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Environmental Policy Exchange - Volume 2, Issue 1
Published on Thursday, January 03, 2008
ENVIRONMENTAL EXCHANGE
Environmental Exchange - Volume 2, Issue 1
Important Conference
The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change
Sponsored by the Heartland Institute
March 2-4, 2008
New York City, NY
http://www.heartland.org/NewYork08/newyork08.cfm
Research and Story Ideas
If you have story ideas, suggestions, or would like me to feature your organization's research in the Exchange, please contact me at dbakst@johnlocke.org.
All the best,
Daren Bakst, J.D., LL.M.
Legal & Regulatory Policy Analyst
John Locke Foundation
Research & Perspective from SPN Members & Friends
Only a Market Can Clean Up the Bay | Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy
"The quality of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries is best described by the ability of private interests using those waters. The most efficient and efficacious means to remediate the water quality of the Bay and its tributaries requires private interests to seek protection of their interests at law and expansion of the existing carbon markets to include trading of nutrient reduction amongst the polluters. Absent this approach, the incentives of the command and control regulations and the cap and trade system will fail to generate an efficient or sufficient allocation of pollution control activities and the water quality of the Bay will do no more than remain the same as it is."
Read More: http://www.thomasjeffersoninst.org/pdf/articles/Market_ChesBay.pdf (PDF)
The New Green Regime | John McClaughry | Ethan Allen Institute
"The enviros insist that the greatest challenge facing Vermont is The Menace of Global Warming. A far more serious challenge will be the capture of public policy by a well-organized and well-funded movement eager to seize upon an imagined climate crisis as the excuse for enacting the entire enviro agenda, regardless of what it might cost the taxpayers, and regardless of how their Green Regime might overpower our local communities and diminish our freedoms."
Read More: http://www.ethanallen.org/commentary.php?commentary_id=308
Not So Hot | Cato Institute
"There are several reasons why the press provides so little coverage to science indicating that global warming isn't the end of the world. One has to do with bias in the scientific literature itself. Theoretically, assuming unbiased climate research, every new finding should have an equal probability of indicating that things are going to be more or less warm, or worse-than-we-thought vs. not-so-bad."
Read More: http://cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8863
The U.S. Must Be Resolute to Avoid Harmful Consequences of the Bali Global Warming Conference | Heritage Foundation
"Bali did not pave the way for addressing global warming. It was merely a picturesque setting for an elaborate kabuki dance wherein countries testified to their great concern over global warming while calling for action that few nations will implement and setting the stage for future negotiations. Thankfully, the U.S. delegation successfully blocked the most unrealistic proposals while insisting on incorporating real-world realities like the increasing role played by the developing world in greenhouse gas emissions."
Read More: http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/wm1759.cfm
The Land of Unkept Climate Commitments | Competitive Enterprise Institute
"U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says that California ‘leads the world' on climate change. He's right, but not the way he thinks. In fact, the Golden State leads the world in unfulfilled promises to fight global warming."
Read More: http://www.cei.org/gencon/019,06311.cfm
100 Prominent Scientists Disagree with UN Secretary General on Global Warming | National Center for Public Policy Research
"On the theory of human-caused global warming, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon claims ‘the time for doubt has passed.' Yet 100 prominent scientists, some of whom are current or former UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) scientists, disagree."
Read More: http://www.nationalcenter.org/2007/12/100-prominent-scientists-disagree-with.html
The Climate Gap and the 2008 Presidential Campaign | American Enterprise Institute
"As we approach the elections of 2008, a clear gap has emerged between the major Republican and Democratic candidates on the issue of environment. Call it the ‘climate gap.'"
Read More: http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.27307,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
Air Quality in America | American Enterprise Institute
"Polls consistently show that most Americans believe air pollution has been getting worse and will continue to worsen in the future. Recent data, however, suggest just the opposite: Air pollution levels have been dropping for decades and will continue to do so in the years to come."
Read More: http://www.aei.org/books/bookID.918,filter.all/book_detail.asp
Politics Posing as Science | American Enterprise Institute
"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) new Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of its Synthesis Report (SR) should be taken with several chunks of salt. The summary itself is a political document that downplays assessments of uncertainty from the scientific reports written by the main body of the IPCC, which themselves are far more subjective than the IPCC would have one believe. Equally important, both the IPCC's summaries and main reports omit much contrary evidence. In several cases, the SR disagrees with the reports on which it is based, and it fails to take account of cautionary publications in the scientific literature that were available early enough to have been incorporated into the SR. Climate change and climate policy are key issues for future human welfare, but that concern should translate into sober analysis and actions that are likely to do more good than harm. The people of the world should not let themselves be steamrolled by a report that reflects the IPCC's interest in promoting climate change fears, rather than in conveying the weight of the scientific evidence."
Read More: http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.27185,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
Extremists 56, Public 0 (4th quarter) | John Locke Foundation
"Unless North Carolinians fight back, new taxes are coming soon. There also are going to be new policies that increase corporate subsidies, disproportionately harm the poor, and restrict personal freedom. This barrage of bad public policy will come to North Carolinians courtesy of an advisory group on global warming formed by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). This group (Climate Action Plan Advisory Group, or CAPAG) recommended 56 policy proposals that touch upon almost every facet of life, from what cars we drive to what is taught in schools."
Read More: http://carolinajournal.com/jhdailyjournal/display_jhdailyjournal.html?id=4474
What's in a Name? | PRI
"November 30th marked the end of the 2007 hurricane season. For the second year in a row the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) forecast too many storms. NOAA had predicted there would be seven to nine hurricanes, three to five major hurricanes and 13-17 ‘named storms.' The season ended with just five hurricanes, two of which were major (category three or above) and 14 named storms. The only category NOAA got right was ‘named storms.'"
Read More: http://liberty.pacificresearch.org/blog/id.251/blog_detail.asp
The Federal Scene
H.R. 6, The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
Signed into Law: December 18, 2007; Public Law No: 110-140
- Legislation: http://energy.senate.gov/public/_files/getdoc1.pdf (PDF)
- CRS Summary: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00006:@@@D&summ2=m&
- White House Summary: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/12/20071219-1.html
GAO: Renewable Fuels Receive Big Subsidies | Heartland Institute
The share of federal energy subsidies received by renewable electricity production is far greater than its market share would justify, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Moreover, most subsidies even for fossil fuel energy production are directed to ‘alternative energy' programs that benefit fossil fuel replacement technologies or are aimed at environmental goals rather than electricity production, GAO reported."
Read More: http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=22424
See GAO Report: http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-08-102
California bid to limit CO2 emissions from autos denied by EPA | EnvironmentNC.com
The state of California has been denied a waver under the Clean Air Act to implement its own CO2 emission standards, which would have reduced auto emissions by 30 percent. The challenge was brought to the EPA by the auto industry.Here's the report telling the story. What is interesting is what was acknowledged about the policy by experts like alarmist guru James Hanson and state officials like California Air Resource Board (CARB) Deputy executive Officer Tom Crackette when questioned under oath during the proceedings. They were forced to acknowledge what always goes unspoken, namely that the policies will have no impact on the climate.
Read More: http://www.environmentnc.com/?p=365
Utah officials disappointed with EPA's denial of waiver | Deseret Morning News
"Utah officials are unhappy that the Environmental Protection Agency won't allow California to impose its own strict standards to control tailpipe pollution, because that means Utah can't either. But they are not unhappy enough to join in a lawsuit challenging the EPA."
Read More: http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695240923,00.html
In The States
2007 marked by activism | Stateline.org
"Far more than the federal government, states in 2007 injected urgency into combating global climate change. Minnesota signed up with five other Midwestern states in 2007 to seek joint ways to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, joining similar efforts in New England and Western states. The regions will develop a market-based ‘cap-and-trade' system that will allow companies to buy and sell greenhouse-gas pollution credits."
Read More: http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=267843
Carbon cap bill apt to be revisited | The Washington Times
"Saying Maryland can't wait to try to address global warming, state lawmakers predict that a menu of environmental proposals could dominate this year's session.
Several lawmakers say a proposal to cap carbon emissions - possibly the nation's toughest plan to reduce greenhouse gases - stands to become the most ambitious bill of the General Assembly session. The environment could be a main topic of debate because the state's looming budget problems were largely addressed in last fall's special session."
Read More: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/METRO/462583997/1004
The Other Side
New Proposal Denies Public the Right to Know | Sierra Club
"Washington, DC: A new proposal put forth by the EPA would exempt livestock operations from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and the Emergency Planning Right-to-Know Act, which require facilities that release listed hazardous substances over a certain threshold to report their releases to local, state and federal agencies. In response to the new proposal Ed Hopkins, Director of the Sierra Club's Environmental Quality Program issued the following statement.
‘Once again Bush's EPA is poised to put polluters before public health. EPA's new proposal would let factory farms off the hook for releasing hazardous chemicals into our air- exempting these large livestock operations from even the most basic of pollution laws like reporting their hazardous chemical releases. Residents have a right to know when these factory farms spew health threatening air pollution in their area.'"
Read More: http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releases/pr2007-12-21.asp
New Directions: Land Use, Transportation, and Climate Change in Virginia | Southern Environmental Law Center
"A primary consequence of auto-dependent, sprawling development is the enormous amount of energy required to fuel our economy and our lifestyle. Transportation uses more energy than any other sector in Virginia. Over 5 billion gallons of motor fuels were consumed in the state in 2005, and fuel consumption has been rising almost twice as fast as population. Record and volatile fuel prices have highlighted some of the many costs of our energy-intensive transportation and land use patterns. The most urgent consequence of current growth patterns is the threat of climate change due to global warming. There is now broad scientific consensus that global warming is real, that humans are contributing to the problem, and that we have a narrow window of time to avoid potentially catastrophic impacts."
Read More: http://www.southernenvironment.org/publications/new_directions_dec07.pdf (PDF)
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