William O'Keefe, CEO, George C. Marshall Institute
Biography provided by participant
William O'Keefe, Chief Executive Officer of the George C. Marshall Institute, is President of Solutions Consulting, Inc. He has also served as Senior Vice President of Jellinek, Schwartz and Conolly, Inc., Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the American Petroleum Institute and Chief Administrative Officer of the Center for Naval Analyses.
O'Keefe has held positions on the Board of Directors of the Kennedy Institute, the U.S. Energy Association and the Competitive Enterprise Institute and is Chairman Emeritus of the Global Climate Coalition.
Mass. Race Raises New Questions The outcome of this week's Massachusetts special election leaves leaders on Capitol Hill facing a host of new questions. The biggest one is do they get the message that voters have been sending since the Tea Parties were first held and which was unambiguously sent on Tuesday? If they get it, the question about energy policy is how to successfully manage the Senate's new make up in order to pass an effective, sustainable climate policy? A complex question. Yet, the answer is simpler than it appears. Now that Democrats no longer have the 60-vote majority necessary… Read more
President Kennedy’s Advice Key to Today’s Climate Debate There are basically three policy routes for controlling emissions—cap and trade, carbon tax, and policies and measures (CAFE, efficiency standards, incentives for new technology, etc). Although the last possibility, policies and measures, produced significant reductions in carbon intensity over the last 10 years, many in the environmental movement claim it’s no longer an acceptable choice, unless everything else fails. That effectively narrows our options to two. Cap and trade is enormously complex, leaving it vulnerable to rampant manipulation and outright fraud. Analysts worldwide have extensively documented its failings and its deficiencies relative… Read more
Private Incentives Needed The inability of utilities to raise sufficient capital to fund new plants is telling in and of itself. Should Congress do more to help revive the nuclear energy industry? Though there can be legitimate debate over whether climate change will disadvantage future generations, there’s no doubt their prospects are grim if Washington continues on its current debt and spending binge. To that end, further government support for industry -- nuclear or other -- is a path to stifling innovation and hampering the economy. When the Senate first started debating the Energy Policy Act of 2005, lawmakers included… Read more
Struggling Economy Will Dominate Cap and trade in any form is simply the worst way to deal with greenhouse gas emissions. The prospects for getting 60 votes for cap and trade legislation were never bright. Now, the unseemly spectacle of vote buying that was needed to produce 60 votes for health care legislation makes those prospects dimmer. Moderate Senators have no doubt been feeling the full heat of public anger over what it sees as out of control politics. Going forward, those moderate senators may follow the counsel of the late Senator Dirksen who once said that he saw the… Read more
No Big Claims A Relief The outcome of Copenhagen brings to mind the observation that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. It also reminds me of an exchange between Alice and Humpty Dumpty in Through The Looking Glass, “When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less. The question is,' said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things." The COP process proves that delegates can make words mean whatever they want them to mean. For the first… Read more
Copenhagen’s ‘Organized Hypocrisy’ Deep cuts in emissions keep getting advocated without any explanation of how they will be achieved. In July 1997, the Senate passed SR-98 which advised not to accept a climate treaty that would harm the economy and not require specific and scheduled reductions by developing countries. The Clinton Administration ignored that advice and agreed to what turned out to be a fatally flawed Kyoto Protocol. Since then, the essence of SR-98 has been reaffirmed a number of times. The delegates in Copenhagen appear to be traveling down the same road as Kyoto by advocating equally unrealistic targets… Read more
Enormous Economic Consequences Once EPA starts down the road of regulating greenhouse gas emissions, there will be no logical stopping point. EPA’s Endangerment Finding was a foregone conclusion, not the result of a diligent review of the science and global sources of emissions. Whether it will withstand judicial review, only time will tell? If it does, it will be a monument to the Law of Unintended consequences. Once EPA starts down the road of regulating greenhouse gas emissions, there will be no logical stopping point and the economic consequences would be enormous. Since CO2 emissions are mainly from fossil fuel combustion and fossil… Read more
Debunking Group Think The e-mails provide what appears to be damning evidence that data were manipulated to support a preconceived conclusion. The basis of Administration and Congressional proposals for cap and trade and a global agreement to deeply cut emissions over the next several decades is the conclusion of the IPCC that human activities are mainly responsible for warming that has occurred over the past century. That conclusion rests on two main assumptions: 1. There is a positive correlation -- implying causality -- between an increase in CO2 emissions and a rise in temperature increases; and 2. Scientists and policymakers… Read more
Emissions Target Not Realistic There are two reasons for being cynical about his announcement. The first is the impracticality of the 17% emission reduction. President Obama's supporters and climate change advocates will praise him for bold leadership that will save the Copenhagen talks from failure. In reality, what he has done is join the wink-and-nod club of international hypocrisy where governments talk boldly but don't take their emission reduction programs seriously. This is a harsh indictment but a justified one. There are two reasons for being cynical about his announcement. The first is the impracticality of the 17% emission reduction.… Read more
Economic Recovery Should Be Priority It would be a monumental act of irresponsibility for the Senate to push ahead and give climate legislation a priority over jobs and economic recovery. With the 2010 mid-term elections less than a year away, actions that don't promote job growth and stimulate faster economic recovery are a threat to political survival. The public is focused like the proverbial laser and it is still “economy stupid!” The economy is struggling to recover, while unemployment hovers around 10 percent. With economists uncertain of when our situation will improve, it would be a monumental act of irresponsibility… Read more
Inactions Speak Louder Than Words In the case of this week’s announcement of the Senate delay, inactions speak louder than words. By suspending further consideration of the climate bill until 2010, Democrats are signaling that it’s not high on their priority list. This move also suggests that they’re starting to realize that the high cost and incredible intrusiveness of cap and trade would only exacerbate the problems evident in trying to pass comprehensive health care legislation. So, from a political perspective, this delay wasn’t just a smart choice; it was a requisite one. Senate leadership is likely gambling that by… Read more
Fewer Regulatory Barriers Needed The oil industry has done a good job of meeting consumer needs without intervention from Capitol Hill. This week’s question brings to mind Will Rogers’ observation: Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do nothing, that don't hurt anybody. When they do something is when they become dangerous. That has certainly proven true in the last year when the government took over major companies in the name of saving our economy. Now, the last thing we need is more bureaucratic intervention in the private sector. The oil industry has faced supply and… Read more
Re-Examining Earlier Energy Acts If there was important energy legislation that could be passed and should be passed soon, it would make sense to separate energy from cap and trade. However, Washington has already generated two comprehensive pieces if energy legislation in the last four years. And since those policy acts included steps to increase investment in nuclear power, research and development in energy technology, improvements in energy efficiency and alternative energy, it is unclear what pressing energy needs must still be met by this Congress. Legislation to encourage more domestic oil exploration is important to slow the growth in… Read more
Biography provided by participant
