Climate Politics

Climate bills would save world’s forests

• More money for forests and wildlife conservation than has ever been available in history
• The regrowth of many of the world's forests
• Massive quantities of greenhouse gases sucked out of the air

Those are a few of the benefits of the newest versions of the climate legislation now being considered in the House and Senate. Both the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner bill [PDF] and Rep. Ed Markey's latest proposal [PDF] include massive financing for forest and land conservation that could save these planetary lungs.

Both bills are based on a fundamental recognition that trees suck up vast quantities of carbon dioxide and convert it into oxygen -- and that standing pristine forests and grasslands (especially tropical forests) are a tremendous storehouse of carbon that we've got to keep safely locked up in forests. Indeed, deforestation for agriculture and logging is already driving 20 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions and is the biggest single source in the developing world.

And so these bills would unleash unprecedented levels of financing to preserve great natural reserves from Big Ag, Big Timber, and land-hungry peasants.

But the ways in which they do it -- and the overall scope of the bills -- could spell very different fates for the forests and grasslands they're meant to save. The Lieberman-Warner bill would allow polluters to offset their own pollution with more than 25 percent offsets through domestic and international forest, grassland, and agricultural conservation, reforestation, and afforestation -- amounting to billions of dollars a year in financing opportunities. Polluters are likely to jump at these forestry offset opportunities: Because of the relatively low price of land and the immense quantities of carbon stored in the forests, conserving forests is generally a lot cheaper than cleaning up industrial pollution.

The Markey bill takes a different approach. In the past, there's been some skepticism that offsets from forestry could be accurately tracked. In the words of a senior adviser to Markey's global warming committee, "You can't plug a meter into a tree to see how much carbon was sucked in that day." There were also concerns in the past that it would be hard to accurately track whether a forest that was "saved" would actually have been cut down in the absence of financing or conservation action.

NASA internal investigation finds press-office climate distortion

An investigation by NASA’s inspector general has found that the agency’s press office repeatedly distorted climate-change research findings and limited its scientists’ access to the media between 2004 and 2006. NASA scientist James Hansen first spoke out about the press-office distortion to major news outlets two years ago, leading the agency to eventually alter its […]

Boxer and friends rally in park for climate bill

  Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) hosted a press conference in a park outside the Capitol this afternoon to rally support for the Climate Security Act. Standing on a podium alongside other senators as well as reps from several green groups, religious organizations, labor unions, and businesses, Boxer called the bill “long […]

Climate-bill sponsors talk about nukes and wooing McCain

Before this evening’s cloture vote on the motion to proceed, the sponsors of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act held a press conference, mostly repeating things we’ve already heard from them. Two interesting topics came up, though: McCain and nukes. And, of course, McCain on nukes. John Warner (R-Va.) took the opportunity to tout nuclear power […]

America’s climate guru issues statement of support for America’s Climate Security Act

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is pretty jazzed about this statement of support for the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act that Al Gore released today: I want to commend Senator Boxer for her leadership of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Thanks to her vision and dedication, we have the first global warming bill in history that […]

Senate decides to advance to debate on climate legislation

The Senate just held a cloture vote on whether to proceed with debate on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. It needed 60 votes to proceed. And the Senate says … Agreed to move forward, 74-14! Climate change will now be open for debate on the Senate floor. UPDATE: Now they’re debating about when to start […]

Conservative senator offers two progressive amendments to climate bill

One of the more ambitious and progressive proposals in the climate debate is Peter Barnes’ “cap-and-dividend,” which would take the revenue from carbon permit auctions and distribute it evenly to every U.S. citizen on a monthly basis. Another common progressive/enviro position on climate legislation is that it should minimize the use of offsets, particularly international […]

Ten industry arguments against action on global warming … and why they are wrong

For the debate on Boxer-Lieberman-Warner, Daniel J. Weiss, Director of Climate Strategy at the Center for American Progress, has written a debunking of standard attack lines on climate action. Here are the myths he takes on:

White House says it will veto Lieberman-Warner climate bill

I received the following release from the White House this morning: —– STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY S. 3036 – Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (Sen. Boxer (D) CA) The Administration believes that climate change is an important issue and is taking significant domestic and international actions to address it. As Congress debates this important issue, it […]

Boxer gives Democratic radio address to rally support for Climate Security Act

Sen. Babara Boxer, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee and the floor manager of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, gave the Democratic radio address on Saturday. In it, she talked up the need for action on climate change now and why senators should support the bill. You can listen to the full address […]