OBAMA CALLS ON CONGRESS TO ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Vows to Use Executive Authorities if Lawmakers Don’t Soon Pass ‘Market-Based Solution’ 

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
2/15/13

President Barack Obama issued one of his strongest calls for Congressional action on climate change in years in his State of the Union address this week, threatening to bypass lawmakers entirely if they fail to move quickly to address the issue. In his Feb. 12 address, Obama called on Congress to pursue a “bipartisan, market-based solution” to climate change similar to the cap-and-trade approach first pushed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and now-retired Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) a decade ago. “For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change,” he said. But Obama also vowed to move forward using his executive authority if Congress does not act “soon.” “I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy,” he told a joint session of Congress.

Citing more frequent heat waves, droughts, wildfires and the impact of Hurricane Sandy, Obama said leaders must act to address the threat of global warming. “It’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15… we can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science and act before it’s too late,” he said.

Remarks Offer Few Specifics

While the President’s remarks on climate this week were no surprise given his strong rhetoric during his second inaugural address last month, Obama’s mention of the topic is notable given that he largely avoided the subject on the campaign trail and in recent State of the Union addresses. After calling on lawmakers to pass cap-and-trade legislation in his first speech to a joint session of Congress in 2009 and again briefly in 2010, the President entirely avoided the topic in 2011 and instead pitched the idea of a clean energy standard. In his 2012 address, Obama acknowledged that Congress is unlikely to pass climate legislation, and instead pushed for an “all-of-the-above” energy policy.

However, the President’s speech this week failed to wade into the specifics of how he would move to address global warming if Congress does not act. Environmental groups and sympathetic lawmakers have for weeks ramped up efforts outlining what the President can do on his own to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the power generation and transportation sectors. In particular, most are pushing for the White House to pursue emission performance standards for existing power plants, the country’s largest source of carbon pollution. In his address this week, Obama did not outline in his address his plans regarding the proposed Keystone XL pipeline extension.

Obama Highlights Natural Gas Boom

In his address this week, Obama also touted the expansion of renewables and the country’s recent natural gas boom, emphasizing how the technology has helped cut emissions in the power sector and led the country closer to energy independence. He vowed to encourage more domestic production by speeding new oil and gas permits on public lands and cutting regulatory barriers. “But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and our water,” Obama said.

Obama called on Congress to create an ‘energy security trust,’ which would use some oil and gas royalties from public lands and the Outer Continental Shelf for R&D into alternative fuels for vehicles. “If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we,” he said, referring to a recent report from the group Securing America’s Future Energy. “Let’s take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long.” The trust idea is similar to a revenue-sharing proposal being considered by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee leaders Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that would redirect some federal oil and gas royalties to clean energy and conservation programs.

GOP Pushes for More Fossil Fuel Production

Meanwhile, the official Republican response to the President’s speech emphasized increasing the domestic production of fossil fuels by opening up more federal lands to exploration. “Of course solar and wind energy should be a part of our energy portfolio, but God also blessed America with abundant coal, oil and natural gas,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who delivered the response Feb. 12. Rubio also warned of “wasting” public funding on risky clean energy companies like Solyndra. He said Congressional Republicans will continue moving to reform energy regulations “so that they’re reasonable and based on common sense.”

Environmentalists Cheer Obama’s Rhetoric

Environmental and progressive groups were quick to cheer Obama’s climate rhetoric. “Tonight’s speech is a big win for those who want action on climate change and believe now is the time to act,” former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator and Obama climate aide Carol Browner, who is now at the Center for American Progress, said in a statement. “The president was clear about the magnitude of the challenge and resolute in his determination to use his executive authority to take action, especially if Congress won’t.”

Sen. Wyden, whose committee holds partial jurisdiction over climate change legislation, said it is time for Congress to act on the issue. “Only Congress has sufficient tools to address the global nature of the problem and pursue a solution that will reduce domestic emissions while also keeping us competitive in the world market,” he said in a statement. “I will continue to work to pass laws to address climate change by increasing clean energy use and reducing America’s carbon footprint.” Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists said Congressional action on pricing carbon is much needed. “While that [Congressional action] is not likely this year or next, it is clearly within the realm of possibility before the end of the president’s second term,” he said in a statement. “The politics on this issue are shifting rapidly as members of Congress see the increasing toll climate change is taking on their states and districts.”

W.Va. Delegation Says White House Climate Action Will Hurt Coal

Members of West Virginia’s Congressional delegation, though, said Obama’s vow to act on climate change via executive action is singling out the state’s coal industry. “On the energy front, [Obama] is absolutely wrong in his misguided efforts to circumvent the Congress with unilateral regulatory actions that will result in job loss, especially when it comes to the EPA’s unfair and inequitable treatment of coal mining in Appalachia, which the Congress and the courts are rightly resisting,” Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) said in a statement.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Jay Rockefeller in 2014, said Obama’s remarks this week are indicative of an “extreme energy agenda.” “He said it himself, if Congress doesn’t act on climate legislation, he will. He expressly said that he would pick winners and losers in the energy economy, and we all know coal will be in the losing column,” Capito said in a statement. “We must achieve a balanced approach to meet our energy needs, one that takes into account both economic and environmental impacts. The President needs to hold himself accountable to the American people, not an environmental lobby.”

SOTU Address Spurs Congressional Action

In the days following the State of the Union address, lawmakers were quick to introduce legislation pertaining to climate change. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) introduced a bill that would bar EPA from using federal funding to implement or enforce a cap-and-trade or similar program that would regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the authority of the Clean Air Act. “In his State of the Union Speech, President Obama threatened to unilaterally enact cap and trade policy if Congress does not. Both Congress and the American people have overwhelmingly rejected this policy in the past,” Poe said in a statement announcing the bill. Poe said his bill would “put an end to any back-door attempt by the Administration to go around Congress and circumvent the will of the people.”

Democrats also began ramping up their climate efforts. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) introduced a bill Feb. 14 that would charge the country’s largest emitters a fee for the carbon their businesses spew. A group of House Democrats announced the formation of a new ‘Safe Climate Caucus’ on Feb. 15 and pledged to speak about global warming every day on the House floor until the chamber considers climate-related legislation.

Meanwhile, Boxer, who is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, held a briefing this week with climatologists to assess the newest science surrounding global warming. Lawmakers in attendance—all Democrats—said now is the time to act on the issue. “As a collective body in Congress, I think we’re well at the point [for] being reprehensible in our failure to address this and moving into the territory of the ridiculous,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said. Whitehouse, who recently cofounded a bicameral task force on climate change with House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), said Washington must provide leadership on the issue. “We are city right now that is gripped in a barricade of special interest. It’s going to take the leadership of the President and from people like Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Waxman and the voice of the American public to be heard to break that long-held grip.”