Governors Displace White House's Climate "Losership"

Tomorrow at Yale University, representatives of 18 states will gather to discuss the principles of "Integrating State and Federal Climate Policy Into a Comprehensive National Approach," and sign a declaration of principles affirming the states' vital and enduring role in pushing policies that limit global warming emissions and unleash a new clean-energy economy. Speaking to Reuters on Tuesday, one of the effort's key architects echoed our own view that this development deserves far more attention than yesterday's Rose Garden fake-out:

"The reality is that the states are designing the true U.S. climate policy," Terry Tamminen, an environment and energy adviser to Schwarzenegger, said about the meeting.

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Tamminen said even if the federal government moved quickly to regulate greenhouse gases the states would remain the de facto makers of U.S. policy on greenhouse emissions because a federal plan would take years to develop. "We don't have time to wait," he said. By many counts, the United States is the world's top greenhouse gas emitter.

Tamminen's pride is well-justified considering that he has been working rather effectively with international leaders to move state action in a way that might positively impact the global landscape, and in light of disdainful international reaction to President Bush's latest non-plan. The German foreign minister, for instance, referred to the speech as "losership, not leadership"-- adding that "We are glad that there are also other voices in the United States."

While the President attempts to extralegally pre-empt state action, blocks serious federal policies even when they are likewise mandated by the law, and resists a strong national cap-and-trade effort to create a market for carbon emissions, the state leaders gathering at Yale embrace a comprehensive framework that utilizes all three. Members of Congress still hoping to pre-empt their bold leadership might want to put down the industry talking points about a unified national standard, and join the discussion trying to come up with a true national solution.