[Vision2020] 11-14-12, Bloomberg Businessweek: "...urgent threat to... economic well-being is the climate cliff..."

[Ted Moffett]

Obama wants 'conversation' on climate change
By Matthew Daly on November 14, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that his
administration has not done enough to combat global warming but said he
hopes to begin his second term by opening a national "conversation" on
climate change.

Obama said at a news conference that he took some steps in his first term
to slow global warming, such as sharply increasing fuel efficiency
standards for cars and trucks.

"But we haven't done as much as we need to," Obama said in his second
comments on global warming since winning re-election last week.

Climate change was virtually absent during the presidential campaign until
Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. The devastating superstorm — a rarity
for the Northeast — and an election that led to Democratic gains have
elevated global warming as a subject of renewed political debate.

Obama said during his victory speech in Chicago last week that Americans
"want our children to live in an America that isn't ... threatened by the
destructive power of a warming planet."

On Wednesday, Obama did not outline specific legislation, but said he would
talk with scientists, engineers and elected officials to find ways to make
short-term progress to reduce carbon emissions.

After that, he said the country should begin long-term efforts "to make
sure that this is not something we're passing on to future generations,"
noting that floods, hurricanes and other disasters exacerbated by climate
change are "going to be very expensive and very painful to deal with."

Obama did not mention a possible carbon tax pushed by some activist groups.
A White House official said this week no such proposal is on the table.

Taking on climate change in a serious way will require "tough political
choices" at a time when Americans are more focused on the economy and jobs,
Obama said. "If the message is somehow we're going to ignore jobs and
growth simply to address climate change, I don't think anybody's going to
go for that. I won't go for that."

But if Republicans and Democrats can shape an agenda that helps create jobs
and makes "a serious dent in climate change," then the American people will
be supportive, Obama said.

The right-leaning American Enterprise Institute held an all-day discussion
Tuesday on a possible carbon tax, which would make people pay more for
using fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas that produce heat-trapping
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The more liberal Brookings
Institution has released a "modest" carbon tax proposal that would raise
$150 billion a year, with $30 billion annually earmarked for clean energy
investments.

Brad Johnson, campaign manager for ClimateSilence.org, an environmental
group, said he welcome Obama's "belated call for a national conversation
about how to address climate pollution."

But Johnson said Obama's assertion that climate change should be secondary
to economic concerns was "a gross disappointment and an insult to the deep
suffering of the millions of victims of climate disasters across this
nation," including Hurricane Sandy. Obama is scheduled to tour New York
City Thursday to view storm damage and recovery efforts.

"While conventional D.C. wisdom is focused on the manufactured crisis of
the 'fiscal cliff,'" Johnson said, "the truth is that the most urgent
threat to our national safety and economic well-being is the climate cliff
that we are already beginning to tumble over."

___

Reach Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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