If you follow the climate and energy story, I’m not telling you something you don’t know – or couldn’t have predicted: the US Senate is letting legislation die on the vine. John Kerry has been valiantly trying to cobble together an agreement for months, but the weight of obstructionist politics by Republicans and the thoroughgoing stubbornness of Democratic Senators who represent states where coal is the main source of electricity, not to mention the structural flaws in the Senate itself, have doomed legislation. Kerry said here: “Today, we have support from industries and stakeholders that have opposed previous bills, and that is a very, very important achievement.” But not important enough for the US Senate.
Some environmentalists blame the President. I don’t. You can’t put lipstick on the pig that is the US Senate. In fact, I believe the Obama Administration has been doing heroic work. (See my last post below.) The NY Times, in its lead editorial today, does call for the President to work harder than they perceive he has. “There is no chance unless Mr. Obama comes out fighting: calling out the Republicans, shaming and rallying Democratic laggards and explaining to the American people that global warming and oil dependency are clear and present threats to American security.”
NYT economics columnist Dave Leonhardt reminded us the other day of the state we’re in: hot. (2010 is likely going to be the hottest year on record.) Leonhardt discusses some of the options for “putting a price on carbon,” an essential component of addressing the climate crisis, as economists along most of the spectrum from left to right agree. The question is how. The Carbon Tax Center is dancing on what they think is the grave of cap-and-trade. They think the time is right to build support for a carbon tax. E2 Wire, the energy and environment blog of The Hill, reports here on a draft approach that is circulating that may yet get the support necessary for, at least, a cap for utilities.
There is a lot of commentary – because there’s a lot to say. For me, though, I’m not crushed. I’m most certainly not surprised. I wrote in April that “A bad bill is worse than no bill at all.” I would love, of course, to have something resembling Waxman-Markey in federal law. In the meantime, we’ve got all sorts of positive momentum, all over the world, on many fronts – and I’ve continued to note this fact here. To quote the GOGD, “one way or another, this darkness got to give.“
