Monday, December 07, 2009

One reason the US climate bill will pass

Today the US EPA announced its intention to pursue regulations on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Don't overlook this development. The only thing that carbon-intensive industries and senators from carbon-intensive states hate more than the US climate bill would be the EPA regulating carbon dioxide.

2 comments:

John Fleck said...

An alternative scenario: those opposed to efforts to regulate greenhouse gas reductions will continue to block a climate bill. They might reason that should EPA regulation go forward in the absence of a bill, the result will be so politically unpalatable that, while unpleasant in the short term, the appearance of draconian federal regulation will be create a political backlash in the longer term that would benefit opponents if climate change action in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Simon Donner said...

John,

That's a fair point. The timing of the announcement makes it look like a "threat", but it could create backlash