs to come clean on his verbal emission, he needs to apologize for duping a radio audience and its legendary broadcaster.