The North American Institute

Just Do It

2009-07-01T18:50:00-06:00

The New York Times, July 1, 2009 - “There is much in the House cap-and-trade energy bill that just passed that I absolutely hate. It is too weak in key areas and way too complicated in others. A simple, straightforward carbon tax would have made much more sense than this Rube Goldberg contraption. It is pathetic that we couldn’t do better. It is appalling that so much had to be given away to polluters. It stinks. It’s a mess. I detest it. Now let’s get it passed in the Senate and make it law. Why? Because, for all its flaws, this bill is the first comprehensive attempt by America to mitigate climate change by putting a price on carbon emissions. Rejecting this bill would have been read in the world as America voting against the reality and urgency of climate change and would have undermined clean energy initiatives everywhere. More important, my gut tells me that if the U.S. government puts a price on carbon, even a weak one, it will usher in a new mind-set among consumers, investors, farmers, innovators and entrepreneurs that in time will make a big difference — much like the first warnings that cigarettes could cause cancer. The morning after that warning no one ever looked at smoking the same again. Ditto if this bill passes. Henceforth, every investment decision made in America — about how homes are built, products manufactured or electricity generated — will look for the least-cost low-carbon option. And weaving carbon emissions into every business decision will drive innovation and deployment of clean technologies to a whole new level and make energy efficiency much more affordable. That ain’t beanbag. Read More.

Betraying the Planet

2009-06-29T13:10:00-06:00

The New York Times, June 29, 2009 - “So the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill. In political terms, it was a remarkable achievement. But 212 representatives voted no. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases. And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.
To fully appreciate the irresponsibility and immorality of climate-change denial, you need to know about the grim turn taken by the latest climate research. The fact is that the planet is changing faster than even pessimists expected: ice caps are shrinking, arid zones spreading, at a terrifying rate. And according to a number of recent studies, catastrophe — a rise in temperature so large as to be almost unthinkable — can no longer be considered a mere possibility. It is, instead, the most likely outcome if we continue along our present course.”
Read More.

Obama Opposes Trade Sanctions in Climate Bill

2009-06-29T13:04:00-06:00

The New York Times, June 29, 2009 - “President Obama on Sunday praised the energy bill passed by the House late last week as an “extraordinary first step,” but he spoke out against a provision that would impose trade penalties on countries that do not accept limits on global warming pollution. “At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we’ve seen a significant drop in global trade,” Mr. Obama said, “I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there.” He added, “I think there may be other ways of doing it than with a tariff approach.” The passage of the House bill on Friday night was an important, if tentative, victory for the president, becoming the first time either chamber of Congress had approved a mandatory ceiling on the gases linked to global warming.
Mr. Obama, hoping to build momentum in the Senate after the narrow victory in the House, delayed the start of a Sunday golf game to speak to a small group of reporters in the Oval Office. Read More.

House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change

2009-06-27T20:20:00-06:00

The New York Times, July 27, 2009 - “The House passed legislation on Friday intended to address global warming and transform the way the nation produces and uses energy. The vote was the first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change. The legislation, which passed despite deep divisions among Democrats, could lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction. The bill’s passage, by 219 to 212, with 44 Democrats voting against it, also established a marker for the United States when international negotiations on a new climate change treaty begin later this year. At the heart of the legislation is a cap-and-trade system that sets a limit on overall emissions of heat-trapping gases while allowing utilities, manufacturers and other emitters to trade pollution permits, or allowances, among themselves. The cap would grow tighter over the years, pushing up the price of emissions and presumably driving industry to find cleaner ways of making energy. President Obama hailed the House passage of the bill as “a bold and necessary step.” He said in a statement that he looked forward to Senate action that would send a bill to his desk “so that we can say, at long last, that this was the moment when we decided to confront America’s energy challenge and reclaim America’s future.” Read More.

Death and American Guns in Mexico

2009-06-25T13:26:00-06:00

The New York Times, June 25, 2009 - “Drug-related murders in Mexico doubled last year, to 6,200, as cartels fight for the American addict’s dollar while relying on American gun dealers for their weapons. A new report to Congress traces over 90 percent of guns recovered in Mexican drug crimes in the last three years back across the border, where legal and illegal American dealers flout federal laws rife with loopholes. The findings contradict gun rights groups’ claims that foreign dealers are supplying the cartels’ arms. In fact, 70 percent of 20,000 weapons recovered were traced to legal gun shops and unregulated gun shows in Texas, California and Arizona, according to the Government Accountability Office report. The report confirmed the arguments of Mexican officials who are pressing Washington for stricter gun controls. While the Obama administration has sketched a new strategy to combat gun trafficking, the report warns of considerable obstacles. It found that the separate American agencies charged with controlling the sales of firearms and policing immigration are doing a poor job of sharing information and coordinating policy. Gun tracking software is yet to be translated into Spanish for full use by Mexican authorities. What is also clear is that the American gun dealers — 6,700 of them clustered along the border — are supplying increasingly powerful military style weapons as the cartel wars intensify. America must finally act. Private home-based dealers and gun show armorers should finally be regulated as rampant threats to public safety. Congress must repeal restrictions that prevent a national gun registry and bar local enforcement agencies from sharing in federal tracing information. Read More.

Energy Stocks Will Surge When the Recession Ends:

2009-06-22T12:23:00-06:00

Bloomberg, June 22, 2009 - “The U.S. produced about 88 percent more oil in 1970 than it does today. Production has been declining for 39 years since hitting that level. When will world oil production peak? Many energy experts believe it already may be happening or will within four years. One of them is Matthew Simmons, head of Houston-based Simmons & Co., an investment bank specializing in the energy market. His 2006 book, “Twilight in the Desert,” popularized the idea that Saudi Arabia has less oil than widely supposed—and that therefore the world has less of the fuel than we think. The theory is controversial, though I believe it. Finds of monster oilfields are rare these days, and depletion of existing fields is quickening. That’s one reason the portfolios I manage tend to be heavy in energy stocks. Energy stocks may be especially timely now. They usually do quite well after the end of a recession. No one knows when the current recession will end. A few months ago, most economists were guessing 2010 or 2011. Today, many are predicting it will end this year—a view I share.
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U.S. Energy Secretary wants to cut carbon in the Americas

2009-06-15T22:18:00-06:00

Reuters, June 15, 2009 - “U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu urged officials from the Americas on Monday to throw their weight behind a new initiative to reduce carbon emissions and make cities in the Western Hemisphere more energy efficient.
Chu launched the “Low Carbon Communities of the Americas” program at an event on energy and climate change that was put together after presidents at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in April agreed to collaborate more on green energy issues.
The Obama administration is pushing renewable energy and energy-saving technologies, and Chu encouraged other countries to participate in the new program. “The cities of our hemisphere are growing rapidly. How these cities develop will determine the carbon footprint for the region for generations to come,” he told participants at the event in Peru’s capital by video link. “We must pursue energy efficiency as aggressively as possible for both economic and environmental reasons. Energy efficiency is the most cost effective way of combating climate change.” Read More.

Hope and Worry on Immigration

2009-06-05T12:41:00-06:00

The New York Times, June 5, 2009 - “This week, in Washington and cities across the nation, immigrant advocates, clergy members and labor and business leaders have been meeting to press their case for comprehensive immigration reform. Hopes have been raised before and repeatedly dashed. But this year there is a chance — if the White House provides real leadership and Congressional leaders show the courage and sense they have previously lacked. President Obama has pledged his support for reform that includes a path to citizenship for the undocumented. At the same time, his administration has not done nearly enough to moderate enforcement policies that unfairly target citizens and legal residents — often because they are Hispanic — while feeding the fear and hopelessness of illegal immigrants as they await the opportunity to get right with the law. The Department of Homeland Security has been pressing ahead with the old Bush administration playbook of tightening the screws on the 12 million undocumented, particularly by lengthening the long arm of local law enforcement. Make no mistake: Stronger and more effective immigration enforcement should be a pillar of any reform plan. But stricter enforcement must be coupled with a path to legalization. And poorly designed enforcement without stringent checks on errors and abuse is a remedy worse than the disease.” Read More.

U.S. tightens security at Mexico border

2009-06-01T14:25:00-06:00

USA Today, June 1, 2009 - “Local officials along the U.S.-Mexican border welcome a new federal crackdown against border violence despite concerns that it will create lines of idling cars through neighborhoods and deter crossover traffic. The $184 million plan installs X-ray machines on the border to scan some Mexico-bound vehicles for drugs, weapons and cash, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at a White House briefing Tuesday. The department also will upgrade cameras that scan license plates of cars going to Mexico to find those that are stolen or linked to a crime. The initiative aims to dampen drug-related violence that killed 6,300 Mexicans last year and to keep that violence out of the USA. “We’re trying to identify vehicles that are carrying arms into Mexico that are being used in the drug war in Mexico,” Napolitano said.Trade advocates fear that searching Mexico-bound cars will slow the flow of workers and goods. People crossing the heavily secured U.S. border from Mexico are used to two-hour lines and vehicle searches but seldom face any wait or scrutiny walking or driving in the other direction. The new plan “will be very detrimental,” said Maria Luisa O’Connell, president of the Arizona-based Border Trade Alliance, which promotes trade with Mexico and Canada. “We depend a lot on the movement of people back and forth to Mexico.” The tiny border crossing in Yuma County, Ariz., has no room for an X-ray machine that scans cars driving under it, Sheriff Ralph Ogden said. An inspection station could be built in a park on the border, he said. “If the administration is serious about southbound trafficking, we’re going to have to spend some funds and do it rapidly,” Ogden said.” Read More.

Climate Bill Clears Hurdle, but Others Remain

2009-05-22T13:46:00-06:00

The New York Times, May 22, 2009 - “The House Energy and Commerce Committee, splitting largely along party lines, approved on Thursday the most ambitious energy and global warming legislation ever debated in Congress. The bill’s passage, on a 33-to-25 vote, served as a bookend to a week that began with President Obama’s announcing a deal with auto manufacturers to impose tough new mileage and emissions standards for all cars and trucks sold in the United States starting in 2012.With progress on this legislation and his own executive actions, Mr. Obama is assembling the pieces of a credible American package to take to Copenhagen later this year as United Nations negotiators gather for talks on a new global warming treaty. But the energy legislation passed on Thursday still faces a tortuous path through several more House committees before it can be brought up for a vote later this year. In the Senate, leaders say they lack the votes to pass the bill as it is now written. Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats, sponsored the bill. Mr. Waxman called it “decisive and historic.” “When this bill is enacted,” Mr. Waxman said, “we’ll break our dependence on foreign oil, make our nation a leader in clean-energy jobs and technology and cut global warming pollution.” The objections of the Republican opponents were summed up in the words of Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, who said the bill would mean sharp increases in energy costs and the loss of millions of jobs.“This is the biggest energy tax in the history of the United States,” Mr. Rogers said.” Read More.

The Earth Wins One

2009-05-20T12:43:00-06:00

The New York Times, May 19, 2009 - “The nationwide automobile mileage and emissions standards announced by President Obama on Tuesday represent a huge step forward in the effort to limit greenhouse gases and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. They also represent a departure from the Bush administration’s indifference on these issues and an important down payment on Mr. Obama’s pledge to fashion an aggressive and imaginative energy policy. The standards, forged after weeks of negotiations orchestrated by Carol Browner, the White House coordinator on energy and environmental matters, may also mark the end of decades of wearying, unproductive legal and political combat between the automobile industry and environmentalists. Sharing the occasion with Mr. Obama were automobile executives and activists. Also in attendance were two governors on different sides of the issue — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, whose state had been fighting to impose its own, much stricter emissions standards on cars and trucks, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, who had worried that tough standards could kill an industry already on life support. The agreement will raise fuel-efficiency standards to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 — a 40 percent increase over today’s 25 m.p.g. standard and a 30 percent increase over today’s actual fleetwide mileage of almost 28 m.p.g. And for the first time, it will impose limits on tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks. The goal, roughly speaking, is to reduce greenhouse emissions from new cars and trucks by nearly one-third by 2016. Happily for Mr. Schwarzenegger, this will achieve, on a national basis, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles called for in California’s landmark clean car program. California had repeatedly asked the Bush administration for the federal waiver it needed (and had never before been denied) to enforce its own rules, only to be rebuffed.” Read More.

Obama’s Roadmap for the Auto Industry

2009-05-19T21:10:00-06:00

The Huffington Post, May 19, 2009 - “Today, the Obama administration announced it will be creating a national program on emissions to replace a patchwork quilt of conflicting state regulations. We have supported more stringent standards (we supported the 2007 Energy Bill that raised federal emissions standards by a record 40%), and we support this challenging new federal program. A single program will allow us to focus our resources on meeting the challenge we all face. But you should know that the auto industry has been working on this for quite some time. We now offer 130 models that get at least 30 MPG, and more than 35 hybrid and clean diesel models. However, it takes many years to bring a car from idea to market, so this only represents products we were working on many years ago. The products we will bring you in years to come will put us well ahead of the national curve in GHG reductions. The auto industry will do our part to address the problems of climate change. Fortunately, we believe we have a great leader in the White House. President Obama recently spoke about his desire to see the industry “making fuel-efficient clean-energy cars that will meet the needs of the future market.” We want the same.” Read More.

US earns Mexico’s thanks over swine flu response

2009-05-14T13:46:00-06:00

The Washington Post, May 14, 2009 - “ Swine flu has infected Mexico’s relations with China and other countries that have canceled airline flights and halted some trade. But its most prickly neighbor _ the United States _ now seems like the country’s most loyal friend.
Mexico is smarting from what it considers discriminatory actions by countries it had considered friendly, insisting the world should be grateful for its open and aggressive efforts to stem the spread of swine flu. The shutdown of public life cost Mexico $2.2 billion in the first 10 days after the epidemic was announced. The government sent a plane to pick up 70 of its citizens quarantined in China. It rebuked Cuba, Ecuador, Argentina and Peru for banning flights to Mexico, saying they were acting “incongruously with our traditional ties of friendship.” France tried _ and failed _ to win a European Union-wide ban on flights to Mexico. Particularly insulting for Mexico: Haiti rejected a Mexican ship last week carrying 77 tons of much-needed food aid because of swine flu fears. All of that put the U.S. response in a very favorable light. Neither the United States nor Canada banned flights or restricted trade with Mexico. The three countries are partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement.” Read More.

Key moments, decisions still to come in swine flu

2009-05-09T15:10:00-06:00

AP, May 9, 2009 -” The most pivotal moments in the swine flu saga are yet to come. Will it sweep through impoverished Southern Hemisphere countries in the next few months? Will it roar back in the rest of the world in the fall? And who will be vaccinated if it does? In the weeks since swine flu grabbed international attention, and even years before that, some important actions have helped shape the course of this outbreak and the ways the world will handle future epidemics. It’s not clear if this new swine flu strain is a brush fire, sparking up around the globe only to fizzle, or if it will worsen when the regular influenza season hits.No matter how this story ends, at the very least it has offered a real-world drill to find gaps in the playbook"We’ve been given an opportunity to take a look at this before it really got bad, and we need to,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, a prominent pandemic flu specialist. “We better damn well do it now because one day we are going to really be in it for more than a week. If it’s not this virus, there will still be another one."For this virus, the coming months will bring a series of big decisions: Do manufacturers start brewing millions of swine flu vaccine doses? Will they be stockpiled unless the new flu returns or given along with or soon after regular flu shots? Will rich countries share enough with the developing world? Who gets in line first — the younger people that this strain so far seems to target or the elderly who usually are flu’s most vulnerable? “You may only have one chance to get out ahead of it,” Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press. “It’s important for people to understand that all of these decisions will need to be made with incomplete science.” Read More.

The Climate Debate Heats Up.

2009-05-08T12:48:00-06:00

The New York Times, May 8, 2009 - “Earlier this week, and not a moment too soon, President Obama put the weight of his office behind a bill that aims to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, tackle the rise in greenhouse gases and create millions of clean-energy jobs. The bill has been stuck in a House committee: uniformly opposed by Republicans; feared by rust-belt Democrats who think it will hurt manufacturers; regarded with suspicion by some environmentalists who think it offers too many escape hatches. Mr. Obama told Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to work out a consensus, which they must do. Though flawed, the bill is an honorable start on a problem too long neglected. Fix it, but get on with it, in the certain knowledge that failure to act would almost certainly doom comprehensive climate change legislation for this year and, probably, for this Congress. The heart of the bill is a provision to reduce greenhouse gases by 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by midcentury — cuts scientists say are necessary to avert the worst consequences of global warming. The mechanism for achieving them is a cap-and-trade system that would place a steadily declining ceiling on emissions while allowing emitters to trade permits, or allowances, to give them more flexibility in meeting their targets. This would put a price on carbon, ideally raising the cost of older, dirtier fuels while steering investment to cleaner ones.” Read More.

Industry Ignored Its Scientists on Climate

2009-04-24T19:33:00-06:00

The New York Times, April 23, 2009 - “For more than a decade the Global Climate Coalition, a group representing industries with profits tied to fossil fuels, led an aggressive lobbying and public relations campaign against the idea that emissions of heat-trapping gases could lead to global warming. “The role of greenhouse gases in climate change is not well understood,” the coalition said in a scientific “backgrounder” provided to lawmakers and journalists through the early 1990s, adding that “scientists differ” on the issue. But a document filed in a federal lawsuit demonstrates that even as the coalition worked to sway opinion, its own scientific and technical experts were advising that the science backing the role of greenhouse gases in global warming could not be refuted. “The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied,” the experts wrote in an internal report compiled for the coalition in 1995.” Read More.

Mexico sees U.S. acting quickly on truck dispute

2009-04-23T22:44:00-06:00

Reuters, April 23, 2009 - “U.S. President Barack Obama has promised to move quickly to open U.S. roads to Mexican trucks in order to halt Mexico’s retaliation on $2.4 billion of U.S. exports, a Mexican official said on Thursday. “Obama was very clear he wants to solve the issue as soon as possible,” when he met last week with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, said Jose Luis Paz, head of the trade office at Mexico’s embassy in Washington. “We are confident we will solve this issue in the short-term,” he said during a panel discussion on the North American Free Trade Agreement. The United States committed in that 15-year-old pact to open its roads to Mexican trucks. But the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, which represents U.S. truckers, has fought that measure every step of the way. In a recent newspaper column, Teamsters President James Hoffa said the United States should not allow itself to be bullied into letting “older, dirtier and more dangerous” Mexican trucks onto its roads.” Read More.

In Shift, Obama Doesn’t Plan to Reopen Nafta Talks

2009-04-20T19:30:00-06:00

The New York Times, April 20, 2009 - “The Obama administration said on Monday that it had no plans to reopen negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement to revise its labor and environmental provisions, as then-Senator Barack Obama promised to do during his presidential campaign. “The president has said we will look at all of our options, but I think they can be addressed without having to reopen the agreement,” said Ronald Kirk, the United States trade representative. Mr. Kirk spoke in a conference call with reporters after returning from the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad over the weekend. He said President Obama conferred there with the leaders of Mexico and Canada — the other parties to the free trade agreement — and “they are all of the mind we should look for opportunities to strengthen Nafta.”
Though a formal review of the pact has yet to be completed, Mr. Kirk noted, both Mr. Obama and President Felipe Calderón of Mexico have said that “they don’t believe we have to reopen the agreement now.” In particular, Mexico, whose exports have grown hugely since the agreement was ratified in 1992, has little interest in such a renegotiation.” Read More.

E.P.A. Clears the Way for Regulation of Warming Gases

2009-04-17T20:11:00-06:00

The New York Times, April 17, 2009 - “The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that threaten public health and welfare, setting in motion a process that for the first time in the United States will regulate the gases blamed for global warming. The E.P.A. said the science supporting its so-called endangerment finding was “compelling and overwhelming.” The ruling triggers a 60-day comment period before any proposed regulations governing emissions of greenhouse gases are published. Lisa P. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, said: “This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations. Fortunately, it follows President Obama’s call for a low-carbon economy and strong leadership in Congress on clean energy and climate legislation.” She said that combatting the emissions that create greenhouse gases would help create millions of new jobs and lessen the nation’s dependence on foreign oil by fostering a more fuel-efficient transportation industry.” Read More.

In Mexico, Obama Seeks Curbs on Arms Sales

2009-04-17T12:57:00-06:00

The New York Times, Aprl 17, 2009 - “President Obama, vowing to confront drug cartels that are “sowing chaos in our communities,” called Thursday for the Senate to ratify a long-stalled treaty aimed at curbing illegal arms trafficking. But Mr. Obama also suggested that he would not press lawmakers to revive an expired ban on assault weapons. On the first day of a four-day swing through Latin America that will also take him to Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Obama declared “a new era of cooperation and partnership” between the United States and Mexico. The first American president since Bill Clinton to visit Mexico’s capital, Mr. Obama hoped to shore up the efforts of his Mexican counterpart, President Felipe Calderón, to combat the rising tide of cross-border drug violence. But while the two pledged their “shared responsibility” in the drug wars during a news conference here, they seemed to diverge on the issue of the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. Mr. Calderón said nearly 90 percent of the weapons seized in Mexico could be traced to the United States, adding that organized crime increased after the ban expired.” Read More.