If Gore had asked me what I’d like him to emphasize to Congress, I would have said:

  • The No. 1 most important thing to do is put a price on carbon.
  • Carbon tax: better than cap-and-trade. Cap-and-trade: better than nothing. Cap-and-trade with auctioned permits: better than cap-and-trade without.
  • We should be pursuing widely distributed, small-scale renewable electricity generation, tied together with a smart grid. Our choice is not between nuclear and coal.
  • No more dirty coal plants should be built in this country. Period.
  • We need to reduce GHG emissions by at least 80% by mid-century.

And what do you know? That’s exactly what he emphasized.

Thanks, Al.

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