I will not try to analyze Waxman-Markey’s pluses and minuses in detail. Others already have done that very well, including David Hawkins of the Natural Resources Defense Council in 40 pages of detailed critique he delivered to the Senate on July 2, and the Citizen’s Guide to Climate Policy by Lois Parshley and Ben Wessel. The Guide explains the House bill about as clearly as one can; its recommendations for a final climate bill come much closer to meeting the four tests I proposed in Part 1.
Here are just a few key ways the bill that finally emerges from Congress should be stronger than the one that came from the House:
o Require deeper and faster cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The United States’ goal should be at least as strong as the European Union’s – a 20 percent reduction by 2020. Twenty-five percent would be better. That’s compared to 1990, not 2005. Continued...
Top Scientists Warn of Catastrophic Sea Level Rise
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- *Flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy, **Photo: BR Birke -- CC 2.0*
Dr. James Hansen, who was the lead climate scientist at NASA, and sixteen
other ...