Thursday, March 19, 2015

Obama moves a bit more on the environment

The New York Times reports that President Obama has signed an executive order that will seek to have all federal agencies reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from their 2008 levels by 2025.

This isn't earth shattering in itself -- the federal government only accounts for 1 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But it's not nothing either, as the government is the single largest purchaser of goods and services in the U.S.  It's policies can create markets for goods and service that can percolate through the rest of the economy, and its ability to bind federal contractors can help spread policies to a broader group of businesses.

The order extends a previous order signed in 2009 that required the government to cut emissions by 25 percent by 2020. The Feds are on track to meet it. Good on the administration for following up on earlier success.

Every ton of CO2 we keep out of the atmosphere helps. And this order will keep several million in the ground.

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