(The following article is cited from 'Carbon Finance'.)
The US Congress has launched a task force to address climate change, but doubts remain that politicians will agree on comprehensive legislation to help address the issue.
Following President Barack Obama’s strong statement about the threat of climate change last week, Congressman Henry Waxman (D-California) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) have formed a bicameral Task Force on Climate Change.
“We intend this new group to bring the attention and energy to the issue necessary to get something done,” Whitehouse said.
Waxman and Whitehouse will co-chair the task force, which will focus on climate change and developing effective policy responses.
“Congress and the public need to understand that climate change impacts are turning out worse than expected and our window to act is closing,” Waxman said. “This threat is not waiting until we are ready to deal with it.”
The task force will seek relevant information and release periodic reports, memoranda and correspondence to advance its goals.
“First and foremost, I hope they will elevate the issue even more than it otherwise would be,” said Nathan Willcox, federal global warming programme director for Environment America. “Global warming is not discussed as often as it should be.”
Waxman was the co-sponsor of the comprehensive climate legislation – including a cap-and-trade programme to reduce carbon emissions – that barely passed the House of Representatives in 2009, and failed to gain traction in the Senate.
“Sure, it's a sign of how far expectations have fallen since Waxman's last major foray into climate change legislation,” said Cara Horowitz, Andrew Sabin Family Foundation executive director at the Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA.
“But nevertheless, it's nice to see the phrases ‘urgency,’ ‘carbon pollution,’ and ‘havoc’ coming from Congress, along with any political acknowledgment of what scientists have been telling us – that our window to act is closing,” she said. “So let's take it and push.”
The chances of passing comprehensive climate legislation in the near term are “pretty slim,” but the legislators could consider smaller pieces of legislation that could promote clean energy such as the production tax credit for renewable energy, Willcox said.
“At this point unfortunately, we do not have the votes to pass [broad] climate legislation,” he said. “I hope that will change before too much longer.”
Through executive action, Obama can lay out specific steps that federal agencies will take to ensure the US meets its pledge made at the UN climate talks in 2009 in Copenhagen to reduce its emissions by 17% by 2020 from 2005 levels, according to a letter the legislators sent to the president on Thursday.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can set emissions standards and the Department of Energy can set tighter energy efficiency standards, the legislators said.
“EPA both legally and logically has an obligation to set emissions limits on power plants,” Willcox said. “I do expect the administration to move ahead with standards for power plants.”
The need for executive action is highlighted by the fact that virtually all Republicans opposed comprehensive climate legislation and voted to strip the EPA of its regulatory authority in the last Congress, according to the letter.
“Progress in Congress may be so difficult or protracted that you should not hesitate to act,” the legislators said.
Movement by the EPA could encourage legislators who feel like it’s their job to address carbon emissions to advocate more forcefully for a legislative solution, Willcox said.
“Action by the administration will only help bring more support in Congress,” he said.
Gloria Gonzalez
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