Environmental Policy in the Obama Administration

Here are a few highlights of what we talked about during the campaign by the Obama camp:

1) Reduce greenhouse gases 80% below the 1990 level by 2050
2) Spend $150 billion over 10 years to overhaul the energy system-- think windmills, not nukes, coal and oil.

Both will take legislation and fundage. With a majority of Democrats in both the House and Senate, the legislation part might come easier than the second. A treaty will take 2/3rds of the Senate, and the Dems don't have the votes for that.

A green public works effort to recreate the energy econmy might be one solution to help work us out of recession. But there is skepticism about this. A key to transitioning to a less petroleum dependent economy is to increase the price of fossil fuels, especially gasoline. Who knows if the Obama Administration, Congress and the American people will have the fortitude to move forward with that.