Cooler Heads Digest
October 23, 2008
In the News
Europe’s Climate Revolt
Benny Peiser, Financial Post, 21 October 2008
EU Climate Rebels: 10 Members and Counting
Francesca Piscioneri and Pete Harrison, Reuters, 21 October 2008
EU Climate Stalemate Threatens Global Deal
Spiegel Online, 21 October 2008
Clean Energy Meltdown
Keith Johnson, Wall Street Journal, 20 October 2008
Alternative Energy Suddenly Faces Headwinds
Clifford Krauss, New York Times, 21 October 2008
Climate Alarmism’s Flimsy Foundation
Paul Chesser, American Spectator, 24 October 2008
30 Years of Warmer Temperatures Go Poof
Lorne Gunter, National Post, 20 October 2008
Obama’s Carbon Ultimatum
Wall Street Journal, 20 October 2008
News You Can Use
Al Chills Out in Cambridge
Unseasonably cold weather chilled Al Gore’s keynote speech at Harvard’s Sustainability Celebration this week. While Al blathered on about the immediate dangers posed by catastrophic global warming, temperatures in Cambridge, Massachusetts neared record lows.
Inside the Beltway
Congress May Sneak Climate Provision into Lame Duck Legislation
CEI's Myron Ebell
The House and Senate are planning to come back for a lame duck session the week of November 16th. What House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decide to bring to the floor depends largely on how the elections turn out. There is a rumor that they may attempt quietly to insert a provision to overturn a recent federal court ruling on the Clean Air Act in order to make it easier to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. The U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in July overturned the EPA’s Clean Air Interstate Rule. One of the things the court ruled was not permissible under the Clean Air Act was the use of a cap-and-trade program to reduce air pollutants.
On the same day the court ruling was made, the EPA released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (or ANPR) for regulating carbon dioxide emissions under the Clean Air Act. One of the key elements of their plans is to use cap-and-trade. But the court ruling prohibits the EPA from using cap-and-trade, unless of course the Congress changes the Clean Air Act. Hence talk of a little amendment slipped into one of the big omnibus bills that the Congress may pass during the lame duck session.
The public comment period for the ANPR ends on November 28th. People interested in commenting can find a wealth of information at several web sites. The U. S. Chamber of Commerce has a comprehensive one. There is another at the Heritage Foundation.The EPA has a site with all the official documents and a page for filing comments. My colleague, Marlo Lewis, is one of the leading experts on the issue. His recent testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee can be found here.
It will be up to the next President to decide whether to use the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. As Marlo discussed in last week’s Digest, a key adviser for Senator Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) campaign recently said that an Obama Administration would use the Act to require emissions reductions. Senator John McCain’s (R-Az.) campaign advisers said that McCain has not decided whether to do so. Both candidates favor enactment of cap-and-trade legislation to reduce emissions by rationing use of coal, oil, and natural gas.
Around the World
EU Climate Diplomacy Shifts
European climate diplomacy shifted dramatically this week when EU member states for the first time demanded that developing nations join the fight against climate change. For 15 years, European countries insisted that any international climate treaty abide by the doctrine of "common but differentiated responsibilities," or the principle that developing countries should be exempt from economically painful emissions reductions, because developed nations are largely responsible for the historical buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. On Tuesday, however, the EU Environmental Council (a body of environmental ministers from EU member states) released a statement that developing countries “would have to reduce their emissions by 15 to 30% below “business as usual” by 2020 in order for the EU to sign up to a global emissions reductions regime in Copenhagen in December 2009.”
Natural Gas Cartel?
Russia, Qatar and Iran met in Tehran on Tuesday to discuss the formation of a natural gas cartel. Although the three countries account for 60% of the world’s natural gas reserves, they would not be capable of manipulating the global market for natural gas in the same way that OPEC influences the global oil prices, because the logistics are markedly different: Whereas a barrel of oil is easily shipped across oceans, natural gas must first be compressed into a highly volatile liquid before it can be shipped in large volumes. Because natural gas is moved from producing countries to consuming countries mostly by pipeline, pricing is regional. That’s why a gas cartel made up of Asian countries would not immediately affect U.S. energy consumers, who get their gas from North American producers. Europe, however, gets a significant share of its natural gas from Russia and Iran, so European energy consumers would face the prospect of price manipulation. Accordingly, EU Commission spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny told reporters that “the Commission may review its energy policy,” if such a cartel is created.
2008 Elections
Green Groups Influencing 2008 Campaign
Environmentalist pressure groups are heavily involved in the 2008 elections. E&E News reports that the National Republican Congressional Committee this week pulled planned television advertising for Reps. Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado and Joe Knollenberg of Michigan--two prominent Republicans near the top of the environmentalists' hit list for this election. The move indicates that the NRCC believes the races are not winnable.
Knollenberg was targeted by the League of Conservation Voters, “the independent political voice of environmentalists,” which named him to its 2008 "Dirty Dozen" list. In every election cycle since 2005, the League of Conservation Voters has targeted candidates for Congress, regardless of party affiliation, who consistently vote against clean energy and conservation and are running in races in which LCV has a serious chance to affect the outcome. Rep. Knollenberg is joined by Anne Northup (R candidate, Ky.-6) , Rep. Don Young (R-Ak.), Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Rep. Dean Andal (R candidate Calif.-11), Rep Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Senator Ted Stevens (R-Ak.), Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Rep. Steven Pearce (R-N.M.); now candidate for Senate), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-Co; now candidate for Senate), Senator James Inhofe (R-Ok.). This week the National Republican Senatorial Committee pulled out of Schaffer’s race in Colorado.
According to E&E News, Defenders of Wildlife has spent $1 million to defeat Rep. Musgrave.