Evergreen Energy Inc EEE

Bloomberg on Energy:

[no1coalking]

CAMPAIGN 2008: Bloomberg says candidates fail to address tough climate issues (02/11/2008) Nathanial Gronewold, special to E&ENews PM UNITED NATIONS -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) blasted presidential candidates today for not properly addressing climate change, saying the front-runners are merely telling voters what they want to hear rather than facing up to hard truths. In anticipation of nationwide legislation to control heat-trapping greenhouse gases, Bloomberg said he believed a tax on carbon dioxide emissions would be more successful than a "less direct" system of cap and trade. Talking to reporters after delivering a speech at a two-day series of talks and panel discussions on climate change at U.N. headquarters, Bloomberg expressed his dismay at how little the issue has come up in the presidential campaign. His prediction from a few months back that important environmental issues would scarcely be mentioned in the current election cycle has "proven right," he said. "It is one of the seminal issues of our time, and I think all the candidates on both sides of the aisle should be asked explicitly: Where do you stand and what will you do?" Bloomberg said. "They want to say 'I can give you something for nothing, and you can have it quickly.' And nobody wants to talk about the risks or the costs of plan B if it doesn't work." Earlier in the day Bloomberg boasted of New York's leadership on the climate issue to an audience of government representatives, private businessmen and U.N. officials. Bloomberg highlighted four of his recent initiatives in his remarks: New York's move to convert the city's taxi fleet to hybrid vehicles in five years, his controversial congestion pricing plan, efforts to improve the city's energy efficiency and reduce the carbon emissions of city buildings, and an effort to plant 1 million new trees over the next 10 years. Late last month Bloomberg's proposal to charge $8 to vehicles entering below 60th Street in Manhattan during peak weekday traffic times won approval from a state commission. The plan still faces stiff opposition among city and state lawmakers and has to win approval from Albany and the City Council to be enacted. If congestion pricing wins approval by March 31, New York will be eligible to receive $354.5 million in federal funds to improve mass transit. "New York City can shrink our carbon footprint 30 percent from current levels by the year 2030," Bloomberg told the audience. "And recent authoritative studies indicate that the U.S. could do something very close to that, too -- and at nearly zero net cost, because so many of the energy efficiency strategies involved actually save money in the long run." Bloomberg added: "I believe the U.S. should enact a tax on carbon emissions." He asserted that a cap-and-trade system for dealing with emissions was "an approach that I believe would be less direct and therefore less successful. But either alternative would be superior to our current inadequate status quo. Instituting either would mark a major and welcome commitment to addressing climate change." Bloomberg also blasted the energy bill recently adopted by Washington lawmakers, saying that the federal money to support corn ethanol included in the bill amounts to a subsidy for 10 percent of crop growers and would contribute to food insecurity worldwide. "I have thought and said repeatedly that the last energy bill that the United States Congress passed and the president signed would raise food costs in this country and also around the world, and people literally will starve to death in parts of the world," he said.