Congress
“Betraying the Planet”
Paul Krugman has a terrific op. ed with that title in the today’s Times. Here’s the gist: Do you remember the days when Bush administration officials claimed that terrorism posed an “existential threat” to America, a threat in whose face normal rules no longer applied? That was hyperbole — but the existential threat from climate …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Bill Passes House!
The Waxman-Markey bill narrowly passed the House yesterday. This is a historic achievement. As Cara reported yesterday, there are some real qualms about whether the bill is strong enough — and particularly about its heavy reliance on offsets. Environmentalists have never liked offsets, partly because they lessen the technology-forcing effect of emissions controls and partly …
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CONTINUE READINGIs Waxman-Markey Even Worth It?
If Michael O’Hare is right about this, then Waxman-Markey might not be worth the candle: Waxman appears to have sold out the indirect land use issue in a deal with Peterson on the climate change bill: “Waxman also consented to block EPA from calculating “indirect” greenhouse gas emissions from land-use changes when implementing the federal …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat Does the CBO Report on Waxman-Markey Actually Mean?
The Congressional Budget Office issued its report on the Waxman-Markey bill recently. The Washington Times immediately trumpeted: “CBO puts hefty price tag on emissions plan: Obama’s cap-and-trade system seen costing $846 billion.” This is quite misleading. Actually, the CBO report tells us virtually nothing about the economic costs of the bill or how much consumers …
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CONTINUE READINGBoth Sides are Right on Waxman-Markey
Cara asks what people think about the Waxman-Markey bill. It seems clear to me that both sides are right. And no, this isn’t a case of realism versus idealism. Waxman-Markey might be the strongest thing that can get through Congress right now. And even that might be over-optimistic: Waxman can move the thing through the …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009–A Macro and Micro View
I’d like to follow up on Sean Hecht’s recent posting concerning Congressional passage and President Obama’s signing into law of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009. This massive bill designates two million acres of wilderness in nine states as permanently off-limits to development, and increases the number of river miles protected under the …
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CONTINUE READINGOmnibus Public Land Management Act Signed Into Law
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which I discussed in this post a couple of weeks ago, passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Obama earlier this week. A transcript of the President’s remarks on the new law is here, courtesy of the New York Times. The prior version of this …
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CONTINUE READINGWhen Will Congress Act? Our Poll Results
During Obama’s second year in office 43% During Obama’s third or fouth year 29% During Obama’s first year in office 20% Never 6% After the 2012 elections 1 3%
CONTINUE READINGThey’rrreee Off and Running!!!
Today, U.S. House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman released a discussion draft of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES). See http://energycommerce.house.gov/. This is a major development, for several reasons. First, ACES represents the 111th Congress’ first foray into the details of proposed climate change legislation–though the newly-released …
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CONTINUE READINGWhen Will Congress Act on Climate Change?
I hear a lot of different answers to that question, ranging from “soon” to “never.” I thought it would be interesting to see what our readers think about this. [polldaddy poll=1457402]
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