The White House released a video today (see above)saying Obama will address the threat of climate change in a speech at Georgetown University on Tuesday. "I'll lay out my vision for where I believe we need to go - a national plan to reduce carbon pollution, prepare our country for the impacts of climate change and lead global efforts to fight it," he said. Sources with knowledge of the plan expect the president's strategies to include greenhouse gas emission limits for existing power plants among other control measures. While no specifics have been released yet, including whether he'll talk about the Keystone pipeline, progressives hoping Obama would make climate change a priority in his second term have reason to get psyched.
"In his video message, Obama outlined what would be a major national effort to address climate change. He said scientists will be needed to design new fuels, farmers to grow them, engineers to devise new sources of energy and workers to build the foundation for a clean energy economy.
"There's no single step that can reverse the effects of climate change. But when it comes to the world we leave our children, we owe it to them to do what we can," he said.
Sources familiar with his plans have said Obama is likely to roll out a number of measures on climate policy. They may include a strategy to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, which account for roughly 40 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
Controlling carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning coal and other fossil fuels, is seen as a vital step in confronting climate change."
My thoughts on TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, I don't think it will be discussed in Tuesday's speech. However, I do believe that Obama will reject the massive tar sands pipeline. It would be stupid to initiate all these plans to reduce carbon dioxide pollution only to backtrack by approving something that will wipe out all of those efforts. And I certainly don't believe Obama to be a stupid man.
