Two short pieces. The first argues that the Waxman-Markey climate bill is NOT better than nothing, that it not only fails to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, but that it is not a basis for future real climate change. The second points out that the leverage passing this will give the U.S. will be used to sabotage rather than advance international climate agreements.
=========================================================================================== http://www.grist.org/article/the-american-clean-energy-and-security-act-aces-is-still-worse-for-the-clim Tiny URL http://tinyurl.com/pc2lu4 ACES is not playing with a full deck. American Climate Energy Security (ACES) bill still makes things worse. By Gar W. Lipow 3-Jul-2003 > “The girl’s not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has almost no deck. She > has a three.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Faith, Hope and Trick. The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) repeals the recently won authority the EPA has to regulate greenhouse gases, and replaces that authority with a loophole ridden cap-and-trade system. Those loopholes include offsets which legally counterfeit carbon credits with the help of clever consultants. They include weakening regulations on ethanol, which compares to oil in greenhouse gas intensity. They include subsidies for coal. They encourage incinerators. Incinerators can be extremely greenhouse gas intensive compared to reduction, reuse and recycling of wastes - especially when they produce black carbon (soot and smoke). If we want to stop global warming we need to reduce emissions. A bill that provides no reductions, or even smaller reductions than we currently have authority to enforce is a net loss. It would be one thing to support a weak law, that we might build on. It is quite another to support to a counterproductive law that makes things worse. Half a loaf may be better than none. Letting the fat boys grab our last slice of bread is not. A good comparison might be the misleadingly named Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which required electronic voting machines and more voter purges after the scandal ridden 5-4 victory of George Bush over Al Gore in the 2000 election. A combination of flawed machines, flawed procedures at the state and local levels, and purges of eligible voters made the U.S. voting system worse rather than better. The Waxman-Markey ACES bill will do for the climate what HAVA did for American democracy. ( Supporting it as “better than nothing” is not a pragmatic choice. HAVA http://www.brennancenter.org/content/section/category/voting_rights_elections/ Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/5n725g ================================================ http://www.grist.org/article/american-clean-energy-security-act-strengthens-u.s.-ability-to-sabotage-int http://tinyurl.com/lw6b4k ACES and eights: dead planet's hand American Clean Energy Security Act strengthens U.S. ability to sabotage international climate talks By Gar W. Lipow > ”The world is not going to turn its back on coal.” U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu The Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy Security Act (ACES) won’t cut emissions. It won’t serve as a platform we can improve later anymore than the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) served as a foot in the door to improve our democracy when it promoted voter purges and Diebold electronic voting machines. But one last argument is left to supporters: we need to support ACES in order to improve America’s negotiating position in Copenhagen.. This bill would improve the U.S. negotiating position, since our international friends and allies tend to grade us on a special needs curve. The problem is that our government would use this increased leverage to weaken rather than strengthen any climate deal. The current U.S. position is to support more coal, and oppose strong emissions reductions in the next ten years. The U.S. helped weaken the last climate change treaty by pushing to include carbon trading and offsets in Kyoto. Does it really make sense for environmentalists to support a bill that won’t reduce emissions, that does not provide an infrastructure for future emissions reduction in order to let our government do the same thing a second time? References Gar Lipow; “Waxman-Markey bill would do more for climate without cap-and-trade provision - Should be called Jekyll-Hyde”;; Grist Magazine; 21-May-2009; <http://tinyurl.com/AcesNoC-T> Gar Lipow; “Offsets are still counterfeit carbon credits - Clapping louder”; Grist Magazine; 1-Jun-2009; <http://tinyurl.com/OffFalse> Gar Lipow; “Pissing the earth away”; Grist Magazine; 9-Jun-2009; <http://tinyurl.com/GristPiss> Gar Lipow; “American Climate Energy Security bill still makes things worse. ACES is not playing with a full deck.”; Grist Magazine; 3-Jul-2009; <http://tinyurl.com/AcesNoDeck> George Monbiot; “Why do we allow the US to act like a failed state on climate change? The Waxman-Markey climate bill is the best we will get from America until the corruption of public life is addressed.”; The Guardian - Environment - George Monbiot’s Blog; 26-Jun-2009; <http://tinyurl.com/GradeCurve> West Coast Climate Equity;“Steven Chu Backpedals on Coal-fired Power”; West Coast Climate Equity Global Climate Change Information; 14-Jan-2009; <http://tinyurl.com/ChuCoal> Siobhan Hughes; “Energy Secretary Backs Clean-Coal Investment”; Wall Street Journal; 7-Apr-2009; <http://tinyurl.com/wsjChuCoal> Jeff Biggers;“Coalfield residents respond to Obama’s announcement on mountaintop removal - Kinder, Gentler Blasting, Leveling of Mountains, Filling of Streams”; Grist Magazine; 11-Jun-2009; <http://tinyurl.com/kindMTR> Mark Stevenson;“US nixes 40 percent cuts at climate change talks”; The Associated Press; 23-Jun-2009; <http://tinyurl.com/NoGHGcuts> _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
