Because the global warming tidal wave has been reduced to a mere splash, Immelt’s grand plan is in jeopardy. Climategate and the scandal surrounding the scientific basis of the latest UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on global warming is eroding both public and political support of costly emissions restrictions.
Congressional backlash against new global warming laws and/or regulation is also reducing support for proposed actions by the EPA. Democratic Congressmen Ike Skelton and Collin Peterson have introduced a bill to strip the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases, and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has Democratic co-sponsors for a legislative override of EPA’s effort to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Immelt is also seeing defections from the showcase cap-and-trade lobbying coalition – the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP). Just this week, three founding members, BP, Caterpillar and ConocoPhillips, decided to leave the group. Additionally, Marsh and Xerox have mysteriously disappeared from the roster of member companies on the USCAP website.
Desperate and perhaps panicked over the prospects of imminent failure, Immelt and a band of CEOs and environmental group allies have unleashed a last-minute lobbying push. They recently met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Climate Change Czar Carol Browner on global warming legislation.
While the outcome of the Administration’s lobbying fest remains unknown, it seems Immelt must have hit pay dirt with Graham.
Perhaps Graham is willing to accept undesirable aspects of the renewable energy bill in order to get broad political support for nuclear power, which our country needs. Regardless of his intentions, this deal comes at too great a cost.
Yielding to the demands of a corporate interest, sacrificing free-market principles and legitimizing unsustainable “clean” energy technologies is unacceptable. This is especially true at this critical time, when the entire basis for reducing carbon emissions is in jeopardy.
Graham should not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by buttressing Immelt’s failed business strategy or Obama’s war on fossil fuels. Let them deal with the consequences of their actions.