Climate bill passes House

Senate is next

Steve Hawley, Jun 29, 09.

The American Climate and Energy Security Act (ACES), which would establish a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases and reduce emissions 17 percent by 2020, passed the House Friday evening, according to the New York Times. The final vote count was 219-212.

The Times reports that this is the first time either house of Congress has passed a bill to address climate change, and noted it “could lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction.” It also states that the bill’s passage “established a marker for the United States when international negotiations on a new climate change treaty begin later this year” in Copenhagen.

The vote followed a number of key concessions from co-sponsors Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Henry Waxman of California, according to Politico. Among the concessions, the US Department of Agriculture—not the Environmental Protection Agency as originally proposed—would monitor carbon offset programs for farmers.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where it may face further compromises. However, Waxman predicted that the bill will pass the Senate and be signed by President Obama sometime this year.

A recent report from the federal government—the strongest language ever from the White House, according to the Associated Press—predicted dire consequences resulting from climate change. In the Southeast, which in the report includes Houston and coastal Texas, average temperatures are expected to increase between 4.5 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit—and potentially 10.5 degrees during the summer—by the 2080s, causing heat stress in people, animals, and plants. Sea levels will rise and hurricanes will become more intense, leading to widespread coastal flooding from storm surges. In addition, longer dry spells and a growing population will strain local water supplies.

Comments

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

Temps to rise between 4.5 and 9 degree’s in 70 years????? What insane model are you using?????
Or are you using the data from the nasa “scientist” that copied septembers temps into october data last year.

The models used to predict this nonsence cannot predict today, when past data is used.

Hope you enjoy your electric rates “neccesarily skyrocketing” (obama quote).

This religion is nothing more than a power grabbing hoax, making al gore millions. I think I am going to start selling carbon credits too.

You people are idiots.

Posted on Jun 30, 09 at 7:49 am

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

The most recent report is a survey of existing scientific research and comes from the federal government. It was mostly compiled by the Bush administration. The Houston-Galveston Area Council, our region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization, released a similar report in December.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—consisting of literally thousands of scientists and policymakers from around the world—released a report in 2007 warning that global warming is “unequivocal” and that there is a greater than 90% chance that humans are causing it. The scientific consensus is there, and policymakers are beginning to notice.

The future projections are obviously prone to some uncertainty. Just two years after the IPCC report, the projections are already off, but in the wrong direction. It turns out that the IPCC projections were too conservative, and that the current emissions rate is equaling or even surpassing the worst-case scenario model. As residents of a low-lying, subtropical city, Houstonians should be very concerned about these findings.

Posted on Jul 07, 09 at 3:37 pm

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