Republican victories likely to hamper Obama’s bid to tackle climate change

President Obama has been dealt a severe blow following yesterday's mid-term elections, with US Republicans seizing the House of Representatives. Democrats managed to retain control of the Senate, in spite of losing six seats, including some backed by the controversial Tea Party movement.

Very few would have envisaged such an aggressive Republican comeback two years ago, following Obama's resounding 2008 presidential election victory. Yesterday, however, Obama made a phone call to John Boehner-the man likely to become the new Republican Speaker of the House-to offer his congratulations and suggest working together to improve the economy.

Mr Boehmer has stated, "The people have sent an unmistakable message to the president – and that is 'change course' … [To] the extent he is willing to do that, we will work with him."

This larger Republican presence is expected not only to eliminate the chance of passing any form of national climate change bill, but also to harm the chances of securing even modest regional changes. Having already witnessed the removal of climate measures from the energy bill earlier in July, the Senate is now likely to become the setting for 24 months of hard-fought battles over environmental legislation.

Manik Roy, a government outreach expert at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, admitted, "It might be tough to get typical energy legislation passed in the next year or two."

Mr Roy continued, "The central Tea Party message is about reducing government spending, and providing huge subsidies for carbon capture and sequestration or nuclear power in an energy bill is not consistent with that."

In September this year, House Republicans launched the 'Pledge to America' as part of an election-year appeal to voters in which they vowed to cut taxes and discard President Obama's health-care and stimulus plans. This would involve scrapping current incentives for clean energy projects by recalling funds laid out in the stimulus bill.

Having taken control of the House of Representatives, it is now likely that Republicans will go about attempting to suspend Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation of greenhouse gases for the next two years. This would prevent the EPA from regulating pollution from larger factories and utilities beginning in January 2011.

Potential Renewable Electricity Standard legislation is also likely to come under fire. If successful, it would require larger electric utilities to generate some 15 per cent of their power from renewable sources-such as solar, wind and hydroelectric-by 2021. Critics claim this legislation would barely make an impact on the total amount of carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

There was, however, some hope of life for new climate legislation. Democrat Jerry Brown won governorship of America's largest state, California, beating Meg Whitman, who had called for a timeout of emission reduction laws. Brown has said he supports a target of deriving 33% of California's electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind.

Polls also showed that Californian voters would choose to oppose Proposition 23, which would put a hold on the state's cap-and-trade law until the unemployment rate fell from 12 per cent to 5.5 per cent over four quarters.

Also, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid was re-elected in Nevada and could now go about pushing an energy-environment bill. Mr Reid has discussed providing federal incentives for electric cars, biofuelled trucks as well as making buildings more energy efficient.

Such a move would cohere with Obama's call for "chunks" of bills instead attempting to pass a single piece of comprehensive legislation. Not only would this offer a greater chance of success given the current political climate, but also demonstrate America's commitment to climate change on the world stage.

Regardless of how many Republicans inhabit Congress next year; several innovative green projects are already underway. In October, the Interior Department awarded the first US federal licenses for solar plants to operate on public land. In addition, the first lease for a major offshore wind project off the coast of Massachusetts has recently been signed.


Author: Tom Watts | Climate Action
Images: lindsayshaver & Speaker Pelosi | Flickr