Earth Equity News

In Obama's Team, Two Camps on Climate. By John M. Broder, NYTimes, January 2, 2009. "As Mr. Obama seeks to find the right balance between his environmental goals and his plans to revive the economy, he may have to resolve conflicting views among some of his top advisers... Lawrence Summers and Peter Orszag, [who will head the National Economic Council and the White House budget office, respectively]... have both argued that a tax on carbon emissions from burning gasoline, coal and other fuels might be a more economically efficient means of regulating pollutants than a cap-and-trade system, under which an absolute ceiling on emissions is set and polluters are allowed to buy and sell permits to meet it... Carol Browner [who will be the White House coordinator of energy and climate policy] has been a forceful advocate for strict carbon limits for years and has said that a comprehensive cap-and-trade system is the best way to achieve swift and certain reductions in emissions... At least for the present... the idea of a carbon tax has been shelved, and Mr. Obama's economic and environmental advisers are working, along with Congress, to devise a cap-and-trade system."