Hansen - Waxman-Markey bill: "This is just stupidity."

James Hansen rails against the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill as watery slop and is critical of environmental-organizations-turned-Washington-insiders.

Here's Mr. Hansen on environmental groups supporting the Waxman-Markey bill: "This is just stupidity...the fact that some of these organizations have become part of the Washington `go along, get along' establishment is very unfortunate."

Mr. Hansen has few critiques... In part, this is because Mr. Hansen favors a carbon tax. In the article, he calls for an emissions tax that would add roughly $1 per gallon of gasoline. And that's just a start point: he would like to see the tax go up from there.

But it leads us to wonder: Is advocating a carbon tax really such a naïve vision of beltway politics. Consider the list of other folks who think a carbon tax is the most practical, sensible way forward.

There's Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson and consumer advocate Ralph Nader. Add in Al Gore, who likes to call it a "pollution" tax. And then there's Chinese leadership, who have at times flirted with a carbon tax.

Read full from Wall Street Journal Blog


Haase Comment - However critical I have been about some of the ideas proposed by Mr. Gore and Mr. Hansen ... their ideas become 'realistic alternatives' compared to the monumental mistake the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill will do to our environmental and energy crisis. And I would openly 'agree to disagree' with Mr. Gore and Mr. Hansen on all of our previous differences to work together on a carbon tax, regulatory reform and energy conservation program that will not crush all hope we have prosper.

I sincerely believe that within a month I could have Mr. Gore and Mr. Hansen endorsing a program that reduces home energy cost, dependency on foreign oil, eliminates coal and builds a sustainable future and economy within THIS decade while pulling our economy out of the crapper....

Remember under the Waxman-Markey Bill there will be No Cuts until 2026!