Journal Notes Climate Efforts Morphing Into Jobs Protection Efforts

The Wall Street Journal today reported that there is increasing concern that the American public is more worried about jobs than saving the environment. Wrote the Journal: "That's why the campaign to combat climate change is morphing, at least politically, into an economic-development drive with an environmental twist."

American Electric Power CEO Michael Morris was quoted as expressing doubt that the U.S. could soon adopt a cap-and-trade program without collaborative support from big developing countries like China accepting an emissions cap. Morris was quoted as saying: "There is no potential for a global approach to this issue anytime soon, and because of that, it's almost illogical that there would be a U.S. approach anytime soon. Having said that, I don't think there's any reason we as a country can't do some constructive and positive things."

Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, was quoted by the Journal as saying: "A market guided by a cap is the most powerful tool we have to match the focus of China's industrial policy." Added the Journal: "Polls show that voters are even less willing than they were before the recession to spend extra money to help the environment. Any cap-and-trade proposal, Mr. Krupp said, must contain 'something that jump-starts a lot of jobs'."