As the festivities in Copenhagen got underway last week, there was no shortage of enthusiasm from those pushing for new regulations, new caps and new taxes – all in the name of saving the planet. With EPA Administrator Jackson officially unveiled her agency’s endangerment finding, commentators were quick to point out that this was the proverbial stick that was supposed to bully Congress into finally giving the President what he wants. Yet – as all this unfolds – I can’t help but think about what this will all mean to …
The Heritage Foundation’s Steven Groves and Ben Lieberman are live at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference reporting from a conservative perspective. Follow their reports on The Foundry and at the Copenhagen Consequences Web site. Climate change negotiations here in Copenhagen have apparently hit a speed bump because the United States and China are in a dispute over a sovereignty issue. But it is China, ironically, that is raising a fuss about intrusions within its borders. This impasse is ironic since it is the United States that should be most jealous …
The Heritage Foundation’s Steven Groves and Ben Lieberman are live at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference reporting from a conservative perspective. Follow their reports on The Foundry and at the Copenhagen Consequences Web site. The tiny Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu is a perfect microcosm of what is wrong with both global warming policy and the UN Copenhagen climate conference. Although it has a population of only 12,000, Tuvalu has garnered a great deal of attention here at Copenhagen, thanks to the claim that it is perhaps the nation most …
The climate treaty negotiations inside Copenhagen’s Bella Center at the United Nations Climate Change Conference ground to a halt yesterday when the G-77, the largest group of developing nations, walked out. These poorer nations demanded that richer nations sign a treaty that includes a large transfer of wealth to the developing world to compensate for the developed world’s historical contribution to global warming. The G-77 countries ended their walkout after less than two hours, perhaps because global warming has had no apparent impact on December Copenhagen temperatures. Stuck out in …
When Kevin Garnett led the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA Championship, his memorable post game interview included him screaming, “Anything is possible!” – A slight rendition of his shoe sponsor Adidas’ motto, “Impossible is nothing.” At Copenhagen where world leaders are gathering to discuss policies to ratchet down the emission of carbon dioxide, the goals of some proponents of a climate treaty are as close to impossible as you can get. Many global warming activists believe 350 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the …
The Heritage Foundation’s Steven Groves and Ben Lieberman are live at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference reporting from a conservative perspective. Follow their reports on The Foundry and at the Copenhagen Consequences Web site. Below is Lieberman’s first video interview with Martin Aagerup, President of the Danish think tank CEPOS, a group that has done important work on renewable energy and climate change.
With Congress looking to spend its way out of the recession, it’s running into a bit of a hiccup: the government’s credit card is about to be maxed-out. And big spenders in Congress aren’t planning on cutting spending in order to balance the budget. Instead, Congress will raise the debt limit by an additional $1.9 trillion, allowing the government to borrow (and spend) even more money. In other words, Congress will effectively raise the credit limit on its own credit card. How, exactly, does the debt limit work? How did …
The Senate health care bill includes a well-known “employer mandate” provision that would require employers to offer “qualified” health plan and pay 60% of the premium, or pay an annual tax penalty of $750 per full-time employee. What is less well-known is that the provision would also tax companies even if they do offer insurance – but only if they hire people from low- and moderate-income families who qualify for, and elect to accept, premium subsidies. And the tax penalty for hiring those employees – arguably the people who need …
Today’s Washington Post editorial page draws attention to the plight of the embattled D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which is now in critical condition due to language contained in the omnibus bill. The 2010 spending bill effectively kills the successful program by prohibiting any new students from receiving scholarships. The Post writes that contrary to being a compromise as some lawmakers claim, the OSP language tucked away in the omnibus bill is in fact a death sentence: IT IS DISTRESSINGLY clear that congressional leaders never really meant it when they said …
The Heritage Foundation’s Steven Groves and Ben Lieberman are live at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference reporting from a conservative perspective. Follow their reports on The Foundry and at the Copenhagen Consequences Web site. The main impression of many attendees at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen is just how poorly organized it all is. The check in time for non-governmental delegates (like Heritage’s attendees) on December 14 was over 8 hours. Hundreds had to wait for hours outside, where global warming has had no apparent impact on December …
