| Congress is back this week with plenty to tackle before the end of February, including passing a stopgap funding bill and salvaging what it can of the clean energy provisions from President Biden’s Build Back Better plan. The tide on BBB negotiations appears to be turning in favor of West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin’s insistence on a smaller package. It is reported that Democrats may be willing to meet him more than halfway to keep certain provisions in the final bill. The question then is whether progressive groups are willing to accept half a loaf. While it is important to reduce carbon emissions and other environmental impacts related to energy production and use wherever we can, it’s equally important for policymakers to take a balanced approach that does not stifle innovation or unnecessarily hinder economic growth. A good starting point would be market-based solutions that encourage competition, innovation, and consumer choice Think about it; it’s difficult enough for policymakers to look even a few years into the future to see what technologies will be available that could be game-changers in our goal of providing energy that is abundant, affordable, reliable, and clean – let alone a decade from now. Well-designed markets provide participants with timely price signals and the ability to make long-term decisions – principles we think are fundamental to good policy. Speaking of the benefits of markets, the idea of water markets to allocate scarce resources is gaining in popularity in the West. We take a look at this trend in our latest post on our website. In early January, ConservAmerica hosted a webinar on the outlook for energy and environmental legislation this year. While there’s plenty of pressure for Biden to move his agenda ahead of the midterms, there’s also little appetite among the evenly divided Congress for “going big.” Adam Ingols, Scott Segal, and Capitol Hill reporters Lesley Clark and Justin Worland helped us break down what’s doable in the current environment. Check out the discussion here. ConservAmerica hosts our next webinar this Thursday on the potential for ocean-based geoengineering to help respond to climate change by removing carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. In December, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine (NASEM) released a report on the potential benefits of ocean-based strategies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and recommended the U.S. government invest in further. This Thursday at 11 a.m. EST, we are hosting a conversation with Russ George, an environmentalist and eco-entrepreneur who is a pioneer in ocean fertilization. Be sure to check it out by registering here. |
