Those who were skeptical about Obama’s seriousness on addressing climate change need worry no longer.
In his first State of the Union address on Jan. 27th Obama made a point of praising the House for passing the Waxman-Markey bill in June, a climate policy that would put a cap on carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases over the next 40 years.
Obama also stressed the importance of federal legislation as a means to marry job creation and green technology, saying: “To create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives… And, yes, it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill.”
He called for Democrats and Republicans to work through their differences. The current cap and trade bill has been stagnated by its inability to gain enough votes in the Senate, mainly due to the lack of Republican support.
Environmental groups including NRDC and Sierra Club have been applauding Obama’s leadership on climate action while others, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, express deep concerns with his plans to include dirty energy sources (oil, nuclear and coal).
The question on my mind is: what will Republicans vote for? The party’s aversion to future EPA regulation is clear, but actually backing a viable alternative to the climate issue has yet to take wind publicly. GOP leadership in this difficult debate is fundamental to moving forward in any productive way. Republicans must find a way to look at this as an opportunity to create new jobs, strengthen national security and remain a leader in the global economy. These are all issues that the party has touted as essential.
Obama’s hopes took a potentially deadly hit on Feb. 17th when BP America, Conoco Phillips and Caterpiller Inc. announced their withdrawals from the US Climate Action Partnership – a private sector initiative on climate change that Obama and other Democrats often cited as proof of broad multi-stakeholder support for climate policy efforts.
The Friday after his address Obama took an unprecedented political move by engaging in an open ended discussion at the House Republican Caucus and sent a message that his call to end partisanship is more than just words. It is necessary that advocates of climate policy extend the same hand and find better ways to bridge the huge gap that is plaguing the political process.
It might be cliché to say the future of the planet depends on it … but it is the truth.
Tags: democrats, obama, policy, republicans, uscap, waxman-markey
