Climate Change
The Looming Political Battle Over AB 32 & California’s Environmental & Economic Future
Today, proponents of an initiative measure designed to “suspend” California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) are scheduled to submit signatures to state election officials designed to qualify the measure for the November 2010 ballot. Bankrolled by two Texas-based oil companies, Tesoro Corporation and Valero Energy Corporation, the initiative measure would preclude …
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and Two Forms of Justice
Via David Brooks today, Jim Manzi from several months ago makes an intriguing argument regarding the equities of international climate change policy. Developing nations consistently say that developed countries should pay for the lion’s share of climate mitigation because developed countries have caused the problem. But says Manzi, What this ignores is that the reason …
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CONTINUE READINGOcean acidification gets new attention
Although EPA is beginning to pay attention, the rapidly increasing acidity of the oceans remains a little-known consequence of global atmospheric CO2 loading. But two recent events may be raising the public profile of ocean acidification. First, a National Research Council committee convened to examine the consequences of ocean acidification and make recommendations for a …
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CONTINUE READINGMore Bad News on Climate: Boxer is in Deep Trouble
Barbara Boxer has been a US Senator for 18 years. She is chair of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, and is a real environmental hero. If we ever get a climate bill, she will have a lot to do with it. And she is also in deep political trouble. Take a look at …
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CONTINUE READINGNews Flash: Senate Will Consider Climate Bill First
It looks like Senator Graham won his fight with the Democratic party leadership over timing: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he is willing to bring up climate change legislation ahead of an immigration bill, the first step toward resolving a dispute with Senate Republicans that threatened to derail a bipartisan effort months in …
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CONTINUE READINGBeing Lindsey Graham
I posted over the weekend about Lindsey Graham’s about-face on the climate bill. The Washington Post has a more sympathetic view, which I thought I should report out of fairness: And this is why Graham is angry: He’s taken a huge risk to be the lone Republican on climate change. Patrick Creighton, a flack for …
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CONTINUE READINGNo More “Global Warming”
In his ERG Lecture last week, John Holdren made an excellent point about terminology. The term “Global Warming” is totally misleading. “Warming” suggests a gradual, gentle process. Combined with the term “global,” it suggests that the main concern is the increase in average global temperatures. As Holdren pointed out, this is all quite misleading: (1) …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Bill 2.0 on Hold
Senator Graham has announced that he’s withdrawing from the effort to pass the bill that he helped to draft, because he’s irked that the Administration is pressing forward on immigration reform. I’m struggling a bit to understand this. The charitable explanation is that he’s trying to pressure the administration into giving the climate bill priority. …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Libertarian Case for Controlling Climate Change
Inaction on climate change is inconsistent with libertarian principles and belief in property rights.
CONTINUE READINGClimate Legislation 2.0
The Washington Post has some details about the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman proposal, along with some encouraging reports of endorsements by utilities and oil companies. (Those, of course, come with a price in terms of industry concessions.) Some key features: *The bill would take effect in 2013 and would cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 17% by 2020 and …
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