Chicago Debate League 2013/14 Core Files
NC Shell: Politics Disadvantage 281
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- 1NC Shell: Politics Disadvantage 282
1NC Shell: Politics Disadvantage 281C) Internal Link: Obama will put enough political capital into the new regulations to succeed, but it will be extremely difficult and any new fight will push climate change off the agenda. NATIONAL JOURNAL, 13 [Amy Harder; “Obama Plans Marathon Sprint on Climate Change” 6/24, http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/obama-plans-marathon-sprint-on-climate-change-20130624] President Obama is ready to take one more shot at global warming with the last, least-popular, and messiest tool he’s got left: regulations administered by the politically besieged Environmental Protection Agency. It won’t be popular, it might not work, and it could jeopardize his pick to head EPA. But the reality is that, three years after Congress killed a cap-and-trade bill, Obama is running out of time. If he doesn’t finalize EPA rules controlling greenhouse-gas emissions before he leaves the White House, a Republican president, or a GOP-controlled Senate, could undo the rules—and his environmental legacy. “He is serious about making it a second-term priority,” Heather Zichal, Obama’s top energy and climate adviser, said at an event last week. “He knows this is a legacy issue.” The effort amounts to both a marathon and a sprint, in which Obama must simultaneously navigate political, legal, and policy hurdles that could halt his efforts if he fails to map out a clear way forward. At issue is a pair of regulations controlling greenhouse-gas emissions from new and existing power plants, the latter of which account for nearly 40 percent of the country’s heat-trapping emissions. EPA proposed rules for new plants last spring but missed its April deadline to finalize them. The agency has also put on ice parallel rules targeting almost 600 existing coal-fired power plants. The rules covering existing plants could have the greatest impact, both on cutting carbon emissions and raising the cost of electricity, because coal is the cheapest, most prevalent, and dirtiest way to produce electricity. In a speech at Georgetown University on Tuesday, Obama will outline a timeline for EPA to move forward regulating carbon emissions at new and existing power plants. “The time will go very quickly because regulations don’t move quickly through the process,” said Joe Kruger, who served as deputy associate director for energy and climate change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality during Obama’s first term. “It will be a bit of a time crunch to get it done by the end of the Obama second term.” Kruger, who now directs energy and environmental policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, predicted the administration will succeed because Obama is putting his own political capital into the issue. “They will figure out one way or another how to get it done,” he said. 1NC Shell: Politics Disadvantage 282D) Impact: 1) Obama’s plan solves global warming because it is comprehensive and targets the largest source of emissions. GUARDIAN, 13 [“Obama and climate change: fresh air” 6/25, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/25/obama-climate-change] Barack Obama's plans for cutting US greenhouse gas emissions represent an important first. Piecemeal attempts have been made to address the issue, but this is the first time a comprehensive strategy to combat climate change has been unveiled. For the first time, limits will be imposed on the carbon dioxide output of existing power plants, which, as the biggest single source, account for 40% of America's carbon emissions. Shares in coal have plunged but, in climate change terms, that is a good a thing. It is a sign that Mr Obama is not tinkering around the edges, but attacking the source of the problem. 2) Continuing to emit CO2 into the atmosphere will turn the oceans into acid and destroy the base of the food chain. CALDEIRA, 05 [Ken, Ph.D., Department of Global Ecology at Carnegie Institution of Washington, “Oceans turning to acid from rise in CO2,” June 30, http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/ci-ott063005.php] A report issued by the Royal Society in the U.K. sounds the alarm about the world's oceans. "If CO2 from human activities continues to rise, the oceans will become so acidic by 2100 it could threaten marine life in ways we can't anticipate," commented Dr. Ken Caldeira, co-author of the report and a newly appointed staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, California.* The report on ocean acidification was released today by the Royal Society. See http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/ Many scientists view the world's oceans as an important sink for capturing the human-induced greenhouse gas CO2 and slowing global warming. Marine plants soak up CO2 as they breathe it in and convert it to food during photosynthesis. Organisms also use it to make their skeletons and shells, which eventually form sediments. With the explosion of fossil-fuel burning over the past 200 years, it has been estimated that more than a third of the human-originated greenhouse gas has been absorbed by the oceans. While marine organisms need CO2 to survive, work by Caldeira and colleagues shows that too much CO2 in the ocean could lead to ecological disruption and extinctions in the marine environment. When CO2 gas dissolves into the ocean it produces carbonic acid, which is corrosive to shells of marine organisms and can interfere with the oxygen supply. If current trends continue, the scientists believe the acidic water could interrupt the process of shell and coral formation and adversely affect other organisms dependent upon corals and shellfish. The acidity could also negatively impact other calcifying organisms, such as phytoplankton and zooplankton, some of the most important players at the base of the planet's food chain. "We can predict the magnitude of the acidification based on the evidence that has been collected from the ocean's surface, the geological and historical record, ocean circulation models, and what's known about ocean chemistry," continued Caldeira. "What we can't predict is just what acidic oceans mean to ocean ecology and to Earth's climate. International and governmental bodies must focus on this area before it's too late." 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