Both Bad and Good in Bush’s Climate Change Speech by Ben Lieberman
The Bear on Apr 22 2008 at 8:29 am | Filed under: Global Warming
President George W. Bush, in a speech delivered at the White House on Wednesday, April 16, suggested that he will support federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions. This appears to be a reversal after seven years of opposition to mandatory controls on energy in the name of fighting climate change. Indeed, some worried that the speech would announce a final-year capitulation on the issue.
However, the President was careful to endorse several important principles that may make this much less of a policy shift than it seems. For example, he will not support any measures that hurt the American economy or that fail also to include other major nations like China. The President should firmly stick to these principles.
The Background
A few events may have prompted the President’s speech. A Major Economies Meeting is underway in Paris. This series of meetings was launched by the President in September 2007 to bring together the leaders of the nations that have the world’s largest economies, with the ultimate goal of achieving global participation in any greenhouse gas emissions plan. Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, the climate change treaty that exempts developing nations, this process seeks, according to the President, “meaningful participation of every major economy and gives no one a free ride.”
Another prompt may have been Senate Bill 2191, the America’s Climate Security Act, sponsored by Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA). This is a carbon cap-and-trade bill with stringent targets, and it will probably be debated in June. Several studies, including a forthcoming Heritage Foundation analysis, predict very serious economic consequences from this bill, including potential job losses well into the millions, higher energy prices, and possible annual costs per household in the thousands of dollars.
Finally, the President is facing several tough regulatory decisions related to climate change. This includes a 2007 Supreme Court decision that requires the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its refusal to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles[1] and litigation to force the Department of the Interior to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act on the grounds that climate change is altering its habitat.[2] The states and organizations pushing these regulatory challenges are doing so largely to force Washington’s hand on the issue.
More from The Heritage Foundation
President George W. Bush, greenhouse gas emissions, American economy, Kyoto Protocol, America’s Climate Security Act, carbon cap-and-trade bill, economic consequences, carbon dioxide emissions
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