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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 2009)
DEC-Holiday-2009 :Holiday Issue 12/15/09 9:47 AM Page 13 ...National AFL-CIO supports cap-and-trade legislation (From Page 1) in Copenhagen. U.S. President Barack Obama wanted Congress to pass a bill to curb greenhouse gas emissions, so that he could take that com- mitment to Copenhagen. A bill in Congress — American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 — would do that. Also known as Waxman-Markey, HR 2454 would create a cap-and-trade system. Annual caps would be placed on emissions from large sources like utilities and refineries, with the cap getting smaller each year. Businesses would be able to decide, via a market in allowances, how to make the reductions. The bill passed 219-212 in the U.S. House of Rep- resentatives June 26, with 211 Democrats and eight Republicans in support. Congressman Peter DeFazio was the only Democrat in Oregon or Washington to vote against it, explaining in a press statement that he opposed it because the cap-and-trade system would be set up as an unregulated market, susceptible to gaming by Wall Street, and also because U.S. polluters would be allowed to invest in developing country carbon-reduction projects instead of making meaningful changes in the United States. The AFL-CIO supports the Waxman-Markey bill, for several reasons. The bill makes substantial investments in energy effi- ciency and renewable energy technologies, and requires that workers who do that work be paid the prevailing wage. It makes sizable investments in research and development for “carbon cap- ture and sequestration” techniques to bury carbon dioxide rather than release it into the atmosphere, which would enable the con- tinuation of the coal industry. And it has money for worker train- ing, and benefits for workers who lose jobs because their employ- ers shut down operations to comply with the law. As for the cap-and-trade market, the AFL-CIO’s Baugh says the bill’s framers took a number of the labor federation’s regulatory sug- DECEMBER 18, 2009 transition, and could lead the way. Also, developing countries gestions. Finally, it contains measures to stop “carbon leakage,” could rightly point out that most of the human-added greenhouse the term for what would happen if carbon dioxide limits in the United States push production to countries without similar limits: gas that’s now in the atmosphere was put there in the last 150 years by coal and oil burned in developed countries, and such en- trade-exposed energy-intensive industries would get free emis- ergy consumption directly contributed to their wealth. It would be sion allowances, and a “border adjustment” mechanism would unfair, developing countries argued, for greenhouse gas restric- kick in if any surge in imports occurred. tions to prevent their late- Massachusetts Democrat Sen. starting chance at prosperity. John Kerry is working on a com- the Copenhagen talks, panion bill in the U.S. Senate. The AFL-CIO supports the Waxman-Markey as of At press time, rich coun- The president could also act tries were proposing aid of independently of Congress by di- bill, for several reasons. The bill makes recting the Environmental Protec- substantial investments in energy efficiency $10 billion a year to help poor nations reduce their carbon tion Agency (EPA) to limit green- and renewable energy technologies, and dioxide output. house gas emissions. The U.S. “Ten billion dollars is not Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that requires that workers who do that work be enough to buy us coffins,” EPA has the authority to do so Lumumba Di-Aping, chair of under the Clean Air Act. On Dec. paid the prevailing wage. the G77 plus China group re- 7, the EPA moved to assert that portedly replied. authority, issuing an official find- China, with one fifth the world’s population, may be the key to ing that greenhouse gases pose a significant threat to human any global commitment. China is facing severe threats from the health. That finding lays the ground for the EPA to impose new effects of global warming in, for example, changes to the coun- emission standards on vehicles, power stations and industrial try’s crucial river system if warming temperatures disrupt Hi- plants as soon as next year. And that could happen if Congress malayan snowmelt. doesn’t provide a better plan. Baugh, as fierce a China critic as any when it comes to trading Getting the United States to start limiting emissions is only practices, says China may be near a breakthrough, as its leaders half of the immediate challenge; the other half is getting poorer see the dangers of global warming and the advantages of effi- countries like China, India, and Brazil on board. China is now on ciency and conversion to clean energy. The key is to get China to par with the United States in total greenhouse gas emissions. use its industrial might to transform its own economy, instead of At the Copenhagen talks, the developing countries are negoti- depriving other countries the opportunity to make windmills and ating in a loose coalition known as the “G77 plus China.” solar panels. The Kyoto Protocol left the developing world off the hook for the reason that rich countries could better afford the expensive (Turn to Page 14) NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 13
