A new study released today by the Lewin Group, one of the most well-respected health care consultancies in Washington, gives new estimates on “The Cost and Coverage Impacts of a Public Plan” like the one being considered by President Obama and the congressional leadership. The Lewin Group says that “If the public plan is opened to all employers…at Medicare payment levels we estimate that about 131.2 million people would enroll in the public plan. The number of people with private health insurance would decline by 119.1 million people. This would …
In the UK Guardian last month, a leading European energy executive warned that Europe’s carbon market was becoming a “new type of sub-prime tool.” More analysis from the article: The EU’s emissions trading scheme was set up as a market solution to cut greenhouse gas pollution from industry. Polluters were issued with permits that can be traded between companies and countries as a way of encouraging an overall reduction in carbon output. However, companies are now cashing them in. Up to €1bn-worth of permits are said to have been sold …
Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL) is a member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. He took time this week to answer questions from U.S. Fulbright Fellow Patrick Bell. 1. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the new Chair of the Energy & Commerce Committee, has said he would like to have global warming legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions passed out of committee by Memorial Day. What might be some of the sticking points to following that timeline? This is a huge undertaking. A bill that would monetize carbon has far reaching …
In the wake of the recent Russia-Ukraine gas spat, debate has begun once more in Europe on how to secure energy supplies. The focus again turns to developing policies that reduce the continent’s vulnerability to events that threaten the security of supply in the future. As reported here earlier, in the wake of the gas dispute, a number of E.U. member states are considering a nuclear revival—while others have even switched on old Soviet-era nuclear reactors. But an emphasis on “energy solidarity” and making energy efficiency targets mandatory, is also …
The ongoing row between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas supplies to Europe appears to be deepening. This comes just days after the European Union announced what was supposed to be a breakthrough agreement to get gas flowing again to at least 15 European countries, leaving millions in the cold. EurActiv.com reports that the ongoing crisis between Moscow and Kiev appears to be a strategy of “delusion, reminiscent of the Cold War.” Along those lines, an official at the Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom went so far as to accuse …
With the New Year dawning across Europe, already several crises are competing for headlines. Buried somewhere in the news, you might have read that the United States is not the only international actor facing a transition of power–change is afoot in the European Union as well. From the conflict in Gaza to the ongoing global economic woes, the Europeans appear determined to play a leading role–that is, if internal squabbling doesn’t get in the way first. Already, some are concerned that the EU’s role in world affairs may not be …
U.S. Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), is the ranking Republican on the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.Rep. Sensenbrenner served as an official U.S. observer to the UN climate talks in Poznan, Poland, and took time to answer the following questions I posed to him this week: 1) President-Elect Obama has said he wants to commit the U.S. to reducing emissions by 80% of 2005 levels by 2050. What impacts might such a plan have on the U.S. economy? The economic impacts depend on the approach used. However, the effect of …
That’s the case made in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal today, which takes specific aim at the “green jobs myth” citing evidence from recent blue-collar worker protests in Europe, and the lack of progress coming out of UN climate talks in Poznan, Poland: In Brussels last week, some 11,000 metal workers clogged the EU quarter to protest global-warming policies. They worry that their industry could be harmed and their jobs forced overseas; some of them carried coffins as props. Most of the marching workers were from Germany, where auto makers …
Imagine a court with international jurisdiction to set right the wrongs of “environmental injustice.” Sound pretty far out there? According to the Daily Telegraph, a group of British lawyers don’t think so. The first role of the new body would be to enforce international agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions set to be agreed next year. But the court would also fine countries or companies that fail to protect endangered species or degrade the natural environment and enforce the “right to a healthy environment”. The idea is apparently to give teeth to …
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is heading to Poznan, Poland, next week to take part in the U.N. climate talks being held there. Kerry will serve as one of several congressional emissaries who have been charged with reporting back to President-elect Barack Obama. But just as Kerry tells Grist magazine that he hopes the talks will lay tracks for the much heralded Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen next December (where the successor to Kyoto is expected to be hammered out), the wheels appear to be coming off of the European …
