Mitt Romney, a GOP candidate for the Presidential Election of 2012, is under fire (class only link) for his wishy-washy environmental stance. After hiring Douglas Foy, a Democratic environmental activist, Romney seems to promote good environmental choices. However, as the 2012 election draws nearer and Romney is under more pressure from rival candidates, he seems to change his tune. Mr. Foy was hired to supervise environmental initiatives under Governor Mitt Romney. "He said that Mr. Romney's environmental record fits 'the Republican tradition in Massachusetts'' of 'fiscal conservatism and good governance, doing more with less'." His opponents, however seem to disagree. During his term as governor of Massachusetts, Romney made strides against CO2 emissions by making Massachusetts the first state to set CO2 emissions limits on power plants. According to the article, "Mr. Foy said that as he was negotiating a cap-and-trade regime with other states, Mr. Romney made it clear he believed in human-caused global warming and wanted a policy response. At the time, many conservatives were open to a cap-and-trade system, seeing it as a market-driven solution to limiting emissions." It seems however, that the governor was unsure of how the carbon-trading system would impact the local economy. Instead of pushing for radical environmental regulation, Romney pushed negotiators to build business-oriented provisions -- "such as triggers to cut off trading if the price of energy rose to certain levels." It seems Romney was not happy with this still, because after instructing Mr. Foy to negotiate an agreement to promote business, "Romney ultimately backed out, saying the deal lacked a "safety valve'' to cap plant payments if they exceeded emission limits."
--Ashley Anthony
