1 Year ago Today Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham & Joe Lieberman Formed a Triumverate to Combat Climate Change: What Happened?

The triumverate: Lindsey Graham center with Joe Lieberman

at the far left and John Kerry peering over Graham's left shoulder

(courtesy of Time Magazine)

In his primary-campaign speech 2 years ago, Barack Obama declared that his adminisration would spotlight two main issues: climate change and health care. He said in a debate with John McCain. : "Energy [which includes global warming] we have to deal with today. Health care is priority No. 2."

A year ago today, October 29 2009, an unlikely alliance was formed between 3 senators whose goal was to pass a bill through congress that would control climate change.

Earlier that month in a New York Times op-ed column entitled Yes We Can, Kerry and Graham co-wrote..." climate change is real and threatens our economy and national security. That's why we are advocating aggressive reductions in our emissions of the carbon gases that cause climate changes.....We will develop mechanisms to protect businesses- and ultimately consumers- from increases in energy prices" via the "establishment of floor and ceiling for the cost of emission allowances....to safeguard important industries while they make the investments necessary to join the clean-energy era."

A house bill had the goal of reducing the 2005 level of carbon gases (in the atmosphere) by 17% by 2020!

They could not be a more unlikely group: a maverick republican from South Carolina (Lindsey Graham) with an avowed antipathy towards a liberal northeast senator and presidential and then high office hopeful (John Kerry) and his one-time presidential primary opponent a democrat turned independent, a chameleon with conservative leanings (Joe Lieberman).

A "grand bargain" was outlined by a senior White House official--a master strategy to bring together dynamically opposed business interests and congressional republicans and democrats (analagous to bringing Al Gore and T.Boone Pickens to sit down at the bargaining table).

In this bargain, the democrats would get their coveted 'cap and trade' legislation in return for ceding to their republican opponents much sought after business concessions.

Here was the deal: the blue party would get their 'cap and trade' and the red party would get a guarantee for increase in gas production (to placate the Pickens group), loan guarantees and subsidies for the development of nuclear power (an issue dear to Graham whose state has 4 active nuclear reactors, Catawba, Oconee, H.B. Robinson and Virgil C. Summer and 4 more proposed at a cost of up to $10 Billion each ) and assurances for continued exploration and drilling for offshore oil.

This epic saga of trial and failure has a cast of characters that includes senators Barbara Boxer, John McCain, Susan Collins, Olympia Snow, Scot Brown, George LeMieux, Lisa Murkowski, Evan Bayh, Debbie Stebanow, Blanche Lincoln, Congressmen Henry Waxman, Max Baucus, Edward Markey and various green group proponents such as Fred Krupp (of the Envrironmental Defense Fund), industry groups such as The Edison Electrical Institute and presidential appointees and advisors Carol Browner, Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod.

To learn more about the ups and downs of this historic effort to control global pollution and its attendant harm to our health, weather, seas, oceans and wildlife, national morale and international standing amongst the league of nations , etc--- please read the excellent article by Ryan Lizza, As The World Burns, in the October 11, 2010 issue of the New Yorker.

He will summarize in detail the reasons for this unfortunate failure: chief amongst them is the often bitter indifference of a burned out administration that turned against the historic triumverate. Obama (who in December 2009 met with and pledged to Graham to work with him on climate change: "Look Lindsey , I'm ready to play..") and his henchmen simple gave up on the issue after the mammoth fight of working with Congress, the medical, pharmaceutical and insurance industries to pass Obamacare, which was suddenly their Number One priority.

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