Post Backs 'Less Than Perfect' Climate Bill; Seeks Quick Vote

The Washington Post, in an editorial published today, admitted "there's a lot we would change" about the Kerry-Lieberman climate and energy bill, but urged the Senate to pass the legislation because "acting on global warming is not going to get easier after this year's election. The longer Congress waits to pass a comprehensive climate bill, the less time America will have to cut its emissions, and the more expensive the process will be."

The Post wrote that the "most rational action, would be to put a gradually rising tax on carbon emissions and let the market find the cheapest alternatives. The Kerry-Lieberman bill doesn't go that route. But it does, through a system of tradable emission permits, create a gradually rising price on carbon emissions that, if properly administered, could have a similar effect. This is crucial, because left to their own devices, legislators will merely subsidize some of the most expensive alternatives to carbon-burning: new nuclear plants (Republicans), solar plants (Democrats), carbon sequestration (coal-state legislators of both parties). If the market is allowed to work, on the other hand, cheaper and more efficient methods--conservation, converting the dirtiest coal plants to natural gas--will probably be used while the rising price of carbon spurs research into currently more expensive solutions, with time bringing down the price of at least some of them."