Obama May Visit Climate Talks Armed With CO2 Ruling (Update 2)

[kristopher]

Source: Bloomberg

Obama May Visit Climate Talks Armed With CO2 Ruling (Update2)


By Kim Chipman and Jim Efstathiou Jr.

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama may go to climate-treaty negotiations in Copenhagen armed with new regulatory powers that could help forge consensus in efforts to curb global warming.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson “will make a significant climate announcement” today, the agency said in an e-mailed statement. The regulator has said it may declare carbon dioxide a health hazard, giving it control over emissions from power plants, factories cars and trucks and other sources.

Unleashing the EPA to set emissions rules will give Obama standing when asking other nations to make commitments for a new global climate treaty, said Kevin Book, a Washington-based managing director for analysis firm ClearView Energy Partners LLC. Obama now plans to visit Copenhagen at the close of the talks on Dec. 18, when other world leaders will be there, rather than this week.

“It’s exactly what you would want to have in your bag on the way to Copenhagen,” Book said in an interview today. “You can’t go and argue for other nations to make changes if you haven’t made any yourself.”

The climate talks among 192 nations opened today.

Autos, Factories

The EPA rules would govern heat-trapping pollution that many scientists say may lead to disruptive and irreversible climate shifts.

The Washington-based America Petroleum Institute, which represents oil companies, said today the EPA rules would be “inefficient and excessively costly.” The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, also based in Washington, said the proposed new rules are based on “selective science.”

“The implications of today’s action by EPA are far reaching...

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aRoEbk.NGyho

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Announcement later today...

This could be a game changer that allows the political debate to finally catch up with the science.

[kestrel91316]

1. But, but, two British emails proved conclusively that global warming is a fraud!!!1!!11!!!

[bergie321]

3. Emails are always right

I just don't understand how they know about the size of my manhood...

[kestrel91316]

4. Especially when there only two emails out of thousands with an

edited, out-of-context phrase or two that RWers can point to as "incriminating".

[Igel]

6. There were more things in the dump than just emails.

Phase 1 was what liberal arts people could read, understand and argue about. That's mostly over. Claims have been made, claims have been answered, and sides have been chosen. For a lot of people, that means everything has to be over because, well, apart from what liberal arts people can read, understand, and argue about what is there?

Phase 2 is looking at the programming that was used to deal with the raw data. This is a harder nut to crack. People hostile to AGW are looking at it, for good or for bad. Claims are being made and are a bit harder to summarize in a three-paragraph NYT article than the ones in Phase I were; these claims, however, are being ignored. I'll be charitable and assume that they're being ignored because the investigators at the receiving end don't want to muddle the waters while their institutions and organizations are reviewing their work and behavior. However, this has the important result that there's no interesting deboned back-and-forth for those stuck at Phase I to dig their teeth into without risk of chipping their intellectual teeth. In other words, the claims can simply be ignored with impunity. This is probably bad in the intermediate term because any results that make it into a journal will be months from now, while Phase I adds urgency to getting things done now. (The time for deliberation is seldom when you're under attack.)

Actually, it's not true that there were no rebuttals. There were a few, early on. One--I forget who said it--discussed the probability that they were correct in their original assertions. They weren't very flattering. Then they stopped.

Phase 3 is looking at the raw data. That's started, but it's a nut harder to crack than phase II. People are trying to organize and sort through it. It'll be a while before much can be made of it, but some anti-AGW have hinted at possible claims.

[Delphinus]

2. This is going to prove interesting.

Thanks.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kristopher.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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