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Friday, November 28, 2008
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Environmentalists Fear Obama Will Forget Them In Economic Crisis There is a small but growing concern within environmental circles that the current economic crisis will push back some of the "green" agenda that Barack Obama had promised to bring to the White House.
The president-elect insisted while on the campaign trail that economic relief and environmental progress aren't mutually exclusive. He proposed spending $150 billion over the course of ten years to create five million "green collar" jobs, and an additional $60 billion for a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that would (as the title suggests) reform and reshape our nation's infrastructure. Compared to the sums of money being thrown at the financial bailout, these totals no longer seem so daunting.
Environmentalists are keen to hold Obama to his promise. On Tuesday, a group of leading figures in the industry convened a call announcing that they had sent the president-elect a 391-page report titled "Transition to Green" touting the interconnectedness of environmental revitalization and economic growth.
"We need to dig our way out of the financial hole we are in with a green shovel," said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.
"There is a tremendous economic opportunity if we do this right," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
But while the tone of the call was almost exclusively optimistic, others are expressing some worry that the financial market could overwhelm what, just a few months ago, seemed like the ideal political environment to jumpstart a green agenda.
There is no doubt that Obama himself is committed to the idea of a green-jobs revolution. And it seems likely that a portion of the stimulus plan that he hopes to pass days after entering office will be devoted to just that (whether by targeting infrastructure repairs or renewable energies). Certainly <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/business/32550404.html";>there is evidence that show it could work. But conservative theorists argue that the climate is wrong for green job creation.
"There may be some stimulus package with a green spin," said Ken Green -- a generally libertarian environmental expert at the American Enterprise Institute. "But the more they spin them green, the more they are encouraging people to buy expensive things." Environmentally-friendly products aren't cheap. "And that's not what they want if they want people to be spending money to stimulate the economy."
The real debate, however, is going to come over a cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions. Obama supports this greenhouse gas-limiting enterprise. But his hands could be tied by larger financial concerns,
"It is clearly a very exciting period. But I think it is important to temper that excitement with the economic realities that we are facing. And I think it is going to make it more difficult to pass a mandatory climate emissions legislation, certainly in 2009," said Paul Bledsoe, communications director of the National Commission on Energy Policy. "I think the Obama administration wants this to be as green as possible. The question is how do you get the money out there faster and to the right places."
But the debate over environmental initiatives is no longer defined as yes and no, but rather when and how. Climate control legislation seems more likely to pass now than every before.
And it's not just Obama. Henry Waxman's ascendancy to the head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is also a major step forward. Though Myron Ebell, a global warming skeptic and policy director at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, argues that the new chair will hurt workers.
"I think business felt that [former chair Jon] Dingell may not be our friend but he is going to pass legislation we can live with or survive," he said. "Waxman doesn't represent autoworkers. He represents Beverly Hills."
Putting aside Ebell's view, there should be a bevy of policy breakthroughs under the Obama administration, whether in the stimulus package, a stand-alone energy bill, tax incentives for renewable energy research and development, or mandatory limits on carbon emissions. The question is simply whether they will come sooner or later.
"We need to be able to show that an aggressive response to reducing global warming emissions will not harm the economy, but in fact generate new jobs and marshal investment in clean technologies," said Knobloch. "It has to be done in a way that is sensitive to regional concerns and jobs."
Read more: Rodger Schlickeisen, Environmental Policy, President Obama, Green Jobs, Eocnomy Environment, Environmental Concerns, Jim Lyonational, Union of Concerned Scientists, Greenpeace, Global Warming, Climate Change, Obama Environment, Environment, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Economic Debate, Gas Leaks, Barack Obama, Green Technology, Green News, National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, President Elect Obama, Politics News - The Huffington Post News Team [Huffpolitics on The Huffington Post]
10:13:02 AM 
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Obama Talks Economy While Bush Pardons "Feathered Friends" It would be hard to find a more striking contrast of presidential behavior than what transpired in the course of just a few minutes on cable news early Wednesday. As Barack Obama spoke to reporters in Chicago about the grave concerns and frustrations that the economic crisis portends, George W. Bush was making turkey and dog jokes on the White House lawn.
If one hadn't the faintest clue about the American political process, it would be downright confusing to be told that the latter individual was officially in charge. But this is the status of the White House transition: the public is forced to watch as the man without the certified power sounds competent and concerned while the one controlling the levers does a decent imitation of Nero.
In one particularly poignant ten-minute moment, the camera went from Obama accusing leaders in Washington of failing to provide "bold clear decisive steps to deal with our economic problems" to Bush discussing the pardoning of his "feathered friends."
"Just to be safe," said the outgoing president, "I will be pardoning a second bird in the unlikely event the main act chickens out..." Get it? ... "Turkeys are not only the ones on edge this morning. You see, it turns out the Rose Garden is Barney's turf. So the press corps is a little nervous as well." The latter line was a reference to the president's dog recently biting a reporter from Reuters.
"This is an election year, so it is fitting that the names of these two birds were chosen through the Democratic process," Bush went on. "After a long, drawn out election season, the people finally spoke. The name of the ticket sent here to the White House was Pumpkin and Pecan. Pumpkin is right there. Pecan is in an undisclosed location."
It is a Thanksgiving tradition for the president to pardon a turkey. So Bush is excused on that front. And certainly, the hospitalization of his mother was weighing on his mind (he gave thanks for the fact that she was "doing well.") But contrast the geniality of the White House affair to the generally serious and occasionally dire tone that marked Obama's event, in which he announced the formation of an Economic Recovery Adviser board headed by former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.
"I think [having a third press conference in three days] speaks to is the frustration of eight years in which middle class wages have gone down, or in real terms their family incomes have been reduced," said the president-elect. "It speaks to my frustration about all the families I've met over the last two years that have lost their health insurance or their pensions are in danger, young people who can't afford to go to college. It expresses frustration about our inability to tackle some of the long-term problems that we've been facing and have been talking about for decades, whether it's health care, energy, an education system that's been slipping behind in critical areas like math or science. And most of all, I think frustration with the incapacity of Washington to take bold, clear, decisive steps to deal with our economic problems."
Read more: Turkey Bush, Video, Obama Bush, Obama Economy, Pardon White House, White House Transition, Bush Turkey, George Bush, Turkey Pardon, Barack Obama, Politics News - The Huffington Post News Team [Huffpolitics on The Huffington Post]
10:10:37 AM
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© Copyright 2008 Patricia Thurston.
Last update: 12/1/08; 10:45:22 AM.
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