September/October 2008 / Cover Story
Promote Technology, Avoid Bureaucracy
The Ohio senator stresses the need to balance environmental goals with the nation’s economic and energy needs in order to reach the consensus necessary to enact climate legislation. This can be done, he says, by emphasizing development and deployment of new technologies. He cautions that any approach to climate change must avoid unnecessary layers of government bureaucracy. In his opinion, the failure to pass the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act indicates the need for more discussion about how a cap-and-trade system will impact hte economy and create new bureaucracies. “We can’t lose sight of the consequences this can have on businesses, particularly small businesses,” he says.
He notes that his state relies on coal for much of its energy and manufacturing needs. He supports research and development of carbon sequestration technologies, and says htat the realities of demand “mean that we can’t turn our back on coal without the costs of energy going through the roof.”
Queried about the need for a comprehensive international agreement on climate change, he notes that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have declined slightly in recent years, while emissions in China, India, and other developing countries have increased. He says that capping U.S. emissions while letting China’s continue to grow will send U.S. jobs abroad, so we can’t afford to act alone.
