Carlin Economics and Science

Warmists had little hope for a climate bill this year after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s July 22 decision not to push an energy bill this year containing cap and trade/tax provisions or renewable electricity standards. Reid’s decision yesterday not to bring even a greatly scaled down bill to a vote before the August Congressional recess because of a lack of votes further reinforced his earlier decision since if the Senate does not pass an energy bill soon it will be even harder to bring up a House-Senate “compromise” bill including the House-passed Waxman-Markey cap and trade/tax bill during a possible lame-duck session. This virtually ends any remaining possibility of a climate bill this year.

The future of climate change regulation now rides with what the US Environmental Protection Agency does or does not do. The Senate vote of 47-53 on June 10 on whether to prevent the EPA from pursuing climate regulations suggests that Senate support for EPA in this regard is fragile at best. If EPA should be prevented from pursuing climate change regulation, the worldwide climate regulation movement will probably be largely over as a viable political possibility (see here and here).