One common defense of Waxman-Markey is that it is this or nothing. That after the defeat of the Clinton-Gore BTU tax, that ended energy reform for over a decade, and after the defeat of the Clinton healthcare reform, that ended health care reform for a decade. (I will note that these too examples have something in common besides their defeat.)
My immediate response is that A) WM is bad nothing really is better. B) We had the really bad Carter energy reform where most of the money went into shale-oil, and we still got nothing afterwords for a decade. C) The EPA has really broad authority to control greenhouse gases, albeit in a less than optimum manner, and WM trades that away. That lever gives us another shot at getting something better through. However, I wonder if the history on this is as one sided as alleged. Can anyone think of a weak or counterproductive bill that was defeated, followed by the passage of something better within a few years? _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
