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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Global Warming / Global Warming Solutions

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Don't delay on global warming (Global Warming / Global Warming Solutions)

With nine months left in a presidency that was for too long dismissive of the issue, President George W. Bush has decided to get involved with global warming. While the issue is one that cries out for American leadership, major policy changes are best left to the next administration and the new Congress.

All three of the remaining major candidates for president have taken a far more aggressive posture than Bush has on curbing U.S. contributions to global warming. It will be better to do something right, as a priority item, next year -- in tandem with negotiating a successor to the Kyoto Accord, which expires in 2012 and has never been agreed to by the United States.

The framework for a new agreement is expected to be shaped this summer at a meeting of the world's major economic powers in Paris. U.S. negotiators will stress, rightfully so, that industrialized nations not bear a disproportionate burden of reducing pollution that contributes to global warming while developing countries are virtually unrestricted. That has been the deal-breaker for the Bush administration on Kyoto. But that has also been a convenient excuse for doing nothing as the visible impacts of global warming increase.

While Bush acknowledged in a speech Wednesday the need to curb emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases from power plants, he proposed only slowing their growth over the next 10 to 15 years before mandating any decline. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, coal-fired electric plants put out 27% of the gases that contribute to global warming. The president said he would oppose any plans that raise taxes, create overlapping regulation, or would hurt the economy by hampering trade.

U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, and chairman of the House Commerce Committee, which handles energy legislation, was among those in Congress asking, in effect, if all that's off the table, what's on it?

Dingell on Tuesday said he had "for now" abandoned plans to instigate a national debate on such ideas as a carbon fee, higher gas taxes and a limited mortgage interest deduction for large homes because "our economy has taken a hard downward turn and now is not the time for us to put any additional financial burden on the working families of Michigan and the nation."

But Dingell also said response to his idea has convinced him that "people desperately want action on global warming" and "economists and other experts continue to inform us that a carbon tax is the most effective and efficient way at getting at the problem of global warming." For the moment, though, he said, "we need to focus our attention on ways of making groceries, utilities, and health care more affordable. ... We must take bold action to stimulate our economy."

So the short of it: For years, the Bush administration has had other priorities. Now, the nation does.

And the long of it: Global warming will still be there to be reckoned with next year, and the year after that and the year after that.

Global Warming / Global Warming Solutions

Comments 1 comments
Anonymous said...

good

Mohit Gupta, mohit gupta
Mohit Gupta
A short description here
mohitadesigner@gmail.com

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