April 17
Michiganīs political master of the one-liner struck again April 16 after President Bush delivered a global warming speech interpreted as long on promises but short on specifics.
"I am glad the president finally wants to engage on the issue of climate change," said a wry Democratic Rep. John Dingell. "The best way for him to do that is by coming forward with a concrete legislative proposal."
Legislators know thatīs unlikely. But Bush did feature Dingell in his under-20-minute talk, referring to the "glorious mess" the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee recently predicted would unfold if heat-trapping gases were regulated via the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
"Decisions with such far-reaching impact should not be left to unelected regulators and judges," Bush stated on the eve of the third meeting of his major economies initiative in Paris today and Friday. "Such decisions should be ā debated openly. Such decisions should be made by the elected representatives of the people they affect. The American people deserve an honest assessment of the costs, benefits and feasibility of any proposed solution."
Bush called for advances in technology that would allow America to stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions 17 years from now -- by 2025. Emissions from the power sector will have to peak within the next 10 to 15 years and then decline to accomplish that goal, he said. All nations should be devising strategies that donīt harm their economies.
While listing the "right" and "wrong" policies for slicing carbon dioxide and other planet-warming emissions, Bush appeared to take a swipe at the bipartisan Lieberman-Warner climate change bill destined for Senate floor debate in June.
Most Washington-based environmental advocacy organizations seemed equally mystified about how the presidentīs brief speech advanced the global warming cause.
"Nothing the president said today can overcome the biggest stumbling block to progress in Paris and in the United Nations negotiations -- the administrationīs refusal to commit the U.S. to emissions cuts in line with the efforts of the rest of the industrialized world," said Philip Clapp, deputy managing director of the Pew Environment Group.
"The president is right that electric utilities are the single largest source of U.S. carbon emissions," continued Clapp, who is attending the Paris meeting. "But simply halting the increase in power plant pollution wonīt solve the problem. Congress shouldnīt allow utilities and the coal industry to cut a separate deal this year and leave manufacturers and others to pay the price later. Emissions reductions should be spread fairly among all sources of carbon pollution."
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee who voted for the Lieberman-Warner bill, weighed in electronically from the campaign trail in Pennsylvania.
"Now that the administration has been forced to acknowledge global warming as a problem, they have put forward a proposal that looks like it was written by Dick Cheneyīs energy task force," the Democrat wrote.
But Sen. Jim Inhofe, ranking Republican on the environment committee, seemed gleeful about a speech he interpreted as a verbal rip at the Lieberman-Warner initiative. He praised Bushīs enthusiasm for technological solutions.
"I applaud the president for outlining a bold alternative climate initiative that rejects the concept that the United States must adopt economically ruinous cap-and-trade legislation," the Oklahoman said, calling it a "de-stimulus" bill that will exacerbate economic pain.
But Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., didnīt seem to see it that way.
"I donīt think that the presidentīs statement will have any negative impact on our efforts to attract votes to the Climate Security Act on the Senate floor this June," he said in a joint statement with bill co-author Sen. John Warner, R-Va. "I remain confident about the prospects of this critical legislation."
E-mail Waste News correspondent Elizabeth McGowan at elizabethherron@hotmail.com
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