Bush tries bait-and-switch with carbon dioxide cap

The sliver of good news? Reportedly, for the first time, the Bush Administration is not reflexively nixing carbon dioxide emissions caps. Of course, there’s always a catch.

The first one, in this case, is that BushCo would limit carbon caps to electric power plants only.

The second catch is this was a political trial balloon floated in a meeting with the most anti-cap Republican conservatives in Congress.

The third cap, as admitted by Dana Perino, is this is an attempt to avoid Environmental Protection regulation of CO2, per a Supreme Court ruling last year that says it has the power to do so:

“We are dealing with what we call a regulatory train wreck.”

So, here’s what the White House is going to propose to avoid the “regulatory train wreck.”
It will soften up the conservatives enough to get them on board for something.

It will then propose a cap-and-trade bill limited to power plants only.

It will throw in a rider that specifically says CO2 is not a human health issue and therefore not under EPA purview.

It will make the cap looser, with a longer implementation time, than legislation already in the Senate.

When the smoke and mirrors are apparent, and resisted, Bush will blame “obstructionist Democrats.”

There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?