Word: caps
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Climate policy wonks - who try to explain this complex stuff for a living - admired the clarity and power with which McCain described the cap-and-trade system, which would set a declining limit on global warming pollution, then let companies sell their excess pollution permits for a profit. "For all of the last century," he said, "the profit motive basically led in one direction - toward machines, methods and industries that used oil and gas." He praised the good that came from that growth but pointed out that there were "costs we weren?t counting. And these terrible costs have added...
...drive down costs even further, he proposes an even more controversial cost-containment idea. His plan would allow the unlimited use of so-called offsets, or pollution credits purchased from carbon-reduction projects outside the cap-and-trade system. In other words, a coal-fired utility in Ohio wouldn't have to reduce its carbon emissions if it bought enough offsets from, say, a forest preserve that promised not to clear-cut its timber. A certain number of offsets make sense - as long as they are real and verified (which is hard to ensure). But many policy analysts fear that...
This year, both Clinton and Obama released strong climate proposals that build on the cap-and-trade idea. But as McCain girded for primary battles against skeptics like Mitt Romney, he throttled back his leadership on the issue, missing every environmental vote of the year. Lieberman teamed up with Virginia Republican John Warner to produce a bill that is more detailed and ambitious than the ones Lieberman and McCain worked on. With the backing of California Democrat Barbara Boxer, the fierce, deep-green chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Lieberman and Warner added provisions to protect...
That took some guts, but this issue may soon test the limits of his courage. McCain hasn't yet promised to vote for the Lieberman-Warner bill. (He's holding out for a package of nuclear incentives - even though cap-and-trade is a built-in incentive for all low-carbon energy, including nuclear.) And in his big Portland speech, he ducked one of the central issues of the entire climate debate: how to get China on board. There are really only three options for this. First, the U.S. commits to emission reductions and figures out China later. That...
...religious about taking precautions. When outdoors, he usually dons a baseball cap, even in the dim light of winter. His chalk-pale skin is a testament to the care he now takes in the sun. "I hope everyone has some sunscreen," he told the traveling press at a recent campaign stop in the coal hills of Kentucky. His doctor checks for new blemishes every few months, with his last announced checkup taking place in March. "Everything's fine," McCain said the following...