Bush to Address Carbon Emissions Strategy

With the meter running on Bush’s presidency, he’s added “solve global warming” to his last-minute to-do list. President Bush is set to unveil a set of intermediate climate mitigation goals on Wednesday, Reuters reports. “This speech is not going to lay out a specific proposal,” White House spokesperson Dana Perino was quoted as saying, but “it is a speech that will talk about a strategy for a way forward and principles for dealing with the problems.”

The vaguely defined strategy will include incentives for cleantech innovation to help reduce emissions, Perino added. With renewable energy tax incentives still fighting for funds in Congress, the White House could help find money to extend the incentives past their 2008 expiration dates. Bush is also expected to address the pending carbon market legislation, which will be debated in June.

It’s hard not to be cynical when a Texas oil president — who led the U.S. into a war over oil, and spent his presidency ignoring global warming science — decides in his last months in office to tackle carbon emissions. Already, Congressional Republicans are bristling at the prospect that with Bush’s support, Democratic carbon control legislation could speed up. It will be the Congressional reaction to Bush’s speech that will decide which way the tumultuous regulatory process will go. Cleantech investors worried about their investment in the one- to two-year window best pay attention.

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