United States News
The latest news from and about U.S. issues.Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Just Do It
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.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Betraying the Planet
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
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.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change
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.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Death and American Guns in Mexico
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.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Energy Stocks Will Surge When the Recession Ends:
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.
Read More.
Monday, June 15, 2009
U.S. Energy Secretary wants to cut carbon in the Americas
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.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Hope and Worry on Immigration
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.
Monday, June 01, 2009
U.S. tightens security at Mexico border
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.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Climate Bill Clears Hurdle, but Others Remain
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.
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