Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina pulled out of negotiations to forge a climate- change bill, protesting what he called a “cynical ploy” by Democrats to focus instead on immigration.
Graham’s move dimmed hopes for legislation that he was set to unveil tomorrow with Senators John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, after more than six months of work. Their proposal won support from utilities such as Exelon Corp., and people close to the matter said last week that oil companies including ConocoPhillips were prepared to sign on.
President Barack Obama pressed anew last week for an overhaul of U.S. immigration policy, and Democratic congressional leaders said legislation may advance this year if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can gain enough support. Graham decried the push as an attempt to win votes for Democrats in a critical election year.
“Moving forward on immigration -- in this hurried, panicked manner -- is nothing more than a cynical ploy,” Graham said in a letter yesterday to business, environmental, military and religious leaders.
“Unless their plan substantially changes this weekend, I will be unable to move forward on energy independence legislation at this time,” he wrote. “I will not allow our hard work to be rolled out in a manner that has no chance of success.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-25/graham-quits-climate-talks-dimming-hopes-for-bill-update1-.htmlWell shit. As I pointed out in another thread the problems in solving AGW are purely societal and political.
While the Kerry-Liberman bill wasn't perfect (far from it) I think it was/is important as a first step. For the first time in history of the United States carbon would have a cost. The status quo is carbon pollution is not only legal but absolutely free. If this bills passed future bills could raise that cost of carbon to push transformation of our society from high-carbon to low-carbon. Utilities tend to be forward looking. Who wants to build a fossil fuel plant (which has a economic lifetime of 40-60 years) if carbon is taxed and will get more and more expensive each year.
Without the first step there is no economic incentive for utilities to even plan to stop using fossil fuels for majority of power production in this country.