Pelosi Cautious On Climate Meeting With China

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

U.S Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was reserved in her choice of words today at the Brookings Institution as she reflected on her recent bipartisan trip to China to discuss the communist country’s climate efforts.

“This trip was very important for us because the U.S and China are the biggest emitters of gases and we have to come to terms in order for us to come to a multilateral agreement in Copehagen.” said Pelosi

The U.S delegation made the May trip after an invitation from the Chinese government. The meeting may have also given the U.S an ally against the growing threat that North Korea poses since its alleged nuclear and missile tests.

Bruce Klingner, an analyst for the Heritage Foundation, said that the Obama administration is “trying to press China to be less obstructionist, to allow for a greater punitive measure against North Korean government agencies.”

Why this (the climate crisis) “is important is we see it as a national security issue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We see it as an economic issue to create clean energy jobs and to be competitive in our investments and our innovation and technology so that we can be the world leader,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi spoke about how the American delegation prepared for this trip, saying “We arrived in China, we knew what we were going there to do but of course with our message reinforced from what we had just seen (in Alaska) also equipped with a bill that had passed Congress on Thursday which was a historic, momentous legislation on how we would go forward.”

The House Speaker confirmed that China has already demonstrated efforts to take energy consumption and climate into consideration, as she said “The Chinese have done remarkable things... in terms of closing down coal plants that were inefficient, the investments in research and actual construction of buildings in different ways so they'd use less energy in their construction and on the ongoing.”

But Pelosi reported that, despite efforts towards for climate improvement on a certain level, the delegation was met with a certain resistance from their Chinese counterparts with regards to further resolutions.

“What they wanted to be clear to us is that as they were doing this and they were investing in the technologies and the rest... they were going to be developing still, sustainable development with more of an emphasis on the development side,” said Pelosi.

Every year, “600,000 die of pollution in China,” according to Pelosi.

Group endeavors hopes to help planet and people

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Green for All and the Service Employees International Union converged in Washington, D.C. today, recommending to lawmakers how they should act following draft legislation recently put forward by Senate Democrats to introduce the Climate Equity Alliance, which is an alliance pushing for strong climate legislation that protects and provides opportunity for low- and moderate-income communities.

Jason Walsh, National Policy Director at Green for All said that, based on shared values, more than two dozen organizations from the research, advocacy, faith-based, labor and civil rights communities have formed this alliance.

“The urgent need of transition to a clean energy economy presents us with some critical choices…. We should therefore approach climate policy not only as environmental policy, though it is certainly that, but also as economic policy and as civil-rights policy that can advance principles of fairness and opportunity and equal access,” said Walsh.

The alliance believes that the best way to advance those principles “is to ensure that the strong policies needed to reduce green house gas emissions, also protect low and moderate income households and expand economic opportunity,” Walsh said.

U.S. climate policy needs to include effective mechanisms that reach all low-income households and effectively offset cost increases and to ensure that quality of life for those families is maintained, said Robert Greenstein, Executive Director at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“This is definitely doable as part of climate legislation,” Greenstein said. “One certainly doesn’t want climate policy to have the unintended side effect of increasing poverty and hardship... Well-designed climate policy can assure that there aren’t such adverse effects by auctioning emissions allowances and devoting an appropriate portion of the proceeds to effectively deliver consumer relief for low and moderate income households”.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green for All, said “We believe that if climate policy can fight pollution, it can also alleviate poverty at the same time,” adding that she wants to make ensure that the alliance is equitable and takes in account low and moderate-income communities.

“We want to ensure that climate policies provide equal protection and also equal opportunity for all communities,” she said. “Our hope is that working together, if we do this right, we’ll really be able to make sure that both our planet and the people that inhabit it are not really just surviving but in fact thriving in a clean energy economy.”

Beijing's chance to open up to the world clouded with smog

"My hope is for some enlightened leader at the top within China to bring reform about," said Elizabeth Economy, a writer for Foreign Affairs. She and Adam Segal spoke with Gideon Rose, the managing editor of Foreign Affairs Journal, about an article they co-wrote which argues that the Olympics have become a staging ground for domestic and international protests against China's record on human rights, the environment, and even food safety. They also discussed the likelihood that the Olympic games will bring about change within China.

Economy said that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games were supposed to be a coming out party for China, allowing it to open its doors to the world. However, she said, the Games have not been the transformative event the nation had hoped for, with rising criticism of its smoggy cities, restrictions on internet use, and infrastructure requirements.

Segal gave the example of Chinese taxis that have been equipped with microphones. He said that while some believe the instruments were installed to spy on people and repress them, he agreed with the government's statement that the microphones were put in place to control dangerous protests. Events like these have drawn immense global criticism, according to Segal.

Both Segal and Economy stated expectations of reform within the nation as a result of the games, and hope that the change would come from within the government itself.

U.S. needs fuel-efficient cars, not mass transportation

Randal O’Toole of the Cato Institute, Sam Staley of the Reason Foundation, and Greg Cohen of Highway Foundation gave a presentation at the Cato Institute regarding transportation reauthorization. The panelists discussed the difference between technical tools and behavioral tools to reduce transportations costs and pollution.

O’Toole said public transportation was thought to be the main solution to cost and pollution reduction in transportation. The studies conducted by each speaker gave evidence that a light rail system is expensive and not as environmentally friendly as previously thought. Instead, they said the real way to lower costs and pollution is to lessen congestion in populated areas, and try to convince Americans to drive more fuel-efficient cars.

The panelists concluded that the Highway Trust Fund is going to be empty be 2009 so the budget was discussed as well. Staley proposed that in order to fund highways and relieve congestion, toll roads paid for by the users should be implemented. The revenue generated by these tolls could then be funneled back into the highway system, funding a number of highway-related projects. Staley added that even with gas at $4 per gallon, congestion is not going away and is, in fact, getting worse. He said that Americans value the mobility that comes with having their own automobile too much to rely solely on public transportation. Staley claimed that congestion would limit the job economy because it lengthens commutes, and therefore access to jobs that are further away.

Ozone standards may not be strict enough for public safety

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency’s role in implementing new ozone level standards. Some members of the Committee expressed concern that witness and EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, appointed by President George W. Bush, allowed the current White House Administration to interfere with the decision making process, thus injecting politics into a scientific sphere. Rogene Henderson, chair of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, said that the recommended new national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) given to Johnson called for a new standard of .06 to .07 parts of carbon dioxide per million in the atmosphere. While Johnson initially called this range “compelling” and “necessary,” after a visit to the White House he changed his stance on the issue and set a standard of .075, higher than what Henderson said was recommended and a decision she called “willful ignorance.”


Johnson said he had enough scientific evidence to ensure he chose a safe level, and that he was not allowed to consider cost or whether the standard was realistic in his decision. Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH), along with several other members of the Committee, repeatedly pressed Johnson to disclose whether he received pressure from the White House in regards to his decision and explicitly said he need not reveal the content of any discussions. Johnson consistently avoided a “yes or no” answer, and replied each time that he has “routine conversations with members of the executive branch, including the President.” Johnson said he needed the ability to have candid, confidential conversations in order to make an independent decision, yet he maintained that the entire process had been executed with “transparency.”

Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) maintained at the closure of the panel that Johnson’s altering of his decision after meeting with the President indicated that he was influenced by him, and moreover that “the President made this decision.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) discussed the health repercussions of the depleting ozone, saying that it is especially hard on asthmatic children. They said it results in more people staying home from school and work, and a higher mortality rate.