Political Climate Articles
The New Sputnik
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Most people would assume that 20 years from now when historians look back at 2008-09, they will conclude that the most
important thing to happen in this period was the Great Recession. I'd hold off on that. If we can continue stumbling out of this
economic crisis, I believe future historians may well conclude that the most important thing to happen in the last 18 months was that
Red China decided to become Green China.
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The California Experiment
Amid all the starpower assembled in the White House Rose Garden on a crystalline afternoon last May, the unassuming
gray-haired woman who sat beaming in a prime first-row seat went largely unnoticed. But if not for California state Senator Fran
Pavley, none of the other people who had gathered might have been there at all. In 2002, as a first-term member of the California
Assembly, she had steered through the nation's first law requiring automakers to reduce the tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide
and other gases linked to global warming. Fourteen other states indicated they planned to adopt the California law. But George W.
Bush's administration refused to provide the federal waiver the state needed to proceed, and the major auto companies added
new hurdles by challenging the state law in court. In January 2009, when Bush left office, the California plan was as stuck as a
commuter caught behind a rush-hour pileup.
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Sen. Barrasso (R-WY) seeks to block intelligence on the national security threat posed by climate change.
Last year, Thomas Fingar, then the U.S. intelligence community's top analyst, warned that climate change is among the gravest
threats to US national security (see here). This year, John Warner, the former (GOP) chair of the Senate Armed Services
committee has been repeating the same warning to anyone who would listen (see here).
But some Senate conservatives are deaf to the facts, as E&E News (subs. req'd) reports.
The Senate may vote tomorrow on whether to block funds for a new Central Intelligence Agency program to assess the national
security implications of climate change.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) is offering an amendment to the fiscal 2010 defense spending bill that would bar funding for the
Center on Climate Change and National Security launched last month.
The center will examine the national security impact of changes such as desertification, rising sea levels and greater competition
for natural resources.
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C.I.A. Climate Center Irks Barrasso
Senator John Barrasso, a conservative freshman Republican from Wyoming, said on Tuesday that he would try to stop the Central
Intelligence Agency from opening a new climate change center by choking off its funding.
"The C.I.A. is responsible for gathering foreign intelligence information for the United States," Mr. Barrasso said in announcing an
amendment to a 2010 spending bill to block any money being spent by the agency on the new office. "I don't believe creating a
center on climate change is going to prevent terrorist attacks."
The agency announced late last month that it was creating a Center on Climate Change and National Security to look at how
droughts, rising seas, mass migrations and competition for resources could affect the nation's military and economic priorities.
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Greenhouse gas issue pushes Apple out
Apple resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday over the business group's opposition to government efforts to limit
greenhouse gases.
"Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the chamber at odds with us," Catherine Novelli,
an Apple vice president, wrote in a letter to the chamber.
At issue is the chamber's opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to limit greenhouse gases, Novelli said.
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Defiant Chamber Chief Says ‘Bring 'Em On'
Thomas Donohue, the president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, makes no apologies for its position on climate
change policy.
The United States Chamber of Commerce, under fire for its vocal opposition to climate change regulation, says that the vast
majority of its members support its position.
"We're not changing where we are," Thomas Donohue, the group's president and chief executive, told a small group of reporters in
Washington this morning. "We've thought long and hard about what is important here, and we're not going anywhere."
He said that the chamber was sorry for the "Scopes monkey trial" analogy raised by a chamber representative this summer in
conversations with the media — in which the representative, William Kovacs, vowed to put climate change regulation on trial,
similar to the 1920s showdown between creationists and evolutionists.
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Over 90% of Americans support solar power development
The vast majority - 92% - of Americans think it's important for the country to develop and use solar power, according to a
study released today, making the alternative energy option potentially one of the most popular things since puppies or ice cream.
The sentiment was echoed almost evenly across political parties, with 89% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats and 93% of
Independents agreeing that solar energy is an important aim.
The 2009 Schott Solar Barometer, conducted by independent polling firm Kelton Research, found that 77% of respondents also
believe the federal government should make solar power development a national priority. Nearly half are considering solar power
options for their home or business, while 70% of those hope to make the switch in the next five years. Only 3% already use the sun
for energy.
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Republicans urge Obama to roll back "Buy American"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans urged President Barack Obama on Thursday to roll back "Buy American" provisions of this year's economic stimulus package that they said were delaying public works projects and costing American jobs. "Clearly these provisions are creating problems for our domestic companies and employees that must be addressed," Representative Wally Herger said at a "roundtable" Republicans organized to hear industry concerns about the measure.
Representative Kevin Brady urged the White House to exempt state, county and city governments from the Buy American requirement "so that we can get those dollars working, create these jobs, get these projects in place and move this economy."
The Republicans said they held their event because Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee refused to hold a hearing on the issue.
The Buy American provision included in the $787 billion economic stimulus act requires all public works projects funded by the bill
use only U.S.-made goods.
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Stimulus preserves jobs, firm's owner says
In six months, the state has spent more than $3.9 billion of the $10 billion in federal stimulus money that came directly to it on projects and services, resulting in paychecks for 7,000 people, Gov. Ed Rendell said.
"The impact on the economy is unmistakable," he said.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requires states to file a preliminary quarterly report by today. How it's been spent $760 MILLION transportation projects that will result in improvements to 550 miles of roadway and more than 400 bridges NEARLY $900 MILLION extended unemployment payments to more than 876,000 people $140 MILLION supplemental food stamp payments to 1.4 million people $380 MILLION invested in transit agencies $121.9 MILLION grants and loans to improve water and sewer systems $1 BILLION to provide health care
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Republican senator backs climate-change effort
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects for climate-change legislation in Congress improved on Sunday when a Republican senator broke ranks with his party to outline a compromise with a leading Democrat on the issue.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator John Kerry wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times that they believed they could pick up enough support to pass a wide-ranging bill to limit carbon emissions.
"We refuse to accept the argument that the United States cannot lead the world in addressing global climate change," Graham and Kerry wrote. "We are also convinced that we have found both a framework for climate legislation to pass Congress and the blueprint for a clean-energy future."
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