REP's Heroes Lead the Way

Like the early signs of a spring thaw, cracks are starting to show in the federal government’s indifference to global warming.

A House version of Senator John McCain’s Climate Stewardship Act was introduced in March with bipartisan support. Ten Republicans signed on as co-sponsors of a sensible, market-oriented bill that would cap carbon dioxide emissions from major industrial sectors and give businesses incentives to find creative ways to comply through greater energy efficiency and other innovations.

The GOP House co-sponsors—a list heavy with REP America’s Honorary Board members—include:

• Sherwood Boehlert (NY)
• Vernon Ehlers (MI)
• Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
• Jim Greenwood (PA)
• Amo Houghton (NY)
• Nancy Johnson (CT)
• Sue W. Kelly (NY)
• Christopher Shays (CT)
• Rob Simmons (CT)
• James Walsh (NY)

Strong federal action on global warming probably will take years, but growing support for meaningful climate legislation is a good sign. Last year, Senator McCain (also a member of our Honorary Board) surprised everyone when he rounded up 43 out of 100 potential votes for his bill in the Senate, including five other Republicans: Lincoln Chafee (RI), Susan Collins (ME), Judd Gregg (NH), Richard Lugar (IN) and Olympia Snowe (ME).

Pointing to his victory on campaign finance reform, the ever-persistent McCain has vowed to keep pressing for adoption of global warming legislation. We have no doubt that with McCain leading the way, a global warming bill eventually will pass.


Murky Outlook on Energy

In another good move, Senator John McCain, along with two other fiscally-conservative senators, John Sununu and Judd Gregg (both NH), blocked a gambit to attach the Senate energy bill’s $13 billion tax package to legislation repealing corporate tax provisions that ran afoul of the World Trade Organization.

Proponents are still noodling over strategies to get the energy bill’s tax and policy provisions passed. Even if the bill gets through the Senate, however, there are sharp differences with the House version, particularly the House’s liability waiver for producers of MTBE, a gasoline additive that has polluted drinking water nationwide.

The word around Washington is that if Congress cannot pass an energy bill by Memorial Day, the legislation is probably dead for the year.

There is plenty wrong with both the House and Senate energy bills, although they have a few useful provisions, including incentives, standards, and research provisions that would give modest but welcome boosts to energy efficiency and renewable energy development.

Lawmakers, however, still strenuously resist the one provision that would dramatically reduce energy bills, foreign oil consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions: a long overdue increase in motor vehicle fuel efficiency standards. A bipartisan bill defeated two years ago would have raised fuel efficiency to 36 miles per gallon by 2015, saving 1 million barrels a day by that year and nearly 3 million barrels daily by 2025 (about 15% of current consumption).


Murky on Mercury, Too

Speaking of energy... a bipartisan group of senators—including REP heroes Susan Collins (ME), Olympia Snowe (ME) and Lincoln Chafee (RI) —sent a strongly-worded letter to EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt about his inadequate proposals to reduce power plant mercury emissions.

Under EPA’s proposal, coal-fired power plants would have until 2018 to reduce mercury emissions by 70%. States, however, are leaving the timid souls at EPA in the dust. Last year, for example, Connecticut’s Republican Governor John Rowland signed legislation requiring coal-fired power plants in that state to cut mercury emissions 90% by 2008.

If you wonder why all this matters:

• Coal-fired power plants put out at least one-third of all U.S. mercury emissions from human sources.
  
  
• EPA scientists have estimated that 630,000 infants born in 1999-2000 had mercury in their blood at levels higher than considered safe.
  
  
• Mercury is known to cause severe brain damage in fetuses and newborns.
  
  
• More than 40 states have issued advisories cautioning people—especially pregnant women—to limit consumption of fish caught in lakes, streams, and coastal waters that have been exposed to mercury.
  

Fish and coastal waters were the topic of the hour in mid-April when the federal Commission on Ocean Policy released a report calling on Congress and President Bush to establish a national ocean policy that protects America’s coasts and marine resources from overuse, pollution, and habitat loss. The commission report said marine resources must be managed as ecosystems, using impartial science.

Members of the commission—all distinguished public servants, scientists, or business leaders—include such GOP luminaries as Admiral James Watkins, who served as the first President Bush’s energy secretary, and William Ruckelshaus, head of EPA during the Nixon and Reagan administrations.


Three Cheers for Three Guys!

Virginia Senator John Warner has introduced legislation to designate four new wilderness areas totaling 16,100 acres and add 12,500 acres to existing wilderness areas in the Jefferson National Forest. The Warner bill also would establish two national scenic areas in the Jefferson totaling nearly 12,000 acres.

Virginia today has more than 177,000 acres of designated wilderness areas.

Warner said: “As a father and grandfather, I feel an obligation to ensure that our children have lasting opportunities to enjoy and explore Virginia’s immense natural beauty. This bill will preserve some of our most pristine lands for future generations and add significantly to natural attractions of southwest Virginia.”

Also deserving of kudos is Colorado Congressman Scott McInnis, who sent a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee asking for increased funding for the National Landscape Conservation System, a largely unknown and underfunded network of Western conservation lands, totaling 26 million acres of wilderness areas, national conservation areas, national monuments, wild rivers and scenic trails run by the Bureau of Land Management.

Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi co-signed McInnis’ letter.

As McInnis put it: “The National Landscape Conservation System offers havens of solitude, expanses of pristine lands, archaeological and paleontological treasure troves, critical wildlife habitats, and unmatched recreation opportunities to tens of thousands of people annually. Sound management of these resources is instrumental to their continued viability.”

REP couldn’t have said it better than Warner and McInnis.