And You Wonder Why People Don’t Respect Lobbyists?
A cap-and-trade bill was defeated in Australia yesterday. As the New Republic points out (here), it’s not clear that this is anything more than a temporary setback.
An interesting sidelight, however, concerns the sources of the opposition — some of which are U.S.-based:
Incidentally, one of the largest, most influential opponents of the Australian bill was U.S. coal behemoth Peabody Energy, whose CEO Gregory Boyce seems to think global warming is all hokum and is betting big on dirty coal’s continued viability. For that matter, Peabody’s been hyperactive in the U.S. climate debate, too, spending more than $10 million lobbying Congress over the last two years, including $780,000 for Dick Gephardt to stalk the halls of Capitol Hill, presumably preaching the virtues of coal.
Gephardt voted in favor of implementing Kyoto and for an ambitious hybrid car program. (here)
But of course, that was then; this is now.
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About Dan
Dan Farber has written and taught on environmental and constitutional law as well as about contracts, jurisprudence and legislation. Currently at Berkeley Law, he has al…
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Dear Dan,
Thanks for posting this article. It is refreshing to learn that truth has prevailed and another cap & trade scheme has been defeated. Buying and selling carbon dioxide emission credits will not reduce global atmospheric temperature.
There is no scientific proof, nor any guarantee that successful implemetation of a cap & trade scheme would have any measurable affect on global atmospheric temperature.
Cap & trade proponents are handicapped by their limited scientific knowledge which prevents them from objectively analyzing and understanding the role of solar radiation, water vapor, and natural cyles. They are heavily invested in two false premises; 1) carbon dioxide is the driving force in climate change, and 2) humans have the technology and capability to control atmospheric temperature by regulating carbon dioxide emissions.
All Americans should be grateful to the good people of Australia for restoring our hope on this issue.