National Press Club speech & the 2007 State of the Union
2 sides of the "climate change" (conservative's term)/ global warming (liberal's term) debate in America... is either doing enough? I'm inclined to say, "no".
From House Speaker Pelosi's recent speech at the National Press Club:
Congress must use the opportunity given to us by the American people to prepare a new America for the 21st century.... A new America that declares our energy independence, promotes domestic sources of renewable energy, and combats climate change, a new America that is strong, secure and a respected leader among the community of nations. Energy independence is a national security issue. It is also an environmental issue and an economic issue for our country and for America's families.
Last week, when I met with mayors from all across the nation, Mayor Patrick Hays, the mayor of North Little Rock, Arkansas, told me of the hybrid car he drives. He said, "When I drive that car, I do it for my granddaughter." It is important to our children's health and their global competitiveness to rid this nation of our dependence on foreign oil and big oil interests. Taking bold measures today to achieve energy independence within 10 years must be of the highest priority to the Congress. In the last Congress, House Democrats put forth our plan to energize America with homegrown alternative fuels. We must also promote energy efficiency, standards, and effective conservation. As it says in the Old Testament, "To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship, to ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us." To preserve our planet, God's creation, we must make a serious commitment to combat global warming. Global warming is an increasing threat to our world with implications for our health, food supply and the survival of many species and perhaps entire ecosystems. The science of global warming and its impact is overwhelming and unequivocal. The American people understand the urgency of the problem of climate change. 2006 was the warmest year on record capping a nine-year warming streak. Working with the global, religious, business and academic and scientific communities, we will continue robust research on global warming and produce policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously creating good paying jobs. We want to work with President Bush on this important issue in a bipartisan way, but we cannot afford to wait. Therefore, with openness and the participation of all parts of our democracy, we will pass groundbreaking legislation that addresses global warming and energy independence.
....
A little bit of Q&A at the end of the speech
Darren Samuelsohn: Hi, Darren Samuelsohn, I'm a reporter from Greenwire and Environment & Energy Daily here in Washington. I have a couple questions about global warming. First, to Mr. Reid, does the Senate plan to follow Ms. Pelosi's plan to create a new select committee? Will you actually create a new select committee? And then for both of you, I'm curious, you've talked about global warming and there are many solutions out there from a cap on carbon dioxide to renewables, energy efficiency. As you talk about legislation in July are you referring specifically to a cap on carbon dioxide bill or are you open some of these other ideas?
Sen. Harry Reid: Let's see, day before yesterday, Wednesday, at 2:15, I went to the Ohio clock, that place in the Senate where we do our press events on the Senate side, and had all my chairmen with me. And it was a remarkably, I think, important press conference because each of my chairs stood and talked about what they're going to do in their committees. Senator Inouye, for example in Commerce, said he's going to move forward on CAFE standards. Senator Lieberman, Government Affairs, said he was going to make sure that the federal fleet, which is the largest in the world, 700,000 vehicles, not counting the military. We buy 60,000 vehicles a year. He's going to work to make those green, those vehicles. And then, finally, Senator Boxer stood and said, "Thirty-nine percent of the greenhouse gases in America are produced by buildings." The largest holder of real estate in America is the General Services administration. The buildings should be green. So we're moving forward in a number of different fronts. And we feel very comfortable that we're going to be able to work with the House, as we do on all issues. Speaker Pelosi told me about her task force and I think that's a great idea. She's got a lot more people to work with than I do. I only have 50, so we're not going to have a select committee, but we're going to work with her hand-in-hand in accomplishing a new direction for the environment in America.
From Bush's State of the Union speech tonight...
Extending hope and opportunity depends on a stable supply of energy that keeps America's economy running and America's environment clean. For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil. And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists -- who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments, and raise the price of oil, and do great harm to our economy.
It's in our vital interest to diversify America's energy supply -- the way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way America generates electric power, by even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power. (Applause.) We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. (Applause.) We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol -- (applause) -- using everything from wood chips to grasses, to agricultural wastes.
We made a lot of progress, thanks to good policies here in Washington and the strong response of the market. And now even more dramatic advances are within reach. Tonight, I ask Congress to join me in pursuing a great goal. Let us build on the work we've done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years. (Applause.) When we do that we will have cut our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.
To reach this goal, we must increase the supply of alternative fuels, by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017 -- and that is nearly five times the current target. (Applause.) At the same time, we need to reform and modernize fuel economy standards for cars the way we did for light trucks -- and conserve up to 8.5 billion more gallons of gasoline by 2017.
Achieving these ambitious goals will dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but it's not going to eliminate it. And so as we continue to diversify our fuel supply, we must step up domestic oil production in environmentally sensitive ways. (Applause.) And to further protect America against severe disruptions to our oil supply, I ask Congress to double the current capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (Applause.)
America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. And these technologies will help us be better stewards of the environment, and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change. (Applause.)
Ah, and finally... the Green Party's reaction to last year's State of the Union address. Could very well be this year's.
Big difference: http://www.gp.org/video/2006stateofunion/video3.shtml
Rich Whitney, Green Party candidate for Governor of Illinois
Cell phone 924-4308, candidate@whitneyforgov.org
http://www.whitneyforgov.org
Transcript
(Mr. Whitney addresses energy policy, global warming, and Green solutions to the growing climate crisis. The text below represents a longer version of his video rebuttal to President Bush's State of the Union speech.)
Hi, I'm Rich Whitney, Green Party candidate for Governor of Illinois. Let's take an honest look at the real State of the Union regarding our nation's use of energy.
To put it bluntly, the situation is critical. Hurricane Katrina was just one of many warning signs that global warming now poses grave dangers to the planet. The era of cheap oil is obviously moving toward a close, posing grave dangers to our economy. Our political leaders ought to be alarmed - yet they continue to fiddle while the planet burns.
The response of the Bush administration and the Republican and Democratic leadership to this dual crisis is astoundingly irresponsible. It reminds me of a man whose house is on fire - and his response is, "Gee, maybe I should start shopping for a sprinkler system. Or maybe not."
Granted, the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina was compounded by the Bush Administration's shocking indifference to its victims. Not only did it disregard warnings and respond slowly; when it did respond, its forced evictions and actual obstruction of the delivery of food, water and aid to New Orleans shows that it used the disaster to promote gentrification by military force.
Republicans and Democrats alike have consistently sided with corporate interests against the right of poor and African American residents of New Orleans to return home. In sharp contrast, dozens of Green Party activists, led by Leenie Halbert, Andrea Garland, and Malik Rahim, have worked hard to provide relief, security, and safe returns home.
Katrina and the record 2005 hurricane season weren't freak accidents. Since the 1970s, tropical storms in both the Atlantic and Pacific have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent. 2005 was one of the two hottest years in recorded history. Nineteen of the hottest 20 years have occurred since 1980. It is a fact that the polar ice caps and glaciers of the world are melting. It is a fact that permafrost in the northern tundra is thawing, releasing even more greenhouse gases. Industrially generated global warming is a fact, recognized by nearly every scientist not on the payroll of the oil companies - and yet, the leadership of the two corporate parties continue to bury their head in the sand (probably looking for more oil).
What we saw when Katrina and Rita struck cities and towns on the Gulf coast last year is just a hint of the future disasters to come -- if we don't take real steps to curb global warming and break our addiction to oil and other fossil fuels.
An overwhelming majority of scientists warn that the Kyoto agreement goal, of a 5% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2012 - is severely inadequate. They urge a 70% reduction. The Green Party supports this goal. Yet the Bush administration refuses to even sign on to the Kyoto agreement.
Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have caved in to the demands of Big Oil, Big Auto and the highway lobby. For example, the corporate media didn't report it much, but average fuel economy for all 2006 motor vehicles actually declined from 2005. The figures came out just a few days after the House Rules Committee blocked an attempt to require an increase in fuel economy standards of 10% by 2016. This outrage illustrates how irresponsible corporations and their political prostitutes in Congress and the White House are taking us in the wrong direction. And the Big Three Auto makers wonder why their business is in decline!
Meanwhile, even though rail transit is far more energy efficient and far less polluting than travel by automobile; even though a billion dollars spent on rail transit creates 7,000 more jobs than a billion dollars spent on highways, our Republican president and his Democrat Transportation Secretary are moving in the wrong direction; they are actually trying to de-fund and dismantle AmTrak.
Our reliance on oil and other fossil fuels, and on the automobile as the chief mode of transportation, hasn't only damaged the environment. Now it is harming the living standards of working and especially lower-income Americans, struggling to afford skyrocketing home heating bills and gas prices.
The corporate drive to keep us addicted to oil has also led the Bush Administration and its Republican and Democratic partners in crime to involve us in a disastrous campaign to dominate the globe - including the present illegal, immoral and costly war in Iraq. As long as we remain dependent on fossil fuels, we'll face more and more international conflict over dwindling resources. Therefore, the struggle against global warming and fossil fuel addiction is part of the struggle for peace and real security for America and the world.
To be sure, in his State of the Union address, President Bush did acknowledge that "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world" and set a goal of reducing Middle East oil imports by 75 percent by 2025. However, there are at least three gigantic problems with his policy proposals, such as they are.
First, reducing "oil imports" only addresses one aspect of the problem of greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, which are produced by any combustion of fossil fuels in general.
Second, Bush only called for a relatively modest 22 percent increase in research. While we certainly don't oppose research into new energy technologies as a general proposition, this is woefully inadequate in light of the seriousness of the crisis.
Third, Bush's prescription indicated that a considerable focus of the research would be directed toward "zero-emission coal-fired plants" and "clean, safe nuclear energy" - an oxymoron if ever we heard one, considering that a means to safely store or dispose of tons of existing highly radioactive nuclear waste has yet to be found. Again, we do not oppose research, per se, on any energy technology. What we do oppose is more of this administration's misplaced priorities. Specifically, we oppose the diversion of an already inadequate, modest boost in research into the pursuit of delusory projects that are among the least promising, in terms of addressing the crisis of oil dependency and global warming. This diversion is obviously aimed more at bailing out Bush's allies, the giant energy corporations that have already invested heavily in coal and nuclear power, than in seriously addressing the crisis.
What is really needed is a major, historic national and international initiative against global warming. In my own campaign in Illinois, I describe it as a "New Deal" for sustainable energy development - because a serious effort to build a sustainable energy future is not only necessary for all life on the planet; it will be good for our economy, creating hundreds of thousands of new, quality jobs.
By "sustainable energy," I mean conversion from fossil fuels and nuclear power to safe, clean, renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and fuel cell technologies. Equally important are energy conservation and efficiency, including energy-efficient transportation. The savings to businesses and consumers alike would provide more disposable income, stimulating our lackluster economy. If we make the effort, we could turn a negative into a positive.
Here in Illinois, I will be campaigning for grants, subsidies, tax incentives and purchasing requirements to support solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energy production. If elected, I will get us on the right track, so that we meet and exceed the goal of 20 percent renewable energy by the year 2020. And speaking of getting on the right track, I will work hard to develop energy efficient mass transit, including high-speed rail and light rail.
These kinds of initiatives are needed at the federal level as well - and the Green Party will be fighting for them in 2006. The Green Party is well suited to lead the charge. Unlike the Democratic and Republican parties, we do not accept corporate campaign contributions. We are building a true party of the people because we want to restore government of, by and for the people, instead of government dominated by big money.
The American people deserve a better choice than the choice between two corporate-run parties - the party that gave us the lies of Bill Clinton and the party that gave us the lies of George Bush. They deserve a better choice than a Republican leadership that is shameless and a Democratic leadership that is spineless.
In 2006, you can help get America on the right path toward both energy security and global peace by getting involved and supporting the Green Party and its candidates.
Thank you.