Two Quick Pessimistic Thoughts

Lifted from this post by Kevin Drum.  My first thought:

Today probably marks the official death of climate legislation in the United States. Lindsey Graham, the only Republican even nominally favorable toward any kind of carbon pricing plan, has announced that he can't support the Kerry-Lieberman bill because it doesn't allow enough offshore drilling (!), and without Graham there's pretty much zero chance of getting any further Republican support.

Death due to not enough off-shore drilling.  That's wild.  And, my second thought:

So there you have it: the American public believes in global warming and wants the government to do something about it. However, the American public doesn't want to do anything — carbon taxes or cap-and-trade — that might actually work. But they do want to open the federal goody bag and dole out subsidies and tax breaks to everyone under the sun, presumably because these all sound like pleasant things to do and they're under the impression that they're all "free." Whether they work or not isn't really on their radar.

And it looks like that's what Congress is going to deliver. We are, in this case, getting exactly the government we deserve.

Effectively policy has to be demanded.  It's not being demanded.

Maybe Next Year

I wouldn't get your hopes up on a climate bill coming out of DC this year.  I know that Kerry/Lieberman unveiled their bill yesterday and there has been much reporting on what it would do.  But I think Ezra Klein makes the key point in this post.

Meanwhile, John Kerry and Joe Lieberman brought out their "American Power Act," but it's being greeted with a sort of respectful sympathy, not calls for action. Notice that the president is in Buffalo, New York to talk jobs, not climate.

(Emphasis is his).

It's a Hoax

Right? 

Key quote:

"We are deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular. All citizens should understand some basic scientific facts. There is always some uncertainty associated with scientific conclusions; science never absolutely proves anything. When someone says that society should wait until scientists are absolutely certain before taking any action, it is the same as saying society should never take action."