Tuesday, March 31, 2009

immediate action report

The silence on climate change here in the capitol has been deafening, as the saying goes. I spend a good chunk of my time in the building, and aside from a few side mentions from the public during testimony on energy-related bills, there has literally been no mention of the issue. Gov. Sarah Palin mentioned climate change in her state of the state address, but only to note that her sub-cabinet group on climate change was studying the issue.
Anyway, the Immediate Action Work Group, a temporary group set up under the sub-cabinet, just issued its latest report. It has a few broad policy recommendations that suggest they're still trying to come up with a process that makes sense. But it also has several FY 10 funding requests, many of which are not currently in the budget bills working their way through the Legislature. If any of them are going to make it in, it's going to take some quick, effective lobbying. The session ends April 19. As for who will do that lobbying, beats me.