The ninth in a series on what senators on the fence are thinking.
Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) drives a Prius, sequesters carbon on his tree farm, and voted for previous climate bills. Why is he now on the fence?
"Can environmental good and good economics go hand-in-hand?" That is the question posed in a press release from Sen. Lugar last year. In that same press release, Lugar answers in the affirmative: it pays to "go green." But it is not clear if he applies that same logic to the current cap-and-trade legislation being drafted in the Senate.
Farmer Lugar
The U.S. Senate's most senior Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar is well-known at home and abroad as a U.S. politician. He was elected as U.S. senator in 1976 after serving two terms as mayor of Indianapolis and losing a first run for the U.S. Senate to Sen. Birch Bayh, the father of Indiana's other current U.S. senator.
Less known is his farming cred. In addition to trees, Lugar's 604-acre farm in Marion County, Indiana, grows corn and soybeans. So perhaps it's of little surprise that crops, food, and farmers figure prominently in his thoughts on climate.
At a Senate hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Lugar spoke of how America's burgeoning carbon market could go a long ways toward making a climate solution palatable with the agricultural slice of the American pie.
I'm impressed with the fact the Chicago Climate Exchange maybe as a prelude to some type of cap-and-trade or carbon pricing system in our country has at least established a price for carbon. ...Our farmers have become a member of this exchange. We are a potential seller of carbon. It is sequestered in our hardwood trees which has been measured as we planted them... Carbon is now $2.05 in Chicago as of yesterday. This is a very small beginning, but it's an important one.
... We can think about no-till planting likewise in this respect. The National Farmers Union ... were interested in sequestering of carbon in the soil, how not to disturb it, how can we go about doing this? But to the extent that this becomes an income source for farmers, in addition to a scientific experiment, then a whole difference in terms of public opinion at least with one large community occurs in practical ways.
Economic Opportunities
Lugar, the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recognizes the international scope of the issue. But in contrast to many of his colleagues who focus on the potential for climate legislation to send American jobs overseas, Lugar sees it as an opportunity to create new jobs.
The United States should recognize that steps to address climate change involve economic opportunities, not just constraints. Thanks to new technology, we can control many greenhouse gases with proactive, pro-growth solutions. Such technology represents an enormous opportunity for U.S. exports.
He goes on to voice concern that "too little is being done in the area of adaptation to changes in climatic conditions that have already started and will continue even with successful mitigation programs."
Clearly, Lugar is not a "wait-and-see" guy when it comes to global warming. He sees the threat as a clear and present danger and supports swift action on it. In that same speech, in citing a report by Nicholas Stern, which "estimated that a 2 degree Celsius increase in global temperature will cut agricultural yields in Africa by as much as 35 percent," Lugar makes the case that Europe should not reject out of hand "fixes" like genetically modified crops because they could help developing countries in Africa and elsewhere solve current issues surrounding food that are threatened to become worse by increased climate change.
Energy a Big Part of the Climate Change Fix, Too
2005: Voted for the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act.
Voted for Sen. Hagel's bill to reduce greenhouse gas intensity.
Voted for Sen. Kerry's nonbinding Sense of the Senate resolution recognizing that climate change is a problem that we need to address through "comprehensive and cost-effective national measures" and through international negotiations.
Like Sen. Dorgan (D-ND), whom I wrote about last week, energy is also a big part of Lugar's thinking. "An energy policy to end the over-reliance on oil imports is not optional," he wrote in an editorial published in the Indianapolis Star. "It is a national security imperative."
His opening remarks to the climate hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee back in January are also illustrative:
We should recognize that energy issues are at the core of most major foreign policy, economic, and environmental issues today. Technological breakthroughs that expand clean energy supplies for billions of people worldwide will be necessary for sustained economic growth.
He has co-sponsored legislation aimed at incentivizing homeowners and small businesses to make energy-efficient building upgrades.
In March 2007 Purdue University established the Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy, whose stated mission is "to promote research excellence in the area of renewable energy through collaborative efforts among faculty in the disciplines of engineering, chemistry, physics, biology, and environmental affairs." Lugar's upcoming speech on September 21 to the Energy Security as National and Economic Security Forum is one to watch for.
Farmer and Senator Lugar is also a strong supporter of biofuels. In a press release from last year he made the case that "today's food and energy crises highlight the need to push our biofuels effort to the
next stage. Government policies should encourage alternatives." And here is yet another reason he might find the Waxman-Markey climate bill favorable. If you recall, the bill the House passed this past summer creates a National Bioenergy Partnership to boost the use of biofuels among other measures to spur the growth of renewable fuels. (Course, you might also recall the "warts" I find with this part of the legislation.)
So What's the Holdup?
Everything seems to presage a Lugar "yes" on climate legislation. Everything but Lugar's take on the current state of the U.S. economy.
In a speech to an economic development agency last month, Lugar indicated he understood that losing time on the issue means losing leverage to convince countries like China and India to act. He recognized the responsibility factor, when he said, "We do have an obligation to our children, our grandchildren, the earth to think about these things."
But he sees the current economy as a major sticking point: "For the moment," Lugar is quoted as saying in the Indiana News and Tribune, "the debate is not a timely one. If we take the steps that some members want to take, I predict we're going to have a further recession."
Is the economy too big a hurdle? We don't know and that's why Senator Lugar's name appears in the Fence-sitter's column.