Closing Statement - Challenges for the New President Are Also Opportunities

• Author: Leslie Carothers
• Position: President
• Pages: 56-56

Page 56 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2009, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, Jan./Feb. 2009

ELI Report

Transition teams stocked with

leading environmental law-

yers are busy f‌iguring out

what priorities to recommend for the

federal environmental and energy

agencies. Reams of recommenda-

tions from interest groups are piling

up. e hard question is where to

start.

New federal executives with en-

vironmental responsibilities should

f‌irst focus on getting results in the

f‌irst two years of the Obama ad-

ministration, when the crew is fresh

and the president has the support

of majorities in Congress and the

country. at means capitalizing on

the strongest forces for action: the

need for a potent f‌iscal stimulus to

revive the economy and the need for

credible progress on greenhouse gas

regulation.

Consensus on the need for fed-

eral spending to revive the economy

presents an opportunity to invest in

neglected environmental infrastruc-

ture and advance energy ef‌f‌iciency.

According to the National Associa-

tion of Clean Water Agencies, water

treatment projects totaling at least

$9 billion are “shovel-ready.” e

nation’s federal and state parks are

chronically underfunded. New fund-

ing for the U.S. Park Service and

the states could be put to work rap-

idly on long deferred maintenance

projects supporting skilled staf‌f and

would provide summer employment

for young people least likely to f‌ind

jobs in a recession.

Opportunities to increase the ef-

f‌iciency of the building sector, the

biggest user of coal-based electric-

ity, are abundant. e McKinsey

study of the cost of reducing car-

bon dioxide emissions showed that

investments in existing advanced

technology for lighting, heating

and air conditioning systems, elec-

tronic controls, and other building

systems pay for themselves rapidly.

But building developers and owners

have insuf‌f‌icient incentives to pay

even modest premiums up front for

greater ef‌f‌iciency of buildings they

don’t operate.

e federal government itself

owns or leases over 500,000 build-

ings. e General Services Adminis-

tration already requires certif‌ication

for new construction to the LEED

Green Building Rating Standard.

New funds should be dedicated to

upgrading existing buildings. New

leases should make energy ef‌f‌iciency

a requirement, with cost-sharing

for upgrades. e growing number

of municipal programs providing

f‌inancial incentives for new con-

struction can be expanded to include

weatherization and other ef‌f‌iciency

improvements to existing buildings.

(See ELI’s recent report on munici-

pal green building policies.)

e new administration and espe-

cially the new EPA should begin im-

mediately to develop the regulatory

program to reduce greenhouse gas

emissions. Federal legislation setting

greenhouse gas reduction targets and

establishing a cap and trade system

is unlikely to be enacted before

2010, but EPA can start to build

the framework for a credible climate

program as the legislative process

moves forward. e president-elect

has pledged that his EPA will grant

the waiver allowing California and

allied states to adopt more aggres-

sive motor vehicle fuel ef‌f‌iciency

standards. EPA should also make

the f‌inding that unregulated carbon

dioxide emissions endanger public

health and welfare and proceed with

a serious rulemaking to set multi-

pollutant rules for the electricity

generating industry, covering carbon

dioxide, mercury, and possibly sulfur

dioxide and oxides of nitrogen at the

same time.

e Bush administration’s ambi-

tious package of air pollution leg-

islation and rules for the electricity

generation sector is in shambles.

e courts have set aside the mer-

cury rule and vacated the Clean Air

Interstate Rule, which commanded

wide support and would have es-

tablished caps on SO2 and NOx in

28 states. e states have now been

left to develop mercury limits for

power plants on a case-by-case basis

and without ef‌fective tools to reduce

conventional pollutants to attain the

health-based ambient standards.

Litigation over carbon dioxide

limits in permits for new coal plants

is growing. Under these circum-

stances, there is likely to be some

support in the electricity generation

industry as well as the environmen-

tal community for having EPA get

back to work on a new framework

of rules. e agency should seize the

opportunity to consider the best new

thinking on how to regulate multiple

pollutants from an important indus-

try and to send a clear message to the

international community that the

new administration is ready to pull

its weight in meeting the challenge

of global warming.

Closing Statement

Challenges for the New President Are Also Opportunities

Leslie Carothers

President