Friday, November 30, 2007
Yeay! Possible new laws!
Link to article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22011652/
Now that the Kyoto mandates are about to expire there are more talks about what to do once those mandates expire in 2012. Next week there will be a two week long conference on climate change in Bali, Indonesia. The U.S is attending the conference to hopefully get a “roadmap” for further negotiations with the other countries to address climate change. Senior administration officials that are attending the conference say they are not going to find an answer to climate change but to just get the talks started. So far the Bush administration has not agreed to any caps or standards in carbon emissions because it wants to see other big emitters like China onboard with any global agreements.
How ever Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has scheduled a vote on a global warming bill for next week. This global warming bill will require a reduction of carbon emissions by 70 percent by mid century. So far any reductions of carbon emissions have been on a voluntary basis. Sen. Boxer wants to show that in Washington there is stronger action wanted. So instead of finding incentives to lower carbon emissions Barbara Boxer wants to use the power of force to achieve the desired out come. I also think that the efforts of this legislation would come too early before other countries hop on the bandwagon if they ever do. Is this bill trying to push the U.S to find new ways of producing goods with lower CO2 emissions before the technology is even there or economically viable? Is the externality of global warming to the point where government intervention is needed? I think that is the question that needs to be answered first before costly legislation is imposed on all of us. I see the bush administration trying to do just that by not setting in stone legislation and going to the Bali talks to make sure that this is the path that needs to be followed.
Now that the Kyoto mandates are about to expire there are more talks about what to do once those mandates expire in 2012. Next week there will be a two week long conference on climate change in Bali, Indonesia. The U.S is attending the conference to hopefully get a “roadmap” for further negotiations with the other countries to address climate change. Senior administration officials that are attending the conference say they are not going to find an answer to climate change but to just get the talks started. So far the Bush administration has not agreed to any caps or standards in carbon emissions because it wants to see other big emitters like China onboard with any global agreements.
How ever Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has scheduled a vote on a global warming bill for next week. This global warming bill will require a reduction of carbon emissions by 70 percent by mid century. So far any reductions of carbon emissions have been on a voluntary basis. Sen. Boxer wants to show that in Washington there is stronger action wanted. So instead of finding incentives to lower carbon emissions Barbara Boxer wants to use the power of force to achieve the desired out come. I also think that the efforts of this legislation would come too early before other countries hop on the bandwagon if they ever do. Is this bill trying to push the U.S to find new ways of producing goods with lower CO2 emissions before the technology is even there or economically viable? Is the externality of global warming to the point where government intervention is needed? I think that is the question that needs to be answered first before costly legislation is imposed on all of us. I see the bush administration trying to do just that by not setting in stone legislation and going to the Bali talks to make sure that this is the path that needs to be followed.
