Media Inquiries: Véronique Rodman
202.862.4870 (vrodman@aei.org)
MEDIA ADVISORY: June 24, 2009
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pledged to pass the Waxman-Markey bill, formally known as "The American Clean Energy and Security Act," before the 4th of July congressional recess. As the House plans to vote on the legislation this Friday, June 26, AEI energy and environmental scholars Kenneth P. Green, Steven F. Hayward, Lee Lane, and Samuel Thernstrom find many problematic elements within the proposed bill, and all note that this legislation consists, at its core, of a cap and trade program for greenhouse gases.
Following are selected comments on Waxman-Markey. All four scholars are available for interviews and can be contacted directly:
Kenneth P. Green
Resident Scholar
Office: 202.862.4883
E-mail: kgreen@aei.org
Assistant phone: 202.862.7165
Assistant e-mail: abigail.haddad@aei.org
Kenneth Green is an environmental scientist by training. In 2001, he served as an expert reviewer for the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He has authored numerous policy studies, magazine articles, newspaper columns, encyclopedia and book chapters, and even a textbook for middle-school students entitled Global Warming: Understanding the Debate.
Green quote: "Cap and trade is fatally flawed by its susceptibility to political gaming. As we have already seen, the allocation of permits quickly turns into a food-fight at the carbon trough, with special interest groups lobbying members of Congress to get them a bigger share of the "free" but valuable carbon permits. At the end of the day, cap and trade will simply be another pork-barrel program that raises energy prices--that's what it's for--and those higher prices will retard economic growth, hit Americans hard in the wallet, and put many out of work altogether." (Ken Green)
Steven F. Hayward
F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow
Office: 202.862.5883
E-mail: shayward@aei.org
Assistant phone: 202.862.7165
Assistant e-mail: abigail.haddad@aei.org
Steven F. Hayward writes on a wide range of public policy issues. He is the coauthor of the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators; the producer and host of An Inconvenient Truth . . . or Convenient Fiction?, a rebuttal to Al Gore's documentary; and the author of many books on environmental topics. He contributes to AEI's Energy and Environment Outlook series.
Hayward quote: "Waxman-Markey is a bundle of contradictions. It seeks to make carbon more expensive, but does not want any consumer to pay higher energy prices--at least for the first decade of its operation. It seeks a first in economic history--it wants to have rationing without scarcity or price inflation. It does, however, contain a multitude of new regulations, product efficiency mandates, and spending programs that will command extensive managerial attention from the public and private sector together, though to much less effect than promised. Indeed, a careful review of this copious legislation reveals it to be the energy and climate policy equivalent of Sarbanes-Oxley financial regulation, guaranteed to generate extensive new bureaucracy and substantial economic cost to the productive economy while achieving few of its stated objectives. Just as Sarbanes-Oxley did little or nothing to expose the excessive risk and inflated asset values of the housing and financial sector, Waxman-Markey will do little to achieve genuine greenhouse gas emission reductions and curb the risks of global warming. The "cap and trade" system at the heart of the bill is riddled with so many loopholes that it should be considered more of a 'hairnet and giveaway.'" (Steve Hayward)
Lee Lane
Resident Fellow and Codirector, AEI Geoengineering Project
Office: 202.862.5948
E-mail: lee.lane@aei.org
Assistant phone: 202.862.5941
Assistant e-mail: dan.fichtler@aei.org
Lee Lane previously served as executive director of the Climate Policy Center, a policy research organization that analyzes climate policy and promotes economically efficient policy responses to the challenge of climate change. Mr. Lane is also the author of Strategic Options for Bush Administration Climate Policy (AEI Press, 2006). At AEI, he is researching the economic and political issues raised by geoengineering--a new way to deal with global warming by blocking a small fraction of the sunlight that would otherwise warm the Earth's surface.
Lane quote: "The Waxman-Markey bill would strip U.S. diplomats of all leverage in the coming climate talks. Passing this bill would be akin to Congress repealing U.S. tariffs just before the opening of a round of trade talks or imposing unilateral disarmament in the run-up to an arms control summit. Countries do not act in this way because, if they did, other nations would pocket their concessions and offer nothing in return. This response is exactly what the Waxman-Markey bill sets up." (Lee Lane)
Samuel Thernstrom
Resident Fellow and Codirector, AEI Geoengineering Project
Office: 202.862.5870
E-mail: sthernstrom@aei.org
Assistant phone: 202.862.5941
Assistant e-mail: dan.fichtler@aei.org
Samuel Thernstrom has studied and written about environmental issues for twenty years, with a particular emphasis on global climate change. He served on the White House Council on Environmental Quality prior to joining AEI in 2003. As codirector of the AEI Geoengineering Project, Mr. Thernstrom studies the policy implications of geoengineering--a new way to deal with global warming by blocking a small fraction of the sunlight that would otherwise warm the Earth's surface. His recent op-ed in the Washington Post discusses the possibility of engineering a cooler planet: http://www.aei.org/article/100625.
Thernstrom quote: "The Waxman-Markey bill tests the limits of the old axiom, never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. While proponents can cite the importance of establishing the first federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions, honest environmentalists are profoundly disappointed in the bill's fundamental flaws. This bill builds upon the Kyoto Protocol's record of failure, rather than learning valuable lessons from those mistakes. I agree with NASA climate scientist James Hansen, who said recently 'I hope cap and trade doesn’t pass, because we need a much more effective approach.'" (Sam Thernstrom)
For all other media inquiries, please contact Véronique Rodman at vrodman@aei.org (202.862.4871) or Sara Huneke at sara.huneke@aei.org (202.862.4870).
###
