April 22 marked the 39th Earth Day in the United States.  The day was founded by former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) in 1970 as a way to inspire awareness and appreciation for the environment.

Surrounding Earth Day 2009, U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D- MA) held four days of hearings and discussions on “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” also known as ACES.  The hearings were designed to examine the views of the Obama Administration and other stakeholders on the discussion draft of the bill.  The stated goal of the legislation is to provide a comprehensive approach to America’s energy policy that charts a new course towards a clean energy economy.

Waxman and Markey assert that the bill would create millions of new clean energy jobs, save consumers hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs, enhance America’s energy independence, and cut global warming pollution.

Among those testifying during the hearings was former Vice President and Noble Prize winner Al Gore who offered his praise of the draft measure for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, increasing funding for renewable fuels and modernizing the electricity grid.  Gore also asserted his belief in the importance of the passage of such legislation, saying “I believe this legislation has the moral significance equivalent to that of the civil rights legislation of the 1960s and the Marshall Plan of the late 1940s”.

Offering a contrasting testimony was former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich who suggested that the draft legislation would be “wrong for our national security...wrong for our economy”. Gingrich also spoke of his own 38-point climate change plan which he has dubbed – “green conservatism”.

The starkly different opinions on the controversial legislation detail the very real divisions over the bill.  Among the most hotly debated portions of the measure is the establishment of what is known as a cap-and-trade system.

While such a system has the support of the Obama Administration as well as some environmental and business groups, some Republicans and Democrats have expressed serious concern and opposition to the idea citing potential harm to consumers and businesses.

In particular, Congressmen from what are known as the Rust Belt states for the prevalence of factories many of which have now been abandoned, are fearful that their companies are more vulnerable to being pushed overseas if the industries are further burdened by being forced to buy carbon emissions.

This position was also expressed by the world’s largest business advocacy organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “While the Chamber supports lowering greenhouse gas concentrations, this current framework will be the knockout blow to an American workforce that is already staggering”, said Bill Kovacs, the Chamber’s vice president of Environment, Technology, and Regulatory Affairs, in testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment.

“It is called ‘global climate change’ for a reason”, Kovacs said. “Even if the U.S. were to eliminate all of its greenhouse gas emissions today, the carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere would be relatively unaffected. This is because few other countries are willing to cut their emissions, which are growing at a far greater rate than our own”.

Approximately 20 million Americans participated in the country’s first Earth Day in 1970.  Fox News personality Glenn Beck used the occasion to look back to that first Earth Day when some alarming prognostications were made about the future of the planet.

Beck listed some of the warnings including, “From the first Earth Day in 1970, scientists said then that, ‘Air pollution is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in just the next few years alone;’ ‘By 1980 the life expectancy of all Americans will be 42 years;’ and ‘By 1985, air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth by 1/2’”.

While the debate over this legislation is expected to remain heated, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has promised to pass climate change legislation this year.

Joy Lutes

(published on April 26, 2009)