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Ah, come on Ted, this is the Republican party of NO. They want NO
future for our kids because, well, I guess, 'it's bad for business".
You expected anything else?<br>
<br>
Dave<br>
<br>
<br>
On 07/23/2010 03:42 PM, Ted Moffett wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTi=BWb3syNt0nxebsj=qDt4xu-hzCP7tM4cNORV2@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div>"The Age of Stupid" unfolds, as fossil fuels continue to rule
our economy, government and way of life... <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ageofstupid.net/">http://www.ageofstupid.net/</a></div>
<div>-----------------</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467304575383373600358634.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467304575383373600358634.html</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<li class="dateStamp"><small><font color="#666666">JULY 23, 2010</font></small></li>
<h1>Senate Halts Effort to Cap CO2 Emissions </h1>
<h2 class="subhead">Democrats Forgo Centerpiece of President Obama's
Energy Plan, as Cap-and-Trade Fails to Lure Broad Support in Congress</h2>
<h3 class="byline">By <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=STEPHEN+POWER&bylinesearch=true"><font
color="#093d72">STEPHEN POWER</font></a> </h3>
<p>Senate Democratic leaders Thursday shelved their effort to cap
greenhouse-gas emissions as part of a broad energy bill, putting aside
indefinitely a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's ambitious effort
to transform the way Americans produce and consume energy.</p>
<p>The proposal would have allowed utilities to trade permits to
pollute as they worked to shift away from coal—a concept commonly
called "cap and trade."</p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that neither he
nor the White House had managed to line up 60 senators to support even
a limited proposal seeking to cap carbon-dioxide emissions from
electric power companies. </p>
<p>Mr. Reid refused to declare the idea dead. But Thursday's decision
called into question when or whether any legislated cap on
greenhouse-gas emissions would reach Mr. Obama's desk.</p>
<p>Now, businesses, such as wind-turbine makers, that had bet on a
greenhouse-gas provision to make alternatives to coal and oil more
cost-competitive must recalculate how long it might take for that to
happen. </p>
<p>But industries that opposed congressional action to limit
greenhouse-gas emissions still have to reckon with uncertainty over how
far the administration may push an effort to do the same thing via the
Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency.</p>
<p>Advocates of the cap-and-trade approach say that making it more
expensive to burn coal or oil would encourage investments in new
technology that reduces greenhouse-gas emissions and energy
consumption, resulting in lower energy costs overall and avoiding the
potential long-term toll of climate disruptions on the economy. Some
also argue putting a price on carbon can ahelp reduce reliance on
foreign oil. Opponents of such legislation dispute this. </p>
<p>Opponents say compelling utilities to pay for emitting carbon
dioxide would force them to pass along those costs to consumers in the
form of higher prices. Republicans branded a House bill that proposed
an economy-wide system for capping carbon dioxide emissions a
"job-killing energy tax." </p>
<p>Senate Republicans closed ranks in opposition to even limited use
of such mechanisms as the clock ticks down to the November elections. </p>
<p>But a limited cap-and-trade proposal backed by Mr. Reid and the
White House also failed to win over a cadre of conservative Democrats
from industrial and coal states, who opposed the idea of imposing caps
and higher costs on the use of coal and other fossil fuels. </p>
<p>Some also worried that the measure would put U.S. manufacturers at
a disadvantage to rivals in China, now the No. 1 consumer of energy
according to the International Energy Agency. </p>
<p>China's role in the U.S. debate over climate change cuts both
ways. Opponents of capping emissions say enacting such policies would
put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage to China, which has refused
to cap its emissions. Advocates of capping emissions say that unless
the U.S. puts a price on carbon, it will lose out to China in the race
to develop the energy technologies —and jobs—of the 21st century. </p>
<p>Mr. Reid said Democrats will push for more limited energy
legislation, aimed at holding BP PLC accountable for the oil spill,
providing incentives to the production and purchase of natural-gas
vehicles and funding land and water conservation.</p>
<p>The Senate's inaction leaves Mr. Obama's Environmental Protection
Agency administrator, Lisa Jackson, in charge of setting federal limits
on greenhouse gases. Ms. Jackson has already adopted rules limiting
emissions from cars and requiring state regulators to account for such
emissions when they issue air-quality permits to large refineries and
manufacturing facilities.</p>
<p>The agency's authority to do so is under assault. Business groups
have sued, challenging the legality of EPA proposals to regulate
greenhouse-gas emissions. And a group of Democrats is pushing
legislation to bar the agency for two years from regulating emissions
from stationary sources. </p>
<p>Utilities now will be forced to make long-term decisions without
knowing how carbon dioxide will be treated, said Mike Morris, chief
executive of American Electric Power, Columbus, Ohio. </p>
<p>He said that for the next few years, utilities likely would build
gas-fired power plants, which have about half the carbon emissions of
plants burning coal. But the cost of nuclear energy will be relatively
more costly without a penalty imposed on fossil-fuel use.</p>
<p>Uncertainty over the future price of carbon and what sorts of
technology the EPA will require already is having a "chilling effect"
on investment in the steel industry, said Thomas Gibson, a former EPA
official who now heads the American Iron and Steel Institute.</p>
<p>But other business could be chilled if Washington abandons
entirely the idea of raising the price of consuming fossil fuels.
Companies trying to develop and sell solar and wind energy technology,
energy-conservation systems or electric vehicles have hoped that caps
on greenhouse gas emissions would jump-start demand. </p>
<p>These companies will now focus on certain states that have their
own clean-energy mandates, such as California, Colorado and New Jersey,
said Angiolo Laviziano, chief executive officer of REC Solar Inc., a
provider of solar systems in San Luis Obispo, Calif. </p>
<p>Still, the solar industry is growing at the rate of about 40% a
year in terms of electrical power installed and is likely to continue
to grow, said Ron Kenedi, vice president of Sharp Corp.'s Sharp Solar
Energy Solutions Group in Huntington Beach, Calif. </p>
<p>Mr. Reid's decision to pull cap-and-trade from the energy bill
could reverberate on Wall Street, where banks and brokerage firms had
been anticipating climate legislation that would lead to widespread
trading of carbon "credits." </p>
<p>There is already a global carbon-trading market, with the majority
of the trading taking place in the regulated European markets. It
amounted to $127 billion last year. </p>
<p>It isn't clear how many of the provisions Mr. Reid is promising to
include in the narrower energy bill will survive a Senate floor debate.
Republicans have objected to Democrats' proposals to eliminate the cap
on oil companies' liability for damages related to spills, currently
$75 million, saying the proposals, as written, would make offshore
drilling unaffordable for all but the largest oil companies and
foreign-owned nationalized oil giants. Some business groups are also
rallying to defeat the provisions related to natural gas.</p>
<p>------------------------------------------</p>
<p>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</p>
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</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Windows, OSX, or Linux is the same choice as:
McDonald's, Burger King, or a (real) Co-Op.
</pre>
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