Less Middle East energy, more Midwest
A group of governors frustrated with Washington's slow movement on global warming is pushing for climate-change legislation in the Senate. Paul Brandus reports on the proposed cap-and-trade system.
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
More on Sustainability, Politics
TEXT OF STORY
Doug Krizner: A number of the nation's governors are frustrated by Washington's in-action on global warming. In the west, governors of California, Utah and Montana are pushing for proposed climate-change legislation in the Senate. Yesterday, governors from the midwestern states signed their own agreement to reduce carbon emissions, and they're setting up a cap-and-trade system to meet their targets. Paul Brandus reports.
Paul Brandus: Here's how cap-and-trade works: companies that lower their emissions of carbon sell credits to those that haven't.
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle says the ultimate goal is to slash use of oil and coal, while speeding up the use of renewable energy.
Jim Doyle: We are agreeing that by 2015, 10 percent of the electricity consumed in this region will be from renewable resources.
But agreeing to do something and actually doing it are quite different.
Dan Kohler is with the nonprofit group Wisconsin Environment:
Dan Kohler: The big question is how firm will the commitments be, and what will they represent? The devil's in the details.
And there's a national security element to all this. Governor Doyle's mantra: Let's stop spending money on energy from the Middle East, and start spending it in the Middle West.
In Washington, I'm Paul Brandus for Marketplace.
