Weekly Climate Change Policy Update - February 16, 2010

Article by Kyle Danish, Shelley Fidler, Kevin Gallagher, Megan Ceronsky and Tomás Carbonell

To receive the Weekly Update via email, visit our Sign Up/Subscribe page http://www.vnf.com/news-signup.html

Commentary

Senator Murkowski's office believes she has sufficient votes in the Senate for her resolution disapproving of EPA's endangerment finding . . . State Department Climate Envoy Todd Stern is calling on major developing countries to provide more detail on their mitigation commitments under the Copenhagen Accord . . . Rumblings in the Western Climate Initiative: Arizona's Governor said the state will not participate in a regional cap-and-trade program, and the Utah legislature passed a resolution questioning climate change science . . . The president of the Edison Electric Institute says that EEI still supports comprehensive, economy-wide climate and energy legislation . . . Major corporations in the United States Climate Action Partnership met with officials in the White House and Republican legislators to discuss the status of legislative efforts and to emphasize the need for regulatory certainty.

Executive Branch

President Obama Signals Willingness to Compromise on Climate and Energy Legislation. Following a meeting with Democratic and Republican Congressional leadership, President Obama said he would be willing to "move off some of the preferences of my party" on issues such as expansion of nuclear power, offshore oil drilling, and clean coal technology in order to strike a bipartisan deal on climate and energy legislation. However, the President cautioned that he expects "some give" from Republican lawmakers in return, saying: "Bipartisanship can't be that I agree to all the things that [Republicans] believe in or want, and they agree to none of the things I believe in or want . . . But that's sometimes the way it gets presented." Calling himself an "eternal optimist," the President expressed confidence that he would eventually sign an energy and climate bill. Lead US Climate Negotiator Says Major Developing Countries Must Play a Strong Role in Copenhagen Accord. At a question-and-answer session at the Center for American Progress, Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern gave a briefing on the results of last December's international climate change negotiations at Copenhagen and noted the continued divide between developed and developing countries over responsibility for taking action on climate change. Stern said it was "good news" that 90 countries had formally associated themselves with...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT