Obama Lays Out New Energy Plan

Will Allow States To Enact Tougher Emissions Restrictions; Moves On Fuel-Efficiency Rules

(CBS/AP)  Saying the country "must have the courage and commitment to change," President Barack Obama took steps to redirect America's energy policy with a series of executive orders that continue the trend of reversing Bush administration policy.

Mr. Obama pushed for stronger curbs on greenhouse gases, saying he wants to make it easier for states such as California to adopt tougher fuel-efficiency rules than the federal standard.

And he also directed his administration to get moving on new fuel-efficiency guidelines for the auto industry in time to cover 2011 model-year cars.

Mr. Obama told a White House gathering that "America will not be held hostage to dwindling resources." He said the government must work with the states - not against them - on tougher fuel standards for cars and trucks.

"It will be the policy of my administration," he said, "to reverse our dependence on foreign oil while building a new energy economy that will create millions of jobs."

He said California and several other states have tried to come up with tougher emission standards but that "Washington stood in their way."

House Minority Leader Jim Boehner called the policy "disappointing," saying it will "destroy American jobs at the very time government leaders should be working together to protect and create them."

Shortly after the new policy was announce, General Motors Corp. said it would cut 2,000 jobs at plants in Michigan and Ohio, and it will halt production for several weeks at nine plants over the next six months due to slow sales.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday will appoint a special envoy for climate change as the Obama administration moves to restore America's credentials in environmental policy, U.S. officials familiar with the decision said.

Clinton will name Todd Stern, a former White House assistant who was the chief U.S. negotiator at the Kyoto Protocol talks in her husband's administration, to the post, the U.S. officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a planned midday State Department ceremony where Clinton will announce the appointment.

The attention on energy comes as Mr. Obama heads into his first full week as president, with an agenda dominated by economic woes and a push to get a huge stimulus plan through Congress.

Last week, during his first few days in office, Mr. Obama announced plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, place limits on interrogation techniques and enforce tighter ethics standards for White House employees - all departures from his predecessor.

On car emissions, California needed a waiver from the Clean Air Act to pursue its own course; the Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency denied that permission, which affected at least 13 other states that have followed California's lead.

When California was denied the waiver back in 2007, it sparked outrage, with California Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, dubbing it an "outrageous decision" that ran "completely contrary to the law and science."

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Read more about President Obama's new energy policy on Hotsheet

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Last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, sent a letter to Mr. Obama asking him to give California and other states permission to implement tough tailpipe-emission standards. Schwarzenegger said Mr. Obama "has a unique opportunity to both support the pioneering leadership of these states and move America toward global leadership on addressing climate change."

Mr. Obama will direct EPA regulators to re-examine California's case. The formal process will take time but is expected to end up in the states' favor. The Bush administration had rejected the request on grounds that a national fuel-efficiency strategy would work better.

"Reports of President Obama's decision to revisit the outrageous denial of the California waiver by the Bush Administration are more than welcome news," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said in a written statement released Sunday night. "When the waiver is signed, it will be a signal to Detroit that a huge market awaits them if they do the right thing and produce the cleanest, most efficient vehicles possible."

As a candidate for president, Mr. Obama pledged to overturn the EPA's denial.

"By beginning this process and directing EPA to review the Bush administration's lack of action, President Obama is turning the federal government into a force for positive change instead of a roadblock," said the Sierra Club's executive director, Carl Pope.

Mr. Obama is also expected to order new guidelines on fuel economy. The law requires that by 2020, new cars and trucks meet a standard of 35 miles per gallon, a 40 percent increase over the status quo. But the Bush administration did not set regulations in support of that law.

The president on Monday is also expected to tout proposals that he says would boost clean energy supplies while also producing badly needed jobs in so-called "green" industries.

The president's $825 billion economic stimulus package remains a priority this week, as Mr. Obama heads to Capitol Hill Tuesday to lobby Republican leaders for support on the plan.

[dannyeller]

FACT: Winter Temps lowest and snow cover the highest for the northern hemisphere for the winter of 2007-2008 since 2001. This year is trending to be even colder with higher snow packs. The colder temps for this and last year WIPE out the .5 degree warming trend since 1998.

Clean air is a worthy goal and worth the money as long as it is reasonable when compared to cost vs benefit. But the "Man-Made'' Global Warming is a Scam... Scam... Scam!!!

Any policy that is based on reducing "Man-Made" Global Warming is wasted money and the person, agency or organization that promotes it is either lying or one of the Useful Idiots".

Several posts referencing energy policy and "Man-Made Global Warming keep ranting about doing "Objective Research" and that such research will convince us that Man-Made Global Warming is real.

I suggest that the "Man-Made" Global Warming Zealots research the term "Useful Idiots". They need to find out who coined the term and why.

[tincup356]

Every single problem we face comes directly from lobby influenced legislation....from BOTH PARTIES over the last 40 years, and the lack of proper oversight of the banks and Wall street. So basically we have the same people that made the mess ,,,trying to fix it....insane thinking. Common sense tells you that if a part of a piece of machinery is broken.....if you put it back into the machine it will still be broken and the machine still won''t work right.....The people we have running Washington fall into this category,THEY NEED TO BE REPLACED.,,,,,BOTH PARTIES ARE CORRUPT,,,,the bailouts are proof.

[missingamerica]

House Minority Leader Jim Boehner called the policy "disappointing," saying it will "destroy American jobs at the very time government leaders should be working together to protect and create them."

Now THAT is hilarious.

Boehner is all about letting business sink or swim on its own - publicly - but when it comes to cutting into Big Oil''s profits by permitting steps that will have a null impact elsewhere - ALL car companies, not just America ones, will have to meet the guidelines - but will inevitably reduce the demand for oil and thus Big Oil''s profits, he freaks.

I was wondering which industry owned Boehner.

[tincup356]

The facts are: 1. The Earth is getting warmer evidenced by the receding ice sheets and shrinking polar ice caps. 2. There are measurable increases in greenhouse gases attributable to man''''s activities that are known to cause global warm.

Posted by Jesus_in_pee at 07:07 AM : Jan 27, 2009.............global warming is caused by the methane gasses emitted when politicians from EITHER party open their mouths to talk to the people about what they are doing for them.

[houengr]

Sorry guys, but mileage limits on Detroit does not qualify as an ENERGY POLICY!

[wardoglrs]

Hey Obama why dont you just leave the market alone your not smart enough to tell others what to do think and say no government is bright enough to understand economics and how to control it. Leave it be and let the people figure it out with time and resources.

Obama is "BUSH IN BLACK"

[jordan232311]

The myth of global warming

First off, it is very important to address the fact that Earth is not the only planet to be experiencing climate change in our solar system currently. In fact, many astronomers have announced that Pluto has been experiencing global warming, and suggested that it is a seasonal event, just like how Earth%u2019s seasons change as the various hemispheres alter their inclination to the Sun. We must remember that it is the Sun that determines our seasons, and thusly has a greater impact upon the climate than we could ever even try to achieve. In May of 2006, a report came forward revealing that a massive hurricane-like storm that occurred on Jupiter may be caused by climate change occurring on the planet, which is expected to raise its temperatures by 10 degrees. National Geographic News reported that a simultaneous rising in temperature on both Mars and Earth suggest that climate change is indeed a natural phenomenon as opposed to being man-made. The report further explains how NASA has reported that Mars carbon dioxide ice caps have been melting for a few years now. Sound familiar? An astronomical observatory in Russia declared that, %u201Cthe Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun. They further point out that both Mars and Earth have, throughout their histories, experienced periodic ice ages as climate changes in a continuous fashion

Continue

[jordan232311]

Continue

part 2

NASA has also been observing massive storms on Saturn, which indicate a climate change occurring on that planet as well. NASA%u2019s Hubble Space Telescope has also been recording massive climate changes on Neptunelargest moon, Triton. Triton, whose surface was once made up of frozen nitrogen, is now turning into gas. The Associated Press has reported that satellites that measure the temperature of sunlight have been recording an increase in the sun%u2019s temperature, meaning that the sun itself is warming up. Even the London Telegraph reported in 2004 that global warming was due to the sun being hotter than it has ever been in the past 1,000 years. They cited this information from research conducted by German and Swiss scientists who claim that it is increasing radiation from the sun that is resulting in our current climate change.

Claude Allegre, a leading French scientist, who was among the first scientists to try to warn people of the dangers of global warming 20 years ago, now believes that Cincreasing evidence indicates that most of the warming comes of natural phenomena


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[jordan232311]

continued part 3

Allegre said, There is no basis for saying, as most do, that the "science is settled." He is convinced that global warming is a natural change and sees the threat of the great dangersthat it supposedly poses as being bloated and highly exaggerated. Also recently, the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus said, when discussing the recent ruling by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that global warming is man-made, %u201CGlobal warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so. It is not fair to refer to the U.N. panel. IPCC is not a scientific institution: it''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s a political body, a sort of non-government organization of green flavor. It''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s neither a forum of neutral scientists nor a balanced group of scientists. These people are politicized scientists who arrive there with a one-sided opinion and a one-sided assignment.

[jordan232311]

Might you consent to providing us with source of your data? I think that I''''ve addressed short term fluctuation in temperature already though.


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Posted by Jesus_in_pee at 06:36 AM : Jan 27, 200
Ha, your whole arguement is based on short term fluctuation. Compared to the life of the earth, the data we have isn''t even .000000001 of the earths total life.

We have had major climate change and ice ages and heat waves before man even existed. But guess what was still here then. THE SUN!!