Regulators often find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They must learn from the past, respond to present needs and imagine future problems. Bill Ruckelshaus served as the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Presidents Nixon and Reagan. He remembers the challenge of trying to administer laws that were hammered out in political compromise. Too often these laws were unclear about how and what needed to be regulated.
As U.S. EPA administrator for the first President Bush, Bill Reilly was briefed by the National Academy of Sciences. He knows the Academy has concluded repeatedly that global warming is real and is caused largely by human activity. Given the large numbers of U.S. scientists and others around the world who are concerned about climate change risks, he questions why the media portrays this issue as an equally matched battle between competing scientific camps.
Ed Holmes balanced the needs of present and future generations as a state utility regulator in Kentucky. He recommends imposing regulations that set mandatory, not voluntary, limits on CO2 emissions. These would guide decision makers today and protect the future for our children and grandchildren. He wonders, however, if he could be appointed as a state utility regulator today with a platform that advocates such actions.
