Obama Environmental Policy Piece

Obama sets targets on agencies' greenhouse-gas emissions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012904145_pf.html

President Obama "set specific greenhouse-gas emissions targets for the federal government Friday, saying it would aim to reduce its emissions by 28 percent by 2020." His executive order covers 35 agencies and is supposed to "take aim" at the largest energy consumer in the U.S., the federal government. The federal government spent in excess of $24 billion on electricity and fuel in 2008 according to the article. "According to Nancy Sutley,who chairs the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the government operates about 500,000 buildings and
600,000 vehicles."

Vig (p.34-35) states that the United States has commonly been perceived as disengaged regarding climate policy. In 2001 we withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol and watched as both the Clinton and Bush administrations failed to enact any policies to reduce emissions. President Obama is attempting to create change and move forward in the U.S. effort to reduce emissions.

According to our readings, the EPA, back in 1999 refused to set or regulate greenhouse gases stating that the Clean Air Act "does not authorize regulation to address global climate change." (Vig, p. 131) Additionally, at that time the EPA thought that voluntary actions to curb emissions would be better to encourage technological development with incentives. Obama appears to be making efforts to change the federal government's way of viewing greenhouse gas issues. He is trying to have the federal government lead by example. President Bush, (Vig, p. 132) refused to use his authority to meet the challenge of global warming.

We have to start somewhere. President Obama's administration "has been pressing for legislation that would reduce U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions 17 percent compared with 2005 levels by 2020, which would affect everything from power plants to private vehicles." (see article) As the author of the attached article states, and I agree, this is a good start but hardly the sweeping change that is required. President Obama is trying to show Americans and world citizens that the U.S. government is beginning to take this issue seriously. I applaud that. Where I disagree is that this just is not enough of a huge leap I think is necessary now... The target does not go far enough. Why does it not go far enough? Simply because the target is on federal agencies only. It does not include private contractors working for these agencies, nor does it track the carbon footprint of federal employees. President Obama is taking baby steps when he needs to be stretching his stance.