POLITICS AND NATURE

"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."

John Muir, The Wilderness World of John Muir

Just when it seemed nothing would ever get done when the congressional leadership and the President absolutely despise each other, a little compromise has produced an agreement and it was signed into law. It is called the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Efforts to curb subsidies for the big oil companies failed as the bill wound its way through the sharply divided Senate and the overall effect will be less than many favoring environmental protection would have hoped for but it is a start.

Policy can be the dull, tedious portion of American democratic process. If you listen for a little while to any news program, you will here the catch phrase of democracy thrown throughout broadcasts as if it is the easiest thing to comprehend and everyone knows exactly what it means and how things take place. Pundits and especially the angry partisan voices do not involve themselves in the messy world of crafting public policy and the negotiations taking place over the past months and years over the final product landing on the President's desk.

It's too difficult for those name-callers on either side of the ideological aisle. With congressional leadership discovering the existence of presidential power and how trying it can be to govern with 49 senators holding the line, the ability to get anything done, let alone an energy bill with so much of it opposed by powerful forces, is pretty impressive. If anyone wonders about the ability of elected officials to change the direction of the nation, they should take a look at the process of painful deal making involved in getting this energy bill passed and signed.

Higher Cafe Standards, Increased Bio-fuels

The law raises the percentage of bio fuels to be used by 2022 and increases the overall Corporate Average Fuel Economy (cafe) to 35 mpg by 2020....the first raise in those standards since they were first enacted in 1975. It requires efficient lighting in federal buildings by 2013 and raises efficiency standards for appliances. It creates an office of High Performance Green Buildings to promote environmentally friendly practices in federal buildings.

One funny side note, California decided to raise cafe standards to 36 mpg more quickly than the national bill does, by 2016. The EPA has been giving California waivers to decide its own fate regarding air quality for some time. EPA administrator Steve Johnson, however, denied the waiver to California and this could affect at least sixteen other states trying to take actions to move toward cleaner air. This just goes back to my ideas about today's conservativism. Conservative thought holds that states are great laboratories in which they can do what they choose without federal impediments. Whatever one thinks of Johnson's actions, it is clear that conservativism only guides conservatives when it suits their ideas. I find that hilarious. Be that as it may, California Gov. terminator is threatening to sue.  

It is About Time

The Democrats holding congressional power have made so many mistakes this year, it is hard to figure out who is more out of touch with reality, them or the White House. The Democrats were elected in part because of the war, but they are failing to take actions that give them the benefit of being seen as doing the job they were elected for. The power of the President, even an unpopular president, who has an unbelievably cohesive party membership with 49 senators, is strong. It would be good for the congressional party to learn that the reason they were elected runs much deeper than popular punditry would have it.

Voters were sick and tired of the abuse of power emanating from the offices of Tom Delay et al, and they were fired up over the scandals, the absence of even a pretense of fiscal discipline, and a refusal to take on issues that matter to people like the environment or social security. They spent like weekend sailors and refused to take the personal responsibility they like to shout about from their podiums.

So, the Democrats need to focus more on getting things like the energy bill passed and if they have to work with Republicans, they better figure out how they can get that done. There is enough in the energy bill to make anyone on any side angry. Oil companies still get subsidies, the cafe standard is a slow start, and it seems like industry should be able to exceed the efforts with any real effort. 

The White House complains that there is not enough effort to push clean coal (see previous articles about clean coal), nuclear, opening the outer continental shelf and ANWR to drilling, and doubling the strategic petroleum reserve. The problem is that the United States can't drill itself out of the problems facing it. Perhaps if someone was willing to take leadership they may be able to convince people to do that if they couple it with a serious national strategy but, as so often happens, rhetoric sticks certain leaders in a position of all or nothing.

The Energy Independence and Security Act puts goals in place and sets up a path toward a cleaner future. It is far from perfect, just like other legislation. It is time for business to get off it's collective behind and continue down the road to cleaning up the way we live. It is not some out of reach, hippie ideal figured out by skipping around in the woods. Environmental health and substantive environmental policy configures one of the greatest challenges confronting the United States and there are an awful lot of people working very hard to move things in a positive direction. Not a lot of people understand how things happen and what goes on to get a huge bill passed and signed.

Of course, in a quick jab at the president, which is always fun, he has become the scion of fiscal discipline all of a sudden....but I give it to him that he was able to force the Dems to alter the energy bill to fit his liking more and, despite the fact that I disagree wholeheartedly with him on a host of issues, especially relating to environmental policy, he signed the bill and said nice things about Congress.