A Generational Challenge to Repower America

9 Responses to A Generational Challenge to Repower America

1. nohesitation says:

   July 20, 2008 at 3:48 PM

   Note to Star Ledger editors:
   A quick Google News search showed 990 hits on the Al Gore 7/18 major speech – but I didn’t see coverage in the Star Ledger (please correct me if I’m wrong).
   Last week, I think you missed 4 large global warming stories: 1) Bush’s embarrassing G8 failure and his “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter” remark, 2) US EPA’s punt on regulating CO2 as directed by the US Supreme Court’s 2007 decision 3) NJ DEP’s Regional Green House Gas Initiative (RGGI) proposed rule; and 4) DEP’s failure to meet the first deadline in the highly touted Global Warminng response Act (but you did put Gore and Corzine on the cover for a Meadowlands photo op in signing the bill last July).
   I don’t think you’ve reported the important fact that NJ legally regulated green house gases as “pollutants” under state air laws – 3 YEARS before that same issue take up by the US Supreme Court in the landmark “Massachusetts v. EPA” case. Yet, while NJ has sued and criticized the Bush Administration on precisely this issue, they’ve done nothing with that regulatory power.
   Can you guys spare an environmental reporter???????
   Have I simply missed all your coverage, or have you given up coverage of the global warming issue?
   That’s just what PSEG and Corzine want!
2. nohesitation says:

   July 20, 2008 at 3:55 PM

   If you need story material (other than an official government press release), check these out:
   NEW JERSEY TO SET CARBON CAPS ABOVE CURRENT EMISSION LEVELS — Loopholes, Offsets and Economic Limits Sap Strength from Global Warming Plan
   http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1079
   NEW JERSEY MISSES FIRST GLOBAL WARMING TARGET — Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan Due This Week Delayed Until Fall or Later
   http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1072
3. nohesitation says:

   July 20, 2008 at 4:06 PM

   If anyone’s paying attention, connect these dots for a huge political story – destroys myth of Christie Whitman as the global warming advocate in the Bush administration by showing how Whitman’s crony played a leading legal role:
   1. Here is link to Supreme Court’s landmark 2007 global warming case:
   http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-1120.pdf
   2. Here is excerpt of Court decision – note the court’s citation of the opinion of EPA General Counsel (a man named Bob Fabricant) and how that opinion reversed the Clinton Administration EPA General Counsel’s Opinion:
   “On September 8, 2003, EPA entered an order denying the rulemaking petition. 68 Fed. Reg. 52922. The agency gavetwo reasons for its decision: (1) that contrary to the opinions of its former general counsels, the Clean Air Act doesnot authorize EPA to issue mandatory regulations to address global climate change, see id., at 52925-52929; and (2) that even if the agency had the authority to setgreenhouse gas emission standards, it would be unwise todo so at this time, id., at 52929-52931.
   In concluding that it lacked statutory authority over greenhouse gases, EPA observed that Congress “was well aware of the global climate change issue when it last comprehensively amended the [Clean Air Act] in 1990,” yet it declined to adopt a proposed amendment establishing binding emissions limitations. Id., at 52926. Congressinstead chose to authorize further investigation into climate change.
   [clip]
   EPA reasoned that climate change had its own “politicalhistory”: Congress designed the original Clean Air Act to address local air pollutants rather than a substance that “is fairly consistent in its concentration throughout the world’s atmosphere,” 68 Fed. Reg. 52927 (emphasisadded); declined in 1990 to enact proposed amendments to force EPA to set carbon dioxide emission standards for motor vehicles, ibid. (citing H. R. 5966, 101st Cong., 2dSess. (1990)); and addressed global climate change inother legislation, 68 Fed. Reg. 52927. Because of this political history, and because imposing emission limitations on greenhouse gases would have even greater economic and political repercussions than regulating tobacco, EPA was persuaded that it lacked the power to do so. Id., at 52928. In essence, EPA concluded that climate changewas so important that unless Congress spoke with exacting specificity, it could not have meant the agency toaddress it.
   Having reached that conclusion, EPA believed it followed that greenhouse gases cannot be “air pollutants” within the meaning of the Act. See ibid. (“It follows fromthis conclusion, that [greenhouse gases], as such, are not air pollutants under the [Clean Air Act’s] regulatory provisions . . .”). The agency bolstered this conclusion byexplaining that if carbon dioxide were an air pollutant, theonly feasible method of reducing tailpipe emissions would be to improve fuel economy. But because Congress hasalready created detailed mandatory fuel economy standards subject to Department of Transportation (DOT)administration, the agency concluded that EPA regulationwould either conflict with those standards or be superfluous. Id., at 52929.
   3. Here is September 8, 2003 Federal register link to Mr. Fabricant’s opinion cited by Supreme Court:
   http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/pdf/03-22764.pdf
   4. Here is excerpt of Opinion from Fed. Register:
   Because the petition seeks CAA regulation of GHG emissions from motor vehicles to reduce the risk of global
   climate change, EPA has examined the fundamental issue of whether the CAA authorizes the imposition of control
   requirements for that purpose. As part of that examination, EPA’s General Counsel, Robert E. Fabricant, reviewed
   his predecessors’ memorandum and statements, as well as the public comments raising legal authority issues.
   The General Counsel considered the text and history of the CAA in the context of other congressional actions
   specifically addressing global climate change and in light of the Supreme Court’s admonition in Brown &
   Williamson to ”be guided to a degree by common sense as to the manner in which Congress is likely to delegate a
   policy decision of such * * * magnitude to an administrative agency.” In a memorandum to the Acting
   Administrator dated August 29, 2003, the General Counsel concluded that the CAA does not authorize EPA to regulate
   for global climate change purposes, and accordingly that CO2 and other GHGs cannot be considered ”air pollutants”
   subject to the CAA’s regulatory provisions for any contribution they may make to global climate change.
   5. Mr Fabricant was brought to EPA by Ms. Whitman from his position in Whitman’s Office as NJ Governor.
   :
4. blarneyboy says:

   July 20, 2008 at 4:22 PM

   Al Gore’s a bully and a dumbski of the first order. That ‘s why a pathetic creature like Shrub beat him.
   He uses @ 12 times the energy of his neighbors, needs a second limousine to move his luggage in Stockholm, and stole 1/2 of the Nobel Prize for Science from a real scientist. Heh, it’s show biz. And he’s making a fortune…..
5. eyesofsussex says:

   July 20, 2008 at 4:47 PM

   Of course we’ve lost our appetite for bold policy decisions. Any major policy decision will afftect our “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness”.
   Right?
   God knows we can’t have that happen. Although, now that the focus of the American Dream of free speech, religion, voting, privacy, etc., has been replaced by SUVs, soccer at 4 pm, and McMansions, all wrapped in the Flag, we don’t care who finances it.
   God help us, but Lenin was right……..
   “When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they’ll sell us the rope”
6. blarneyboy says:

   July 20, 2008 at 6:48 PM

   Well said, i of Sussex. The power elite have decided to increase their wealth and diminish ours through a methodical tranfer to the Second (Red China) and Third Worlds. They’ve all invested in Communist China.
   The Federal Reserve and World Trade Organization have an agenda.
   We produce according to our ability, and receive according to our needs. The S-Q-U-E-E-Z-E is on. The dollar is down 40%; McCain says the jobs are gone forever( the lying SOB is right on that one), and he will seal the borders( this is why I call him a lying SOB).
   Where’s George Washington to lead us in a second American Revolution?
7. cruzer99 says:

   July 20, 2008 at 8:23 PM

   Where’s George Washington to lead us in a second American Revolution? – blarneyboy
   Old GW crossed the Delaware River into NJ, had his and his militia’s arms confiscated by the NJSP for no permits, thus illegal weapons, was entered into the NJ IRS database and found to owe back taxes from an out of state corporation, and then was thrown in jail for not paying to play!
8. eyesofsussex says:

   July 21, 2008 at 12:51 PM

   blarneyboy….you’d better believe it.
   Even our patriotism is bought from China. All those flags waving out our car windows after 9/11….guess where?
9. unprovincial says:

   July 21, 2008 at 11:36 PM

   I believe the uniforms worn by the US Olympic team are usually made elsewhere also. We’ll see about this year. The US textile industry is about as dead as the US steel industry.