Only in America can you be called an “environmental maverick” because you finally realize that global warming is real, and poses a serious threat to our future. But that’s exactly how conservative John Warner, the Senior Republican Senator from Virginia is being described in today’s Washington Post story about his advocacy for a bill he co-sponsored with Joe Lieberman to reduce carbon emissions:
In Twilight of His Career, Warner Now an Environmental Maverick
By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 7, 2007; Page B01… On climate change, though, Warner had not been a maverick.
In 2003, he voted against limits on greenhouse gases that had been proposed by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, then a Democrat, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). In 2005, when the idea resurfaced, Warner voted “nay” again. Both measures ultimately failed.
But Warner said his thinking changed earlier this year. He decided that the U.S. military might face new and dangerous threats if the world were disordered by the weather.
“I began to think, ‘This thing really does impact on national security,’ ” Warner said. And once he decided that, he said, “you’ve got to get off the bench and get in the ballgame.”
(cont.)
Frankly, I don’t really care what excuse Warner is giving for turning green. I suspect it has a lot more to do with his decision not to run for re-election to the Senate. He’s now free to vote his conscience rather than the interests of his campaign contributors, and/or the demands made by the GOP leadership to oppose anything having to do with environmental protection. But if true, it’s ironic that national security concerns are the reason for his change of heart, since the Republicans in Congress under the direction of President Bush have done more to damage our national security with their unthinking and reckless support for his war policies in Iraq.
And to be honest, the bill that is being proposed is, as the WaPo reporter makes clear, a compromise between what is actually needed and what can possibly pass the Senate. Indeed, many sensible measures to effectively reduce carbon emissions had to be bartered away to obtain the support of various Senators from states with an interest in maintaining fossil fuel usage, such as Democratic Senator Baucus of Montana, and in Warner’s own state of Virginia, where the electrical utilities wish to continue to burn coal to their heart’s content, and damn the environmental consequences. Other measures in the bill will provide assistance for nuclear power plant construction, a very controversial alternative to energy produced from burning oil and coal.
Some environmental groups think that Warner and Lieberman have conceded too much. They want tougher goals for 2050, and fewer concessions to industry.
“The bill’s a good political compromise right now, but it fails on the science and the economics,” said Erich Pica of the group Friends of the Earth. In particular, he blamed Lieberman and Warner for allowing a provision that would allocate polluting businesses a share of free emissions credits. The very valuable credits would effectively be a reward for years of bad environmental behavior, he said.
Of course, industry lobbyists are foaming at the mouth, claiming our economy will collapse if we follow through with the “cap and trade” provisions of the Warner/Lieberman bill, effectively ignoring the fact that support for research regarding alternative energy is both necessary in a world of shrinking oil reserves, and will likely lead to a boost to our economy when these cleaner technologies go into production. Not to mention that the financial and social costs of doing nothing to ameliorate the effects pf global warming is conveniently ignored by these “economic alarmists” who protest any reduction in the use of fossil fuels.
However, these same industry lobbyists will fight any bill regardless of how onerous or benign the effects on their business. What’s interesting is the fact that Warner is not alone is rejecting his party’s line. Elisabeth Dole and Norm Coleman, both Republican senators up for re-election this year are also co-sponsors of the bill, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other vulnerable Republicans agree to support it when the bill comes up for a vote early next year. In a year where the overwhelming majority of Americans now accept that human generated global warming is a problem which needs to be addressed as soon as possible (even among many evangelical Christians), Republicans are finding that their standard tactics of denying the well established science supporting the dangers posed by global climate change, and their ridicule of the scientists and others, such as Al Gore, who have advocated for immediate action to deal with the problem, no longer carries much weight with that part American electorate who are not “dead ender” Bush supporters. Denial of the problem and obstruction of possible solutions is no longer a winning political strategy.
Yet, our media still portrays politicians, and especially Republicans, who accept global warming as an issue ripe for government action, as “radicals” or “mavericks.” It points up the polluted (pardon the pun) discourse of our political media inside the beltway that they view this issue as merely another partisan football to be kicked around for their amusement. Instead of pointing out how far out of the mainstream opinion in America global warming opponents really are, they continue to publish reports that give equal weight to both advocates for addressing global warming concerns (who are supported by the vast weight of scientific research on the issue) and those so-called experts on the far right fringe, often financed by Exxon and other industry groups, who misrepresent, mislead and often frankly flat out lie about the reality, the causes and the effects of human generated climate change.
It’s a damn shame that our politics has been dominated and controlled by the most corrupt and energy industry friendly political party in our history for much of the past three decades. It is even more of a shame that our so-called liberal media has aided and abetted their propaganda by dutifully acting as that party’s faithful stenographers on this and so many other issues vital to the future prosperity of our nation.
I hope that the Lieberman/Warner bill passes the Senate, which can only happen with Republican support. Not because it is a particularly good bill. It’s not. But because it will force the Beltway political pundits to start taking the issue seriously. And when Bush vetoes it (as we all know he will) that will be one more albatross to hang around the necks of GOP candidates next Fall. We have learned that merely electing more Democrats to Congress is not sufficient to effect change, but electing Democrats who run, and win, on a platform promising to take action regarding global warming, and particularly a presidential candidate whose support at the polls depends on such a pledge, is our best hope to pass federal laws, and negotiate international treaties, regarding climate change which finally begin to deal with one of gravest threats, if not the gravest threat, we and our children will face in the 21st century.
It can’t happen soon enough.
