The Climate Policy Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together, April 2-3,2008

摘要

Sen. Joseph Iieberman addressed a diverse audience to open A&WMA's climate conference that included regulators, industry representatives, environmental advocates, academics, and consultants. Lieberman gave his bill, America's Climate Security Act of 2007 (S. 2191), "just a little better than a 50-50 chance" of passing this year and provided a candid perspective of the legislative gauntlet that the Lieberman-Warner bill faces when it is introduced later this spring. He also observed that it was appropriate for the conference to begin on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts vs. EPA, regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the U.S. Clean Air Act (CAA). The panels following the keynote session focused on policy options, design elements, and how policies might be integrated into the CAA. Steve Page, Director of EPA's Office of Air Quality Programs and Standards, described how using current authorities to implement effective climate policy was the stuff of bad dreams. Many attendees voiced frustration over the administration's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule-making, as a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on the same day the action was announced.