There is an intense behind-the-scenes battle going on in the West Wing of the White House.
Sens. John Kerry and Barbara Boxer sent a letter to President Obama today urging him to get behind the State Department plan.
"We understand that your administration is considering offering an amendment to the Montreal Protocol next week that would provide authority to regulate HFCs. We strongly support such an amendment" they wrote.
The Battle: Will Obama stand up for the climate, go forward with Sec. Clinton's proposal to add HFCs to the Montreal Protocol, and maintain the integrity of soon-to-be greenhouse gas reductions? Or will the President cave in to Larry Summers' sabotaging of this no-nonsense approach to regulating "Super GHGs", 2500 times more harmful per gram than carbon dioxide?
Larry Summers has a very bad record on global warming - going back to the Clinton White House:
Summers Monkey-Wrenched Climate Protections in the Clinton Administration.
Summers is direct from Wall street, wants to preserve the cozy deal by which polluters can buy "offsets" from producers of HFCs, at a low price to reduce HFC emissions that should be regulated by international law anyways. He wants to provide his Industry Buddies a cheap loophole.....that will eviscerate real reductions in greenhouse gases.
Hillary Clinton and Carol Browner: Both support adding HFCs to the other chloroflourocarbons already regulated under the Montreal Protocol. This will teliminate their use as "imaginary" greenhouse gas reductions.
The reality: A no-brainer - the Montreal Protocol has been the most successful international environmental treaty ever implemented.
Round 1 was a Technical Knockout for Summers.
Round 2 has the White House Saying Not So Fast, Larry.
The Obama administration is talking with two voices on the question of what to do about a class of highly potent greenhouse gases known as "super GHGs," with the State Department jockeying with anonymous White House sources for control of the spin.
Disgusting...but not over yet.
Obama knows that HFCs should be regulated as a polluting greenhouse gas. But Summers wants to provide a cheap loophole for industry to avoid greenhouse gas limits regulated by either the EPA or the Waxman-Markey bill in Congress.
The Scare: Summers is scare-mongering in the White House about exaggerated costs to the economy.
Larry Summers needs to be taken to the woodshed.