Of all the big issues facing America, climate change barely registered in this year’s presidential campaign — not until Hurricane Sandy crashed the party.
So as soon as the major news networks called the race tonight, environmentalists started firing off e-mails urging Pres. Obama to turn his attention back to our warming world. They’re hoping that Obama’s re-election and Sandy’s devastation will reset the national conversation on climate change, after several years in which many politicians refused to utter those two words in public.
“While Sandy’s lessons are still fresh, the president should be clear about the urgency of cutting carbon emissions and strengthening critical infrastructure to protect Americans against the rising costs of climate change,” wrote Eileen Claussen, president of the non-profit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
And of course, environmentalists are hoping for a little payback.
They’ve had their disappointments with Obama. Those include letting die in the Senate a bill that would have created a cap-and-trade system to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But environmentalists and clean-energy advocates have remained key parts of his coalition. And they note that Sandy — the kind of storm that climate change science predicts will become more common as temperatures in the ocean and atmosphere rise — gave Obama some needed momentum in the race’s final days.
“He had a great opportunity with that big storm to show himself in a strong role, and a bipartisan role, working with Gov. Christie and Mayor Bloomberg,” said Bay Area hedge fund manager and clean-energy supporter Thomas Steyer, in an interview Tuesday night. “It was a chance to see him in action. And that worked very much to his advantage.”
Steyer had another reason to celebrate Tuesday night. A California ballot measure he bankrolled — Proposition 39 — appeared headed to an easy victory. The measure will change how some multi-state companies pay taxes in California, raising about $1 billion in new revenue each year. About half of that money will pay for energy-efficiency upgrades and renewable power projects at California government buildings and schools.