Sure, Mitch, Let's All Forget About Climate Change

It's official: Republicans have gained control of Congress, and there's nothing anyone can do about it until 2016. Great. The party is now celebrating its victory by offering a bit of a teaser to their goals next year. And luckily for all of us, GOP leader Mitch McConnell has targeted the EPA as the first item on his Kill Bill-esque revenge list. His main beefs: regulations on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, regulations on mercury emissions, limits on smog-control measures, and anything else considered to be part of the "war on coal." According to McConnell, his home state of Kentucky has a large coal industry that is being threatened by these pesky regulations.

Joining him will be Oklahoma's Sen. Jim Inhofe, who volunteered to become the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Even luckier for all of us, Inhofe knows so much about the environment that he even wrote a book about it, entitled The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. So we've got someone who is really invested in the facts in charge here.

Leading the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee will be Alaska's Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who doubts people are responsible for climate change because apparently the evidence is not. overwhelming. enough. for her.

These three geniuses will be in charge of addressing the big issue. Namely, how dare President Obama try to save the polar bears when there's so much money waiting to be earned?

The Hill reports the GOP is also most likely going to try to eliminate the 2009 “endangerment finding,” otherwise known as the ruling from the EPA stating greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare, and that they should be regulated.

Yup, these are all real things that real politicians who real people really elected are planning to do. Somewhere, Al Gore is screaming into an active volcano. However, it's possible not all hope is lost. There's a good chance Obama will be able to push back against McConnell's efforts using vetoes and executive orders to retain some of the pillars of our environmental policies.

But he has his limitations too, so starting in January, those who care about the environment have a lot to lose as the GOP trades in environmental security in order to boost the economy. Bet you're really wishing you voted now, huh?

Images: Getty (3)