Sixteen years ago, on this day, September 6, 2007, some American congressmen hold a hearing about what might be done…
2007 “The Future of Coal Under Carbon Cap and Trade”, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing
As Congress turns its eye toward global warming legislation this fall, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will host Governor Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, the CEO of American Electric Power, and other experts for a hearing exploring how to maintain coal as part of the energy mix for America and the world, while avoiding dangerous global warming. Chairman Markey and the rest of the Select Committee will learn about advanced coal technologies like carbon capture and storage, and how a framework for cutting emissions could affect the development and deployment of this technology and the future of coal-fired power plants.
WHAT: “The Future of Coal Under Carbon Cap and Trade”, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing
WHERE: 2172 Rayburn House Office Building and on the web at globalwarming.house.gov
WHEN: Sept 6, 2007, 9:30 AM
WHO:
Governor Dave Freudenthal, Wyoming
Michael Morris, Chairman and CEO, American Electric Power
Carl Bauer, Director, Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory
David Hawkins, Director, Natural Resources Defense Council’s Climate Center
Robert Sussman, Partner, Latham & Watkins, LLP
Stuart Dalton, Director for the Generation Sector, Electric Power Research Institute
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly xxxppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that the European Union had started an Emissions Trading Scheme. There was a regional scheme in the United States with if I recall rightly seven or eight north-eastern states and the idea and expectation was that whoever became President in 2008 there would be space for a national scheme potentially. And therefore these sorts of “what if, what shape” events were being held in what MSA users would call the policy stream.
What I think we can learn from this is that people anticipate the near future and want to be ready for it so they can get rich. And that’s what so much of carbon pricing has been about – not actually reducing emissions, because if you wanted to reduce emissions you would do different things and you would have to start doing them now rather than letting the so-called market which you’re busy creating decide.
What happened next
The 2009 effort https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Clean_Energy_and_Security_Act to get emissions trading something Waxman – Leigh bill was defeated narrowly Obama basically gave up and then f***** off to Copenhagen for the photo op.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.