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| Bloomberg outlines national energy plan in Houston |
| 2007-05-12 |
| Despite constant denials that he is running for president, Mayor Michael Bloomberg laid out a national energy plan today in a speech in Houston and took veiled jabs at his potential opponents, accusing them of "politics as usual." SMACK! Sounds like he should be in politics. :-) The Republican billionaire outlined an energy plan that proposes creating profit motives gasp! for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building new wind farms and nuclear plants, phasing out the incandescent light bulb and setting early deadlines to accomplish these goals. Forget the deadlines. Just wave the profit carrot out there. They will follow. Bloomberg, who recently launched an effort to drastically reduce pollution by 2030 in New York City, suggested that those who set later deadlines like 2050 and 2070 are afraid to do the work and make the commitments now. A number of presidential candidates, including Democrats John Edwards, Barack Obama and Chris Dodd, and Republican John McCain, have their own proposals with a 2050 endpoint, or support plans with that deadline. 2050? I guess this assumes we're pulling ahead in the long war because we won't need them if we end up losing with a whimper and living in caves. "When an elected official makes a promise to achieve something in the far-off distant future, but refuses to take the steps now that would allow us to begin making progress, that's not leadership. It's passing the buck. And unfortunately, it's politics as usual," Bloomberg said, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. Like arguing about abortion is politics as usual, too? The Democrat-turned-Republican says repeatedly he will not enter the race and promises to serve his full second term as mayor, which ends December 31, 2009. The former CEO of a financial information company, whose wealth was recently estimated at more than $13 billion by Fortune magazine, says he then plans to focus full-time on philanthropy. But just this week, Bloomberg relaunched the Web site that he used for his mayoral campaigns in 2001 and 2005, saying he wanted a place where people could learn all about him and his passions. So the speculation persists that he will enter the 2008 race as a self-financed independent candidate. The mayor and his supporters don't exactly throw water on the buzz, and actually help fuel it with coy remarks as well as a greater focus on national issues and travel outside New York. Didn't you hear? He's holding secret meetings about this. It's just that nobody's figured out where he's holding them yet or what is talked about in them. Bloomberg's Houston speech also ridiculed the idea of taxing sugar-based ethanol imports while subsidizing corn-based ethanol; both policies are intended to help U.S. corn growers. But the inconsistent approach to the two cleaner-burning fuels is "nothing more than pork-barrel politics," the mayor said. I'm guessing that there must be more votes out there who want to grow corn than sugar, and that corn probably makes less sense. Corn-based ethanol is a topic of great interest among Iowa voters, but observers say Bloomberg doesn't have to court them like other candidates do because he would likely not enter the race until after the first few primaries and caucuses. The moderate Republican often parts with his party, supporting abortion rights, gay marriage, stem cell research and gun control, but took the rare moment in Houston on Friday to praise President Bush more than once. Strange. He kinda makes ... sense. Sorry, unless you play that game where you do stupid stuff in return for the authority you're granted you'll probably never make it. He applauded Bush for forming an alliance with Brazil to promote ethanol trade as an alternative to costly foreign oil, but went on to say that "politically-driven policies are costing taxpayers billions while providing only marginal carbon reductions." I wonder if corn could replace cocaine in South America. I wonder what the gangs would look like. I wonder if it would look silly if they killed each other in corn turf wars. He also said government that wants to encourage private investment in clean energy sources can "begin by learning a lesson" from Bush, who signed a law when he was Texas governor that helped create a major market for renewable energy in the state. Bloomberg proposed expanding access to natural gas sites, with more natural gas pipelines, and building new nuclear plants and wind farms. But many people, he said, aren't willing to do what it takes by allowing wind farms in the water off the coast. Don't forget solar! Makes for good water heaters, too! "You've heard of 'Not in my backyard?' This is what you call 'Not near my beach house,'" he said. How about solar panels as a roof for your beach house that pump power back into the grid when you aren't there to use it? Bloomberg unveiled his long-term sustainability plan for New York City last month on Earth Day. The plan calls for reducing carbon emissions through greener buildings, hybrid vehicles and greater fuel efficiency standards, among other initiatives. Doesn't personal transportation make up about 20% of our energy budget, or am I way out to lunch here? Seems like we also need to work more on manufacturing technology (both power and materials), green construction techniques, more efficient power grids, and the recycling infrastructure which I personally think is a joke. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #4 How does an ass like Bloomburg get to be a millionair ? There is no problem with 'greenhouse gases' except water vapor. And, the light bulb ? Really, folks this is just leftist/commie bullshit to attempt to upset our roaring economy. Want proof ? The worst year for manmade CO2 was 1928, by a wide margin, but nothing happened to the weather. Want more ? Manmade CO2 is a small percent of total CO2, much of which comes from volcanic eruptions. Want more ? The SUN accounts for 97 percent of global warming, and 100 percent of Mars warming. Like Earth, Mars has been warming. There is no measurable CO2 on Mars. Water Vapor accounts for over 2 percent of global warming, and ALL of global temperature moderation in the form of rain. There is no way to measure the amount of rainfall or the effect of rainfall on the weather. All we have are the results like floods and draughts, and instead of avoiding flood plains, we bullshit about global warming. Bloomburg should shove a lightbulb up his butt. Finally, why Bloomsy won't get my vote; he hired a bunch of Clintonistas to run the schoolocracy in NYC. You judge a man by his friends. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-05-12 21:32 |
| #3 I just want us to get off of foreign oil, I don't care how we do it. As long as it works good enough and doesn't trash the economy any worse than the terrorists. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-05-12 21:11 |
| #2 His nanny-statism won't play in the GOP nationally. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-05-12 18:13 |
| #1 I think anthroprogenic global warming is a complete crock, but if you want to reduce emissions, the only way to do it is to increase the price of carbon derived energy. All the rest is more or less pointless handwaving. In particular, conservation (turning off lights etc) merely frees up purchasing power for some other economic activity which of course requires energy. And BTW, biofuels, wind and solar power work to the extent they are government mandated taxes (All government subsidies are taxes on something else). Just very wasteful and inefficient taxes. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-05-12 16:57 |