The Political Climate: an ongoing commentary on the NH Primary and Climate Change

Yesterday the governors of Oregon, California, Washington, New Mexico, and Arizona made an agreement (but without coming to any sort of agreement) to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.  The five states developed the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative–similar to the East Coast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)–with the goal of establishing a carbon-trading system that will allow polluters the opportunity to buy and sell greenhouse gas pollution credits.  Set reduction targets have yet to be determined, but the hope is that within six months the five states will reach an agreement.  Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona said “In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states to take action to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the country.”  Great, but when are we going to see all of this so-called action take place?  (Read the entire article from the Washington Post here.)

Mitt Romney is also talking about action.  While in the Granite State last week he visited GT Solar in Merrimack to talk about his plan to make the US energy independent in 20-30 years.  “It doesn’t make sense to send hundreds of billions a year to countries that don’t like us,” he said.  Instead he will soon lay out his plan that will include promoting renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar, and biofuels, as well as plans to drill off-shore and in the Alaska wildlife reserve.  (Read more from here and here.)  Here’s what he said when unveiling the Massachusetts Climate Change Action Plan:  If climate change is happening, the actions we take will help.  If climate change is largely caused by human actions, this will really help.  If we learn decades from now that climate change isn’t happening, these actions will still help our economy, our quality of life, and the quality of our environment.”