The U.S. Senate’s latest attempt to introduce climate legislation has been dogged with uncertainty and delay, continuing the worrisome trend of U.S. inaction to address the most critical issue facing humanity.
As word spread through Washington over the past few days that yet another attempt at a climate and energy bill appeared doomed to the legislative dustbin, the rest of the world continues to wonder if the U.S. is ever going to overcome its deadlock on climate legislation.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) threatened over the weekend to drop his support for the compromise legislation he has been working on for months with Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), citing disagreement over immigration legislation that is competing for Senate attention.
The climate and energy bill was not introduced on Monday as planned, due to Sen. Graham's departure from the talks. The future of KGL, as the bill is known for the letters of its cosponsors’ last names, is far from certain.
Despite the signal sent Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that he is willing to bring up climate change legislation ahead of an immigration bill, Senator Graham has given no indication of when he intends to return to the table to talk further.
Senators Lieberman and Kerry have indicated they will not move forward until Graham returns to the process.
Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill reports that Senator Graham is holding the climate bill hostage to ensure that immigration legislation is nixed for the duration of the current session of Congress: “Graham has signaled that he opposes moving ahead with the climate plan as long as immigration reform remains on the table this year.”
So we find ourselves back where we left off last year leading up to COP-15 in Copenhagen - waiting on the U.S. Senate to stop playing political games that threaten the future of the planet. Not an ideal situation, to say the least.
Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.
There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.
This post is the second of a two part series. Read the first installment, Unreported Emissions From Natural Gas Blow Up BC's Climate Action Plan.
Methane leaks from British Columbia's natural gas industry are likely at least 7 times greater than official numbers increasing the entire provinces' carbon footprint by nearly 25%. That's like putting 3 million more vehicles on BC's roads.
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It is much more important
It is much more important that the US should fill up the Gulf of Mexico with oil.
please explain
Its interesting to note that the eighteen 'leaders' of scientific organizations who endorse the climate change theory and primarily influenced Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and U.S. Global Change Research, are, for the most, not climate change scientists or experts, nor are the societies they represent, which include The Society of Applied Mathematics, the Natural Science Collection Alliance, The American Statistical Association and the American Chemical Society.
Nor do we know if the members of these societies were asked to vote on the issue or weather it was the initiative of their leaders to endorse the IPCC. One thing is certain, most of these societies rely to a great extent on government funding. What ever way you cut it, this sort of consensus proves nothing when it comes to the question: is the globe warming and is it caused my man-made CO2 emissions?