Climate Legislation- Executive Branch Perspectives
An update posted yesterday afternoon at CQPolitics reported that, “Despite the obituaries being written for Senate passage of a cap-and-trade bill this year, President Obama is expected to reiterate his call for comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation and to rebrand it as part of his job-creation agenda.
“White House officials and senators leading efforts to write a bipartisan climate bill signaled Wednesday that they will keep pushing hard for legislation that would curb emissions of greenhouse gases and boost development of alternative energy.”
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Ag Economy – Farm Bill
The “Washington Insider” section of DTN reported yesterday (link requires subscription) that, “There has been considerable discussion in the farm press recently about last year’s decline in major economic indicators. Last month, USDA’s most recent economic review documented what producers already know: the sector has been whipsawed by highly volatile domestic and international forces since mid-2008. These trends were initially favorable, the agency said, but then weaker domestic and international markets have undercut prices and returns for many, although not all commodities.
“The result, for 2009, is double-digit declines in crop and livestock cash receipts [related graph depicting value of production]. And, it has meant declines in average net cash income for farm businesses.”
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Climate Change Issues: International Perspectives
Bloomberg writer Robert Fenner reported yesterday that, “Australia’s government will stick by plans to reintroduce legislation in February to create a national carbon emissions trading system after the bill was rejected by the Senate earlier this month.
“‘The parliament meets at the beginning of February and we will be putting the legislation again to the parliament,’ Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner told reporters in Melbourne today. ‘That commitment stands.’
“The government plan, employing carbon trading similar to that used in Europe, would raise average annual household costs by A$624 ($556) and make services such as electricity more expensive, Tanner said today, citing Treasury data. Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who took the role one day before the Senate rejected the bill, argues the proposal will raise costs by A$1,100 without mitigating climate change.”
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Climate Issues: EPA Endangerment Finding
Jim Snyder reported yesterday at The Hill Online that, “The Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that carbon dioxide represents a threat to human health starts a process that regulatory experts say will take years to resolve.
“Whether it becomes the ‘glorious mess’ that Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) predicted depends on factors like how much flexibility utilities and other emitters are given to meet the new standards and whether Congress eventually passes a cap-and-trade bill that would clear up some of the uncertainty surrounding the regulation.”
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Biofuels
Reuters writers Tom Doggett and Ayesha Rascoe reported yesterday that, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it needs more time to decide whether to approve an industry request to boost the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline, but signaled that it believes newer American cars could safely handle the higher fuel mix.
“The EPA was supposed to decide by Dec. 1 on a petition from Growth Energy filed on behalf of 54 ethanol producers to let gasoline contain up to 15 percent ethanol.”
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