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Heritage's Ben Lieberman on climate policy
 
11:22
Fred Barbash-Moderator -  

Welcome to the POLITICO-Heritage Foundation every-other-week chat.

Our topic is climate change policy-including the U.N. summit, the runup to Copenhagen and Waxman-Markey.

Our guest today is Ben Lieberman, a specialist in energy and environmental issues, is a Senior Policy Analyst at The Heritage Foundation's Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies.

Mr. Lieberman, trained as a lawyer and accountant, is known in public policy circles as a strong advocate of free-market solutions to the challenge of rising energy prices. He opposes unnecessary government regulation and mandates for energy producers while supporting increased access to domestic energy supplies.

You're invited to submit questions in advance now.

 
11:53
Fred Barbash-Moderator -  Good morning all. Ben will be with us in a few minutes. You can submit questions now. Thanks
12:00
Fred Barbash-Moderator -  Ben: Thanks for being here. Welcome and welcome to all of our readers and participants. Let me begin the questions by asking you two related questions:

What do you think the prospects are now for enactment of Waxman-Markey?

What are the prospects for a new climate treaty by year's end?
12:02
[Comment From Ben Lieberman]
The only factors in favor from 2008 to 2009 has been the replacement of Bush with Obama. Other than that, we are seeing a prolonged period of no additional warming and consequently public concern over warming is declining. The recession has also heightened concerns about the costs of climate measures. For these reasons, I do not see a climate bill or a new treaty this year
12:02
[Comment From Brianna]
Could you connect the dots for us. There are so many conferences, summits and so on. What is the relationship of the U.N. summit to the Copenhagen summit and what is the relationship of all that to the Waxman Markey bill?
12:05
[Comment From Ben Lieberman]
The big meeting is in Copenhagen at the end of the year. The UN had a General Assembly meeting a few days ago where global warming was discussed. And the G-20 economic summit is starting in Pittsburgh. These are just preparatory discussions for Copenhagen. Copenhagen is important because the 1997 Kyoto Protocol's provisions only go through 2012, so this was supposed to be the time to create a post 2012 treaty with targets and timetables and include the US but that is looking less likely.
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