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« France Softens on Soil | Main | Watch Copenhagen Climate Talks live on the final day » RRI at UN's COP15 climate change talks in Copenhagen
How much is 1 ton of C02? RRI's Elizabeth Baker is following the negotiations from inside the Bella Center in Copenhagen as part of the Green Belt Movement delegation. Follow along at www.GreenBeltMovement.org. America Elected Him but the World Needs Him One of the great transition points in modern history has Copenhagen cracking with excitement. President Obama is coming with other world leaders to COP15 and is armed with an exciting new potential power that can free him to act independently of the Senate opponents. Late Tuesday evening, Center for Biological Diversity attorney Kassie Siegel delivered a crisp assessment of the legal precedent for the President to use his executive authority to cap greenhouse gasses without congressional ratification. Following the US Environmental Protection Agency announcement of a final ruling that greenhouse gasses are harmful to human health, days before receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, and a week ahead of his landmark participation in COP15, President Obama's hands were untied. With her analysis of legal precedent dating to the 1987 Global Climate Protection Act, Ms. Siegel methodically outlined how President Obama could legally circumvent the two-thirds majority in Congress required to ratify a new piece of legislation. The Clean Air Act authorizes and requires the Environmental Protection Agency to act on harmful greenhouse gas emissions from sources as diverse as cars and large power plants. With this sound legal justification, President Obama could cap harmful greenhouse gasses at a level of his choosing through the use of an executive agreement. Such agreements have been the birth of nearly all international agreements including, notably, NAFTA. "The choice would only be political," said Ms. Siegel. "He has full legal authority to make a deal here in Copenhagen. When presidents have the political will to get things done, they don't wait for the Senate." The concurrent release of 'Yes, He Can' by Greenpeace is bound to fuel increasing displeasure among environmentalist who are still waiting for President Obama to deliver on his climate change campaign promises. With a previously little known avenue of action available to the President, bitter climate change realities mix with cautious optimism. This more direct route may have punishing political consequences in the US but as the new Nobel Peace laureate, President Obama's leadership will have an even greater arena in which to triumph. With so many nations waiting to act until the US expresses its carbon reduction targets, knowing Mr. Obama's hands are not legally tied may catalyze more intense negotiations. As it is, things in the Bella center won't get into high gear until next week, when the heads of state arrive to decide what the world needs to prevent catastrophic climate change. Like the northern winter sky as seen through the Bella Center's glass ceiling, a bright moment exists in which to act, but it is very, very short. ________________________ Elizabeth Baker is vice president of the Resource Renewal Institute and a delegate to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference with Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai's Greenbelt Movement Posted on December 9, 2009 8:03 PM | Permalink TrackBackTrackBack URL for this entry: |
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