Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Congress Won't Be Carbon Neutral:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_01-2009_03_07.shtml#1236123485
[1]From the Washington Post:
The U.S. House of Representatives has abandoned a plan to make its
offices "carbon neutral," a sign that Congress is wrestling with a
pledge to become more green even as it crafts sweeping legislation
on climate change.
The promise that the House would effectively reduce its greenhouse
gas emissions to zero was a centerpiece of the Green the Capitol
program in which the new Democratic leadership sought to use
Capitol Hill as a kind of a national demonstration project.
But last week, a spokesman for the House's chief administrative
officer said the chamber's leadership had dropped an essential part
of the plan, the purchase of "carbon offsets" to cancel out
emissions from its buildings. Offsets are a controversial commodity
that promises that a certain amount of pollution was captured or
avoided elsewhere.
"Right now, there is no plan to purchase more offsets," spokesman
Jeff Ventura said. The House paid $89,000 for offsets to cover the
last session, in 2007 and 2008. . . .
On Friday, Ventura issued a statement saying that carbon neutrality
was no longer the House's goal.
"Although original 'carbon neutrality' targets were achieved [in
the last Congress], we recognize a widely accepted standard for
'absolute neutrality' does not exist, nor is there any formal
accreditation process to certify an organization is carbon
neutral," Ventura said. "Therefore, the second phase of Green the
Capitol will focus on the continued reduction of carbon and the
saving of energy through operational improvements."
It seems Congress realized it's not so easy being "green."
References
1.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/28/AR2009022801947_pf.html
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