Word: congress
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...instead of reducing them. In the second paper, another team of researchers led by Tim Searchinger of Princeton University uncovered a potentially damaging flaw in the way carbon emissions from bioenergy are calculated under the Kyoto Protocol and in the carbon cap-and-trade bill currently being debated in Congress. If that error in calculation goes unfixed, a future increase in biofuel use could end up backfiring and derailing efforts to control global warming, according to the paper. "Biofuels can be an important part of the portfolio of climate-change activities," says Steve Hamburg, chief scientist for the Environmental Defense...
...from deforestation or other changes in the way we use land are not evaluated at all. The result is a huge, if accidental error in the existing global carbon accounting system - and one that now stands to be repeated in the cap-and-trade bill up for debate in Congress. "It's a very, very large loophole," says Searchinger, who had done pioneering work on problems of biofuels. "We're just effectively ignoring what happens on land." (See TIME's special report on the environment...
...countries that get their biofuels from sources that actually reduce greenhouse gases should get credit for those cuts. But politics will be another matter - the biofuel industry already has a lot of weight, especially in the U.S., where environmentalists need the votes of rural and Midwestern representatives in Congress if they are to have any hope of passing a cap-and-trade bill. Challenging the biofuel loophole could effectively scuttle cap-and-trade...
...That means it can be hard to find a truly independent viewpoint, though it often requires deep digging into the finances of advocacy groups to discover their ties. In July, one calling itself the National Health Council wrote letters to members of Congress "on behalf of 133 million Americans" asking for a minimum of 10 years of data exclusivity. The group boasts a membership that includes 50 of the nation's largest patient-advocacy groups, including the American Cancer Society, Easter Seals and the National Kidney Foundation. But its board of directors reads like...
...stakes battle in Washington. What it means for consumers is somewhat murkier: Will a miracle cure be there when you need one? And if it is, will you be able to afford it? Those are questions that hinge on whether the rest of us can trust Congress to find proper balance between competition and innovation...