A Time for Global Leadership-by Land, by Sea, by Air

• Date: 01 January 2009

39 ELR 10062 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORT ER 1-2009

President-elect Barack Obama must tackle three major

environmental and natural resource issues upon tak-

ing off‌ice: (1) global warming; (2) oceans policy; and (3)

stewardship of our public lands.

I. Global Warming

Global warming is rapidly degrading our planet, causing

widespread extinctions, driving rising sea levels and coastal

f‌looding, and tr iggering climate extremes and droughts that

threaten to destabilize communities throughout the world.

Thanks in large measure to President George W. Bush and

Vice President Richard Cheney, global warming is widely

perceived, however, as something of an environmental hobby

horse, of concern to scientists but without much effect on our

daily lives or future. It will fall to the next president to change

that perception by explaining to the American people, begin-

ning with his inaugural address, that global warming is a

national security threat and an impending human and eco-

nomic crisis.

Global warming is a national security issue because it

threatens to destabilize entire nations and displace hundreds

of millions of people from low-lying coastal areas and drought-

stricken regions, creating still more failed states and fueling

terrorism and instability. The president must explain these

facts to the American people.

Global warming will impose enormous negative costs on

our economy to cope with relocation away from coastal areas,

shifting patterns of agriculture, and health threats, to name a

few. The president must also explain these facts to the Ameri-

can people.

President-elect Obama must address this threat quickly and

forcefully, beginning with a comprehensive national energy

policy. The president should create a National Energy Security

Council, charging it to formulate an aggressive national policy

to quickly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and move

toward a sustainable energy economy.

The next president must bring government consensus—and

prompt action—to the following issues:

(1) Enact cap-and-trade legislation, designed to ratchet

down carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the most eff‌i-

cient manner. Cap and trade has been successfully used

to reduce sulfur emissions; cap-and-trade programs are

being implemented in Europe and in the New England

states. The models are available, and there is no excuse

for further delay.

(2) Enact strong national legislation to set up regula-

tory mandates and incentives for energy conservation.

Again, the models for action are readily available. Cali-

fornia has led the way; that state uses 50% less energy

per capita than the national average.

(3) Prepare a comprehensive national budget to dramati-

cally increase research and development to acceler-

ate the transition to sustainable energy use. Prepared

by the National Energy Security Council, it should

include a crash program to develop and implement car-

bon sequestration technology for coa l-burning electric

power plants. A national research and development

program will also provide opportunities to renew and

grow our economy—the Stern Review on the Eco-

nomics of Climate Change makes the case very per-

suasively. Stimulus programs, including job creation,

should be linked to the necessary energy transforma-

tion in the economy.

(4) Guide the United States into talks leading up to a global

deal following from expiration of the Kyoto Protocol.

The new president should appoint a high-level nego-

tiator with ambassadorial rank to represent him at the

Copenhagen negotiations in 2009—and to work closely

with Congress to assure that any agreements coming

out of Copenhagen do not die on arrival for congres-

sional action.

A Time for Global Leadership—by Land,

by Sea, by Air

The new President must make the environmental case to the American people

by Bruce Babbitt

Bruce Babbitt served as Governor of Arizona from 1978 to 1986 and as Secretary of the Interior from 1993 to 2001.