2009 could be the first year we get meaningful legislation coming through congress to deal with carbon and sets us on the path to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 ppm. Unfortunately, a coalition that includes Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund and World Resources Institute, the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, is already rolling over and showing their belly to industry folks. They released their proposal today for a totally weak bill that wouldn’t get us anywhere close to addressing carbon emissions.
Kudos to National Wildlife Federation who left the coalition rather than agree to this cop-out. Boo to NRDC, EDF and WRI who sided with General Electric, Conoco Phillips, Duke Energy, DuPont and General Motors to sell out the climate.
Among the seriously lame proposals are subsidies for coal plants that are so-called “clean coal facilities.” The subsidies could cost as much as $540 million a year for a 1,000 megawatt plant according to The Washington Post. Clean coal doesn’t exist. Does it have to take another major disaster to prove this? Or just the one that happened last month in Tennessee
James Hansen and other scientists have repeatedly said that in order to avert catastrophic climate change, we have to start seriously reducing our emissions now. Hansen is 99.9% certain we are past the safe threshold of emissions right now. The emissions target that has been put out by the science calls for 20% to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020.
We can’t compromise with the science. But that’s just what USCAP and these groups have done. This proposal calls for requiring that U.S. greenhouse gases (GHGs) return to “80%?86% of 2005 levels by 2020.” Joe Romm writes:
That is essentially returning to 1990 levels, which the science clearly says is inadequate to stabilizing at 450 ppm, let alone the 350 ppm target that environmental groups should be seriously considering (see “Is 450 ppm politically possible? Part 8: The U.S. needs a tougher 2020 GHG emissions target“).
As Greenpeace puts it:
The U.S. government’s chief climate scientist, James Hansen, once said that the CEOs of big fossil fuel industries should be tried for crimes against humanity. USCAP is their initial bid for a plea bargain.
Read more reactions here: http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/01/15/uscap-polluter-bill/
