(Photo of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) from Flickr, Public Citizen and photographer Bridgette Blair)
Weekly Angst: If the House can’t pass a good climate change bill with its current leadership, then the thinking is a coup may be in order. Thus liberal Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has launched an effort to usurp the chairmanship held by conservative auto-industry ally Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.). Dingell is head of Energy Committee, responsible for bringing global warming legislation to the floor, but has been moving very slowly over the past two years, finally issuing a draft proposal last month. Waxman is the No. 2 Democrat on the committee.
At the same time, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is considering going after Dingell colleague Rick Boucher’s (D-Va.) post as head of Energy’s important subcommittee on air quality. In a move to circumvent industry-friendly octogenarian Dingell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) named Markey to chair a select committee on global warming over for past 2 years. He held hearings but had no authority over legislation in that post.
Dingell-Boucher bill
Boucher has worked with Dingell to issue a series of white papers and co-authored his proposal, which:
• Relies on a cap-and-trade system covering 88% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
• Sets a goal of reducing GHG 6% (below 2005 levels) by 2020, 44% in 2030 and 80% by 2050.
• Phases in requirements for utilities in 2012, large industrial plants in 2014 and residential and commercial distribution companies for natural gas in 2017.
• Sidesteps how carbon allowances would be distributed, but says any free credits would be phased out by 2026.
• Increases building code efficiency of 30% by 2010 and 50% by 2020.
• Allows companies to meet some of their compliance targets by offsets, as well as banking or borrowing credits.
Letter of Principles
Waxman, Markey and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) presented their own Letter of Principles signed by 152 House members who support – among other things – a faster reduction of emissions to 15-20 percent below current levels by 2020, and 80 percent below 1990 levels by mid-century and would auction all allowances. For more on the Letter of Principals, see an earlier post of Earthling Angst.
Dingell and Waxman are now in a rush to round up House members to support their bids for the chairmanship. Dingell is favored to get support from reps from oil and coal states. Waxman is seen as friendlier to expected Obama Administration’s policies.
(Source: E&E News PM)
4 comments:
Cynthia,
It depends, really, on whether you fancy yourself an educator or an indoctrinator.
If it’s the former, you might want to steer your students in the direction of this new book (as well as this book and several others).
SBVOR
Sorry dude, the age of global warming denial is over.
Let's take hurricanes for just one example. This year is now the only hurricane season on record in the Atlantic that has featured major hurricanes in five separate months. The only year to feature major hurricanes in four separate months was 2005. 2008 is the second most destructive Atlantic hurricane season on record, behind only the 2005 season, with up to 52 billion in damage. Six straight named storms — Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike — all made U.S. landfall for the first time on record. The 2005 hurricane season was the most striking example of that trend, with Emily the earliest-forming Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic, in July, and Zeta, the longest-lived tropical cyclone to form in December and cross over into the next year, where it became the longest-lived January tropical cyclone.
We could pull up the same story with droughts, floods, wildfires, heat waves, freak storms, glacier melt, the polar ice cap, animal migrations, blooming seasons, etc., etc.
Cunctator,
Your choice of the hurricane canard is particularly revealing as to your scientific illiteracy.
Inconvenient (substantiated) facts on hurricanes:
1) Most deaths - 1900, Galveston
2) Most costly - 1926, SE Florida/Alabama
(after adjusting for Inflation, Population and Wealth Normalization)
3) Most intense - 1935, FL Keys
4) Decade with most hurricane strikes (Continental US) - 1941-1950
5) Decade with most major hurricane strikes (Continental US) - 1941-1950
Source: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-TPC-5.pdf
Even the VERY most vocal hurricane alarmist has reconsidered his stance in the face of the FACTS!
Face it, the debate is over and your side LOST!
Get a life! Or, at the very least, find a meaningful cause. I suggest you help the WHO use DDT to reduce Malaria deaths in Africa.
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