Rep. Ed Markey on global warming

We recently sat down with Rep. Ed Markey (Malden), dean of the Massachusetts delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives and a leading voice in Congress for clean energy and solutions to global warming.

You’ve spent many years in Congress fighting for solutions to our energy problems and to reduce global warming pollution. Why have you prioritized these issues?
 
The day I came to Congress, the Washington Star, a newspaper long since closed down, had a picture of me on their front page with a “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” headline. That same day, on the front page, just to the right of me, was an article on climate change. That was 1976.
 
Thirty-two years later, the issue that once concerned a small group of scientists has transformed into the global challenge of our generation. In order to protect people and the planet, we must unleash a green revolution that will transform our energy system to depend on the truly renewable resources of the wind and the sun.

Delayed action on fuel economy, leading to no current recourse for $4 gasoline, is painful; delaying action on global warming and having no future recourse for 4 more degrees of warming is immoral.

What’s the most important thing that you’ve learned as the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming?
 
In the last year, the Select Committee has held over 40 hearings bringing together the world’s leaders on science, technology and policy.
 
From the Select Committee's very first hearing, it was clear that Congress' new discussion on climate would reveal important stories that would give us undeniable reasons to act. At that hearing, four star generals and admirals told us how global warming can be a "threat multiplier."
 
We went to the top of a glacier in Greenland, a mountaintop in New Hampshire, and the Amazon Rain Forest.
 
We met with leaders from the EU to discuss the successes and lessons learned from their system to reduce greenhouse gases and legislators from around the world in Brazil...and met with the Dalai Lama in Tibet, who stressed that global warming is an issue of war and peace.
 
We talked to Nobel-prize winning head of IPCC, Dr. Rajendra Pauchari...and actor Rob Lowe, who drives a plug-in hybrid, and Ed Norton, who advocates for more green buildings.
 
No matter where we went or who we talked to the message was clear: global warming is having real impacts now that will only get worse if we delay action further. But we also learned about the successful policies and the new technologies that are ready to help us meet the climate challenge.

Environment Massachusetts has been working to advance strong policies to address global warming at both the state and federal levels. Do you think that it’s important for the states to act on global warming?
 
On energy and environmental issues, the states have always led the federal government. Global warming policies are no different.
 
With 32 states now participating in or observing regional global warming initiatives and 850 mayors signed onto the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, it is clear where the real action on global warming in the United States is.
 
But next year, Washington, D.C. will be catching up. The lessons learned from the state and local initiatives will be critical for crafting a national policy. I have learned from them in putting my legislation together.

Even more importantly, state and local initiatives provide Americans a sense that if these policies can work in their towns and their states, they can work for the nation. The groundswell of belief from ordinary Americans that we can tackle this problem will propel the United States back to a position of global leadership, where we belong.

You recently introduced a strong new global warming bill in Congress, the Investing in Climate Action and Protection (iCap) Act. What are the key components of the bill?

There are three main components of the bill: a “Cap-and-Invest” system, 85 percent reductions in global warming pollution by the middle of this century, and 100 percent auctions of pollution credits to ensure that polluters pay.

The Cap-and-Invest system is a paradigm shift in addressing global warming legislation. It takes the substantial amount of money derived from a system of auctioning 100 percent of pollution credits to polluters, and re-invests that money back into consumers and a clean energy economy. More than half of the proceeds from the bill will immediately go to low- and middle-income Americans to defray costs from the rate increases we could expect from Big Coal or Big Oil as we shift to a clean energy future. It also invests in clean energy technology, in adaptation measures to global warming impacts already expected from our delay in addressing the problem, and in green job training for a new generation of American workers.

At a time when our economy is feeling the heat from a generation of poor energy choices, I see this as an economic stimulus bill as much as an environmental protection bill. By shifting away from the dirty, expensive fuels of the last century, and toward the clean, revolutionary technologies of this century, we can save our planet and grow our economy at the same time.

You’ve said that your iCAP bill would unleash a clean energy technology revolution. What would the world look like 20 or 30 years from now if your bill passed?

I think the most exciting aspect of our clean energy potential is that it can be hard to picture what our world may look like, because once we unshackle ourselves from the old ways of drilling for oil and digging for coal, the possibilities are endless. It was the same situation I faced with the telecommunications world and the Telecom Act of 1996. When that law was passed, no one could have envisioned what followed. We went from zero broadband access in America to ubiquitous wireless connections, YouTube, Google and iPhones. The revolution wasn’t televised, because it ended up in your pocket!

I feel the same way with clean energy technology. We will have hundreds of thousands of new megawatts of wind energy and solar energy. We will have plug-in hybrid cars and cellulosic ethanol. Geothermal, biomass and green buildings.

But as sure as I am that we will have wind and solar and hybrids, I am sure we will have­—as Shakespeare might say—more forms of energy in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy.

That's what's so exciting about this revolution ahead of us. The technological potential is unimaginable.

What will it take for the Congress to finally tackle global warming in a meaningful way?

While Congress has still not passed a climate bill, I truly believe passing meaningful legislation is not a matter of if, but when. With the window closing on reaching a tipping point in our global climate crisis, however, time is not on our side, and we must continue to push hard every day on the issue.

A new, climate-friendly president will be the biggest help in this regard. While it's probably no secret that I believe a President Obama would absolutely do a better job on climate and energy issues, even Sen. McCain has supported global warming action in the past. Having leadership from the White House is a pivotal part of the legislative process, because you know you can aim high and expect a signature when it reaches the president's desk.

And I believe it will take a highly-motivated, increasingly vocal electorate telling their representatives in Washington that the status quo on our climate is not good enough. Congress is a stimulus response system, and there is nothing more stimulating than millions upon millions of voters crying out for change on climate change.