for National Geographic News Published July 30, 2010
For advocates of action on climate change, it seems like a long time since the hopeful first days of the Obama administration. Then, the political landscape appeared to have shifted into place to build a comprehensive program to limit U.S. fossil fuel emissions and pave the way to an international agreement.
But if the Senate takes up an energy measure at all before the August recess, it will steer well clear of any effort to tackle greenhouse gas emissions. With Republicans firmly against the market-based cap-and-trade system (effectively re-branding it an untenable “energy tax,”) and political will crumpled within the Democratic Party, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he did not have enough votes to bring a comprehensive climate bill to the floor.
Some environmentalists are pursuing an uphill battle to include a boost for renewable energy in a narrow energy bill crafted mainly as a response to the Gulf oil spill, but time is running out on any action in this Congress to change the way America powers its transportation, homes and businesses. That means that the world’s largest historical emitter of carbon pollution will arrive this December at international climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, without a plan for curbing them—just as it did a year earlier in Copenhagen. Before advocates find their new path forward, they are puzzling over how they reached this dead end.
A sensible Energy Bill would be in the best interests of the American People. Its an election year... you might think politicians would want to keep their past campaign promises. Oh, they have to raise money to campaign and where do they go for that money; Oil and Coal companies, utility companies, large corporate polluters, Foreign Governments etc, etc, etc. The line up of special interest lobbyists waiting to donate money is a mile long.
ReplyDeleteThe American People don't have a chance at fair representation in the Federal Government... or any local government because of our elected officials practice of accepting large donations from these Special Interest Donors. The groups that give all of the money get something for it...You don't actually think any large corporation or foreign government donates millions to various politicians because they like them. They get something for their money. If our elected officials were part of the Italian Mob, we would call it a "Protection Racket". Just look at British Petroleum. B.P. donated huge sums to politicians in both parties at all levels of government. It would be difficult, normally, for most citizens to determine what, exactly, was given to them for that money. However, the accident in the Gulf of Mexico illuminated cause and effect very well. B.P. did not have a safety inspection or an audit for years.