Journal, Post Examine Failure of Kerry-Lieberman GHG Bill

The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, in editorials published today, focused on climate legislation. The Journal said the failure of the Senate to pass the Kerry-Lieberman legislation marked a "landmark defeat" for the green lobby and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. According to the Journal, the "bill went down for lack of Democratic votes, in particular those from Midwest coal and manufacturing states. Voters in those states have figured out that cap and tax is a redistributionist exercise from the carbon-dependent heartland to the richer coasts."

The Journal said cap and trade, at "enormous economic cost, would do little to reduce global carbon emissions. To the extent that it reduces growth, it would make the world less able to cope with the consequences if temperatures do rise. The richer the world, the more resources the world will have to adapt and ameliorate bad effects."

The Washington Post found irony in the "death of climate change legislation" because of the two government reports released shortly after Reid opted not to submit Kerry-Lieberman to a vote. The studies "underscore the overwhelming scientific case for global warming--and go out of the way to repudiate skeptics." After mentioning details from the reports, the Post said that many "climate-change skeptics will simply dismiss these reports as more evidence of a sprawling conspiracy instead of what they really are: yet more affirmation of the risks humanity runs if it continues to pump carbon into the atmosphere."