They see the writing on the wall for Cap-and-Trade and are following Australian model, trying to separate it from and push for useless and expensive "renewable" and "green" and "energy independent" wind and solar energy, so they can grab some initiative, money and power now, with options to advance C&T later.
stralia to Split Climate-Change Proposal After Senate Failure - BL, 2009 August 16, by Robert Fenner “We’re going to make sure we’ve got this safeguard interim set of arrangements to get the renewable energy target through,” Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard told the Nine television network today. “The best thing would be for all of the climate change measures to go through together.” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who needs the votes of seven senators outside the government to get laws passed in the upper house, can resubmit separate bills, with the opposition Liberal party saying it will support the renewable energy target. A second rejection of the legislation after three-months would give Rudd a trigger to call an election. “There are a few minor amendments to that bill we would like to see introduced, none of them are stumbling blocks to the bill passing,” Christopher Pyne, manager of opposition business in the House of Representatives, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. today. “The renewable energy targets bill could be passed by the end of this week.” The government in May said it would invest A$4.5 billion ($3.7 billion) to help ensure one-fifth of its power generation comes from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Those laws were tied to its so-called Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which included plans for a carbon trading system similar to one used in Europe. Senators voted 42 to 30 against the combined legislation on Aug. 13. ..... Replacing Kyoto The government wants the legislation in place before a meeting of 200 countries in December in Copenhagen to replace the Kyoto Protocol. China and the U.S., the world’s largest polluters, haven’t committed to targets for cutting emissions. ..... Australia’s government will split its renewable energy targets bill from emissions trading legislation after a combined package of climate-change laws was rejected by the Senate last week.