Going backwards on climate change in Boston

While North Carolina is moving foward in taking action on climate change with yet another cool city (congratulations, Raleigh!), there has been a pretty big setback here at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Boston.

It turns out that NCSL doesn't have a policy on climate change, so their lobbyists are not active on this issue in Congress.

Yesterday, a key committee took up a modest policy statement on climate change. There was a lot of support-- 24 states voted to adopt the policy. But 12 states, lead by Georgia, voted first to table (kill) the measure and then to oppose it. This was the second year in a row that a climate change policy statement failed, although climate change workshops have dominated the conference.

You would think that 24 states would trump 12 states, but it turns out that policy votes require a 3/4 majority.

I was proud that North Carolina, repesented by committee member Rep. Pricey Harrison, of Guilford County, supported the resolution.

Here are the states who voted no: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Wyoming, Georgia, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

In case you are wondering, yes, there is a lot of lobbying by industry groups going on.