Climate Change Bill Is Severely Flawed

Senators John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) have decided it is time to unveil their new climate change bill. Frankly, their timing leaves a lot to be desired. It makes me question their intelligence. I'm not saying a climate change bill is not needed -- it definitely is needed. But the bill they propose makes no sense at this time.

That's because one of the major provisions of the bill is to increase oil drilling -- both on-land and off-shore drilling. You'd think they hadn't heard about the current oil drilling disaster in the Gulf a disaster that's still pouring over 5,000 barrels of oil each day into the Gulf and threatening marine life, not to mention the shorelines of several states. This leak grows worse each day and may not be stopped for months.

The current disaster would be enough to make one wonder about not only the timing of the bill, but also the value of it. But I have to wonder about another point. Just how is increasing drilling for oil going to help slow down global climate change? Isn't the climate change caused mainly by the world's increasing use of carbon-based fuels (oil and coal)? How is increasing production going to slow down climate change?

For those reasons, I believe this bill is fatally flawed. If the oil disaster in the Gulf hadn't happened, it might have had some chance of passing in spite of its major flaw (since it did seem to have some bipartisan support). But that was yesterday. Today is a different matter.

Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) has already said he will filibuster any bill that calls for more off-shore drilling. I understand his stand. Florida stands to be severely hurt by the current disaster, and it makes no sense at this time to put more rigs in the Gulf -- especially since they could just be ticking time bombs for future disasters.

I don't think this bill stands a chance. At least not until they can assure people that future off-shore drilling will be safe. But isn't that what they told us about the well that exploded? This is just not the time to ask for increased drilling. It especially doesn't make sense in a climate change bill.