Obama administration plays some shrewd political hardball on climate change

[jefferson_dem]

Hardball on Climate Change

The Financial Times notes that a new ruling issued by the Environmental Protection Agency today finds "that carbon dioxide and five other gases pose a danger to human health clears the way for the agency to regulate emissions from large industrial sources without waiting for legislation from Congress."

Marc Ambinder: "Having 'found' that CO2 is a 'public danger,' and having taken the requisite administrative steps, the executive branch now believes it has the power to unilaterally impose carbon and greenhouse gas emissions caps on industry in the United States. This overhanging boot will threaten to drop until and unless Congress acts. It's a neat executive weapon to have -- one that, incidentally, the Bush administration chose not to take out of the locker, and one that the Obama administration decided to unsheathe as the President prepares to travel to Copenhagen."

It's hardball politics. With the threat of regulation hanging over them, many large companies would much prefer a cap-and-trade type system the Obama administration has proposed than have the EPA impose its own rules.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/12/07/hardball_on_climate_change.html?utm_medium=pwire.us-twitter&utm_source=&utm_content=site-basic

[Cha]

1. They want to fix it and will

use any tool they can in the face of neanderthals like the US Chamber of Commerce.

[kelly1mm]

2. And the neaderthals in the US Senate? nt

[Cha]

3. Most definetly.

[PopSixSquish]

4. To Rephrase a Quote from "The Untouchables"

"You can get further with a kind word and the threat of President Executive Order than you can with just a kind word."

Sic 'em fellas...