In Black Carbon in Waxman-Markey here from a few weeks ago, I noted that “The summary of Waxman-Markey says that black carbon ‘…is a major contributor to warming in the Arctic. EPA is directed in the draft to use its existing authority under the Clean Air Act to reduce emissions of black carbon domestically and study opportunities for reductions internationally.'” On March 26th, the Black Carbon Emissions Reduction Act of 2009 was introduced and then referred to Ed Markey’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. It is a smart, far-seeing bit of legislation and, hopefully, it will find its way into the final climate change and energy package that reaches the President’s desk, hopefully this year.
Meanwhile, on the Senate side, Democratic Senators Carper, Kerry and Boxer and – wait for it – Jim Inhofe, everybody’s favorite Denialist, have cosponsored their own black carbon bill. See this press release and Andy Revkin’s Dot Earth post from yesterday. Whatever it means for the politics, it certainly got a lot of attention when Inhofe got on board with this. Does it mean he is actually admitting there’s a problem? I’m one of those scratching my head on this one. In any event, there’s a real sense in Congress – and at the EPA – that we’re behind the eight ball on black carbon and need to do something positive.
In response to my last post, I heard from some folks who’ve done an ad for Earthjustice which highlights their new initiative: Stop Soot. Here’s the terrific ad they’ve whipped up.