By Toby Hicks, Legislative Intern
Marlowe & Company Report
December 3, 2009
Until recently the U.S. has shown some of the strongest reluctance of all developed countries to lower its emissions. The common argument against doing so is that it would decrease the U.S.’s international competitive ability. This resistance was most prominently illustrated when, despite becoming a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the U.S. decided not to ratify the treaty and be bound by its cap-and-trade system. Cap-and-trade is where a limit to overall U.S. GHG production would be set and firms then compete for the rights to emit portions of it. Subsequent legislative efforts to enact a broad cap-and-trade bill in the U.S. have been blocked in Congress. Now however, two bills – H.R. 2454 the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, and S. 1733 the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act – are being examined by Congress and may be synthesized into law. H.R. 2454 was passed by the House on June 26, 2009 and is currently awaiting Senate action.
Although there are significant differences between the two bills, their goal of causing a significant reduction in GHG emissions through enactment of a cap-and-trade system is identical. If passed, either bill’s impact on local governments would be profound. Restrictions on GHG production will affect many types of commercial firms and, therefore, tax revenues and jobs within towns and cities.
Surf City (NC) Council Unanimously Votes to Renew M&Co. Lobbying Contract
By Amanda Hutcheson
The Star News
December 2, 2009
The town council unanimously approved renewing the contract with Marlowe & Co., a lobbying firm out of Washington, D.C., for an additional year. The firm charges $60,000 a year, which is split evenly among the three island towns.
Councilman Mike Curley, who also serves as the town’s liaison on the Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Committee, encouraged the renewal of the contract.
“You can say a lot about lobbyists, but they are Surf City in Washington, D.C.,” Curley said. “I feel if we hadn’t contracted with Marlowe & Co., we wouldn’t be on the scoreboard. They’re very aware of us up there.”
M&Co. Report: Current Challenges Hindering Climate Change Adaptation
By Toby Hicks, Legislative Intern
Marlowe & Company Report
November 12, 2009
In the past 50 years in the U.S. average temperature has risen by more than two degrees Fahrenheit, precipitation has increased by 5%, extreme weather events have become more frequent, and sea levels have risen along most of the coast. According to a recent National Research Council report, individuals and institutions that will be affected by climate change are unprepared for what that means. To successfully adapt to these climate changes, decisions must be made that cut across traditional economic, agency, and government boundaries.
White House Begins Rewriting Army Corps' Project Guidelines (Howard Marlowe Quoted)
By Taryn Luntz (Greenwire)
The New York TImes
July 14, 2009
The White House is rewriting standards for federal water projects, widening 26-year-old rules that guide the Army Corps of Engineers in an effort to consider environmental and social goals as well as economic ones.
The move, long sought by environmentalists, pre-empts an Army Corps effort to rework its guidelines under a 2007 mandate from Congress to go beyond economic considerations in planning water projects.
"The administration is considering expanding the scope of the principles and guidelines to cover all federal agencies that undertake water resource projects," said Christine Glunz, spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The council revealed the initiative in a recent Federal Register notice.
The planning guidelines were developed in 1983 by the U.S. Water Resources Council, an inter-agency group that disbanded soon after. They apply to the Army Corps, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
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