Climate and energy

The Senate is currently debating the Climate Security Act, a major piece of cap and trade carbon regulation also known as Warner-Lieberman (and vice versa).

CEP has been checking in and taking very basic notes on the rhetoric of the arguments (see Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 so far. Who knows how long the debate will go). As you can tell, the discussion is fairly polarized in many respects, with an interesting potential crossover point regarding nuclear power.

Following are some nice analyses of what exactly is going on in the bill, some of them from CEP’s favorite climate and energy blogs.

The Christian Science Monitor has broken down the major conflicts over the bill so far. Above all, how much will carbon regulation cost?

Opponents say the economic burdens outweigh the environmental (and economic) benefits. Supporters say that is because opponents haven’t done the math, and are not including the economic costs of climate change or the economic development of renewable and low-carbon energy and green jobs.

The WSJ Environmental Capital blog wades right in to analyzing the “slugfest.” From what I can tell so far, that’s a very accurate descriptor. I especially liked their point that this is not about red v. blue, it’s about brown v. green. Jeff Ball was also interviewed about the bill on NPR. Climateer also gives the interview some kudos.

I am also very much enjoying Joe Romm’s comments over at Climate Progress. He also notes that EnergyEnvironmentTV is posting segments from the debate on YouTube.

— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org