LAWMAKERS ANNOUNCE BICAMERAL CLIMATE CHANGE TASK FORCE

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
1/25/13

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) launched a bicameral task force Jan. 24 that will formulate recommendations for how the president can limit climate change using his executive authority. At a press conference this week, the pair acknowledged that getting carbon legislation through Congress will be nearly impossible given its current political make up, and instead emphasized the existing tools the Obama Administration has at its disposal to curtail emissions and minimize the impact of global warming. Some of those powers include spurring the Environmental Protection Agency to limit carbon emissions from new and existing power plants and the Department of Energy to boost efficiency standards, Waxman and Whitehouse said. “We’re calling on the President to develop a plan for the Administration to take action without Congress. That may well spur Congress to act, and that would be all to the good, but we cannot just sit back and wait for something to happen,” Waxman said.

The task force will also aim to increase Congressional and public awareness of the issue, the duo said. The task force will convene meetings and issue periodic reports and correspondence about climate change, said Waxman, who is ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “Every day we wait, every time we allow an opportunity to reduce our carbon pollution pass us by, it becomes less likely that we will be able to prevent the worst impacts of climate change,” he added. The group is open to members of both parties, but few Republicans are expected to join.  

Letter Asks for Emissions Reduction Plan

The duo, joined by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who co-sponsored cap-and-trade legislation with Waxman in 2009 and is now running for John Kerry’s Senate seat, sent a letter to the White House this week asking the President to provide “decisive presidential leadership” on climate change. They recommended that his Administration develop a comprehensive plan that details how, through executive action, the country will be able to meet the President’s 2009 pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. The White House should also aim to accelerate federal investments in clean energy technologies and develop a strategy to protect vulnerable regions from the effects of climate change, the letter said. “Our best hope to change course is to forge together a national consensus that insists on addressing climate change. And our best hope for forging that consensus is the presidential leadership that we know you can give to this issue,” the three wrote in the letter.

Group Inspired by Obama’s Inaugural Remarks

During the press conference, Waxman and Whitehouse said they were inspired to act, in part, after President Obama made climate change a prominent part of his Jan. 21 inaugural address. “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” Obama said about halfway through his 18-minute speech. “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, crippling drought and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But American cannot resist this transition. We must lead it.”

While broad, Obama’s remarks Monday were some of his strongest rhetoric on climate change since efforts to pass cap-and-trade legislation crashed and burned in the Senate in 2010. After largely glossing over the issue during last year’s reelection campaign, Obama briefly mentioned he would make climate a priority in his second term during his victory speech, but did not offer any details. “We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet,” Obama said in November. 

The White House remained mum this week regarding Obama’s specific plans related to mitigating climate change. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney rebuffed several questions from reporters this week about the President’s action plan. “The President made clear that he believes [climate change is] a priority,” Carney said Jan. 22. “He has a record already of historic accomplishments in this area, but more needs to be done. And he looks forward to building on the progress that was achieved.” Carney, though, confirmed that the Administration “has no intention” of proposing a carbon tax but that it is moving forward on greenhouse gas performance standards for new power plants.

Environmentalists Cheer Obama’s Rhetoric

The forcefulness of the President’s remarks Monday surprised and excited progressives and environmentalists, who frequently criticized Obama for being too soft on climate change during his first term. “His forceful commitment to take action will rekindle the hopes of so many that we are at long last approaching the political tipping point, beyond which we will finally start transforming our economy to sharply reduce global warming pollution and safeguard the future,” former Vice President Al Gore wrote in his blog Jan. 21. “This is a call to action against the climate chaos that is sweeping our nation and threatening our future,” Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke said in a statement. “Now it’s time to act. Power plants are our single largest source of carbon pollution. We must cut that pollution. We must do it now, for the sake of our country, our children and the future we share.”

Meanwhile, some of Obama’s political opponents criticized the executive authority approach for limiting climate change. “If we are directing climate policy, that needs to be done through legislation and not a back-door route of regulation,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters this week. “But that was what we saw in the first term and I’d venture to say that’s what the administration will do next time.” Scott Segal, an energy lobbyist at the law firm Bracewell and Giuliani, said there is only so much the president’s executive authority can accomplish. “Indeed, inflexible national policies restrain our economy without delivering promised solutions,” he said.