We were all surprised but happy to hear that President Obama was calling for stronger climate change legislation at the beginning of his second term, but its execution is going to be a little gentler.
Of course, in his first term in office, Obama couldn’t push too hard or else alienate most of his supporters, but he still managed to get some landmark climate change legislation passed. New CAFE Regulations and increased solar power installations are just a couple of projects that we have so far. Now that Obama has elected to a second term in office, he’s prepared to be a little tougher, but all in all, his work is going to be somewhat muted by another issue.
During his first term, Obama spent billions of dollars on cleantech development and clean energy projects. Now that the funds are running dry, federal support for these projects is going to see a steep drop this year. Obama’s concessions to natural gas and petroleum industries are likely to be a sore spot with many, but he is still seeking to secure funding to reduce or eliminate the need for petroleum, at least in the car industry. Tougher climate change legislation will just have to wait.
