Reframing Climate Bill: Jobs, Cleaner Air, National Security
Thomas Friedman takes note of a new bi-partisan effort to create jobs, clean the air and reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.
And to avoid some of the ideological and potentially paralyzing opposition from the far right over climate change that has blocked legislation in the Senate and might saddle future generations with dirtier air, higher unemployment and endless manipulation by hostile foreign oil producers.
Congressional Quarterly summarized it this way:
Trio of Senators to Circulate Bipartisan Climate Bill Next Week - After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, a trio of senators writing a bipartisan climate bill plan to start circulating in the coming week a draft that will represent a distinct departure from most previous legislative efforts to address global warming…Instead, the Senate proposal to be offered this week by Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, Connecticut independent Joseph I. Lieberman and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham will offer what aides describe as a three-pronged, or sector-by-sector approach. While the legislation will set a national target for reducing carbon, expected to be a cut of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, each of the three major polluting sectors of the economy – electric utilities, transportation, and manufacturing – will be subject to different forms of regulation. The proposal is likely to apply an emissions cap only on electric utilities, while the transportation sector would be subject to some form of tax based on carbon content in fuels, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
That there is a cooperative effort underway in the Senate proves not every member is a brain dead Bunning obstructionist, and that useful legislation can be written, perhaps adopted, that also opens the way for improvements down the road.
Here is a fine summary piece from the Washington Post.
And a few key lines:
"Environmental advocates, eager to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation before the November midterm elections, said the shift in strategy represents the best shot at getting something done this year.
"The Senate is understanding this is not a simple problem -- it's multiple problems, and it requires multiple solutions," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club."
A knowledgeable person working hard in this field observed recently that the Clean Air Act, passed decades ago, started a workable process that has significantly reduced air pollution - - followed by amendments over time - - but was a bill and a framework that could not have been created, even foreseen, initially in the more complex form on the books today.
Good point.
This may be what happens with an eventual health care bill - - limited, and imperfect - - but that acknowledges starting somewhere in a difficult political process is vital if the public interest is to be served
Working towards a greener and more secure energy sector as proposed by the Senatorial coalition of Lindsay Graham, Joe Lieberman and John Kerry can begin to produce important environmental, economic and security advantages without being stalled and stopped over the words "cap-and-trade."
To me, that's a good trade, though activists have to stay involved and make sure a bill is a strong as possible.
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