With Obama’s election there were lots of hope on the climate change issue with regards to the USA. Under the previous Republican administrations US was actively trying to kill each and every initiative on climate change , so it was assumed that Obama would change that . But except for token measures under ARRA , there has been no significant long term commitments being made towards climate change. The administration has been so busy with other issues that it has stopped paying attention to one of the biggest threats to our world right now. With the US not paying enough attention to mitigate climate change , you can’t expect other developing countries\u00a0 in the world to make major contributions either . Think that only a major environmental disaster will get US to move forward on this issue.Until then expect the politicians to play the their useless political games as you\u00a0 can see in interview with Republican Lindsey Graham who is one of the co sponsors of the climate change bill .<\/p>\n
EK: So what allows climate to move forward now? What do you need to hear from Reid?<\/strong><\/p>\n
LG: Here’s the problem with climate. Do you have any chance of bringing it up and getting 60 votes in this environment? There’s a controversial provision in the transportation section. We have done as good a job as we can to get oil and gas companies to pay for their pollution. Some of that cost will be passed onto consumers. But it’s not a gas tax. I need Harry Reid to say I agree with you. I support that. I won’t introduce a bill and have the majority leader, who I have less than a strong bond with, say, “I can’t support that gas tax.” There was also a Fox News article<\/a> where the White House said they couldn’t support Graham’s gas-tax gambit. I will not let this get blamed on me. It would be the worst thing in the world to take the one Republican working with you and make him own the one thing you don’t like.<\/p>\n
EK: So what you need isn’t just an assurance on immigration. It’s an assurance that if you’re going to do the dangerous things on climate reform, you won’t be hung out to dry on it.<\/strong><\/p>\n
LG: Right. Ask yourself: Why did they leak the story to Fox News? That told me they weren’t committed to this issue. Why let a story start on a venue that would hurt your partner the most?<\/p>\n
EK: Have you asked the White House?<\/strong><\/p>\n
LG: Yeah. They say, “Oh, we didn’t do it.” And it’s true: Rahm and David didn’t. But somebody involved in energy and climate there did. They’ve always worried about being in a bad spot on this. So someone pretty clever said, “Okay, we’re going to get on the record against this.”<\/p>\n
EK: Do these assurances go in the other direction, though? You want to make sure the Democrats don’t leave you hanging on this. But they’re worried that this bill comes out, and you’re with them, but 40 other Republicans are hammering them for supporting what they’ll call a gas tax, cap-and-tax.<\/strong><\/p>\n
LG: This is exactly what they’re going to say. I have never suggested they won’t. And they’ll say it about me, too. So we have to hold hands so I can make a credible argument, alongside business, saying it’s not a gas tax. But you can’t make this into my idea alone. It wasn’t my idea.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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