Advantage CPs

Aerospace
1NC R&D Tax Credit CP

Text: The United States federal government should
permanently raise the research and development tax credit
rate to 20 percent.
R&D tax credit key to the aerospace industry and the US
economy
AIA 2010 - Aerospace Industries Association, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TAX CREDIT, http://www.aiaaerospace.org/assets/RandDpaper.pdf
The aerospace and civil aviation industries account for nearly 15 percent of the U.S.
Gross Domestic Product and support approximately 11 million domestic jobs .
Consequently, Americas economic growth and national security depend on this high technology workforce, which
includes many segments of applied research including air transportation, military operations, and space-based
U.S. firms, which produce the worlds most reliable aerospace

systems and sub-systems, must compete with a foreign marketplace in which
government entities underwrite a significant portion of the industrys civil
aeronautics research and development (R&D). Since 1981, the U.S. R&D tax credit has
spurred innovation, thereby strengthening U.S. competitiveness and creating hightech jobs domestically. On average, U.S. firms invest an additional $94 in research and development for
communications. Yet these
every $6 the federal government invests through the R&D tax credit.1 During this time of global recession,
creating high-tech jobs in the United States is essential for our domestic
economy to thrive. The R&D tax credit will help to accomplish this goal . More than
75 percent of the R&D tax credit dollars are earned on wages paid to individuals
directly involved in research conducted in the United States .2 Further, if Congress
were to enhance the R&D tax credit instead of simply extending it annually, we
believe the result would be an immediate and positive impact on U.S. innovation
and high-tech job creation. For example, one study suggests that raising the
Alternative Simplified R&D tax credit rate to 20 percent would create 162,000 jobs
and have a positive spillover effect on the overall economy .3 However, for the ongoing
benefits to have real teeth, the R&D tax credit must be made permanent.
preserving and
2NC Solvency
Long-term R&D tax credit solves aerospace competitiveness and boosts the
economy
FAAC 10
(Department of Transportations recommendations via the Future of Aviation Advisory Committee to

Congress, The Aviation Advisory Committee provides information, advice, and recommendations to the Secretary of
Transportation on ensuring the competitiveness of the U.S. aviation industry and its capability to address the
evolving transportation needs, challenges, and opportunities of the global economy. 2010;
http://www.dot.gov/faac/FAAC_Recommendations.pdf)
RECOMMENDATION # 2 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT RELATED TO AIRFRAME AND ENGINE TECHNOLOGIES
Accelerate aircraft technology development with more robust research and development by government and
industry. Seek the permanent extension of industry research and development tax credits. Seek significant
increases in funding to programs such as the FAAs Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise (CLEEN)
technology program, and continue to advocate close coordination with National Aeronautics and Space Agency
(NASA) aeronautical research programs to develop aircraft technologies. PROBLEM/CHALLENGE The industry goals
of carbon neutral growth from 2020 and halving total carbon dioxide (CO2) footprint of aviation by 2050 require a
combination of actions. About 25% of the fuel burn and CO2 reduction contributions are expected from improved
airframe and engine technology. Historically, most of the reductions in the environmental impact of aviation have
been due to improvements in the technology on the aircraft, yet significant improvement opportunities are still in
front of us. Unfortunately, the timelines for the development of new technologies tend to be very long, with
additional time involved for the penetration of these technologies into the fleet. In order to realize benefits within a
foreseeable timeframe, we need to achieve successful maturation and deployment of new technologies within the
A concerted research and development (R&D) effort is needed to accelerate

Aviation-related research
and development investments are vital for a high technology economy and also the
enablers of solutions that can decrease emissions, create good jobs, increase U.S.
competitiveness, and provide substantial enhancements to mobility - benefiting the general public.
Aerospace is a top exporter, so increased capability in this sector also benefits the
U.S. balance of payments and is key to achieving the Presidents stated export goals. Leveraging
next 3-8 years.
the development of technologies and their introduction into the fleet. RATIONALE
industrys research and development investment is by far the largest lever to maximize benefits in the shortest
time frame.
Since 1981, the Research and Development Tax Credit has been a critical
incentive for businesses to invest in domestic research and development. Such
credits are the highest leverage use of federal dollars to stimulate research and
development that is most likely to lead to implementation in goods and services.
The resulting innovation, advanced technologies, and new developments have
helped keep the U.S. at the forefront of cutting edge technologies, created jobs,
spurred economic growth, and driven the U.S. competitive advantage. In the early
1980s, the U.S. had the most generous R&D incentive. By 2009, the U.S. ranked
17th among the 21 OECD countries offering R&D tax incentives . Since the R&D tax credit
has currently expired, the U.S. ranks last. The U.S. aerospace industry faces tough competitors,
with new emerging competition in China, Japan and Russia. We need to increase
federal co-funding of R&D and provide longer term stability of the R&D tax credit . The
CLEEN program is an initiative between FAA and industry, on a 1:1 minimum cost share (so the government
contribution is no more than 50%) to mature promising technologies and alternative fuels to reduce aircraft
environmental impacts and energy usage. This program has ambitious goals to achieve a quieter, cleaner fleet that
operates more efficiently with less energy and sustainable fuels. It leverages federal dollars with industry
contributions. However, it is underfunded at a federal investment of $125 million over 5 years. (By comparison, the
noise setaside in the Airport Improvement Program is funded at a minimum of $300 million per year.) If we believe
that new technologies to make aviation more environmentally progressive are important to develop domestically,
we need to address and improve the primary incentive available for businesses to innovate and create new
products. The recommended actions will leverage job creation, enhance exports and improve the countrys
leadership in clean technologies.
Tax credit key to aerospace industry and U.S. economy

AIA 08 - Aerospace Industries Association
(AIA Letter Urges R&D Tax Credit Extension, http://www.aiaaerospace.org/newsroom/aia_news/aia_letter_urges_rd_tax_credit_extension/, 2/5)
The research and development tax credit creates high-paying jobs and should be an important tool in efforts to
The
tax credit is a proven incentive that helps U.S. companies compete in the global
economy by encouraging high technology innovation . Blakey said the credit should be part of
stimulate the U.S. economy, AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said in a Jan. 29 letter to Senate leaders.
the economic stimulus package under consideration in Congress or another tax package that would be considered
later this fall. The letter urged Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) as well as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
to reinstate the tax credit this year, preferably in the stimulus package. "The tax credit is a huge factor in fostering
the technological advances that are the cornerstone of Americas success," Blakey said. " The
credit is
needed not only for the sake of the aerospace industry, but to boost the entire U.S.
economy." The credit, which expired at the end of 2007, dates back to 1981. Congress must extend the credit
each year, but lawmakers have allowed it to expire 13 times. In each case they have reinstated the credit
retroactively. While the credit is important to virtually all 269 members of AIA, it is especially vital to the small- and
medium-sized companies that don't have the large budgets of big corporations to fund independent R&D initiatives.
The credit is often their primary vehicle to make technological progress, Blakey said.
The aerospace and defense industry provides 642,000 high-paying jobs across the
nation and accounted for a $57 billion positive foreign trade balance last year, the
highest of any U.S. manufacturing sector. AIA is a member of the R&D Credit Coalition, which
includes dozens of trade associations and more than 1,000 companies of all sizes. Among the coalition's goals are
strengthening the credit and making it permanent.
CP starts solving in a matter of weeks

Atkinson 10 - President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
(Robert D., Create Jobs by Expanding the R&D Tax Credit, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation,
http://www.itif.org/files/2010-01-26-RandD.pdf, 1/26)
One issue to consider is that of timeliness of effects. There are no studies that we are aware of estimating the time
One major
benefit of an increase to the R&D credit, especially in comparison to direct
government spending, is that the effect is felt much sooner. Essentially, once an
increase in the credit is enacted into law, companies should fairly quickly (within a
matter of weeks) adjust their investment behavior to respond , and begin to hire additional
staff (or cancel planned layoffs). This is in part because most companies that currently take the
credit have a fairly large backlog of research projects they are working on and
challenges they are seeking to solve. The limiting factor for most companies is a
impacts of these effects. However, it is possible to roughly estimate when these benefits will occur.
financial
one
which an expanded credit helps reduce in terms of either being able to

allocate the financial resources or justifying them on an ROI basis. While the R&D and jobs impacts of a change in
the credit could be expected to occur fairly quickly, most of the productivity, innovation, and GDP impacts (and by
research efforts
take some time before they show results in the form of new products (or processes).
However, the fact that the overall process from research to commercialization has
generally gotten shorter over the last two decades , suggests that these macroeconomic impacts
extension, the tax revenue impacts) will take longer to be realized. This is in part because
would begin to be felt in a matter of a few years.
---Solves STEM
CP is a prereq to solving STEM incentives are key to
innovation
USCJEC 12 -U.S. Congress Joint Economic committee, STEM Education: Preparing for the Jobs of the Future,
http://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=6aaa7e1f-9586-47be-82e7-326f47658320CW)
In order to reap the full gains to be had from technological innovation, the U.S. must
employ a multifaceted approach to fostering an environment where innovation can
flourish. Ultimately, improving STEM education and boosting the size and caliber of
the STEM workforce in the United States will not be sufficient if research and
development budgets are slashed or if proper incentives are not in place for
businesses to invest in innovation. Thus, in considering policies to reduce deficits and debt,
policymakers should take care to preserve funding for research and development ,
and to continue to support programs authorized under the America COMPETES Act. Additional policy actions
could include making the research and development tax credit permanent , or passing
further legislation to incentivize R&D, such as the Life Sciences Jobs and Investment Act (S. 1410).
2NC Avoids Politics

CP avoids politics R&D tax credit is not controversial
Haggard 13 -Sean Haggard, CPA, is a tax manager in Kaufman, Rossins Boca Raton office.
Kaufman,
Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country, January 14, 2013, Congress Extends Popular R&D Tax Credit,
http://www.kaufmanrossin.com/blog/?p=2897//RSoni
In a boon for entrepreneurs and the technology industry , Congress last-minute,

fiscal cliff compromise included an extension of the much-loved research and
development tax credit zto January 1, 2012. We cant keep cutting things like basic
research and new technology and still expect to succeed in a 21st-century
economy, President Obama said after Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act. You dont need to
have a lab and a team of scientists to claim the R&D tax credit, which was created in 1981 to encourage companies
to innovate, invest in research and hire workers to perform R&D. Small and medium-size businesses developing new
a tax
manager in Kaufman, Rossins Boca Raton office. The R&D tax credit has generally
been extended every year, and in recent years, it has become more attractive for
smaller companies. There are three main reasons for its increase in popularity: 1) the credit is simpler now;
or improved products, or companies that outsource product testing are eligible, says Sean Haggard, CPA,
2) it can be transferred in an acquisition; and it can be taken retroactively. This tax credit presents a unique
opportunity for startups because R&D costs incurred in the early years of a business when the company has no
income can be carried forward 20 years to offset taxes on future profits, Haggard says. However, as he told
Bloomberg Businessweek, 80% of R&D tax credits currently go to companies with $250 million or more in gross
receipts mainly to the fact that smaller companies believe they do not qualify or believe the credit is too
The retroactive extension of this tax credit to January 1, 2012 is a good

sign that theres always room for more innovation and the government is willing to
subsidize it.
complicated.
R&D tax credit has bipartisan support and both parties have
proposed making it permanent
Calmes 10 - Writer for the New York Times
(Jackie, Obama to Pitch Permanent Research Tax Credit,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/us/politics/05tax.html, 9/4)
The research credit, which has existed in some form since 1981, has strong bipartisan and
business support. Yet the prospects for Mr. Obamas proposal are unclear. Congress returns from a break in
mid-September but will be in session only a few weeks before leaving for midterm election campaigning. Also,
Republicans do not want to give Democrats boasting rights to legislative victories, even for a proposal like this one,
which Republicans have long espoused. And there is the issue of the credits cost . It has always been
passed as a temporary credit because of the revenue losses; Congress has extended it 13 times for as little as six
months, and the uncertainty has long vexed businesses. It lapsed after 2009, and a proposal to renew it for this
Making the credit permanent would cost an estimated $85

billion over 10 years, and expanding it would cost $15 billion more , according to the
administration. Doing so, however, would end one of the longest-running budget gimmicks
in town: Presidents and Congresses of both parties have called for a permanent
extension but ultimately kept it temporary to reduce deficit projections . Based on that
year is pending in the Senate.
history, the Treasury would probably give up as much as $100 billion in the coming decade in any case. Under
Democrats pay-as-you-go law, however, the full 10-year cost would have to be offset by other savings. Mr. Obama
will propose that Congress adopt some of the provisions proposed in his annual budget to close corporate tax
loopholes.
AT Empirics Disprove
Their evidence is in the context of a temporary tax credit
making it permanent solves uncertainty and strengthens the
investment incentive
DoT 11- Department of Transportation
(INVESTING IN U.S. COMPETITIVENESS: The Benefits of Enhancing the Research and Experimentation (R&E) Tax
Credit, A Report from the Office of Tax Policy,
http://www.investinamericasfuture.org/PDFs/TreasuryRDReportMarch25.PDF, 3/25)
the ability of the current credit to stimulate research may

be diminished by the fact that it has been perceived as temporary , which makes it
difficult for businesses to factor in its effect when planning research projects. The pattern of an offAs noted above, while still effective,
and-on tax credit for research increases the uncertainty that firms face about the ultimate after-tax costs they will
This uncertainty can have a negative effect on the total amount and
which is by its nature a highly uncertain investment. The temporary nature of
the credit may especially reduce the incentive it provides for the kinds of projects that are
long term and require continuing expenditures over many years. For such projects,
uncertainty about whether the credit will be available increases the financial risk of
the project and weakens the investment incentive. Moreover, many projects have long
pay for research activity.
composition of research activity,
planning stages, further complicating a companys analysis.
AFF - Links to Politics

CP links to politics sparks fights in Congress
Garver 14 Rob, national correspondent for The Fiscal Times, May 8, House Republicans Propose
Controversial Tax Vote, http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/05/08/House-Republicans-ProposeControversial-Tax-Vote/Megan
House Democrats on Wednesday found themselves in the odd position of arguing against a tax credit that they
generally support out of fear that its passage would endanger the success of other tax credit bills that they also
House Republicans brought a bill to the floor that would expand a tax credit for
companies engaged in research and development. The proposal would also make
the credit permanent, without fiscal offsets, adding an estimated $156 billion to the
federal deficit over the next decade. Related: The 10 Worst States for Your Tax Dollar The R&D
credit (also known as the R&E credit, for Research and Experimentation) has for some years been one
of several dozen measures referred to as tax extenders. These are temporary tax
credits that Congress has more or less routinely extended. They are generally considered en
favor.
masse rather than individually, and they contain not just business-related measures such as the R&D credit, but
child credits, improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit, and other provisions favored by Democrats. Last
week, though, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, had his panel
consider six of the extenders all favored by business groups individually. They were fast-tracked to a vote on
the House floor, with the R&D credit coming up first. In total, the six provisions would cost $310 billion over 10
years. Republican leaders pointed out that the R&D credit has been in force since the early 1980s, and that making
it permanent was more of a formality than anything else. Enough of the silliness, said House Speaker John
The tax extenders have not been paid for in the past, either, but
building in expiration dates at least guaranteed that Congress would have to act
affirmatively to keep them alive. Permanent tax cuts tend to be very hard to
undo, particularly when they have the support of the business lobby. The move
angered Democrats, who saw the move not just as a sop to big business, but as
endangering the other extenders chances of passage.
Boehner (R-OH)
Arctic Conflict
1NC
Text: The United States federal government should fully
support the Navys Arctic Roadmap for 2014-2030.
CP ensures a U.S. presence in the Arctic facilitates better
research, ensures access to resources and promotes
cooperation and security
Reuters 14 - Faced with declining ice cover, U.S. Navy eyes greater presence in Arctic, Reuters,
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/01/faced-with-declining-ice-cover-u-s-navy-eyes-greater-presence-inarctic/,]//fw
The U.S. Navy is mapping out how to expand its presence in the
Arctic beginning about 2020, given signs that the regions once permanent ice
cover is melting faster than expected, which is likely to trigger more traffic, fishing
and resource mining. The Arctic is all about operating forward and being ready. We dont think
were going to have to do war-fighting up there, but we have to be ready, said Rear
Admiral Jonathan White, the Navys top oceanographer and navigator, and director
of the Navys climate change task force. We dont want to have a demand for the
Navy to operate up there, and have to say, Sorry, we cant go, he said. The Navy this
week released an aggressive update to its 2009 Arctic plan after a detailed analysis
of data from a variety of sources showed that seasonal ice is disappearing faster
than had been expected even three years ago. The document said the Bering Strait was expected
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
to see open water conditions about 160 days a year by 2020, with the deep ocean routes of the Transpolar transit
The document includes dozens of

specific tasks and deadlines for Navy offices, including calling for better research on
rising sea levels and the ability to predict sea ice thickness, assessment of satellite
communications and surveillance needs, and evaluation of existing ports, airfields
and hangars. It also puts a big focus on cooperation with other Arctic nations and with
route forecast to be open for up to 45 days annually by 2025.
the U.S. Coast Guard, which is grappling with the need to build a new $1 billion ice-breaking ship. The Navy is
conducting a submarine exercise in the Arctic next month, and plans to participate in a joint training exercise with
White said the Navys new projection was aimed

at answering the billion dollar question of how much it would cost to prepare for
an increased naval presence in the Arctic, and trying to determine what investments
were needed when. Were trying to use this road map to really be able to answer
that question, White said, noting that early smaller-scale investments could help
avert bigger bills in the future . He said efforts were under way now in the Navy to identify specific
the Norwegian and Russian military this summer.
requirements for weather-hardened ships and other equipment, land-based infrastructure, and better bandwidth for
satellite and shore-based communications capabilities. The Office of Naval Research and the Pentagons Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency are already funding numerous Arctic-focused projects with industry, White said,
predicting increased public-private projects in recent years .
He said he realized U.S. military budgets

are under pressure, but hoped the plan would help undergird Arctic-related budget
requests in coming years by showing lawmakers that the Navy had carefully studied
and evaluated its options. As far as Im concerned, the Navy and Coast Guards area of responsibility is
growing, White said. Were growing a new ocean, so our budget should be growing in line with that. The
Navys plan does not alter any current funding, but calls for identification of future
ships and other weapons by the third quarter of fiscal 2014, which ends September
30, in time to be considered for future budget deliberations. Our challenge over the coming
decades is to balance the demands of current requirements with investment in the development of future
capabilities, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert wrote in an introduction. This
roadmap
will ensure our investments are informed, focused, and deliberate as the Navy
approaches a new maritime frontier. The Navy has long operated submarines in the region, and flies
surveillance and unmanned aircraft as needed, but by 2020 it plans to boost the number of personnel trained for
By 2030, as the Arctic Ocean becomes increasingly ice-free, the Navy said it would
have the training and personnel to respond to crises and national security
emergencies. The Navys updated road map noted that the Arctic has significant oil,
gas and mineral resources, including some rare earth minerals now supplied mainly by China, and estimated
Arctic operations.
hydrocarbon resources of over $1 trillion. Those resources are attractive to big multinational corporations and other
countries, but they face big financial, technical and environmental risks due to the harshness of the environment,
and the unpredictable weather, White said. If we do start to see a rush, and people try to get up there too fast, we
run the risk of catastrophes, he said, urging a more gradual, measured move into the region by the private sector.
Search and rescue in the cold ice-covered water of the Arctic is not somewhere we want to go.
AT: Science Coop Solves

Solely science/research-based approaches fail presence is
key
Slayton and Rosen 14 -David M., research fellow @ Hoover Institution and Co-Chair of the Hoover
Institutions Arctic Security Initiative, Mark E., international and national security lawyer, 3/14, Another region
where the Russian military threatens to dominate the U.S., CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/14/opinion/slaytonrosen-russia-u-s-arctic/]//fw
Overwhelmingly, the U.S. Arctic policy debate echoes past concerns of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
many in the policy community are pushing a heavy science and nodevelopment agenda to preserve the pristine character of the region . The recently issued
Consequently,
Department of Defense Arctic Strategy is a case in point: It talks extensively about the DOD scientific mission and
uses the terms "sustainable development" and preservation of the unspoiled area as important national goals. But
precious Arctic mineral and oil and gas resources will

help assure the United States is able, over time, to achieve and then maintain its
energy independence. Voices on the Ukraine/Crimea referendum King: 'I stand with the President' Many
average Russians support Putin Science is incredibly important, as is safe and responsible
development of the Arctic, but our agencies and scientists need to approach these
issues with a greater sense of urgency. Arguably, the science needs to be a
component of a detailed national action, but that's only a fraction of good U.S.
policy. U.S. Arctic policy should prioritize four things: One: Demonstrate leadership in the
Arctic and develop a strategy and policy to match. The U.S. has no leadership in the high north and Russia does,
which is a great concern for our allies. Two: Invest in infrastructure, Navy and Coast Guard to
support U.S. security and commercial interests in the Arctic. The key here is to develop the policy
that drives those requirements so we are not "late to need." Three: Demonstrate leadership in the
maritime domain worldwide -- and not retreat as we are doing by default in the Arctic. Four: Facilitate and
further develop offshore natural resources in the high north/Alaska and the national, international,
just saying "no" ignores the fact that the
maritime and geopolitical governance structures that will underpin those enterprises.
AFF CP Cant Solve

The Navys Arctic Roadmap doesnt go far enough leadership
wont be perceived
Slayton and Rosen 14 [David M., research fellow @ Hoover Institution and Co-Chair of the Hoover
Institutions Arctic Security Initiative, Mark E., international and national security lawyer, 3/14, Another region
where the Russian military threatens to dominate the U.S., CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/14/opinion/slaytonrosen-russia-u-s-arctic/]//fw
Washington, in less than two years, will assume a leadership role when it becomes
Chair for the Arctic Council. Unfortunately , the DOD policy and U.S. Navy Arctic
Roadmap 2014 do not articulate what the U.S. Arctic leadership agenda will entail.
The reality is ignoring the issues and choosing not to participate in the Arctic will not
make the issues go away. Yes, budgets are challenging, but the Arctic is no different
from any other international frontier or global common where the U.S. has interests.
We need to protect it and demonstrate leadership in the maritime domain -- not
retreat. So, too, our policy makers need to be looking beyond our shores to Moscow,
Ottawa, Oslo, Copenhagen, the Arctic Council, international oil companies and
Lloyds of London for help in solving this governance challenge. The last thing that
any of the Arctic states can afford is to back into a Russian-generated crisis with no
resources or a plan. The time is now for more U.S. leadership to ensure the Arctic
becomes a safe, secure and prosperous region in which to live and work.
AFF Links to Politics
Military funding sparks fights recent defense budget cuts

prove
Shalal 14 [Andrea, Correspondent at Reuters, 3/11, U.S. military braces for
budget battles with Congress, Reuters,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/12/us-usa-fiscal-pentagonidUSBREA2B01V20140312]//fw
Top U.S. defense officials are bracing for a brutal season of budget
negotiations, warning U.S. lawmakers that the U.S. military will gradually become unable to respond to
(Reuters) -
emerging crises if Congress blocks the Pentagon's plans to cut military compensation, close bases and retire entire
fleets of aircraft. Senior officials have also begun mapping out in stark terms what additional weapons and
capabilities will be sacrificed if Congress does not reverse mandatory budget cuts that are due to resume in fiscal
2016 under a process known as sequestration. Air Force Undersecretary Eric Fanning told reporters on Tuesday
other programs would have to be cut if Congress blocked the service's plan to retire both its U-2 spy plane fleet and
its fleet of A-10 Warthog planes for close air support. "In my view, we can't cut into readiness far enough to cover
keeping those two fleets. Something would have to give," he said. He said the Air Force faced big bills in coming
years for its three top priorities: Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet, a new long-range bomber, and Boeing Co's
new tanker to refuel fighter jets in mid-air. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert told reporters late
on Monday that the Navy would have no choice but to curtail funding for a planned refueling of the nuclear-powered
USS George Washington aircraft carrier if sharp cuts in military spending remained in effect for 2016 and beyond.
Such a decision, he said, would have a big impact on the shipbuilding industrial base, noting that the refueling
involved several hundred thousand man-days of work, and could affect the ability of carrier building Huntington
Ingalls Industries Inc to build the next aircraft carrier. Huntington Ingalls, General Dynamics Corp, Lockheed, Boeing
and other weapons makers are each lobbying to maintain or increase funding for their programs, warning that big
cutbacks will be especially hard on smaller suppliers. Greenert said the Navy had included money in the fiscal 2015
budget to get the carrier ready for de-fueling beginning in September 2016, something that will have to happen
regardless whether the ship is ultimately retired or refueled. If Congress blocked those plans - which the Navy
estimates would save $7 billion - the Navy would be forced to reduce its orders of submarines and destroyers
instead, he said, noting that it would be hard to find big enough cuts elsewhere. Greenert said the Navy still had a
requirement for 11 carriers, but had been forced to make tough choices in its fiscal 2015 budget as it tried to
balance competing priorities, including the need to start work on a replacement for the Ohio-class submarines that
now carry nuclear weapons. Greenert is due to testify before the House Armed Services Committee along with Navy
Lawmakers are
already resisting specific proposals in the Pentagon's budget plan, often based on
their interest in preserving jobs in their home districts. But they have also said they
don't expect lawmakers to agree on other deficit reducing measure that could allow
them to end sequestration. Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last week
Secretary Ray Mabus and Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos on Wednesday.
told lawmakers he knew the proposed reforms were "unpleasant and unpopular" but the department urgently
needed to cut its overhead to keep pace with growing threats. He appealed to lawmakers to allow the Pentagon to
cut infrastructure, slow the rate of growth in military pay and retire older weapons so it could invest in new
technologies. "We simply can't ignore the imbalances that ultimately make our force less effective than what the
nation needs," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. "Kicking the can down the road will set up
our successors for an almost impossible problem. We have to take the long view here." Byron Callan, analyst with
Capital Alpha Securities, said the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review made it clear that the biggest threat
facing the U.S. military was not China or some other military power, but dealing with the budget cuts. He said
military officials had thus far failed to explain in clear terms what effect the budget
cuts would have on the military's ability to respond to military conflicts or disasters
like the disappearance of a Malaysian airliner. "The bottom line is that we won't be able to do some of the things
that we're accustomed to doing," he said, noting that fewer military assets would invariably lead to higher casualty
rates and potentially longer military conflicts. Given continued uncertainty about future budget levels, top Pentagon
leaders have told the services to once again prepare two alternate budgets for fiscal 2016 - one that reflects the
mandatory budget cuts, and another that adds about $115 billion of funding as proposed under the five-year plan
through 2019.
Arctic Spills
Arctic OCS Standards CP
1NC OCS Standards CP

Text: The United States federal government should establish
binding Arctic OCS standards to regulate the offshore oil and
gas industry. Well clarify.
The counterplans standards mitigate spills
Pew, independent non-profit non-governmental organization, 2013
(REPORT Arctic Standards: Recommendations on Oil Spill Prevention, Response, and Safety,
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2013/09/23/arctic-standardsrecommendations-on-oil-spill-prevention-response-and-safety, dobp)
Arctic OCS standards would provide consistent requirements on

how to design, build, install, and operate equipment to safely explore and develop
oil and gas resources and respond to accidents in the region using best Arctic
science, technology, and practices. Arctic standards should account for the area's
remote location, lack of infrastructure, and unique operating conditions due to the
severe and changing climate to ensure that oil spills are prevented and the
capability exists to respond to a worst-case oil spill. These are some of the changes that Pew
recommends: Vessels, drilling rigs, and facilities should be built to withstand maximum
ice forces and sea states that may be encountered . Equipment needed to control a spill, such as
What Are Arctic Standards
relief rigs and well-control containment systems, should be designed for and located in Alaska's Arctic so they can
be readily deployed. Spill response equipment should be located in Alaska's Arctic and be sufficiently robust to
Redundant systemsincluding blowout

be
installed because equipment and logistical access is unavailable for large parts of
the year due to harsh weather or ice cover. Arctic offshore drilling operations into
hydrocarbon-bearing zones should be limited to periods when the drilling rig and its
associated spill response system are capable of working and cleaning up a spill in
Arctic conditions. Pew believes that decisions about whether, where, and how oil
and gas exploration and production activities are conducted in the U.S. Arctic Ocean
should be based on sound scientific information, thorough planning, the best
available technology, and full involvement of the communities most affected . A
remove oil caught in ice-infested waters and trapped under ice.
preventers, double-walled pipelines, double-bottom tanks, and remotely operated controls should
balanced and careful approach to development must account for environmental protection and the social, cultural,
and subsistence needs of Alaska communities.
Solvency 2NC
Renewed standards are key
(Arctic Standards Recommendations on Oil Spill Prevention, Response, and Safety in the U.S. Arctic
Ocean
http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/oceans_north_legacy/page_attachments/PEWArcticStandards
092313.pdf?la=en, dobp)
To aid the United States in its efforts to modernize Arctic technology and equipment
standards, this report examines the fierce Arctic conditions in which offshore oil and gas operations could take place and
then offers a summary of key recommendations for the Interior Department to
consider as it develops world-class, Arctic-specific regulatory standards for these
activities. Pews recommendations call for improved technology, equipment, and
procedural requirements that match the challenging conditions in the Arctic and for full
public participation and transparency throughout the decision-making process. Pew is not opposed to offshore drilling, but a balance
It is essential that
appropriate standards be in place for safety and for oil spill prevention and response
in this extreme, remote, and vulnerable ecosystem . This report recommends updating regulations to
must be achieved between responsible energy development and protection of the environment.
include Arcticspecific requirements and codifying temporary guidance into regulation.
Absent improved regulations, spills are inevitablecompanies

wont willingly adapt
Dlouhy, covers energy policy for The Houston Chronicle, 2013
(Jennifer, Arctic standards urged for oil drilling in forbidding region,
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/01/09/arctic-standards-urged-for-oil-drilling-in-forbiddingregion/, dobp)
Right now, there are no specific mandates governing Arctic oil development . Some
critics worry that without those requirements, safeguards voluntarily adopted by Shell Oil Co.
in 2012 _ including a spill-containment device like the systems required for deep-water
exploration in the Gulf of Mexico _ would not be followed by other oil companies
planning Arctic drilling, including ConocoPhillips, Statoil and Repsol. Environmentalists
insist that Arctic standards would help set a floor for protections in the fragile region,
by possibly requiring ice-capable equipment and specifying how close rigs need to
be for drilling relief wells in case of an emergency . Marilyn Heiman, Arctic Program director with
Pew Environment Group and a member of the subcommittee, said those standards are absolutely
needed if Arctic drilling continues. The Obama administration needs to impose
Arctic-specific safety, training and spill response standards and ensure the proper
precautions are in place before approving any additional drilling , Heiman said. Clearly
were not there yet.
Only proactive measures can solve for spill trajectory

(Arctic Standards Recommendations on Oil Spill Prevention, Response, and Safety in the U.S. Arctic
Ocean
http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/oceans_north_legacy/page_attachments/PEWArcticStandards
092313.pdf?la=en, dobp)
Adequate equipment and trained personnel must be on location to remove a worstcase oil spill in the Arctic. Oil spill response resources should be located near
potential oil spill sources to avoid delays due to logistical and weather impediments .
Advanced Arctic oil spill response planning will be key to the success of the
response effort and should include: a worst-case case oil discharge estimate; an assessment of where the oil
may be expected to travel; the amount and type of equipment needed to remove the spill; and oil-removal
benchmarks to guide the response effort. Arctic oil spill trajectory analyses and mapping standards The Interior
Department requires OCS operators to prepare Oil Spill Response Plans that include a worst-case oil discharge
scenario with an oil spill trajectory analysis estimating the maximum distance that oil could travel from the spill
source while it persists in the environment and the offshore and coastal areas that could be affected.56 However,
Interior regulations do not currently require operators to examine the variety of oil
spill trajectories that could occur under a range of potential Arctic weather
conditions, including adverse weather. Trajectory models used for oil spills in temperate waters are
inadequate for modeling oil in ice because they require detailed wind and current data that are not available for
many areas of the Arctic,57 and they do not include the trajectory interference caused by ice that can divert oil or
cause oil to be trapped in or under the ice.
BioD
1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government should increase
its investment in biodiversity parks.
Biodiversity parks solve biod
Joe Roman, Paul R. Ehrlich, Robert M. Pringle, and John C. Avise, February
2009, Joe Roman is a conservation biologist, author, and fellow at the Gund
Institute for Ecological Economics and a McCurdy Visiting Scholar at the Duke
University Marine Lab, Paul R. Ehrlich is the President of the Center for Conservation
Biology, Stanford; Co-founder of the field of coevolution, Robert M. Pringle is a
Graduate Student in Conservation Biology, Stanford University, and John C. Avise is
Distinguished Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Facing Extinction: Nine
Steps to Save Biodiversity,
http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/feature_article/2009-02-24-facing-extinctionnine-steps-save-biodiversity
national parks that feature special landscapes and geological
formations: the volcanic caldera of Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Mount Kilimanjaro. In addition to these
traditional and essential parks, there is a need to protect a carefully designed network of
reserves on each continent and in every ocean. This global series, or archipelago, of
biological refugesbiodiversity parkswill preserve key features of the Earths
biological legacy inherited from the evolutionary past into the future. Such parks, in
effect, would celebrate and honor the evolutionary heritage reflected in biological
diversity, just as traditional national parks and monuments preserve special
geological features or honor important historical events in human affairs. Rather
than merely constructing museums that memorialize biocide, biodiversity parks
would offer explicit protection for endangered species and evolutionarily distinctive
ecosystems. The task is not as insurmountable as it might appear. By preserving
and endowing just 25 biodiversity hotspots (less than two percent of the earths land area) we
could help protect 44% of vascular plant species and 35% of all species of
mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians for $500 million a year7less than 0.1%
of the funds allocated to the United States Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to
bail out incompetent financial institutions. One difficulty with many current park
systems is that reserves often tend to be on residual lands that are not very
valuable for resource extraction or human subsistence. A study of new reserves in
Australia showed that they were typically gazetted on steep and infertile public
lands, areas least in need of protection .8 Without proper planning, ad hoc reserves
can be ineffective, often occupying less productive land, making the goal of
protecting biodiversity more expensive and less likely to succeed. Well-placed
networks of sanctuaries, designed with an awareness of ongoing climate disruption
and the unique biotic facets of the sites, can help shepherd many species through
the extinction crisis. In discussing parks, we often think of landscapes, but the
biodiversity crisis affects aquatic systems as well. Protection of the oceans requires
safeguards against overfishing and networks of marine reserves that include rich
nearshore habitats (such as coral reefs and upwellings) as well as deep-sea vents and abyssal
Many countries have
plains. As on land, these protected areas should range from strict nature reserves
where fishing and extraction are forbidden to seascapes that are managed for their
cultural and ecological value. Areas that are open to exploitation should be
managed sustainably to meet the long-term resource needs of local communities,
while providing natural services such as recreational opportunities and water
purification.9
2NC Solvency
Biodiversity needs to be protected-parks must be established
National Park Service, November 07, 2011, National Park Service establishes many parks and tries to
protect nature, Preserving Biodiversity, http://www.nature.nps.gov/biology/biodiversity/
The National Park Service began because people explorers, artists, politicians, and everyday citizens
recognized something valuable in the vast wildlands of undeveloped America.
Today, we recognize the value of not only our lands, but the biodiversity that thrives
upon them, as well. Biological diversity (or biodiversity) includes all the living
organisms on earth, and in our parks we are finding plants and animals that have
disappeared in other parts of the world due to development, habitat fragmentation,
climate change, invasive species, and other threats. National parks and other
protected places are samples of the world's natural variety, often the last bastion of
the earth's wild wealth. They are vital to our future well-being. The values of
biodiversity in parks are legion: the value of nature for its own sake, a source of
wonder and enjoyment; the value of learning about the workings of nature in places
largely free of human influence, for comparison with landscapes dominated by
humans; the survival value of multitudes of wild species that flourish as natural
systems helping regulate climate, air quality, and cycles of carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, mineral elements, and waterall fundamental to life on Earth . There is economic
value in these same plants and animals. They are potential sources of food, medicine, and industrial products. Parks protect
the species and their communities that underlie these valuesserving if necessary
as reservoirs of seed stock for restoring species lost elsewhere. To preserve
biodiversity in parks for future generations, we must first discover the breadth of life
forms that exist. In the past decade, numerous parks have teamed up with
professional scientists, university students, school groups, volunteers and park
partners for the purpose of biodiversity discovery. These efforts have identified
species new to science, located species that have not been seen in parks in
hundreds of years, and documented species that are able to survive in extreme
conditions. Working to Preserve Biodiversity The National Park Service also is
working to preserve biodiversity more broadly by restoring ecosystems, controlling
invasive species, practicing integrated pest management, and through other
conservation measures. Preserving biodiversityfrom the dung beetle to the grizzly
bearallows us to ensure genetic diversity, understand how the pieces of an intact
ecosystem fit together, and detect long-term changes in our environment. In
preserving biodiversity we also ensure that our future citizens, artists, and explorers
of science experience our lands as the founders of the parks did long ago .
Biodiversity parks solve

Volunteer Match, No Date, Volunteer Match tries to protect biodiversity,
National Biodiversity Parks, Inc.,
http://www.volunteermatch.org/search/org69021.jsp#reviews
National Biodiversity Parks (NBP) searches for, and acquires, ecologically valuable
properties that can support sustainable, communtiy based business models. We
enter negotiations and raise funds to purchase these lands via partnerships and
management agreements. NBP applies for and obtaines grants to restore or
improve properties for wildlife conservation and sustainability. We perform various

studies of birds, reptiles, insects and plants on various lands. Our scientists,
naturalists and members lead field trips to biodiverse habitats. NBP sponsors and
leads adults and students on bird walks to improve their skills and expose them to
nature in order to develop an environmental ethic. We participate in various
conservation fundraisers such as bioblitzes, big days and the World Series of
Birding. Our members write articles about various subjects. Our education and
science department lead various field trips concentrating on ecology and incentive
programs, designed by teachers and volunteers. The programs are intended to
improve students science skills and confidence through discovery, field birding and
ecology. We assist communities in identifying valuable open space assets. Mission
Statement Conserve and protect open space, wildlands and the plants and animals
on these lands. Provide the public, especially our youth, conservation lands for
recreation, study and research. Restore and maintain properties to support maximal
biodiversity.
Only parks can save biod

Aaron G. Bruner, Raymond E. Gullison, Richard E. Rice, and Gustavo A. B.
da Fonseca, January 5, 2001, these authors write for Science Mag,
Effectiveness of Parks in Protecting Tropical Biodiversity,
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/291/5501/125.full#aff-1
Much of tropical biodiversity is unlikely to survive without effective protection (13).
Conservationists have tried strategies ranging from establishing and maintaining
parks and other strictly protected areas (henceforth parks), to promoting
sustainable forest management and other integrated conservation and
development projects. How well do parks measure up among these alternatives (4,
5)? Critics claim that in the context of growing human pressures and development needs, parks cannot protect the
biological resources within their borders (6), and there is a widespread sense that parks are simply not working. The
accuracy of these claims is of critical importance to policy and funding decisions. If parks are failing despite best
parks are performing relatively

well in a context of serious threats and limited resources, or are simply performing
better than the alternatives, their level of support should be increased . Past studies of
efforts, then better options should be sought. If, on the other hand,
park effectiveness have focused on improving park management (7), improving protected area system design (8),
and increasing local and national political support (9, 10), but none has provided a quantitative assessment of
effectiveness using a large sample of parks around the world (11, 12). We used a questionnaire to collect data on
land-use pressure (land clearing, logging, hunting, grazing, and fire), local conditions (e.g., presence of human
communities in parks and degree of access), and management activities (e.g., number of guards and level of
community involvement in management) (13). To confine our sample to parks at risk of failure, we selected regions
subject to significant human land-use pressure (14, 15). From these regions, we selected only parks that have been
established for at least 5 years to allow sufficient time for management activities to be reflected in park
performance. We also restricted the sample to protected areas of >5000 ha in which only nonconsumptive uses
were permitted (16, 17). Directors of conservation organizations and protected area agencies helped identify a
representative group for this study from the 535 parks that met these criteria (18, 19) [additional information is
available on Science Online (20)]. The sample comprised 93 parks (21) in 22 countries (22), covering 17% (18
million ha) of the parks that met our criteria (23). The parks in the sample varied greatly in size, primary ecosystem
type, budget, management strategy, and type and degree of threats. Seventy percent had people living inside their
boundaries, and 54% had residents who contested the ownership of some percentage of the park area. Two-thirds
of the parks were accessible by at least one major road or river (24). Median annual funding was 1.18 USD ha1,
significantly less than the amount often recommended for effective management (25). Finally, respondents judged
that many park staff were lacking in critical training and equipment. We assessed the effectiveness of these parks
from three perspectives: land clearing within the boundaries of parks since establishment, current condition of
parks compared with the condition of their surroundings, and factors correlated with effective park protection. We
assessed the effectiveness of parks at preventing land clearing by comparing the current extent of clearing with
43% of the parks have had no net

clearing since establishment. In an additional 40% of parks, land formerly under cultivation was
clearing at the time of park establishment (Fig. 1). We found that
incorporated into park boundaries, and had been able to recover, leading to an actual increase in vegetative cover.
Eighty-three percent of parks were therefore fully holding their borders against agricultural encroachment. Only
17% of the parks experienced net clearing since establishment. This is a substantial achievement, given that the
Change in the area of natural vegetation since

establishment for 86 tropical parks. The majority of parks have either experienced
no net clearing or have actually increased natural vegetative cover. Median park
age is 23 years. To test effectiveness over a wider range of threats, we compared anthropogenic impacts in
median age of the parks in our sample is 23 years.
the 10-km belt surrounding parks with the level of impacts within park boundaries for five different threats (Fig. 2).
This comparison shows that the parks in our sample are under great pressure from clearing, hunting, and logging,
and to a lesser extent, fire and grazing. A comparison of the conditions inside the parks with the surrounding area
shows that for all five threats, parks were in significantly better condition than their surrounding areas (MannWhitney U-test, medians significantly different atP < 0.006 for all five impacts). Because we used relatively few
response categories to represent the entire range of outcomes (e.g., four categories were used to classify the
abundance of game animals, ranging from pristine levels of abundance to absent), any differences found between
the parks and their surroundings are great. Comparison of the condition of parks to the surrounding 10-km belt. For
parks were in significantly better condition than their

surrounding areas (Mann-Whitney U-test) (A) Clearing: P = 0.000; (B) logging: P = 0.000; (C) hunting: P =
0.000; (D) fire:P = 0.000; and (E) grazing:P = 0.006. Parks are more effective at mitigating some
impacts than others. Parks are in far better condition than their surroundings with
respect to land clearing, with the majority of parks being intact or only slightly
cleared. Parks were more heavily impacted by logging and hunting, but these impacts were still reduced
all five anthropogenic impacts,
considerably compared with their surroundings. Finally, although parks were still in significantly better condition
than their surroundings with respect to damage from fire and grazing, the differences were less pronounced. The
previous comparison treats the sample of parks as a group. We also compared individual parks with their own
surroundings to determine what percentage of individual parks are functioning (Table 1). Virtually all parks in our
sample are under pressure from clearing, grazing, fire, hunting, and logging, and the majority of parks are effective
at least to some degree in mitigating these threats. More than 80% of the individual parks were in better condition
than their surroundings for clearing, logging, and fire, including 97% for clearing. About 60% of the parks were in
better condition than land outside their borders with respect to hunting and grazing. Park effectiveness against
anthropogenic threats. Shown for each threat is the percentage of parks surveyed that are either in better condition
(functioning) than the surrounding 10-km belt or in equal or worse condition (not functioning). Also shown is the
percentage of parks with no presence of each threat in the surrounding area (untested parks). We also
investigated which management activities and local conditions correlated with effectiveness, which we defined as
the difference between illegal impacts inside the park and the surrounding 10-km belt. Because units and scales
differed among the threats, we rescaled each threat to a value ranging from 1 to 4, and then averaged the
effectiveness among the five threats. Average effectiveness was then tested for correlation with management
activities and local conditions by means of a nonparametric test (26). Park effectiveness correlated most strongly
with density of guards (Table 2). The median density of guards in the 15 most effective parks was more than eight
times higher than in the 15 least effective parks (3 guards per 100 km2 in the 15 most effective parks compared
with 0.4 guards per 100 km2 in the least effective). However, enforcement capacity (a composite variable of
training, equipment, and salary) was not found to correlate with effectiveness, suggesting that these characteristics
are less important than the presence of guards. Spearman rank correlations of variables with park effectiveness.
Variables that are significantly correlated with effectiveness are shown in bold in the upper portion of the table.
Where sample size and type of data permitted, the ratio of the 15 most effective to 15 least effective parks is
included to illustrate the difference in magnitude. Effectiveness was also significantly correlated with the level of
deterrents to illegal activities in the park. Deterrents were measured as the product of the probability of
apprehending violators when guards detected a violation (either in progress or after-the-fact) by the probability of
the violator receiving a significant sanction if apprehended. Deterrents against clearing and logging correlated with
park effectiveness, whereas deterrents against hunting did not. The degree of border demarcation and the
existence of direct compensation programs to local communities (Table 2) were also found to correlate significantly
with management effectiveness. Other factors potentially related to park success did not correlate significantly
with effectiveness, including number of people living in the park, accessibility, local support, percentage of the park
area contested, budget, number of staff working on economic development or education, and local involvement of
communities in park management. The findings of this study suggest three basic conclusions. First, the claim that
the majority of parks in tropical countries are paper parksi.e., parks in name onlyis not substantiated. Tropical
parks have been surprisingly effective at protecting the ecosystems and species within their borders in the context
of chronic underfunding and significant land-use pressure. They have been especially effective in preventing land
clearing, arguably the most serious threat to biodiversity. Second, despite their successes, there is a clear need to
increase support for parks to improve effectiveness against all threats, perhaps especially against hunting. Finally,
creating
new parks and addressing the tractable problem of making existing parks perform
better will make a significant contribution to long-term biodiversity conservation in
the tropics.
these findings suggest that parks should remain a central component of conservation strategies. Both
BioD #2
1NC CBD CP
Text: The United States Senate should ratify the Convention on
Biological Diversity.
U.S. ratification ensures CBD revival and effectiveness solves
global biodiversity
Kormos 9 Vice President for Policy for WILD, IUCN-WCPA Regional Vice-Chair for North America
and the Caribbean, worked for Conservation International for 6 years, JD from George Washington
University, served on the editorial boards of the LSEs Millennium Journal of International Studies and
GWUs The Environmental Laywer (Cyril, Aug. 27, The Wild Foundation, http://www.wild.org/blog/whenit-comes-to-the-convention-on-biological-diversity-the-us-stands-with%E2%80%A6somalia-andandorra-maybe-it%E2%80%99s-time-we-join-the-192-other-countries/)
The Convention on Biological Diversity is the flagship international convention for

protecting, wilderness and the diversity of life on this planet. Its the only
international mechanism that addresses biodiversity writ large (as opposed to treaties
focusing on individual species, or individual biomes such as wetlands) and its also the only treaty that
focuses on establishing a comprehensive global network of protected areas , including
wilderness protected areas. The CBD is the key mechanism for promoting international
cooperation on protecting nature. Its also a treaty in desperate need of an injection
of energy and enthusiasm. The global community is about to miss the 2010 biodiversity reduction targets
set under the CBD and the CBDs work is badly overshadowed by climate change negotiations . Despite the
urgent need to prop up the CBD and make it a much more effective global platform,
the US has yet to ratify the treaty. To make matters worse, we are one of only three
countries that has failed to do so . How did this come about? In the summer of 1992, the community of
nations gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED
often referred to as the Earth Summit). The 1980s had seen an increase in concern over global environmental
degradation prompted in part by alarming coverage of the burning Amazon forest in international media and a
consensus had emerged that something had to be done. UNCED was chosen as the place and time where the global
community would unite to craft a comprehensive global response to the planets environmental ills. Three United
Nations conventions emerged from this landmark gathering: The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
These three conventions, usually referred to as the Rio Conventions, were a major breakthrough. They were clearly
imperfect documents and unfinished because they required, and will continue to require supplementary protocols.
the Rio Conventions provided a framework for an integrated response to

global environmental decline. They represent a remarkable political consensus. The
US ratified the UNFCCC and UNCCD, but did not ratify the CBD. The US concerns were that
Nevertheless,
CBD provisions calling for technology transfer to developing countries could threaten US intellectual property
interests, and that the obligations for financial aid under the CBD were vague. These concerns, however, were not
shared by other developed nations: the vast majority of countries signed and ratified the CBD. In fact, as of a few
weeks ago, only the US, Iraq, Somalia and Andorra had yet to sign on. With Iraqs accession to the CBD in late July,
the US, Somalia and Andorra are now the only remaining holdouts. The graphic below illustrates this strange
reality. Fortunately, there are signs that the Obama Administration is considering pushing for ratification of the
CBD. That will of course require the cooperation of the US Senate, and prospects for success are still unclear. With a
The US already makes

major contributions to international conservation efforts, so acceding to the CBD will
not place a significant new burden on government resources. Instead, it will send a
powerful message that the US stands united with the global community to protect the
little luck, however, the US may finally be able to join the CBD in the near future.
diversity of life on earth and our planets remaining wilderness resources. The US, Somalia and Andorra is an
exclusive club but membership in the CBD would be much, much better.
2NC Solvency
U.S. ratification and leadership is necessary to the
effectiveness of the CBD
Snape 10 (William J. Snape, fellow and practitioner-in-residence at American University,
Washington College of Law, senior counsel with the Center for Biological Diversity, A Legal and
Scientific Overview of Why the United States Must Wake Up, Online Publication,
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/papers/SDLP_10Spring_Snape.pdf, hhs-nw)
Life on earth as we know it is under siege. Significant and probably irreversible

changes to the natural world are now occurring. It is an undisputed fact that we are losing wild
species in nature to extinction faster than in any geologic period since the dinosaur
die-off roughly sixty five million years ago. It is also undisputed that ecosystem services from land, water,
and air are degraded throughout the world and threatening food supplies, economic
development, scientific advancements and global security. The rapid advent of global
warming makes the job of saving native plants. Animals, and habitats even more
difficult. Human beings need biological diversity to survive and prosper, but our
natural support system is failing. Enter the Convention on Biological Diversity. Sometimes called the
"CBD" for short. The United States has signed but not yet ratified this international
treaty, which has emerged as the best overarching tool to protect species, habitats,
and ecological processes important to human well-being . It has a seventeen year track record
building numerous success stories with its over 190 members; only Andorra, the Holy See (Vatican), and the United
States remain as non-members. Now more than ever, the engagement and
leadership of the United States is necessary to protect biological diversity and the natural
services enjoyed by Americans and others throughout the world. No country possesses an inventory,
description, and understanding of its wildlife, habitat networks, and ecological
processes greater than the United States. In addition, the U.S. possesses transparent
laws, dispenses significant foreign aid, and embodies a tradition of public
engagement that leads to greater biodiversity-related protection and enforcement
than most countries. The U.S. has also been a good international partner in other
environmental agreements and treaties such as the Convention on international
Trade in Endangered Species ("CITES"), the Ramstar Convention on Wetlands, and the Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone layer. The interests of the United States stand to benefit
greatly from such multilateral cooperation and continued ability to access biological
diversity from other countries across the globe . Significantly, no new federal or state laws are necessary
for the United States to ratify and join the CBD, and absolutely no loss of legal or natural resource
sovereignty is even possible under the express terms of the Convention. The United
States will, in fact, benefit under the treaty by better organizing its own biodiversityrelated programs, and by similarly helping non- U.S. geographic areas , many in strategically
important locations. The United States will also benefit by possessing a formal seat at the
table for important upcoming negotiations and discussions under the Convention .
Particularly with regard to the proposed protocol on Access and Benefit sharing ("ABS"), and by being connected to
other Parties through various biodiversityrelated projects such as scientific
research, climate offsets, ocean protection, alien invasive species work, and
enforcement coordination.
AFF CP Cant Solve

CP cant solve - too vague, lacks uniformity and no
enforcement
Perhaps the most fundamental point about the CBD is that its legal power is
inherently limited by design. The Convention's clear enunciation of national control over domestic biological
resources is the starting point: States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the
principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own natural resources
pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that
activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the
environment of other States or areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction .-" As a
matter of interpretation, the CBD authorizes much but mandates little . Terms such as "as far as
possible and as appropriate arc scattered throughout the treaty. However, the convention's
conservation provisions and programs prompt countries such as the U.S. to focus on
the "big picture" by connecting policies and funds in a manner that benefits all.
Consequently, the CBD is considered more of a "framework" convention because it ,
inter alia, does not set many precise obligations ." As one scholar puts it, "a framework convention
sets the tone, establishes certain principles and even enunciates certain commitments as a rule, it does not
contain specific obligations nor does it contain a detailed prescription of certain
activities."32 Contrary to the rhetoric of some extreme ideologues who seemingly oppose involvement in any
multilateral cooperative endeavor, the CBD creates a global structure that is implemented
with wide latitude and discretion at the national level , specifically allows for negotiation (or
rejection) of annexes or protocols, does not mandate binding dispute settlement and provides connection with
other accepted international agreements. This concept of "framework" in conjunction with the precise language of
the treaty is crucial in understanding the full sovereignty the United States retains when it becomes a party to the
Convention on Biological Diversity."
AFF- US Already Abides by CBD

The US already abides by the CBD no practical benefit to CP
These articles and

others cover the gamut of biodiversity conservation including tasks the CBD already
does well: fostering coordination in addressing harmful invasive species, implementing a global strategy for
Much of the conservation agenda of the Convention is contained in Articles 6, 8, and I4."
plant conservation; providing support for vital scientific discipline of taxonomy; catalyzing large-scale protected
Every U.S.
governmental analysis of the Convention's conservation provisions has
concluded that existing U.S. laws already meet the commitments of the
Convention. Article 6 of the CBD, General Measures for Conservation and Sustainable Use, requests that
"Each Contracting Party shall, in accordance with its particular conditions and capabilities: a) Develop
national strategies, plans or programs" for the conservation and sustainable use of
biological diversity or adapt for this purpose existing strategies, plans or programs which shall
area protection; and linking with important global warming and climate change efforts."
reflect [such] measures and b) Integrate as far as possible and as appropriate, the conservation and sustainable use
Although the U.S.

currently does not possess a "biodiversity plan" per se, its impressive array of
conservation statutes and programs to protect and use biological resources of all
sorts certainly could be considered to constitute one de facto." If anything, the CBD should help
of biological diversity into relevant sectoral or crossectoral plans, programs and policies."
the U.S. coordinate and prioritize its biodiversity agenda even better.
Econ
1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government should raise the
minimum wage.
Raising the minimum wage helps the economy
T. William Lester, David Madland, and Jackie Odum, December 3, 2013,
updated January 2, 2014, T. William Lester, David Madland, and Jackie Odum write
articles americanprogress.org, David Madland is Managing Director, Economic
Policy; Director, American Worker Project, and Jackie Odum is a Research Assistant,
Raising the Minimum Wage Would Help, Not Hurt, Our Economy,
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/labor/news/2013/12/03/80222/raising
-the-minimum-wage-would-help-not-hurt-our-economy/
Raising the minimum wage would be good for our economy. A higher minimum
wage not only increases workers incomeswhich is sorely needed to boost demand
and get the economy goingbut it also reduces turnover, cuts the costs that lowroad employers impose on taxpayers, and pushes businesses toward a high-road,
high-human-capital model
. Despite these positive benefits, and the sad fact that the minimum wage is worth far less today than it was in the late 1960s, with the Senate set to vote to
raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour, opponents will likely trot out the same unfounded argument that the minimum wage reduces employment. And with todays unemployment rate stuck above 7 percent,
The evidence
is clear Raising the minimum wage does
not have the harmful effects that critics claim. A significant body of academic
research finds that raising the minimum wage does not result in job losses, even
during periods when the unemployment rate is high
The argument that raising the
minimum wage will increase unemployment is somewhat far-fetched, since the
minimum wage impacts a relatively small share of the overall workforce, which is
itself concentrated in certain industries such as restaurants and demographic
groups such as teenagers
we analyzed more than two decades worth of
minimum-wage increases in U.S. states and found no clear evidence that the
minimum wage impacts aggregate job creation during periods of high
unemployment
According
to our analysis, the majority of states that raised the minimum wage saw a
decrease in their unemployment rate over the next year
we anticipate these types of arguments to reach a fevered pitch.
, however,
. Critics of the minimum wage, however, often hold on to the claim that raising the
minimum wage will lead to job losses and ultimately hurt the overall economy, exacerbating the problem of high unemployment.
. Nevertheless,
. Our analysis includes every state that saw its effective minimum wage increase from 1987 through 2012, when the states unemployment rate was at or above the current rate of 7 percent.
We then studied changes in employment in these states over the next year.* We include minimum-wage increases that occur because of either state or federal action, though we disaggregate results later.
. There were a total of 91 cases where a state minimum-wage increase
occurred during a period of high unemployment over the past two and a half decades. In 47 of these cases, the unemployment rate decreased over the next 12 months, and in 4 other cases the unemployment rate remained
unchanged. In contrast, there were only 40 occurrences where the unemployment rate increased. That means when a minimum-wage increase occurred during a period of high unemployment, unemployment rates actually declined
minimum-wage increases during high

unemployment, states saw their unemployment rate fare better than the national
unemployment rate 51 times over the subsequent 12 months
unemployment decrease much more than the national average
52 percent of the time. Comparisons to national averages produce similar results. Of the 91 cases of
. A few states, including Alabama and Tennessee in 2009, saw
their
. Following the minimum-wage increase that year,
Alabama and Tennessees unemployment rates fell by 1.6 percentage points and 1.4 percentage points, respectively, compared to a decline in the national unemployment rate of only 0.1 percentage points. To be fair, some states,
a majority of states that raised their minimum

wage did slightly better than the national average. Comparing state employment
growth to the national average produced similar results
more than half of the states that
increased their minimum wage saw their unemployment rates decline or remain
unchanged
such as Michigan in 2008, had significantly worse outcomes than the national average. However,
. Furthermore, a separate analysis of minimum-wage increases that occurred as
a result of federal action versus increases coming from state action yields nearly identical results. No matter what caused the increase,
. Ultimately, from a look at the aggregate data, there is not clear correlation that minimum-wage increases are associated with harmful changes in unemployment or job growth. This basic state-by-state
comparison of what happens to unemployment and/or aggregate employment one year after a minimum-wage increaserather than providing conclusive evidence on its ownsuggests instead that one must dig deeper to look for
the real causal effects of the minimum wage. As the data above suggest, there are wide regional variations in economic trends across states, for example, Michigan versus Alabama. These regional growth differentials are unrelated
to minimum-wage policy and are driven rather by deeper structural forces including decades-long industrial restructuring processes and divergent population trends, to name a fewall of which may obscure the impact of minimumwage changes. Fortunately, there are at least five different academic papers that utilize a research design that controls for precisely such regional trends. Specifically, these papers collectively find that an increase in the minimum
wage has no significant effect on employment levels. Critically, these papers all include in their samples periods of high unemployment, with unemployment rates ranging from 7 percent to 12.3 percent. These five academic studies
also cover different geographical areas and different time periods, and use a range of methodologiesfrom small case studies to large econometric analysislending great credibility to their findings. In addition, they focus on highly
impacted groups such as restaurant workers and/or teenagers, where minimum-wage increases actually result in wage increases (i.e., they are binding). (see Figure 1) minwageunemployment_fig1 Furthermore, the most recent
studies are considered significant improvements over previous studies because of the methodologies employed. Specifically, these studies accurately control for confounding regional trends by either controlling for heterogeneous
trends across Census divisions, or by examining all U.S. counties along state borders that had different minimum wages. This research design combines the detailed analysis possible in case studies with the generalizability of a
nationally representative sample. All of the studies came to the same conclusion: Raising the minimum wage had no effect on employment levels. Contrary to most of the rhetoric, the results of these studies are not surprising
because research indicates that raising the minimum wage boosts demand, increases worker effort, and reduces turnover, counteracting the higher wage costs. Whats more, there may be another factor that comes into play even
When the economy is doing poorly,

employers have less incentive to raise wages, while workers, especially those
making near minimum wage, have little ability to demand a raise because there is a
ready supply of unemployed labor available to take their job
more during hard times: economic power. Low-wage workers have very little of it, particularly during periods of high unemployment.
. Even though these workers likely become more productivelabor
productivity has generally increased over time, and productivity growth during the past two recessions was especially strongthey have less economic power to share the gains of their increased productivity. This suggests that
during hard economic times, there is a critical role for government to raise the minimum wage to ensure that workers are being paid for their economic contributions. In short, policymakers should feel confident that raising the
minimum wage would not hurt employment. Instead, it would provide the kind of boost in consumer demand that our economy sorely needs.
2NC Solvency
Raising the minimum wage would help our economy
Jason Furman and Betsey Stevenson, February 12, 2014, Jason Furman is
Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Betsey Stevenson is a member
of the Council of Economic Advisers, The Economic Case for Raising the Minimum
Wage, http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/02/12/economic-case-raisingminimum-wage
In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama announced his intention to move forward using his own authority and
raise the minimum wage for workers on new and replacement Federal service contracts to $10.10 an hour. As
the President said, If you cook our troops meals or wash their dishes, you shouldnt have to live in poverty. Today, the President
will sign an Executive Order making this vision a reality. This step is a smart business decision for the government because it will
giving a raise to
lower-income workers reduces turnover and raises morale, and can thus lower costs
and improve productivity. In addition, firms that already pay a decent wage and realize these kinds of efficiencies
make Federal procurement more economical and efficient. An extensive body of research suggests that
should not have to radically alter their bids to comply with the Executive Order. This means the new rule can allow Federal agencies
to select from a higher-quality group of bidders without a marked increase in costsa fact that is borne out by empirical studies of
give a boost to hardworking Americans

struggling to make ends meet, and the President still believes that Congress should act to do the same for millions
municipal government contracts. This Executive Order will also
more. A presentation prepared by the Council of Economic Advisers, The Economic Case for Raising the Minimum Wage, can be
The Economic Case for Raising the Minimum Wage from White House The
inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage has fallen by more than a third from
its peak and is currently about twenty percent less than it was when President Ronald Reagan first took
office in 1981. The minimum wage helps support family incomes, reducing inequality and
povertyespecially for female earners. But as the real value of the minimum wage
been allowed to erode, it has stopped serving this important purpose. The minimum
wage is now just 36 percent of the average wage and trending lower, as those at
the low end of the income distribution are in increasing danger of being left behind
while the economic recovery continues to unfold. Raising the minimum wage to
$10.10 per hour would benefit a wide range of families. New estimates from the
Council of Economic Advisers find that when it is fully phased in 28 million workers
would see a raise, including 19 million making less than $10.10 and another 8
million with wages just above $10.10 who would benefit from the ripple effect.
These wages increases would be progressive with nearly half of the benefits going
to households making under $35,000, but they would also benefit millions of middle
class families, for example ones in which a spouse worked part-time at the
minimum wage to help the familys overall income. In total more than half of the
workers that benefit are women. Only 12 percent of minimum wage beneficiaries are teenagers and the remainder
viewed below.
of the beneficiaries include a wide cross section of families with children, couples, and others. Partly as a result of the more than
one-third reduction in the inflation-adjusted minimum wage since 1967, research has found that the poverty rate based only on
market incomes has not fallen since the 1960s. Fortunately, as discussed in this recent Council of Economic Advisers report,
expansions in rewards for work like the Earned Income Tax Credit and in programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program have contributed to a significant reduction in the poverty rate. Thus, while it is critically important to support these
programsincluding extending emergency unemployment insurance, ensuring robust nutritional assistance, and making permanent
the enhancements to the Earned Income Tax Credit and child tax creditwe also need a renewed emphasis on measures that
Raising the minimum wage is the most direct and

immediate policy in this regard. The President supports raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in three steps (and
reduce poverty by improving market wages.
also raising the minimum wage for tipped workers), ensuring that wages and tax credits are sufficient to lift a family of four with one
full-time worker above the poverty line. After raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, the proposed legislation would also
index it to inflation going forward, so that workers earning the minimum wage never again see significant erosions in their inflationadjusted wages. Finally, as one recent review of minimum wage research published since 2000 concluded, The weight of that
evidence points to little or no employment response to modest increases in the minimum wage. Many economists now believe
that a substantial portion of the cost to employers of minimum wage increases is

offset by savings from reduced employee turnover and higher worker productivity .
Moreover, in the short-run in an economy that is still demand-constrained, raising the minimum wage will
increase the purchasing power of a vital segment of workers and contribute to
stronger overall economic activity.
Minimum wage would help the economy

Dave Jamieson, August 7, 2011, Dave Jamieson writes multiple articles for The
Huffington Post, Minimum Wage Increase Would Help Sluggish Economy, Say
Experts, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/07/minimum-wage-increase-helpeconomy-experts_n_872617.html
raising the federal and state minimum
wages across the country as a way to boost the stagnant economy and improve the
standard of living among low-wage earners. Backed by what they described as 15 years' worth of research,
a panel at progressive think tank the Center for American Progress (CAP) argued that higher minimum wages flush
more money into the economy without cutting into job growth -- the latter a longheld contention of business interests and many conservatives . Michael Reich, an economics
WASHINGTON -- A group of economists made the case on Tuesday for
professor and director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, said his
research has shown that businesses don't suffer from having to dish out slightly higher wages to their lowest-paid employees. In
fact, he argued there are benefits to employers. "The
labor market absorbs the minimum wage," said

Reich. "Turnover goes way down when there's a minimum-wage increase. Employees -when they stay longer, they'll be more experienced and more productive. And the
employers will have lower turnover costs ." The economists made their argument at a time when the
American economy remains stubbornly sluggish. On Friday, the federal government released a disappointing report showing that the
economy hasn't been adding jobs at the pace it needs to for a robust recovery. The unemployment rate has risen to 9.1 percent, and
many experts believe it will be several years before it drops to pre-recession levels. Many of the jobs being added also happen to be
lower-wage positions. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25, or about $15,000 a year for a full-time worker. The minimum
wage had been stuck at $5.15 for over 10 years until 2007, when a series of increases were put into effect. Seventeen states
currently have a minimum wage set higher than the federal standard, and a number of states are considering giving their lowestpaid workers another raise. The economists arguing for a minimum-wage boost compared it to stimulus action, saying that it pumps
money into local economies and can even lead to job growth. Such an increase is like food stamps or unemployment benefits in that
the recipients, who tend to be low-wage workers and their family members, usually have to spend the money rather than sock it
away. Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said it's one way to shift money from corporate
profits -- which companies often sit on -- to low-income workers, who can do more immediate spending. "When you get an increase
in the minimum wage, you're getting a wage increase to the people that are low-wage families who depend on these earnings to
make ends meet," said Shierholz. "They have no choice but to spend that money in their local economy. That's the stimulus you
get." Still, despite a growing body of research extolling the benefits of higher minimum wages, it can be politically tricky to bring
such increases to pass. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with myriad restaurant and retail trade groups, generally opposes
raising the minimum wage or enacting cost-of-living adjustments, which tie the wage to inflation. Even though there were a raft of
minimum wage raises on the state level a few years ago, some of them have recently been assaulted as small business job killers.
This year, Missouri Republicans tried and failed to cap their state's minimum wage. A Florida federal judge ruled in May that a state
agency there had been illegally suppressing its own minimum wage. And business interests in Maine have been lobbying for the
creation of a "training wage" that would let companies pay teenagers less than the state minimum. Yet public opinion polls
consistently show that voters like seeing the minimum wage raised, said Celinda Lake, president of polling firm Lake Research
Partners. "When we've done public polls, anywhere from 86 to 67 percent say they support an increase in the minimum wage," Lake
said at the CAP event. "A solid majority of voters believe that raising the minimum wage will help the economy." About 1.8 million of
the country's 73 million hourly-wage earners were making the federal minimum during 2010. Another 2.5 million made even less
than that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These minimum wage earners tend to be younger .
Workers under age 25 account for roughly half of those making the minimum wage or less. According to Shierholz, jacking the
federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 would give a raise to 10 million workers, including many currently earning their state
minimum wage. That could ultimately pump as much as $9 billion into the economy, she said. "At
there is nothing else putting upward pressure on wages ."
a time like this,
Raising the minimum wage allows for lives to get better

Anne L. Thompson, September 2, 2011, Anne L. Thompson is a policy analyst
for the National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit group that promotes policies
and programs for lower-wage workers, Raise minimum wage, make lives and
economy better, http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/02/opinion/thompson-obamaminimum-wage/
(CNN) -- Forget Angry Birds. There's a new iPhone application that provides hours of entertainment. Released last week, iSpeech
Obama allows you to type in any phrase you want and the president's voice will repeat it back to you. I played around with the app
and couldn't help but have some ego-stroking fun: "Anne, what an honor to meet you. I love your work." No matter what you think of
Obama's performance lately, you can't help but enjoy the president's thoughtful baritone speaking directly to you and saying exactly
what you want to hear. With so many pundits and politicians weighing in on what Obama should be saying about how to get our
country back on track, this should be a popular application. Even though the president can't seem to find his fighting words of 2008,
you can visit the iTunes store for a free download that will deliver you back to the days when Obama fought for Main Street. If I could
have the president say anything, I'd have him say what a growing chorus of commentators have been urging for months now,
something like, "Our No. 1 priority is jobs, and I have a bold, detailed plan to rebuild our schools and infrastructure, revive
manufacturing and spur our nation's green industrial revolution." Let's hope Obama will lay out this big vision for job creation in his
post-Labor Day speech, going further than his small bore approach of late. And while I'm putting words in his mouth, I'd also have
Obama say, "It's
time to raise the minimum wage." It may sound surprising, but it's exactly what our
economy needs. On the campaign trail, Obama called for raising the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011; now is the time
deliver on that pledge. Anne Thompson Anne Thompson Raising the minimum wage would not only help
working families, it also would help power the economic recovery. As the economy
has sputtered, wages have stagnated, and even folks with jobs are having trouble
meeting their families' basic needs. Accounting for inflation, weekly wages have
actually fallen by 1.3 percent in the past eight months, and the Commerce
Department reported that consumer spending, which makes up 70 percent of the
economy, dropped in June for the first time in nearly two years -- both deeply
worrying economic indicators. Raising the minimum wage puts a little more money
in pockets of the lowest-paid workers, who have little choice but to spend that
additional income immediately, helping restore the consumer spending that
businesses need to grow. Preliminary estimates suggest that restoring the minimum
wage to $10 per hour by 2014 could generate as many as 160,000 new jobs. And
not only does raising the wage floor help workers making minimum wage, it also
boosts pay scales across the whole lower end of our economy . Unfortunately, low-wage
work is becoming the livelihood of an ever-growing number of workers . A new analysis by
the National Employment Law Project finds that while the majority of jobs lost during and after the recession were in mid-wage
occupations, roughly three-quarters of jobs added since job growth resumed are low-wage. And while the bastion of low-paid
workers is growing, their wages are declining: workers in lower-wage occupations (with median wages under $13.52) have seen a
2.3 percent decline in real wages since the recession began. While wages and salaries are now the lowest share of GDP since 1955,
corporate profits are the largest share of GDP since 1950. According to research by Andrew Sum at Northeastern University, wages
and salaries accounted for just 1 percent of economic growth in the first 18 months after the recession ended, while corporate
profits accounted for an unprecedented 88 percent of economic growth. Put quite simply, working people have been getting the
Not only would a new push to raise the minimum wage help America's economy
and working families -- it would help Obama regain populist momentum. Raising the
minimum wage is particularly popular with the public, consistently winning support
from more than two-thirds of the public. Opponents are likely to be put on the
defensive, struggling to explain why they oppose a modest raise for Main Street as
Wall Street enjoys record profits. They will also resurrect the tired old canard that raising the minimum wage leads
shaft.
to job loss, but that theory was first shot to pieces in the 1990s by Alan Krueger, Obama's nominee to head the Council of Economic
Advisers, when he and economist David Card published a groundbreaking study finding that raising the minimum wage boosts
incomes of low-paid workers without reducing employment. Nearly two decades of rigorous academic research has confirmed these
findings. With so many Americans struggling, we need the president to raise his voice and find some fighting words. It's time for
President Obama to say --
once again -- that now is the time to raise the minimum wage .
Raising the minimum wage would increase the economy

David Hills and Alison Pyott, April 4, 2014, David Hills is a partner and Alison
Pyott is wealth manager with Veris Wealth Partners, Portsmouth, A strong minimum
wage helps the whole economy, http://www.nhbr.com/April-4-2014/A-strongminimum-wage-helps-the-whole-economy/
At $7.25 an hour, New Hampshires current minimum wage is the lowest of any state in New England. It has been more than five
and the time to raise the wage is now. A bill now

before our Legislature (House Bill 1403) would re-establish our state minimum wage
and increase it to $9 over two years, then provide cost of living adjustments
thereafter. This bill would take the politics out of the pay scale and provide workers
with some sense of security in knowing their pay will keep up with the cost of
groceries and other necessities. This modest and gradual increase will improve
economic security for more than 76,000 individuals whose wages have not kept
pace with the cost of living. Of these workers, 72 percent are over age 20; 36
percent are age 30 and older. Additionally, 59 percent are women and 14 percent
are parents. Many New Hampshire businesses proudly pay wages above the minimum, because they know that
good wages improve worker productivity and reduce turnover, saving businesses
from the costs associated with hiring and training new workers. But more
importantly, these businesses pay higher wages because they value their
employees as important members of their team. These businesses know that their
financial success is made possible only by the efforts of their employees. Across the
country, small businesses are voicing their support for a minimum wage increase. A
recent national poll by the Small Business Majority found that 57 percent of small
businesses favor increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 and indexing it to
inflation. Additionally, 52 percent of respondents agree that this increase will
provide an economic boost for their business through increased consumer demand.
It is widely acknowledged that increased consumer spending is essential to keep our
economy moving forward. Since low-wage workers, by necessity, typically spend
every extra dollar they earn, the increase proposed in HB 1403 will return an
aggregate of $64 million back into the New Hampshire economy spending that will
positively impact local restaurants, shops and businesses across the state. A recent study by
economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago confirms this likely outcome. The 2014 WMUR Granite State Poll found that 76
percent of respondents, regardless of political affiliation or regional location, favored
increasing the state minimum wage to $9 per hour . New Hampshire residents know that their friends
years since the minimum wage was last increased,
and neighbors simply cannot make ends meet on todays minimum wage. At $7.25 an hour, a full-time worker takes home less than
$300 a week, which is barely enough to afford groceries and rent, let alone heat, clothes and gas for the car. The sad reality is that
for many of these workers, these low-wage jobs are the only jobs available; these jobs are the only option they have to put food on
the table and provide for their families. New Hampshires workers deserve to be paid a fair wage for a fair days work. Raising the
minimum wage will help businesses, workers, communities and the New Hampshire economy. We urge New Hampshire legislators to
support HB 1403. It is time to raise the wage in New Hampshire.
Satellite
1NC MERLIN CP

launch the Merlin Lidar satellite.
Launching MERLIN is key to accurate knowledge of

methane hydrates
Light, PhD from the University of London, 2012
(Malcolm, Charting Mankinds Arctic Methane Emission Exponential Expressway to Total
Extinction in the Next 50 Years, http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/chartingmankinds-expressway-to-extinction.html)
The high anomalous atmospheric methane contents recorded this year at Barrow Point Alaska (up to 2500 ppb - Carana 2012b) and
the fact that the surface atmospheric methane contents may be linked via a stable
partial pressure gradient with increased maximum methane contents in the world
encompassing global warming veil (estimated at ca 1460 ppb methane) makes it imperative
that the Merlin lidar satellite be launched as soon as is feasibly possible.
The Merlin lidar satellite will give us a clear idea of how high the Earths
stratospheric methane concentrations are in this poorly documented giant
methane reservoir formed above the ozone layer at 30 km to 50 km
altitude (Ehret, 2010). Methane detecting Lidar instruments could also be installed
immediately on the International Space Station to give early warning of the
methane buildup in the stratosphere and act as a back up in case the Merlin
satellite fails.
Knowledge is a pre-requisiteit spills over to

international action on treating methane blowouts
CNES and DLR, No Date
(French/German Climate Mission MERLIN: Measurements of Atmospheric Methane from
Space, http://www.dlr.de/rd/Portaldata/28/Resources/dokumente/re/MERLIN_Datenblatt.pdf,
dobp)
About 70 percent of global Methane emissions are caused by humanity for example,
from rice paddies, animal husbandry, biomass decomposition, landfill sites or energy generation. Natural sources
However, data collected so far have

not provided much information regarding the contribution of each source to overall
emission levels. The MERLIN data will enable scientists in both countries to draw
conclusions about the various different sources of Methane emissions (e.g. impact
of rising levels of energy production, implications when tracts of permafrost release
Methane as they start to thaw, implications for our climate). The data obtained can
also be used to monitor compliance with conventions such as the Kyoto Protocol.
include swamps and marshlands as well as thawing permafrost.
Solvency 2NC
MERLIN is key to proactive solutions

Light, PhD from the University of London, 2012
(Malcolm, Charting Mankinds Arctic Methane Emission Exponential Expressway to Total
Extinction in the Next 50 Years, http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/chartingmankinds-expressway-to-extinction.html, dobp)
The high anomalous atmospheric methane contents recorded this year (May 01) at Barrow Point Alaska (see Figure
2b, Carana 2012b) and the fact that they may be linked via a stable partial pressure gradient with increased
maximum methane contents in the world encompassing global warming veil (estimated at ca 1456 ppb methane)
makes it imperative that the Merlin lidar satellite be launched as soon as is feasibly possible so we can get a clear
The Merlin satellite will

continuously give us real time information on the size of the stratospheric methane
global warming veil that is gathering its strength in the upper atmosphere . This
information shows how extremely serious the Arctic methane emission problem is
and how urgently we need to measure the status of the Arctic stratospheric
methane global warming veil between 30 km and 47 km height. An early warning of high
methane contents in the methane global warming veil will give humanity
time to react to the existing and new threats that are developing in the
Arctic. Methane detecting Lidar instruments could also be installed immediately on the International Space
idea of how high the Earths stratospheric methane concentrations are.
Station to give us early warning of the methane build up in the stratosphere and act as a back up in case the Merlin
satellite fails.
Satellite measurements solveempirics

Weaver et al., NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 2014
(C. Kiemle , S. R. Kawa , T. Aalto , J. Necki , M. Steinbacher , J. Arduini , F. Apadula , H. Berkhout , and J.
Hatakka, Retrieval of methane source strengths in Europe using a simple modeling approach to
assess the potential of spaceborne lidar observations http://www.atmos-chemphys.net/14/2625/2014/acp-14-2625-2014.pdf, dobp)
Vermulen et al., (2006) used the FLEXPART trajectory model to simulate a

time series of hourly CH4 surface concentrations at Mace Head and at the Cabauw tower in the
Netherlands during 2002. They used prescribed CH4 surface fluxes from the METDAT
(METhane DATabase) and the EDGAR databases. They were able to simulate 75 % of the
variability of the Cabauw observations and their simulation for Mace Head looks very similar to ours.
In a similar study,
Another similar study used CO2 concentration observations at three ground-based mountain stations: Plateau Rosa,
Monte Cimone and Zugspitze along with the FLEXPART trajectory model to determine CO2 source and sink regions
(Apadula, et al., 2003).
Oil CPs
Fuel Economy CP
1NC
CP Text: The United States federal government should require new lightduty vehicles to achieve a fuel economy and emissions performance
equivalent to an average of 62 miles per gallon by 2025.
It reduces oil dependence drastically and doesnt link to elections

Dutzik et al 11 *Tony Dutzik is Senior Policy Analyst with Frontier Group
specializing in energy, transportation, and climate policy, **Elizabeth Ridlington
works as a policy analyst with Frontier Group focusing on global warming, energy
efficiency and clean vehicles, worked as an assistant to the director of the Fund for
the Public Interest and U.S. PIRG, ***Rob Kerth is a policy analyst at Frontier Group,
****Travis Madsen is a policy analyst at Frontier Group, *****Daniel Gatti is a staff
attorney with Environment America (Getting Off Oil, Summer 2011,
http://www.frontiergroup.org/sites/default/files/reports/Getting-Off-Oil-vUS.pdf)
Light-Duty Vehicle Fuel Economy and Global Warming Pollution Standards
policy: Require new vehicles to achieve fuel economy and emissions

performance equivalent to an average of 62 miles per gallon by 2025 .
The
The savings (compared with business as usual case):

130 million barrels of oil per year by 2020
395 million barrels of oil per year by 2030
Savings estimated here are from conventional vehicles. This policy produces
additional savings through increased use of electric vehicles ; those savings are listed under
(Note:
Deployment of Electric Vehicles, below.)
the federal government has imposed minimum fleetwide fuel economy

standards for light-duty cars and trucks. Those fuel economy standards led to a 40 percent
reduction in fuel consumption per mile by light-duty vehicles between 1975 and
1987, curbing Americas dependence on oil . 93
Since 1975,
vehicle fuel economy stagnated and even

declined, as more Americans shifted from cars to less fuel efficient light trucks . Over
the last several years, however, the United States has experienced a renaissance in the
drive to reduce oil consumption in cars and light trucks . In 2010, the federal
government launched new standards that call for a significant increase in vehicle
fuel economy while, for the first time, limiting global warming pollution from vehicle
tailpipesa move brought about by the pioneering efforts of 14 states that had developed similar standards
Over the course of the next two decades, however,
over the past decade. The new standards are designed to increase the average fuel economy of the vehicle fleet to
34 miles per gallon (mpg) by model year 2016.
consumer concern about oil dependence is dramatically reshaping the

automobile market. Analysis indicates that sales of hybrid cars have jumped more
Meanwhile,
than 46 percent since March 2010, three times faster than the overall increase in car
sales, while SUV sales have stagnated. 94
The new standards on fuel economy and global warming pollution from cars will
ensure that energy-saving technologiesfrom turbocharging to hybrid-electric drive
will find their way into more new vehicles. But there remains plenty of room for
improvement. Technologies such the use of plug-in cars that run partially or entirely
on electricity create the opportunity for a quantum leap in vehicle fuel economy and
global warming emission performance. 95
The Obama administration is now considering fuel economy and global warming pollution standards for 2017 and
standards should require new cars and light trucks to achieve the
equivalent of 62 mpg fuel economy by 2025.
later years. Those
Beyond 2025, there will be opportunities to go further by increasing the use of electric vehicles, if we lay the
automobile manufacturers comply with a 62

mpg standard in equal parts by improving the efficiency of gasoline-powered
vehicles and by increasing sales of electric vehicles. The estimated savings in this scenario
appropriate groundwork. This scenario assumes that
include only those from vehicles with internal combustion engines. The details of and savings from the electric
vehicle policy are described under Deployment of Electric Vehicles, below.
2NC Solves Oil Dependence

Fuel standards drastically reduce oil consumption saves 2 million barrels a day
Weiss 12 Senior Fellow and the Director of Climate Strategy at American Progress,
where he leads the Center's clean energy and climate advocacy campaign (Daniel,
A Testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, 3/7/12,
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/03/pdf/weiss_testimony.pdf)
Model year 2011 cars go 7 percent farther on a gallon of gas compared to those made
in 2008. And these savings will grow through 2016, when the average car will meet a
standard of 35.5 miles per gallona 30 percent improvement from the 2010
standard.
In 2011 the administration finalized the first-ever fuel economy standards for work trucks, buses, and other heavy
these standards will save American

businesses who operate and own these commercial vehicles approximately $50
billion in fuel costs over the life of the program. The new standards will save more
than 500 million barrels of oil, too.
vehicles beginning in 2014. The White House determined that
Later this year the administrationwith the support of the major auto manufacturers and the United Auto Workers
By 2025
cars and light trucks will go twice as far on a gallon of gas compared to 2010 vehicles.
These standards will save more than 2 million barrels of oil per day . Drivers
of model year 2025 passenger vehicles will save $8,200 in lower gasoline purchases
over the life of their vehicle compared to 2010 vehicles.
unionplans to finalize fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles manufactured from 20172025.
EIAs latest projections found that
the United States will import less oil thanks to the

greater vehicle efficiencynot including the proposed 2017 2025 fuel
aforementioned oil production and

economy standards.
Fuel economy solves oil dependence

Mark et al 2 *Jason Mark is director of the Union of Concerned Scientists
Transportation Program, **David Friendman is deputy director of the Clean Vehicles
Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, ***Therese Langer was a Staff
Scientist for the Rutgers University Environmental Law Clinic and is currently the
Transportation Program Director at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient
Economy,****David Doniger is the policy director of the Natural Resources Defense
Council's (NRDC) Climate and Clean Air Program, and the chief global warming
lawyer (Increasing Americas Fuel Economy, February 2002,
http://commutesolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/CAFEbriefingbk.pdf)
Raising fuel economy standards is the most effective way to reduce overall
oil dependence.
Cars and light trucks account for 40 percent of U.S oil use 8 mbd. 17
Raising fuel economy standards for new cars, SUVs and other light trucks to an average of 40 mpg
over the next 10 years will save nearly 2 mbd in 2012 and nearly 4 mbd by the end of the
next decade. This is more oil than current imports from the Persian Gulf and the projected
yield from the Arctic Refuge, combined.
Raising fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks to 40 mpg over the next decade
would yield cumulative oil savings of 3 billion barrels by 2012 and more than 12 billion
barrels by 2020. 18
Popular Public
Energy-saving options popular this only applies to the CP
Tompson 12 - *Trevor Tompson is the director of The Associated Press-NORC Center
for Public Affairs Research; **Jennifer Agiesta is Deputy Director of Polling at the
Associated Press; **Jennifer Benz, Ph.D., Research Scientist, NORC; ***Joseph S.
Broz, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, NORC; ****Dennis Junius, M.A., News Survey Specialist,
The Associated Press; *****Matthew Kozey, J.D., Principal Research Analyst, NORC
(Energy Issues: How the Public Understands and Acts, June 2012,
http://www.apnorc.org/Common/pdfs/AP-NORC-Energy-Report.pdf)
The public is looking to the government and the industry for solutions to the
countrys energy problems. Sixty-two percent of the public believe that the
government should be extremely or very involved in finding solutions to this
countrys energy problems. Democrats (79%) are more likely to say the government should be involved,
compared to only 42 percent of Republicans who report that the government should be extremely or very involved
in finding solutions to the countrys energy problems.
Of those that think the government should be at least slightly involved in finding
solutions (90%), 58 percent think the government should focus on helping the
energy industry provide better energy-saving options for consumers compared to 38 percent
who believe the government should focus directly on consumers to help them make better choices. This is true
for both Democrats and Republicans.
Doesnt link the public doesnt know about fuel efficiency

Tompson 12 - *Trevor Tompson is the director of The Associated Press-NORC Center
for Public Affairs Research; **Jennifer Agiesta is Deputy Director of Polling at the
Associated Press; **Jennifer Benz, Ph.D., Research Scientist, NORC; ***Joseph S.
Broz, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, NORC; ****Dennis Junius, M.A., News Survey Specialist,
The Associated Press; *****Matthew Kozey, J.D., Principal Research Analyst, NORC
(Energy Issues: How the Public Understands and Acts, June 2012,
http://www.apnorc.org/Common/pdfs/AP-NORC-Energy-Report.pdf)
Given the lack of awareness and trust in government sources of energy savings
information, it is perhaps not surprising that the public does not know a lot or a great deal
about some major government and private sector energy savings programs .
Forty-six percent of the public report knowing a lot or a great deal about programs to phase out incandescent light
bulbs.
Thirty-three percent of the public report knowing a lot or a great deal about Energy Star product labels.
Twenty-five percent report knowing a lot or a great deal about fuel efficiency
standards for cars.
Solves better than HSR

HSR barely reduces oil dependence this evidence is from a report that
advocates HSR in order to reduce dependence
Dutzik et al 11 *Tony Dutzik is Senior Policy Analyst with Frontier Group
specializing in energy, transportation, and climate policy, **Elizabeth Ridlington
works as a policy analyst with Frontier Group focusing on global warming, energy
efficiency and clean vehicles, worked as an assistant to the director of the Fund for
the Public Interest and U.S. PIRG, ***Rob Kerth is a policy analyst at Frontier Group,
****Travis Madsen is a policy analyst at Frontier Group, *****Daniel Gatti is a staff
attorney with Environment America (Getting Off Oil, Summer 2011,
http://www.frontiergroup.org/sites/default/files/reports/Getting-Off-Oil-vUS.pdf)
High-Speed Rail
The policy: Build
high-speed rail lines in 11 high-priority corridors by 2030.
The savings (compared with business as usual case):
6 million barrels per year by 2020
15 million barrels per year by 2030

Nations around the world have operated high-speed rail lines for more than 50 years, dating back to the launch of
True high speed rail lines are operated on electricity,

potentially substituting for the use of two transportation modes that are highly
dependent on oilcars and airplanes. In addition, high-speed rail lines that operate at high capacity
can be significantly more energy efficient than airplane or car travel . 114
Japans Shinkansen bullet train in 1964.
Tech Possible
Fuel-efficient cars possible the technology exists
The technology exists today to cost-effectively boost the fuel economy of cars and
light trucks to 40 mpg by 2012. This can be done while maintaining the power,
performance and safety that consumers demand. By using technologies such as
variable valve engines and continuously variable transmissions in a higher
percentage of vehicles than are available to consumers today, the auto industry
could be putting its technological know-how to work improving the fuel economy of
the nations vehicle fleet.
Detroit was capable of raising fuel economy in the past.
When Congress enacted CAFE standards in 1975, automakers used new technology
to nearly double passenger car fuel economy over ten years . 1 Technological developments
did not stop when fuel economy standards were effectively frozen; instead vehicle technology continued
to evolve. In the absence of higher standards, technology went into increasing power and performance.
there is a wide array of technologies available

today to cost-effectively improve the fuel economy of cars and light trucks.
Three national reports have recently concluded that
the recent NAS fuel economy report indicate that the fleet
average could approach 40 mpg using existing and emerging technology in the next
10 to 15 years.
Midrange estimates from
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy laid out a package of
technologies that would raise the average fuel economy of vehicles to over 40 mpg in the
same time frame, while improving safety and keeping vehicle costs below new car trend prices
2
Solve Stimulus
Fuel economy solves the stimulus internal link it results in job growth
and increases consumption
FUEL ECONOMY AND JOBS
Raising fuel economy would create new jobs in the automotive sector as a result of
large-scale production and use of up-to-date technologies and materials. The modest
increase in sticker prices for fuel-efficient cars would be more than offset by consumers'
gas savings, which would be spent on products and services, creating new jobs
throughout the economy. On the other hand, if fuel economy continues to stagnate, the next oil shock
could mean big trouble for the U.S auto industry .
Higher fuel economy standards would mean more auto industry jobs.
would
create 40,000 new jobs in the automotive sector by 2010, and 104,000 by 2020. 1 Fuel
economy improvements put money into consumers' pockets, creating jobs across
the economy.
Due to increased investment in the industry, a standard of 40 mpg by 2012, rising to 55 mpg by 2020
consumers would save $16 billion in annual fuel

costs. The resulting spending would generate job increases in almost all sectors
72,000 new jobs in ten years and 244,000 jobs in twenty years. The retail trade,
agriculture, restaurant, health services, construction, and other industries would all
gain between 20,000 and 80,000 new jobs in twenty years. 2
If fuel economy reached 40 mpg by 2012,
the energy
sectors are among the least labor-intensive in the US economy, and much of our oil
spending goes overseas. Transferring dollars from oil production to other sectors
produces a net increase in employment. The auto industry's claims that higher fuel
economy standards mean fewer jobs are based on faulty assumptions.
While an increase in fuel economy would result in a decline in oil drilling and refining jobs,
In 1992, proposals to raise CAFE standards for cars from 27.5 mpg to 40 mpg by 2000 were met by claims from
the auto manufacturers' association that such a step would mean the loss of 150,000 to 300,000 jobs. A Los
Angeles Times investigation revealed the claim assumed that assembly lines and entire plants producing cars that
did not meet the new standards would simply be shut down. 3
This extreme scenario does not reflect the reality that car and truck models will be
improved, not eliminated, and that the standards will be gradually introduced .
In 2001, GM urged the St. Louis City Council to pass a resolution against fuel economy improvements using the
same specious argument. GM argued that it would respond to a 3 mpg increase in light truck fuel economy
standards simply by eliminating the least efficient existing products causing the loss of 36,200 UAW/GM jobs.
CAFE standards apply to fuel economies averaged across automakers fleets and do not restrict production of
Manufacturers would have time and flexibility to adapt to new

standards. U.S. manufacturers cant afford to be industry laggards .
individual vehicle models.
Oil price hikes in the 1970s hit domestic automakers hard, because foreign automakers such as Honda and Toyota
High oil prices in the future could hit American

automakers hard, just as happened in the 1970s. A planned, phased-in increase of fuel economy
then led the Big Three on fuel economy.
standards will provide critical insurance against a repeat of this scenario.
Chrysler, in a temporary departure from the Big Three's

saw fuel-efficient cars as an important market to capture and
opposed efforts to roll back CAFE standards. According to a 1985 Chrysler ad, "CAFE
protects American jobs. If CAFE is weakened now, come the next energy crunch
American manufacturers will not be able to meet the demand for fuel-efficient
carsagain. And American workersboth in the Auto Industry and in the other
industries that serve it will be out on the street. Many of their jobsas was true
for the last two times aroundwill disappear forever ." 4
After the oil shocks of the 1970s and early 1980s,
customary point of view,
Solve Warming
Fuel economy standards solve warming and air pollution
THE BIGGEST SINGLE STEP TO CURBING GLOBAL WARMING AND

IMPROVING AIR QUALITY
FUEL ECONOMY:
Emissions from cars and light trucks threaten our environment and public health.
There is a scientific consensus that the average global temperature is rising, and
that humans are responsible for this change. 1
Burning oil in passenger vehicles releases CO2 that builds up in the atmosphere and
works like a blanket that traps heat near the earths surface. This causes the average global temperature to rise.
Since Americas enormous fleet of passenger vehicles accounts for one-fifth of all
U.S. CO2 emissions, raising CAFE standards is the single biggest step our country
can take to curb global warming. Raising CAFE standards would also help reduce
key air pollutants, improving public health and helping cities and states meet clean
air standards. Cars and light trucks account for a significant portion of U.S. global
warming pollution.
Consuming one gallon of gasoline releases 24-28 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere
19 pounds directly from the tailpipe and an additional 5-8 pounds from upstream sources that include transporting
gasoline and refueling. 2,3
U.S. cars and light trucks alone produce more CO2 pollution than all but three other
countries worldwide: China, Russia and Japan. 4 This amounts to almost 5 percent of total
world CO2 emissions from fossil fuels.
If current trends in fuel economy go unchecked, passenger vehicle fuel use will
increase by 56 percent over the next two decades . Under this scenario, annual
greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. passenger vehicle sector will rise from
1,450 million tons of CO2 to 2,260 million tons of CO2 . 5 Fuel-related pollution from cars and
light trucks poses a significant health hazard.
Cars and
light trucks produce an amount of U.S. air pollution that is second only to electricity
generation.
The amount of fuel a vehicle uses accounts for nearly half of air pollution from passenger vehicles.
Existing fuel economy standards avert 500,000 tons of hydrocarbon emissions from
gasoline production, distribution, and vehicle fuel tanks. Hydrocarbon emissions are
a key source of smog, and many of them are toxic and potentially carcinogenic. 6
Each year, the production and distribution of gasoline to fuel U.S. passenger vehicles causes the emission of
392,000 tons of benzeneequivalent and 848,000 tons of smog-forming hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. 7
A recent UCLA study linked air pollution and birth defects in Southern California for the first time, finding that
pollutants are transferred to the fetus through the umbilical cord. 8
Congress must raise CAFE
standards to protect our future.

When
9
o
fully phased in by 2012, a fleet wide fuel economy standard of 40 mpg would avert:
345 million tons of CO2 emissions.
o Up to 187 million pounds of toxic emissions.

o Up to 404 million pounds of smog forming pollutants.
When fully phased in by 2020, a fleet wide fuel economy standard of 55 mpg would
avert: 10
o 888 million tons of CO2 emissions.
o Up to 481 million pounds of toxic emissions.
o Up to 1,039 million pounds of smog-forming pollutants .
Increased fuel economy dramatically reduces emissions

UCS 4 Union of Concerned Scientists (Common Sense on Climate Change:
Practical Solutions to Global Warming, 11/01/04,
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/big_picture_solutions/commonsense-on-climate-5.html)
Common Sense on Climate Change Solution #1:
Make Better Cars and SUV's
The technology exists to build cars, minivans, and SUVs that are just as powerful
and safe as vehicles on the road today, but get 40 miles per gallon (mpg) or more.
Better transmissions and engines, more aerodynamic designs, and stronger yet
lighter material for chassis and bodies can cost-effectively increase the average fuel
economy of today's automotive fleet from 24 mpg to 40 mpg over 10 years. This would be
equivalent to taking 44 million cars off the roadand it would save individual
drivers thousands of dollars in fuel costs over the life of a vehicle.
transportation accounts for nearly 30 percent of U.S. annual CO2
emissions, raising fuel economy is one of the most important things we can do to
slow climate change.
Because
require Detroit to offer consumers more fuel-efficient vehicles by

raising the average gas mileagethe Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)of
their fleets. It is especially important to bring SUVs up to the same standards as
cars.
The first step is to
*Aff Answers
Doesnt solve oil or warming
Duhamel 10 (Jonathon, 4/30/10, EPA fuel standards costly and ineffective,
http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/2010/04/30/epa-fuel-standards-costly-andineffective/)
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed increasing fuel mileage standards for motor vehicles
from the current 30.2 mpg for passenger car fleets to 35.5 mpg by 2016. Their rationale for this increase (so they
say) is twofold: reduce carbon dioxide emissions and thus forestall temperature rise; and reduce our total
will fail on both counts. The proposed fuel

mileage standard will have no measurable effect on temperature according to Dr. John
Christy, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville
consumption of petroleum products. The fuel standards
and Alabamas State Climatologist. Christy testified before Congress last year on Californias proposed vehicle
a reduction
in carbon dioxide emissions would have a theoretical temperature impact of no
more than 0.01 C by 2100. if the entire world adopted and adhered to this
legislation, the net effect would be less than 0.04C by 2100 . As an atmospheric scientist
emission reduction of 26% (equivalent to a 43 m.p.g. standard). Christys research found that such
who regularly publishes temperature records for specific regions as well as the globe, I can assure you this level of
Global temperatures change by more than this from day

to day. Added to that, there is evidence that better fuel mileage will not result in lower
total fuel consumption. Department of Transportation data show that as
automobiles become more fuel efficient, each car is driven more miles, so that there
is actually no reduction in total fuel use.
impact is too small to be detected.
Fuel tax fails takes too long to solve

Morrow et al 9 - *Ross Morrow is Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering
and Economics, **Kelly Gallagher is Director of the Energy Technology Innovation
Policy (ETIP) research group at Harvard University, ***Gustavo Collantes is a Former
Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group/Science,
Techology, and Public Policy Program, ****Henry Lee is Director of the Environment
and Natural Resources Program at Harvard School of Government, Co-Chair of the
International Infrastructure Program and the Energy Technology Innovation Policy
project at Harvard, and a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, was Director of the
Massachusettss Energy Office and Special Assistant to the Governor for
environmental policy (Analysis of policies to reduce oil consumption and
greenhouse-gas emissions from the US transportation sector, December 2009,
Science Direct)
the response in fuel economy of the national fleet is muted despite
these strong gains in new vehicle fuel economy; see Fig. 9. It takes a number of years for new more
efficient vehicles to penetrate into the fleet because so many relatively inefficient
cars remain on the road. Scenarios (AE) had a varied impact on new vehicle fuel economy in
2030, achieving between 38 and 43.7 mpg, while overall fleet fuel economy in 2030
varied only between 28.9 and 31.2 mpg. In 2020, choosing the best policy for fuel
It is important to note that
economy improvement results in a fuel economy improvement for the entire

fleet of only 1.2 mpg.
Building Codes (Neg)
Building Codes CP 1NC

Text: The state governments should implement and enforce
energy efficiency building codes modeled on Californias
building codes.
Efficient building codes solve better gains in transportation
efficiency are inevitable
Joan Indiana Rigdon Nov 2008, Grad of UC Berkeley journalism school, former
writer for Wall Street Journal, Oil: The Never-Ending Crisis, Washington Lawyer,
http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/resources/publications/washington_lawyer/novemb
er_2008/oil_crisis.cfm
Unsexy Building Codes Much of the public debate about energy and greenhouse gas
emissions is centered on automobiles, a focus which Bookbinder believes is
misplaced. Transportation will solve itself, he says, explaining that higher
fuel-efficiency standards, combined with new biofuels that are not derived from
food, as well as new technologies including plug-in hybrids, ultimately will drive
down demand for oil and greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, he says, policymakers
could have a much bigger impact on the countrys foreign oil dependence and
greenhouse gas emissions by adopting energy-saving commercial building codes.
Californias per capita consumption of electricity is among the lowest in the nation,
Bookbinder says, because the state enacted strict commercial building codes that
regulate lighting, heating, cooling, and power transmission, following the oil shocks
of the 1970s. Better commercial building codes would easily trump any savings
from residential use of alternative energy, Bookbinder adds. Getting even just one
state to upgrade its building codes is worth more than every Tom, Dick, and Harry
running out to put a windmill on their roof, he says.
**Note: David Bookbinder, chief climate counsel for the Sierra Club, the nations
leader in grassroots environmental litigation.
Solvency Dependence
Changing building codes is key locks in efficiency and reduces
oil dependence
US Department of Energy, 18 May 2011, Why Building Energy Codes?
US DOE, http://www.energycodes.gov/why_codes/
Buildings fundamentally have an impact on people's lives, economic well-being, and
the United States' dependence on foreign oil, national security and the health of the
planet. In the United States, residential and commercial buildings together use more
energy and emit more carbon dioxide than either the industrial or transportation
section Buildings use 39% of our total energy, two-thirds of our electricity, and oneeighth of our water. In light of these fundamental environmental issues, and the
increasing cost of energy and our current economic challenges, building energy
efficiency is a key component of sound public policy. Because the efficiency with
which a home, factory or office building will use energy is determined in part by
decisions made far in advance of the actual use of that energy, the network of
incentives and disincentives regarding energy choices is complex. Choosing less
energy efficient methods of materials may save money upfront, but or result in
increased energy costs for the occupant of that building far in the future. This long
term impacts of the choices and consequences results in a unique role for
government in setting and enforcing building codes and standards, promoting
improvements, and collecting and disseminating information regarding new
technologies and best practices.
Codes solve oil dependency

US DOE, Feb 2010, Building Energy Codes 101, DOE, pg. 1,
http://www.energycodes.gov/becu/documents/BECU_Codes_101_Intro.pdfC4W9rQHt
44WzBw&usg=AFQjCNEUSbRtasIqaARmb7iYka_ITA5Plg&sig2=SYLV4jQLTCB6T2BAZK
Mhfg
The effects of energy use in buildings are nationwide, worldwide, and varied. Having
a fundamental impact on peoples lives, these effects include the economic wellbeing of the nation, the United States dependence on foreign oil, and national
security. On an individual basis, even human health can be affected by building
energy use when rising energy costs render a conditioned, comfortable, healthy
indoor environment unaffordable. On a larger scale, carbon emissions, which are
directly tied to building energy use, affect the health of our planet. Some sobering
statistics help drive home the reality of building energy use: Nearly 5 million
commercial buildings and 115 million residential households in the United States
consume nearly 40 percent of the nations total primary energy1 Buildings
consume 70 percent of electricity in the United States2 In 2007, carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions attributable to lighting, heating, cooling, cooking, refrigeration,
water heating, and other building services totaled 2517 million metric tons3 this is
40 percent of the U.S. total and 8 percent of the global total. What can be done to
curb the significant and ever-growing impact of building energy use? The adoption
and enforcement of more stringent building energy codes in communities across the
country is a critical component. This document provides a basic introduction to the
many aspects of building energy codes, including their: Benefits in terms of the
current energy, economic, and environmental challenges facing our world today
Challenges in terms of adoption, implementation, compliance, and enforcement
Development processes led by the International Codes Council (ICC) and American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
Adoption and incorporation into building design and construction by states and
jurisdictions Enforcement at the state and local level.
Solvency Dependence
Energy codes key to solve oil dependence
NASEO (National Association of State Energy Officials) 1/24/12
- http://www.naseo.org/codes/documents/NASEO_Board_Resolution_Supporting_Utility_Credit_for_Codes.pdf, AP
buildings are Americas largest energy-consuming sector
together using over 40 percent of the nations energy, two-thirds of our electricity
consumption, one-eighth of our water use, and responsible for almost 40% of our carbon dioxide emissions 1 ; and
WHEREAS, homes and commercial
WHEREAS, reducing building energy consumption is an important objective for our country; and WHEREAS, studies show that
these energy efficiency improvements enhance the affordability, security, comfort, and health and safety of home ownership by
generating net positive cash flow for homeowners; and WHEREAS, building energy codes help safeguard commercial owners and
tenants from long-term financial burdens that can result from short-term design and construction decisions and can afford
energy-efficient buildings provide energy,

economic, and environmental benefits for many years, and enhance our national
security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil ; and WHEREAS, building energy codes
are a key component of a sustainable future for our country ; and WHEREAS, building
energy codes set minimum requirements for energy-efficient design and
construction of new and renovated buildings that impact energy use and emissions
over the decades-long lifetimes of the buildings.
protection from energy price volatility; and WHEREAS,
Codes reduce oil dependence

Mhfg
Building energy codes can play a key role in reducing building energy costs, our
nations reliance on foreign oil, and carbon emissions as well as in increasing the
comfort of our homes and offices. Though the building energy codes world is not
without its challenges, the benefits far outweigh the barriers. Crafted in open public
forums, all stakeholders and interested and affected parties are welcome to
participate in the building energy codes development processes. And the processes
used to update both the IECC and ASHRAE 90.1 are designed to make sure the
interests of varied stakeholders are considered, including those pertaining to
industry, of importance to building scientists, and affecting financial viability.
Building energy codes are readily available for states and jurisdictions to adopt,
and a broad range of enforcement and compliance tools are available to help
policy makers, designers, builders, and the enforcement community successfully
implement building energy codes. Building energy codes are a baseline of energy
efficiency that constantly drive beyond-code programs to improve. As code cycles
iterate from one to the next, todays beyond-code programs become the baseline
of tomorrow. Ultimately, the energy codes community will converge on its true goal
buildings with zero energy use.
Codes solve emissions and oil dependence

Clayton, Krystin, owner of Green House Effects, a company that seeks to better
the environment by offering practical sustainability consulting to interested and
committed businesses and individuals, 22 October 20 10, Examiner,
http://tinyurl.com/83rk88n
Manufacturers and vendors alike need to be aware that as there is more and more
of a push on energy conservation in the United States, more and more products and
construction techniques may become obsolete and actually prohibited by wellmeaning engineers who may not be thinking long range or big picture. In a similar
manner, as green building codes become widely adopted, the outlawing of products
and equipment will become a bigger issue. Isnt it admirable to create code that
saves energy thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions and reduces our dependence
on foreign oil? Yes indeed, and if we are to provide a solution that addresses both of
those issues (that is using energy efficiently for comfort or convenience and
obtaining energy independence), it will be necessary to advocate and promote the
technologies that have the most promise to achieve both of those goals to win the
separate but equally important wars on energy waste and foreign oil dependence.
Solvency A2: No Oil In Buildings

Many buildings still use petroleum products for heat new
codes can reduce oil dependence
Ann Bordetsky et al Natural Resources Defense Council Feb 20 05,
SECURING AMERICA Solving Our Oil Dependence Through Innovation,
http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/oilsecurity/plan.pdf,
http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/oilsecurity/plan.pdf
Oil-heated homes. Petroleum products remain an important source of heating

energy in homes. According to the EIA, approximately 8 million residences continue
to burn fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), propane, and kerosene for space
and water heating. 60 Cost-effective home improvements to space and water
heating systems such as insulating walls, ceilings and pipes, sealing drafts and
especially sealing ducts, installing new windows, upgrading thermostats; updating
furnaces; replacing old clothes washers and dishwashers with new efficient models;
and replacing water heaters can reduce heating oil use by 30 percent or more. We
should promote residential energy savings with a focus on oil heat to help reduce
the nations oil dependence by adopting stringent efficiency standards for house
and apartment building boilers and furnaces; by adopting performance-based tax
incentives for home retrofits and for efficient water heaters; and by updating codes
for new buildings. Together these measures can save 100,000 barrel of oil per day
in 2015. We should promote residential weatherization and other energy saving
programs to help achieve the national oil savings commitment.
Many buildings use oil for heat

David G. Victor, John Deutch, and James R. Schlesinger, Deutch: Chair of
the Task Force, Institute Professor at MIT, Undersecretary of Energy, Deputy
Secretary of Defense, Director of Central Intelligence. Victor: Project Director of the
Task Force, Director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at
Stanford University, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology at the Council
on Foreign Relations. Schlesinger: Former Secretary of Defense, First Secretary of
Energy Chair of the Task Force, 12 October 20 06 National Security Consequences
of U.S Oil Dependency, Council on Foreign Relations, pg. 46,
http://tinyurl.com/7at36cu
While recognizing that there will be no significant early relief, the United States
needs to begin now to adopt technologies and processes that allow for the use of
fuels other than those based on petroleum, in particular those alternative fuels
that reduce the negative consequences that come from the countrys reliance on
imported petroleum. For example, oil is still used for space heating of buildings in
some regions; however, those buildings could be heated by natural gas directly or ,
for larger buildings, by efficient cogeneration of electricity and space heating. Cars
and other light vehicles could be fueled with increasingly larger fractions of
biomass-derived liquids (such as ethanol), and vehicles can be fueled by
compressed natural gas. Light duty vehicles could be powered increasingly over
time by electricity rather than gasoline or diesel fuel. The current generation of
hybrid-electric vehicles may be supplanted by plug-in hybrids, which allow some
fraction of the mileage to be powered by electricity that is charged from the grid,
perhaps leading to an eventual transition to fully electric vehicles.13
Solvency Economy/Warming
Investment in energy efficiency insulates the economy from
price shocks and protects the environment
EPA and DOE, this plan has been developed by more than 50 leading
organizations, 17 Aug 2006, National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency pg. 5,
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-programs/suca/resources.html
Energy efficiency reduces the level of U.S. per capita energy consumption, thus
decreasing the vulnerability of the economy and individual consumers to energy
price disruptions from natural disasters and attacks on domestic and international
energy supplies and infrastructure. In addition, energy efficiency can be used to
reduce the overall system peak demand or the peak demand in targeted load areas
with limited generating or transport capability. Reducing peak demand improves
system reliability and reduces the potential for unplanned brownouts or black-outs,
which can have large adverse economic consequences. utilities, and other
organizations can build. Experience shows that energy efficiency programs can
lower customer energy bills; cost less than, and help defer, new energy
infrastructure; provide energy savings to consumers; improve the environment; and
spur local economic development (see box on Benefits of Energy Efficiency).
Significant opportunities for energy efficiency are likely to continue to be available
at low costs in the future. State and regional studies have found that adoption of
economically attractive, but as yet untapped, energy efficiency could yield more
than 20 percent savings in total electricity demand nationwide by 2025. Depending
on the underlying load growth, these savings could help cut load growth by half or
more compared to current forecasts (Nadel et al., 2004; SWEEP, 2002; NEEP, 2005;
NWPCC, 2005; WGA, 2006). Similarly, savings from direct use of natural gas could
provide a 50 percent or greater reduction in natural gas demand growth (Nadel et
al., 2004). Capturing this energy efficiency resource would offer substantial
economic and environmental benefits across the country. Widespread
application of energy efficiency programs that already exist in some regions could
deliver a large part of these potential savings.9 Extrapolating the results from
existing programs to the entire country would yield annual energy bill savings of
nearly $20 billion, with net societal benefits of more than $250 billion over the next
10 to 15 years. This scenario could defer the need for 20,000 megawatts (MW), or
40 new 500MW power plants, as well as reduce U.S. emissions from energy
production and use by more than 200 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), 50,000
tons of SO2, and 40,000 tons of NOx annually.10 These significant economic and
environmental benefits can be achieved relatively quickly because energy
efficiency programs can be developed and implemented within several years.
Additional policies and programs are required to help capture these potential
benefits and address our substantial underinvestment in energy efficiency as a
nation. An important indicator of this underinvestment is that the level of funding
across the country for organized efficiency programs is currently less than $2 billion
per year while it would require about 4 times todays funding levels to achieve the
economic and environment benefits presented above.
States should build energy codessolves energy, environment,
and economy
organizations, 17 Aug 2006, Building Codes for Energy Efficiency pg. 2-3,
Building energy codes provide states and municipalities across the country a
range of energy, environmental, and economic benefits. Highlights from
several jurisdictions are summarized below and in Table 1. Energy benefits of
building codes include saving on energy bills, reducing peak energy demand, and
improving system reliability. For example, Californias building standards have
helped save businesses and residents more than $15.8 billion in electricity and
natural gas costs since 1975, and these savings are expected to climb to $59
billion by 2011 (CEC, 2003). When fully implemented, the states new 2005
building efficiency standards are expected to yield peak energy use reductions of
180 megawatts (MW) annuallyenough electricity to power 180,000 average-sized
California homes (Motamedi et al., 2004). According to the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE), if all states adopted and fully implemented American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.11999, a model energy code for commercial buildings, then building owners and
tenants would lower their utility bills by $110 million the first year and save $5.7
billion over 10 years. The country would save 16 trillion British thermal units
(Btu) of energy that first year and almost 800 trillion Btu cumulatively over 10
years. The magnitude of each states savings depends on many factors: the
efficiency of its current building practices; the stringency of the code it adopts; its
population, climate, and building construction activity; and the effectiveness of
code training and enforcement (DOE, 2007).States and municipalities are also
finding that energy codes can improve the environment by reducing air
pollution and greenhouse gases. For example, the New York Energy
Conservation Construction Code is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions by more than 500,000 tons annually and sulfur dioxide (SO2) by
nearly 500 tons per year (DOE, 2002). Similarly, the 2001 Texas Building Energy
Performance Standards are projected to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions
statewide by more than 2 tons each peak day and more than 1 ton each average
day, which helps the state meet Clean Air Act requirements for non-attainment
areas (Haberl et al., 2003). Building energy codes can also help grow the
economy. States and municipalities benefit from greater investment in energyefficient capital equipment and new jobs installing equipment and monitoring
building compliance. While spending on energy services typically sends money
out of state, dollars saved from efficiency tend to be re-spent locally (Kushler et al.,
2005; Weitz 2005a). Codes become even more cost-effective during periods of high
heating and cooling fuel prices. At the building level, the payback period on any
increase in upfront costs is typically short. A Nevada study estimated that
upgrading the energy efficiency of commercial buildings to comply with the code
would cost about $1.60 per square foot but would result in $0.68 per square foot of
energy bill savings per year, meaning a simple payback of about 2.4 years (Geller
et al., 2005). Similarly, it is estimated that while a new home built to the
International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) in Phoenix, Arizona, will cost an
average of $1,517 more than a home built without the code, the difference will be
repaid to homebuyers in 3.9 years (based on simple payback). The life-cycle cost
savings associated with improved energy efficiency from adopting the IECC is
$11,228 per home (Kinney et. al., 2003). While the upfront costs of code compliance
can be recouped over short payback periods, the savings do not always accrue to
the entity paying the initial compliance costs. This split incentive occurs when a
developer or builder sees higher costs that are repaid over time to the building
owner or occupants.
States must build codes nowenvironmental and economic
gains
US Department of Energy, 18 May 2011, Why Building Energy Codes?
US DOE, http://www.energycodes.gov/why_codes/
New buildings, while they represent just over 1% of the total building stock in a
given year, are important because they represent a unique chance to effect energy
efficiency; keeping in mind that building energy codes also apply to retrofitting of
existing buildings. Once a new building is constructed, it is very expensive and
often impossible to achieve the energy efficiency that can be economically built in
at the time of construction. Since buildings will be in existence for decades if not
centuries this is an opportunity that we cannot afford to lose and had we done
a more robust job in the past, retrofitting of existing buildings would not be as
critical today. It is vital to make energy efficiency a fundamental part of the
building design and construction process and energy codes are an effective way to
achieve this goal and ensure energy efficiency is a component of all buildings.
States have the lead to make this happen. Research shows that contemporary
energy codes could save about 330 Trillion BTU by 2030, almost 2% of total current
residential energy consumption. There would also be comparable savings in
consumer energy bills, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Those savings
help the state economy by putting more money is consumer's pockets and reducing
environmental costs to the state and its industry. This Program supports energy
code development, adoption, implementation, and compliance initiatives at the
national, state and local level and is estimated to generate energy cost savings of
more than $2.5 billion per year. Since the inception of the Program 20 years ago
accumulated energy savings has been more than 1.5 quads and cost savings to
consumers has been more than $14 billion. These savings have resulted primarily
from the Program's activities that accelerate the adoption of building energy codes
by and within the states and that improve code compliance by means of various
software tools and other types of training and technical support.
Government action will help the economy
Greater investment in energy efficiency helps build jobs and improve state
economies. Energy efficiency users often redirect their bill savings toward other
activities that increase local and national employment, with a higher employment
impact than if the money had been spent to purchase energy (Kushler et al., 2005;
NYSERDA, 2004). Many energy efficiency programs create construction and
installation jobs, with multiplier impacts on employment and local economies. Local
investments in energy efficiency can offset imports from out-of-state, improving the
state balance of trade. Lastly, energy efficiency investments usually create longlasting infrastructure changes to building, equipment and appliance stocks, creating
long-term property improvements that deliver long-term economic value (Innovest,

2002).
Solvency Economy
Energy codes create jobs
- https://www.naseo.org/codes/documents/NASEO-BCAPState_Benefits_from_Codes.pdf, AP
Energy Codes Create Jobs and Save Money and Energy Setting new standards for
energy efficiency through building codes expands and sustains a growing market for
energy audits, retrofits, and weatherization--creating a wide-range of new green jobs. Just
Building
as importantly, adopting and enforcing current model codes can save consumers and businesses money on their energy bills.
Consumers can spend money saved from reduced energy bills on other goods and
services, and businesses can transfer free-up capital to other areas, such as
production, investment, and employee retention. In both cases, building codes can
positively impact the economic health of your state. Today, ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007 and the 2009
International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) are the national model energy codes, and each is updated on a three-year cycle.
Moving from current practice to the 2009 IECC for new homes would result in a national weighted average incremental cost of
$818.72 per new home. The annual energy savings per home would be $243.37 on average, meaning the simple payback for
If the 2009 IECC were adopted and enforced nationwide,

a typical new homeowner would see an annual energy cost savings of nearly 15%.
Accrued energy savings mitigates the need for constructing expensive new utility
power plants and decreases the strain on aging infrastructure.
homeowners would occur in 3.36 years.
New state energy codes good for econ

US DOE (Department of Energy) 5/18/11 Why Building Energy Codes?,
http://www.energycodes.gov/why_codes/, AP
New buildings, while they represent just over 1% of the total building stock in a given year, are important because they represent a
unique chance to effect energy efficiency; keeping in mind that building energy codes also apply to retrofitting of
existing buildings. Once a new building is constructed, it is very expensive and often impossible to achieve the energy efficiency
that can be economically built in at the time of construction. Since buildings will be in existence for decades if not centuries this is
an opportunity that we cannot afford to lose and had we done a more robust job in the past, retrofitting of existing buildings would
is vital to make energy efficiency a fundamental part of the building

design and construction process and energy codes are an effective way to achieve this goal and ensure energy
efficiency is a component of all buildings. States have the lead to make this happen . Research
shows that contemporary energy codes could save about 330 Trillion BTU by 2030, almost 2% of
total current residential energy consumption. There would also be comparable savings in consumer
energy bills, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions . Those savings help the
state economy by putting more money is consumer's pockets and reducing
environmental costs to the state and its industry. This Program supports energy code development, adoption,
implementation, and compliance initiatives at the national, state and local level and is estimated to generate
energy cost savings of more than $2.5 billion per year . Since the inception of the
Program 20 years ago accumulated energy savings has been more than 1.5 quads and cost savings to
consumers has been more than $14 billion. These savings have resulted primarily from the Program's
not be as critical today. It
activities that accelerate the adoption of building energy codes by and within the states and that improve code compliance by
means of various software tools and other types of training and technical support.
Energy codes key to solve econ

http://www.naseo.org/codes/documents/NASEO_Board_Resolution_Supporting_Utility
_Credit_for_Codes.pdf, AP
WHEREAS, homes and commercial buildings are Americas largest energy-consuming sector together using over
40 percent of the nations energy, two-thirds of our electricity consumption, one-eighth of our water use, and
responsible for almost 40% of our carbon dioxide emissions 1 ; and WHEREAS, reducing building energy
consumption is an important objective for our country; and
WHEREAS,
studies show that these energy
efficiency improvements enhance the affordability, security, comfort, and health and safety of
home ownership by generating net positive cash flow for homeowners ; and WHEREAS,
building energy codes help safeguard commercial owners and tenants from longterm financial burdens that can result from short-term design and construction decisions and can afford
protection from energy price volatility; and WHEREAS, energy-efficient buildings provide energy,
economic, and environmental benefits for many years, and enhance our national security by reducing
our dependence on foreign oil; and WHEREAS, building energy codes are a key component of a
sustainable future for our country ; and WHEREAS, building energy codes set minimum requirements
for energy-efficient design and
construction of new and renovated buildings that impact energy use and emissions
WHEREAS, building energy codes make our

daily lives better by improving indoor air quality and public health, promoting environmentally-friendly
behaviors such as recycling and generating less waste and providing a more comfortable and
productive work environment; and WHEREAS, building energy codes help drive the
development, deployment, and innovation of new building technologies and design
strategies; and WHEREAS, more education, training and awareness continue to be needed at the local level on
over the decades-long lifetimes of the buildings; and
the tools,
applications, best practices and support materials for greater building energy code adoption,
building energy codes decrease the impact and peak

load of buildings, helping to lessen the stress on the electricity grid system, which increases
grid reliability.
implementation and compliance; and WHEREAS,
Solvency Warming
Better building codes solve emissions
Department of Energy May 2010, Building Energy Codes 101,
http://www.energycodes.gov/becu/documents/BECU_Codes_101_Slide_Notes.pdf
Energy use in buildings makes up a very significant piece of the pie. Thus, it has a
direct impact on the greatest challenges of our time, including:
Economic well-being for individuals, businesses, and governments
Dependence on foreign oil and national security
Global climate change.
Even human health is at stakefor many families, rising energy costs make it
unaffordable to sustain a comfortable, conditioned indoor environment.
Some sobering statistics help drive home the reality of building energy use:
Nearly 5 million commercial buildings and 115 million residential households in
the United States consume over 40 percent of the nations total primary energy
Buildings consume 70 percent of electricity in the United States
In 2007, carbon dioxide emissions attributable to lighting, heating, cooling,
cooking, refrigeration, water heating, and other building services totaled 2517
million metric tons40 percent of the U.S. total and 8 percent of the global total.
Clearly, building energy use must be addressed to protect the interests of individual
consumers, our nation, and the world. Building energy codes are a critical
component of the effort to curb the ever-growing impacts of building energy use.
But why codes?
Building energy codes set minimum efficiency boundaries that bring about vital,
tangible benefits.
Not surprisingly, better codes mean better benefits. Recent research shows that if
building energy codes* were upgraded to be 30 to 50 percent more stringent,
adopted among states, and effectively implemented, excellent progress would be
made in the areas of energy consumption, cost savings, and CO2 emissions
reduction:
Reduced energy consumptionby approximately 0.5-quadrillion Btu per year by
2015, and 3.5-quadrillion Btu per year by 2030. This is equivalent to the power
generated by 260 medium power plants.
Rising cost savingsmore than $4 billion per year back in homeowners pockets
by 2015, a figure that could rise to over $30 billion per year by 2030. Even
accounting for increased up-front efficiency investment costs, net benefits are quite
significant.
Reduced CO2 emissionsby roughly 3 percent in terms of the projected national

CO2 emissions in 2030.
Energy codes key to solve econ

http://www.naseo.org/codes/documents/NASEO_Board_Resolution_Supporting_Utility
_Credit_for_Codes.pdf, AP
buildings are Americas largest energy-consuming sector together
using over 40 percent of the nations energy, two-thirds of our electricity consumption, one-eighth of our water use, and responsible for
almost 40% of our carbon dioxide emissions 1 ; and WHEREAS, reducing building energy consumption is an
WHEREAS, homes and commercial
important objective for our country; and WHEREAS, studies show that these energy efficiency improvements enhance the affordability, security,
comfort, and health and safety of home ownership by generating net positive cash flow for homeowners; and WHEREAS, building energy codes help
safeguard commercial owners and tenants from long-term financial burdens that can result from short-term design and construction decisions and can
energy-efficient buildings provide energy, economic, and

environmental benefits for many years, and enhance our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil;
and WHEREAS, building energy codes are a key component of a sustainable future for our country; and WHEREAS, building energy codes
set minimum requirements for energy-efficient design and construction of new and
renovated buildings that impact energy use and emissions over the decades-long lifetimes
of the buildings; and WHEREAS, building energy codes make our daily lives better by improving indoor
air quality and public health, promoting environmentally-friendly behaviors such as
recycling and generating less waste and providing a more comfortable and productive work environment; and
WHEREAS, building energy codes help drive the development, deployment, and
innovation of new building technologies and design strategies ; and WHEREAS, more education,
afford protection from energy price volatility; and WHEREAS,
training and awareness continue to be needed at the local level on the tools, applications, best practices and support materials for greater building
energy code adoption, implementation and compliance; and WHEREAS, building energy codes decrease the impact and peak load of buildings, helping
to lessen the stress on the electricity grid system, which increases grid reliability.
Solvency Warming
Energy codes key to solve warming
Environment Texas Research and Policy Center 3/8/12, Building a Better
America: Reducing Pollution and Saving Money with Efficiency,
http://www.environmenttexas.org/sites/environment/files/reports/TXE_buildingreport
_online.pdf, AP
We can save money and help solve global warming by reducing the amount of
energy we use, including in the buildings where we live and work every day. More than 40 percent of our energy
and 10 percent of all the energy used in the world goes toward powering
Americas buildings. But todays high-efficiency homes and buildings prove that we
have the technology and skills to drastically improve the efficiency of our buildings
while simultaneously improving their comfort and affordability . If we apply those
lessons to all buildings, we can reduce energy use in our homes and workplaces by
a quarter, lowering global warming pollution from buildings 30 percent by 2030 . Actions
taken by local, state and federal governments and by the private sector have already led to major gains in the energy performance of buildings. The Energy Information Administration
(EIA)s projections of energy use per square foot in our buildings go down every year. Energy intensity projections in the commercial and residential sectors have gone down 10 percent,
we can
and we must improve, implementing an aggressive two-part strategy that sets bold efficiency standards for new buildings and encourages investments in energyefficiency improvements in the buildings we already have. This report analyzes the effects of meeting bold
efficiency goals and provides state-by-state data on the economic and
environmental benefits as compared to a business- as-usual scenario . The policies
needed to meet those goals are outlined in the report and we highlight forward-thinking cities and states where these policies are
already making a difference for home and business-owners . Taking decisive action to improve the energy
performance of our buildings through a combination of policy and public and private
investments would go a long way toward reducing our nations energy use: Cutting
natural gas and fuel oil consumption in buildings by over 20 percent each by 2030.
Cutting total energy use in our existing building stock 30 percent by 2030. Newly constructed buildings will consume 50
percent less energy in 2020 and 75 percent less energy in 2030 than new
construction did in 2008. Thanks to this reduction in energy use, Americans will reap great financial benefits as a result of lowered energy expenditures:
Electricity bills will decline by 34 percent by 2030, saving households an annual average of $450 on residential energy bills compared to what they pay today. Heating oil
and natural gas bills will decline in every state . And, better, more energy-efficient buildings
will reduce our global warming emissions. Global warming pollution from buildings
will fall 11 percent by 2020, with that reduction increasing to 30 percent by 2030 .
By 2030, the cumulative avoided emissions will total 696 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide, the equivalent of shutting down more than 150 coal-fired power
plants in two decades. Achieving these benefits will require strong policies that
promote energy efficiency and educate builders, building-owners and renters about the energy performance of buildings, including:
Adoption of strong building energy codes targeting reductions in energy use versus
todays average homes and commercial buildings. The codes should target 50 percent reductions
by 2020 and 75 percent by 2030. We will also need strong commitments from cities and other stakeholders: a goal of achieving zero net energy
and projections accounting for the use of best available technology go even further up to 30 percent better than we predicted just a handful of years ago. But
buildings buildings that produce as much energy as they consume by 2030, and incentives to increase distributed renewable energy generation. An aggressive program of
energy efficiency retrofits sufficient to reduce energy consumption by 30 percent in households and 50 percent in commercial facilities by 2030, including financing programs like
Property Assessed Clean Energy, on-bill financing, weatherization programs, utility-funded incentive programs and public private partnerships. Adoption of strategies to increase
transparency and develop consumer demand for energy-efficient apartments, homes and businesses, including energy use disclosure and incorporation of efficiency measures into the
real estate appraisal process. Adoption of strong energy efficiency standards for household appliances and commercial equipment used in buildings.
Building codes key to solve warming

Kate Galbraith 5/21/09 Energy Expert, New York Times Writer The Race for
Better Building Codes, New York Times,
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/the-race-for-better-building-codes/, AP
Creating stricter building codes can help fight global warming, experts say .
Buildings account for more than one-third of national energy use and 30 percent of
greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S.
Green Building Council. Experts say that there is an easy way to reduce that
number: tightening up building codes, so that they require more effective insulation
and other improvements.
A2: State Spending DA

More efficient codes save money and boost the economy
Department of Energy May 18, 2011, Building Energy Codes Program,
http://www.energycodes.gov/why_codes/
New buildings, while they represent just over 1% of the total building stock in a
given year, are important because they represent a unique chance to effect energy
efficiency; keeping in mind that building energy codes also apply to retrofitting of
existing buildings. Once a new building is constructed, it is very expensive and often
impossible to achieve the energy efficiency that can be economically built in at the
time of construction. Since buildings will be in existence for decades if not centuries
this is an opportunity that we cannot afford to lose and had we done a more robust
job in the past, retrofitting of existing buildings would not be as critical today. It is
vital to make energy efficiency a fundamental part of the building design and
construction process and energy codes are an effective way to achieve this goal and
ensure energy efficiency is a component of all buildings. States have the lead to
make this happen. Research shows that contemporary energy codes could save
about 330 Trillion BTU by 2030, almost 2% of total current residential energy
consumption. There would also be comparable savings in consumer energy bills, air
pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Those savings help the state economy by
putting more money is consumer's pockets and reducing environmental costs to the
state and its industry. This Program supports energy code development, adoption,
implementation, and compliance initiatives at the national, state and local level and
is estimated to generate energy cost savings of more than $2.5 billion per year.
Since the inception of the Program 20 years ago accumulated energy savings has
been more than 1.5 quads and cost savings to consumers has been more than $14
billion. These savings have resulted primarily from the Program's activities that
accelerate the adoption of building energy codes by and within the states and that
improve code compliance by means of various software tools and other types of
training and technical support.
FYI How States Adopt Energy Codes

States adopt codes through legislative or regulatory action
federal changes are not binding
Mhfg
Adoption of energy codes can occur directly through legislative action or by

regulatory action through agencies authorized by the legislative body to oversee
the development and adoption of codes. When adoption is accomplished through
legislation, a committee may be appointed to provide recommendations and/or
draft the legislation. When adoption occurs through a regulatory process, states
and local governments often appoint an advisory body comprising representatives
of the design, building construction, and enforcement communities. This advisory
panel recommends revisions that should be considered for adoption. In basing their
recommendations on model energy codes, the advisory panel considers
modifications to the model codes to account for local preferences and construction
practices. The panel also may serve as a source of information during the adoption
process. Their recommendations then enter a public review process.
Overview of the adoption process
The code adoption process generally includes the following steps
(note that the details of the adoption process vary depending on
whether the energy code is adopted by legislation, regulation, or
a local government):
1. A change is initiated by a legislative or regulatory agency with the authority to
promulgate energy codes. Interested or affected parties also may initiate a change.
An advisory body typically is convened and will recommend a new energy code or
revisions to an existing energy code.
2. The proposal undergoes a public review process consistent with the legislative or
regulatory process under which the code is being considered. Public review options
include publishing a notice in key publications, filing notices of intent, or holding
public hearings. Interested and affected parties are invited to submit written or oral
comments.
3. The results of the review process are incorporated into the proposal, and the final
legislation or regulation is prepared for approval.
4. The approving authority reviews the legislation or regulation. Revisions may be
submitted to the designated authority for final approval or for filing.
5. After being filed or approved, the code becomes effective, usually on some
specified future date. This delay creates a grace period that allows those regulated
to become familiar with any new requirements. The period between adoption and
effective date typically varies from 30 days to six months.
Timing the adoption and revision of state
and local codes
Some states adopt or revise energy codes in concert with
the publication of a new edition of new codes, such as the
ICC Codes or ASHRAE Standard. This may occur either
through a legislative or regulatory process, or when the state
regulation or legislation refers to the most recent edition,
in which case the adoption will simply occur automatically
without formal action. The effective date of a new adoption
can also be tied to the publication date of an energy standard
or model energy code, e.g., This regulation shall take effect
one month from publication of the adopted model energy
code.
Other states review the new editions on a case-by-case
basis to consider adoption, without a designated time
line for adoption.
Building Codes Aff Answers
Solvency
Codes are too hard to enforce fiat cant solve
Department of Energy May 2010, Building Energy Codes 101,
http://www.energycodes.gov/becu/documents/BECU_Codes_101_Slide_Notes.pdf
Despite these clear benefits, the road to achieving them is challenging.
To be effective, building energy codes must first be painstakingly developed, then
go through a complex, coordinated process that includes code adoption,
implementation, compliance, and enforcement by states and other jurisdictions.
One example of a code challenge is that code adoption is not automatic in most
states. Without statewide adoption, local jurisdictions are left without state
guidance or resources, and builders on the ground can face a confusing patchwork
of codes across their region. Adding complication, the challenges of implementation,
compliance, and enforcement vary with different jurisdictions; lack of both training
and manpower are often cited as roadblocks to proper enforcement.
As with any aspect of building codes, plan review and inspections take time, and
this must be accounted for in department staffing. Training is also critical across the
design, building, and enforcement communities. Not only is there a need for
understanding new code language, but new construction techniques, materials, and
technologies must also be considered and learned.
CP doesnt solve training, awareness, and regulation issues

Minjoo Lee - Bucknell University 9/4/11, Improving Building Energy Efficiency:
Adoption, Enforcement, and Compliance with Energy Standards and Codes, WISE
and ASHARE, http://www.wise-intern.org/journal/2011/documents/MinjooPaper.pdf
Following standards and codes is the most cost-effective way to increase building
energy efficiency because it requires implementation of existing minimum
benchmarks. There is a strong linkage between adoption, enforcement, and
compliance that makes each process equally important. Unfortunately, there are
barriers to each process. There is not enough urgency in adoption of energy codes,
not enough regulation on measuring compliance, inconsistent structure of training
for code officials, misconception that all energy efficient buildings demand high
upfront costs, a lack of awareness and interest of the public, and a lack of
cooperation from building owners themselves.
Only solves a fraction of the national target

Ann Bordetsky et al Roland Hwang, Anne Korin, Deron Lovaas, Luke Tonachel February 05 National
Resources Defense Council - SECURING AMERICA: Solving Our Oil Dependence Through Innovation, NRDC (National Resources
Defense Council), http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/oilsecurity/plan.pdf, AP
one-third of U.S. oil demand is consumed in industrial manufacturing

plants, airplanes, and residential homes. Efficiency gains in these sectors can save
America more than 300,000 barrels per day in 2015 or 12 percent of the 2.5 millions barrels
per day national target.
Approximately
Solvency
Transportation matters more and codes fail
International Energy Agency 2012, Enabling low-carbon end-use:
Increased energy efficiency, electrification and power sector decarbonisation,
http://www.iea.org/media/etp/Factsheet%20ETP%202012%20-%20End%20Use
%20Sector.pdf
The industry, building (including residential and services sub-sector) and transport
sectors account for a great majority of final energy consumption. To achieve ETP
2012s 2C Scenario (2DS), which gives the world an 80% chance of keeping
average global temperature rise below 2C compared to pre-industrial levels, these
sectors must couple increase use of decarbonised electricity as well as improve
energy efficiency, cutting their own total CO2 emissions by more than 20% before
2050, even as the power sector reduces its emissions by 80%.
The 2DS calls for the building sector to reduce total CO2 emissions by more than
60% by 2050. Because buildings can stand for more than 100 years, actions cannot
be limited to tighter controls on new construction, but must also include existing
stock.
Total energy savings in the buildings sector in the 2DS, compared to the 4DS,
amounts to 33 EJ in 2050. About 70% of buildings potential savings between the
4DS and 2DS are in the residential sub-sector and residential space heating alone
amounts to 22% of the total savings in the buildings sector.
Additional investment needed to realise the 2DS is estimated to be USD 11.5
trillion: USD 7.5 trillion in the residential sub-sector and USD 4.0 trillion in the
services sub-sector. This investment is required to ensure that new buildings meet
more stringent building codes, to refurbish around 60% of the OECD building stock
still standing in 2050 to low-energy standards, and for additional investments in
heat pumps, solar thermal systems, co-generation systems, lighting systems and
appliances. In the residential sub-sector, improvements in building shells account
for almost half of the incremental investment needs; in the services sub-sector,
around 40% of all investment is required for this purpose.
Implementation of best available technologies (BATs) in the industry sector could
reduce energy consumption by 20% from todays level, one of the least-cost options
to reduce energy consumption and emissions in industry. Optimising inefficient
motors and related drive systems typically increases their efficiency by 20% to 25%.
Given the ubiquitous use of motors in industry, this could reduce global electricity
demand by as much as 7%.
But efficiency alone will not be sufficient to offset strong growth in industrial
demand, so industry must adopt new technologies, such as smelting reduction,
separation membranes, advanced catalysis, black liquor gasification, and carbon
capture and storage (CCS), are needed to achieve significant emissions reduction.
The transport sector uses more than 52% of the oil extracted now, and that share
has been increasingly constantly over the last decades because of oils high energy
density cost-competitiveness compared with most alternative fuels. In the short
term, improved fuel economy of todays internal combustion engine (ICE) in cars
and trucks (and efficiency improvements in other transport modes) can deliver the
largest fuel savings and CO2 emissions reduction. After 2030 and by 2050, the 2DS
calls for sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
(PHEVs) to reach 50% for cars and light-duty trucks.
Under favourable conditions, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles could represent close to
20% of annual vehicle sales in 2050. The success of such vehicles depends on the
wider use of hydrogen in the economy, as well as on the development of
sustainable production methods, the efficiency of hydrogen as a storage medium
(compared to competing solutions) and the capacity to finance the necessary
infrastructure deployment.
Biofuels will play an increasingly important role in decarbonising the remaining
internal combustion automobiles as well as ships and aircraft, since liquid fuels used
by these modes will represent more than 75% of energy used in transport in 2050.
State Spending DA Link

The state must fund the programs
Energy efficiency programs require consistent and long-term funding to
effectively compete with energy supply options. Efforts are necessary to establish
this consistent long-term funding. A variety of mechanisms have been, and can be,
used based on state, utility, and other stakeholder interests. It is important to
ensure that the efficiency programs providers have sufficient long-term funding to
recover program costs and implement the energy efficiency measures that have
been demonstrated to be available and cost effective. A number of states are now
linking program funding to the achievement of energy savings. Modify policies to
align utility incentives with the delivery of cost-effective energy efficiency and
modify ratemaking practices to promote energy efficiency investments. Successful
energy efficiency programs would be promoted by aligning utility incentives in a
manner that encourages the delivery of energy efficiency as part of a balanced
portfolio of supply, demand, and transmission investments. Historically, regulatory
policies governing utilities have more commonly compensated utilities for building
infrastructure (e.g., power plants, transmission lines, pipelines) and selling energy,
while discouraging energy efficiency, even when the energy-saving measures might
cost less. Within the existing regulatory processes, utilities, regulators, and
stakeholders have a number of opportunities to create the incentives for energy
efficiency investments by utilities and customers. A variety of mechanisms have
already been used. For example, parties can decide to provide incentives for energy
efficiency similar to utility incentives for new infrastructure investments, provide
rewards for prudent management of energy efficiency programs, and incorporate
energy efficiency as an important area of consideration within rate design. Rate
design offers opportunities to encourage customers to invest in efficiency where
they find it to be cost effective and participate in new programs that provide
innovative technologies (e.g., smart meters) to help customers control their energy
costs.
Biofuels (Neg)
Some biofuels are listed in the warming section also that can be extensions of this
CP
Biofuels CP 1NC
Test: The United States Federal Government should provide tax
credits the development and production of advanced biofuels.
Federal tax credits for advanced biofuels key to solve
dependency
Jim Collins President of DuPont Industrial Biosciences 3/16/ 12, Biofuels Key to
Energy & Economic Policy, Energy Experts Blog, National Journal,
http://energy.nationaljournal.com/2012/03/should-government-subsidize-en.php
Now that gas prices are hovering close to $4 a gallon, reflecting both underlying
global supply demand dynamics and the fears of a supply disruption in the Middle
East, we are again reminded why it is good government policy to invest in
alternatives to the petroleum fuels that the US transportation sector is dependent
upon.
The availability and cost of transportation fuels are core to our energy security and
economic growth. Acknowledging the risks of that dependence, the US military is
moving aggressively to drive advanced biofuels. We believe that Congress should
continue to drive this technology as well. Extending the tax credits that are
important for the deployment of the first plants that will produce cellulosic ethanol
and other advanced biofuels in the U.S is an appropriate policy tool to get these first
plants on line. These tax credits help alleviate the risk that is inherent with
commercializing new technologies such as advanced biofuels, which can require
large investments and long-time horizons. Once this first generation of plants are up
and running, it will be up to us and others to succeed or fail in the marketplace
based on the merits of our technologies and execution.
Already, DuPont has invested millions of dollars in advanced biofuels research and
development. We are now operating a demonstration plant in Vonore, Tenn., that is
producing cellulosic biofuel from corn stover, providing fuel for fleet vehicles at the
University of Tennessee. In the second half of 2012, DuPont will break ground on a
commercial-scale biorefinery in Nevada, Iowa, that will produce 27.5 million gallons
of cellulosic ethanol annuallyone of the first to be built in the U.S. Once we
produce at commercial scale, we will license these technologies widely, providing
expanded economic opportunities for current growers and speeding the rate of
advanced biofuels production.
U.S. policy support for biofuels has already helped to encourage private investments
in the ethanol industry, which last year grew to produce nearly 14 billion gallons,
easily meeting the renewable fuel portion of the RFS and exporting record
volumes of ethanol to other countries, while at the same time eliminating 485
million barrels of imported oil and contributing more than $33 billion in crop revenue
to US farmers, (according to Feb. 2012 report produced by Environmental

Economics for the Renewable Fuels Association, Contribution of the Ethanol
Industry to the Economy of the United States).
It will still take time to ramp up production of cellulosic ethanol to match the volume
achieved today by corn ethanol, but we cannot afford to halt the progress just as
the train is leaving the station. Relying solely on US domestic fossil fuel production
will not be sufficient to offset the growing global demand and geopolitical risks that
will continue to create volatility and upward price pressures on transportation fuel
prices.
This is why we need a strong collaborative partnership between business
investment and government support for advanced biofuels.
2NC Solvency Dependence

Advanced biofuels solve oil dependence
Nathanael Greene et al., director of NRDC's renewable energy policy program,
December 2004, Growing Energy How Biofuels Can Help End Americas Oil
Dependence, National Resources Defense Council, pg. 5,
http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/biofuels/biofuels.pdf
Americas oil dependence threatens our national security, economy, and
environment. We consume 25 percent of the worlds total oil production, but we
have 3 percent of its known reserves. We spend tens of billions of dollars each year
to import oil from some of the most unstable regions of the world. This costly habit
endangers our health: Americas cars, trucks, and buses account for 27 percent of
U.S. global warming pollution, as well as soot and smog that damage human lungs.
The United States does not have to rely on oil to drive our economy and quality
of life. We can replace much of our oil with biofuelsfuels made from plant
materials grown by American farmers. These fuels, especially those known as
cellulosic biofuels, can be cost-competitive with gasoline and diesel, and allow
us to invest our energy dollars at home. They can also slash global warming
emissions, improve air quality, reduce soil erosion, and expand wildlife habitat. If
we follow an aggressive plan to develop cellulosic biofuels between now and 2015,
America could produce the equivalent of nearly 7.9 million barrels of oil per day by
2050. That is equal to more than 50 percent of our current total oil use in
the transportation sector and more than three times as much as we import
from the Persian Gulf alone. In combination with improved fuel efficiency in
cars and smart growth planning in our towns and cities, biofuels can free
America from foreign oil in a cost-effective and environmentally safe way:
By 2025, producing the crops to make these fuels could provide farmers with profits
of more than $5 billion per year.
Biofuels could be cheaper than gasoline and diesel, saving us about $20 billion per
year on fuel costs by 2050.
Biofuels could reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 1.7 billion tons per year
equal to more than 80 percent of transportation-related emissions and 22 percent of
total emissions in 2002.
Advanced biofuels solve oil dependence

Michael Pacheco PH.D, Director of the National Bioenergy Center and National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, 24 May 2006, How Biofuels Can Help Reduce
Dependence on Foreign Oil NREL, pg. 2,

http://www.nrel.gov/biomass/pdfs/pacheco_testimony.pdf
The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy recently looked at the
question of whether the nations biomass resource could foster a biofuels industry
large enough to meet a significant portion of our nations future fuel needs. The
report, now commonly referred to as The Billion Ton Study, for the first time
confirmed that the U.S. could yield more than a billion tons of biomass annually
for energy needs. And, importantly, we could do this without negatively affecting
the nations ongoing needs for food or fiber. This is significant because the 1.3
billion tons of biomass that was forecasted contains as much energy as 3.5 billion
barrels of oil.
Let me provide some perspective on that. This 3.5 billion barrels is about 60% of
the 6 billion-plus barrels of oil the U.S. consumes each year. Domestically, the
United States, including Alaska, currently produces about 2 billion barrels of oil per
year. Thats only 67 percent of the potential we see from biomass. U.S. oil
production peaked in the early 1970s at the same level of production, about 3.5
billion barrels per year. The U.S. has never produced more than 3.5 billion
barrels a year of oil.
2NC Solvency Dependence

Incentivizing advanced biofuels solves dependence boosts oil
displacement
Brian Murray Dir. Economic Analysis, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy
Solutions @ Duke 5/11/12, Advances Needed for Biofuels to Succeed, Energy
Experts Blog, National journal, http://energy.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/the-nexusbetween-biofuels-ene.php
If biofuels are to become an effective instrument for energy and environmental

improvement, more effort should be focused on creating the scientific and
technological breakthroughs necessary to allow advanced biofuels to compete .
Today policy to expand domestic liquid biofuels has three underlying goals:
1. Lessen dependence on foreign oil
2. Increase rural incomes
3. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Current policy, dominated by the expanded production and use of corn-based
ethanol, has a modest effect on the first goal, a substantive effect on the second,
and virtually no effect on the third.
Biofuels do directly reduce imports of petroleum. For every gallon of ethanol
produced, there is displacement of gasoline usethough less than 1:1, given
different energy content per gallon. And some displacement does seem to be
occurring. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports most recent growth
in United States consumption of motor fuels was met by increased use of diesel and
biofuels. There are mitigating factors, however.
Biofuel (ethanol) is but a small part of the domestic use fuel mix accounting for
roughly 6 percent of overall use in 2011, and thus has limited leverage over
imports. This leverage grows if biofuels share of the mix grwos, as is scheduled
under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) leading up to 2022. Second, there are
complex market feedback effects that can counter the direct effects of gasoline
displacement. A recent study by economists at the University of Missouri published
in the journal Energy Policy shows ethanol subsidies, such as the recently expired
Volumteric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) tax credits, can actually reduce gas
prices and cause an offsetting increase in consumption, much like the well-known
rebound effect with fuel efficiency standards. This weakens the displacement of
gasoline and oil imports.
To its credit, expanded use of corn-based ethanol has boosted the income of corn
producersapproximately 30 percent of the U.S. corn crop is now used in ethanol
production. Corn prices have roughly doubled since 2007, when the ethanol
expansion took off. Other contributing factors to this boost exist as well; including
higher energy input costs and increased global demand. Most economic studies
attribute some, though not all, of the price rise to ethanol mandates. Other crop
prices have risen too. This is due, in part, to growers switching cropssoybean to
corn for exampleto meet the expanded demand for the latter and placing price
pressure on the former. Livestock producers, food processors, and consumers face
higher input costs and thus bear some burden from this expansion. So the
distributional effects within agricultural markets are considerable.
The greenhouse gas effects of biofuels are controversial, especially with corn-based
ethanol. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys analysis of the RFS2 indicated
a small reduction in GHG emissions from corn-based ethanol use and larger
reductions from advanced varieties such as cellulosic ethanol. Subsequent research,
including our own (http://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/climate/policydesign/net-globaleffects-of-alternative-u.s.-biofuel-mandates) , suggests more modest greenhouse
gas effects from ethanol, even a greenhouse gas increase in some cases. The big
uncertain factor in all this is how much of the emissions effect from ethanol
expansion is due to indirect land use change (ILUC), including that in other countries
who convert land (and generate emissions) to meet the additional demands for
biofuel feedstock. The range of ILUC estimates is wide and very sensitive to
assumptions about the extent of the market and the characteristics of the land
being affected.
Considering all these factors, success of biofuel policy in the U.S. is a mixed bag. It
has helped raise the income of certain farmers, but put price pressure on others. In
addition, it has had a modest effect on oil imports, and been nearly a wash when it
comes to reducing greenhouse gases.
For biofuels to succeed, beyond merely raising the incomes of certain producers,
may depend on the penetration of advanced biofuels that do not draw from the food
supply. These biofuels would not require large amounts of land to produce, and have
a sufficiently higher energy content. This is recognized in policies such as the RFS2,
which requires a majority of the fuels mandate to come from cellulosic and other
advanced biofuels in the future. But progress in this area is slow and more research
and development focused on making these advanced biofuels contend in the
marketplace is needed.
Solv Environment
Biofuel saves the environment-80% less greenhouse gases
US EnviroFuels.com, 2011, Benefits United States EnviroFuels,
http://www.usenvirofuels.com/benefits.shtml
Advanced Biofuel ethanol is one of the best tools we have to fight air pollution from
automobiles. Why? Because Advanced Biofuel ethanol contains 35 percent oxygen.
Adding oxygen to gasoline results in more complete fuel combustion, thereby
reducing harmful tailpipe emissions. The addition of oxygen to gasoline by blending
with ethanol improves internal engine fuel combustion, and reduces tailpipe
pollutants such as carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and particulate
matter. When ethanol is mixed at the 10% level with gasoline (E10) the total fuel
mix is more efficient, has better combustibility and translates into cleaner
automotive tailpipe emissions, reduced smog formation, and improvement in the
quality of the ambient air shed. Furthermore, ethanol is miscible with water (water
soluble), non-toxic, clean burning, contains no sulphur, nitrogen or heavy metals,
and completely biodegradable. So if you accidentally spill some, there is no need to
worry about poisoning the ground or water. An extensive life cycle analysis of the
Highlands EnviroFuels project revealed that the facility will produce Advanced
Biofuel resulting in an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions versus the
manufacturing of gasoline from oil.
Biofuels key to the environment

Nathanael Greene et al., director of NRDC's renewable energy policy program,
December 2004, Growing Energy How Biofuels Can Help End Americas Oil
Dependence, National Resources Defense Council, pg. 16,
http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/biofuels/biofuels.pdf
Biofuels can help clean up the environment At every stagefrom growing the crops
to burning biofuelscellulosic biofuels can provide important environmental
advantages if we reward environmental performance sufficiently. The bulk of these
advantages would come from reducing our dependency on oil, but many also would
come from growing a crop such as switchgrass that has a dramatically smaller
environmental footprint than traditional row crops. The potential environmental
benefits of greatly reducing our oil dependence through an aggressive package of
fuel efficiency and biofuels are enormous.
Solv Economy
Advanced biofuel solves warming and the economy
Annegrethe Jakobsen, Senior Public Affairs Manager, 26 Jan 20 12Advanced
biofuels could create millions of jobs while greening the economy, The Energy
Collective, http://tinyurl.com/7xtalp5
The socioeconomic prospects of deploying advanced biofuels go well beyond energy
security. The report shows that the eight regions analyzed have the potential to
diversify farmers income, generate revenues ranging from $1 trillion to $4.4 trillion
between today and 2050 and create millions of jobs. For example, advanced
biofuels could create up to 2.9 million jobs in China, 1.4 million jobs in the USA, and
around 1 million in Brazil. The impact on climate change would also be reduced
considering advanced biofuels emit 80 percent less greenhouse gas than ethanol.
During the session at Davos where the study was launched, Novozymes' CEO
pointed out that at a time when everyone is striving to create jobs to secure our
economic future and finding a sustainable way to produce energy, this study shows
the benefits of a transition towards sustainable biofuels and bioproducts based on
agricultural residues. It also strongly signals that policy incentives will result in great
payback to society.
Incentives Solve
More incentives key
Environmental News Service 10/11/11, Cellulosic Ethanol Production Far
Behind Renewable Fuel Standard, http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2011/201110-11-093.html
The United States is not likely to reach cellulosic ethanol production mandates
spelled out in the federal Renewable Fuel Standard by 2022 unless "innovative
technologies are developed or policies change," says a new congressionally-requested
report from the National Research Council. Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood,
grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants, such as corncobs or citrus peels. The report says a cloud of "uncertainty"
surrounds environmental and economic benefits expected to result from use of this biofuel. "The Renewable Fuel
Standard may be an ineffective policy for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions," said Ingrid Burke, co-chair of
the NRC panel that issued the report and a botany professor at the University of Wyoming. In 2005, Congress
enacted the Renewable Fuel Standard as part of the Energy Policy Act and amended it in the 2007 Energy
Independence and Security Act. The aim of the RFS is to encourage development of biofuels, lower dependence on
foreign oil, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The law mandates that by 2022 the United States must produce
16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels, along with 15 billion gallons of conventional corn-based ethanol, one billion
gallons of biodiesel, and four billion gallons of advanced biofuels. While production of ethanol and biodiesel already
no commercial cellulosic biofuels plants exist and technologies are

at demonstration scale. Several industrial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants are being built in the United
exceed the mandate,
States, including an Abengoa bioenergy biomass plant in Kansas expected to start production in 2013, and an
expansion of Poet's conventional ethanol plant in Iowa. Project Liberty will be Poet's first commercial-scale,
cellulosic ethanol plant. Scheduled to begin operations in 2013, it is expected to produce 25 million gallons of
ethanol per year from corncobs, leaves and husks, provided by Iowa farmers. In September, Poet received final
approval for a $105 million loan guarantee for Project Liberty issued through the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan
programs Office. But this year cellulosic biofuel output is likely to be 6.6 million gallons, far below the RFS target
for 2011 of 250 million gallons, the report points out. The corn ethanol industry has been developing for 30 years,
said Wallace Tyner, NRC panel co-chair and an agricultural economics professor at Purdue University. "We have
more than 200 corn ethanol plants producing more than 14 billion gallons today. We have only 11 years to reach
even higher numbers for cellulosic biofuels." The report finds that although biofuels hold potential for providing net
environmental benefits compared with using petroleum-based fuels, specific environmental outcomes from
increasing biofuels production to meet the renewable fuel consumption mandate cannot be guaranteed. The type
of feedstocks produced, management practices used, land-use changes that feedstock production might require,
and such site-specific details as prior land use and regional water availability will determine the mandate's
environmental effects, the report says. Biofuels production has been shown to have both positive and negative
effects on water quality, soil, and biodiversity. But air-quality modeling suggests that production and use of ethanol
to displace gasoline is likely to increase air pollutants such as particulate matter, ozone, and sulfur oxides. In
addition, published estimates of water use over the life cycle of corn-grain ethanol are higher than petroleum-based
fuels. Renewable fuels advocates criticized the NRC committee for is narrow focus and said a broader view of the
entire industry is required to accurately evaluate the likelihood of cellulosic biofuel to meet the mandated
requirements. "Global demand for energy continues to escalate yet this report chooses to focus with laser-like
precision on the perceived shortcomings of conventional and next-generation biofuels. Instead, we should be
comparing the relative costs and benefits of all future energy options," said Renewable Fuels Association Vice
President Geoff Cooper, who testified before the National Research Council committee tasked with drafting the
report. "Biofuels are increasingly displacing and delaying the need for marginal sources of petroleum - like
Canadian tar sands and shale oil - that come with extreme environmental and economic costs," said Cooper.
"American ethanol production continues to evolve, reducing water and energy requirements while producing
increasing amounts of fuel and livestock feed." The report does recognize some of the improvements in biofuels
production, said Cooper, but "it also rehashes many of the well-worn criticisms that have been discredited time and
the Renewable Fuels Association shares the

committee's view that commercializing advanced and cellulosic ethanol
technologies will require more policy certainty and a recommitment to reducing oil
import dependency. The RFA has long called for an extension of cellulosic ethanol
tax incentives and a repeal of decades-old subsidies for the oil industry, totaling at least $4 billion a year in
again." As for the report's key finding, Cooper said
direct benefits. Advanced Ethanol Council Executive Director Brooke Coleman, too, was critical of the report. "The
most glaring problem is the Council analyzed the ongoing development of the biofuels industry in a vacuum, as if
these fuels are not displacing the marginal barrel of oil, which comes at great economic and environmental cost to
the consumer. Congress was seeking a sober analysis of the RFS, and regrettably, this is not it." "The idea that the
RFS may not be an effective strategy to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions is regrettable given the published
science on the subject," said Coleman. "Even with land use change considerations, advanced biofuels are the
lowest carbon fuels being developed in the marketplace; far and away less carbon intensive than electricity, natural
gas and even hydrogen fuel cells."
Incentives Solve
Federal incentives are key to creating emerging renewable fuel
markets
David G. Victor, John Deutch, and James R. Schlesinger, Deutch: Chair of
the Task Force, Institute Professor at MIT, Undersecretary of Energy, Deputy
Secretary of Defense, Director of Central Intelligence. Victor: Project Director of the
Task Force, Director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at
Stanford University, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology at the Council
on Foreign Relations. Schlesinger: Former Secretary of Defense, First Secretary of
Energy Chair of the Task Force, 12 October 20 06 National Security Consequences
of U.S Oil Dependency, Council on Foreign Relations, pg. 46,
http://tinyurl.com/7at36cu
Achieving the above four objectives will require the development and deployment
of new technologies at commercial scale. The high price of oil is a strong incentive
to the private sector to make the investments needed to develop and deploy new
technologies. This innovative activity will range from entrepreneurial start-up
companies to venture capital funds to large energy and chemical companies. The
targets for innovation will include both demand and supply technologies and all
fuels from renewables to oil. Just in the past two years, hundreds of start-up
companies have been founded in areas from biofuels to batteries. In addition, large
oil and chemical companies have launched development projects on biomass,
shale, and coal-to-liquids. Research activity has increased dramatically in the
nations universities and laboratories. These private investments are likely to yield
some fruit on their own. However, the pace of the private sector progress depends
on a complementary program of federal energy technology research, development,
and demonstration projects. The reason is that investment in new energy
technologies is made by private sector firms in response to their assessment of
future market conditions, which include the expected price of oil, environmental
regulations, and government incentives such as tax credits or attractive financing.
But, for a variety of reasons, private firms do not take into account the full range of
national benefits that come from investment in energy technology R&D.15 Private
investment will fall short of what is needed, and there is a role for government
support of R&D toward the other broad goals for domestic energy policy (increasing
energy efficiency, facilitating switching away from oil, increasing the supply of oil
from both foreign and domestic sources, and allowing for a more secure and
capable energy infrastructure). The Department of Energy (DOE) has responsibility
for most of the federal RD&D effort but other agencies also sponsor and perform
relevant work. The appropriate mix of RD&D by government agencies, universities,
research labs, and private corporations can be debated, as can the proper mix of
research, development, and demonstration 15Among the many reasons why
private firms do not invest inR&Dat a level commensurate with the large benefits
that R&D offers to society: intellectual property rights are incomplete, particularly
for long-term R&D; energy technology advances often have important spillovers to
other technologies that might not benefit the firms doing the R&D; and, absent
credible policy commitments and economic incentives, firms cannot expect

to capture the national security and environmental benefits of their new technology
investments. However, the Task Force is critical of the continuing U.S. federal RD&D
effort; it is fragmented, unfocused, and tries to be all things to all people. More
investment in new energy technologies on the supply and demand side of energy
markets is needed as part of a long-term energy policy strategy if the United
States is to adequately manage the transition away from a petroleum-based
economy.
Agenda Politics NB A2: Unpopular

Obama doesnt push the CP lobbies take the hit
Biofuels Journal 6/12/12, ACE, Environmental, and Advanced Biofuel Groups
Urge Congress to Protect RFS and Extend Cellulosic Tax Provisions,
http://www.biofuelsjournal.com/articles/ACE__Environmental__and_Advanced_biofuel
_Groups_Urge_Congress_to_Protect_RFS_and_Extend_Cellulosic_Tax_Provisions123658.html
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell, Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, leading
environmental, science and advanced biofuels advocates joined with the American
Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) June 12 urging Congress to protect the Renewable Fuel
Standard (RFS) and extend expiring tax incentives for cellulosic biofuels. The letter,
signed by ACE, the Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC), the Union of Concerned
Scientists (UCS), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Great Plains
Institute, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), the Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Advanced Biofuels Association and the
Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO), comes in the midst of a series of
investigatory hearings on the RFS in the Senate and another hearing today in the
Senate Finance Committee on energy tax reform. Specifically, the letter calls on
Congress to leave the RFS unchanged, stating that "[a]ny effort to open up the RFS
would send a chilling signal to a sector where decades-old policies and incentives
continue to push investment dollars to the incumbent petroleum industry." The
group calls the RFS a cornerstone of the emerging advanced biofuels industry in
the United States. The letter also calls on Congress to extend existing tax
incentives for cellulosic biofuels both the Producer Tax Credit and Accelerated
Depreciation while it continues to deliberate on more comprehensive tax reform.
"We support ongoing efforts to more comprehensively reform energy tax policy to
level the playing field between incumbent industries and cleaner alternatives and
enhance U.S. competitiveness in the global $2.4 trillion clean energy marketplace,
the letter states. The group letter adds that [a] reformed tax policy should reflect
21st century energy challenges by complementing the RFS, rewarding
environmental performance and driving innovation."
Biofuels Aff Answers
Solvency Incentives Fail

Government incentives cant get cellulose onto the market
empirics prove and we dont have the infrastructure
TAYLOR SMITH - Policy Analyst for The Heartland Institute 1/7/12, Cellulosic
Ethanol Continues to Prove Superficiality of Renewable Energy Subsidies,
http://blog.heartland.org/2012/01/cellulosic-ethanol-continues-to-provesuperficiality-of-renewable-energy-subsidies/
In the 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush promised the nation that he will use
taxpayer funds to develop cellulosic fuels (fuel made from grass, woodchips, or other plant material) to
power our cars by 2012. In 2007, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her fellow members of Congress were big
believers in cellulosic ethanol and subsequently mandated that the following quantities be produced. You might wonder
how Congress could do that when no facility, no technology, and no idea how to
make commercially viable cellulosic ethanol existed. These facts were apparently brushed aside as
unworthy considerations, as is the tendency with facts regarding legislation labeled with the words energy independence. For
the first mandate, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that the bulk of the 100
million gallons would come from two companies in particular, Cello Energy and Range Fuels. Cello
Energy failed to meet their end of the supply bargain, having been told they were responsible to
produce 70 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol before they had built their first plant. When they didnt come even close to meeting
they were taken to court and accused of fraud; by

2010 they had declared bankruptcy. As for Range Fuels, they received much hype after claiming in
that target they subsequently lied about it. In 2009,
2007 that they would be the first company to build a commercially viable cellulosic plant in Georgia. In the process, they
received a $76 million grant from President Bushs Department of Energy and an additional $6
million from the State of Georgia. When 2008 ended and still no plant, President Obamas
Department of Agriculture threw in a whopping $80 million loan. By 2009, former
Range Fuels CEO Mitch Mandich publicly stated that nobody had figured out how to
commercially produce cellulosic ethanol . That public announcement combined with
Cello Energy just months away from cleaning out their office pressured EPA to lower
the 2010 target from 100 million gallons to a mere 6.6 million. Range Fuels would go on to
produce four million gallons of methanol. For those counting, thats $162 million of taxpayer money, already more than the cost
Range Fuels estimated to create this wonder-fuel and accomplish everything the media hyped about. What taxpayers got in return
were four million gallons of a biofuel thats been around for decades. Wednesday, the Atlanta Journal reported that Range Fuels was
sold to another biofuel-maker at a fire-sale price, with the taxpayer funds going unrecouped. Sam Shelton, director of research
programs at Georgia Techs Strategic Energy Institute, was long skeptical of Range Fuels plans and technology. It was too damn
big a risk for an apparently unproven technology and the due diligence I personally performed on Range would not entice me to
invest in it, Shelton said Wednesday. How one mans due diligence manages to be superior to the U.S. legislative process still no
one knows. Today, oil companies are still required to buy cellulosic ethanol to blend it with conventional gasoline or purchase
waiver credits for not using it. Since oil companies cannot buy something that doesnt exist they are forced to buy these waiver
credits, essentially paying the government for failing to comply to their lack of due diligence. As with any business, these costs are
passed to the consumer. So if nothing else, the end result of your tax money was not energy independence, but higher gas
In August 2011
Obama Administration funded a $510 million program in partnership with the Navy to
produce advanced biofuels for the military. In September the feds loaned $134 million to Abengoa
prices. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported despite these failures, the subsidies continue to roll in:
the
Bioenergy to build a cellulosic plant in Kansas. The optimistic forecast is that this plant will produce about 23 million barrels a year
a fraction of what Washington promised in 2006. In September the Department of Energy provided POET, which advertises itself as
Why do subsidies continue

unabated if cellulosic ethanol has been nothing but a disaster? Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow
Robert Bryce stated in his book, Power Hungry, that no matter how many times it does fail, enthusiasts
always promise that its viability is just right around the corner, ready to rescue the
nation from dependence on foreign oil. Of course the catch always being given
enough money. Consider this quote made by American inventor Thomas Midgley to the Society of Automotive Engineers,
the worlds largest ethanol producer, a $105 million loan guarantee for cellulosic.
spoken in 1921: From our cellulose waste products on the farm such as straw, corn-stalks, corn cobs and all similar sorts of material
we throw away, we can get, by present known methods, enough alcohol to run our automotive equipment in the Unites States. The
only problem was the fuel cost about $2 per gallon to produce, about $24 per gallon in current money. Now consider another quote
made almost three years ago, by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in an article for Newsweek: We will continue to need highenergy-density fuels for years to come. But we can develop new liquid biofuels that will be direct replacements for gasoline and
diesel fuel. These will be next-generation biofuels made from high-energy grasses such as miscanthus and from agricultural
Despite $1.5 billion of subsidies and grants from the Bush and Obama
administrations, not much has advanced since Midgleys time. But Chu and other renewable
energy apologists have praised these efforts (at least Obamas). Calling dependency on oil dangerous
and short-sighted. While Daniel Yergins essay, There Will Be Oil, became popular for explaining how maximum oil
wastes.
output and the ensuing catastrophe has been right around the corner for over a century. It should be no coincidence that cellulosic
This is likely to continue

since it has proven to be a great money-making strategy for fledgling producers
even if they dont produce a drop of viable cellulosic ethanol and oil production
thrives. But what gets overlooked when oil-dependence is referred to as shortsighted is the irony that a non-viable product which hasnt existed anywhere but in
the dreams of those in Washington, is being advocated in favor of what hundreds of millions of
people who make up the marketplace determine is the most practical, viable form of energy. For example, a study on
alternative automotive energy solutions done by a Colorado-based energy
consulting firm suggests that a singular focus on producing cellulosic ethanol in a
commercially viable form obscures the huge operational demands that will ensue
from trying to displace our transportation energy with a low-power density fuel.
Consider displacing 10% of current transportation energy with the yet-to-exist
commercially viable cellulosic ethanol, and the following obstacles.
ethanol has been advocated as a near-breakthrough substitute for nearly a century as well.
1) 15% of our cropland currently under cultivation re-purposed for biomass

production. Roughly the size of Oklahoma. According to Bryce, that pinches
Americas ability to grow food. Less American-grown food means higher prices,
adversely affecting the poor the most.
2) The infrastructure required to meet the demands of biomass production on this
large of scale is currently non-existent, and would require a billion-dollar-effort from
the U.S. Farming Sector to make the tractors and processing material viable. With
no guarantees it would even be worth it since the long fermentation periods of
switchgrass would make preventing contamination impossible.
Also, environmental problems
3) It would take 146 gallons of water to produce one gallon of cellulosic ethanol.
Compared to five gallons of water for one gallon of conventional gasoline.
4) Production of cellulosic ethanol would also result in more than one-and-a-half
times the CO2 emissions of conventional gasoline.
Politicians who are undeterred by the poor history of renewable energy subsidies
should recognize that products with no economic merit cannot be force-fed into the
market or it will be spit back out each and every time. If a product was truly
profitable, then free individuals would have independently launched that industry
long before it crossed the mind of any lawmaker, as was the case with every other
great achievement in history. Government attempts to accelerate the process and
the resulting backfires will surely put off the day a great renewable energy
breakthrough is achieved.
Incentives for advanced biofuels fail 1.5 billion still hasnt

produced results
Wall Street Journal 12/14/11, The Cellulosic Ethanol Debacle,
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB1000142405297020401200457707247015811
5782-lMyQjAxMTAxMDEwMzExNDMyWj.html?mod=wsj_share_email_bot
Years before the Obama Administration dumped $70 billion into solar and wind
energy and battery operated cars, and long before anyone heard of Solyndra,
President Bush launched his own version of a green energy revolution. The future he
saw was biofuels. In addition to showering billions of dollars on corn ethanol, Mr.
Bush assured the nation that by 2012 cars and trucks could be powered by
cellulosic fuels from switch grass and other plant life. To launch this wonder-fuel
industry, the feds under Mr. Bush and President Obama have pumped at least $1.5
billion of grants and loan subsidies to fledgling producers. Mr. Bush signed an
energy bill in 2007 that established a tax credit of $1.01 per gallon produced. Most
important, the Nancy Pelosi Congress passed and Mr. Bush signed a law imposing
mandates on oil companies to blend cellulosic fuel into conventional gasoline. This
guaranteed producers a market. In 2010 the mandate was 100 million barrels, rising
to 250 million in 2011 and 500 million in 2012. By the end of this decade the
requirements leap to 10.5 billion gallons a year. When these mandates were
established, no companies produced commercially viable cellulosic fuel. But the
dream was: If you mandate and subsidize it, someone will build it. Guess what?
Nobody has. Despite the taxpayer enticements, this year cellulosic fuel production
won't be 250 million or even 25 million gallons. Last year the Environmental
Protection Agency, which has the authority to revise the mandates, quietly reduced
the 2011 requirement by 243.4 million gallons to a mere 6.6 million. Some critics
suggest that even much of that 6.6 million isn't true cellulosic fuel. The EPA has
already announced that the 2012 mandate of 500 million gallons is unattainable, so
it is again expected to lower the mandate to fewer than 12 million gallons for next
year. One reason the mandates can't be met is the half-dozen or so companies that
received the first round of subsidies to produce cellulosic fuel never got off the
ground. Some 70 million gallons, or 70% of the cellulosic supply to meet the 2010
mandate, was supposed to come from Alabama-based Cello Energy. Incredibly,
those projections were made before Cello had built its plant to produce the fuel and
before the technology was proven to work. In 2009 a jury in a civil fraud case ruled
that Cello had lied about how much cellulosic fuel it could produce. Some of the fuel
that Cello showed to investors was derived from petroleum, not plants. The firm
produced little biofuel and in October 2010 it declared bankruptcy. It gets worse.
Because there was no cellulosic fuel available, oil companies have had to purchase
"waiver credits"for failing to comply with a mandate to buy a product that doesn't
exist. In 2010 and this year, the EPA has forced oil companies to pay about $10
million for these credits. Since these costs are eventually passed on to consumers,
the biofuels mandate is an invisible tax paid at the gas pump. And for what? An
October 2011 report on biofuels by the National Academy of Sciences concluded
that the mandates "may be an ineffective way to reduce global greenhouse gas
emissions." Because production is so low, advanced cellulosic fuels also do very
little to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The report notes that "currently, no
commercially viable biorefineries exist for converting cellulosic biomass to fuel."
Why? Because of what the National Academy report calls "the high cost of
producing cellulosic biofuels compared with petroleum-based fuels, and
uncertainties in future biofuel markets." The report does say that technological
breakthroughs could make cellulosic fuels cost-competitive in the future, but that
same leap of faith has driven subsidies to alternative energy for 40 years. Still, the
subsidies roll on. In August 2011 the Obama Administration funded a $510 million
program in partnership with the Navy to produce advanced biofuels for the military.
In September the feds loaned $134 million to Abengoa Bioenergy to build a
cellulosic plant in Kansas. The optimistic forecast is that this plant will produce
about 23 million barrels a yeara fraction of what Washington promised in 2006. In
September the Department of Energy provided POET, which advertises itself as the
"world's largest ethanol producer," a $105 million loan guarantee for cellulosic. To
recap: Congress subsidized a product that didn't exist, mandated its purchase
though it still didn't exist, is punishing oil companies for not buying the product that
doesn't exist, and is now doubling down on the subsidies in the hope that someday
it might exist. We'd call this the march of folly, but that's unfair to fools.
Solvency Dependence
Advanced Biofuels too costly and too slow to be competitive
Reuters, International News Agency, 5 October 2011, U.S. unlikely to hit
advanced biofuel goal, study says, CNET, http://tinyurl.com/7astndj
The United States will likely fail to reach its long-term mandate for making
advanced ethanol from trees, grasses, and crop waste unless producers innovate
significantly, a scientific advisory group said yesterday. The National Research
Council's comments are the latest sign that backers of alternative fuels must wait
longer for "next-generation" ethanol. Touted as the motor fuel of the future, it has
struggled with high production costs and other setbacks. "Absent major
technological innovation or policy changes, the...mandated consumption of 16
billion gallons of ethanol-equivalent cellulosic biofuels is unlikely to be met in 2022,"
a study by the council said, referring to long-term targets in U.S. law for the biofuel.
The study, which drew challenges from the U.S. agriculture secretary and industry
groups, also said cellulosic fuel without subsidies would be feasible only with oil
above $190 a barrel, far higher than the current level near $80. The council,
part of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences which offers scientific advice under a
congressional charter, said the U.S. mandate for renewable fuels may be an
ineffective policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report itself may not
hurt near-term investment in cellulosic production, but the weak economy will, said
Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at financial services company Raymond James and
Associates. "There's no disputing that in this kind of economy with credit markets
tight, it's definitely not easy for advanced biofuel developers to raise large amounts
of capital," he said. Fuel of the future? In June, the Environmental Protection
Agency slashed for the second year running its proposed near-term mandate for
cellulosic production set by Congress in 2007 under then-President George W. Bush.
The federal government and producers say the fuel is a way to reduce imports of
foreign oil and cut emissions of gases blamed for warming the planet. Nextgeneration ethanol has also been seen as a way to cap the growth of using corn to
make fuel, which has been blamed for pushing up food prices. Companies aiming to
make cellulosic ethanol or provide enzymes that break down its feedstocks include
DuPont's Genecor, Abengoa Bioenergy, Qteros, and Novozymes A/S. Despite years
of work, there are not yet any commercial-scale plants to make cellulosic ethanol.
Advanced biofuels uncompetitive

The National Academies, 4 October 2011, Certain Biofuel Mandates
Unlikely to Be Met by 2022 Unless New Technologies, Policies Developed, The
National Academies, http://tinyurl.com/7hz8xye
Key barriers to achieving the renewable fuel mandate are the high cost of
producing cellulosic biofuels compared with petroleum-based fuels and
uncertainties in future biofuel markets, the report finds. Biofuel production is
contingent on subsidies, the nature of the mandate, and similar policies. Although
the mandate guarantees a market for the cellulosic biofuels produced, even at costs
considerably higher than fossil fuels, uncertainties in enforcement and
implementation of the mandated levels affect investors' confidence and
discourage investment. To reduce costs of biofuels, the committee suggested
carrying out research and development to improve feedstock yield and increasing
the conversion yield from biomass to fuels.
Advanced biofuels not competitive-too slow, high costs, no

investor confidence
Reuters, International news agency, 25 July 2011, Cellulosic-ethanol industry
struggles to take off, CNET, http://tinyurl.com/bueqxyf
The great promise of a car fuel made from cheap, clean-burning prairie grass or
wood chips--and not from expensive corn that feeds the world--is more mirage
than reality. Despite years of research, testing, and some hype, the nextgeneration ethanol industry is far from the commercial success envisioned by
President George W. Bush in 2006, when he pledged so-called cellulosic biofuels
would be "practical and competitive" by 2012. Instead the only real alternative to
traditional gasoline is ethanol made from corn, a fuel environmentalists say is not
green at all because of the energy-intensive nature of modern farming. Critics say it
is a failure of government policy, not science, that the U.S. is still so dependent on
corn for its biofuels. Washington has backtracked on cellulosic-ethanol production
targets and failed to provide assurances to investors that the sector would be
subsidized over the long term. While there are dozens of pilot and demonstration
cellulosic-ethanol projects around the country, the groundwork for the first
commercial plants is only now getting under way. Battered by recession, funding
remains scarce for $100-million-plus plants needed for commercial-scale production
so cellulosic can compete against cheaper ethanol-based corn. "The earliest you're
going to see efficient cellulosic ethanol is five years," said Richard Brock, president
of Brock Associates, an advisory firm in Milwaukee. For the industry to take off,
investors need to be reassured that Congress will extend a cellulosic-production tax
credit for several years and cellulosic-output targets will be big enough to
encourage blenders to lock in future capacity. "It would certainly increase volumes
at a faster rate than what we've seen in the last couple of years," said Mac Statton,
biofuels analyst with the Energy Department's forecasting arm. Gasoline in the
United States is blended with up to 15 percent ethanol, which helps reduce oil
imports. In the short term, however, the cellulosic industry's slow growth will
make little difference to either America's addiction to foreign crude oil or
the strains on corn supplies that critics claim have pushed up food prices.
Cellulosic-biofuels production was supposed to reach 500 million gallons next year
under federal mandates that rise each year until it eventually passes corn-based
ethanol output. But no cellulosic production is expected this year and it may grow
to only a few million gallons next year. Because the cellulosic industry is not able to
meet the production goals mandated by Congress, the Environmental Protection
Agency has the authority to lower them. That's what the agency did this month for
the third straight year when it proposed lowering the original half-billion-gallon
target for 2012 to between 3.6 million and 15.7 million gallons. EPA issues the final
target in November. The Energy Department doesn't expect cellulosic output to
reach its first 1 billion gallons until 2018. Congress, under its mandates, wants 7
billion gallons that year. The industry has made great progress in bringing down the
production costs of cellulosic ethanol from $5 to $6 a gallon a decade ago to as low
as $2.50. However, the first cellulosic plants are expensive to build and will add to
that $2.50 cost, putting cellulosic slightly above corn ethanol's cost.
Solvency Warming
Advanced Biofuels are bad for the environment
Gerard Wynn, Senior Environmental Markets Correspondent and Timothy
Gardner, Energy and Environment Correspondent, 22 October 20 09, Advanced
biofuels will stoke global warming study, Reuters,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/10/22/idUSN2225048
LONDON/WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A new generation of biofuels, meant to
be a low-carbon alternative, will on average emit more carbon dioxide than
burning gasoline over the next few decades, a study published in Science found
on Thursday. Governments and companies are pouring billions of research dollars
into advanced fuels made from wood and grass, meant to cut carbon emissions
compared with gasoline, and not compete with food as corn-based biofuels do now.
But such advanced, "cellulosic" biofuels will actually lead to higher carbon
emissions than gasoline per unit of energy, averaged over the 2000-2030 time
period, the study found. That is because the land required to plant fast-growing
poplar trees and tropical grasses would displace food crops, and so drive
deforestation to create more farmland, a powerful source of carbon emissions.
Biofuel crops also require nitrogen fertilizers, a source of two greenhouse
gases: carbon dioxide (CO2) and the more powerful nitrous oxide. "In the near-term
I think, irrespective of how you go about the cellulosic biofuels program, you're
going to have greenhouse gas emissions exacerbating the climate change
problem," said lead author, Jerry Melillo, from the U.S. Marine Biological
Laboratory. U.S. ethanol industry group the Renewable Fuels Association said
biofuels are by definition emissions neutral because their tailpipe carbon output is
absorbed by growing plants. Without steps to protect forests and cut fertilizer use,
gasoline out-performs biofuels from 2000-2050 as well. The paper did not mean
cellulosic biofuels had no place. "It is not an obvious and easy win without thinking
very carefully about the problem," said Melillo. "We have to think very carefully
about both short and long-term consequences." A related study, also published in
the journal Science on Thursday, said the United Nations had exaggerated carbon
savings from biofuels and biomass, in a mistake copied by the European Union in its
cap and trade law, by ignoring deforestation and other land use changes. The
mistake was carried into U.S. climate legislation as well, and would worsen as
governments put a price on carbon, driving more biofuel use, it said.
Biofuels have the same effect on the environment as fossil

fuels
David Bradley, Technical editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry but the article
focuses on the studies of Mark Jakobson (a qualified environmental expert and
professor at Stanford), 2 September 2009, Biofuels vs. Fossil Fuels, ScienceBase,
http://tinyurl.com/kt8d2j
Biofuels are not much better than fossil fuels in terms of the impact on atmospheric
pollution levels and effects on climate change, according to Mark Jacobson professor
of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. This is especially true when
making claims about the sustainability of biofuels in comparison with hydrogen fuel cells and battery-driven electric
vehicles charged up using solar, wind, tidal or other truly renewable energy sources. To quote from his web page,
the main goal of Jacobsons research is to understand physical, chemical, and dynamical processes in the
atmosphere better in order to address atmospheric problems, such as climate change and urban air pollution, with
improved scientific insight and more accurate predictive tools. He also evaluates the atmospheric effects of
proposed solutions to climate change and air pollution, examines resource availability of renewable energies, and
studies optimal methods of combining renewables. In order to accomplish these important goals Jacobson has
developed and applied various models to simulate gas, aerosol, cloud, radiative, and land/ocean-surface processes
that could give scientists and engineers a much more overarching perspective on the climate than other simpler
models. Jacobson points out that the use of biofuels, particularly ethanol, has expanded in the last few years,
although in South America biofuels have been popular and successful for decades. This more recent and rapid
expansion of biofuel use in transport across North America and elsewhere is based on the notion that by replacing
growing
plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they are then converted into
biofuels, which are burned in modified vehicle internal combustion engines, which releases the carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere again, where it is used by the next generation of biofuel crop plants to
fossil fuels with biofuels we may somehow ameliorate global warming and air pollution. After all, he
grow and so on.
Biofuels contribute to global warming

Ashley Phillips, Senior Producer at ABC News, 7 Feb 2008, Biofuel: Bad for the
Environment? ABC News, http://tinyurl.com/7z3oqjx
"Any biofuel that causes the clearing of natural ecosystems will increase global
warming," he continued. In the Princeton study, which was led by Timothy
Searchinger, a German Marshall Fund fellow and a researcher at Princeton
University, numbers told a striking story. Past data that has outlined the benefits of
biofuels didn't include the issues surrounding the impact of land use and the carbon
released into the air as a result, both studies said. Using models that calculated
carbon emissions in various countries, the Princeton researchers found that the
production of corn-based ethanol nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30
years and increases greenhouse gasses for 167 years. Similarly, biofuels made from
switchgrass, if grown on land originally intended for corn, increase carbon
emissions by 50 percent. "By excluding emissions from land-use change, most
previous accountings were one-sided," the researchers wrote. "Because they
counted the carbon benefits of using land for biofuels but not the carbon costs the
carbon storage and sequestration sacrificed by diverting land from its existing
uses." "Twenty percent of CO2 emissions come from land use change and
deforestation," Searchinger said. "We're simply transferring the problem ... from the
fossil fuel side to the land-use side" when we produce biofuel. Researchers in the
Nature Conservancy study, which has been going on since March 2007, found
nearly identical results. In this study, researchers compared the amount of
carbon in the air in natural ecosystems and crop land around the world. "There is
three times as much carbon in the plants and soil as there in the air," Fargione said.
"This is a globally significant concern that is dramatically contributing to global
warming."
Links to Agenda Politics

Causes fights in Congress wont even do it for the military
DARIN VON RUDEN The Chippewa Herald 7/9/12, Von Ruden: Congress shortsighted in militarys access to advanced biofuels,
http://chippewa.com/news/opinion/columns/von-ruden-congress-short-sighted-inmilitary-s-access-to/article_793ec182-c9fc-11e1-a290-0019bb2963f4.html
Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have recently made
moves to prevent the Department of Defense from purchasing advanced biofuels, in
a misguided attempt to save the few extra cents per gallon that biofuels cost over
petroleum-based fuels. This strategy is penny-wise but pound-foolish.
Keystone XL CP 1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government should fully
construct and operationalize the Keystone XL pipeline.
Keystone XL solves US foreign oil dependence
Petty in 12
<Kathleen. Dewhurst says Keystone XL Pipeline needed to

decrease America's foreign oil dependency February 24, 2012.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_fe7651e5-9398-5373-95327290e2f36587.html>//CS
the Keystone XL pipeline is instrumental in weaning
America from its dependency on Middle Eastern oil , Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Wednesday. "I
Passing legislation that will allow to develop
have long wanted to end America's dependence on foreign oil," he said, speaking during an interview at the
Reporter-Telegram. "The
our demand."
Keystone pipeline provides 20 percent of what we need to end
President Barack Obama rejected the proposed pipeline, but TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL
Dewhurst and fellow Senate candidate

Ted Cruz blame Obama for not signing a deal they say would have created jobs,
revenue and a decrease in purchasing of oil from foreign countries, particularly in
the Middle East. Obama has responded to criticizing Republicans during speeches by saying he's supporting
could re-submit its application with tweaks to the pipeline route. Both
domestic exploration for oil, the development of alternative energies and nuclear facilities and other possibilities.
Dewhurst said the idea that Obama has done anything supportive of the oil and gas industry is laughable.
"President Obama's claim of supporting oil and gas activity is disingenuous and insulting," he said. "Here's a man
who seemingly hates hydrocarbons. Here's a man who has helped propose numerous taxes on the oil and gas
industry and restricted their drilling. President Barack Obama is no friend of the oil and gas industry. I know,
because I've been in the oil and gas industry for almost the entirety of my career." Cruz agreed and said in a
statement that Obama's decision is another example of his policies that over-regulate and stunt economic growth.
"President
Obama's decision killed tens of thousands of jobs with the stroke of a

pen," he said. "The president could do the right thing and let construction of the pipeline proceed, which
would transport hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from Canada to U.S.
refineries. But, unfortunately, we've seen this before: The president has engaged in a three-year war on jobs.
And, the American people have paid the price."
2NC Solves Dependence/Prices

Keystone XL solves oil prices and dependence
NPN 12 <National Petroleum News. Refiners to U.S. House: High crude oil prices
drive high gasoline prices March 28, 2012.
https://www.npnweb.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?
sid=901D2CC3506F4C1187DF5BE4A8A2C0FF&nm=&type=MultiPublishing&mod=P
ublishingTitles&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=4D1DB78
127494E7CBB83363976B04A70>//CS
High crude oil prices are the primary factor behind high gasoline prices, American Fuel &
Petrochemical Manufacturers President Charles T. Drevna told a House subcommittee. The most effective
actions to help U.S. consumers would be to increase U.S. oil production, increase oil
imports from Canada and reduce overregulation , Drevna said. Drevna noted that, according to the
U.S. Energy Information Administration, "only six cents of every dollar that Americans pay for gasoline goes to the
refining industry that AFPM represents. The cost of crude oil accounts for 76 cents, followed by taxes at 12 cents,
and distribution and marketing also at six cents. " Refiners, as well as petrochemical manufacturers,
are the
first customers of a barrel of oil and the first to be impacted when oil prices rise ,"
Drevna said in written testimony for a March 7 hearing on gasoline prices by the House Subcommittee on Energy
and Power. "Refiners don't set the price of oil any more than automakers set the price of steel, bakers set the price
of wheat or restaurants set the price of cattle," Drevna added. "Oil is an international commodity that trades in the
free market and its price is not controlled by its purchasers." Drevna called on the Obama administration to allow
increased exploration and development of vast oil and natural gas resources on federal lands and in federally
controlled waters to meet U.S. energy needs, create jobs and improve economic and national security. In addition,
Drevna advocated approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to bring 700,000 barrels of

oil a day from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. Drevna said overly burdensome and
conflicting government regulations threaten U.S. competitiveness . He said some
regulations are not doing anything to protect the environment but only jeopardize jobs and raise consumer costs.
Examples of these are Tier 3 regulations to reduce sulfur in gasoline, greenhouse gas regulations, lengthy
Oil
prices have risen recently because of concerns about the future of Iranian oil
production, increased oil demand in developing nations and the decline in the value
of the U.S. dollar, Drevna said. "Historically, the best mechanism available to address
high crude oil prices has been to take actions to increase the global crude oil
supply," Drevna said. "When America has taken such actions in the past, it has sent a message to the market
permitting delays, and requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard involving biofuels, Drevna said.
that our country is serious about meeting our energy and national security needs." Drevna said U.S. exports of
refined petroleum products -primarily diesel fuel because there is an excess domestic supply -are benefitting
America imports about 60 percent of the crude oil

the nation needs and is not a net exporter of gasoline. "Exports don't raise gasoline prices,"
American consumers. He pointed out that
Drevna said. "Rather, exports bring billions of dollars to America, preserve and create jobs, strengthen our economy
and reduce our trade deficit. In fact, in allowing domestic refiners to run at higher utilization rates, exports are likely
keeping consumer costs from rising further. If all American manufacturers and agricultural interests were prohibited
from exporting their products, they would produce less -and that could actually raise consumer prices." AFPM, the
American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (formerly known as NPRA, the National Petrochemical & Refiners
Association) is a trade association representing U.S. manufacturers of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, other fuels and
home heating oil, as well as petrochemicals used as building blocks for thousands of vital products in daily life.
AFPM members make modern life possible and keep America moving and growing as they meet the needs of our
nation and local communities, strengthen economic and national security, and support 2 million American jobs.
Solves Econ/Oil
CP solves Oil Dependence and the economy
Kelly in 12
<William. Allen West: Keystone XL pipeline would reduce foreign oil

dependence January 5, 2012.
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/allen-west-keystone-xl-pipelinewould-reduce-forei/nMFLK/ >//CS
The Keystone XL oil pipeline would create 20,000 jobs in the nations manufacturing
and construction sectors, boosting the economy while helping put the United States
on the road toward energy independence , U.S. Rep. Allen West told a Rotary Club of Palm Beach
audience on Thursday. West cited Irans threat to close the key global oil passageway, the
Strait of Hormuz, as evidence of the need for the United States to end its
dependence on foreign oil. About one-sixth of the worlds oil passes on tankers through the Strait of
Hormuz, and analysts have warned the price of Brent crude could temporarily jump to as high as $210 if the strait is
closed; the current price is $112.66, according to Oil-Price.net. The U.S. has pledged to keep the shipping route
Nearly 50 percent of the oil consumed in the United States is imported from
foreign countries. The 1,661-mile pipeline would bring tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in
open.
Texas. Congress recently passed legislation that contains a provision requiring President Barack Obama to make a
decision within 60 days on whether to allow the pipeline.
Keystone XL solves dependence and boosts the economy

Hoeven in 12 <John. Why we need the Keystone Oil Pipeline February 24, 2012.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/23/opinion/hoeven-keystone-pipelinedefense/index.html>//CS
The Keystone XL pipeline represents a big step toward true North American energy
independence, reducing our reliance on Middle Eastern oil and increasing our access to
energy from our own nation and our closest ally, Canada, along with some oil from Mexico -- to 75% of
our daily consumption, compared with 70% now. That decades-long goal for our country is finally
within reach, but we need to stay focused on the big picture, and we need to act .
This $7 billion,
1,700-mile, high-tech transcontinental pipeline is a big-time, private-sector job creator,
and it will also hold down the gas prices for consumers and reduce our energy dependence on
an unstable part of the world. Finally, it will do so with good environmental stewardship. That's why I,
along with 44 of my colleagues from across the nation, introduced new legislation to move the project
toward approval and construction after President Barack Obama's rejection of the project last month.
Another view: Ted Turner on the case against the Keystone XL pipeline Sen. John Hoeven The HoevenLugar-Vitter amendment to the highway funding bill, which we are now working to pass, authorizes
TransCanada to construct and operate the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to the Midwest
and Gulf Coast, transporting an additional 830,000 barrels of oil per day to U.S. refineries. This
includes 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana.
That's key to my state, because providing pipeline capacity and gathering systems for that much
North Dakota crude will take as many as 500 trucks a day off of roads in the oil patch. That's a win-win
for producers, state revenues and most importantly, public safety on our Western highways. Cutting
The Keystone XL project is good for North Dakota, but it is

vital for the nation. Some 75% of the pipe for the Keystone XL pipeline will be made
here in North America, 50% of it in Arkansas. Some 90% of all other construction
materials will come from companies in the United States and Canada. From an
through the Keystone XL hysteria
environmental perspective, the project has been under review since September 2008, more than three
years, and the State Department's environmental review, completed in August 2011, found "no
significant impacts on most resources" providing environmental restrictions are met. Further, our new
legislation includes all federal and state safeguards and sets no time limit on Nebraska's ability to
further review the pipeline's route through the state, the only portion of the route in contention.
Additionally, 80% of the new Canadian oil sands development is being developed "in situ," meaning, it
has a similar carbon footprint and emissions as conventional oil wells.
Solves oil dependence and the economy

Olson in 12 <Pete Olson. We need a domestic energy solution to reduce
dependence on foreign oil February 18, 2012. http://thehill.com/specialreports/energy-and-environment-february-2012/209607-we-need-a-domesticenergy-solution-to-reduce-dependence-on-foreign-oil>
With gas prices climbing and projected to rise beyond $4 per gallon by spring, the
ripple effects are on the way too. Higher energy costs mean higher food prices,
potential job losses for small businesses and less money for families to meet their
basic needs. The erratic rise and fall of gas prices is a direct result of poor energy
policies and Americas unhealthy reliance on energy from unstable regions of the
world. The recent escalation of tensions between Iran and Western nations has resulted in a threat to close the
Strait of Hormuz. This strait is a critical pathway for a huge portion of global oil. As a Navy aviator
who flew over the Strait of Hormuz, I know firsthand the importance of this region to the worlds energy supply. Iran
knows it too, which is why it has threatened to shut down the strait threats that have a direct impact on todays
oil prices. We know the instability in the Middle East causes volatility in markets.
Whats the solution?
Reduce our reliance on this region for our oil . America needs a comprehensive energy policy that
allows us to develop more of our own resources here at home, allow the Keystone XL pipeline to go
forward without delay and give America true energy independence. President Obama has
repeatedly declared that America needs an all-of-the-above energy strategy. Yet his words do not match his
actions. His administration has issued rule after rule to stifle energy production and increase the cost of developing
domestic energy. The most recent example is the Bureau of Land Managements dramatic scaling back of a plan to
develop domestic resources by reducing the available acreage for oil-shale and oil-sands development by about
three-fourths in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. The Environmental Protection Agency is also feverishly trying to tie
hydraulic fracturing to contamination in groundwater. Yet, each time it has been proven wrong at a great expense
to the very industry that is revolutionizing domestic energy production. In Texas, the EPA usurped state authority in
a groundwater case involving hydraulic fracturing by issuing an emergency order to take over the states
investigation. It also sent an alert to the environmental community prior to its public announcement, claiming it was
about to make big news before producing any evidence that groundwater contamination was linked to hydraulic
fracturing. Last December, the EPA released a preliminary report that theorized hydraulic fracturing in the
Pavillion, Wyo., area may have caused chemical contamination of some water wells. But there has been no
Hydraulic
fracturing has been used to extract gas from wells for 50 years without a single
confirmed contamination report. States have exercised appropriate oversight, and are best suited to
independent verification of this conclusion, and the EPA itself admits there is no direct connection.
monitor the energy-development efforts of their individual states. Texas has some of the strictest disclosure
requirements in the country. Yet the Obama administration has systematically worked to slow down, if not stop, the
This process, if allowed to develop properly, will drastically reduce our need to
import oil from volatile regions and hostile nations . In the meantime, we could begin to
reduce our Middle East imports sooner if the president would approve the Canadian
Keystone XL pipeline now. If the United States continues to stall, China is lined up to
take our place and take that crude. It was also reported this week that China is buying up Saudi
use of fracturing.
Arabian oil, while negotiating further deals with Iran. Iran faces harsh U.S. economic sanctions and an oil embargo
oil prices will continue to escalate on a global

scale. The president can reduce our reliance on unstable foreign sources of oil by
approving the Keystone XL pipeline, opening up more of our own domestic resources for development
and ensuring that the federal government plays an appropriate role in these operations. All of these actions
will reduce our reliance on unstable nations for oil, create high-paying American
from the European Union. All of this means that
jobs, bring millions in revenue into the federal Treasury and strengthen our national
security. My colleagues and I in the House will continue to push for a comprehensive energy policy that achieves
these goals.
Avoids PTX - Agenda

Counterplan has bipartisan support especially with
Republicans
Cornilles in 12 <Rob. How bipartisan is support for the Keystone XL oil
pipeline? January 10, 2012.

http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2012/jan/14/rob-cornilles/howbipartisan-support-keystone-xl-oil-pipeline/>
The major party candidates in the 1st Congressional District are on opposite sides of whether President Barack
Obama should approve the building of a massive oil pipeline project from Canada to Texas. Democrat Suzanne
Bonamici is opposed; she worries about the environmental impact. Republican Rob Cornilles is supportive; he said in
the project has bipartisan

support. "I do support the Keystone Pipeline. Its a bipartisan proposal. Democrats and
Republicans alike in Congress want this to move forward, because its not only a job
creator, its also a way for us to responsibly manage how that oil is transferred from
Canada to Mexico. Does the pipeline have bipartisan support? Much of the really vocal support for
this project comes from Republicans. Democrats, not so much, although there are some who want the
last weeks televised debate, about halfway through the program, that
project. Environmentalists are opposed while labors AFL-CIO has decided not to take a formal position. Senate
Democrats who like the project are Max Baucus D-Mont., Jon Tester D-Mont., Mary Landrieu D-La., Mark Pryor, DArk., and Mark Begich, D-Alaska, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D. We queried our delegation. Sens.
Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are opposed. Rep. Earl Blumenauer was among 32 House Democrats who sent a letter
urging the State Department to reject the route. Schrader is opposed to the expedited process, but not necessarily
against or for the project. We dont think the support of one Democrat or one Republican makes a proposal
its clear some Democrats are on board with the project. If we had to
picture a bipartisan meter, the needle probably would surpass the halfway mark but
bipartisan, but
fall short of 75 percent.
Counterplan avoids the link to politics - bipartisan public and

congressional support
Gabbay in 12 <Tifanny. SENATE BLOCKS KEYSTONE PIPELINE BILL, 11
DEMOCRATS DEFECT March 8, 2012. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/senateblocks-keystone-pipeline-bill-11-democrats-defect/>//CS
WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate killed Republican-backed attempts to overturn several of President Barack
Obamas environmental and energy policies Thursday as lawmakers worked against a March 31 deadline to keep
aid flowing to more than 100,000 transportation construction projects around the country. The two-year, $109
billion transportation bill before the Senate has wide, bipartisan support, but has become a magnet for lawmakers
Among the amendments batted aside were GOP

proposals to bypass Obamas concerns about the Keystone XL oil pipeline , to delay
favorite causes and partisan gamesmanship.
tougher air pollution standards for industrial boilers and to expand offshore oil drilling. Action on those and other
amendments came under an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., aimed at clearing the way for passage of the transportation bill next week. Obama lobbied
some Senate Democrats by telephone ahead of the Keystone vote, urging them to oppose an amendment by Sen.
John Hoeven, R-N.D., that would have prevented the president from intervening in decisions related to construction
of the pipeline and would have speeded its approval. Pointing to the administrations environmental concerns about
the project, which would carry tar sands oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, Republicans accused Obama of
standing in the way greater oil supplies at a time when Americans are coping with rising gasoline prices. But some
Democrats, especially those from oil producing states, were torn between support for the pipeline and their support
for the president. The amendment was defeated 56-42, even though 11 Democrats broke ranks to support it. Sixty
votes were needed for passage. Republican leaders jumped on the White House lobbying. Most
Americans
strongly support building this pipeline and the jobs that would come with it, McConnell
said in a statement. The presidents lobbying against the Keystone provision came a week after the president
signaled to me and to Sen. McConnell that he might be willing to work with us on some bipartisan steps forward on
energy legislation that the American people support, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters. If
were going to have bipartisan action on energy, the Keystone pipeline is an obvious
place to start.
Avoids PTX - Elections

Public supports Keystone, avoids elections net benefit
Johnson in 12 <Charles. AMERICANS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT KEYSTONE
PIPELINE February 25, 2012. http://www.breitbart.com/BigGovernment/2012/02/25/pew-poll-americans-overwhelmingly-support-keystonepipeline>//CS
Is Barack Obama governing for the 23% who oppose the Keystone pipeline? It seems a new poll from the Pew
There is far more support for the Keystone XL pipeline that

would carry upwards of 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada to Texas , even though
Research Center says yes.
only 24% of Americans have even heard about the issue and 37% of Americans haven't heard anything at all about
66% of Americans say the government should approve the

pipeline, including 49% of Democrats, 66% of Independents, and 84% of
Republicans. It seems the pipeline is a winning issue for Republicans, but only if they succeed in educating
more people about its importance. It's easy to see why one would want to support Keystone.
It would create 200,000 jobs during its beginning phases and could create upwards
of half a million jobs by 2035. Both labor unions and businesses support it. Why doesn't the president?
it. Of those who have heard of it,
Republicans would do well to keep emphasizing this issue, especially if so few Americans have heard of it and
especially as the price of gas continues to reach historic highs.
A2 Pipeline = Emissions
Emissions from Canadian oil production is inevitable
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/23/opinion/hoeven-keystone-pipelinedefense/index.html>
If the Keystone XL pipeline isn't built, Canadian oil will still be produced -- 700,000
barrels a day of it -- but instead of coming down to our refineries in the United States, instead of creating
jobs for American workers, instead of reducing our dependence on a turbulent part of the world, that oil will be
shipped to China. It will have to be carried there on large oil tankers, creating more
carbon emissions, and it will be processed at facilities with weaker environmental
safeguards.
A2 Leaks
No leaks pipeline is safe

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/23/opinion/hoeven-keystone-pipelinedefense/index.html>
the Keystone XL pipeline is nothing new. Thousands of
pipelines crisscross our nation, delivering refined products to fuel our cars, heat our
homes and power our industries. In fact, the original Keystone pipeline, which became operational in
2010, runs from Alberta through my state of North Dakota. Contrary to claims by critics, the pipeline itself
has never leaked. The leaks happened at fittings and seals at above-ground
pumping stations, which were properly and promptly fixed. I have worked toward approval of
Finally, it's important to point out that
the Keystone XL pipeline, first as governor of North Dakota and now as a U.S. senator, because I believe it helps our
nation on so many levels. It is just the kind of project that will grow our economy and create jobs in the right way --
The Keystone XL pipeline will also help to wean us from

our dependency on oil from volatile regions of the world and help us move toward a
true energy independent future. It will make our nation safer and stronger for the
American people.
through private-sector investment.
Aff Doesnt solve jobs

Keystone XL wouldnt create jobs their authors are biased
Johnson in 12 - chief economist at the Climate Center of the
Natural Resources Defense Council <Laurie. Keystone XL pipeline:
Good for Big Oil, bad for the economy February 1, 2012.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ljohnson/keystone_xl_pipeline_good_for.html>//CS
Interesting quote. TransCanada and its allies cant seem to keep their numbers straight for the proposed tar sands
Keystone XL pipeline. Just the day before, the company released a press statement predicting 20,000 pipeline and
118,000 spin-off jobs. In September of 2010, they claimed 13,000 jobs. Two months prior to that, a study they
commissioned was released predicting 250,000 to over half a million jobs (p. 33). The Republican Party claims over
100,000. All of these estimates contradict the statement by the companys own Vice President, even those at the
Analysts who arent trying to make money off the pipeline conclude that it
would create far fewer jobs. Researchers at Cornell University project as few as
2,500 jobs, and the State Department up to 6,000 (p.ES-22). Notably, most projections are for short-term jobs
lower end.
associated with constructionsomething proponents dont always make clear. (Theres nothing wrong with shortterm jobs, any would be welcome, but their temporary nature shouldnt be in the fine print). According to the State
Department, as few as 20 jobs will be permanent (p. 3.10-80) (excluding induced jobs created from wages spent
by these workers). (Click here for a good summary explaining the differences across industry and independent
After failing to convince their

own countrys citizens that the pipeline would be good for them, Big Oil and its
Congressional protectors have launched what can only be characterized as an
aggressive disinformation campaign to build the pipeline. Preying on the fears of
Americas unemployed and economically insecure, they are trying to sell it as a
national jobs plan and a way to increase national security by reducing dependence
on foreign oil. Its a cruel hoax. Canadians didnt fall for it, and neither should we. The proposed project would
analyses, by the Columbia Journalism Review). So what is going on here?
construct a 1,700 mile conduit from Alberta, Canada for the worlds dirtiest and most corrosive form of oil (tar
sands) right through the heart of Americas farmland threatening not only the bread basket of the US, but also the
world. It promises little to potentially negative economic returns for Americans. Maybe thats why President Obama
made the bold decision to reject TransCanadas permit application. With Citizens United giving the oil industry (even
more) unlimited influence, and the American Petroleum Institutes blatant threat to the President to approve
Keystone XL or face huge political consequences, Obamas courage shouldnt be underestimated.
Aff Kills Jobs

Keystone XL would kill jobs
Johnson in 12 - chief economist at the Climate Center of the Natural Resources
Defense Council <Laurie. Keystone XL pipeline: Good for Big Oil, bad for the
economy February 1, 2012.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ljohnson/keystone_xl_pipeline_good_for.html>//CS
the pipeline: * It will create only a very modest number of jobs. While
these jobs are important and could certainly help some workers, industry has
grossly overstated its case. * It might destroy more jobs than it creates : By TransCanadas
own account, Keystone XL is expected to increase oil prices in the Midwest (building a
Heres the truth about
pipeline to the Gulf Coast will eliminate an excess supply of the oil in the Midwest, pushing up prices). As part of its
permit application to the Canadian government, TransCanada said (p.21) annual oil company revenues are
expected to increase as a result by $2 to nearly $4 billion. In turn, our farmers could see an increase in fuel costs of
$2.6 billion dollars or more over 2009 levels Higher
oil prices might be good for the oil industry,

but they will increase the cost of living and doing business in the Midwest,
negatively impacting its economy and potentially increasing unemployment. Pipeline
leaks and spills into aquifers and water ways threaten the livelihoods of a quarter of a million farmers, and
businesses providing outdoor recreation and other tourism services. Public health is also threatened, as already
evidenced from a major tar sands spill in 2010 along a different pipeline (more below).
Aff Doesnt Solve Oil

Counterplan doesnt solve oil dependence
Natural Resources Defense Council <Laurie. Keystone XL
pipeline: Good for Big Oil, bad for the economy February 1,
2012.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ljohnson/keystone_xl_pipelin
e_good_for.html>//CS
Finally, the pipeline will not reduce our oil dependence or increase national security.
The price of TransCanadas oil will be determined by surging global demand for oil,
and OPECs monopolistic production decisions that limit the worlds oil supply and
increase its price (the cartel (OPEC) has almost 80 percent of the worlds known oil reserves). For all the
rhetoric about energy independence and controlling the price of oil, Keystone XLs
marginal contribution to global production wont amount to a hill of beans . There is one
source of potential long-term job creation about which oil industry has remained silent: jobs created to clean up
inevitable spills and leaks. So far, TransCanada has experienced major problems with the section of the Keystone
project already completed. In its first year of operation, its so-called safe state-of-the-art pipeline has already
leaked 35 times, (21 times in Canada, 14 in the U.S--p. 3.13-11). According to the University of Nebraska,
approximately 91 major spills can be expected over the 50-year lifetime of the pipeline. Clean up jobs will last
longer than that There is also the potential for a major disaster. In 2010, the largest tar sands spill in U.S. history
devastated the Kalamazoo River with over 800,000 gallons of oil at a price tag of over $700 million. Were still
cleaning it up, a year and a half later.
Aff CP Hurts Econ

Turn CP leads to oil spills and hurts the economy
2012.
A worst-case spill from Keystone XL could cause widespread groundwater and river
contamination. Any resulting clean up expenditures will strain public budgets,
diverting limited resources away from productive investments that generate long
term job growth, such as infrastructure, education, and clean energy . Finally, theres
public health and the environment. The $700 million figure cited above was just for cleaning up. According to a
November 2010 report (p.12) from the Michigan Department of Community Health, almost 60 percent of people
surveyed who lived near the Kalamazoo spill experienced at least one adverse health effect following it, including
respiratory, gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms (compared to a baseline of less than 5% in a community 15
Ethics aside, sick people do not make a healthy economy. Nor

do the droughts, forest fires, extreme weather, smog pollution, and other impacts
associated with climate change: extracting tar sands oil generates three times as
much global warming pollution (in addition to generating other pollutants) as does conventional oil. We
miles upstream of the spill).
should take heed of Canadians' oppostion to transporting Alberta's dirty oil through their own land for their own oil;
Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is a terrible project : it

few if any jobs, puts existing jobs at risk, and threatens water supplies,
public health, and the environment. They know the oil industry has one objective and one objective
only: to increase profits. It is not to bestow a new supply of cheap oil on the US or reduce unemployment. As
PT Barnum famously said, Theres a sucker born every minute. Lets make sure
were not one of them.
they are no fools. They know TransCanadas
promises
Aff Kills Jobs

Keystone XL would kill jobs
2012.
the pipeline: * It will create only a very modest number of jobs. While
these jobs are important and could certainly help some workers, industry has
grossly overstated its case. * It might destroy more jobs than it creates : By TransCanadas
own account, Keystone XL is expected to increase oil prices in the Midwest (building a
Heres the truth about
pipeline to the Gulf Coast will eliminate an excess supply of the oil in the Midwest, pushing up prices). As part of its
permit application to the Canadian government, TransCanada said (p.21) annual oil company revenues are
expected to increase as a result by $2 to nearly $4 billion. In turn, our farmers could see an increase in fuel costs of
$2.6 billion dollars or more over 2009 levels Higher
oil prices might be good for the oil industry,

but they will increase the cost of living and doing business in the Midwest,
negatively impacting its economy and potentially increasing unemployment. Pipeline
leaks and spills into aquifers and water ways threaten the livelihoods of a quarter of a million farmers, and
businesses providing outdoor recreation and other tourism services. Public health is also threatened, as already
evidenced from a major tar sands spill in 2010 along a different pipeline (more below).
Aff Doesnt solve jobs

Keystone XL wouldnt create jobs their authors are biased
2012.
Interesting quote. TransCanada and its allies cant seem to keep their numbers straight for the proposed tar sands
Keystone XL pipeline. Just the day before, the company released a press statement predicting 20,000 pipeline and
118,000 spin-off jobs. In September of 2010, they claimed 13,000 jobs. Two months prior to that, a study they
commissioned was released predicting 250,000 to over half a million jobs (p. 33). The Republican Party claims over
100,000. All of these estimates contradict the statement by the companys own Vice President, even those at the
Analysts who arent trying to make money off the pipeline conclude that it
would create far fewer jobs. Researchers at Cornell University project as few as
2,500 jobs, and the State Department up to 6,000 (p.ES-22). Notably, most projections are for short-term jobs
lower end.
associated with constructionsomething proponents dont always make clear. (Theres nothing wrong with shortterm jobs, any would be welcome, but their temporary nature shouldnt be in the fine print). According to the State
Department, as few as 20 jobs will be permanent (p. 3.10-80) (excluding induced jobs created from wages spent
by these workers). (Click here for a good summary explaining the differences across industry and independent
After failing to convince their

own countrys citizens that the pipeline would be good for them, Big Oil and its
Congressional protectors have launched what can only be characterized as an
aggressive disinformation campaign to build the pipeline. Preying on the fears of
Americas unemployed and economically insecure, they are trying to sell it as a
national jobs plan and a way to increase national security by reducing dependence
on foreign oil. Its a cruel hoax. Canadians didnt fall for it, and neither should we. The proposed project would
analyses, by the Columbia Journalism Review). So what is going on here?
construct a 1,700 mile conduit from Alberta, Canada for the worlds dirtiest and most corrosive form of oil (tar
sands) right through the heart of Americas farmland threatening not only the bread basket of the US, but also the
world. It promises little to potentially negative economic returns for Americans. Maybe thats why President Obama
made the bold decision to reject TransCanadas permit application. With Citizens United giving the oil industry (even
more) unlimited influence, and the American Petroleum Institutes blatant threat to the President to approve
Keystone XL or face huge political consequences, Obamas courage shouldnt be underestimated.
Prolif
1NC
Counterplan Text: The United States Federal Government
should adopt the No First Use nuclear policy. (Also known as
NFU).
US NFU key to long-term nuclear abolition
Michael S. Gerson 10, research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, Fall
2010, No First Use, International Security Journal,
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a538352.pdf.
After the Cold War, several scholars and commentators argued that the demise of
the Soviet Union, coupled with significant advancements in conventional precisionguided weapons, marked an important opportunity to de- emphasize the role of
nuclear weapons in U.S. and NATO security policy. Absent an overwhelming
conventional threat to Europe, many analysts contended that the threat of nuclear
first use was no longer necessary for deterrence. Moreover, smart conventional
weapons, demonstrated with remarkable effectiveness in the 199091 Gulf War,
could now provide a powerful deterrent to aggression and, in some cases, substitute
for missions once relegated solely to nuclear forces.11 Nuclear weapons, it was
argued, could be used solely to deter nuclear attacks.12 In the last few years, U.S.
nuclear policy has attracted new attention. De- bates over whether and how to
modernize the aging U.S. nuclear arsenal, the future of missile defense, a
reinvigorated movement for global nuclear abolition, and the nuclear programs in
Iran and North Korea have sparked a spir- ited debate over the future of U.S. nuclear
policy and force posture. With renewed interest in nuclear issues, there have been
new calls for NFU. Propo- nents have contended that NFU is an important first step
on the path toward eventual global nuclear abolition, a logical manifestation of
President Obamas stated objective to reduce the role of nuclear weapons, and a
useful policy mechanism to reestablish U.S. leadership on nonproliferation.13 While
most lawmakers have traditionally shied away from nuclear policy debates since the
end of the Cold War, Senator Dianne Feinstein argued in the lead-up to the NPR that
President Obama should declare that the United States will not countenance a first
use of nuclear weapons.
2NC Solvency
US NFU is key for multiple reasons, also avoids the politics
disad, its popular
For the United States and its allies, NFU has several military and political benefits.
First, and most important, NFU would enhance crisis stability. A credible NFU policy
will help decrease an opponents trepidations about a U.S. first strike, thereby
decreasing the possibility that nuclear weapons are used accidentally,
inadvertently, or deliberately in a severe crisis. Second, by removing the option to
use nuclear weapons first, the United States would have a consistent and inherently
credible nuclear policy. Al- though some states might question U.S. political resolve
to use nuclear weapons firstin which case the NPRs decision to retain the option
in many circumstances does not contribute to deterrencecurrent and potential
adversaries cannot dismiss the possibility of a nuclear response after U.S. interests
have been attacked with nuclear weapons.105 The threat to use nuclear weapons in
response to a nuclear attack is highly credible, and it is a threat that U.S. political
leaders should want to execute if deterrence fails. In fact, NFU could further
strengthen the credibility of nuclear deterrence by signaling that the United States
retains nuclear forces only for retaliation to a nuclear attack, which, in the mind of
the adversary, could increase the likelihood that nuclear retaliation would indeed
come if it crosses the nuclear threshold.106 An NFU declaration would be a kind of
commitment tactic that would increase the credibility of nuclear deterrence by
seemingly binding U.S. decisionmakers to use nuclear weapons for the one mission
they have been assigned in the event of a nuclear attack.107 Third, NFU places
primary emphasis on U.S. conventional forces. By relegating nuclear weapons to the
sole mission of retaliation for nuclear attacks, the United States would make
conventional forces the sole instrument of war fighting absent an opponents
nuclear escalation. Given U.S. advantages in conventional power, this is precisely
the level where it should want to fight. NFU would place a necessary and important
burden on the Defense Department to maintain superior conventional forces and
power-projection capabilities against any conceivable threat. This responsibility
would ensure that political and military leaders would not again be tempted, as they
were in the early period of the Cold War, to rely on the threat of nuclear escalation
as a cost-efficient alternative to expending the effort and resources to maintain
conventional superiority.
US NFU avoids politics disad, it eases domestic political

tensions
Fourth, NFU could help assuage some of the recent criticisms of U.S. missile defense
and nuclear stockpile maintenance initiatives. NFU could help assure states that
might be threatened by U.S. missile defense efforts that they are for purely
defensive purposes. NFU could help alleviate concerns that missile defenses might
be used to complement offensive operations, such as providing a safety net for
any remaining weapons launched in retaliation after a U.S. counterforce first strike
against a states nuclear capabilities. An NFU policy might also score political
points with domestic opposition to efforts by the United States to update its
aging nuclear stockpile, which has been criticized because of the potential negative
impact on U.S. nonproliferation efforts. A nuclear doctrine that de-emphasized
nuclear weapons by relegating them only to deterrence of a nuclear attack could
help ease domestic and international concerns that efforts to update and enhance
the safety and security features of the U.S. nuclear arsenal might inadvertently
signal that the United States views nuclear weapons as militarily useful.
US NFU will spillover and solve nuclear proliferation globally,

empirics prove
Fifth, an NFU declaration might also provide an incentive to other nuclear powers to
revise their nuclear policies. Although changes in U.S. declaratory policy might not
affect North Korean and Iranian nuclear decisions, there is some evidence
suggesting that changes in U.S. nuclear policy can influence other nuclear states.
India, for example, revised its nuclear policy in January 2003 to include the option to
use nuclear weapons in response to CW or BW attacks, apparently in an effort to
more closely align its policies with the United States and other nuclear powers.108
Following the U.S. disclosure in May 2010 of the exact size of its nuclear stockpile,
the United Kingdom followed suit, explaining, [T]he time is now right to be more
open about the weapons we hold. In addition, the U.K. government stated, [W]e
have decided that the time is right to look again at our [nuclear] policy, as the U.S.
has done in their recent Nuclear Posture Review, to ensure that it is fully appropriate
for the political and security context in 2010 and beyond.109 Finally, because NFU
would be an important departure from the past six decades of U.S. nuclear policy, it
would provide the United States with important political benefits in its efforts to lead
the nonproliferation regime and encourage greater international support for
nonproliferation initiatives. Retaining the option to use nuclear weapons first
undermines the NPT regime by signaling that even the worlds most affluent and
powerful nation continues to believe that nuclear weapons are important
instruments of national power. This perception contributes to international claims of
American nuclear hypocrisy, as the United States seeks to both retain its nuclear
weapons and lead the NPT regime to prevent others from acquiring them.110
Although it is unlikely that other nations would make such politically and
economically important decisions about whether to build or otherwise acquire
nuclear weapons based on what the United States says or does with its nuclear
arsenalif anything, U.S. conventional superiority is more likely to affect states

strategic calculations recalcitrant countries have nevertheless blamed or at least
referred to U.S. nuclear precedents to defend and justify their nuclear
decisions.111 North Korea, for example, claimed that the first-use option in the
2010 NPR proves that the present U.S. policy toward the DPRK is nothing different
from the hostile policy pursued by the Bush administration. . . . As long as the U.S.
nuclear threat persists, the DPRK will increase and update various type[s] of nuclear
weapons as its deterrent in such a manner as it deems necessary in the days
ahead.112 For nonnuclear NPT member states, especially members of the
Nonaligned Movement, NFU would satisfy a long-standing desire for the United
States to show a tangible commitment to Article 6 of the NPT, which commits the
five declared nuclear weapons states under the treaty to pursue negotiations in
good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race
at an early date and to nuclear disarmament. Several nonnuclear NPT states have
said that a reduction in the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security policy such as
NFU, rather than simple reductions in the number of weapons in the U.S. arsenal,
would be a clear and convincing demonstration of the U.S. commitment to eventual
disarmament.113 These states have often based their lack of support for U.S.-led
multilateral nonproliferation initiatives, including support for sanctions against
proliferant regimes at the UN Security Council, on the grounds that the United
States has not done enough to fulfill its Article 6 obligations. Thus, NFU, by
symbolizing an important step toward realizing Article 6, would remove a significant
roadblock to greater support for and participation in the NPT regime among
nonnuclear NPT member states. NFU would therefore have an important, albeit
indirect, effect on nonproliferation by encouraging greater multilateral alignment
with U.S.-led nonproliferation efforts. At the very least, an NFU policy would help
expose states that use the U.S. commitment to Article 6 as an excuse not to
vigorously support nonproliferation.
US No First Use Policy key to prevent further nuclear

proliferation
Harold A. Feiveson And Ernst Jan Hogendoorn 2003, Harold A. Feiveson is a
senior research scientist, and co-director of the Program on Science and Global
Security at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. Ernst Jan
Hogendoorn is a Ph.D. student at the Woodrow Wilson School, No First Use of
Nuclear Weapons, CNS, http://cns.miis.edu/npr/pdfs/102feiv.pdf.
The case for an unhedged no-first-use nuclear policy by the United States rests on
three grounds: The United States does not need nuclear weapons to deter or to
respond to attacks on us or our allies, including attacks by chemical or biological
weapons.12 The actual first use of nuclear weapons by the United States would
have calamitous consequences for international security, including the likely
shattering of the NPT. An explicit no-first-use policy would further bolster an already
powerful taboo against nuclear use. Although some defense planners have dreamed
up scenarios where the first use of nuclear weapons could, in principle, make
military sense, these scenarios appear remote from reality. By contrast, holding
open the option for first use does concrete and predictable harm, to say nothing of
making the actual use of nuclear weapons more likely.
US No First Use completely eliminates the need for any nuclear

deterrence, solve nuclear proliferation
Ken Berry 09, Research Coordinator for the ICNND, June 2009, DRAFT TREATY ON
NON-FIRST USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS, ICNND,
icnnd.org/Documents/Berry_No_First_Use_Treaty.doc.
Equally, however, it could be argued that the existence of a no first use
commitment by all the nuclear armed states could reduce the need for a nuclear
deterrent. In other words, such a commitment would give less motivation for other
states to develop nuclearor for that matter chemical or biologicalweapons
capabilities of their own to deter a possible first strike by another state. It would
also give the United States a somewhat more legitimate basis on which to engage
the international community on nuclear non-proliferation issues than it currently has
with a policy explicitly arrogating to itself a right of first use of nuclear weapons
against recalcitrant states. The risk of accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear
weapons would also be reduced since taking nuclear weapons off hair trigger alert,
separation of warheads from their delivery platforms, and redeployment of many to
separate storage, could be some of the consequences of uniform adoption of a no
first use policy . Indeed, it has been suggested that the purpose of no first use is
less to seek to constrain the use of weapons in war than to constrain the
deployment of weapons in peacetime and to contribute to the disarmament
process. Such a commitment to no first use could also lead to the elimination from
nuclear planningand potentially from nuclear arsenals as wellof tactical nuclear
weapons, such as nuclear cannon shells, which are designed precisely for first strike
advantage in battlefield situations. The so-called bunker buster tactical nuclear
weapons would probably also have to go since these are also essentially a first
strike weapon. Retention of only a survivable retaliatory strike capability would be
all that was necessary in these circumstances. The survivability of such a second
strike capacity might be an issue for some. However, the creation or consolidation
of a more benign international environment implicit in making such a treaty possible
would make this factor less crucial. Furthermore, it could be argued that a joint and
cooperative commitment by all nuclear armed states to no first use could quickly
lead to significant cuts in strategic nuclear forces, and particularly those of the
United States and Russia. In other words, if everyone moved toward postures that
were survivable, a no first use commitment would be less necessary, but for the
same reason would be more credible. This in its own right would be major
contribution to the nuclear disarmament process.
Renewables
Notes
General
The way things work now there are two types of tax credits. The first is a
production tax credit, which functions better with onshore wind, but not well with
offshore (refer to the 1NC card). The other is an investment tax credit, which
basically provides an incentive for various companies to invest in offshore wind
farms.
Run this with politics and environment DAs as the net benefits
The main pushback that youll get on politics is that tax are unpopular; but
wind is so popular with dems it probably shields the backlash from tax credit
un-popularity
This article might have some extra cards if youre willing to cut them
http://www.iedconline.org/clientuploads/Downloads/edrp/IEDC_Offshore_Wind.pdf
Economy
The CP was originally designed to beat the (ABMPS) OCS aff, so the specific internal
links (unemployment, chemical industry, shipbuilding) are pretty well solved. That
being said there are other affs that solve the economy and on this topic they
generally bracket down into two categories:
1) Energy Affs that solve oil shocks read the energy security cards here
2) Affs that solve the economy generically with these types of affs, solving
unemployment is probably sufficient enough to solve the advantage
a. If you disagree with that, read the cards that say the CP solves the
other internal links and then read cards that say those other internal
links are key to the economy
1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government should offer a
long-term extension of tax credits to offshore wind energy
projects located in United States territorial water.
Increased USFG investment and long term tax credit ensure
wind farms get the essential boost necessary to transition to
this renewable energy
Caperton, Conathan, and Weidman, 2012 (Richard - Director of Clean Energy
Investment, Michael - Director of Ocean Policy, and Jackie - a Special Assistant for the Energy Opportunity team at the Center for
American Progress, Encouraging Investment Is Key to U.S. Offshore Wind Development, Center for American Progress, Jan 12,
Online: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2012/01/12/10951/encouraging-investment-is-key-to-u-s-offshore-winddevelopment/) IF
This view is backed by Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley, but as The Washington Post reported earlier this week, his efforts to make his state a leader in
situation has gotten

worse not better for offshore wind since the last time it was up for debate. So
what has changed? Congress holds the key The answer lies in part in NRG Bluewater Winds fate. NRG was unequivocal in
offshore wind appear to be in jeopardy. Mondays article quoted Democratic Del. Dereck E. Davis saying ,
The
the reasoning behind its decision to cancel its power-purchase agreement. The companys press release stated that it was unable to find an investment
squarely on the shoulders of Congress: Two

aspects of the project critical for success have actually gone backwards: the
decisions of Congress to eliminate funding for the Department of Energys loan
guarantee program applicable to offshore wind, and the failure to extend the
Federal Investment and Production Tax Credits which have rendered the Delaware
project both unfinanceable and financially untenable. While the challenges facing this project are big, theyre
solvable. As NRG alludes to, targeted, efficient incentives from the federal government would allow
this project to move forward. The production tax credit Currently, offshore wind projects are
eligible for the production tax credit. This is a credit based on how much electricity
a wind turbine generates, and is currently worth 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. Unfortunately, this credit expires at
the end of 2012, and a long-term extension of the credit is uncertain . CAP has called on Congress
partner. Specifically, NRG placed the blame for this outcome
to extend the credit for four more years, which will provide needed policy certainty for investors in wind projects. The investment tax credit While NRG
other incentives may be more useful for this

project. For onshore wind projectswith relatively predictable performance over the life
of the projectthe production tax credit is very valuable. For offshore wind,
however, the credit is less valuable to the project developer. Because offshore wind
turbines are relatively new technology and are deployed in environments that have
never been used for energy generation, developers cant predict how much power a
turbine will generate as accurately as they can with onshore wind . Thus, developers arent as
certain about how big their tax credits will be, which affects the profitability of the project . Congress could fix this problem by
making offshore wind eligible for the investment tax credit. Instead of getting a tax
credit as power is generated, the investment tax credit would allow offshore wind
developers to get an upfront credit for 30 percent of their initial investment,
encouraging more to invest. This is much more useful for technologies with more
performance uncertaintylike offshore windand would be a smart example of
matching the tax code to the unique circumstances facing innovative industries.
Loan guarantees Uncertainty around offshore wind turbines operational
Bluewater Wind would clearly benefit from a production tax credit extension,
performance also makes it difficult to finance these projects. When a bank evaluates a wind farm, it
predicts how much power the turbines will produce each year and will only count the power that theyre extremely confident will be produced . With
an innovative technology like offshore wind, this could mean that only half of the
turbines expected output is bankable. This affects whether or not a bank thinks the developer will pay back a loan,
and ultimately influences whether or not a bank offers a loan. This is a significant problem for offshore wind
developers. But the federal government can solve this problem by guaranteeing a
loan to a project developer. In this case the government agrees to pay back a loan if
the developer is unable to. This puts banks at ease (after all, the U.S. government has a perfect track record of
paying back loans) and will allow financing to flow freely. Congress has two simple ways to
create a loan guarantee program for offshore wind. They can create a Clean Energy
Deployment Administration, or Green Bank, which would offer financing tools like
loan guarantees for innovative technologies. Or they can allocate funding to cover
the cost of new loan guarantees for offshore wind under the existing Department of
Energy Loan Guarantee Program. Either way forward would help drive investment in
the burgeoning offshore wind industry. Somehow, the bright outlook from just a few
years agomoving the United States toward energy independencehas fogged
over despite overwhelming evidence from statewide polls that demonstrates
sustained support for proposed projects. Congress has the power to support
constituents interests in the innovative clean energy and economic opportunities
offshore wind can produce to move us out of the energy Stone Age and into a
sustainable future
2NC Overview
The CP solves 100% of the Case view this debate as one of
sufficiency vs. necessity. The affirmative may win that the plan
is sufficient enough to solve the case, but they have no
evidence that OCS Drilling is necessary to solve the economy
and energy security. If we win that wind farms are sufficient
enough to solve these advantages, then we should win the
debate.
[Insert Adv Specific Solvency]
2NC Solvency
Solvency General
The counterplan spurs massive growth in renewables and
generates market competition
Johnson, ECT Staff Writer, 7-21-2014
(Steven, 7/21/14, Without Government Aid, Uneven Path for Renewables,
http://www.ect.coop/editors-pick/without-government-aid-uneven-path-forrenewables/71996, dobp)
while renewables are here to stay, the degree of their staying

power will hinge in part on government actions, experts said July 14 at the 2014
Energy Information Administration Conference. Of course, policy matters, said Edward Randolph, director of
Thats a big disparity, and
the energy division of the California Public Utilities Commission, whose state is on track to derive one-third of its
total wind and solar capacity in the

United States is on a par with conventional hydropower capacity, and the renewable
combo could permanently top hydro by 2020 under some circumstances . Additional
growth could be spurred by congressional action to extend renewable tax credits,
and changes in government permitting processes , said Justin Baca, research director at the Solar
Energy Industries Association. Even a small change in price can really open up a
market, he said at a session on Renewable Energy: From Alternative to Conventional, Does Policy Still Matter?
Gwen Bredehoeft, a renewable energy analyst at EIA, said other government policies will affect the
pace of nonhydro renewables, which currently stand at about 6.2 percent of total U.S. electricity
supplies. Placing a value on carbon dioxide emissions would increase the cost of
operating fossil-fuel plants and improve the economics of renewables , she said. But many
of the renewable portfolio standards that exist in 29 states and the District of Columbia are set to
expire in 2025. Without an extension, utilities in those states would no longer face
a mandate to supply a designated amount of green energy . Renewables are increasingly
power from renewables by 2020. At certain periods of the year,
cost competitive, but limited by several factors, Bredehoeft said. California has been all-in on renewables, with a
host of government programs to encourage their use at both the utility and consumer level, Randolph said. Those
range from feed-in tariffs to solar rooftops and zero-energy houses. By careful management, though, the state has avoided
the kind of price hikes that many detractors feared, he said. As we adopt these programs, we arent seeing massive rate shocks,
Randolph said.
Tax credits are the lynchpin to renewable development---its

key to certainty, empirics prove
Neuheuser, reporter for U.S. News & World Report, 7-17-2014
(Alan, 2014, Dead Air: End of Tax Credit Deflates Wind Power,
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/07/17/dead-air-end-to-tax-credits-takes-big-biteout-of-wind-power, dobp)
If there was any question about whether and how the wind industry
would be affected by the absence of a federal tax credit, the evidence is here. Wind
power is closely tied to a federal subsidy , an analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the American
Its in the doldrums.
Wind Energy Association shows. While more than 12,000 megawatts' worth of new wind power was installed in 2012, fewer than
Investors rightly predicted the production tax

credit would not be renewed by Congress before it expired after last year , according to
data from the Union of Concerned Scientists and the American Wind Energy Association. What youre seeing is the
uncertainty over this production tax credit. Its night and day, an on-off switch, says
Dan Kammen, a professor of energy at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley. In terms of the projects getting the
go-ahead, it totally changes the financing needs, the revenue of the project . C. Arden
Pope, an economist at Brigham Young University, agrees. This is a stunner, he says. On the margin, it suggests
that these production tax credits play a very, very big role in the viability of
these turbines. The tax credit, originally enacted in 1992, in its most recent form gave
turbine owners 2.3 cents for every kilowatt-hour of power their windmills produced
and applied also to wind power construction. It sounds small, but the credit added up. It not only eased the intense
upfront costs of constructing high-tech turbines, but also often made the difference
when wind was compared to competitors in the solar, coal, and oil and gas sectors all of which still
receive tax breaks and other incentives. Oil, gas and coal, for example, received more than $21 billion in state and federal
2,000 new megawatts were just a year later. The reason:
subsidies last year, according to a new report by Oil Change International, an environmental advocacy group. Utilities are looking
for a good deal, and often theyre looking at a knife-edge situation between one resource and another, says Rob Gramlich, senior
vice president for public policy at the American Wind Energy Association. So they very much do tend to buy power when one is
effectively at a discount. That trend shows: Each
time the credit has been extended, wind

production has risen. Each time its been at risk of expiring, production has
bottomed out. Mike Bergey, president of Bergey WindPower: "Its extremely difficult. The projects may have stopped, but the
overhead costs and salaries and business expenses continue." "It's a boom-bust cycle," says Steve Lockard, president and CEO of
Arizona-based TPI Composites, which builds blades for wind turbines.
A2: OSW Impossible

Economic incentives ensures upgrades
Sargent 12 (Rob Sargent, U.S. Poised to Join the Race on Offshore Wind: Lawmakers Must Commit to More Pollution-Free
Energy, http://www.environmentamerica.org/news/ame/us-poised-join-race-offshore-wind) IF
The Turning Point for Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy includes details on the key milestones each Atlantic Coast state and along with the wind potential and
Offshore wind energy will be an economic

powerhouse for America. Harnessing the 52 gigawatts of already-identified available Atlantic offshore wind energy
just 4 percent of the estimated generation potential of this massive resource could generate
$200 billion in economic activity, create 300,000 jobs, and sustain power for about 14
million homes. (Europe already produces enough energy from offshore wind right now to power 4 million homes.) America is
closer than ever to bringing offshore wind energy ashore. Efforts are underway in 10 Atlantic Coast states,
the economic benefits. Among the highlights of the report:
with over 2,000 square nautical miles of federal waters already designated for wind energy development off of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey,
Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Environmental reviews finding no significant impacts have been completed, and leases are expected to be issued for
Despite this progress, leadership is urgently needed at

the state and federal level to ensure offshore wind energy becomes a reality in America: President
Obama should set a clear national goal for offshore wind energy development, and each
Atlantic state governor should also a set goal for offshore wind development off their shores . These goals must be supported
by policies that prioritize offshore wind energy and other efforts to secure buyers for this new source of reliable,
some of these areas by the end of the year.
both
clean energy.
A2: High costs

High returns offset high costs
Puliafico 11 JD @ Suffolk
(Amy, ARTICLE: OFFSHORE WIND: WHAT STEPS NEED TO BE TAKEN TO ENSURE IT
HAS A FUTURE IN AMERICA, 12 J. High Tech. L. 330)
, landbased farms are limited because it is wasteful to transfer electricity over long
distances, and these farms are located in sparsely populated areas. 15 More than
half of the United States population lives near the ocean, so offshore projects can be
larger, and reach people easier, without the high transmission costs. 16
Additionally, offshore winds are "typically stronger and less turbulent than landbased winds, increasing the revenue potential," which can offset the higher
costs of installation [333] and maintenance. 17 Offshore development is the next logical and necessary step in green technology. 18
Unlike offshore wind farms, America has embraced land-based wind farms due to the available space and lower energy costs. 14 However
2NC Economy
Oil Shocks IL
The Oil Shocks IL is based off of a supply disruption increasing
prices, but if the US isnt dependent on countries for foreign
oil, we wouldnt be vulnerable to supply shocks.
Unemployment IL
CP solves unemployment better than the aff
Todd, Chen, and Clogston 13 (Jennifer Todd is an Economic Development Associate at IEDC. Jess
Chen is a Research Fellow and a PhD candidate at American University. Frankie Clogston is an IEDC Consultant and a PhD candidate
at Johns Hopkins University, International Economic Development Council, Analysis of the Offshore Wind Industry,
http://www.iedconline.org/clientuploads/Downloads/edrp/IEDC_Offshore_Wind.pdf) IF
offshore wind energy will create new jobs and economic investment.
Offshore wind generates more jobs per megawatt than onshore wind and other fossil fuels
due to the labor associated with manufacturing, operating, and servicing the wind
farms. As the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) states, the offshore wind industry has an
additional employment effect due to the higher cost of installing, operating, and
maintaining offshore wind turbines than land-based ones. It is also likely that offshore wind job creation
will come at a time and to those places where it is particularly needed. As the U.S. Department
There is evidence that
of Energy (DOE) indicates, many of the jobs for the new offshore industry will potentially be located in economically depressed ports and shipyards. These
These areas
can particularly stand to gain jobs in a new offshore wind industry, since they have
experienced a double blow from the downturn in manufacturing and the recent
recession.
locations will serve as fabrication and staging areas for manufacture, installation, and maintenance of offshore wind turbines.2
Chemical Industry IL
Wind comparatively provides more energy sustainability than
oil solves the Chemical Industry Internal Link better than the
aff
Savitz 10 (Jacqueline, Vice President for U.S. Oceans and Executive Director of Coast Alliance, Untapped Wealth: Offshore
Wind Can deliver Cleaner, More affordable energy and More Jobs than Offshore Oil, Oceana Report, September, Online:
http://oceana.org/sites/default/files/reports/Offshore_Wind_Report_-_Final_1.pdf) IF
As shown in the three previous examples, offshore wind energy can create more electricity, heat more homes or
power more cars than the offshore oil and gas that is being considered for production on the East Coast and in the
Offshore wind energy potential is much greater than that of new

offshore oil and gas and the cost is much lower . Developing the 127 gigawatts of
offshore wind energy described above would cost about $36 billion less over 20
years than the estimated cost of producing the economically recoverable oil and
natural gas combined. Better still, unlike the oil and natural gas resources, offshore
wind is not finite and, unlike the oil and gas, will not become depleted. However, the
estimated lifetime of an offshore wind turbine is about 20 years and a new turbine will
eventually need to be installed in order to continue to capture wind energy. Therefore a comparison of
costs and benefits over 20 years is an appropriate one. According to MMS, 20 years worth
of East Coast offshore oil at $110 per barrel would cost consumers $720 billion, and
the natural gas would cost $449 billion. After the East Coasts offshore oil and gas
have been extracted, nearly $1.17 trillion will have been transferred from
consumers to the oil and gas industry, and then no more energy will be available.
Developing the 127 gigawatts of offshore wind energy described above instead of
drilling for oil and gas, would cost about $1.13 trillion, $36 billion less than the oil
and gas costs over 20 years. Notwithstanding the cost savings, as described above the wind investment
eastern Gulf of Mexico.
also produced more energy in every scenario considered. By investing in offshore wind on the East Coast, instead of
offshore oil and gas in the areas that were previously protected in the Atlantic and eastern Gulf,
would get more energy for less money
Americans
Shipbuilding IL
Increased tax credit/federal investment in wind solves the
shipbuilding internal link federal incentive key
Todd, Chen, and Clogston 13 (Jennifer Todd is an Economic Development Associate at IEDC. Jess
Chen is a Research Fellow and a PhD candidate at American University. Frankie Clogston is an IEDC Consultant and a PhD candidate
at Johns Hopkins University, International Economic Development Council, Analysis of the Offshore Wind Industry,
http://www.iedconline.org/clientuploads/Downloads/edrp/IEDC_Offshore_Wind.pdf) IF
There is also potential in the shipbuilding industry for the manufacturing of

specialized offshore wind vessels. There are several factors precipitating demand for domestic production of these ships.
Currently, there are virtually no such ships in the U.S., since the offshore wind industry
is not yet on-line, and the supply servicing offshore wind farms in Europe and Asia is being utilized at full capacity. Additionally, it would be
very expensive to charter a boat from Europe to service U.S. installations. Finally, based on the interpretation of the Jones Act, which has been in existence
since 1920, foreign vessels may not be allowed to service wind farms in U.S. waters. With offshore wind vessels costing an estimated $260 million and
manufacturing of these ships could be a boon to the U.S.

shipbuilding industry and result in the retention or creation of a significant number
of jobs.57, 58 However, the industry will need incentives and financing mechanisms that
help developers mitigate the risk associated with such a large investment .
taking about two years to build,
General
Offshore wind will turn the US into a massive economic
powerhouse:
Sargent, 9/13/12 (Rob Sargent, U.S. Poised to Join the Race on Offshore Wind: Lawmakers Must Commit to More
Pollution-Free Energy, http://www.environmentamerica.org/news/ame/us-poised-join-race-offshore-wind) IF
The Turning Point for Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy includes details on the key milestones each Atlantic Coast state
Offshore
wind energy will be an economic powerhouse for America. Harnessing the 52 gigawatts of
already-identified available Atlantic offshore wind energy just 4 percent of the estimated
generation potential of this massive resource could generate $200 billion in economic
activity, create 300,000 jobs, and sustain power for about 14 million homes. (Europe
already produces enough energy from offshore wind right now to power 4 million homes.) America is closer
than ever to bringing offshore wind energy ashore . Efforts are underway in 10 Atlantic Coast
and along with the wind potential and the economic benefits. Among the highlights of the report:
states, with over 2,000 square nautical miles of federal waters already designated for wind energy development off
of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Environmental reviews finding no
significant impacts have been completed, and leases are expected to be issued for some of these areas by the end
Despite this progress, leadership is urgently needed at both the state and
federal level to ensure offshore wind energy becomes a reality in America: President
Obama should set a clear national goal for offshore wind energy development, and
each Atlantic state governor should also a set goal for offshore wind development off their shores. These goals
must be supported by policies that prioritize offshore wind energy and other efforts to
of the year.
secure buyers for this new source of reliable, clean energy.
Offshore wind massively boosts the economy:

The Guardian 12(Investment in offshore wind better for economy than gas, report shows
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/dec/04/investment-wind-economy-gasThe Guardian is a British national daily
newspaperIn August 2013, The Guardian in paper form had an average daily circulation of 189,000 copies.[4] Its combined print and
online editions reach nearly 9 million readers. Tuesday 4 December 2012 05.27 EST) IF
Large-scale investment in offshore wind would generate more wealth for the
economy and create more jobs than relying on gas -fired power plants, a report suggested on Tuesday.
Substantial deployment of offshore wind by 2030 would have only a marginal impact on electricity prices but would
boost growth, cut dependence on gas imports, and reduce emissions , the report for WWF-UK and
Greenpeace said. The study by Cambridge Econometrics compared a scenario with steady growth in offshore wind capacity in the 2020s with a power system where there was no new
offshore wind post-2020, with significantly more gas used to meet electricity needs.
Focusing investment on wind power would
create up to 70,000 more jobs in 2030 than relying on electricity from gas-fired power plants. According to the analysis, which comes ahead
of the government publishing its gas strategy this week, GDP would be 20bn (0.8%) higher in 2030 if there was a
focus on offshore wind. The study suggests electricity prices would only be 1% higher if the UK relied heavily on offshore wind, as gas import prices are
forecast to rise and the costs of offshore wind to fall as deployment is scaled up. Carbon emissions would be two-thirds lower with
large-scale investment in offshore wind than if the UK stuck with gas for electricity supplies and the country would save 8bn a year on gas
imports by 2030. The benefits to the economy from investing in wind still outweigh
focusing on gas, even if gas prices are lower than expected and even if a significant supply chain does not
develop in the UK, the report claims. Exploiting unconventional shale gas through fracking will have little impact as it would be a benefit to the economy in both scenarios, used either as
a domestic gas supply or exported if the UK was relying more on wind, the report said. Environmental groups have been critical of George Osborne's backing for a second "dash for gas"
They warn
that failing to include a target to slash emissions from the power sector by 2030 in
the recently published energy bill will undermine investment in renewables after
2020, after which time support for low carbon power is unclear.
instead of aiming for low-carbon investment, with support for new gas-fired power plants and tax relief for unconventional shale gas exploration in the UK.
Building offshore wind farms help Americas economyEurope

proves
Oceana 10(Untapped Wealth: Offshore Wind Can Deliver Cleaner, More Affordable Energy and More Jobs Than Offshore
Oil http://oceana.org/sites/default/files/Offshore_Wind_Report.pd, Oceana is the largest international ocean conservation and
advocacy organization. Oceana works to protect and restore the worlds oceans through targeted policy campaigns.Oceana bases its
policy campaign goals on science to achieve concrete and measurable results through targeted campaigns that combine policy,
advocacy, science, law, media, and public pressure to prevent collapse of fish populations, marine mammals and other sea life
caused by industrial fishing and pollution. Campaigns are designed to produce clear, identifiable policy changes within a 35 year
timeframe. September 2010. http://oceana.org/sites/default/files/Offshore_Wind_Report.pdf,Oceana is the largest international ocean
conservation and advocacy organization. Oceana works to protect and restore the world's oceans through targeted policy
campaigns.Oceana bases its policy campaign goals on science to achieve concrete and measurable results through targeted
campaigns that combine policy, advocacy, science, law, media, and public%2)
IF
Offshore wind technology can help build the U.S. economy. While the U.S. has not
yet installed any offshore wind farms, Europe has been doing so for 20 years and
has become the leading supplier of offshore wind turbines. Building our own
domestic manufacturing base would strengthen our economy, allow U.S.
expenditures to remain here at home, and allow the U.S. to become an offshore
wind technology exporter.
2NC Energy Security

CP solves oil dependence - Increased investment/tax-credits
for offshore wind will spur a renewable transition in the US
Huelsenbeck 13 (Matt , marine scientist for the climate and energy campaign at Oceana,, Offshore Wind Energy:
The Coming Sea Change?, LiveScience.com, July 15, Online: http://www.livescience.com/38187-wind-turbines-rising.html) IF
In light of rising gas prices, increased dependence on foreign oil, ocean acidification and global
climate change, it's clear the United States needs to look for alternative and cleaner
sources of energy. Offshore wind energy is one such source that, although in early
developmental stages in the United States , could offer hope for a future of energy
independence and a clean energy economy. Thankfully, there is some good news on the horizon.
The first U.S. offshore wind turbine was recently deployed off the coast of Maine. This pilot project uses a floating
platform with a small wind turbine attached to a tower, marking a small, but significant step toward the
One of the reasons offshore

wind energy is so effective is that these winds are stronger and steadier than
onshore winds. And offshore winds are strongest during the day as well as in heat
waves, when the demand for energy is highest. In fact, the East Coast of the United States
has been dubbed the "Saudi Arabia" of offshore wind, since there is enough wind
energy off this coast to provide the entire country with electricity if the industry is
fully developed. [For Wind Turbines, Bigger Equals Greener] Unfortunately, the United States still
lags behind Europe in developing offshore wind farms; in Europe, such infrastructure has been providing jobs
and clean energy since 1991. Although the United States has a lot of catching up to do, the
country's floating offshore wind technology is an encouraging step forward. The
development of floating turbines is exciting, because some of the strongest offshore
winds can be found over deep-water locations . Conventional offshore wind turbines, which use a
development of an abundant, clean-energy resource in the United States.
steel foundation placed into the seabed, cannot access these sites. Floating offshore wind platforms, however, could
be placed in deep-water areas near Maine, California, Oregon, Hawaii and within the Great Lakes. Another big
milestone for offshore wind happened in June, when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced
that the nation's first competitive lease sales for offshore wind development would be scheduled for July, in an area
of ocean off of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The effort could provide one million homes with emissions-free
The technology is here, and the demand for clean energy is high, but we will
need political support to truly establish an offshore wind industry in the United
States. To that end, Oceana has been working to create a long-term extension to the Investment
Tax Credit (ITC) for offshore wind, which would allow offshore wind to flourish, and help
the country transition away from fossil fuels and harmful offshore drilling . Unlike
offshore oil drilling, offshore wind is clean and will never spill. If the United States truly wants energy
independence, the country must get serious about developing the untapped wealth
of clean, renewable wind energy off its shores.
electricity.
Offshore wind power creates energy independence:

Peter J. Schaumberg and Angela F. Colamaria 2009 (former Deputy Associate
Solicitor for the Division of Mineral Resources & former senior career attorney
responsible for mineral development matters, Roger Williams University Law
Review, Summer 2009, Accessed 7/27/2014) IF
Renewable energy opportunities on the OCS are a key component to securing this
Nation's energy independence. The offshore wind energy sector, in particular,
has grown exponentially worldwide. Opportunities for development on the OCS will
likely accelerate the pace of that expansion . In addition, recent experience with high energy prices
and the instability associated with dependence on foreign sources of supply are creating opportunities for
The
OCS final rules are important in that they create the potential for renewable energy
to displace a portion of U.S. fossil fuel use. Such a shift will generate environmental
benefits, reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy, and create
new renewable energy jobs.
developers to initiate projects on the OCS with newer technologies, such as tidal, wave, and thermal energy.
Wind power decreases foreign fuel dependence:

Erica Schroeder, J.D., University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, 20 10
(California Law Review, 2010, Turning Offshore Wind On,
http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu /cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1069&context=californialawreview; Accessed 7/21/2014,) IF
Benefits of Offshore Wind Many of the most compelling benefits of offshore wind are similar to those of onshore
offshore wind has its own unique set of benefits . To start, wind power
generation can help meet the growing energy demand in the United States. The U.S.
wind, though
Energy Information Administration predicts that the demand for electricity in the United States will grow to 5.8
The more that wind power can help to meet

this demand, the more diversified the United States' energy portfolio will be, and
the less susceptible the nation will be to dependency on foreign fuel sources
and to price fluctuations in traditional fuels. 5 9 In addition, wind power benefits the United States
billion MWh in 2030, a 39 percent increase from 2005.
by creating a substantial number of jobs for building and operating the domestic wind energy facilities. 6 0 In an
Obama predicted
that if the United States "fully pursue[s] our potential for wind energy on land and
offshore," wind power could create 250,000 jobs by 2030 .61
April 2009 speech at the Trinity Structural Towers Manufacturing Plant in Iowa, President
2NC Hegemony
***If you win that you solve energy dependence, you should be good here.
General
Wind energy will bolster US competitiveness:
David Kashi, 7/22/2013 (staff writer, The US Department Of The Interior
Announced Plans To Increase Wind Energy, http://www.ibtimes.com/us-departmentinterior-announced-plans-increase-wind-energy-1355929, Accessed 7/27/2014, rwg)
The U.S. Department of the Interior, or DOI, announced the nations second offshore
wind energy lease sale off the coast of Virginia, the DOI said in a press release
Monday. The competitive lease sale offshore Virginia will mark an important
transition from planning to action when it comes to capturing the enormous clean
energy potential offered by Atlantic wind, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said.
Responsible commercial wind energy development has the potential to
create jobs, increase our energy security and strengthen our nations
competitiveness.
Renewable energy incentives key to competitiveness:

USITC 13 (United States International Trade Commission, August 2013, Renewable Energy and Related Services: Recent
Developments, http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4421.pdf, an independent, bipartisan, quasi-judicial, federal agency of the
United States that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches) IF
Renewable energy policies are also used to meet an array of additional goals. They can be industrial policies for
governments that anticipate growing demand for renewable energy in the future (in the same way that
Policymakers often
talk about the need to improve domestic competitiveness and increase their
countrys share of the global renewable energy market . 3 Renewable energy
incentives are also used to achieve economic development, job creation, and
environmental justice (for example, reducing emissions of particulates such as soot and ash near lowincome communities). Renewable energy incentives that are sufficiently powerful can
accomplish these goals, but such goals are often in tension with each other. For example, a policy that
governments promote investment in high-tech manufacturing and other industries).
aims to deploy renewable [End of pg. 181] energy and create jobs simultaneously may cost more per job and per
kilowatt-hour (kWh) than single-focus policies.4
Renewable energy can stimulate competitiveness:

Luecke President and Executive Director at The Solar
Foundation 11 (Andrea Luecke, 10-7-11, Renewable Energy Best Practices in Promotion and Use for Latin America
and the Caribbean, https://www.competecaribbean.org/publication/renewable-energy-best-practises-in-promotion-and-use-for-latinamerica-and-the-caribbean-english/wppa_download, former Project Manager U.S. Peace Corps, former Managing Director of Field
Operations
ASAFO Global Medical Trust) IF
A new renewable energy market can also stimulate

regional economic competiveness by inducing new private capital investments .
Improved Regional Economic Competitiveness
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, in the year ending June 2011, new investment in clean energy rose 22
A successful renewable energy market

would help stabilize long term energy prices, acting as a hedge against rising electricity rates.
Reliance on energy imports would also be reduced , thus saving ratepayers money. A
percent (now at $41.7 billion globally) (Downing, 2011).
manufacturing firm, for example, may choose to locate in a region with abundant clean electricity to avoid costly
environmental controls or regulations. Finally, the existence of one or two renewable energy businesses in a region
can create a clustering effect of companies that operate up and down the supply chain. All this helps to make a
region more economically attractive, and therefore competitive.
Renewable energy key to US competitiveness:

Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 11
(Georgetown
International Environmental Law Review, 02-07-11, Helpful (or Harmful?) to U.S. Competitiveness Lawmakers Seek to Eliminate
EPAs Ability to Regulate GHGs, http://gielr.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/helpful-or-harmful-to-u-s-competitiveness-lawmakers-seekto-eliminate-epas-ability-to-regulate-ghgs/, a student-edited scholarly journal published at Georgetown University Law Center) IF
However, given the fact that developing economic powers such as China are already
giving massive subsidies to their renewable energy sector, the attempt to inhibit
measures which promote renewable energy may harm U.S. competitiveness in the
long run. Similarly, the draft has also come under criticism based on the premise
that its effect in the job market may be negative rather than positive. Natural
Resources Defense Council Climate Campaign Director, Pete Altman, said that the
regulations would benefit the job market by creating jobs in the pollution-control
industry which already creates billions of dollars of export revenue for the U.S.
(--) Alternative energy key to competitiveness:

Melnyk and Andersen 9 (Markian M. W. Melnyk and Robert M. Andersen, 2009, ,
http://books.google.com/books?id=JxTRlPGGjt0C&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=%22renewable+energy%22+AROUND(20)+
%22US+competitiveness%22&source=bl&ots=Ep5fXRGzx0&sig=HVeCDB7DPvHRhge5R-imjBFx9M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CcfOU5zgJZStyATihYKYBA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false) IF
In the long run, promoting enhanced efficiency and expanded alternative energy
supply options increases domestic investment opportunities, spurs domestic
employment, and improves U.S. competitiveness. In 2005, expenditures on
imported oil equaled one-third of the U.S. current account deficit of$800 billion."
Shifting even a fraction of this expenditure to US. investments could have a
dramatic, positive effect on the US economy.
Growth
Offshore wind promotes fast US growth
Ndolo 10 (Michael and Bruce Bailey is the associate principal at Camoin Associates
, Offshore development can yield economic benefits, North American Wind Power, Fall 2010) IF
Wind power is a job-creation engine. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the wind industry supported over
85,000 jobs in 2009 alone. Most of these jobs were in manufacturing, an area of the U.S. labor force that has been
declining rapidly for years. The wind energy industry represents a significant
opportunity for turning this decline around. Although wind power industry clusters exist in North America,
there are many specifics to offshore wind that differentiate it from its onshore cousin.
Requirements such as installation vessels, unique turbine components, specialized
research focus, and professional and technical experience are not yet present in the
North American workforce skill set. All of these unique requirements represent an
economic opportunity for job creation, ranging from research, design and
manufacturing to operations and maintenance . Vessels. Highly specialized installation vessels must be
built, operated, repaired and docked during the off-season. The newest generation of such vessels under
development in Europe can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to construct and can require a small army of workers in
ports with sufficient ship-building capacity. In addition, other smaller vessels are
necessary for ongoing maintenance and repair operations . The Jones Act requires
that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports are carried in U.S.-flagged ships that are constructed in the
U.S., owned by U.S. citizens and crewed by permanent residents of the U.S. Although some developers have been successful in requesting an exception,
Investing and developing a

domestic vessel industry to serve the offshore market would significantly increase
the attractiveness of a region to offshore developers and investors, in addition to
creating jobs to support the new industry . Components. Offshore components tend to he
larger and bulkier. Certain components are either unique to (foundations) or modified for (hermetically sealed nacelles, seaworthy
substations, nacelle-mounted or substation-mounted helicopter pads for maintenance, and corrosion-resistant materials) offshore use. One of the
largest portions of the installed cost of a typical offshore wind farm is directly
attributable to the manufacturing and pro-assembly of turbine and foundation
components. In regions where a high level of wind component manufacturing currently exists, there is significant
opportunity tor creating offshore wind component manufacturing clusters . Installation.
Turbines and foundations must be assembled in a staging area, loaded onto a vessel
and installed. There are limitations on the ability of any one state or province to service both coasts, but it is reasonable to assume, for
example, that an installation cluster in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. could provide
installation capacity for a number of projects on the East Coast .
allowing them to use foreign vessels, the Jones Act creates a significant barrier for off-shore developers.
Growth is key to US leadership and solves great power war

Khalilzad 11 PhD, Former Professor of Political Science @ Columbia, Former ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan
(Zalmay Khalilzad was the United States ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations during the presidency of George
W. Bush and the director of policy planning at the Defense Department from 1990 to 1992. "The Economy and National Security" Feb
8 http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/259024/economy-and-national-security-zalmay-khalilzad) IF
economic
trends pose the most severe long-term threat to the United States
position as global leader. While the United States suffers from
low economic growth,
the economies of rival powers are developing rapidly. continuation
could lead to a
shift from American primacy toward a multi-polar global system, leading to
Today,
and fiscal
fiscal imbalances and
The
of these two trends
in turn
increased
geopolitical rivalry and war among the great powers.

even
The current recession is the result of a deep financial crisis, not a mere fluctuation in the business cycle.
Recovery is likely to be protracted. The crisis was preceded by the buildup over two decades of enormous amounts of debt throughout the U.S. economy ultimately totaling almost 350 percent of GDP and the development of credit-fueled asset bubbles, particularly in the
housing sector. When the bubbles burst, huge amounts of wealth were destroyed, and unemployment rose to over 10 percent. The decline of tax revenues and massive countercyclical spending put the U.S. government on an unsustainable fiscal path. Publicly held national debt rose
from 38 to over 60 percent of GDP in three years.
interest rates
Without faster economic growth
were to rise significantly, annual interest payments which already are larger than the defense budget
and actions to reduce deficits, publicly held national debt is projected to reach dangerous proportions. If
would crowd out other spending
or require substantial tax
increases that would undercut economic growth. Even worse, if unanticipated events trigger what economists call a sudden stop in credit markets for U.S. debt, the United States would be unable to roll over its outstanding obligations, precipitating a sovereign-debt crisis that would
It was the economic devastation of Britain

that led both countries to relinquish their empires
almost certainly compel a radical retrenchment of the United States internationally. Such scenarios would reshape the international order.
and France
during World War II, as well as the rise of other powers,
. In the late 1960s, British leaders
concluded that they lacked the economic capacity to maintain a presence east of Suez. Soviet economic weakness, which crystallized under Gorbachev, contributed to their decisions to withdraw from Afghanistan, abandon Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and allow the
the United States would be compelled to retrench,

shedding international commitments We face this domestic challenge while other major powers
Soviet Union to fragment. If the U.S. debt problem goes critical,
reducing its military spending and
are experiencing rapid economic growth
. Even though countries such as China, India, and Brazil have profound political, social, demographic, and economic problems, their economies are growing faster than
If U.S. policymakers fail to act

The closing of the gap
could intensify geopolitical competition
among major powers,
and
the higher risk of
escalation.
the longest period of peace among the great powers has been the
era of U.S. leadership
multi-polar systems have been unstable, with
major wars among the great powers.
American
retrenchment could have devastating consequences
there would be a heightened possibility of arms races, miscalculation, or
other crises spiraling into all-out conflict
weaker powers may shift
their geopolitical posture away from the United States.
hostile states would be
emboldened to make aggressive moves in their regions
ours, and this could alter the global distribution of power. These trends could in the long term produce a multi-polar world.
but when a new international order will emerge.
and other powers continue to grow, it is not a question of whether
between the United States and its rivals
increase incentives for local powers to play major powers against one another,
undercut our will to preclude or respond to international crises because of
The stakes are high. In modern history,
. By contrast,
frequent crises and
their competitive dynamics resulting in
Failures of multi-polar international systems produced both world wars.
. Without an American security blanket, regional powers could rearm in an attempt to balance
against emerging threats. Under this scenario,
. Alternatively, in seeking to accommodate the stronger powers,

Either way,
.
2NC Warming
Wind power comparatively reduces more co2 than other
energy sources studies show.
Wang and Sun 2012, Yuxuan (Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth
System Science, Institute for Global ChangeStudies, Tsinghua University) and Tianye (School of Environment, Tsinghua University).
Life cycle assessment of CO2 emissions from wind power plants: Methodology and case studies. Elsevier Renewable Energy,
Volume 43, July 2012, pgs 30-36. January 14, 2012. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148112000043) IF
This study developed a new simple and direct method for calculating CO 2
emissions per kWh electricity produced by wind power plants. The results obtained herein confirm that
wind energy produces the lowest CO2 emissions per kWh of electricity
compared to fossil fuel and other renewable sources. Energy and
metallurgy dominate CO2 emissions from material consumption. Among the four
phases of the wind power plants life cycle, the production phase of wind turbines contributes most to the total
emissions. Recycling during decommission is an important step, which theoretically can decrease
the impact from the production phase by nearly half. Optimal management in the
transport phase could reduce overall CO2 emissions by as much as 12% of the
total emissions of a power plant , even with recycling. For countries with large wind
potential and large territories, a large amount of CO2 emission could be saved
in the transport phase. The result of a real case in China shows that with reasonable shorter
transport routes, the related emissions could be reduced by 33%. Compared with
offshore wind plants, onshore ones have lower CO emissions per kWh electricity produced. The difference in CO2 emissions
between wind turbines and wind power plants is significant and should not be ignored when
considering the CO emissions related to offshore power plants. If China can reach
a total installed capacity of 300 GW in 2030 as predicted, annual savings
of CO2emissions could amount to 780 Mtons. In this case, however, wind electricity would supply just 8.5%
2
of Chinas total electricity demand in 2030, lower even than present-day condition in Europe where wind electricity accounts for 4.8% of the total energy
Compared
with other energy sources, wind power has the greatest potential to
reduce CO2 emissions, especially through onshore, large rated power
turbines that have low emission per functional unit. Sensitivity tests show that the
measures taken to increase the CP would result in significant emissions
reductions. Obviously, the use of wind to produce electricity constitutes an environmental improvement, and more research on this technology
consumption. There is ample room for more rapid development of wind energy in China accompanied by larger CO 2-saving potential.
is needed.
US offshore wind development curbs carbon emissions

Thaler 12 - Professor of Energy Policy, Law & Ethics
(Jeff, FIDDLING AS THE WORLD BURNS: HOW CLIMATE CHANGE URGENTLY
REQUIRES A PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE PERMITTING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY
PROJECTS, 42 Environmental Law Journal 1101)
as the economic and health costs from fossil fuel emissions have grown so too has the byzantine labyrinth of laws
and regulations to be navigated before a renewable energy project can be approved , let
alone financed and developed. 6 The root cause goes back to the 1970s when some of our
fundamental environmental laws were enacted , before we were aware of climate
Unfortunately,
change threats, to slow down the review of proposed projects by requiring more
studies of potential project impacts before approval.7 But in our increasingly carbonbased 21st century, we need a paradigm shift. While achieving important goals, those federal laws and
regulations, and similar ones at the state and local levels, have become so unduly burdensome, slow, and expensive that they will chill investment in, and
kill any significant growth of, renewable carbon-free energy sources and projects, thereby imposing huge economic, environmental and social costs
upon both our country and the world8 unless they are substantially changed. Indeed, by 2050 the U.S. must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% to even stabilize atmospheric
levels of carbon, and can do so by increasing generated electricity from renewable sources from the current thirteen percent up to eighty percent9-- but only if there are targeted new
policy efforts to accelerate, fifty times faster than since 1990, implementation of clean, renewable energy sources.10 Thus, Part II focuses on one promising technology to demonstrate
Wind power generation from onshore installations is proven,

is increasingly cost-competitive with most fossil fuel sources,
and can be employed relatively quickly in many parts of the United States and world.
Offshore wind power is a relatively newer technology, especially deep-water floating projects, and presently less cost-competitive than onshore wind. However,
because wind speeds are on average about ninety percent stronger and more consistent over water than
over land, with higher power densities and lower shear and turbulence ,13 Americas
offshore resources can provide more than our current electricity use. 14 Moreover, these
resources are near many major cities that are home to much of the population and
electricity demand thereby reducing the need for new high-voltage transmission from
the flaws in its current licensing permitting regimes, and makes concrete recommendations for reform.11
generates no GHGs and consumes no water,12
the Midwest and Great Plains to serve coastal lands15 Therefore, in light Part IIs spotlight on literally dozens of different federal (yet alone state and local) statutes and their hundreds
to much more
quickly enable the full potential of offshore wind energy to become a reality before it is too late. Greenhouse
gases (GHGs) trap heat in the atmosphere; the primary GHG emitted by human activities is carbon dioxide (CO2), which in 2012
represented 84 percent of all human-sourced U.S. GHG emissions.16 The combustion of fossil fuels to generate
of regulations standing between an offshore wind project applicant and construction, Part III makes concrete statutory and regulatory recommendations
electricity is the largest single source of CO2 emissions in the nation, accounting for about 40% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 33% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2009.17
The significant increased concentrations of GHGs into our atmosphere since the 1750 Industrial Revolution began greater use of fossil fuel sources have caused our world to warm and
Climate change may be the single greatest threat to human society and wildlife, as well as
ecosystems upon which each depends for survival.19 In 1992, the U.S. signed and ratified the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), whose stated objective was: [s]tabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved
climate to change.18
to the
within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that it is very likely,
at least ninety percent certain, that humans are responsible for most of the
unequivocal increases in globally averaged temperatures of the previous fifty years. 21 Yet in the twenty years
since the UNFCCC, it also is unequivocal that GHG levels have not stabilized but continue to
grow, ecosystems and food production have not been able to adapt, and our heavy reliance on fossil-fueled energy continues dangerous anthropogenic interference with the
climate system.22 Equally unequivocal is that 2011 global temperatures were the tenth
highest on record and [were] higher than any previous year with a La Nina event ,
which [normally] has a relative cooling influence; the warmest 13 years of average global
temperatures [also] have all occurred in the 15 years since 1997. 23 Global emissions of carbon dioxide
proceed in a sustainable manner.20 In 2007,
also jumped 5.9% in 2010 by the largest amount on record -- 500 million extra tons of carbon was pumped into the air, the largest absolute jump in any year since the Industrial
Revolution [began in 1750], and the largest percentage increase since 2003.24 In order to even have a fifty-fifty chance that the average global temperature will not rise more than 2
C25 beyond the temperature of 1750,26 our cumulative emissions of CO2 after 1750 must not exceed one trillion tons; but by mid-July 2012 we had already emitted over 559 billion tons
and rising, and at current rates will emit the trillionth ton in July 2043.27 The consequence is that the current generation are uniquely placed in human history: the choices we make now
in the next 10-20 yearswill alter the destiny of our species (let alone every other species) unalterably, and forever.28 Unfortunately, by the end of 2011 the more than 10,000
government and U.N. officials from all over the world attending the Durban climate change conference29 agreed that there is a significant gap between the aggregate effect of Parties
mitigation pledges in terms of global annual emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020 and aggregate emission pathways consistent with having a likely chance of holding the increase in
global average temperature below 2 C or 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.30 What are some of the growing economic, public health, and environmental costs to our country
proximately31 caused by our daily burning of fossil fuels? The National Research Council (NRC) analyzed the "hidden" costs of energy production and use not reflected in market prices of
coal, oil, other energy sources, or the electricity and gasoline produced from them. For the year 2005 alone, the NRC estimated $120 billion of damages to the U.S. from fossil fuel
energy, reflecting primarily health damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation. Of that total, $62 billion was due to coal-fired
electricity generation; $56 billion from ground transportation (oil-petroleum); and over $2.1 billion from electricity from and heating with natural gas. The $120 billion figure did not
include damages from climate change, harm to ecosystems and infrastructure, insurance costs, effects of some air pollutants, and risks to national security, which the NRC examined but
did not specifically monetize. 32 The NRC did, however, suggest that under some scenarios climate damages from energy use could equal $120 billion.33 Thus, adding natural resource
damages from harm to ecosystems, infrastructure damages, insurance costs, air pollutant costs, and fossil-fueled national security costs to $240 billion, our burning of fossil fuels
appears to be costing Americans about $300 billion each yeara hidden number likely to be larger in the future. What does the future hold for a carbon-stressed world? Most
scientific analyses presently predict that by 2050 the Earth may warm by 2 to 2.5 C due to the rising level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; at the high-end of projections, the
2050 warming could exceed 4.5 C.34 But those increases are not consistent globally; rather, [i]n all possible [predicted] outcomes, the warming over land would be roughly twice the
global average, and the warming in the Arctic greater still.35 For example, the NRC expects that each degree Celsius increase will produce in the U.S. double to quadruple the area
burned by wildfires in the western U.S.; a 5-15 percent reduction in crop yields; more destructive power from hurricanes; greater risk of very hot summers; and more changes in
precipitation frequency and amounts.36 Globally, a summary of studies predicts that a 1C global average temperature rise will reduce Arctic sea ice by an annual average of fifteen
percent and by twenty-five percent in Septembers 37; at 2C Europe suffers greater heat waves, the Greenland Ice Sheet significantly melts, and many land and marine species are
driven to extinction; at 3C the Amazon suffers severe drought and resultant firestorms that will release significantly more carbon into the atmosphere38; at 4C hundreds of billions of
tons of carbon in permafrost melt, releasing methane in immense quantities, while the Arctic Ocean ice cap disappears and Europe suffers greater droughts.39 To presently assess what
a 5C rise will mean, we must look back into geological time, 55 million years ago, when the Earth abruptly experienced dramatic global warming due to the release of methane
hydrates--a substance presently found on subsea continental shelves. Fossils demonstrate that crocodiles were in the Canadian high Arctic, breadfruit trees were growing on the coast of
Greenland, and the Arctic Ocean saw water temperatures of 20 C within 200km of the North Pole itself.40 And a 6C average rise takes us even further back, to the end of the Permian
period, 251 million years ago, when up to 95% of species relatively abruptly became extinct.41 This may sound extreme, but the International Energy Administration warned this year
that the 6C mark is in reach by 2050 at current rates of fossil fuel usage.42 However, even given the severity of these forecasts, many still question the extent that our climate is
changing,43 and thus reject moving away from our largely fossil-fueled electricity, transportation and heating sources. Therefore, in this next subsection I provide the latest scientific
data documenting specific climate impacts to multiple parts of U.S. and global daily lives, and the costly consequences that establish the urgency for undertaking the major regulatory
reforms I recommend in Part III of this Article. B. Specific Climate Threats and Consequences 1. When Weather Extremes Increase A 2011 IPCC Special Report predicted that it is
virtually certain [99-100% probability] that increases in the frequency of warm daily temperature extremes and decreases in cold extremes will occur throughout the 21st century on a
It is very likely that

average sea level rise will contribute to upward trends in extreme sea levels and extreme
coastal high water levels. 44 Similarly, a House of Representatives Committee report (ACESA Report) found that [ t]here is a broad scientific consensus
that the United States is vulnerable to weather hazards that will be exacerbated by
climate change.45 It also found that the cost of damages from weather disasters has increased markedly from the 1980s, rising to more than $100 billion in 2007. In
global scale. It is very likely [90% to 100% probability] that heat waves will increase in length, frequency, and/or intensity over most land areas.
addition to a rise in total cost, the frequency of weather disasters costing more than one billion dollars has increased."46 In 2011, the U.S. faced the most billion-dollar climate disasters
ever, with fourteen distinct disasters alone costing at least $53 billion to our economy.47 In the first six months of 2012 in the U.S., there were more than 40,000 hot temperature
The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report identified

impacts from growing weather hazards upon public health to include: more frequent and more intense heat waves; more people suffering
death, disease and injury from floods, storms, fires, and droughts; increased cardiorespiratory morbidity and mortality associated with ground-level ozone pollution ;
changes in the range of some infectious disease carriers spreading, for example,
malaria and the West Nile virus; and increased malnutrition and consequent disorders.49 As noted above,
records, horrendous wildfires, major droughts, oppressive heat waves, major flooding, and a powerful derecho wind storm.48
$120 billion per year of the NRCs Hidden Energy reports damage assessment were based on health damages,50 including an additional 10,000-20,000 deaths per year.51 And by 2050,
cumulative heat-related deaths from unabated climate change are predicted to be an additional 33,000 in the forty largest U.S. cities, with more than 150,000 additional deaths by
Weather extremes also threaten our national security, whose policy is premised on stability. In 2007 the CNA
Corporations report National Security and the Threat of Climate Change described climate change as a threat
multiplier for instability and warned that p]rojected climate change poses a serious threat to America's national security. The predicted effects of
climate change over the coming decades include extreme weather events, drought, flooding, sea level rise, retreating
glaciers, habitat shifts, and the increased spread of life-threatening diseases . These
conditions have the potential to disrupt our way of life and to force changes in the way we keep ourselves safe and secure.53 The
following year, in the first-ever U.S. government analysis of climate change security threats, the National Intelligence Council issued
an assessment warning, in part, that climate change could threaten U.S. security by
leading to political instability, mass movements of refugees, terrorism, and
conflicts over water and other resources.54 2. When Frozen Water Melts In 2007 the IPCC predicted that sea levels would rise by
2100.52
8 to 24 inches above current levels by 2100; since then, however, numerous scientists and studies have suggested that the 2007 prediction is already out-of-date and that sea levels will
likely rise up to 1.4 meters (55 inches) given upwardly trending CO2 emissions.55 The 2009 ACESA Report found that rising sea levels are already causing inundation of low-lying lands,
corrosion of wetlands and beaches, exacerbation of storm surges and flooding, and increases in the salinity of coastal estuaries and aquifers. Further, about one billion people live in
areas within 75 feet elevation of today's sea level, including many US cities on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, almost all of Bangladesh, and areas occupied by more than 250 million
people in China.56 This year NASAs Chief Scientist testified to Congress that two-thirds of sea level rise from the last three decades is derived from the Greenland and Antarctic ice
sheets and the melting Arctic region, then warned: [t]he West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS), an area about the size of the states of Texas and Oklahoma combined.contains the
equivalent of 3.3 m of sea level, and all that ice rests on a soft-bed that lies below sea level. In this configuration, as warm seawater melts the floating ice shelves, causing them to
retreat and the glaciers that feed them to speed up, there is no mechanism to stop the retreat and associated discharge, if warming continues. Thus the WAIS exhibits great potential for
substantial and relatively rapid contributions to sea level rise. In Greenland, the situation is not as dramatic, since the bed that underlies most of the ice is not below sea level, and the
potential for unabated retreat is limited to a few outlet glaciers. In Greenland, however, summer air temperatures are warmer and closer to ices melting point, and we have observed
widespread accumulation of meltwater in melt ponds on the ice sheet surface..57 In the West Antarctic ice sheet region, glacier retreat appears to be widespread, as the air has
warmed by nearly 6F since 1950.58 As for Greenlands Ice Sheet, it also is at greater risk than the IPCC had thought. Recent studies with more complete modeling suggest that the
warming threshold leading to an essentially ice-free state is not the previous estimate of an additional 3.1C, but only 1.6C. Thus, the 2C target may be insufficient to prevent loss of
much of the Ice Sheet and resultant significant sea level rise.59 The ACESA Report also identified the Arctic as one of the hotspots of global warming60 because [o]ver the past 50
years average temperatures in the Arctic have increased as much as 7 F, five times the global average.61 Moreover, in 2007, a record 386,000 square miles of Arctic sea ice melted
away, an area larger than Texas and Arizona combined and as big a decline in one year as had occurred over the previous decade.62 Arctic sea ice is melting faster than climate
models [had] predict[ed], and is about thirty years ahead of the 2007 IPCC predictions, thus heading toward the Arctic Ocean being ice-free in the late summer beginning sometime
between 2020 and 2037.63 How is the Arctics plight linked to non-Arctic impacts? The Arctic region arguably has the greatest concentration of potential tipping elements in the Earth
system, including Arctic sea ice, the Greenland ice sheet, North Atlantic deep-water formation regions, boreal forests, permafrost and marine methane hydrates.64 Additionally:
Warming of the Arctic region is proceeding at three times the global average.Loss of Arctic sea ice has been tentatively linked to extreme cold winters in Europe Near complete loss
of the summer sea ice, as forecast for the middle of this century, if not before, will probably have knock-on effects for the northern mid-latitudes, shifting jet streams and storm tracks.65
Since 1980, sea levels have been rising three to four times faster than the global average between Cape Hatteras, N.C. and Boston.66 [P]ast and future global warming more than
doubles the estimated odds of century or worse floods occurring within the next 18 years for most coastal U.S. locations.67 Although land-based glacier melts are not major
contributors to sea level rise, they do impact peoples food and water supplies. Virtually all of the world's glaciers, which store seventy-five percent of the worlds freshwater, are
receding in direct response to global warming, aggravating already severe water scarcity--both in the United States and abroad.68 While over fifteen percent of the world population
currently relies on melt water from glaciers and snow cover for drinking water and irrigation for agriculture, the IPCC projects a sixty percent volume loss in glaciers in various regions
and widespread reductions in snow cover throughout the twenty-first century.69 Likewise, snowpack has been decreasing, and it is expected that snow cover duration will significantly
increases food insecurity by

reducing yields of grains, such as corn and wheat, from increased water scarcity and
intensification of severe hot conditions, thereby causing corn price volatility to
sharply increase.71 Globally, the number of people living in "severely stressed" river basins will increase by one to two billion people in the 2050sAbout two-thirds of the
decrease in eastern and western North America and Scandinavia by 2020, and globally by 2080.70 Climate change thus
global land area is expected to experience increased water stress.72 3. When Liquid Water Warms Over the past century, oceans, which cover seventy percent of the Earths surface,
are warming. Global sea-surface temperature has increased about 1.3F, while the heat has also penetrated almost two miles into the deep ocean.73 This increased warming is
contributing to the destruction of seagrass meadows, causing an annual release back into the environment of 299 million tons of carbon.74 Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide
concentrations also are leading to higher absorption of CO2 into the upper ocean, making the surface waters more acidic (lower Ph).75 [O]cean chemistry currently is changing at least
100 times more rapidly than it has changed during the 650,000 years preceding our [fossil-fueled] industrial era.76 The acidification has serious implications for the calcification rates of
Coral reefs, the habitat for about a quarter of (over a

million ) of marine species, are collapsing, endangering more than a third of all coral
species77; indeed, temperature thresholds for the majority of coral reefs worldwide are
organisms and plants living at all levels within the global ocean.
expected to be exceeded, causing mass bleaching and complete coral mortality. 78

[T]he productivity of plankton, krill, and marine snails, which compose the base of
the ocean food-chain, [also] declines as the ocean acidifies ,79 adversely impacting
populations of everything from whales to salmon80 -- who also are being harmed by
the oceans warming up. 81 Extinctions from climate change also are expected to be
significant and widespread. The IPCC Fourth Assessment found that approximately 20-30% of plant and animal species assessed so far are likely to be
at increased risk of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5-2.5C82a range likely to be exceeded in the coming decades. [R ]ecent studies
have linked global warming to declines in such [] species as [] blue crabs, penguins, gray whales, salmon, walruses, and
ringed seals[; b]ird extinction rates are predicted to be as high as 38 percent in Europe and 72 percent in northeastern Australia, if global warming exceeds 2C above pre-industrial
one species will face extinction every twenty

minutes; the current extinction rate is one thousand times faster than the average
during Earth's history, 84 in part because the climate is changing more than 100 times
faster than the rate at which many species can adapt .85 4. When Land Dries Out The warming trends toward the Earths
levels.83 Between now and 2050, Conservation International estimates
poles and higher latitudes are threatening people not just from melting ice and sea level rise, but also from the predicted thawing of permafrost of thirty to fifty percent by 2050, and as
much or more of it by 2100.86 The term permafrost refers to soil or rock that has been below 0C (32F) and frozen for at least two years.87 Permafrost underlies about twenty-five
percent of the land area in the northern hemisphere, and is estimated to hold 30 percent or more of all carbon stored in soils worldwidewhich equates to four times more than all the
carbon humans have emitted in modern times.88 Given the increasing average air temperatures in Eastern Siberia, Alaska and northwestern Canada, thawing of the Northern permafrost
would release massive amounts of carbon dioxide (doubling current atmospheric levels) and methane89 into the atmosphere. Indeed, there are about 1.7 trillion tons of carbon in
northern soils (roughly twice the amount in the atmosphere), about eighty-eight percent of it in thawing permafrost.90 Permafrost thus may become an annual source of carbon equal to
fifteen to thirty-five percent of today's annual human emissions.91 But like seagrass meadows and unlike power plant emissions, we cannot trap or prevent permafrost carbon emissions
at the source. Similarly, forests, which cover about 30 percent of the Earth's land surface and hold almost half of the world's terrestrial carbonact both as a source of carbon
emissions to the atmosphere when cut, burned, or otherwise degraded and as a sink when they grow...92 A combination of droughts, fires, and spreading pests, though, are causing
economic and environmental havoc:. In 2003, [] forest fires in Europe, the United States, Australia, and Canada accounted for more global [carbon] emissions than any other
source...93 There have been significant increases in both the number of major wildfires and the area of forests burned in the U.S. and Canada.94 Fires fed by hot, dry weather have
killed enormous stretches forest in Siberia and in the Amazon, which recently suffered two once a century droughts just five years apart.95 Climate change also is exacerbating the
geographic spread and intensity of insect infestations. For example, in British Columbia the mountain pine beetle extended its range north and has destroyed an area of soft-wood forest
three times the size of Maryland, killing 411 million cubic feet of treesdouble the annual take by all the loggers in Canada. Alaska has also lost up to three million acres of old growth
forest to the pine beetle.96 Over the past fifteen years the spruce bark beetle extended its range into Alaska, where it has killed about 40 million trees, more than any other insect in
North America's recorded history.97 The drying and burning forests, and other increasingly dry landscapes, also are causing flora and fauna[ to move] to higher latitudes or to higher
altitudes in the mountains. 98 The human and environmental costs from failing to promptly reduce dependence on carbon-dioxide emitting sources for electricity, heating and
Rather than being the leader among major countries in per capita
GHG emissions, our country urgently needs to lead the world in cutting eighty percent our
emissions by 2050, and using our renewable energy resources and technological
advances to help other major emitting countries do the same. However, significantly
increasing our use of carbon-free renewable sources to protect current and future
generations of all specieshuman and non-humanrequires concrete changes in
how our legal system regulates and permits renewable energy sources . One of those
sources with the potential for significant energy production and comparable elimination of fossil fueled
greenhouse gases near major American and global population sources is offshore wind. II. THE OFFSHORE WIND POWER PERMITTING AND LEASING OBSTACLE
COURSE A. Overview of Technology and Attributes As noted in the Introduction, offshore wind energy projects have the potential to
generate large quantities of pollutant-free electricity near many of the worlds major population
centers, and thus to help reduce the ongoing and projected economic, health, and environmental damages from climate
change.99 Wind speeds over water are stronger and more consistent than over land,
and have a gross potential generating capacity four times greater than the nations
present electric capacity.100 The net capacity factor101 for offshore turbines is
greater than standard land-based turbines, and their blade-tip speeds are higher
than their land-based counterparts.102 Offshore wind turbine substructure designs mainly fall into three depth categories: shallow (30 m or
transportation are dire and indisputable.
less), transitional (>30 m to 60 m), and deep water (>60 m).103 All of the grid-scale offshore wind farms in Europe have monopole foundations embedded into the seabed in water
depths ranging from 5m to 30m; the proposed American projects such as Cape Wind in Massachusetts and Block Island in Rhode Island would likewise be shallow-water installations.
Offshore wind is comparatively the cleanest and most

productive renewable energy
Jensen 13 partner in the Washington, DC office of Holland & Hart LLP
(Thomas, et al, From the 35th Public Land Law Conference: Balancing Act and
Paradigm Shift: The Role of Public Lands in America's Energy Future: Oceans: Are
Ocean Wind Turbines like Homesteads and Gold Mines and Railroads? A Public Lands
Policy Question for the Climate Change Era, 34 Pub. Land & Resources L. Rev. 93)
The ocean wind resource in United States marine waters is estimated to be as large
as 4,223 gigawatts ("GW"), 12 with as many as 1,372 terawatt hours of electricity
available off the East Coast alone. 13 The low estimate of the resource is roughly
four times the generating capacity of the current United States electric grid. 14
Ocean wind is a green energy asset owned by the American people. It is an energy
source for the country that will be available forever. It can be found in undeveloped
areas near almost all coastal urban centers. It is of a potential scale that dwarfs
most other alternatives, and is big enough to shrink the United States' carbon
footprint toward fitting even the most constrictive greenhouse gas policy. [99]
Today, America's ocean wind energy is unharvested. While thousands of turbines
spin onshore, and nations around the globe have developed at least 57 marine wind
projects, 15 no turbines have been sited in United States waters. An energy
resource area larger than the total landmass of the United States, 16 one wholly
owned by the American people, is unused and wasted as a tool to power our
communities.
Full-scale offshore wind would enough electricity for the entire

country
Levitan 13 - writes about energy, the environment, and health. His articles have been published by Scientific American,
Discover, IEEE Spectrum, Grist, and others. In previous articles for Yale Environment 360, he has written about vehicle-to-grid
technology for electric cars and cities' efforts to recycle food scraps and organic waste
(Dave, Will Offshore Wind Finally Take Off on U.S. East Coast?,
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/will_offshore_wind_finally_take_off_on_us_east_coast/2693/)
The East Coast is the Saudi Arabia of offshore wind, because there is enough
energy there to provide the entire U.S. with electricity if it was fully
developed, says Matt Huelsenbeck, a marine scientist and offshore wind expert
with the non-profit group Oceana. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, part
of the Department of Energy, puts the onshore and offshore U.S. wind energy
potential at 4,150 gigawatts, around four times the entire electricity requirements of
the United States. The Northeast and mid-Atlantic coasts in particular are windy
spots with water depths that make development feasible.
Electricity-emissions reductions sufficiently solve global

warming
Akorede 12 - .F., Ph.D degree in Electrical Power Engineering from Universiti Putra Malaysia
(H. Hizam,M.Z.A. Ab Kadir,I. Aris,S.D. BubaElectrical & Electronic Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra
Malaysia, Mitigating the anthropogenic global warming in the electric power industry, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
16.5) IF
Power industry's share of CO2 emissions To identify the most productive mitigation strategies, it is crucial to understand the current as well as the
projected sources of GHGs, most especially CO2[30]. Looking at Fig. 5, it is glaringly evident that CO2 constitutes the largest share (76.7 percent) of the
in 2004. In the same vein, energy supply sector which comprises of

power generation and heat supply, accounted for nearly 26 percent of the overall
anthropogenic GHG emissions in the same year, as depicted in Fig. 6. To narrow down to CO2 emissions, Fig. 7 identifies
total global GHGs emissions recorded
individual contribution of each sector to global CO2 emissions. As a group, energy supply, which is responsible for 41 percent of the total global CO2 is by
far the largest producer of CO2 in 2008, followed by the transportation sector. In fact, it is glaringly visible in the figure that these two sectors alone
out of the 41 percent

of the man-made CO2 emissions mentioned previously, the power sector is
responsible for 37 percent. The sector creates about 23 billion tons of global CO2
constitute two-thirds of the total CO2 in the atmosphere in the year. According to the International Energy Agency,
emissions per year. Out of this, the United States produces the most CO2 from
electricity generation, releasing 2.8 billion tons of CO2 each year , while China is close to overtaking
it with her annual 2.7 billion tons emissions [31]. By this amount, China CO2 emissions in electric supply sector is about half of the country's total volume,
even though plans are still underway to expand her coal-fired facilities in the next decade [8]. In the UK, 38 percent of GHG emissions produced is from
energy supply sector [32]. Carbon dioxide emissions by source compiled in 2005 by Information Analysis Center, World Resources Institute (WRI) for the
year 2000 is plotted and shown in Fig. 8. The emissions sources considered are CO2 emitted primarily in to the air from burning of solid fuels (SF) such as
coal, liquid fuels (LF) such as petroleum products, gaseous fuels (GF), e.g. natural gas, gas flaring (GL), cement manufacturing (CM), and land-use change
(LU). All together, it is evident from the plots that 73.3 percent of the total anthropogenic CO2 emissions in the atmosphere is from fossil fuels burning.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Outlook (IEO2010) [33] has forecasted the world energy demand at 739 quadrillion Btu in 2035. This figure is
equivalent to 49 percent increase of the energy consumed in 2007, estimated at 495 quadrillion Btu. To adequately cope with the projected demand, the
said document similarly projected a growth in the generation of 95.12 MWh in the same period. Fig. 9 illustrates the energy mix of the projected
from 2007 to 2035. From the figure, it is seen that the world net coal-fired generation nearly
doubles over the projection period, from 7.9 trillion kWh in 2007 to 15.0 trillion kWh in 2035. It
is apparent in the reference case that coal continues to fuel the largest share of
worldwide electric power production by a wide margin of 43 percent of the total
generation. With this scenario, all things being equal, more GHGs are expected to
be emitted into the atmosphere, leading to more globalwarming. Due to this fact,
the power generation sector, which is projected to grow at an annual rate of 2
percent, is seen to have the greatest potential to reduce CO2 emissions in the
coming decades [30]. To accomplish this goal, the CO2 emissions per kWh of electrical energy produced can be reduced by using newer and
generation
novel power production technologies. Current retrofit technology is theoretically available, but will likely be substantially more expensive per unit of power
generated, than would be the case for new plants with CO2 capture [30]. To mitigate globalwarming arising from the power industry, various areas and
Since the
highest amount of CO2 is generated in the power sector, curbing the CO2 produced
in this sector would go a long way in mitigating global warming . To address this issue, it
approaches are suggested and discussed in details in the following section of this paper. 6. Mitigating globalwarming in power sector
is suggested in [4] to decarbonise the power sector by at least 60 percent by 2050 since coal emits about 1.7 times as much carbon per kWh of energy
produced as natural gas and 1.25 times as much as oil. However, the task to accomplish this is not an easy one, as elaborated in the later part of this
paper. Other measures proposed for addressing globalwarming in the realm of power generation identified and discussed in this study include adoption of
carbon capture and storage technology, improvement in energy efficiency, increasing the use of renewable energy, increasing the share of nuclear power
generation, and decarbonisation of fossil fuels. Each of these possible mitigation techniques is discussed in turn in the following subsections
A2: CP links to PTX
Bipartisan Support
Counterplan is popular with both parties
Conathan 13 (Michael Conathan is the Director of Ocean Policy at the Center for American Progress, 2/28/13, Center
For American Progress, Making the Economic Case for Offshore Wind,
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/report/2013/02/28/54988/making-the-economic-case-for-offshore-wind/) IF
If there is one thing that Republicans and Democrats can agree on when it comes to
Americas energy future, it is that we should be doing everything we can to generate as much of our
power from domestic sources as possible. The Brattle Groups analysis shows that development of a large-scale
offshore wind energy industry in the United States is not only economically viable but is also a key means of diversifying
and developing our domestic energy portfolio. Given the uncertainty inherent in predicting future market conditions and
commodity prices, this study provides ample evidence that the Obama administration is acting prudently and
proactively by prioritizing offshore wind development through programs such as Smart from the Start. One
of the catchphrases that gets tossed around cavalierly in Washington by both political parties is the need for an all-ofthe-above energy strategy. But the reality is that no true all-of-the-above strategy can be complete if it leaves out a commercially
viable, renewable, and domestic resource with the potential to make major contributions to meeting our countrys energy needs.
Offshore wind is popular no political opposition

Michael Conathan, Center for American Progress Director of Ocean Policy, 1-312013, Filling the Sails of Offshore Wind Energy, Climate Progress,
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/01/31/1521031/filling-the-sails-of-offshorewind-energy/?mobile=nc DA: 6/5/14
The U.S. offshore wind industry is beginning to emerge from the political doldrums that
clouded its early days, and it is finding champions in Congress, as well as in the Obama
administration. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) led legislation to ensure that offshore wind is covered by key tax provisions that had
previously only applied to onshore wind. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) championed funding for offshore wind development, including a
Governors such as Martin OMalley (D-MD) and Deval Patrick (D-MA)

have prioritized offshore wind development as well . They view it as a political
victory on multiple frontscreating sorely needed jobs in construction, operation, and maintenance, and contributing to a
diverse energy portfolio while moving us closer to renewable energy targets and away from polluting fossil fuels. As political
opposition falls away from offshore wind projects, opponents are turning more toward economic arguments against
deepwater pilot project in her home state of Maine.
further development of this technology, suggesting it will increase electricity rates and ultimately cost jobs.
Party platforms prove offshore wind support is bipartisan

Jensen 13 partner in the Washington, DC office of Holland & Hart LLP
(Thomas, et al, From the 35th Public Land Law Conference: Balancing Act and Paradigm Shift: The Role of Public Lands in America's
Energy Future: Oceans: Are Ocean Wind Turbines like Homesteads and Gold Mines and Railroads? A Public Lands Policy Question for
the Climate Change Era, 34 Pub. Land & Resources L. Rev. 93) IF
Federal lawmaking is usually an inefficient and difficult process, rarely more so than now. The difficulties seem particularly
acute in relation to proposals to legislate on climate or energy policy. Anyone watching Capitol Hill today will see little
encouragement that the Republican-led House of Representatives and the Democratic-led Senate will find common ground to do anything on those two
, however, note that the Republican and Democratic party

platforms from the 2012 presidential election can be juxtaposed in a way that suggests an area of
possible agreement. Both platforms acknowledge the importance of the United
States' natural resources, 230 and both agree that the country should develop
renewable energy. The Republicans' platform calls for policies aimed "at energy
issues in the near future. An optimist would
security to ensure an affordable, stable, and reliable energy supply for all parts of
the country" and Democrats urge promotion of "smart policies that lead to greater
growth in clean energy generation and result in a range of economic and social
benefits." 231 The Republican platform "encourages the cost-effective development of
renewable energy." 232 It promotes a "pathway toward a market-based approach for renewable energy sources" and one that
"aggressively develops alternative sources for electricity generation such as wind." 233 However, it does so with the caveat that "the taxpayers [144]
should not serve as venture capitalists for risky endeavors." 234 The party instead believes that the "role of public officials must be to encourage
responsible development across the board." 235 The party would "let the free market and public's preferences determine the industry outcomes." 236
The Democratic platform does not endorse privatizing natural resource development, but strongly endorses the
need to address global climate change. 237 The Democrats "commit to significantly
reducing the pollution that causes climate change." 238
Congress will support the plan

Schroeder, 10 --- J.D., University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (October
2010, Erica, California Law Review, Turning Offshore Wind On, Vol. 98, No, 5,
Lexis)
This revision could come in tandem with revisions to the Energy Policy Act or as part
of an entirely new energy agenda. President Barack Obama has [*1663] repeatedly
expressed interest in a new trajectory for energy policy in the United States that
focuses on climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy
independence. n269 Congress could take advantage of this momentum to make
these related revisions to the CZMA as well. In fact, reform of an existing, familiar
set of regulations, like the CZMA, may be more palatable to Congress, and an
easy first step to take with regard to renewable energy.
A2: Onshore wind solves

Only offshore has enough wind to solve more power is key
Snyder and Kaiser 08 (Brian Snyder is a research associate at the Center for Energy Studies. His research
interests include offshore wind energy, the ecological impacts of energy production, climate change policy, and alternative energy,
MJ Kaiser is a research correspondent at the Center for Energy Studies, 12/25/2008, Elsevier, Ecological and economic cost-benefit
analysis of offshore wind energy, http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0960148108004217/1-s2.0-S0960148108004217-main.pdf?_tid=750b84e60b5a-11e4-9b1d-00000aacb35d&acdnat=1405344566_65588e101fd9bde8664a74bb17304df5)
Offshore winds are generally stronger and more constant than onshore winds. As a result, turbines
are expected to operate at their maximum capacity for a larger percentage of the
time, and the constancy of wind speed reduces wear on the turbine and provides a more constant
source of power to the electrical grid reducing the need for other sources of
electricity to serve as backups [14]. The increase in wind speed leads to a 150%
increase in electricity production for offshore wind turbines [15] and an increase in the
capacity factor of the wind farm from about 25 to 40%
Research
1NC
The United States federal government should place longduration ice camps in the Polar Regions.
Counterplan solves Arctic research
National Research Council 1995, (A joint report by the Committee on the
Arctic Research Vessel, Ocean Studies Board, Polar Research Board, National
Research Council, Arctic Ocean Research and Supporting Facilities: National Needs
and Goals, //hss-RJ)
Ice camps are the most basic, simplest, and perhaps lowest cost platforms for
some applications. In general the locations are stable and they are not spacelimited in the area surrounding the site. The camps are usually put onsite,
supported, and removed by aircraft or helicopters . There are two types of camps,
based on their projected duration. Long-duration camps are those that will be
operational for prolonged periods of time and tend to be occupied year-round. Ice
islands, such as the former T-3, are examples of this type of camp. Short-term
camps are those occupied briefly, usually for a specific purpose or mission. They are
highly portable and are usually configured for specific research missions. Often they
are satellites of a long-duration camp. When they can be used, ice camps are the
platform of choice for many investigators. An ice camp has been used
successfully in a number of studies and will be used extensively in the Surface Heat
Budget (SHEBA) project planned for spring 1997. Ice camps can provide a longterm station for sampling and an opportunity for coring sediments . They have
limitations, however. They do not provide for work in the open ocean or marginal ice zone. They are also unsuitable for horizontal
sampling of the water with trawls. Large camps move with the ice and cannot be relocated to specific areas of interest. Small camps
cannot support some important science facilities. The cost of ice-camp-based studies can range from $600 to $4,000 per person per
day, depending on such factors as the amount of support needed from ships and aircraft for a given experiment. Helicopters
Small helicopters can be carried aboard research vessels and can be

staged from ice camps. Used for both research tasks and logistic support, these
vehicles offer a high degree of mobility and operational flexibility. In relation to the
machines of just 10 to 15 years ago, modern helicopters are reliable and reasonably
easy to maintain in the field.
2NC Solvency
Ice camps are amazing and solves arctic research
comparatively better than the aff
Gossett 2003, (Jeff Gossett is the Technical Director at the Arctic Submarine
Laboratory and served as the Test Coordinator at APLIS-03, Life on an Eggshell, [
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_20/eggshell.htm ] , //hss-RJ)
In the gloom of the early polar spring, hundreds of miles north of Alaska, a group of
Navy and civilian personnel assembled a small village on the ice to help improve the
performance of our submarines in Arctic climates . Named after the research center at the University of
Washington that helped build it, this camp was called The Applied Physics Laboratory Ice
Station, or APLIS. Nothing about the installation was luxurious, but for five weeks
this spring, it hosted a submarine tracking range, a science laboratory, a small
airport, and the only source of hot meals for 200 miles in any direction. Why an Ice Camp?
Over the past several decades, the Navy has fielded several ice camps in support of
submarine Arctic research and development . The last such camp considerably smaller was built in
support of Science Ice Exercise (SCICEX) 99 with USS Hawkbill (SSN-666). That 1999 expedition was Hawkbills
second cruise in support of a five-year, collaborative research and data-collection
program sponsored by the submarine community, the Office of Naval Research
(ONR), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). ICEX-03 provided USS Connecticut (SSN-22) her
second opportunity to visit the Arctic as a follow-up to earlier operations in the summer of 2001, when the under-ice capabilities of
the USS Seawolf (SSN-21) class were exercised for the first time. [Ed. Note: See A New Era in the Arctic, in the Summer 2001 issue
of UNDERSEA WARFARE.] The primary purpose for Connecticuts participation this year was to test Mk 48 ADCAP torpedoes in an
A key advantage of
establishing a camp on the ice itself is the stable venue it provides for deploying a
tracking range and sensors for testing underwater weapons under the ice cover.
Such installations have been used frequently in the past to support the recovery of
exercise torpedoes during similar weapons evaluations. Establishing APLIS-03 To support
this years exercise, the Navy needed a large and very stable ice floe to install a
tracking range, build a runway, and support surface travel by personnel with
relative safety over a radius of several miles. Given all of the logistical
alternatives icebreakers, aircraft, and building on the ice the last was
clearly the only option for this exercise. Just after Connecticut surfaced during ICEX-03, this young
Arctic environment, but they couldnt have done it without support on the surface.
polar bear was attracted by the tip of the ships rudder protruding through the ice. After investigating Connecticut for approximately
40 minutes, the animal left the area, with no damage to the boat or the bear. These images were seen through the ships periscope
Establishing an ice camp is as

much art as science. APLIS-03 started out about 180 nautical miles north of Prudhoe
Bay, Alaska, in the southern Beaufort Sea. To get that far from land requires fixed-wing aircraft because of
and captured by projecting them on a flat panel display. Photo by Mark Barnoff
their greater range, carrying capacity, and speed in comparison to a helicopter. To land an airplane on sea ice requires two things a
smooth surface thick enough to support the weight of the aircraft, and daylight. These two constraints, along with the required
longevity required of the ice floe, limited the available timeframe for the ice camp to the months of March and April. Before March,
there is insufficient sunlight for pilot visibility. After the end of April, the ice pack becomes unstable, increasing the risk to both
Finding a suitable location for an ice camp requires

a fine understanding of the Arctic Ocean and sea ice. For this, we called upon
decades of experience at the Navys Arctic Submarine Laboratory (ASL) in San
Diego and the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington (APL/UW).
aircraft operations and personnel living on the ice.
Early in March, APL/UWs Fred Karig (the APLIS Camp Manager) and ASLs Dan Steele (the APLIS Officer-in-Charge) visually surveyed
several candidate ice floes from the air. Together, they provided the expertise needed to recognize stable ice, the conditions
required for landing aircraft, and the kind of floe able to support ice camp operations. In practice, having found a spot that appears
suitable, the pilot first attempts a touch-and-go landing to confirm the strength of the ice. If that proves sufficient, he makes a full
landing to allow the others on the aircraft to debark and confirm the suitability of the site for setting up a camp. Once this initial
investigation is complete and everyone is back onboard, the party continues the search and evaluation process at other potential
locations. After the best site was selected, support aircraft initiated several flights each day to ferry the tons of equipment needed to
Bit by bit, a small

village appeared on the frozen sea ice, emerging as a fully-functioning camp only
three weeks after the first reconnaissance flight . Life at the Camp APLIS-03 was the first large camp
construct a small encampment. First the living huts and the all-important mess tent were constructed.
established by the Navy since 1993. During most of the tests with Connecticut, it was home for 50 to 60 men and women, with the
population peaking at 70 on one particularly busy day. Keeping that many people fed that far from civilization was a real
accomplishment; keeping them fed each day with three delicious, high-calorie, hot meals was phenomenal Some of the camps
features were similar to those found in primitive villages anywhere. There were six-man bunkhouses more affectionately known as
hooches home to the shifting population of APLIS residents. There were unpaved streets running through the village that became
There was a small electrical plant with power lines supplying all
of the buildings. There was a small doctors office. And, like all proper villages, there
was a vigorous social life centered around a small diner the mess hall where
residents could always pick up a meal or just a cup of coffee while meeting with
their fellow townspeople.
roads leading to outlying areas.
Russia Relations
1NC
Text: The United States federal government should repeal
sanctions on Russia and stop pushing European Union
sanctions.
Lifting sanctions key to avert cold war Russian relations
Jessica Michele Herring Staff Writer for the Latin Post; 7/17/14; Latin Post;
Russian Prime Minister Says New Sanctions Could Set Russian Relations Back to
Cold War Era; http://www.latinpost.com/articles/17453/20140717/russian-primeminister-new-sanctions-set-relations-back-cold-war.htm
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that the new sanctions levied
against Russia could set Russian relations with other countries back to the Cold War era.
Medvedev said the sanctions are crippling Russia's economy. "Any sanction is evil. They don't add any optimism for the economy or
for the people and never bring any obvious success," he said "during a government meeting," according to Russian news source RIA
Novosti. "We will simply return to the '80s in relations with states that are introducing these sanctions," he said. The Cold War era
increased tensions between Western nations and Russia, including the U.S. and NATO members. NATO imposed strict sanctions on
Russian politicians and the economy during the 1980s. The sanctions were lifted when the Cold War ended in 1991 following the fall
The U.S. Treasury announced a Sectoral Sanctions Identification list

Wednesday that affects Russian companies, as well as the energy, defense and banking sectors of
the Russian economy. The sanctions were imposed because of the crisis in Ukraine and particularly
because of Russia's annexation of Crimea in March. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the new sanctions
could bring diplomatic ties between U.S. and Russia to a halt.
of communism.
Relations Solvency
New sanctions kill relations negotiation key
Peter Baker White House correspondent for the New York Times and James
Kanter - a staff correspondent for The International Herald Tribune covering
European business affairs; 7/16/14; New York Times; Raising Stakes on Russia,
U.S. Adds Sanctions; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/europe/obamawidens-sanctions-against-russia.html?_r=0
The disparate moves suggested a widening gulf in the response to the crisis in
Ukraine and may dilute the impact of the American actions. But both sides
emphasized their continued solidarity on the basic demands that Moscow halt the
flow of fighters and weapons across the border with Ukraine, support a cease-fire
and help facilitate the release of hostages held by pro-Russian separatists. What
we are expecting is that the Russian leadership will see, once again, that its actions
in Ukraine have consequences, including a weakening Russian economy and
increasing diplomatic isolation, Mr. Obama told reporters in an early-evening
appearance in the White House briefing room. Russia quickly denounced the moves
and vowed to retaliate. We condemn those politicians and bureaucrats who are
behind such actions, Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister, told the
Interfax news agency. Mr. Ryabkov said that Moscow would respond with
countermeasures that would be quite painful and serious. President Vladimir V.
Putin said the sanctions would boomerang and push relations between the United
States and Russia to a dead end. The sanctions harm the national long-term
interests of the American state, the American people, Mr. Putin told reporters
Wednesday evening in Brasilia at the end of a six-day trip to Latin America. Its a
great pity that our partners are following this path, the Russian president said. But
our doors are open for the negotiating process, for a way out of this situation.
Cyber Attacks Solvency

Sanctions cause Russian cyber-attacks
Mike Jackson Professor of Academic Quality and enhancement at Birmingham
City University; 7/22/14; Policy Review; Russia could respond with cyber-warfare if
pushed too far; http://www.policyreview.eu/russia-could-respond-with-cyberwarfare-if-pushed-too-far/
Today David Cameron meets with other European leaders to discuss what action
they can take against Russia. They will decide how they can encourage the Russian
government to disassociate itself from insurgency in the Ukraine. It is likely they will
set out a set of sanctions that will negatively affect the Russian economy. They may
also seek to renege on arms agreements, writes Mike Jackson. If all goes to plan Mr.
Putin will see the error of his ways and acquiesce to the demands made by his
fellow heads of government. He may decide that his territorial ambitions are
subservient to his countrys financial position. He may reason that good relations
with other powers carries more weight than a minor victory on his borders. On the
other hand he may decide to retaliate. In the old days retaliation might have
involved physical armies and weaponry invading a country such as Czechoslovakia
or Hungary. It might even have involved the threat of nuclear war. In these more
modern days, Russia is more likely to consider economic warfare. Many European
countries rely on imports from Russia to support their own economies. Germany, for
example, is very dependent on Russian gas and oil. The Russian premier may,
however, have another card up his sleeve, one that could potentially be as
damaging as a nuclear bomb to Western economies. Everything we do today seems
to rely on the use of computers. Our industry would stop if its computers failed; our
home lives would be radically altered if all our information technology equipment
stopped working. Is such a thing within Mr Putins power? There are fears that it is.
Many cyber security experts believe eastern European hacker groups are directly
funded by Russia and that they have the wherewithal to cause western government
computers to crash. In March this year BAE Systems (a major UK defence supplier)
reported they had been attacked by an eastern European hacker group. They
evaluated this as being a highly sophisticated attack. A computer that had been
successfully attacked by the group would be completely under its control. In other
words, the group could ask the computer to send data to them or they could at will
close the computer down. Further investigation showed that this group may have
been in operation since 2005. Interestingly, the activity of the group seems to have
increased as the Ukrainian crisis has deepened.
2NC Alt Cause Kick

Not going for the counterplan concede the perm is just a test
of competition
Russian sanctions are a huge alt cause to cooperation Putin
said he will halt diplomatic relations thats 1NC Herring
prefer it in context of current events that the aff doesnt
assume
New sanctions kill relations
Peter Baker White House correspondent for the New York Times and James
Kanter - a staff correspondent for The International Herald Tribune covering
European business affairs; 7/16/14; New York Times; Raising Stakes on Russia,
U.S. Adds Sanctions; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/europe/obamawidens-sanctions-against-russia.html?_r=0
The disparate moves suggested a widening gulf in the response to the crisis in
Ukraine and may dilute the impact of the American actions. But both sides
emphasized their continued solidarity on the basic demands that Moscow halt the
flow of fighters and weapons across the border with Ukraine, support a cease-fire
and help facilitate the release of hostages held by pro-Russian separatists. What
we are expecting is that the Russian leadership will see, once again, that its actions
in Ukraine have consequences, including a weakening Russian economy and
increasing diplomatic isolation, Mr. Obama told reporters in an early-evening
appearance in the White House briefing room. Russia quickly denounced the moves
and vowed to retaliate. We condemn those politicians and bureaucrats who are
behind such actions, Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister, told the
Interfax news agency. Mr. Ryabkov said that Moscow would respond with
countermeasures that would be quite painful and serious. President Vladimir V.
Putin said the sanctions would boomerang and push relations between the United
States and Russia to a dead end. The sanctions harm the national long-term
interests of the American state, the American people, Mr. Putin told reporters
Wednesday evening in Brasilia at the end of a six-day trip to Latin America. Its a
great pity that our partners are following this path, the Russian president said. But
our doors are open for the negotiating process, for a way out of this situation.
AT: EU Key
US key pushing EU to model sanctions
Terry Atlas Senior writer for Foreign Policy/National Security Team, and Jonathon
Allen - Washington Bureau Chief; 7/21/14; Bloomberg; Obama Seen Gaining on
Putin as U.S. Prods EU on Sanctions; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0721/obama-seen-gaining-on-putin-as-u-s-prods-eu-on-sanctions.html
President Barack Obamas response to the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17
over Ukraine reflects the consensus of U.S. officials that time, evidence, and world
opinion are increasingly on his side as he takes on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Secretary of State John Kerry cited the tragedy yesterday in an effort to prod
Europeans into expanding sanctions against Russia, even at some peril to their own
economies, in an effort to break Putins support for pro-Russian Ukrainian
separatists. We are trying to encourage our European friends to realize this is a
wake-up call, Kerry said on Fox News Sunday, invoking a phrase used last week
by Obama. U.S. officials, some speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss
administration strategy, said the shooting down of the civilian jetliner - blamed by
the U.S. on pro-Russian separatists armed by Russia - should ignite anti-Putin
sentiment and push reluctant EU countries to catch up to the more stringent
sanctions the U.S. had imposed last week. Dutch and other European citizens were
among the 298 passengers and crew that perished. This gives Obama confidence
that the U.S. and EU can prevail over Putin in the short-run -- overcoming European
reluctance to expand sanctions -- just as the Obama administration believes it will
prevail in the long-run over a Russia that has a battered economy and a leader who
is overplaying a weak hand, the officials said.
US push is driving EU sanctions will pass

Terry Atlas Senior writer for Foreign Policy/National Security Team, and Jonathon
Allen - Washington Bureau Chief; 7/21/14; Bloomberg; Obama Seen Gaining on
Putin as U.S. Prods EU on Sanctions; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0721/obama-seen-gaining-on-putin-as-u-s-prods-eu-on-sanctions.html
While the timing for EU decisions isn't set, two European diplomats said previously
resistant members such as Italy now are shifting. The bloc's foreign ministers are
scheduled to meet on July 22, and top leaders may meet as early as this week,
according to the diplomats, who asked that they not be identified because the plans
haven't been announced. The US and its allies have the capability to further
squeeze Russia through punitive measures such as sanctions against entire sectors
of its economy, though they want to leave open a course for Mr Putin to back down,
officials say. Europeans may hesitate to ramp up a fight when they need Mr Putin's
influence with the rebels to permit the recovery of passengers' remains and an
international investigation. The EU foreign ministers at their meeting in Brussels will
consider blacklisting more Putin associates and, for the first time, Russian
companies accused of profiting from Ukraine's woes. Defence Industry Britain is
pushing for the EU to sanction the entire Russian defence industry, a British official
said in London on condition of anonymity. France has repeatedly rebuffed calls to
cancel its sale of two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia. The airline disaster follows
months of US efforts to persuade the Europeans to raise the costs on Mr Putin for
his efforts to destabilise Ukraine. Mr Obama was "absolutely prepared" to consider
more sanctions and the EU should do likewise, Mr Kerry said on ABC's This Week
with George Stephanopoulos.
AT: Germany
Plane crash shifted German opinion now pushing EU
sanctions
Xinhua News Agency; 7/23/14; Global Post; Germany calls for quick
decisions on further EU sanctions over Ukraine;
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140723/germanycalls-quick-decisions-further-eu-sanctions-over-ukra
The German government on Wednesday expressed support for EU decisions to
introduce further sanctions over Ukraine situation and called for quick decisions on
this issue. In a government statement issued Wednesday, Deputy Government
Spokesman Georg Streiter said despite some progress, the German government did
not see "full cooperation" of militants in eastern Ukraine in clarifying the Malaysian
Airlines flight crash and ensuring international experts unhindered access to the
crash site, as well as in recovering bodies and securing plane wreckage and
retrieved belongings of the victims. As a result, German Chancellor Angela Merkel
supports decisions of the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday, which saw "a
substantial package of sanctions" if Russia does not exert its influence at the
required level, according to Streiter.
Soft Power
1NC
investment in Information and Communications Technology
(ICT).
ICT improves soft power, net benefit is democracy
Abbas Abasov 07, National Australian University and the Australian Institute of
International Affairs,
On the other hand, the benefits of incorporating ICT into diplomacy mostly outweigh
the problems it creates. First of all, e-tools enable foreign services to deliver
diplomacy in a faster and more cost-effective way. Secondly, digital outreach
provides access to a much bigger audience. The number of people getting involved
in diplomacy through new media tools is incomparable to the traditional way of
doing things. As John Duncan puts it, the sheer power of the internet is amply
illustrated by the fact that my [his] presentation was watched live by over 4,000
people online and he adds that it is almost impossible to think of any way one could
do it physically 16 .Furthermore, democratization of the diplomacy through active
use of new media provides voiceless masses with a platform to express their
concerns. This ensures that the foreign service is accountable and transparent.
2NC Solvency
ICT solves soft power
Ehiane, Osezua Stanley and Mosud, and Yinusa Olumoye, No Date, These people
wrote an article for International Affairs and Global Strategy, Information and
Communication Technology (Ict) and
Diplomacy: A Conceptual Overview,
www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/IAGS/article/download/9615/9725
This is a different global environment in which international affairs and diplomacy
has been brewing for more than forty years. The new environment that has now
clearly emerged is a complex product of three broad, interrelated, and continuing
revolutions, not just the information revolution . First was the end of cold war, since then the role of
ideology in diplomacy has decreased (Leguey, 2009). This brought some sanity to a precariously balanced arena that had the
potentiality of erasing humanity off the face of Earth. Subsequently, the stand-off between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United
States of America became a International Affairs and Global Strategy www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-574X (Paper) ISSN 2224-8951 (Online)
A new political environment arose due to changes in

political value. This revolution did not replace the nation-state or displace the still central role of state actors, but it did add
Vol.17, 2013 40 thing of little significance.
drastically to the number of consequential entities and important players on the international scene. State actors increased in the
1960s with the emergence of newly independent colonial states of Africa and Asia and their induction into the international system
as sovereigns. But it was not only the state actors that increased in size, the increasing number of Multinational Organisation (MNO),
Non governmental Organisations (NGO), Intergovernmental Organisation (IGO) as well as Transnational Media Corporations (TMCs),
has added to the complexity of international relations (Majid, 1993), thereby raised a new issue with diplomacy. The diplomatic
representation of non-state actors increased and the European Union (EU) enjoys the privilege of attending economic summits such
as the G-8 summit. As the number of non-state actors increase, they continue to change the nature of new diplomacy (Baylis, 2001).
While, intergovernmental agencies continue to prefer bilateral negotiations, MNOs begin to use multilateral meetings. The economic
power of MNOs supersedes individual states and their resources and wealth are greater than the member states of the UN (Gilpin,
1987) The second factor is an economic revolution that has erupted, driven by the forces of liberalization, privatization, and
globalization. This revolution has created an insatiable demand for information and transparency, as well as for open political
processes. This revolution has also increased the number of players of concern on the global stage and change in global worldmarket transform the nature of diplomacy as well. Melissen and Wiseman, 1999 summarised postmodern diplomacy as a system in
which both state and non-state actors can participate simultaneously. In this case, diplomat needs to be prepared to negotiate with
business diplomat as a result of the increasing number and participation of business diplomats in diplomacy. Saner and Yiu, (2003)
concludes that there are six new diplomatic functions of modern diplomats, the new roles are: Economic, Commercial, Corporate,
business, national NGO and transnational NGO diplomacy, this express the fact that the direct effect of globalisation are clearly
the information
revolution; it is a factor that drives all the other factors. Advanced information
technologies have provided new communication tools that altered existing
hierarchies and power relationships among global actors. Beyond these enabling
effects, the information revolution and the new international environment that it
fostered have made information itself a crucial source of national power and
influence. Former United state secretary of state recognises diplomatic communication as one of the important skills a diplomat
visible on diplomacy, as they change their roles into a business-like function. The third element is
should posses (Albright, 2008). Sucharipa, (2002) also emphasised the roles of diplomat in communication, but do not explain how
These trends have substantial impacts on diplomacy, affecting

both the content and the conduct of the diplomatic enterprise necessary for
successful transformation of the international arena . Furthermore, these trends offer
promise of an improved security environment compared with that of the more
dangerous Cold War period. Even though the impacts of these three trends are largely positive, this new
environment is substantially more dynamic, complex, hard to understand, and
therefore challenging existence of states and the practice of diplomacy.
diplomat should prepare for it.
Solar Radiation Management
1NC Solar Radiation Management CP

The United States federal government should substantially
increase investment in Solar Radiation Management
technology
SRM is a quick, effective solution to warming
M. Granger Morgan and Katharine Ricke, Department of Engineering and
Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, 2010, Cooling the Earth Through Solar
Radiation Management: The need for research and an approach to its governance,
The International Risk Governance Council (IRGC),
http://www.irgc.org/IMG/pdf/SRM_Opinion_Piece_web.pdf
There is a way to cool the planet quickly.
A few times every century, nature provides a practical

demonstration of this fact when an explosive volcanic eruption lofts millions of tons of SO2 gas and ash high into
the stratosphere. Once there, the SO2 is converted into fine sulphate particles. These particles reflect sunlight
before it has a chance to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere and get absorbed. For example, the eruption of
The fraction
of sunlight that is reflected back into space is called the planetary albedo. There is
nothing new about the idea of modifying the climate by increasing albedo. Scientists
Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines (Figure 1) in 1991 produced global scale cooling of about 0.5C.
have known for many years that this could be done9. However, until very recently, there has been almost no
serious research on how to do SRM, on what it might cost, on how well it might work, or what its undesirable side
effects and risks might be. We believe that there are two reasons the climate research community has not devoted
serious research attention to these issues: Scientists have been reluctant to divert scarce research funds away
from the urgent task of studying the climate system, climate change, and its impacts. Scientists have been
legitimately concerned that studying this topic might increase the likelihood that someone might actually do it.
Humans have a dismaying track record of changing their intentions as their capabilities change. In our view,
today the world has passed a tipping point and there are two reasons why it is too
dangerous not to study and understand SRM: 1. There is a growing chance that
some part of the world will find itself pushed past a critical point where, for
example, patterns of rainfall have shifted so much that agriculture in the region can
no longer feed the people. Believing this shift is the result of rising global temperatures, such a region
might be tempted to unilaterally start doing SRM to solve its problem. If this situation arises, and no research has
been done on SRM, the rest of the world could not respond in an informed way. (9) In addition to adding small
reflective particles to the stratosphere, other methods such as increasing marine cloud brightness or placing mirrors
in space, have been proposed. Here we concentrate on reflective particles in the stratosphere, though many of the
With luck, the major effects of climate

change will continue to occur slowly, over periods of decades. However, if the world
is unlucky and a serious change occurs very rapidly, the countries of the world
might need to consider collectively doing SRM. If this situation arises, and no research has been
climatic effects would be similar with other SRM methods. 2.
done, SRM would involve a hopeful assumption that the uncertain benefits would outweigh the uncertain and
perhaps unknown costs. While there is great uncertainty about SRM,
we are confident that it
has three
essential characteristics: it is cheap, fast and imperfect10. CHEAP: The classification of SRM activities as
cheap doesnt just refer to the low economic costs associated with cooling the planet with these mechanisms, but
also to the fact that only a little bit of material is necessary to implement these planetary-scale changes, which can
offset the influence of tons of CO2. For example, under the current understanding of SRM technologies, the mass of
fine particles needed to counteract the radiative effects of a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentrations is
approximately 2.6 million tons per day of aerosol if injected into marine stratus clouds or 13,000 tons per day of
sulphate aerosol if injected into the stratosphere. By comparison, to achieve the same radiative effect (whether by
artificial or natural means), we would need to remove 225 million tons per day of CO2 from the atmosphere for 25
years straight11. While few realistic engineering analyses have been done on the economic costs of SRM, a 1992
report of the U.S. National Research Council12 estimated the potential costs of a programme of stratospheric
albedo modification based on the use of a standard naval gun system dispensing commercial aluminium oxide dust
to counteract the warming effect of a CO2 doubling. Undiscounted annual costs for a 40-year project were
estimated to be USD100 billion. More recent analyses13,14, have suggested that well designed systems might
reduce this cost to less than USD10 billion per year clearly well within the budget of most countries, and much
less costly than any programme to dramatically reduce the emissions of CO2. For additional details on costs see
While cutting emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases would slow or
halt their rising concentrations in the atmosphere, much of the CO2 released
through past emissions will reside in the atmosphere for 100 years or more. In
addition, inertia in the climate system means that global temperatures will continue
to rise. Reducing planetary temperatures through emissions reductions will take
many decades to centuries. In contrast, increasing planetary albedo by doing SRM can
reduce planetary temperature in days or months. This fast response cuts two ways. On the one
hand, it means that SRM could be used to rapidly cool the planet in the event of a
climate emergency, such as the rapid deterioration of the Greenland ice sheet15 or the sudden release of
Box 3. FAST:
large amounts of methane from arctic tundra or the deep edges of the coastal oceans. On the other hand, if SRM
were started and then stopped before greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere were drastically reduced,
then global temperatures could shoot up dramatically16. This would be devastating for many ecosystems.
SRM CP Spending NB
SRM is cheap.
CHEAP: The classification of SRM activities as cheap doesnt just refer to the low
economic costs associated with cooling the planet with these mechanisms, but also
to the fact that only a little bit of material is necessary to implement these
planetary-scale changes, which can offset the influence of tons of CO2. For example,
under the current understanding of SRM technologies, the mass of fine particles
needed to counteract the radiative effects of a doubling of atmospheric CO2
concentrations is approximately 2.6 million tons per day of aerosol if injected into
marine stratus clouds or 13,000 tons per day of sulphate aerosol if injected into the
stratosphere. By comparison, to achieve the same radiative effect (whether by
artificial or natural means), we would need to remove 225 million tons per day of
CO2 from the atmosphere for 25 years straight11. While few realistic engineering
analyses have been done on the economic costs of SRM, a 1992 report of the U.S.
National Research Council12 estimated the potential costs of a programme of
stratospheric albedo modification based on the use of a standard naval gun system
dispensing commercial aluminium oxide dust to counteract the warming effect of a
CO2 doubling. Undiscounted annual costs for a 40-year project were estimated to be
USD100 billion. More recent analyses13,14, have suggested that well designed
systems might reduce this cost to less than USD10 billion per year clearly well
within the budget of most countries, and much less costly than any programme to
dramatically reduce the emissions of CO2. For additional details on costs see Box 3.
SRM is the most cost-effective.

BOX 3: How much might SRM cost? Nobody knows exactly what the cost of a fullscale implementation of SRM would be. We can, however, make a crude estimate. A
1992 National Research Council report1 estimated the undiscounted annual costs
for a 40-year project to be USD100 billion. A report from Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory2 suggested that well designed systems might reduce this cost
to as little as a few hundred million dollars per year. We can use those two reports
to estimate cost to be between USD100 million and USD100 billion per year. The
size of the global economy is roughly USD60x1012 per year. So: (0.1-100 x109
USD/year)/60x1012 USD/year is roughly 0.0002% to 0.2% of world GDP/year. How
does this compare with the cost of reducing emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse
gases? Today, the world is emitting about 50x109 tons per year CO2 equivalent of
greenhouse gases (of which about 30x109 is CO2). The IPCC 4th assessment3
reports that: Modeling studies show that global carbon prices rising to USD2080/tCO2equivalent by 2030 are consistent with stabilization at around 550ppm CO2equivalent by 2100. For the same stabilization level, induced technological change
may lower these price ranges to USD5-65/tCO2-equivalent in 2030. So: (50x109
tCO2-eq)(5 to 65USD/tCO2-eq) = 250 to 3300x109 USD/year. (0.25 to 3.3x1012
USD/year)/60x1012 USD/year is roughly 0.4% to 5.5% of world GDP/year In short, it
is probably safe to assume that the direct monetary cost of doing SRM would be at
least 100 times less than the cost of a full programme of greenhouse gas
abatementand perhaps even cheaper than that!
Warming CPs
Some oil CPs (below) also solve warming
Trees
1NC Trees CP
increase tree planting.
Planting trees solves warming
Arnold Nadler, mechanical engineer, urban/regional planner, taught at
universities, consulted/written on energy, environment, economics and
technologies, June 2004, Carbon Sequestration: Can It Help Beat Back Global
Climate Change? Public Power, magazine of the American Public Power Association
http://www.publicpower.org/Media/magazine/ArticleDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=2104
Much research will be needed before ocean fertilization moves beyond the concept stage. There could be removal
of atmospheric CO2 at costs as low as $2/ton of CO2 removed, plus enhancement of fish life. However, another
study suggests that although fish catches in the Southern Hemisphere might increase, there could be significant
decreases in tropical waters. A University of Rhode Island study concluded that shallow living organisms, such as
shelled mollusks and corals, are already being damaged by increasing CO2 concentrations in upper layers of the
oceans. If a growing tree removes CO2 from the atmosphere (and it does), should that count as
carbon sequestration? If owned by a power plant, should it count as an emissions credit offsetting CO2 discharged
in stack gases? Scale that up to millions of trees and a coal-burning utility, and you have an important economic,
Trees and other vegetation convert CO2 to oxygen,

and store carbon in their living matter, in wood products and in the soil. Through
these processes, almost a quarter of CO2 emissions globally from fossil fuel and
cement production are removed from the atmosphere. In the U nited States, it is estimated
that urban trees alone sequester about 23 million tons of carbon annually. This is
about 1.5 percent of U.S. carbon emissions . Analyzing NASA satellite data, researchers estimate
that during the 1980s and 1990s, forests in the United States, Europe and Russia
were storing nearly 0.7 gigatons/year of carbon. This was equivalent to about a
quarter of energy-generated carbon emissions from these three regions. The United
environmental and public policy question.
States has argued that the increasing size of our eastern forests and our use of no-till farming raises the nations
carbon absorption rates and therefore is part of our carbon sequestration portfolio. According to one State
Department estimate, our terrestrial biological sequestration should count for 0.3 gigatons/year of carbon absorbed.
If accepted, this number would account for roughly half of our emissions reductions that would have been required
by the Kyoto protocols. American Electric Power Co. emits more CO2 than any other utility in the United States.
According to a Wall Street Journal article (Dec. 10, 2003), AEP emits about 167 million tons of CO2 annually, about 3
building cleaner power plants would cost

$50 to $75 per ton of CO2 avoided. AEP estimates that growing trees costs about $1 to
$2/ton of CO2 sequestered. Assuming that eventually the United States would adopt a carbon emissions
reduction program, in the mid-1990s several U.S. power companies began planting forests to
capture CO2. AEP did the bulk of its planting abroad, in countries such as Brazil, where the growing season is
long and land is cheap. It was assumed that carbon credits would apply globally .
percent of the U.S. total. The power industry estimates that
Trees CP Solvency
Tree planting effective in the SQ.
RAZAQ AYINLA, Thursday, 19 April 2012, Global Warming: Ogun to plant 1.5m
trees, Business Day News, http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/cityfile/city-file/36122-global-warming-ogun-to-plant-15m-trees
Ogun State government says it is set to combat the destructive effects of global
warming, desert encroachment and deforestation with the planting of 1.5 million
trees across the state under an afforestation programme, tagged Green
Revolution. Falilu Sabitu, the state commissioner for Forestry, disclosed in
Abeokuta that state government planned to plant 1.5 million trees in order to stem
the tide of the global climate change as climatic condition continues to reverberate
in the forms of rising temperatures and sea levels, leaving behind its trail disasters
in the form of floods, desertification and other environmental degradation. Falilu
stated that the state government would achieve its set target on afforestation
through the massive utilisation of 1.5 million tree seedlings allotted to Ogun State
by the Federal Government under the National Afforestation Programme. The
forestry boss, who was represented at a stakeholders forum held in Abeokuta by
the Director of Horticulture in the ministry, Oladipo Odeyemi, confirmed that about
1.5 million tree seedlings that were allotted to the state, would be distributed freely
to schools, churches, and mosques in addition to other stakeholders in the forestry
business. He stated that the step was necessary to combat serious desertification
and deforestation coupled with the green house effect resulting from gas emission,
domestic and industrial pollution, adding that indiscriminate human action had
contributed in no small measure to complicating the present climate change that
characterised the global weather. The commissioner, however, declared that tree
planting was a panacea to the present condition, stating that trees on their own
have the ability to absorb green house effects.
Trees CP Spending NB
Planting trees is very cheap.
Much research will be needed before ocean fertilization moves beyond the concept stage. There could be removal
of atmospheric CO2 at costs as low as $2/ton of CO2 removed, plus enhancement of fish life. However, another
study suggests that although fish catches in the Southern Hemisphere might increase, there could be significant
decreases in tropical waters. A University of Rhode Island study concluded that shallow living organisms, such as
shelled mollusks and corals, are already being damaged by increasing CO2 concentrations in upper layers of the
oceans. If a growing tree removes CO2 from the atmosphere (and it does), should that count as
carbon sequestration? If owned by a power plant, should it count as an emissions credit offsetting CO2 discharged
in stack gases? Scale that up to millions of trees and a coal-burning utility, and you have an important economic,
Trees and other vegetation convert CO2 to oxygen,

and store carbon in their living matter, in wood products and in the soil. Through
these processes, almost a quarter of CO2 emissions globally from fossil fuel and
cement production are removed from the atmosphere. In the U nited States, it is estimated
that urban trees alone sequester about 23 million tons of carbon annually. This is
about 1.5 percent of U.S. carbon emissions . Analyzing NASA satellite data, researchers estimate
that during the 1980s and 1990s, forests in the United States, Europe and Russia
were storing nearly 0.7 gigatons/year of carbon. This was equivalent to about a
quarter of energy-generated carbon emissions from these three regions. The United
environmental and public policy question.
building cleaner power plants would

cost $50 to $75 per ton of CO2 avoided. AEP estimates that growing trees costs
about $1 to $2/ton of CO2 sequestered. Assuming that eventually the United States would adopt a
carbon emissions reduction program, in the mid-1990s several U.S. power companies began
planting forests to capture CO2. AEP did the bulk of its planting abroad, in countries such as Brazil,
where the growing season is long and land is cheap. It was assumed that carbon credits would apply
globally.
Artificial Trees CP
1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government should implement a
strategy to use artificial trees.
Artificial Trees take in CO2 which Solves Warming
Bland 9 (Eric, April 16, Eric Bland writes about science and technology for Discovery News,
ARTIFICIAL TREES COULD COOL CLIMATE, http://news.discovery.com/tech/artificial-trees-coolclimate.html
A new kind of tree could cool the planet by removing a major greenhouse gas from
the planet's atmosphere. What researchers are calling artificial trees, actually towers filled
with various materials that adsorb carbon dioxide from the air, could play a major
role in reducing climate change -- if they prove profitable. "This is an industry still in its infancy," said
Billy Gridley of Global Research Technologies, LLC, the company creating the C02-scrubbing towers. "This will
eventually rival the size of today's energy markets." GRT's artificial tree is based on an
environmentally friendly resin, originally developed by Klaus Lackner, a professor at Columbia University in New
York. The alkaline resin reacts with acidic carbon dioxide, holding it in place. After one hour exposed to the air, the
resin is completely saturated with CO2. Dry resin soaks up the CO2.
Adding water releases the CO2,

which is then captured and stored. Drying the resin again restores its abilities, a cycle that can be
repeated indefinitely. Over 24 hours Gridley estimates an artificial tree, containing about 32,800 feet of resin, will
harvest about one ton of CO2 each day. When the first artificial tree is ready, two to three years from now, it will
cost about $150 for each ton, Gridley estimates. When the technology is fully mature, the price will be as low as
$20. GRT plans to sell the purified CO2 to a range of buyers .
Oil and natural gas companies are

probably the biggest customers for the artificial trees. Petroleum companies pump
CO2 underground to raise the pressure and force oil to the surface. Greenhouses
could pump in extra C02 to help plants grow. Fizzy soda drinks and sanding auto parts also require
concentrated CO2. All of these customers currently get CO2 by truck or by pipeline, most of which originates in
The advantage of the artificial trees is that they can be placed next to
whatever factory needs CO2 without having to ship it in. Another use for the
artificial trees would be in the cap-and-trade carbon credit system. The idea is that
companies that produce CO2 would pay another company, like GRT, to get rid of it.
Texas.
The most likely place to put the C02 is in the salt-lined caverns that once held oil, a process known as carbon
sequestration. Wherever the CO2 is placed, at least it is out of the atmosphere , said David
Keith, a professor at the University of Calgary in Canada, who developed his own artificial, C02-catching towers
years ago and is working to refine his models. Keith, GRT, and other organizations aren't trying to profit from
climate change; they are looking to prevent or at least slow it. "Nobody doubts that this is doable," said Keith. "It's
a matter of doing it at cost, and right now it's still unclear how that can be done."
Building Artificial is the best way to solve warming

Banks 9 (Michael, April 27, Michael Banks is news editor of Physics World, Engineers call for
'artificial trees' to reduce CO2, http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2009/aug/27/engineers-call-forartificial-trees-to-reduce-carbon-dioxide)
Constructing a forest of 'artificial trees' is one of the most promising technologies to

remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere , according to a report published by the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the UK. The report also calls for a national UK programme for research and
development into "geoengineering" projects that could provide a better understanding of the risks and costs of
manipulating the climate.
Most attempts to deal with climate change involve reducing
emissions of CO2
and in December the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen will
attempt to set binding targets for lowering such emissions for the first time. Yet even an agreement to cut CO2
emission by 50% by 2050 may not be enough to stop the planet's average temperature rising by 2 C by the end of
the century. Geoengineering deliberate intervention into the climate system to counteract man-made global
warming offers an alternative approach. The new report, Geoengineering Giving us Time to Act?, looks at
different geoengineering options for tackling climate change, including adding iron to the oceans to produce
phytoplankton blooms that then absorb CO2 and constructing giant sunshades in space that can reflect the Sun's
rays.The authors led by Tim Fox, head of environment and climate change at the Institution of Mechanical
constructing fly-swat-shaped "artificial trees" is the most promising

approach to reducing CO2. Such a tree would work by letting air pass through into
the structure and then catching the CO2 via a "sorbant" material, such as sodium
hydroxide. The CO2 is then removed and buried underground in a similar manner to
conventional carbon capture and storage. According to the report, constructing 100,000 such
Engineers found that
"trees" each costing around $20,000 would require 600 hectares of land but would be enough to remove the
CO2 from the UK's homes and transport system.
Artificial trees solve better than the AFF, we can take CO2 out of the
atmosphere
MSNBC No Date (Green-energy ideas so crazy they just might work,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38730065/ns/technology_and_science-future_of_energy/t/green-energyideas-so-crazy-they-just-might-work/#.UBH04LSe6So)
Chances are that CO2-emitting forms of energy generation are not going to
completely go away any time soon, and even if they do, the atmosphere would
retain their legacy of greenhouse gases. That's where the structure shown in this drawing comes into play.
Researchers are hoping it will behave like a tree and scrub carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere. The so-called artificial tree is one of several ideas under development
that use a proprietary absorbent material to trap carbon dioxide from the air . The gas
is then stored, and the absorbent material is recycled to capture even more carbon dioxide.
Iron Dumping CP
1NC
Text: The United Nations should allow and implement a
strategy of Ocean Fertilization.
Ocean Fertilization solves Warming; Decreases the Amount of
CO2
Horton 8 ( Jennifer, March 18, raduated from Emory University, where she earned a B.S. in
environmental studies. How can adding iron to the oceans slow global warming?,
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/iron-sulfate-slow-globalwarming2.htm)
Global warming has become one of the leading issues of the 21st century . As scientists
predict more ominous scenarios, like Floridabeing underwater within decades, people are demanding action.
Enter forward-thinking scientists and companies like Planktos and Climos, who
propose adding iron to the world's oceans to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide
levels and, in turn, to decrease temperatures. The idea of dumping iron in the
oceans to lower temperatures has been around since the late 1980s and has been known
variously as carbon sinking, ocean seeding or iron fertilization. The premise is actually simple. Iron acts as a
fertilizer for many plants, and some, like the phytoplankton that form the base of
the marine food web, need it to grow. Adding iron to the water stimulates
phytoplankton growth, which in turn gobble up carbon dioxide through
photosynthesis. The resulting decrease in carbon dioxide is supposed to help reduce
temperatures since carbon dioxide is one of the main gases responsible for trapping
heat on the earth's surface through the greenhouse effect. Numerous iron dumping trials have
been conducted since oceanographer John Martin suggested the idea more than 15 years ago [source: Haiken].
One trial conducted in 2004 indicated that each atom of iron added to the water
could draw between 10,000 and 100,000 atoms of carbon out of the atmosphere by
encouraging plankton growth [source: Schiermeier]. Some scientists theorize that adding
iron to the Southern Ocean alone could reduce carbon dioxide levels by 15 percent
[source: Schiermeier]. Scientist Oliver Wingenter suggests a more cautious approach, arguing that adding massive
amounts of iron to the ocean could cause a major cooling of more than 10 degrees Celsius [source: Wingenter].
He recommends fertilizing just 2 percent of the Southern Ocean to cause a 2 degree

Celsius cooling and to set back the tipping point of global warming 10 or more year s
[source: Wingenter]. Instead of focusing on cutting carbon dioxide levels, Wingenter's research concentrated on
increasing other gases that result from the phytoplankton blooms, namely dimethyl sulfide, or DMS. DMS is largely
responsible for cloud formation in the polar region and could increase cloud reflectivity, which would in turn reduce
temperatures. During his iron fertilization experiments, Wingenter found that adding iron increased the
concentration of DMS five-fold [source: Wingenter].
2NC/1NR Solvency
Dumping Iron into the Oceans solves Warming; takes CO2 out
of the atmosphere
Reuters 12 (July 18, Ocean Fertilization Study Finds That Dumping Iron Might Help Remove
Atmospheric Carbon Through Algae, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/ocean-fertilizationstudy-iron_n_1684020.html)
Dumping iron in the seas can help transfer carbon from the atmosphere and bury it
on the ocean floor for centuries, helping to fight climate change , according to a study
released on Wednesday. The report, by an international team of experts, provided a boost
for the disputed use of such ocean fertilisation for combating global warming. But it
failed to answer questions over possible damage to marine life. When dumped into the ocean, the iron can spur
growth of tiny plants that carry heat-trapping carbon to the ocean floor when they die, the study said. Scientists
dumped seven tonnes of iron sulphate, a vital nutrient for marine plants, into the Southern Ocean in 2004. At least
half of the heat-trapping carbon in the resulting bloom of diatoms, a type of algae, sank below 1,000 metres (3,300
ft). "Iron-fertilised diatom blooms may sequester carbon for timescales of centuries in ocean bottom water and for
Burying
carbon in the oceans would help the fight against climate change, caused by a
build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that scientists say is raising
temperatures and causing more floods, mudslides, droughts and higher sea levels.
longer in the sediments," the team from more than a dozen nations wrote in the journal Nature.
The study was the first convincing evidence that carbon, absorbed by algae, can sink to the ocean bed. One doubt
about ocean fertilisation has been whether the carbon stays in the upper ocean layers, where it can mix back into
the air. A dozen previous studies have shown that iron dust can help provoke blooms of algae but were inconclusive
about whether it sank. Large-scale experiments with ocean fertilisation using iron are currently banned by the
international London Convention on dumping at sea because of fears about side-effects. "CRYING SHAME" "I am
hoping that these results will show how useful these experiments are," lead author Victor Smetacek of the Alfred
Wegener Institute in Germany told Reuters. "It's a crying shame, honestly," he said of the moratorium, which he
He said that
ocean fertilisation should be overseen by the United Nations and should not be
eligible for carbon credits under U.N. treaties. He said private companies should not be allowed to
run experiments so that proper oversight can be ensured. Ocean fertilisation is one of several
suggested techniques for slowing climate change known as "geo-engineering". Other
said meant that even small-scale experiments were too complex and costly for researchers.
possibilities include reflecting sunlight with giant mirrors in space. "Most scientists would agree that we are nowhere
near the point of recommending ocean iron fertilisation as a geo-engineering tool," Ken Buessler of the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution in the United States wrote in a commentary in Nature. But he added that many thought
that bigger and longer experiments were needed to see if the technology worked. " If
the 50 percent figure

for algal bloom biomass sinking to the deep ocean is correct then this represents a
whole new ball game in terms of iron fertilisation as a geo-engineering technique ,"
said Dave Reay, a senior lecturer in carbon management at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the
study. "Maybe such deliberate enhancement of carbon storage in the oceans has more legs than we thought but, as
the authors acknowledge, it's still far too early to run with it," he said. Smetacek said the publication had been
delayed since 2004 partly because of problems in checking that the 150 square km (60 square miles) patch of
ocean where the iron was dumped - an eddy in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current - had not mixed with waters
outside. The experts said that the input of iron was similar to that found after the melt of icebergs in the oceans iron concentrations in coastal regions tend to be much higher. (Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)
Iron sinks CO2 to the ocean; Solves better than the AFF because we
take it out of the air
Ingram 12 (Richard, July 18, reporter for the AFP, Ocean
fertilization experiment stores CO2, http://www.mnn.com/earthmatters/wilderness-resources/stories/ocean-fertilization-experimentstores-co2)
German researchers on Wednesday said they had evidence that sowing the ocean
with iron particles sucks up and stores carbon dioxide, preventing the gas from
stoking dangerous climate change. But their work, touching on a fiercely controversial issue called
geoengineering, came under attack from other scientists and environmentalists. These said a far bigger question
whether such schemes could damage the marine biosphere remained unanswered. Published in the science
journal Nature, the paper is one of the biggest and most detailed probes into ocean fertilization, a practice that is
Its goal is to take CO2

from the atmosphere and store it in the deep sea so that it no longer adds to the
greenhouse effect. This would be done by scattering the ocean surface with iron
dust, a nutrient for microscope marine vegetation called phytoplankton. As the
plants gorge on the iron, they also suck up atmospheric CO2 thanks to natural
photosynthesis. In the next step, the phytoplankton die and sink to the deep ocean
floor taking with them the CO2, which would lie in the sediment, possibly for
centuries.
banned under international law although scientific research into it is permitted.
Carbon Tax CP
Carbon Tax CP 1NC

Text: The United States Federal Government should implement
a revenue-neutral carbon tax.
A carbon-tax is the only way to reduce emissions corrects
incentives and creates spill-over effects
Carbon Tax Center 10 Why a Carbon Tax?, Carbon Tax Center: Pricing
Carbon Efficiently and Equitably, March 3,
http://www.carbontax.org/introduction/#no-tax-increase
The rationale for a carbon tax is simple: the levels of CO2 already in the Earths
atmosphere and being added daily are destabilizing established climate patterns
and threatening the ecosystems on which we and other living beings depend. Very
large and rapid reductions in the United States and other nations carbon emissions
are essential to avoid runaway climate change and avert resulting severe weather
events, inundation of coastal areas, spread of diseases, failure of agriculture and
water supply, infrastructure destruction, forced migrations, political upheavals and
international conflict. A carbon tax must be the central mechanism for reducing
carbon emissions. Currently, the prices of gasoline, electricity and fuels in general
include none of the costs associated with devastating climate change. This omission
suppresses incentives to develop and deploy carbon-reducing measures such as
energy efficiency (e.g., high-mileage cars and high-efficiency heaters and air
conditioners), renewable energy (e.g., wind turbines, solar panels), low-carbon fuels
(e.g., biofuels from high-cellulose plants), and conservation-based behavior such as
bicycling, recycling and overall mindfulness toward energy consumption.
Conversely, taxing fuels according to their carbon content will infuse these
incentives at every link in the chain of decision and action from individuals
choices and uses of vehicles, appliances, and housing, to businesses choices of
new product design, capital investment and facilities location, and governments
choices in regulatory policy, land use and taxation. A carbon tax wont stop global
climate change by itself other, synergistic actions are required as well. But
without a carbon tax, even the most aggressive regulatory regime (e.g., highmileage cars) and enlightened subsidies (e.g., tax credits for efficiency and
renewables) will fall woefully short of the necessary reductions in carbon burning
and emissions.
Solvency Emissions/Warming
Note: There are more cards in the Hoya-Spartan Adv CP file.
This is not a 2nc block but some additional cards; integrate
them into one file.
Carbon Tax solves econ and warming, B. C. proves
Bauman and Hsu, 12, Yoram Bauman, an environmental economist, is a
fellow at Sightline Institute in Seattle. Shi-Ling Hsu, a law professor at Florida State
University, is the author of The Case for a Carbon Tax. 7/4/12,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/opinion/a-carbon-tax-sensible-for-all.html?_r=1
ON Sunday, the best climate policy in the world got even better: British Columbias
carbon tax a tax on the carbon content of all fossil fuels burned in the province
increased from $25 to $30 per metric ton of carbon dioxide, making it more
expensive to pollute. This was good news not only for the environment but for
nearly everyone who pays taxes in British Columbia, because the carbon tax is used
to reduce taxes for individuals and businesses. Thanks to this tax swap, British
Columbia has lowered its corporate income tax rate to 10 percent from 12 percent,
a rate that is among the lowest in the Group of 8 wealthy nations. Personal income
taxes for people earning less than $119,000 per year are now the lowest in Canada,
and there are targeted rebates for low-income and rural households. The only bad
news is that this is the last increase scheduled in British Columbia. In our view, the
reason is simple: the province is waiting for the rest of North America to catch up so
that its tax system will not become unbalanced or put energy-intensive industries at
a competitive disadvantage. The United States should jump at the chance to adopt
a similar revenue-neutral tax swap. Its an opportunity to reduce existing taxes,
clean up the environment and increase personal freedom and energy security. Lets
start with the economics. Substituting a carbon tax for some of our current taxes
on payroll, on investment, on businesses and on workers is a no-brainer. Why tax
good things when you can tax bad things, like emissions? The idea has support from
economists across the political spectrum, from Arthur B. Laffer and N. Gregory
Mankiw on the right to Peter Orszag and Joseph E. Stiglitz on the left. Thats
because economists know that a carbon tax swap can reduce the economic drag
created by our current tax system and increase long-run growth by nudging the
economy away from consumption and borrowing and toward saving and
investment. Of course, carbon taxes also lower carbon emissions. Economic theory
suggests that putting a price on pollution reduces emissions more affordably and
more effectively than any other measure. This conclusion is supported by empirical
evidence from previous market-based policies, like those in the 1990 amendments
to the Clean Air Act that targeted sulfur dioxide emissions. British Columbias
carbon tax is only four years old, but preliminary data show that greenhouse gas
emissions are down 4.5 percent even as population and gross domestic product
have been growing. Sales of motor gasoline have fallen by 2 percent since 2007,
compared with a 5 percent increase for Canada as a whole. What would a British
Columbia-style carbon tax look like in the United States? According to our
calculations, a British Columbia-style $30 carbon tax would generate about $145
billion a year in the United States. That could be used to reduce individual and
corporate income taxes by 10 percent, and afterward there would still be $35 billion
left over. If recent budget deals are any guide, Congress might choose to set aside
half of that remainder to reduce estate taxes (to please Republicans) and the other
half to offset the impacts of higher fuel and electricity prices resulting from the
carbon tax on low-income households through refundable tax credits or a targeted
reduction in payroll taxes (to please Democrats). Revenue from a carbon tax would
most likely decline over time as Americans reduce their carbon emissions, but for
many years to come it could pay for big reductions in existing taxes. It would also
promote energy conservation and steer investment into clean technology and other
productive economic activities. Lastly, the carbon tax would actually give
Americans more control over how much they pay in taxes. Households and
businesses could reduce their carbon tax payments simply by reducing their use of
fossil fuels. Americans would trim their carbon footprints and their tax burdens
by investing in energy efficiency at home and at work, switching to less-polluting
vehicles and pursuing countless other innovations. All of this would be driven not by
government mandates but by Adam Smiths invisible hand. A carbon tax makes
sense whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, a climate change skeptic or a
believer, a conservative or a conservationist (or both). We can move past the
partisan fireworks over global warming by turning British Columbias carbon tax into
a made-in-America solution.
Carbon tax substantially reduces emissions and gets other
nations on board
Handley 09 James Handley, chemical engineer and attorney who previously
worked in the private sector and for the Environmental Protection Agency, March
11, Imagine: A Harmonized, Global CO2 Tax, Carbon Tax Center,
http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2009/03/11/imagine-a-harmonized-globalco2-tax/
In their seminal report last February, Policy Options for Reduction of CO2
Emissions, Peter Orszag (now Budget Director) and Terry Dinan of the
Congressional Budget Office meticulously compared cap-and-trade with carbon tax
options. They concluded that a carbon tax would reduce emissions five times more
efficiently, primarily because of price volatility under a fixed cap. CBO had no
difficulty imagining a harmonized global carbon tax. Chapter 3 of the OrszagDinan report, International Consistency Considerations, describes straightforward
ways to harmonize carbon taxes. If nations choose different carbon tax rates, border
tax adjustments permitted under World Trade Organization rules authorize highertaxing nations to enact tariffs to equalize tax rates on imported products to the
same levels applied to similar domestically-produced products. Indeed, Rep. John
Larsons new carbon tax bill employs precisely this strategy. In effect, the U.S. would
collect and retain the revenue generated by equalizing carbon taxes on products
imported from countries that havent enacted their own or whose carbon tax rate is
lower than ours. That will provide a powerful incentive for our trading partners to
follow our lead. In contrast, under cap-and-trade, harmonization would require
determining the implicit carbon price in a system where carbon prices are hidden
and fluctuating. The CBO report observed, Linking cap-and-trade programs would
entail additional challenges beyond those associated with harmonizing a tax on
CO2. The report noted, for example, that linked cap-and-trade programs could
create perverse incentives for countries to choose less stringent caps so they could
become net suppliers of low-cost allowances. Or, the report continued, if a country
that did not allow borrowing future allowances linked with a country that did, firms
in both countries would have access to borrowed allowances. CBO concluded that
[O]ther flexible design features such as banking, offsets, and a safety valve
would be available to all firms in a linked system should any one country allow its
firms to comply in those ways. In short, national cap-and-trade systems would be
nearly impossible to harmonize globally because different countries are likely to
enact cap-and-trade systems with differing features that when linked would tend to
defeat or de-stabilize each other. On the other hand, harmonization of domestic
carbon taxes using border adjustments is a familiar and straightforward process for
international trade and tax law experts under WTO.
Carbon Tax is the Most Effective way to Solve Emissions with
many Benefits
Handley, 12 Book Review: The Case for a Carbon Tax, by Shi-Ling Hsu, James
Handley, 7/6/12 http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2012/07/06/book-reviewthe-case-for-a-carbon-tax-by-shi-ling-hsu/
The Case For A Carbon Tax (Island Press, 2011, 233 pp) brings to mind Hans Christian Andersens ugly duckling story. The word tax screams cost
Prof. Hsu reveals the beauty as he

shows why a gradually-rising carbon tax is the least costly and most effective policy
for curbing the pollution driving global warming, and how enacting such a tax can
usher in a new era of clean energy and efficiency. Trained in engineering, law and
economics, Shi-Ling Hsu, a law professor who has just moved from the University of British Columbia to Florida State University,
deftly marshals a multi-disciplinary case for a carbon tax. He opens by describing
and comparing the four main climate policy tools: subsidies, regulations, cap-andtrade, and carbon taxes. Then he briskly articulates ten arguments for a carbon tax, emphasizing economic efficiency
and the advantages of basing a coordinated international system on a simple,
transparent tax. Hsu is especially strong in rebuttal, answering the arguments against carbon taxes, including the oft-repeated assertion
to most people, and so the beauty of a carbon pollution tax isnt apparent on first glance.
that a carbon tax is politically impossible. He dissects psychological hang-ups that have kept the public and elected officials from embracing carbon
Hsu points to British Columbias enactment and implementation of North

Americas first carbon pollution tax, arguing that it is broadly supported because its
revenue is used to reduce taxes for individuals and businesses. As Hsu and Yoram Bauman wrote this
week in their New York Times op-ed, The Most Sensible Tax of All: On Sunday, the best climate policy in the
world got even better: British Columbias carbon tax a tax on the carbon content
of all fossil fuels burned in the province increased from $25 to $30 per metric ton
of carbon dioxide, making it more expensive to pollute. This was good news not only
for the environment but for nearly everyone who pays taxes in British Columbia,
taxes.
because the carbon tax is used to reduce taxes for individuals and businesses. Thanks to this tax swap, British Columbia has lowered its corporate income
tax rate to 10 percent from 12 percent, a rate that is among the lowest in the Group of 8 wealthy nations. Personal income taxes for people earning less
than $119,000 per year are now the lowest in Canada, and there are targeted rebates for low-income and rural households. Hsu crisply articulates the
the idea of taxing pollution rather than productive activity . But he sidesteps
the thorny question of how high to set a carbon tax and how rapidly to increase it. And he does not mention the potential efficiency
advantages of using carbon tax revenues to reduce other taxes such as taxes on
work and thereby use climate policy to improve overall economic well-being. (Economists
theory of Pigouvian taxes
call that a double dividend.) He notes that while British Columbias carbon tax is revenue-neutral, the regressive effects of carbon taxes can be
addressed by a wide variety of other mechanisms, leaving substantial revenue for cash-strapped governments, as recent reports and a new book by the
International Monetary Fund have stressed. Hsu delves into the limitations of EPA regulations, which he shows cannot create the broad incentives for
innovation and planning needed to drive carbon eminssions way down: A [carbon] tax, by imposing a cost on every single ton of pollutant, constantly
engages the polluter with the task of reducing her pollution tax bill. By contrast, a command and control scheme that mandates a one shot, irrevocable
installation of pollution control equipment allows for the polluter to stop thinking about pollution reduction. Why, if compliance is achieved, should the
polluter look for other ways to reduce? There are further problems, too: EPA can too easily be persuaded or intimidated by industry into granting
exemptions and relaxing standards. Hsu also glosses over the enormous effort that would be required to write and enforce permits for each of the
thousands of point sources of CO2. One has to wonder where and how the already-stretched EPA (and state environmental agencies) would find funding
for such a massive undertaking. Hsu neatly unveils the hidden high cost of taxpayer-funded subsidies of renewables and supposed low-carbon fuels.
Subsidies, along with regulations and cap-and-trade with offsets, are attractive to
the public and Congress despite serious limitations on their effectiveness , because their costs
are largely hidden. Not only is Congress notoriously ineffective at picking technology winners, but subsidies create lock-in to incumbent technologies and
businesses, foreclosing opportunities to spur innovation. In contrast, as Hsu shows, a carbon pollution taxs laser focus on CO2 pollution creates incentives
for all low-carbon alternatives, leaving specific technology decisions to engineers rather than politicians. Cap-and-trade with offsets seems to be Hsus
choice for second-best policy; it allows flexibility and could result in a price on carbon pollution, albeit one that is indirect and subject to price volatility.
Happily, Hsu debunks the notion of emissions certainty that was used to sell cap-and-trade, by pointing out that for a stock pollutant such as CO2 that
persists in the atmosphere for a century, the objective must be cumulative rather than annual reductions. Even year-to-year emissions certainty is
vitiated in the European Emissions Trading System by provisions allowing borrowing and banking of allowances as well as by voluminous offsets. Carbon
prices there have remained so low that recent analyses have concluded that industrial facilities will have little incentive to reduce their emissions through
at least 2020. Hsu points out the hidden costs that cap-and-trade would impose on consumers, profiting the financial sector and purveyors of offsets. His
most egregious example: Chinese refrigerant manufacturers who garnered far more revenue from offsets awarded for destroying their greenhouse gas
byproducts than from the sale of their underlying products. As documented by UN and GAO reports, the carbon market paid about 100 times more for the
installation of emissions reducing equipment (an HCFC 23 incinerator) than the price of the equipment. The Chinese refrigerant manufacturer and the
investors in the offset project reaped those windfalls, contradicting claims about the efficiency of cap-and-trade. As Hsu illustrates, evaluating and
verifying offset projects is staggeringly difficult. Applications for hundreds of different project types are submitted to a single U.N. panel with little capacity
to evaluate additionality to determine whether projects would have occurred in the absence of offset funding. Stanford University law professor and
offset expert Michael Wara estimates that 30-50% of offset projects in the U.N. systems should not have been awarded credit, a fraction so large as to
overwhelm any claim of emissions certainty under a cap with offsets. Hsu concludes that linking cap-and-trade internationally would offer constant
, under a tax every country would have an incentive to

scrupulously monitor emissions in order to collect the revenue. Moreover, the
transparency of a carbon tax offers potential for international linkage via World
Trade Organization sanctioned Border Tax Adjustments. WTO rules were built around a consumption tax
opportunities for mischief and arbitrage. In contrast
the European Unions Value Added Tax; Hsu suggests that a carbon tax should similarly be supportable under WTO rules. But he seems to understate the
capacity of Border Tax Adjustments to protect domestic energy-intensive industry while offering a growing monetary incentive to trading partners to enact
their own carbon taxes. Finally, Hsus discussion of the psychology of carbon taxes adds a dimension that we havent seen elsewhere. As behavioral
we humans tend to underestimate the benefits of avoiding

future harms while overestimating the cost to avoid them. And when a harm isnt clearly identified with a
economists like Daniel Kahneman have shown,
specific person or persons, we have difficulty feeling concern. One child trapped in a well evokes national interest and empathy, but because we cant see
or name the millions who might drown or starve because of climate instability, we refuse to bear the near-term price of avoiding catastrophe. And we are
easily misled into thinking that policies whose price is hidden, such as subsidies, regulations or cap-and-trade with offsets, are preferable to a carbon tax.
Hsu proposes that polls disclose the cost of all policy alternatives in order to fairly gauge public opinion. Hsu has managed the difficult task of writing a
book that is at once readable and authoritative, comprehensive and concise in its case for the most broadly effective, least-bureaucratic and least-costly
approach to the climate crisis: a gradually-rising carbon pollution tax. We highly recommend The Case For A Carbon Tax to either the novice or the
experienced reader who is looking for a single source to get either them up to speed or give them further insight on effective climate policy.
Carbon Tax has been Extremely Successful and Effective
Place and Bauman, 12 , ERIC DE PLACE AND YORAM BAUMAN Yoram
Bauman, an environmental economist, is a fellow at Sightline Institute, a regional
sustainability research centre in Seattle. Eric de Place directs Sightline Institutes
energy policy program. 7/9/12, the Sun, Washington, Oregon should take cue from
B.C.s carbon tax,
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/economy/Washington+Oregon+should+tak
e+from+carbon/6908073/story.html
Its been a rough year for climate solutions in Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially pulled the plug on
Canadas participation in the Kyoto accord last December. The move was all the more discouraging for being largely
symbolic: Canadas greenhouse gas emissions trends are nowhere close to achieving the reductions called for by
the agreement. Meanwhile, coal mining and oil extraction are on the rise in Western Canada. Even British
Columbias carbon tax arguably the worlds best climate policy seems at risk of stalling out. Yet on the
occasion of the carbon taxs fourth birthday and final scheduled increase British Columbians have reason for
From our
vantage point south of the border, the carbon tax is a smash hit. Its not perfect, but
it is a working model of a tax shift the sensible idea of taxing things we dont
want (like pollution) and un-taxing things that we do want (like income). Its an idea
that is gaining support in B.C.s West Coast neighbours, Oregon and Washington.
Many economists agree that putting a higher price on carbon is the most effective
strategy for combating climate change. Since B.C.s carbon tax was introduced,
gasoline consumption per capita in the province has dropped by 4.5 per cent, more
than anywhere else in Canada. This modest short-term reduction will lead to more
significant long-term reductions as households and businesses invest in more
energy-efficient cars, homes, workplaces and lifestyles. Plus, B.C.s carbon tax shift
is partly to thank for an income tax that is the lowest in the country, and a
corporate income tax rate that remains among the lowest in the G7. Lower-income and
good cheer. With apologies to Shakespeare, we come not to bury the carbon tax but to praise it.
rural residents receive tax rebates, and some simple tweaks to the tax would ensure greater fairness and equity
going forward. Skeptics would do well to remember that ending the carbon tax would mean cutting government
services or, more likely, just taxing something else probably something B.C.s residents and businesses would
Washington
states tax system is an unravelling disaster. Sales taxes reach as high as 9.5 per
cent, helping to create the most regressive tax system in the United States. And our
start-up-killing business tax, which taxes gross receipts rather than profits, is
roundly detested by the states business community. If Washington were to import
B.C.s common-sense carbon tax shift, it would be a vast improvement to the tax
system. Alternatively, Washington could use some of the carbon tax revenue to
address multibillion-dollar shortfalls in core government services like education and
transportation. B.C. is leading the way, but that doesnt mean the province is alone. On July 1, the day B.C.
rather not tax. For an example of how not to structure taxes, the province need not look far.
increased its carbon tax for the final time, Australia also inaugurated a carbon tax shift. Meanwhile, California will
launch its new cap-and-trade program Jan. 1. It would be understandable if Canadians have given up hope that
the American public seems to

be ahead of Washington, D.C., and the mainstream U.S. media. In fact, a poll
conducted by Yale and George Mason University in November 2011 found that fully
65 per cent of Americans support a modest revenue-neutral carbon tax, including a
majority of Republicans. Public opinion is likely to become even more favourable to carbon pricing in the
Americans will ever get our act together to address global warming. But
near future. Climate change will get more attention as the economy recovers from the financial crisis, global
temperatures continue to rise and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases new scientific
British Columbia has blazed the path forward. Its up to

Oregon and Washington to complete a regional bloc of smart climate policy in the
Northwest and British Columbians should take pride in their leadership .
assessments in 2013 and 2014.
Carbon Tax is Fast Acting
Monitor, 12, Monitor Editorial, Time for U.S. to tax carbon emissions, 7/12/12
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/341381/time-for-us-to-tax-carbon emissions?
SESS14b045f33a8e7eac97e5786e0724f0ef=google
Anthony Thomas was an externality. So were Sherry Garrett and Ann Narcisse. They are among at least 18 Chicago
residents whose deaths in recent days were attributed to the heat wave that has baked middle America this
summer. Externalities are costs - or benefits - that are not paid by the producers or consumers of a product but by
society. No one can trace a path between the carbon dioxide emitted by a polluter, the added warming of the planet
that it caused, and the hot air in the last breath taken by a heat wave's victim. It's possible that, even if human
activity wasn't changing the climate, the heat waves would have occurred anyway. But the links between carbon
many nations are

making a major effort to combat climate change. The United States and its crippled
Congress aren't. On July 1, Australia's government imposed a tax on carbon
emissions by major polluters equivalent to $23.50 U.S. dollars per ton. Also this
month, British Columbia raised its tax on carbon emissions from $25 to $30 per
metric ton. The Canadian province instituted the tax in 2008 as a way to reduce
both carbon emissions and the tax burden on individuals and businesses. It began
at $10 and increased by $5 every year until it reached its current $30 cap.
European and Scandinavian nations have taxed carbon emissions for years. Even
China, where environmental concerns have not exactly been front and center, plans
to institute a carbon tax in 2015. The United States, which is the world's No. 2
carbon-emitting nation after China, should lead, not follow on this issue, and institute a
emissions and the weird and worsening weather keep getting stronger. Fortunately,
carbon tax of its own next year. Economist Yoram Bauman and law professor Shi-Ling Hsu, writing in The New York
Times, applauded British Columbia's carbon tax system and explained how a similar system could work in the
United States.
In British Columbia, in just four years, the tax reduced carbon dioxide
emissions by 4.5 percent and raised enough money to lower the corporate tax rate
from 12 percent to 10 percent. Taxes on personal income for those earning less than
$119,000 went down as well, and low-income residents get rebates to offset the
increased cost to consumers attributed to the tax . "Substituting a carbon tax for some of our
current taxes - on payroll, on investment, on businesses and on workers - is a no-brainer. Why tax good things when
you can tax bad things, like emissions?" Bauman and Hsu wrote .
A $30 carbon tax in the United

States would raise roughly $145 billion per year, enough to reduce corporate and
individual income taxes by 10 percent and still leave $35 billion to spare, Bauman
and Hsu concluded. That money could be used any number of ways, from
subsidizing alternative energy and energy efficiency programs to reducing the
deficit. There would also be a voluntary component to the carbon tax, which electric
utilities, oil and gas companies and others would pass on. Consumers could reduce their carbon tax bill by switching
to a renewable fuel, biking instead of driving to work, insulating their homes and taking other steps to curb energy
use. A carbon tax would make polluters pay for doing a bad thing, emitting a greenhouse gas that warms the
Through lower taxes, it would reward people for doing good things: earning,
saving and investing. A bill to institute a national carbon tax will almost certainly come before the next
planet.
Congress. When it does, New Hampshire's congressional delegation should unite in support of it.
Carbon Tax is Cost Effective and Benefits Everyone
Colebatch, 12, Tim Colebatch is The Ages economic editor, The economists got
it right, that's the truth, 7/3/12 http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/theeconomists-got-it-right-thats-the-truth-20120702-21d7q.html
I'VE come to think we should take more notice of economists. You might see them as impractical nerds. But look
back over our long debate on how to tackle climate change, and one thing stands out: the economists got it right,
the politicians got it wrong. Last year the Economic Society of Australia surveyed its members on 46 policy issues.
On some, it found economists evenly divided: on the merits of the NBN, for example, or whether Australia should
promote nuclear power, whether patients should pay more of their health bills, and whether the GST should be
lifted so income tax and company tax can be reduced. Labor's cost-benefit rules are far from comprehensive, but
they're better than none. But on other issues economic opinion is clear cut. Top of the list is whether taxpayers'
money should be spent on big infrastructure projects without an independent publicly released cost-benefit analysis
first to check the project stacks up. The survey found 85 per cent of economists want cost-benefit studies to be
mandatory. (Who doesn't? Politicians.) Surprisingly, the second most clear-cut response was on climate change :
79 per cent of economists agreed that price-based mechanisms - a carbon tax,

subsidies or an emissions trading scheme - are a better way to tackle climate
change than using direct regulation. Advertisement Tony Abbott has an economics degree but,
being Tony, I doubt that he's a paid-up member of the union; he probably didn't take part. But after his insistence
that the NBN be subject to a cost-benefit analysis, we might have hoped that he would apply the same rule to his
own policies. Alas, not so. On Saturday, Abbott pledged to spend $4 billion of our money on three showpiece road
projects, with no requirement that they pass a cost-benefit analysis. His Melbourne project was the East-West Link,
which failed a cost-benefit analysis when proposed in 2008. The Gillard government is now paying for the Baillieu
government to try to come up with a business case for a revised plan. If it does, fine. But surely our money should
not be used to pay for projects that cost more than they're worth. Labor's cost-benefit rules are far from
comprehensive, but they're better than none. It matters because the start of any new government is a chance to
improve the rules - or make them worse. Abbott is signalling that, under his government, cost-benefit equations
won't matter. Politics will rule. The start of a carbon price is a rare victory for the economists, and the biggest
reform by the Rudd/Gillard governments. It culminates a process that began a decade or so ago when Peter
Costello, Alexander Downer and David Kemp took a joint submission to cabinet proposing a price on carbon
emissions. John Howard rejected it at the time, but finally took it to the 2007 election as policy. It should not be a
left/right issue and, in most of the world, it isn't. Go to Britain, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, South Korea or
New Zealand, and you will find Abbott's counterparts there are just as committed to carbon pricing as Julia Gillard
is. (Britain's Tory PM David Cameron wrote to Gillard last year to congratulate her on the carbon tax, praising it as
''a strong and clear signal'' to the rest of the world.) Abbott will destroy it, but future Australian governments, left
and right, will bring back carbon pricing, because it is the cheapest, most effective way to tackle global warming,
A carbon price works because it

gives business and individuals an incentive to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Despite
which, if left unchecked, could do immense damage to our world.
the Coalition's claims, it is not an economy-wide tax - if it were, it would be far bigger. Rather, it is a tax on
emissions from electricity, gas and emissions-intensive industries. It will cost households $10 a week, $5 in
the beauty of this tax is that you can avoid it, by

using less electricity and gas. Of all the options to cut emissions, it pushes us
towards making our use of energy more efficient. There are many ways to do this: turning the
electricity and gas bills - if we do nothing. But
thermostat down a degree or so, or the aircon up; replacing energy guzzlers such as plasma TVs or halogen lights
You pay that $5 a week only if you do

nothing to adapt. It's a decentralised, democratic way to reduce emissions: we
choose how to do it, in ways that preserve profits and living standards . Treasury and the
with energy-efficient alternatives; just turning switches off.
Productivity Commission had been nudging the Howard government to do it for years. They were right, and had
Howard responded in time, it might have been as uncontroversial here as it was in Europe or New Zealand.
If energy efficiency is the cheap

way to cut emissions, putting solar panels on our roofs and paying excessive prices
for the power they generate is one of the most expensive. We've finally realised that now, but
Instead, both sides derailed us into bad policies and point-scoring.
the economists warned us from the start. The politicians gave us gimmicky programs that cost us heaps, but put
off the low-cost solution. Both sides used the issue to divide us, rather than unite us behind making a modest but
effective start to tackling this potential crisis.
Carbon tax is the most efficient way to slow warming
Gardner 08, Timothy Gardner, Energy and Environment Correspondent for
Reuters, Carbon tax seen as best way to slow global warming, Reuters,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/10/09/us-climate-finance-sachsidUSTRE4988X020081009
Cap and trade has emerged as the dominant attempt to slow global warming . Global
deals in permits to emit greenhouse gas emissions have hit nearly $65 billion a year. The European Union, under
the Kyoto Protocol, has embraced cap and trade since 2005 and voluntary markets have developed in the United
But a straight carbon tax on energy production

would be simpler and cheaper than putting a cap
on tens of thousands of polluters, Jeffrey Sachs, a special advisor to the U.N.
secretary general and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University told a
panel on Thursday. As the world prepares to form a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol by the end of
next year, focus is sharpening on how well cap and trade markets are fighting emissions. Carbon taxes
would quickly cut emissions across all sectors of the economy, including vehicles
and manufacturing, said Sachs. It could also be more efficient than spreading the trade
of permits across the financial system. "Having a lot of people engineer financial
instruments for carbon when there are much more direct ways to do this strikes me
as not really a great investment," Sachs said. "I'm also not so keen on sending our best
and brightest off to do more financial engineering," he said. "I think the kind of (financial)
States, the developed world's top carbon polluter.
-- at an oil wellhead or refinery for instance --
meltdown we have right is a little bit of an example of how we've taken a generation of young people and put them
in tasks that don't really solve social problems." Yvo de Boer, the U.N. climate chief, told the panel he doubted
voters in the United States and other countries would accept new taxes. Sachs admitted that the United States is
"neurotic" about new taxes, but said they would be the best way to fund research and development and subsidies
for big low-carbon energy projects such as nuclear plants and transmission systems to bring solar power from the
Southwest and wind power from the Great Plains states to cities on the coasts. Sachs criticized one of the mainstays
of climate trade that has developed in the European Union. Under the Kyoto Protocol the Clean Development
Mechanism allows rich countries to offset their carbon footprints by investing in clean energy projects like small
wind farms or hydroelectric dams in developing countries. "Things like the CDM are just unfortunately very marginal
small tools that aren't going to change the broad framework of how energy is produced and how technology is
developed and distributed," said Sachs. De Boer said the CDM has met its goals but that a range of tools could be
developed to improve it. Investments could be widened, for instance, to improve whole sectors of developing
countries, such as mass transit systems in large cities.
Solvency Dependence
Solves oil dependence by boosting natural gas use and
domestic oil drilling
Houser 11, Trevor Houser works at Peterson Institute for International
Economics, American Eyes on Australia's Carbon Tax, PIIE, Op-ed in the Australian
Financial Review, July 12, 2011, http://www.iie.com/publications/opeds/oped.cfm?
ResearchID=1873
A carbon tax has long been the favorite tool among economists for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. Imposing a tax on something that reduces welfare (like
pollution) can allow policymakers to reduce taxes on things that increase welfare
(like employment, investment or innovation). And its not just liberal economists
that find a carbon tax attractive. Gregory Mankiw, Chairman of the Council of
Economic Advisors under George W. Bush and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, senior economic
advisor to Senator John McCain during the 2008 Presidential Campaign, have both
argued the merits of taxing carbon and using the revenue to cut economically
distorting corporate and payroll taxes. Its the deficit reduction potential of a carbon
tax that could give US climate policy a new lease on life. This economic logic has
elicited support from some leading Republican politicians as well. Most notable is
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (the highest ranking Senate Republican on energy
policy issues) who, while opposing efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency
to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, has publically supported a carbon tax. She is
joined by ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, who argues the economic
certainty that comes with a carbon tax is more important than the environmental
certainty you get with cap-and-trade. And for Americans increasingly concerned
with the security of the countrys energy supply, a carbon tax could yield some
unexpected benefits. A colleague and I recently analyzed all leading energy security
proposals currently bouncing around Washingtonfrom vehicle efficiency standards
to expanded offshore oil drilling. And we threw a carbon tax in just for fun. To our
surprise the carbon tax did more to reduce US dependence on foreign oil than
almost any other proposal because it both reduced oil demand and increased
domestic supply. The latter occurs thanks to a) an increase in natural gas liquids
production, an oil substitute pumped alongside the natural gas used to replace coalfired power plants, and b) CO2 captured from remaining coal-fired power plants
used to coax more oil out of older domestic wells.
Elections NB A2: Unpopular

A revenue-neutral carbon tax is popular true for majorities in
BOTH parties
worked in the private sector and for the Environmental Protection Agency, Majority
in U.S. Support Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax, Carbon Tax Center: Pricing Carbon
Efficiently and Equitably,
http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2011/12/02/majority-in-u-s-support-revenueneutral-carbon-tax/, 12/2/11
Sixty-five percent of Americans now support a modest revenue-neutral carbon tax to

reduce pollution and create jobs, according to a survey of one thousand American adults
conducted jointly last month by the Yale Project on Climate Communication and the George
Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication . This is the first poll we
have seen showing that a majority of Americans support a carbon tax . Majority support
for a carbon tax spanned the political spectrum in the Yale-George Mason poll, with 51% of selfidentified Republicans, 69% of independents and 77% of Democrats supporting a
carbon tax with revenue returned as lower taxes . The survey found 60% support for a $10/ton
CO2 tax if revenue is returned by reducing income taxes. (The pollsters helpfully noted that $10/ton CO2 equates to
around 10 cents per gallon of gasoline.) That support slipped to 49% if revenue is returned via annual checks to
The apparent preference for an income tax

shift over a dividend runs counter to the view that voters are more likely to
embrace direct checks than tax shifts. The survey did not poll on monthly checks, nor on the payroll
families, with each family receiving the same amount.
tax shift approach backed by many economists and embodied in Rep. John Larsons carbon tax bill. In the poll,
70% of respondents rated global warming as a high priority for the President and Congress,
suggesting that reality in the form of this years record-breaking 14 weather-related disasters in
the U.S. may be affecting public opinion more than the constant drumbeat of industry-funded
climate science denial. Greater funding for research on renewable energy was supported by an overwhelming 78%
of respondents, with greenhouse gas regulation supported by 63%, slightly less than the 65% support for a carbon
tax. The survey also found that 70% of respondents oppose fossil fuel subsidies, including a whopping 80%
The Carbon Tax Center has long urged polling

organizations to query voters on revenue-neutral carbon taxes, in order to test
opinions on carbon taxes apart from anti-government sentiments . The strong public
support for a revenue-neutral carbon tax evidenced by this groundbreaking survey
suggests we are on the right track.
opposition among independent voters.
More ev.
Pike, 11, Cara Pike, Founder and Director of the Social Capital Project,
http://www.climateaccess.org/blog/cap-not-trade-study-shows-support-carbon-tax,
November 22nd, 2011, Cap not trade study shows support carbon tax
According to Public Support for Climate & Energy Policies in November 2011,
produced by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George
Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, there is strong
majority public support (65%) in the United States for revenue-neural carbon taxes,
particularly when these taxes help create jobs and decrease pollution. As with
most climate-related issues, support is higher with Democrats; however, even a
majority of Republications (51%) can get behind revenue-neutral taxes.
Elections NB A2: Popular

Public pays no attention to the CP they arent worried about
warming
Eric Schulzke, 7/10/12, Deseret News writer, North American oil, gas reserves
put global warming on defense,
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865558803/North-American-oil-gas-reservesput-global-warming-on-defense.html
Global warming is slipping as a policy emphasis among American voters . According

to a recent poll by the Washington Post and Stanford university , "Just 18 percent of
those polled name it as their top environmental concern . That compares with 33
percent who said so in 2007, amid publicity about a major U.N. climate report and Al
Gores Oscar-winning documentary about global warming. Today, 29 percent identify
water and air pollution as the worlds most pressing environmental issue. "The
Natural Resources Defense Council sees burgeoning oil exploitation as a leap
backward in the battle to control carbon emissions. Referring Canada's proposal to
route an oil pipeline through the U.S. heartland, the NRDC blog recently asserted
that building the pipeline "would hinder progress to combating global warming."

Obama wont have to push the CP even oil lobbyists and
leading Republicans like the CP
Houser 11, Trevor Houser works at Peterson Institute for International
Economics, American Eyes on Australia's Carbon Tax, PIIE, Op-ed in the Australian
Financial Review, July 12, 2011, http://www.iie.com/publications/opeds/oped.cfm?
ResearchID=1873
A carbon tax has long been the favorite tool among economists for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. Imposing a tax on something that reduces welfare (like
pollution) can allow policymakers to reduce taxes on things that increase welfare
(like employment, investment or innovation). And its not just liberal economists
that find a carbon tax attractive. Gregory Mankiw, Chairman of the Council of
Economic Advisors under George W. Bush and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, senior economic
advisor to Senator John McCain during the 2008 Presidential Campaign, have both
argued the merits of taxing carbon and using the revenue to cut economically
distorting corporate and payroll taxes. Its the deficit reduction potential of a carbon
tax that could give US climate policy a new lease on life. This economic logic has
elicited support from some leading Republican politicians as well. Most notable is
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (the highest ranking Senate Republican on energy
policy issues) who, while opposing efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency
to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, has publically supported a carbon tax. She is
joined by ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, who argues the economic
certainty that comes with a carbon tax is more important than the environmental
certainty you get with cap-and-trade. And for Americans increasingly concerned
with the security of the countrys energy supply, a carbon tax could yield some
unexpected benefits. A colleague and I recently analyzed all leading energy security
proposals currently bouncing around Washingtonfrom vehicle efficiency standards
to expanded offshore oil drilling. And we threw a carbon tax in just for fun. To our
surprise the carbon tax did more to reduce US dependence on foreign oil than
almost any other proposal because it both reduced oil demand and increased
domestic supply. The latter occurs thanks to a) an increase in natural gas liquids
production, an oil substitute pumped alongside the natural gas used to replace coalfired power plants, and b) CO2 captured from remaining coal-fired power plants
used to coax more oil out of older domestic wells.
CP has bipartisan support

worked in the private sector and for the Environmental Protection Agency, March
11, Imagine: A Harmonized, Global CO2 Tax, Carbon Tax Center,
http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2009/03/11/imagine-a-harmonized-globalco2-tax/
Political Feasiblity: Gore also lamented that our political system has special difficulty considering a carbon tax even
if it is revenue neutral. He has a point. After decades of anti-tax propaganda from the likes of Grover Norquist,
Congress is understandably inclined to hide carbon pricing under a name like cap-and-trade. But when that first
cap-and-trade price spike hits a public that was sold cap-and-trade as the un-tax, wont its superficial naming
advantage evaporate like morning dew? Will cap-and-trade still sound better than revenue-neutral carbon tax
unlike cap-and-trade, a
national carbon tax is showing signs of bipartisan support . One reason is that a carbon
tax dispenses with the protracted drafting and wrangling inherent in cap-and-trade.
British Columbia implemented its carbon tax in five months.
when were stuck with a slow, complex, costly and ineffective system? Moreover,

Carbon tax is bipartisan
Romm 12, Senior Fellow at American Progress, editor of climate progress, and
holds a Ph.D. in physics from MIT (Joe, Bipartisan Support Grows for Carbon Price as
Part of Debt Deal, Climate Progress, February 24th,
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/02/24/431830/bipartisan-support-carbonprice-debt-deal/)
At the end of this year, the United States will confront a trifecta of difficult fiscal challenges: The Bush tax cuts will
be set to expire; the defense budget and spending on civilian programs will face a $110 billion sequester; and a
new extension of the federal debt limit will be looming. At the same time, the evidence will be clearer than ever
that urgent action is needed to protect our nation and the world from irreversible climate change. The
overwhelming scientific consensus will have grown even stronger. And if 2011 is a harbinger of our future, recordbreaking droughts and storms will have again afflicted our nation at immense cost in lives and property damage.
as a bipartisan group of current

and former members of Congress, we want to propose a new idea: These seemingly
intractable challenges are easier to address together than separately . If budgeting is
ultimately about choices, enacting a policy that reduces dangerous air pollution while
providing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt relief should be a no-brainer. No
other policy would do as much for our economy, our security and our future as
putting a price on carbon. Thats the opening of a bipartisan Washington Post op-ed
on how a price on carbon could immediately help America address two of its biggest
long-term problems, global warming and the national debt. The authors: Democrats
Henry A. Waxman and Edward J. Markey represent Californias 30th District and
Massachusettss 7th District, respectively, in the House of Representatives.
Republicans Sherwood Boehlert and Wayne Gilchrest formerly represented New York and
Maryland districts, respectively, in the House. As I first reported last May, a high and rising price
These fiscal and environmental problems may appear unrelated. But
for carbon pollution has emerged as a credible deficit reduction strategy. Then in July, I pointed out, The only
plausible scenario now for seriously addressing US greenhouse gas emissions in a way that would enable a global
deal and give us some chance of averting catastrophic multiple, simultaneous climate impacts is for a serious
carbon price to be part of the post-2012-election budget deal. Now 4 members of Congress, 2 Ds and 2 Rs, have
stated the obvious: Since higher revenues must be part of any grand bargain to address the debt, a price on
pollution makes the most sense. And yes, Yes, Im aware the two Republicans aint in Congress any more. Ya gotta
The best approach would be to use a market

mechanism such as the sale of carbon allowances or a fee on carbon pollution to
lower emissions and increase revenue. Using these policies, the United States could raise $200
start somewhere! Here is more of their argument:
billion or more over 10 years and trillions of dollars by 2050 while cutting carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2020
and 80 percent by 2050, providing transition assistance to affected industries, and supporting investments in cleanenergy technologies. Such a policy would have enormous benefits beyond its fiscal contributions. As the National
Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences concluded last year, The risks associated with doing
business as usual are a much greater concern than the risks associated with engaging in strong response efforts.
Inaction on climate means more intense and frequent heat waves, more droughts, more flooding and more loss of
coastline. Delaying action just until the end of the decade will quadruple costs to the global economy, according to
the International Energy Agency.
Carbon Tax Aff Answers
Solvency
Note: There are more cards in the Hoya-Spartan Adv CP file.
This is not a 2nc block but some additional cards; integrate
them into one file.
CP causes more emissions from the developing world
Elliott et al 12 research scientist and fellow at University of Chicago Computation Institute,
Ian Foster, Sam Kortum, Gita Khun Jush, Todd Munson, David Weisbach, February 27, The University of
Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, Unilateral Carbon Taxes, Border Tax Adjustments and
Carbon Leakage, INSTITUTE FOR LAW AND ECONOMICS WORKING PAPER NO. 600 (2D Series), page 3
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2072696
While there are a number of important motivations for this approach, there are two
central concerns. The first is whether a carbon price that exempts developing
nations can sufficiently reduce global emissions. The developing world is expected to be
a major source of emissions in the future . Even if the developed world were to cut its
emissions drastically, atmospheric carbon dioxide would not be stabilized by this action
alone. The second concern is that if only developed nations impose carbon controls,
emissions in the developing world might go up, offsetting any reductions , in a
phenomenon known as carbon leakage. Carbon leakage is thought to arise for two reasons. First, if only
a subset of nations impose controls on emissions of carbon dioxide, energy-intensive
production may flee to regions without controls . Second, if nations with carbon controls
use fewer fossil fuels, the price of fossil fuels may go down , resulting in more use in
other regions. Carbon leakage has the potential to defeat the purpose of having
carbon controls, inefficiently shift the location of production and energy use, and create domestic political
challenges.
Solvency Turns Econ

A carbon tax would hurt the economy businesses cant
expand.
Johnson 12 policy research associate at Americans for Tax Reform, June 14,
Kissing Cousins and Carbon Taxes, Americans for Tax Reform,
http://www.atr.org/kissing-cousins-carbon-taxes-a6970
Testifying in front of the Senate Finance Committee on tax and energy issues, Harvards Dr. Dale
Jorgenson proposed a tax increase on fossil fuels equivalent to a 1.5 percent increase in federal
revenues as a percent of GDP. Chairman Baucus asked if the increase is a cousin to a carbon
tax and Dr. Jorgenson replied a kissing cousin. Defending the tax increase as a
way to reduce consumption of carbon based fuels ; Dr. Jorgenson claimed such a tax
would be most effective if heavily weighted towards coalthis sounds like a carbon
tax to us. A carbon tax harms American industries and consumers at a time when
businesses need access to cheap energy sources so they can grow our way out of the Great
Recession. The Energy Information Agency estimated that coal, oil and natural gas represent 83
percent of US energy sources as of 2010. The same study found that 76 percent of commercial
and residential energy consumption and 41 percent of industrial consumption
comes from natural gas while petroleum, as expected, represents 94 percent of
transportation energy consumption. Additionally, 92 percent of coal produced in this country
goes to electrical power generationpower plants designed to sell electricity to the public to heat and
cool our homes. Raising taxes on oil, coal and natural gas drives up costs for everyone
and prevents businesses from expanding. Dr. Jorgenson claimed a carbon tax will raise
revenues and reduce consumption of fossil fuels, but ignored the negative effects
this has on economic growth. When the government taxes something we get less of
it so hoping to increase revenues and reduce consumption of fossil fuels with a carbon tax seems like
faulty logic to us. This is the same logic behind cigarette taxes designed to curb smoking and raise revenue
the government wants to tax your cake and eat it too.
A2: Carbon Tax K Warming

Even if a carbon tax is necessary to solve warming, it is
insufficient without the plan and a carbon tax is inevitable
Geman, 12, Left-right climate group quietly weighing proposals for carbon tax,
Ben Geman, 7/12/12, http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/237651-left-rightclimate-group-quietly-weighs-carbon-tax-ideas
Inglis on Wednesday announced that hes leading a new program at George Mason University called the Energy
and Enterprise Initiative, which will provide a platform for what he calls conservative ways to address climate
change. He told the online magazine Grist that there may be a political opening in a few years, calling the effort a
Either a new
Republican president will, under market pressure, say to the country that we need a
grand bargain to bring down rates and broaden the base, and a great way to do that
is to shift off of taxing income and toward taxing CO2, he said. Or its a second
term for President Obama and the same market pressure pushing Congress and the
president to do something, Inglis said.
long play. We think its 2015, 2016 before anything happens. After the next midterm.
Links to Elections Unpopular

Carbon Tax is publicly and politically unpopular
Climate Lab, 09 Climate Lab is a website that is dedicated to information about
climate change, Carbon Tax http://climatelab.org/Carbon_tax
Even supporters of a carbon tax admit that there are barriers to implementing a
carbon tax, particularly on a national and international level.
Carbon tax is politically unpopular in the United States . There are some politicians who
are concerned with resistance from their constituencies and are worried that it
would upset voters. Policy makers are also concerned that higher gas taxes would
raise revenue but do little to curb pollution . On the other hand, the public is also
worried the abuse of the tax revenue. Carbon Tax could become a revenue grab by
desperate governments, that they create artificial winners and losers in the
economy and that, if they are not at least done in step with other countries, they
will simply drive jobs and business offshore to cheaper locales
Links to Agenda Politics Unpopular

Links to politics climate debate is politicized and unpopular
Freedman 11, Andrew Freedman is a senior science writer for Climate Central, Congress turns a blind
eye to climate science, Washington Post, April 12th, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weathergang/post/congress-turns-a-blind-eye-to-climate-science/2011/04/12/AFxAqQQD_blog.html)
Last week was a bewildering one for those who recognize the abundance of compelling scientific evidence showing
that the climate is changing mainly due to human activities and that these changes pose risks to human health and
welfare. While the news cycle was dominated by the down-to-the-wire budget negotiations in Washington, ongoing
unrest in the Middle East, the nuclear crisis in Japan, a major congressional debate on climate change regulations
took place in the House (and Senate) that vividly demonstrated how far off the rails weve gone in public discourse
of climate science and policy. Let me state right off the bat that I tend to shy away from directly discussing politics
in this column, instead sticking to scientific developments in the sprawling and fascinating field of climate research.
climate science has become so politicized that its

impossible to steer clear of politics entirely. This is understandable considering that
many of the potential solutions to climate change could involve major policy
changes, from federal regulations of emissions from cars, trucks, and power plants
to a carbon tax on gasoline. The controversy surrounding the science is largely a front for concerns over
At the same time, I recognize that
potential regulation, as is vividly demonstrated in the book, Merchants of Doubt, by Naomi Oreskes and Eric
With the passage on April 6 of a bill that would stop the U.S. EPAs regulations
of greenhouse gases from moving forward, the House of Representatives signaled in
crystal clear legislative language that it flat out does not believe that manmade
climate change is a real phenomenon that poses risks to Americans health and
welfare. I say this because, during the debate on the EPA measure (which failed in the Senate and was not
Conway.
attached to the 11th hour budget agreement), the House held a separate vote on an amendment which for the first
time put all Members on record about whether they agree with the scientific evidence showing that the global
climate is warming, and this warming is likely due in part to human activities.
This vote was as close to a
climate science litmus test as youre ever going to get.
Causes huge fights over tax increases

Geman, 12, Left-right climate group quietly weighing proposals for carbon tax,
Ben Geman, The Hill, 7/12/12, http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/237651-leftright-climate-group-quietly-weighs-carbon-tax-ideas
Lewis, a senior fellow with CEI, criticized the talks and took aim at efforts by former
congressman Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) to promote a carbon tax. The GOPs only clear
product differentiator and most durable political asset is its reputation as the
no tax increase party. The Inglis and AEI initiatives, if successful, would destroy this
asset, Lewis wrote. Proposals for a carbon tax face very long odds politically, at
least for now. With carbon taxes or tax increases in general viewed as nonstarters in conservative circles, AEI has been tight-lipped about the meeting, which
was the subject of a story Wednesday in Greenwire. In recent years, AEI has
been accused of being both in the pocket of energy companies and organizing to
advocate a carbon tax. Neither is true," AEI said in a statement to E2-Wire ."AEI has
been, and will continue to be, an intellectually curious place, where products arent
influenced by interested parties, and ideas from all are welcome in seeking solutions
for difficult public policy problems.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conservation

tech CP
OTEC CP 1NC
Text: The United States federal government should fully fund
research, development, and implementation of Ocean Thermal
Energy Conversion technology.
OTEC is awesome, reverses warming trends and replaces
carbon emissions
Paul Curto, DDF in Fluid Dynamics from von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics,
MPhil in physics of fluids and plasmas from Yale University, BS Aerospace and MS
mechanical engineering University of Arizona, 11-7- 2008, Ocean Thermal Energy
http://push.pickensplan.com/profile/DrPaulACurto
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is by far the most balanced means to
face the challenge of global warming. It is also the one that requires the greatest
investment to meet its potential. It is the only answer that will save us from
Armageddon. The Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University was one
of its earliest proponents. Given modern materials and design techniques, we
should be able to build grazing OTEC plants that may become economical with just
a few production units, based upon anhydrous ammonia as the hydrogen carrier.
The grazing OTEC plants would produce anhydrous ammonia while surfing the
oceans for hot spots to curry heat for their power plants. (BTW there are ammonia
pipelines in Indiana and other midwest states today for fertilizer distribution).
Ammonia is the second-most predominant chemical manufactured in the world.
Since the volumetric energy density of ammonia is three times that of liquid
hydrogen, and ammonia combustion can be exceptionally efficient (about the same
as burning diesel fuel in turbodiesels), it may be true that a hydrogen economy
based upon OTEC and ammonia may be close at hand. The overall replacement of
transportable carbon fuels by OTEC-based ammonia is estimated at 100 million
barrels of oil per day equivalent over about 40 years if we move to a hydrogen
economy. Along with other technologies, carbon fuels could be replaced in roughly
80% of all applications. OTEC is a true triple threat against global warming. It is the
only technology that acts to directly reduce the temperature of the ocean (it was
estimated one degree Fahrenheit reduction every twenty years for 10,000 250 MWe
plants in '77), eliminates carbon emissions, and increases carbon dioxide absorption
(cooler water absorbs more CO2) at the same time. It generates fuel that is portable
and efficient, electricity for coastal areas if it is moored, and possibly food from the
nutrients brought up from the ocean floor. It creates jobs, perhaps millions of them,
if it is the serious contender for the future multi-trillion-dollar energy economy.
Ext Solves Warming

OTEC solves warming,
Maria Bechtel and Erik Netz, 1997, OTEC - Ocean Thermal Energy
Conversion
One of the most critical problems of the next century will certainly be global
warming. OTEC is unique among all energy generation the technologies in that not
only does it generate no carbon dioxide whatsoever, but it actually counteracts the
effects of fossil fuel use. OTEC involves bringing up mineral-rich water from the
depths of the oceans. This water will promote growth of photosynthetic
phytoplankton. These organisms will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
into their bodies, and when they die, or when the animals, which eat them, die, the
carbon dioxide will be sequestered in the depths of the oceans. The effect is not
small. Each 100-megawatt OTEC plant will cause the absorption of an amount of
carbon dioxide equivalent to that produce by fossil fuel power plant of roughly the
same capacity. No other energy technology ever imagined can do this. OTEC plants
construction, with laying pipes in coastal waters may cause localised damage to
reefs and near-shore marine ecosystems.
OTEC replaces fossil fuels, and reverses warming

Harry Braun, 9-20-2002, Chairman of the Hydrogen Political Action Committee,
OTEC CAN SAVE THE OCEANS
It follows that all of the impending environmental problems that will result if those
remaining fossil fuels are extracted, shipped and burned could be avoided.
Moreover, Professor Zener calculated that even if 100 percent of the world's energy
needs were provided by OTEC systems, and even assuming the entire world was
consuming energy at the rate that the U.S. does, the surface temperature of the
tropical oceans would only be lowered by less than one degree Centigrade. Given
the current concerns regarding global warming, this slight drop in ocean
temperatures could another important by-product of the large-scale deployment of
OTEC systems.
Ext Solves Competitiveness

There is enough energy stored in the thermal gradients of the
oceans to power the earth.
Joseph C. Huang Senior Scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Hans J. Krock Professor of Ocean &. Resources Engineering,
University of Hawaii and Stephen K. Oney, PhD. and executive vice present of
OCEES July 2003 Revisit Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion System
http://www.springerlink.com/content/n864l3217156h045/fulltext.pdf
The ocean covers more than 70.8% of the surface of the earth. A nearly equal
fraction of the solar energy intercepted by the earth falls onto the ocean surface.
The sun irradiates and releases an output of 380 million billion billion Watts (3.8
1026 Watts) and about 175 million billion (1.75 1017Watts) reaches the earth.
Figure 1 shows the annual earth solar energy fluxes in percentile normalized by the
annual total radiated solar energy that reaches the earth. However, not all these
energy fluxes can be transformed into useful form of energy under present available
technologies. The current world total energy consumption, as indicated in the lower
right of Figure 1, is about only five thousandth of one percent (0.005%) of the solar
energy flux reaching the earth. It is estimated that the amount of thermal energy
absorbed in the oceans, on an annual basis, is equivalent to at least 1000 times the
total amount of energy presently consumed by human beings over the world (Vega
1995). If only one percent of the solar energy flux in the equatorial zone is extracted
from the thermal potential capacity in the ocean alone, it can provide hundreds of
times more energy than the total current consumption of electricity. Due to the
huge volume and high heat capacity of oceanic water, some rough calculations
reveal that all the energies together in the atmosphere, including kinetic energy in
hurricanes and other storms, are less than the thermal energy in the surface layer
at a two and half meter depth in the ocean.
Alt Energy Popular

Alternative energy is popular prominent supporters
Stephen Power, WSJ, 11-3-2010, US Weighs Funding for Renewable Energy
Projects,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592843603174132.
html?mod=googlenews_wsj
The memo written by Mr. Obama's senior advisers suggests the president "consider
working with Congress to reprogram" the remaining $2.5 billion to pay for an
extension of a separate federal program that allows renewable energy developers to
convert the tax credits they get for such projects into cash grants. The memo says
the grant program "has been much more effective" and is "likely to have a more
significant impact on renewable energy investment" than the loan guarantees. The
grant program expires at the end of the year. But the memo warns that "failing to
make progress on renewables [sic] loan guarantees could upset the Hill (Sen.
Bingaman, Speaker Pelosi)"a reference to Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D., N.M.) and the outgoing House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). Both have strongly championed the use of federal loan
guarantees to boost alternative energy projects. Mr. Bingaman "views [the program]
as 'his program,' [and] would strongly oppose" taking money away from it, the
memo says. A spokesman for Mr. Bingaman said the senator would "not be happy" if
the administration tried to take money out of the loan guarantee program, but
added that Mr. Bingaman isn't the only lawmaker who strongly supports the
program. "We've been frustrated and a little disappointed that the administration
has used this program as an ATM machine," the spokesman added. A spokesman for
Ms. Pelosi said the Speaker's "longstanding support for this initiative is well known."
Counterplan is popular in congress

Northwest Public Power Association 11-1-2006 [The West Coast and ocean
renewable energy, Washington D.C. Report,
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28797375_ITM, November
1, 2006]
Congress, regulators, and the ocean renewable energy industry have all been
ramping up activity over the last 18 months to accommodate increased interest in
converting the ocean's energy to renewable power. While ocean technologies have
been improving over the years, increased political interest in developing new
renewable energy resources and reducing domestic dependence on foreign energy
sources is giving the industry a boost. This signals a change in attitude for the
potential of ocean energy as it was dealt a significant blow in the 1970s, setting
back development and innovation for decade.
Alt Energy Unpopular

Energy policy is politically unpopular
John D Podesta August 2003, VISITING PROFESSOR OF LAW AT GEORGETOWN
UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER The Future of Energy Policy Foreign Affairs
Unfortunately, energy policymaking in the United States in recent years has been
neither decisive nor strategic. U.S. energy policy is reminiscent of Mark Twain's quip
about the weather: everyone talks about it, but no one does anything. This inertia
has deep roots. Vested interests -- in the oil, utility, and transportation industries,
for example -- have been powerful economic and political players, protecting the
status quo and brooking little interference from the outside. Similarl y, the
environmental lobby has proved itself able to block proposals it opposes but less
successful in advancing initiatives it favors. As a consequence, little progress has
been made toward breaking the gridlock.
OTEC No Link (Politics)

Bureaucratic issues prevent, not congress
Becca Freedman, 6-12-2008, Political Analyst for Harvard Political Review, An
Alternative Source Heats Up, Examining the Future of Ocean Thermal Energy
Conversion http://hprsite.squarespace.com/an-alternative-source-heats-up/,
Even environmentalists have impeded OTECs development. According to Penney,
people do not want to see OTEC plants when they look at the ocean. When they see
a disruption of the pristine marine landscape, they think pollution. Given the risks,
costs, and uncertain popularity of OTEC, it seems unlikely that federal support for
OTEC is forthcoming. Jim Anderson, co-founder of Sea Solar Power Inc., a company
specializing in OTEC technology, told the HPR, Years ago in the 80s, there was a
small [governmental] program for OTEC and it was abandonedThat philosophy
has carried forth to this day. There are a few people in the Department of Energy
who have blocked government funding for this. Its not the Democrats, not the
Republicans. Its a bureaucratic issue.
AT: OTEC Bad

Warming outweighs risks of turns. Be skeptical of their turns,
OTEC just enhances a natural process.
Roger Highfield, Science Editor for the telegraph (UK) 9-26- 2007- James
Lovelock's plan to pump ocean water to stop climate change- Onlinehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?
xml=/earth/2007/09/26/sciwater126.xml
"The Earth is fast becoming a hotter planet than anything yet experienced by
humans," they write, explaining that natural processes that would normally regulate
climate are being driven to amplify warming, so that higher temperatures can, for
example, stimulate the release of more methane from wetlands and amplify the
warming. "Such feedbacks, as well as the inertia of the Earth system and that of
our response, make it doubtful that any of the well-intentioned technical or social
schemes for carbon dieting will restore the status quo. "We need a fundamental
cure for the pathology of global heating. Emergency treatment could come from
stimulating the Earth's capacity to cure itself." Scientists have put forward several
proposals to reduce the amount of solar radiation that reaches the planet's surface,
including the use of light-reflecting sulphate particles in the atmosphere and
installing mirrors in orbit around the planet. Using radical techniques to "engineer"
Earth's climate by blocking sunlight could cool our overheated planet but present
great risks that could well worsen global warming should they fail or be
discontinued, warned one recent study by Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution's
Department of Global Ecology. "Geoengineering schemes have been proposed as a
cheap fix that could let us have our cake and eat it, too. But geoengineering
schemes are not well understood. Our study shows that planet-sized
geoengineering means planet-sized risks." However, Dr Rapley said in response:
"The attraction of this approach is that the dangers of "unexpected
consequences" are low, because we are advocating stimulating and enhancing
an entirely natural process."
OTEC Aff Answers
Solvency
OTEC is unfeasible only a few hundred sites worldwide
U.S Department of Energy, 10-20-2010, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion,
Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy,
http://www.energysavers.gov/renewable_energy/ocean/index.cfm/mytopic=50010
OTEC power plants require substantial capital investment upfront. OTEC researchers
believe private sector firms probably will be unwilling to make the enormous initial
investment required to build large-scale plants until the price of fossil fuels
increases dramatically or until national governments provide financial incentives.
Another factor hindering the commercialization of OTEC is that there are only a few
hundred land-based sites in the tropics where deep-ocean water is close enough to
shore to make OTEC plants feasible.
No investment for OTEC still too risky and expensive

Becca Friedman, Harvard Political Review, 6-17-2008, Examining the future of
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, Ocean Energy Council,
http://www.oceanenergycouncil.com/index.php/OTEC-News/Examining-the-future-ofOcean-Thermal-Energy-Conversion.html
Despite the sound science, a fully functioning OTEC prototype has yet to be
developed. The high costs of building even a model pose the main barrier. Although
piecemeal experiments have proven the effectiveness of the individual components,
a large-scale plant has never been built. Luis Vega of the Pacific International Center
for High Technology Research estimated in an OTEC summary presentation that a
commercial-size five-megawatt OTEC plant could cost from 80 to 100 million dollars
over five years. According to Terry Penney, the Technology Manager at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, the combination of cost and risk is OTECs main
liability. Weve talked to inventors and other constituents over the years, and its
still a matter of huge capital investment and a huge risk, and there are many
[alternate forms of energy] that are less risky that could produce power with the
same certainty, Penney told the HPR.
OTEC cant solve weather

Becca Friedman, Harvard Political Review, 6-17-2008, Examining the future of
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, Ocean Energy Council,
http://www.oceanenergycouncil.com/index.php/OTEC-News/Examining-the-future-ofOcean-Thermal-Energy-Conversion.html
Moreover, OTEC is highly vulnerable to the elements in the marine environment. Big
storms or a hurricane like Katrina could completely disrupt energy production by
mangling the OTEC plants. Were a country completely dependent on oceanic
energy, severe weather could be debilitating. In addition, there is a risk that the salt
water surrounding an OTEC plant would cause the machinery to rust or corrode or
fill up with seaweed or mud, according to a National Renewable Energy

Laboratory spokesman.
Microalgae CP
1NC Shell
Text: The USFG should fund microalgae research
Microalgae solves emissions; produces same amount of fuel as diesel
Gouveia and Oliveira 09(Luisa, Ana Cristina; works for Society for Industrial
Microbiology, Accessed 6/22/12;
http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/case/biol690/ref/biofuel.pdf, Sharmeen)
Biodiesel fuel has received considerable attention in recent years,
as it is made from non-
its use leads to a

decrease in the harmful emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and
particulate matter and to the elimination of CO2 emissions, with a consequent
decrease in the greenhouse effect, in line with the Kyoto Protocol agreement. Biodiesel
toxic, biodegradable and renewable resources, and provides environmental benefits, since
is usually produced from oleaginous crops, such as rapeseed, soybean, sunflower and from palm, through a
chemical transesterification process of their oils with short chain alcohols, mainly methanol .
However, the
use of microalgae can be a suitable alternative because algae are the most efficient
biological producer of oil on the planet and a versatile biomass source and may
soon be one of the Earths most important renewable fuel crops [6], due to the
higher photosynthetic efficiency, higher biomass productivities, a faster growth rate
than higher plants (which is also important in the screening step), highest CO2
fixation and O2 production, growing in liquid medium which can be handled easily,
can be grown in variable climates and non-arable land including marginal areas
unsuitable for agricultural purposes (e.g. desert and seashore lands), in non-potable water or
even as a waste treatment purpose, use far less water than traditional crops and do
not displace food crop cultures; their production is not seasonal and can be harvested daily [68].
As a matter of fact, average biodiesel production yield from microalgae can be 10 to 20
times higher than the yield obtained from oleaginous seeds and/or vegetable oils [7, 34] (Table
1). Some microalgae have high oil content (Table 2) and can be induced to produce higher concentration of lipids
The ability of algae to

fix CO2 can also be an interesting method of removing gases from power plants,
and thus can be used to reduce greenhouse gases with a higher production
microalgae biomass and consequently higher biodiesel yield [22, 39]. Algal biomass
(e.g. low nitrogen media, Fe 3+ concentration and light intensity) [18, 21, 28, 32, 35].
production systems can be easily adapted to various levels of operational and technological skills; some microalgae
have also a convenient fatty acids profile and an unsaponifiable fraction allowing a biodiesel production with high
physical and fuel properties of biodiesel from

microalgae oil in general (e.g. density, viscosity, acid value, heating value, etc.), are
comparable to those of fuel diesel
oxidation stability [11, 16, 24, 25]. The
Solvency Wall
NASAs already produced the tech; provides more fuel than
anything else
Casey 12 (Tina is a career public information specialist and former Deputy
Director of Public Affairs of the New York City Department of Environmental
Protection, and author of books and articles on recycling and other conservation
themes. She writes frequently on sustainable tech issues for Triple Pundit and other
websites, with a focus on military, government and corporate sustainability, and she
is currently Deputy Director of Public Information for the County of Union, New
Jersey. http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/nasa-ready-to-show-offalgae-biofuel-research-project.php Sharmeen)
NASA has developed a system that captures carbon dioxide and helps to prevent
pollution from wastewater while creating renewable algae biofuel, fertilizer and possibly
animal feed, too. NASA calls its system OMEGA, for Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae,
self-contained bags of wastewater and fast-growing algae cultures that are designed
to float in seawater off the coast of a landmass and produce biofuels , NASA hopes for
fueling planes. As the algae grow inside the bags, they absorb sunlight and carbon dioxide through the bags
membranes and produce oxygen, which releases to the atmosphere through the membrane. The algae also absorb
nutrients, creating fresh water that passes easily through the membrane into the sea, acting as a next-level
treatment phase, helping to reduce the risk of creating local dead zones. The OMEGA system has been undergoing
test runs at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commissions Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant. A demonstration
scale operation is now ready for its close-up, with a media tour planned for April 17. OMEGA was developed at
NASAs Ames Research Center in California. NASA claims the OMEGA system is far more efficient than conventional
By growing the algae within a bag rather than in open ponds or

channels, OMEGA eliminates the need for water-circulating equipment and virtually
eliminates water loss due to evaporation. OMEGA also reduces or eliminates the need for energyalgae farming methods.
sucking climate control systems that would be needed to regulate the temperature of land-based water storage
Aside from producing oil, fresh water and oxygen, the spent algae can be
reclaimed for use as a fertilizer or soil enhancer. Researchers are also beginning to test algae as a
feed supplement for livestock. Equipment maintenance and lifecycle expenses are another
important consideration for cost-effective algae farming, and OMEGA wins out here,
facilities.
too. The system involves few moving parts and the plastic tubes could be recycled when their useful life is up.
Algae, especially freshwater algae, is an attractive biofuel due to its ability to grow rapidly
while producing lipid cells bursting with oil. Other biofuel crops just cant compete:
according to NASA, some algae can produce more than 2,000 gallons of oil per acre
per year, compared to only 600 gallons for palm. Soy beans fare even worse, at only 50 gallons
per acre per year. Legislators who are taking aim at the Obama Administrations algae
biofuel initiatives will once again have to rethink their plan if they want to take a
potshot at OMEGA.
Algae will replace crude oil, solves emissions

Forbes 12 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2012/05/20/will-algae-biofuels-hit-the-highway/-Sharmeen)
Algae bio-fuels producers are asking U.S. lawmakers to treat their product the same
way as they do other advanced bio-fuels such as cellulosic ethanol. That means
including algae in the tax incentives given to advanced bio-fuels and in the
Renewable Fuels Standard that sets alternative fuel targets. When the code was written,
algae was a nascent concept that never wound up on anyones radar. Legislation has just been introduced in the
U.S. House to achieve just that. With such tax incentives, the industry says that production costs would come down.
Those costs are now considered to be at least double that of petroleum-based fuels, although such figures can vary
with location, technology and whether the algae plant can be located near existing power plants or oil refineries so
as to capture their carbon emissions. The idea is to combine the principles of agriculture with the ability to
generate a liquid transportation fuel so that we can offer a scalable, low-cost technology in the form of green crude
that can be refined directly into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, says Tim Zenk, vice president of corporate affairs for
San Diego-based Saphhire Energy, before an EnergyBiz audience. Whats the oil industry think of all this? BP,
Chevron Corp. and ExxonMobil all have investments in algae. The biggest, of course, is Exxons $600 million pledge
to Synthetic Genomics. Algae is highly synergistic with the established oil and gas industries and it can be refined
on the same site as is petroleum. For Big Oil to get involved means, generally, that it thinks the pursuit will
eventually pay off. That remains to be seen. But the added capital is a good sign. Algae still has a long way to go
But it is a quiver in the energy arsenal that could

potentially replace some crude oil use, resulting in fewer emissions and better
national energy security.
and it wont likely ever become a panacea.
Algae can be used for electricity; reduces emissions
Argonne National Laboratory Center for Transportation

Research (ANTLC-TC) 2012
http://www.algalbiomass.org/news/3164/argonne-natl-lab-researchers-publish-paperon-algae-ghg-analysis/
Argonne National Laboratorys Center for Transportation
Research recently published a scientific paper that identifies key parameters for
algal biofuel production using the GREET model, which models greenhouse gas
emissions, regulated emissions and energy use for transportation fuels . The paper, titled
A group of researchers from
Methane and nitrous oxide emissions affect the life-cycle analysis of algal biofuels, was published in a recent
edition of Environmental Research Letters. In the report, the researchers also described several goals they had with
this analysis. First, they aimed to establish a framework that could be used to facilitate comparisons among algae
scenarios and with other transportation fuels. Second, the research team wanted to identify which parameters
produce the most significant impact to life-cycle analysis. As part of this, the paper noted that the team paid a great
deal of attention to the amount of energy present within lipid-extracted algae. For example, this includes the energy
potential associated with processing lipid-extracted algae in an anaerobic digestion system. The researchers also
considered the impact of fugitive methane emissions, the fate of unrecovered nitrogen, as well as the potential for
nitrous oxide (N2O). According to information contained in the study, the baseline scenario considered by the
researchers produced 55,400 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (g CO2/e) per 1 million Btu of biodiesel, compared
to 101,000 g CO2/e for low-sulfur diesel. The paper stated that the baseline scenario for algae biodiesel features the
use of anaerobic digestion for energy and nutrient recovery from lipid-extracted algae. Alternatively, a reduced
On a
full life cycle, or well-to-wheels basis, the modeling showed that algae biodiesel
reduced the total amount of fossil energy use and petroleum used when compared
the amount of these inputs required to make petroleum-based diesel. This was true even
though the production of algae-based fuel consumed more energy during the production stage. The high
energy use associated with the algae-biofuel production was attributed primarily to
emissions scenario featured the use of catalytic hydrothermal gasification rather than anaerobic digestion.
electricity use and fertilizer production. In addition, the total greenhouse gas emissions per million
Btu of algae-biodiesel were less than those associated with petroleum diesel. The research paper largely attributed
this to the substantial CO2 credit that results from the reuse of carbon contained within flue gas emissions exiting a
As a result of the analysis, the research team concluded that while algae
biofuel production is energy intensive, substantial reductions in greenhouse gas
emissions of 45 to 60 percent are still achieved when compared to conventional
diesel fuel. According to the paper, most of the energy use was associated with circulating the algae culture and
power plant.
moving the culture to and from the first dewatering step.
Algae is carbon neutral

National Review 12 (Algae: Fuel of the Future?
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/292913/algae-fuel-future-nash-keune# Sharmeen)
Some researchers estimate that the algae would consume as much carbon dioxide
in the course of their normal life processes as burning their fuel would produce,
making the technology carbon neutral. Unlike corn-based fuels, algae fuels would be able to
mix freely with fossil fuels, meaning they could be transported in the existing infrastructure. Algae could
produce ten times as much fuel per acre as corn, and it could be cultivated in the
desert. One of the main problems with corn-based ethanol is that it requires the use
of farmland that would otherwise be used for growing food, increasing the cost of
grain globally.
At: Cost
Micro bubbles in algae reduce cost dramatically
Scientific American 12(Micro-Bubbles Cut Cost of Algae-Derived Biofuel
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=microbubbles-cut-cost-of-algae-deri-12-01-27-Sharmeen)
Algae naturally produce oil. When its processed, that oil can be turned into biofuel,
an alternative energy source. Theres just one snagharvesting the oil from algae-filled water is
prohibitively expensive. But researchers have come up with an effervescent solution:
bubbles smaller than the width of a human hair can help reduce the costs
of collecting algae oil. So-called micro-bubbles are already used for water
purificationthey surround contaminants and float them out of the liquid. Similarly,
in water containing algae, bubbles can float the algae to the surface for easy
collection and processing. The research builds on previous work that used micro-bubbles to grow algae
more densely and thus increase production. This time, however, the researchers produced the fizziness with a new
method that uses far less energy, and is cheaper to install. The study is in the journal Biotechnology and
Bioengineering. [James Hanotu, HC Hemaka Bandulasena and William B Zimmerman, "Micro-Flotation Performance
for Algal Separation"]
Cellulosic Ethanol CP
1NC Shell
Text: The USFG should fund cellulosic ethanol switchgrass.
Cellulosic Ethanol Switchgrass can solve greenhouse gas
emissions by 94%
M. R. Schmer, K. P. Vogel,* R. B. Mitchell,* and R. K. Perrin 08 (Net energy
of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2206559/-Sharmeen)
Perennial herbaceous plants such as
switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) are being evaluated as
cellulosic bioenergy crops. Two major concerns have been the net energy efficiency and economic
feasibility of switchgrass and similar crops. All previous energy analyses have been based on data from research
plots (<5 m2) and estimated inputs. We managed switchgrass as a biomass energy crop in field trials of 39 ha (1
ha = 10,000 m2) on marginal cropland on 10 farms across a wide precipitation and temperature gradient in the
midcontinental U.S. to determine net energy and economic costs based on known farm inputs and harvested yields.
In this report, we summarize the agricultural energy input costs, biomass yield, estimated ethanol output,
greenhouse gas emissions, and net energy results. Annual biomass yields of established fields averaged 5.2 -11.1
Mgha1 with a resulting average estimated net energy yield (NEY) of 60 GJha1y1. Switchgrass produced 540%
more renewable than nonrenewable energy consumed. Switchgrass monocultures managed for high yield produced
93% more biomass yield and an equivalent estimated NEY than previous estimates from human-made prairies that
Estimated average greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from

cellulosic ethanol derived from switchgrass were 94% lower than estimated GHG
from gasoline. This is a baseline study that represents the genetic material and agronomic technology
available for switchgrass production in 2000 and 2001, when the fields were planted. Improved genetics
and agronomics may further enhance energy sustainability and biofuel yield of
switchgrass.A renewable biofuel economy is projected as a pathway to reduce
reliance on fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and enhance rural
economies (1). Ethanol is the most common biofuel in the U.S. and is projected to increase in the short term
received low agricultural inputs.
because of the voluntary elimination of methyl tertiary butyl ether in conventional gasoline and in the long term
because of U.S. government mandates (2, 3). Maize or corn (Zea mays) grain and other cereals such as sorghum
(Sorghum bicolor) are the primary feedstock for U.S. ethanol production, but competing feed and food demands on
grain supplies and prices will eventually limit expansion of grain-ethanol capacity. An additional feedstock source for
producing ethanol is the lignocellulosic components of plant biomass, from which ethanol can be produced via
Dedicated perennial energy crops such as switchgrass,

crop residues, and forestry biomass are major cellulosic ethanol sources that could
potentially displace 30% of our current petroleum consumption (5). Net energy production
saccrification and fermentation (4).
has been used to evaluate the energy efficiency of ethanol derived from both grain and cellulosic biomass (6).
Typically, studies have used net energy values (NEV), net energy ratios, and net energy yield (NEY) and have
compared biofuel output to petroleum requirements [petroleum energy ratio (PER)] to measure the sustainability of
a biofuel. In initial analyses, switchgrass was estimated to have a net energy balance of 343% when used to
More recent energy model analyses that used simulated

biomass yields and estimated agricultural inputs indicate that switchgrass could
produce >700% more output than input energy (810), whereas GHG have been
assumed to be near zero (1) or estimated to be slightly positive (8) for ethanol derived from switchgrass.
Lignocellulosic feedstocks such as switchgrass , woody plants, and mixtures of prairie grasses and
forbs have been proposed to offer energy and environmental and economic
advantages over current biofuel sources, because these feedstocks from perennial
plants require fewer agricultural inputs than annual crops and can be grown on
agriculturally marginal lands
produce biomass ethanol (7).
Solvency Wall
Cellulosic ethanol is more cost effective, better for the environment and has a
greater energy output than other fuels
Solomon 7 (Barry D, Grain and cellulosic ethanol: History, economics, and
energy policy; Solomon is part of the Environmental Policy Program, Department of
Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0961953407000396--Sharmeen)
The last decade the subsidization of grain-based ethanol has been increasingly
criticized as economically inefficient and of questionable social benefit . In addition, much
greater production of ethanol from corn may conflict with food production needs. A promising
development is the acceleration of the technical readiness of cellulosic alcohol fuels,
which can be produced from the woody parts of trees and plants, perennial grasses,
or residues. This technology is now being commercialized and has greater long-term
potential than grain ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is projected to be much more costeffective, environmentally beneficial, and have a greater energy output to input
ratio than grain ethanol. The technology is being developed in North America,
Brazil, Japan and Europe. In this paper, we will review the historical evolution of US
federal and state energy policy support for and the currently attractive economics
of the production and use of ethanol from biomass . The various energy and economic policies
will be reviewed and assessed for their potential effects on cellulosic ethanol development relative to gasoline in
the US. While US interest in fuel ethanol has grown since the oil crises of the 1970s, its use in gasoline blends
accounted for only 2.8 percent of total fuel use in motor vehicles in 2005 [1]. Although ethanol (i.e., ethyl alcohol)
has the advantage of being derived from domestic resources, its use for fuel has often been criticized as
technically, economically and environmentally undesirable (see e.g., [2]). Even so, interest in alternative
transportation fuels is growing for two main reasons: oil supply insecurity and its impending peak, and the
imperative to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel use in order to stave off adverse global climatic
change [3] and [4]. Several alternative fuels and engines for the transport sector have been assessed in detail in
recent years [5]. These include electric and hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), compressed natural gas (CNG),
While electric and CNG vehicles are available on a

small scale their driving range is limited, severely restricting their consumer appeal .
hydrogen-fuel cells, and biomass fuels.
Hydrogen-fuel cell vehicles exist as prototypes, but they are extremely expensive and will be impractical for a
decade or more [6]. This leaves HEVs and biomass fuels as the most cost-effective alternatives to oil in the near
term (Table 1 below lists the various acronyms used in this paper and explains what each stands for). HEVs are
attractive, as they increase fuel use efficiency and thus help to stretch petroleum resources and lower CO2
Only sustainable biomass fuels however, such as ethanol and bio-diesel, can
directly decrease oil reliance. There are several ways to make biomass fuels, as well as alternative
emissions.
alcohol products. For example, in the 1970s methyl alcohol (methanol) received as much consideration as ethanol.
Both fuels can be produced from food crops and biomass, as well as from fossil fuels [7]. While methanol can be
made at a lower cost than ethanol, some refiners over-blended or used improper blending and handling techniques.
This led to consumer and media problems and the eventual phase-out of almost all methanol/gasoline blends, with
its use largely restricted to several auto races. Even here, the Indy Racing League announced in March 2005 that
the Indianapolis 500 auto race plans to switch its cars from methanol to 100 percent ethanol fuel by 2007 [8].
Similarly, methanol caught on as a feedstock for production of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) under Clean Air
Act requirements for 2.02.7 percent oxygen blends in ozone and carbon monoxide non-attainment areas. However,
MTBE has been at least partially banned in half of the US states in the last several years because of groundwater
toxicity problems, although over half of these states never used it [9] and [10]. Alternatively, interest has grown in
coupling methanol with fuel cells as a transitional fuel until sufficient hydrogen production capacity becomes
available [5]. Nonetheless, the main markets for methanol are for formaldehyde, acetic acid and other chemicals.
Another promising option is biodiesel (FAME fatty acid methyl esters), which is made from vegetable oil or animal
fats. Biodiesel has similar benefits as cellulosic ethanol, as noted below, but is limited to diesel engines. There are
two primary technologies to make ethanol fuel. The first option, in wide use today, is to convert the starchy part of
foods such as corn into ethanol through the following seven steps: milling, liquefaction, saccharification,
fermentation, distillation, dehydration and denaturing. When sugarcane is used (e.g. in Brazil) only four or five steps
The
other option is lignocellulosic or cellulosic ethanol, which is currently being
commercialized. This process converts the woody part of trees, plants, grasses or
residues into sugars and then ferments the sugars into ethanol. Over 95 percent of ethanol
are required: milling, pressing, fermentation and distillation, plus dehydration in the case of alcohol blends.
production in the US comes from corn, with the rest made from wheat, barley, milo, cheese whey, and beverage
residues [11]. This path to ethanol production has been criticized, often erroneously, for having an unfavorable net
energy balance and significant arable land and water requirements [12]. While corn-based ethanol has several
important environmental impacts, including soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and higher volatile organic compound
and NOx pollution, it does result in a positive energy return on investment and a 1015 percent reduction in CO2
emissions (cf. [2], [4], [12], [13] and [14]). These results are more favorable for sugarcane-based ethanol in Brazil
[15]. Given land use concerns it is unlikely that grain ethanol can grow from its current US output of 19 hm3 (5.1
Ggal (Giga=109)) year1 to much more than three times that level, even with increased agricultural productivity
[11]. For one thing, over half of the US corn crop is needed as feed grain for livestock as compared to 17 percent for
Fortunately cellulosic ethanol has the potential to be superior on all of these

dimensions except for conventional air pollution. Its advantages are that it can reduce net CO2
emissions to almost zero, and that it can be derived from a diverse, widespread
resource base (see e.g., [3]). For instance, it can be made from tree species such as
hybrid poplar, willow, silver maple and black locust; wood residues including chips
and sawdust; construction site residues, municipal residues (MSW), paper and sewage sludge; corn stover, corn
and sugarcane processing residues; cereal straws such as wheat, oat, barley and rice; and grasses such as
switchgrass, sorghum, reed canary grass, and miscanthus.
ethanol [16].
Fuel can be used anywhere, and federal government supports

it
NPNweb.com 7 (Industry, government fund cellulosic ethanol project
http://www.npnweb.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?
sid=901D2CC3506F4C1187DF5BE4A8A2C0FF&nm=&type=MultiPublishing&mod=P
ublishingTitles&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=F0D22BD
767944591B3EF2B0AEF17C941--Sharmeen)
Cellulosic ethanol is an alternative fuel made from a wide variety of non-food plant
materials (or feedstocks), including agricultural wastes such as corn stover and cereal straws, industrial
plant waste like saw dust and paper pulp, and energy crops grown specifically for fuel
production like switchgrass. By using a variety of regional feedstocks for refining cellulosic ethanol, the
fuel can be produced in nearly every region of the United States, according to the
U.S. Department of Energy. Though it requires a more complex refining process, cellulosic ethanol
contains more net energy and results in lower greenhouse emissions than
traditional corn-based ethanol, according to the DOE . E-85, an ethanol-fuel blend that is 85percent ethanol, is currently available in more than 1,000 fueling stations nationwide, according to the DOE. Both
Chevron and Weyerhaeuser said they already have separate research partnerships
under way to accelerate the development of cellulosic biofuels . Chevron has forged alliances
with the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of California at Davis, the Colorado Center for Biorefining
and Biofuels, and the DOEs National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Weyerhaeuser is collaborating with several
research universities, national laboratories and technology-based companies in research on conversion of forest
The federal government is also supporting

development of biofuels from cellulose.
products into ethanol and other biofuels.
Vs. HSR
HSR increases emissions, and electricity from fossil fuels
Bosworth 11 (Tony Bosworth is a campaigner for Friends of the Earth, in its
energy and climate team. He has a long track record of working on environmental
issues, including a spell as transport campaigner for the environmental
campaigning charity.http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/18/world/how-green-ishsr/index.html--Sharmeen)
Across the world governments are looking to high speed rail to provide fast, modern transport systems fit for the
21st century. By the end of 2012 China is expected to have more high speed rail lines than the rest of the world
combined, while President Obama aims to give 80 per cent of Americans access to fast rail travel within 25 years.
But if governments want high speed rail to spearhead the drive towards a
cleaner transport system they must look further than simply providing
faster trains. The UK is currently mulling over a high speed rail link between
London and Birmingham, a city about 160 kilometers north-west of the capital. But according to official
estimates, it's unlikely to lead to significant carbon dioxide cuts -- and
may even increase climate-changing emissions. So what's stopping high speed rail being
a major part of a greener transport future in Britain? Over two thirds of the world's electricity
comes from fossil fuels so until (or unless) power stations are weaned off fossil
fuels, electric trains will still have a significant climate impact . Tony Bosworth First there's
the electricity to power the trains. Over two thirds of the world's electricity comes from fossil fuels so until (or
unless) power stations are weaned off fossil fuels, electric trains will still have a significant climate impact -although rail travel is still better than flying or driving.
Secondly, will high speed rail entice people
off the roads and short-haul flights ? French TGVs and the Channel Tunnel rail link have succeeded, but
official calculations estimate that only 16 per cent of anticipated passengers for the
London to Birmingham line will have swapped from planes or cars . One of the main factors is
cost. Despite soaring fuel prices, motoring and flying are still expected to be
cheaper than high speed rail. If faster rail travel is to become a realistic alternative it must be affordable
too. The UK's high speed rail link is expected to cost a whopping $54 billion. But living as we do in cashstrapped times there's surely a strong case for investing some of that that money in
less grandiose, but more effective, projects.
***Aff answers:***
HSR better than bio fuels; costs less, and saves an economic
collapse
Perl 2011 (Dr. Anthony Perl is Professor of Urban Studies and Political Science at Simon Fraser University in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he directs the Urban Studies Program. His latest book, co-authored
with Richard Gilbert, is "Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight Without
Oil.http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/18/world/how-green-is-hsr/index.html--Sharmeen)
Any debate about the future of high-speed rail must consider where this mobility
option fits into the 'big picture' of how transportation systems meet looming
economic, energy and environmental challenges. In a world where 95% of motorized mobility is
currently fueled by oil, high-speed rail offers a proven means of reducing dependence on this increasingly
This value of using proven electric propulsion technology should

not be underestimated when both the time and money to deploy energy
alternatives are in short supply. In our recent book Transport Revolutions, Richard Gilbert and I
problematic energy source.
documented the economic, environmental and political dividends to be gained from replacing the internal
combustion engines powering today's aircraft, cars, and motor vehicles with traction motors that can be powered
Since electricity is an energy carrier, it

can be generated from a mix of sources that incorporate the growing share of
geothermal, hydro, solar, and wind energy that will be produced in the years ahead.
And because electric motors are three to four times more efficient than internal
combustion engines, an immediate improvement will precede introducing
renewable energy into transportation. Grid-connected traction offers the only
realistic option for significantly reducing oil use in transportation over the
next 10 years. If such a shift does not begin during this decade, the risk of a global
economic collapse and/or geo-political conflict over the world's remaining oil
reserves would become dangerously elevated. Making a significant dent in
transportation's oil addiction within 10 years is sooner than fuel cells, biofuels,
battery-electric vehicles and other alternative energy technologies will be ready to
deliver change. Biofuels that could power aircraft now cost hundreds of dollars per gallon to produce.
by multiple energy sources delivered through the electric grid.
Batteries that a big enough charge to power vehicles between cities are still too big and expensive to make electric
But grid-connected electric trains have been operating at scale

and across continents for over a century. And when the Japanese introduced modern
high-speed trains through their Shinkansen, in 1964, the utility of electric trains was
greatly extended. Since the 1980s, countries across Asia and Europe have been
building new high-speed rail infrastructure to deploy electric mobility between major
cities up to 1,000 kilometers apart. For intercity trips between 200 and 1,000 kilometers, high-speed
cars and buses affordable.
trains have proven their success in drawing passengers out of both cars and planes, as well as meeting new travel
If we are serious about

reducing oil's considerable risks to global prosperity and sustainability, we will not
miss the opportunity offered by high-speed rail to decrease transportation's oil
consumption sooner, rather than later.
demand with a much lower carbon footprint than driving or flying could have done.
Clean Tech
1NC Shell
The United States Federal Government should:
-create a National Institutes of Energy modeled on the National
Institutes of Health.
-provide $15 billion per year to clean energy research and
development projects.
Solves new clean tech
Josh Freed et al 9, vice president of the third way clean energy program,
Jumpstarting a Clean Energy Revolution with a National Institutes of Energy,
September,
http://thebreakthrough.org/blog/Jumpstarting_Clean_Energy_Sept_09.pdf
When the United States faces a significant challenge and decides it is critical to act
sending a man to the moon, winning the Cold War, curing deadly diseasewe
make a national commitment and invest the resources necessary to meet it. Time
and again, as the nation has confronted and overcome these clear imperatives, a
substantial and sustained boost in federally supported research and development
has been a key driver of our success. Getting America running on clean energythe
defining challenge and opportunity of our timewill require a new national
commitment to energy innovation. Currently, the federal government lacks both the
structure and the financing necessary to meet the energy challenge. The scale and
complexity of the challenge before us demands a coordinated and well-funded
national effort to transform the global energy sector, yet US policy in this area relies
on haphazard financial and political support with little consistent direction. In order
to jumpstart a clean energy revolution, the US government must increase its direct
support for research and development of new and existing clean energy
technologies and create a new structure for energy research that ensures
coordination and maximizes its effectiveness. A successful national energy R&D
program capable of driving the innovation necessary to make clean energy cheap
must embrace two key components: 1. Increase federal investment in energy R&D
by $15 billion per year In line with President Obamas budget request,1 the scale of
investment for comparable national priorities, and the recommendations of
innovation experts, we propose a sustained $15 billion per year increase in federal
clean energy R&D to approximately $20 billion per year.2 This level of funding is
necessary to both create new breakthrough technologies and drive improvements
to existing technology, enabling the production of clean energy at significantly
higher efficiencies and lower costs. 2. Create a National Institutes of Energy
Modeled on the National Institutes of Health, a new National Institutes of Energy
(NIE) would effectively apply R&D funding to the goal of developing new, low-cost
commercial clean energy technologies. The NIE would function as a nationwide
network of regionally based, commercially focused, and coordinated innovation
institutes. Alongside other effective federal energy R&D agencies, a new NIE would
critically strengthen the U.S. clean energy innovation system. Currently, the United
States does not have the full portfolio of technologies it needs to transition to clean,
affordable energy, and we are not moving quickly enough to develop them. There is
widespread agreement among innovation experts and energy researchers that
neither the private sector nor the federal government is sufficiently invested in
creating the new technologies we need or improving the technologies we have
today. Only the federal government is able to provide the additional $15 billion in
sustained annual funding energy experts believe is necessary to develop clean,
affordable energy technologies.
2nc solvency wall

Collapse of clean techs inevitable absent more R&D
Matthew Stepp 12, Senior Analyst with the Information Technology and
Innovation Foundation, Clean Tech Headed for Stagnation, May 14,
http://www.innovationfiles.org/clean-tech-headed-for-stagnation/
Could the recent boom in U.S. renewable energy go bust? Yes, both in the short and
long-term and only if we re-think U.S. energy policy can clean energy weather the
storm. To be sure, the U.S. clean energy industry has been in a period of rapid
growth, largely due to historic federal investments in the research, development,
deployment, and manufacture of clean technologies. From 2009 through 2014, the
federal government will invest a total of $150 billion, or the equivalent in magnitude
to government support for past national challenges like putting a human on the
moon (~$170 billion in 2005 dollars over 10 years, pg. 25). Yet clean energy
continues to face a fundamental problem: its not cost and performance competitive
with fossil fuels without government support outside of niche markets. In the shortterm clean tech projects are propped up by government support (or regulatory
requirements) and in the mid-term the industry requires significant innovations to
become subsidy independent and competitive. As such two distinct policy issues are
set to thwart industry growth: the looming decline in overall federal support for
clean tech after 2014 and the continuing deficit in government support for clean
energy R&D and innovation. Letting both policy issues linger unresolved could very
well be the death knell for clean energy. In the short-term, the very government
support that is buoying uncompetitive clean tech deployment is set to decline
drastically. According to the report by analysts at the Brookings Institution,
Breakthrough Institute, and World Resources Institute, without any additional
Congressional action 75 percent of federal clean tech policies are set to expire by
2014, including numerous incentives that subsidize the higher cost of clean tech
projects. Without these incentives, the nascent transition from fossil fuels to clean
energy will slow or halt all together, leading to a clean tech bust. But even if much
of this funding continues, the nascent clean tech industry is on a potential path of
stagnation. In absence of long-term, significantly larger subsidies (which are
politically unlikely), government support for clean energy R&D are central to
developing and deploying competitive clean tech. In other words, clean tech growth
nationwide (and globally) will be determined not by subsidies, but by innovation
that can lead to technologies that are better and cheaper than fossil fuels. Yet, our
policy choices often dont reflect this reality. According to ITIFs Energy Innovation
Tracker, the U.S. is investing roughly $6 billion in clean energy R&D in FY2012 on
average a third what leading experts think the U.S. should be investing. In fact, the
bulk of the federal governments historic investment in clean energy nearly three
quarters of the $150 billion is going to the deployment of existing technologies
that are not cost-competitive with fossil fuel sources of energy. While these
deployment incentives expand domestic supply chains and are spurring incremental
innovations, the policies are acting like blunt force tools propping up lower-risk
technologies while playing little role in incenting innovation and technologies to put
clean energy on a path to subsidy independence. By not orienting the significant
federal investment in clean tech towards spurring innovation while grossly
underfunding R&D, the U.S. is failing to jump start and accelerate the clean tech
innovations needed to create a robust, long-term sustainable industry. Even if the
expiring tax incentives are extended as is, the long-term stagnation of the industry
will still occur due to a lack of innovation. If we want a global clean tech revolution
driven by the marketplace, we need to bring the equivalent of Moores law (the
prediction that computing power would double every 24 months while costs would
fall by half) to clean energy. Nothing less will work. But its not too late to avert both
the short-term clean tech bust and long-term innovation stagnation if federal
policymakers and clean energy advocates truly make innovation less like empty
rhetoric and more its core goal. This means fully funding key clean energy
innovation R&D programs even in a time of budget austerity. Consistent support for
innovation is absolutely necessary just ask the fossil fuel industry which continues
to reap the benefits of a centurys worth of government largesse deficits or not
and cutting innovation programs does more harm than good to the deficit and
economy. Policymakers must also reform clean tech deployment subsidies to link
early stage tech development with commercialization. Simply extending expiring or
expired subsidies and tax incentives are simply not enough and will only continue to
marginally grow the industry. Its surely not a long-term solution to continue
deploying technologies carte blanche even if they dont hold the promise of
competitiveness. A group re-think on clean tech subsidy programs is critical. Its for
smart deployment policies that work to pull transformative innovations, rather
than just extend incremental innovations of costly energy technologies. We need to
ask ourselves what our energy policy goals are. Do we want a clean tech market full
of Edsels or competitive technologies? Do we want marginal industry growth or do
we want a global clean tech transformation? At the end of the day, significant
industry growth is only possible if there is an aggressive flow of innovations linked
with deployment policies that pull to market emerging, long-term competitive
technologies. Todays energy innovation ecosystem fails on both accounts and our
policy choices are to blame.
2nc competitiveness
Clean tech leadership key to competitiveness
September,
Given this anticipated increase in energy demand, the countries that develop new
energy technology the fastest will have significant economic and competitive
advantages. The United States was the leader in nuclear, solar and wind energy
development in the 1970s. Government policies and economic conditions in the
1980s, however, led to a decline in American research and development and the
rise of innovation and industries in other countries including Denmark, Germany,
Spain, Japan and China.13 The U.S. imported 50 percent of annually installed wind
turbine components in 2007,14 currently produces less than 10% of the worlds
solar cells,15 and is continually losing ground on hybridelectric vehicle
manufacturing. Unfortunately, the lack of a sustained national commitment to clean
energy innovation is already limiting our access to a major economic driver of the
next century.16 Without immediate action to spur clean energy technologies and
industries, the United States may also fall behind several Asian nations now
aggressively positioning themselves to dominate the burgeoning clean energy
sector. The Chinese government is reportedly developing a plan to invest $440-660
billion in clean energy over the next ten years17 and has announced ambitious
targets for wind, solar and plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle production.18 South
Korea recently announced a Green New Deal to invest $84 billion over the next
five years to expand research and development and spur the growth of renewable
energy, LEDs, smart grid, hybrid vehicle and other clean technologiesa sum
representing two percent of the nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year.19
Similarly, Japan will invest $30 billion over the next five years to support R&D in a
suite of low-carbon technologies20 while redoubling incentives for solar energy as
part of a plan to become the number one solar power in the world.21
More ev
September,
While the United States has taken important steps toward transitioning to clean
energy, we cannot reach our ultimate goal without new and affordable clean energy
technologies. As President Obama and leading energy innovation experts recognize,

this will require expanding the governments investment in research and
development by $15 billion per year. To maximize this investment, we also need to
model energy R&D on one of the federal governments most successful and popular
institutionsthe National Institutes of Healthby creating a National Institutes of
Energy. Increased funding and the establishment of an NIE will help get America
running on clean energy through the development of new, low-cost, and deployable
clean energy technologies. Such a strategy is critical to secure Americas economic
competitiveness in the 21st century.
R&D solves
Boosting R&D funding is uniquely effective at spurring
innovation experts agree
September,
President Obama agrees that current government spending on energy R&D is

insufficient, and he has called for a sustained $15 billion increase in clean energy
technology research and development, bringing overall federal investments to
roughly $20 billion annually.41 This is in line with the findings of many of the leading
energy research experts. John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy, estimates we need between two and ten times as
much funding for energy research as we currently have.42 Two of the countrys
leading energy innovation experts, Professors Gregory Nemet and Daniel Kammen,
have called for at least $17 billion annually in energy research.43 The Brookings
Institution has found that the U.S. needs to spend at least $20 billion per year.44
The Climate Group and the Office of Tony Blair have called on the worlds developed
nations to at least double public R&D spending by 2015 and quadruple it by
2020.45 And 34 Nobel laureates recently sent a letter to President Obama calling on
him to ensure that any clean energy legislation Congress passes includes the $15
billion per year for clean energy R&D the President requested.46 We agree with this
diverse group of experts. At minimum, Congress should appropriate adequate
funding to provide a sustained increase in federal clean energy R&D investments
consistent with the Presidents budget request sufficient to roughly quadruple
annual R&D investments over time. This new funding should be used to strengthen
and augment the most effective federal energy research programs, support
innovative new paradigms to structure federal energy R&D, and in particular, fund
the establishment of a new National Institutes of Energy, outlined in section two.47
NIE solves
Creating an NIE jumpstarts clean tech innovation
coordination of projects is key
September,
A new National Institutes of Energy (NIE) should be established to create and

oversee a network of regionally based, applications-oriented, coordinated energy
innovation institutes, working with top talent from the nations leading research
universities, national labs, and private sector innovators. Modeled on the successful
National Institutes of Health, a National Institutes of Energy will provide an
additional research institution designed to most efficiently prioritize the
development of commercially deployable and cost-competitive energy technologies.
NIH serves as an important model for a new energy innovation institution because
of its successful organizational structure, clear mission, and broad public support.
The NIH has a unique structure, with 20 decentralized institutes and seven multidisciplinary research centers. These disparate offices are coordinated by a
centralized Office of the Director, allowing the institutes and centers to take
advantage of results-oriented expertise while maximizing information sharing and
multi-disciplinary discoveries. This dual model should serve as the basis for the
organization of the National Institutes of Energy. Each institute and research center
has its own director and its own advisory council, comprised of scientists, health
advocates, and laypersons. This enables the institutes to conduct their own
research and, simultaneously, evaluate and award grants to extramural R&D
projects across the country. One of the reasons that NI H has been so successful is
that it funds both outside research through individual grants with critical peer
review from a diverse community of scientists (depoliticizing individual funding
decisions), and also conducts research in-house. The National Institutes of Energy
would be created to competitively fund a network of one to two dozen individual
Energy Institutes at $50 million to $300 million per institute per year, as well as
several larger multidisciplinary research centers.53 Like the NIH, institutes would be
largely independent and autonomous, with multiple methods for funding pathbreaking research, including in-house research programs and grants for extramural
research at public, non-profit and private sector research facilities. And like the NIH,
each institute would have its own director and advisory council to determine
funding and research priorities and grant awards. While decentralization is
important, maximizing effectiveness requires coordination. Similar to the NIH
Director,54 the director of NIE would provide oversight and coordination, and
establish overall priorities for the network of energy institutes. The director will also
serve as the NIEs advocate to Congress and the Administration. According to a
2003 National Academy of Science report, NIH would, in fact, benefit from added
levels of coordination. In line with their recommendations for the NIH, NIEs Office of
the Director would have added coordinating responsibilities. The Director would
have a budget, 5% of total NIE appropriations, to fund special projects that focus
on trans-NIE, high-risk and high-reward research that is often disadvantaged in the
traditional process of peer-reviewed research and grants.55 Furthermore, the Office
of the Director would be responsible for working with industry to identify key gaps in
current technology and research and working with individual institutes to ensure
effective technology road mapping.56 Unlike other recent R&D proposals,57 NIHs
unique combination of decentralization and central coordination (particularly after
implementing NAS recommendations) will make a National Institutes of Energy a
critical and effective energy R&D institution. Offer a clear and directed mission. The
mission of the NIH, to fund and conduct groundbreaking medical research
throughout the United States, is simple and clear. The National Institutes of Energy
should also have a singular mission focused on energy R&D: developing the
commercial and affordable clean energy technologies of the future. The Energy
Institutes would be designed to integrate fundamental scientific discoveries with
applied innovations and work closely with industry, entrepreneurs and the
investment community to rapidly develop clean energy technologies and transfer
them to the marketplace. The NIE, then, could have an even greater focus on
translational research, and incorporate a greater percentage of high-risk, highreward research, than the NIH (which is focused less on marketplace impact).58 NIE
would organize each institute around a primary mission, such as solar energy,
carbon sequestration, advanced biofuels, electrified transportation, advanced
energy technology manufacturing, or the transmission, storage and management of
clean electricity. This is modeled on NIHs structure, where each institute is focused
on a specific area of health such as the National Institute of Cancer. Leverage
expertise through regional institutes. Unlike the NIH, whose many centers all
conduct in-house research primarily at a single campus near Washington, individual
energy institutes should be physically located in diverse regions across the country.
Research performed by each institute would respond to the particular needs,
challenges and capabilities of the region in which the institute is based. In the
process, the energy innovation institutes established by NIE will help drive regional
economic development and create jobs in new, high-tech industry clusters that will
take the innovations emerging from NIE-funded institutes to market. To take
advantage of the existing networks and researchers across the country, institutes
should develop close relationships with university research centers and operate in
partnership with existing federal research institutions, including existing National
Labs, and private research firms.59 Provide independent funding and organization.
A new National Institutes of Energy would be nominally housed within the
Department of Energy, similar to the way NIH resides within the Department of
Health and Human Services. However, just as with NIH, the new NIE would have
separate congressional authorization, and a high degree of budgetary and staffing
autonomy for each of the institute directors.60 The NIE staff and advisory boards of
each institutes should be free to direct funding to individual researchers, in-house
R&D programs and public and private research grants, consistent with the mission
of that institute and the overall priorities set by the NIE Director.
A2 DoE key
DoE cant do commercial R&D
September,
The Department of Energy (DOE) was not intended to prioritize the types of
innovation that will lead to new commercial energy technologies that the private
sector would adopt. DOE was created from a collection of nuclear weapons related
departments, such as the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission. To
this day, the majority of the Departments funding and attention remains focused on
managingand cleaning up afterthe nations sprawling nuclear weapons arsenal,
rather than on the commercial uses of energy that are todays priorities.48 The
government energy research that does exist is primarily focused on the national
laboratories. While critical for basic research, the national labs are not designed to
produce the advances that can lead to new commercial and deployable clean
energy technologies. This is because the labs are often too far removed from the
needs of the marketplace, and their focus remains split between a broad range of
basic science endeavors.49 The other existing DOE offices lack sufficient focus,
coordinated priorities, or the optimal structures needed to maximize public-private
partnerships. Centralized in Washington DC and chronically underfunded, the DOE
offices managing applied R&D programs are responsible for everything from actual
research to deployment, home weatherization, and other only loosely related tasks.
Without a primary focus on research and development, current DOE institutions are
incapable of the rapid translational research necessary to bridge basic science
insights and applied research challenges.
Ptx / elections NB
CP avoids backlash
September,
Public and political support is critical to the success of any federal agency. NIH has
received broad support from policymakers and the public, and has demonstrated
how such support can critically improve the ability for an agency to meet its
mission. In 2005, NIH was ranked as the third most popular federal agency after the
CDC and FBI, with 75% of the public rating the agency positively.61 The public is
also broadly supportive of governments commitment to R&D. A recent Pew survey
found that 60% of the public agrees that government investment in research is
essential for scientific progress. And large percentages think that government
investments in basic scientific research (73%) and engineering technology (74%)
pay off in the long run.62 A detailed May 2009 analysis of American attitudes on
climate and energy policy found expanded clean energy research was the most
popular policy response presented to respondents, garnering near unanimous public
support (92%).63 An institution that is easily identifiable and meets these goals can
help build broad support for clean energy innovation as NIH has done for healthcare.
NIHs support is not limited to the public. In a 2003 review of the agency, the
National Academy of Sciences found that NIH is one of the most effective and wellmanaged elements of the federal government and a centerpiece of its R&D
system.64 Most importantly, the agencys substantive and popular success has
brought it attention from policymakers. This resulted in a doubling of its budget to
approximately $30 billion between 1998 and 2003, allowing NIH to greatly expand
its ability to meet the nations health challenges.65 A new energy R&D institution,
modeled on this successful agency, can put a high-profile public face on energy
innovation research. This could galvanize the support of policymakers and the
public and help to ensure adequate funding for the important project of creating a
clean energy future. Even the name of the institution, the National Institutes of
Energy, connects the success of the NIH with the need for energy research in the
publics and policymakers minds.
Aff No Solve Competitiveness

Cherry-picking clean tech hampers competitiveness
Thomas A. Hemphill and Mark J. Perry 12, A U.S. manufacturing strategy for
the 21st century: what policies yield national sector competitiveness?, April,
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1094/is_2_47/ai_n58618168/pg_12/?
tag=content;col1
* Energy and Environmental Policy. The U.S. manufacturing sector needs certainty in
its long-term energy availability, and a comprehensive national energy policy needs
to be established that emphasizes cost efficiency (such as cost per kWh or per Btu),
domestic source reliability, and environmentally friendly impacts. These
characteristics reflect the need to focus government policy support on three
relatively clean and relatively inexpensive non-renewable (but domestically
plentiful) fuel sources: low-emission coal, natural and shale gas and nuclear power.
Although solar, wind, and biomass offer potential for future renewable sources of
energy, these fuel sources are inherently only a minor source of energy, even if
their respective costs-per-kWh were to decline to competitive levels with
nonrenewable fuel sources (without direct government subsidies). While
encouraging the use of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies
through tax credits and other incentives, a unilateral U.S. policy approach to
reducing green-house gases is tantamount to global competitive capitulation on the
part of the U.S. manufacturing sector and economy.
Ocean Fertilization
1NC Ocean Fertilization CP

increase investment in ocean fertilization to reduce global
warming.
Ocean fertilization solves warming
Eco Global Fuels (EGF), 2011, Iron Fertilization- the worlds #1 method of CO2 sequestering,
http://ecoglobalfuels.com/news/iron-fertilization-worlds-1-method-co2-sequestering
Recent research just completed by our team, has revealed that the Eco Global Fuels (EGF)
renewable energy technology- not only creates carbon neutral ethanol, but with our free by product from
our unique IP hydroxyl process - iron oxide - and using the validated results from our test trials at Macquarie
makes enough iron oxide to be able to be used

in sequestering CO2 by promoting algae growth Iron oxide is a by-product of the
hydroxy electrolysis process, and with our calculations below, we have proven that sequestering all CO2
university, we have proven that our EGF process
from a 60 MW turbine is achievable (which means we can apply this to any scale, using any power supply for
example photovoltaic, gas /coal turbines, off peak electricity etc.). Because it is a byproduct- it is free to be utilized
Technologies and industries which benefit

from Increasing the growth of algae: Ocean fertilization Algae based bio fuels Algae
based fertilizers Algae products (supplements, cosmetics) Sewage treatment
Produces freshwater Food production Pharmaceuticals EGF will implement an on-going program
into various methodologies (making them economical)
with the incentive of carbon neutral Solanol fuel production to fund the iron fertilization program, utilizing the free
by-product of iron oxide produced by the hydroxy gas for the manufacture of carbon neutral Solanol .
No other
methodology can provide these two factors: free iron oxide and the economic
incentive to implement. We believe we have the answer of sequestration of all the carbon dioxide
produced by the combustion of fossil fuels and at the same time the ability to produce carbon neutral Solanol
transport fuel Please note, in the "Virgin Earth Challenge" competition, the majority of finalists have based their
Iron fertilization (we can produce

iron oxide at no cost) and the production of algae is the most cost-efficient and
reliable production of biomass for the absorption of carbon dioxide and in addition it
is top of the food chain and represents 80% of this food chain. Due to the vast
quantities of carbon dioxide generated in the production of electrical power, we
have formulated into our methodology, a process known as ocean fertilization,
which can efficiently sequester vast amounts of CO2. Ocean Fertilization is used in our
calcul5ations (you will find in the documents section on our website "What is ocean fertilization") , as it has the
most potential on a larger scale to deal with massive amounts of CO2 sequestering.
findings on the utilization of biomass for carbon dioxide sequestration.
However, there are many other processes such as bio fuels that increased algae grow can be utilized. We have also
used off peak electricity produced by a coal power station- with precise information of inputs/outputs provide by a
Ocean Fertilization
Definition This is the process of distributing iron oxide into the ocean, which
encourages the growth of algae, which sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere.
Czech based power company whom have become interested in our technology
Coal
turbine -Co2 sequestering by EGF Recent information supplied to us by a potential licensee in Prague that operates
a 178MW coal fired power station. The intent is to utilize their off-peak waste electricity to produce carbon neutral
Ocean Fertilization?
This is the process of distributing iron oxide into the ocean, which encourages the
growth of algae, which sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere. The good news is we
have free iron oxide from our hydroxyl electrolysis process, equivalent to the level
necessary to sequester all the CO2 produced by a 60 MW turbine. We produce the
Solanol fuel to replace their dependence on importing all their transport fuels. What is
necessary iron oxide as a by-produce of the hydroxy electrolysis process, required

for iron fertilization of the ocean, to sequester all carbon dioxide emissions.
Ocean Fertilization CP Solvency

Ocean fertilization useful and effective.
Nigel Moore, Governance Project Manager at the Oxford Geoengineering
Programme, 06 Feb 2012, Much to learn about ocean fertilization, Oxford Martin
School, http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/blog/view/138
The oceans store a huge amount of carbon compared with the Earths atmosphere.
This fact has led some scientists and institutions to ask the question of whether human intervention might
be used to cause an increase in oceanic uptake of atmospheric carbon whereby a
small relative increase in carbon stored in the oceans would have a significant
impact on CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere . Following the recent Ocean Fertilization
seminar, Nigel Moore from the Oxford Geoengineering Programme explains. One ocean fertilization
method is known as the biological pumpessentially adding nutrients (such as
iron) in areas of the ocean where they are limited, in order to cause more plankton
blooms. When plankton grow they require carbon, which they get from the
atmosphere, and thus it is posited that increasing the amount of oceanic plankton
blooms would cause more carbon to be pulled out of the atmosphere and
potentiallybe sequestered for a long period of time in the ocean once the plankton
die.
Ocean fertilization definition and benefits.

Alex Wall, Environmental Science at the University of York, 5th January 2012, Ocean Fertilization: A case
study from the Southern Ocean assessing the feasibility of this Geo-engineering option, UK Energies,
http://ukenergies.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/ocean-fertilisation-a-case-study-from-the-southern-ocean-assessingthe-feasibility-of-this-geo-engineering-option/
It is likely that global warming will exceed 2C this century unless greenhouse
emissions are cut by at least 50% of 1990 levels by 2050 and by even more thereafter .
The 2C level is widely regarded has being a threshold and no current emissions scenario has been
able to produce a viable strategy to achieve this, to stabilize the concentration of
Carbon dioxide at 450ppm (~380ppm ambient) by 2100. Geo-engineering technologies may
form part of a solution to attain this outcome, or to make up for lost time in the
future whilst political consensus has not been found at the present (highlighted by current inability of the Kyoto
Protocol to reduce Carbon emissions). Geo-engineering technologies deliberately manipulate
the planetary environment to counter-act the enhanced global greenhouse effect
caused by anthropogenic emissions (either through carbon dioxide removal or solar radiation
management). These technologies may serve to avoid currently unidentified tipping points
(positive feedbacks) in the climate system such as the release of methane from gas hydrates in
Arctic and the increase in global soil respiration rates both induced by higher global temperatures. As of yet, no
Geo-engineering technologies have been demonstrated to be effective at an affordable cost, with acceptable side
effects. Nevertheless, this report will focus on analyzing the potential of the theory of Ocean
Fertilization
geo-engineering technologies which aim to remove carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and therefore directly cool the planet. Scientific Background The cycling of Carbon
in the earths oceans is driven in part by a biological pump, which utilizes carbon
from the atmosphere to produce organic matter (this growth is either limited by
light or by a nutrient). Due to biological degradation the majority of this organic carbon is
re-mineralized to its organic form in the upper euphotic zone of the ocean , however a
small fraction escapes and sinks due to gravity to the deep ocean where it can be
regarded as sequestered by the IPCC as it will be unable to re-enter the

atmosphere for at least a century. The Southern Ocean is regarded as being an HNLC
region (High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll) and the primary productivity appears to be limited by the
deficiency of Iron, the crux of the Ocean Fertilization theory in this region is that the
addition of Iron, will lead to a greater primary productivity and subsequently lead to a
greater sequestration of Carbon from the atmosphere. Due to the characteristic Redfield ratios
of the nutrient elements to carbon in algal tissues 106:16:1:0.001, (C:N:P:Fe) the addition of one atom of
Fe could theoretically stimulate the production of 100,000 organic carbon atoms . It is also
true that if the biological pump were to stop operating the concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide would
increase by more than 100ppm in a few decades. However it is incorrect to assume that this stimulation of phytoplankton equates to a correlationally greater sequestration of Carbon, as the majority of organic matter is
remineralized, and phyto-plankton growth is still limited by light and grazing of zooplankton, with only a small
fraction being finally transported and sequestered in the deep ocean (un-quantifiable at present). There may also
be a nutrient robbing effect, where the addition of Fe in one area, causes the withdrawal of macronutrients in
another, removing the net benefit of the addition of Iron. Recent high resolution modeling of iron fertilization
efficiency indicates that this technology could reduce the atmospheric C, by a modest 10ppm (whilst anthropogenic
activity releases Carbon at the rate of 8.5 Gt/yr) which is far removed from claims in the 1980s that the addition of
Iron could produce a global cooling effect sufficient to bring forward an ice age. Due to the speciation of Iron in the
environment it is difficult to model its biogeochemical processes in the marine environment (effecting the
bioavailability, photochemical processes and colloidal interactions), indicating a high unpredictability with this
technology.
Ocean Fertilization CP Politics NB

Legislators prefer alternatives to cap-and-trade solutions.
JENNIFER A. DLOUHY, Thursday, December 3, 2009 Legislators seek alternatives as cap-and-trade
wanes, Houston Chronicle, http://www.chron.com/business/article/Legislators-seek-alternatives-as-cap-and-trade1735417.php
Lawmakers on Wednesday began examining an array of ways to combat

global warming, amid signs that the carbon dioxide emissions trading plan known as cap-andtrade may be faltering in the Senate. We need to dispense with this somewhat
blind loyalty to economy-wide cap-and-trade, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of a
handful of Republicans who has signaled she might support a climate change bill.
We need to be encouraged to look to all of the alternatives, and, unfortunately, so
many of them have just been kicked to the side with the discussion about cap-andtrade. We've kind of boxed ourselves in. Murkowski's comments at a Senate Energy and Natural
WASHINGTON
Resources Committee hearing came just days before President Obama heads to international climate negotiations
in Copenhagen, where he is set to pledge that by 2020, the U.S. will cut greenhouse gas emissions about 17
percent below 2005 levels. Although the House passed cap-and-trade legislation in June that meets that target, the
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is huddling

with a group of senators to rewrite the leading climate change bill he co-sponsored
with Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in a bid to get support from Republicans .
Senate is not expected to take up a similar measure until spring.
Ocean Fertilization CP Politics NB CEOs

CEOs want federal investment in green R & D.
NBC4 Washington, Elizabeth Wynn Johnson, Jun 13, 2010, transcribed from
YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xagrs-CSC-o
This is power breakfast. Good morning, Im Elizabeth Wynn Johnson.
Energy independence won't come cheap. A coalition of top American CEOs says
Washington needs to triple its spending on energy related projects. This group
combined with others of like minds will do whatever they can to try and get the R&D
portion, the investment in R&D and innovation in any one of these bills." (Tim Solso,
Chairman & CEO, Cummins) How to pay for it? One idea is to end tax subsidies for
oil and gas companies. "Its past time that congress takes a run at this." (Rep. Earl
Blumenauer, D-Ore.) Sometimes timing is everything. "Certainly when we see the
spectacle of what's happened in the gulf, should we be giving these people more
tax incentives?" (Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.) Taking from big oil to support green
energy - the robin hood of bills could be ready for the house as early as this week.
And that's power breakfast.
Business support key to congressional approval of any plan.

Eric P. Grimsrud, Copyright 2012, Thoughts of a Scientist, Citizen, and Grandpa
on Climate Change: Bridging the Gap between Scientific and Public Opinion,
http://books.google.com/books?
id=4mO_OUJknFQC&printsec=copyright&source=gbs_pub_info_r#v=onepage&q&f
=false
Note also that our government has been clearly and repeatedly informed of this
plan even though our elected officials have not generally shared it with the public.
For example, a formal presentation of this plan1 called Carbon Fee with 100%
Dividend, was provided on February 25, 2009, before the House Ways and Means
Committee 1w Dr. lames Hansen, a leading climate change scientist. The full text of
his presentation can be seen on the Web at;
www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2009/20090226_WaysAndMeans.pdf. So why is
this plan not embraced by more of our Congressmen? It you put that question to
any of them, the answer you are likely to receive is simply this: this plan has no
chance of being politically acceptable in the U.S. Congress, period. Thats it. The
logic behind this anemic response is that big changes in existing business-as-usual
practices are not likely to see the light of day in Washington because firmly
entrenched existing businesses control Congress. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy
that is not being sufficiently challenged today.
Ocean Fertilization CP Spending NB

Ocean fertilization is the cheapest effective method.
Eco Global Fuels (EGF), 2011, Iron Fertilization- the worlds #1 method of CO2 sequestering,
http://ecoglobalfuels.com/news/iron-fertilization-worlds-1-method-co2-sequestering
Recent research just completed by our team, has revealed that the Eco Global Fuels (EGF)
renewable energy technology- not only creates carbon neutral ethanol, but with our free by product
from our unique IP hydroxyl process - iron oxide - and using the validated results from our test trials at Macquarie
makes enough iron oxide to be able to be

used in sequestering CO2 by promoting algae growth Iron oxide is a by-product
of the hydroxy electrolysis process, and with our calculations below, we have proven that sequestering
university, we have proven that our EGF process
all CO2 from a 60 MW turbine is achievable (which means we can apply this to any scale, using any power supply
for example photovoltaic, gas /coal turbines, off peak electricity etc.). Because it is a byproduct- it is free to be
Technologies and industries which

benefit from Increasing the growth of algae: Ocean fertilization Algae based bio
fuels Algae based fertilizers Algae products (supplements, cosmetics) Sewage
treatment Produces freshwater Food production Pharmaceuticals EGF will implement an onutilized into various methodologies (making them economical)
going program with the incentive of carbon neutral Solanol fuel production to fund the iron fertilization program,
utilizing the free by-product of iron oxide produced by the hydroxy gas for the manufacture of carbon neutral
Solanol.
No other methodology can provide these two factors: free iron oxide and the
economic incentive to implement. We believe we have the answer of sequestration of all the carbon
dioxide produced by the combustion of fossil fuels and at the same time the ability to produce carbon neutral
Solanol transport fuel Please note, in the "Virgin Earth Challenge" competition, the majority of finalists have based
Iron fertilization (we can

produce iron oxide at no cost) and the production of algae is the most costefficient and reliable production of biomass for the absorption of carbon dioxide
and in addition it is top of the food chain and represents 80% of this food chain. Due
to the vast quantities of carbon dioxide generated in the production of electrical
power, we have formulated into our methodology, a process known as ocean
fertilization, which can efficiently sequester vast amounts of CO2. Ocean
Fertilization is used in our calcul5ations (you will find in the documents section on our website "What is ocean
fertilization") , as it has the most potential on a larger scale to deal with massive amounts
of CO2 sequestering. However, there are many other processes such as bio fuels that increased algae grow
their findings on the utilization of biomass for carbon dioxide sequestration.
can be utilized. We have also used off peak electricity produced by a coal power station- with precise information of
Ocean
Fertilization Definition This is the process of distributing iron oxide into the ocean,
which encourages the growth of algae, which sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere.
inputs/outputs provide by a Czech based power company whom have become interested in our technology
Coal turbine -Co2 sequestering by EGF Recent information supplied to us by a potential licensee in Prague that
operates a 178MW coal fired power station. The intent is to utilize their off-peak waste electricity to produce carbon
Ocean
Fertilization? This is the process of distributing iron oxide into the ocean, which
encourages the growth of algae, which sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere. The
good news is we have free iron oxide from our hydroxyl electrolysis process,
equivalent to the level necessary to sequester all the CO2 produced by a 60 MW
turbine. We produce the necessary iron oxide as a by-produce of the hydroxy
electrolysis process, required for iron fertilization of the ocean, to sequester all
carbon dioxide emissions.
neutral Solanol fuel to replace their dependence on importing all their transport fuels. What is
Most cost effective, solves for econ.

There could be
removal of atmospheric CO2 at costs as low as $2/ton of CO2 removed, plus
enhancement of fish life. However, another study suggests that although fish catches in the Southern
Much research will be needed before ocean fertilization moves beyond the concept stage.
Hemisphere might increase, there could be significant decreases in tropical waters. A University of Rhode Island
study concluded that shallow living organisms, such as shelled mollusks and corals, are already being damaged by
increasing CO2 concentrations in upper layers of the oceans. If a growing tree removes CO2 from the atmosphere
(and it does), should that count as carbon sequestration? If owned by a power plant, should it count as an emissions
credit offsetting CO2 discharged in stack gases? Scale that up to millions of trees and a coal-burning utility, and you
have an important economic, environmental and public policy question. Trees and other vegetation convert CO2 to
oxygen, and store carbon in their living matter, in wood products and in the soil. Through these processes, almost a
quarter of CO2 emissions globally from fossil fuel and cement production are removed from the atmosphere. In the
United States, it is estimated that urban trees alone sequester about 23 million tons of carbon annually. This is
about 1.5 percent of U.S. carbon emissions. Analyzing NASA satellite data, researchers estimate that during the
1980s and 1990s, forests in the United States, Europe and Russia were storing nearly 0.7 gigatons/year of carbon.
This was equivalent to about a quarter of energy-generated carbon emissions from these three regions. The United
building cleaner power plants would
cost $50 to $75 per ton of CO2 avoided. AEP estimates that growing trees costs about $1 to $2/ton of
CO2 sequestered. Assuming that eventually the United States would adopt a carbon emissions reduction program,
in the mid 1990s several U.S. power companies began planting forests to capture CO2. AEP did the bulk of its
planting abroad, in countries such as Brazil, where the growing season is long and land is cheap. It was assumed
that carbon credits would apply globally. According to recent research in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, nested
plot test beds were storing about 4.3 tons of CO2 per acre per year. A typical coal power plant pumps out about one
ton of CO2 for each 1,200 kWh. For a typical 1,000-MW plant, this works out to 6 million tons of CO2 per year. Doing
the arithmetic means it takes about 1.4 million acres of relatively fast-growing trees to absorb the amount of CO2
emitted by a 1,000-MW conventional coal plant. This is equivalent to 2,400 square miles, or somewhat greater than
the land area of Delaware. Continuing with this exercise, if land costs $1,000/acre, the cost of 1.4 million acres is
$1.4 billion dollars or roughly the cost of building a new 1,000-MW IGCC plant from scratch. Of course, a large
part of this can be amortized by eventually selling the timber for construction and other uses. This also makes clear
why utilities would look for cheap land in tropical countries. In August 2002, as a carbon-reducing offset for its 25
fossil-fueled power plants, Entergy Corp. agreed to donate 600 acres of land, along Louisiana s Red River, to
become part of the Red River National Wildlife Refuge. The land will be used to grow trees that will store an
estimated 275,000 tons of CO2. The utility will receive credits if and when the United States decides to use an
emissions trading program and count biomass absorption as an offset to stack emissions. Research on terrestrial
biological carbon sequestration is proceeding on a number of fronts. For example, a U.S. Department of Agriculture
project has looked at the use of forest slash to restore degraded soil in North Carolina, thereby accelerating forest
growth. At Ohio State University, researchers have looked at the potential of flue gas desulfurization products to
increase the carbon absorption capacity of worn out mining lands. The Rodale Institute claims that organic farming
retains 15 to 28 percent more soil carbon than conventionally farmed soil. The Japanese Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is researching genetically modified super trees to absorb more CO2.
Some scientists argue that as second growth forests mature, the rate of carbon uptake will plateau. While growing
vegetation removes CO2, decaying vegetation does the opposite. Forest fires, which were extensive in the United
States in 2002, release large amounts of CO2 quickly. Researchers from the United Kingdom and Germany estimate
that the 1997 Indonesian forest fires released CO2 equivalent to 13 to 40 percent of the total annual worldwide
carbon emissions from all fossil fuels Both inside and outside the United States, objections have been raised to
counting trees and other terrestrial vegetation as offsets to carbon emissions. Carbon sequestration is a work in
progress. However,
were good at R&D and subsequent deployment of new technologies.
With continued research and development, we can play a major role in creating
cost-effective solutions to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels. In addition, these
technologies might become significant export items, thereby helping our economy,
and also demonstrating to the world that we really are engaged in global efforts to
address global warming.
Ocean Fertilization CP AT: U.N. Regulations

Germany and India already violated it with no consequences.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/fertilizethis/
A major Indian-German geoengineering expedition set sail this week for the Scotia Sea,
flouting a U.N. ban on ocean iron fertilization experiments in hopes of garnering
data about whether the process actually does take carbon dioxide out of the
atmosphere and sequester it in the deep ocean, a technique that may help reverse
global warming. The LOHAFEX experiment will spread 20-tons of iron sulphate particles over a 115-squaremile section of open ocean north of Antarctica thats about 1.7 times the size of Washington, D.C. The
initiative has drawn fire from environmental groups who point out that 200 countries
agreed to the moratorium until more evidence was available about its efficacy. But
that hasnt stopped the LOHAFEX team, composed of Alfred Wegener Institute and Indian National
Institute of Oceanography scientists, who say they need to conduct experiments to get such
data. If the LOHAFEX iron dump goes ahead, it will be a clear defiance of the U.N.
Convention on Biological Diversity, Jim Thomas of ETC Group, said in a press release. Its
becoming clear that when it comes to global warming reversal schemes, deciding
who will control the global thermostat is as complex an issue as how such schemes
could actually be accomplished. Ocean iron fertilization is considered one of the more promising options
for global-scale geoengineering, which aims to slow or reverse the effects of climate change caused by mans
burning of fossil fuels. While Thomas expressed outrage, Jamais Cascio, a futurist who has written about the
geopolitical repercussions of geoengineering for the journal Foreign Policy, took a more measured tone. "ETC is right
that we need international standards and safeguards for these experiments, and hopefully this attempt will spur
action in that regard," Cascio said. "I think theyre wrong, however, to suggest that any look at geoengineering is
inherently problematic." Importantly, iron fertilization would deal directly with the amount of CO2 in the
atmosphere, as opposed to, say, blocking out some of the suns rays with a global molecular parasol. By providing
plankton with iron in water where iron is lacking, the marine creatures grow in tremendous numbers, incorporating
carbon into their bodies. When the plankton die and sink, the carbon goes with down with their skeletons. It is
unknown, however, how much of that carbon actually makes it deep into the ocean, where it would be sequestered
for decades, not days. At a panel at meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science last year,
marine geochemist Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute said that somewhere between 2 and
50 percent of the carbon the plankton eat could actually make it to the depths of the ocean, which is basically like
saying that we dont know if the process works. "The efficacy of iron-induced sequestration of atmospheric CO2 to
the deep sea, however, remains poorly constrained," he summarized. "We do not yet understand the full range of
The voluntary U.N. ban

included language to allow countries to do tests near their shores. But its the open
seas, particularly in the southern hemisphere, that would allow in-situ testing of the
LOHAFEX scientists hypotheses. "The fate of carbon from the bloom could not be
adequately determined in earlier experiments," the LOHAFEX website reads.
"LOHAFEX will now study the entire range of processes determining the partitioning
of carbon between atmosphere and deep ocean in the experimental bloom." Cascio
said that its likely that further geoengineering experiments or actual efforts will be
made. "This comes as absolutely no surprise to me," he said. "The confluence of
desperation as we see climate disruption hit faster than anticipated, inaction on the
carbon emission front, and the ease with which geoengineering can be undertaken
means that this wont be the last time that a sub-national group tries something like
this." Already, two ocean-iron-fertilization companies, Climos and Planktos, have
been founded. Theyve met different fates, though. Last year, Planktos went belly up, while Climos pulled in $4
intended and potential unintended biogeochemical and ecological impacts."
million in venture capital. UPDATE 11:10 am PST: Climos CEO, Dan Whaley, notes in our comments section that
there
was a clause included in an October resolution of a separate U.N. organization,

in which 88 countries voted to allow "legitimate scientific
parties to the London Convention,
research" on ocean iron fertilization, without restrictions to coastal waters. It was

under this ruling that the researchers proceeded. The full text of that resolution is available at
Climos website.
Its controversial and destroys the environment

Parry, 7/18/12 LiveScience senior staff writer (Wynne, July 18, 2012, Could
Fertilizing the Oceans Reduce Global Warming?, http://www.livescience.com/21684geoengineering-iron-fertilization-climate.html, Hensel)
A potential solution? This general approach, modifying the planet to address climate change, is known as
geoengineering proposals like iron fertilization tend to raise many

uncertainties and risks. Other geoengineering ideas have included pumping aerosols into the atmosphere
geoengineering, and,
to block out solar radiation or tucking away excess carbon in underground reservoirs. [Top 10 Craziest
Ocean fertilization is a controversial idea, prompting protest from

those who fear the unintended environmental impacts it may have . "Most scientists
would agree that we are nowhere near the point of recommending [iron fertilization of
the oceans] as a geoengineering tool. But many think that larger and longer [iron fertilization]
Environmental Ideas]
experiments should be performed to help us to decide which, if any, of the many geoengineering options at hand
should be deployed," Buesseler wrote.
Geo-Engineering fails
Moriarty and Honnery 10 Both PhDs

Patrick Moriarty, Ph.D. Department of Design, Monash University, and Damon
Honnery, Ph.D. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash
University. Why Technical Fixes Wont Mitigate Climate Change. Journal of
Cosmology, 2010, Vol 8, 1921-1927.
http://journalofcosmology.com/ClimateChange107.html
As discussed here, geoengineering is action intended to manipulate climate on a global, or at least regional,
scale. Corner and Pidgeon (2010) have pointed out that our emissions of CO2 (which have raised
atmospheric CO2 levels from the pre-industrial 280 ppm to the present 387 ppm) could also be considered
geoengineering. If so, we are merely arguing about different forms of the practice. The potential use of
geoengineering for climate mitigation received a boost with a paper by Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen (2006).
Like the present authors, he argued that conventional methods of mitigation were not workingthe CO2
atmospheric concentration continues to climb at about 2 ppm each year. His inspiration was the significant
drop in global temperatures recorded in the year following the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption in the
Philippines in June 1991. The cooling resulted from the emission of some 10 Mt of sulphate aerosols into the
lower stratosphere in the tropics. Continuous deliberate placement of fine sulphate aerosols in the lower
stratosphere would reflect some of the incoming short-wave solar radiation, increasing the Earths albedo,
and counteracting the positive forcing from increased levels of GHGs. The options available for
geoengineering can be either local in extent (such as altering the albedo of deserts, crops or urban areas) or
global (such as the use of giant space-based mirrors). Only aerosol placement in the tropical stratosphere,
albedo enhancement of marine stratiform clouds and reflective mirrors in space would have the potential to
counteract a doubling or more of atmospheric CO2 ppm (Lenton and Vaughan 2009). Of these global
approaches, the cheapest is likely to be aerosol placement. Except for space-based mirrors, the approaches
appear both far cheaper and far faster to implement than more conventional mitigation methods. Because of
the lack of progress in slowing emissions and the low cost and rapid cooling resulting from global measures,
geoengineering is gaining acceptance. The U.K. Royal Society (2009) has endorsed it as a technique to be
used alongside other mitigation methods. But implementing measures to reduce the planetary albedo run
enormous risks. Global precipitation would on average be reducedit is not possible to bring both global
temperatures and precipitation to their previous levels (Bala 2009). Acidification of the oceans would
continue, potentially destabilising ocean ecosystems (Doney et al. 2009). Also, because elevated levels of
CO2 will persist for centuries, so too must geoengineeringthe continuous placement of aerosols, for
example. Any abrupt cessation because of dangerous side effects discovered would rapidly raise the forcing
to levels corresponding to the GHG concentrations at that time, resulting in very rapid warming, with
possibly catastrophic effects on ecosystems (Matthews and Caldeira 2007). Thus although the costs of
aerosol placement may well be modest, the overall cost of countering the unwanted consequences could be
very high. Recently, perhaps because of these serious drawbacks, some researchers have modelled the effects
of more modest aerosol placement schemes. Rather than global year-round aerosol coverage, they have
looked at techniques that might prevent melting of the Greenhouse ice cap or Arctic summer sea ice, or
summer warming of the north Atlantic during the hurricane season (Caldeira and Wood 2008, MacCracken
2009). The aerosols might be locally applied, for part of the year, to address a very specific problem resulting
from climate change. But to be effective, their effects would necessarily be felt globally (Caldeira and Wood
2008), and if several of these projects were to be implemented simultaneously, the combined gobal effects
might be extremely uncertain.
Aff Answers
Geo-Engineering fails large technical and

scientific uncertainties and doesnt eliminate the
need to reduce GHGs.
Johnson et al. 10 PhD in Atmospheric Science
Andrew Simms, policy director of New Economics Foundation, UK think tank, and
head of NEF's Climate Change Programme, Dr. Victoria Johnson, researcher for the
climate change and energy programme at NEF, MSc with distinction in Climate
Change from the University of East Anglia and PhD in Atmospheric Physics at
Imperial College, London and Peter Chowla, Policy and Advocacy Officer at the
Bretton Woods Project. Growth isnt possible. New Economics Foundation, January
25,2010.
http://www.neweconomics.org/sites/neweconomics.org/files/Growth_Isnt_Possible.pd
f
In most cases, geoengineering schemes are viewed as a stopgap between now and some point in the future
where mitigation technology is cheaper and more widespread. There are, however, large technical and
scientific uncertainties. For example Professor David Victor, Director of the Laboratory on International Law
and Regulation at Stanford University argues: real-world geoengineering will be a lot more complex and
expensive than currently thought because simple interventionssuch as putting reflective particles in the
stratospherewill be combined with many other costlier interventions to offset nasty side effects.327 The
large majority of academics working in the field of geoengineering research have been clear that their
research and technical propositions are not intended to distract from the efforts of reducing greenhouse gas
emissions as the first priority for controlling climate change. However, many now argue that a technological
intervention may be required parallel to current mitigation efforts.328
Geoengineering replicates the failures of the

Manhattan Project leads to long-term
environmental damage
Levene 10 Reader @ Southhampton
Mark Levene, Reader in Comparative History at Southampton University and a
member of the Parkes Institute for Jewish/ non-Jewish relations. He writes
extensively on genocide and related themes. He is also a long-term peace and
environmental activist, co-founder of Crisis Forum, Future Ethics, pg. 65-66
It is surely significant how closely the urge for geo-engineering follows these same ultra-rational, yet,
paradoxically, salvationist contours. The latters proponents have already for some time been speaking
openly of geo-engineering as a second MP, justified on the grounds that it would cut out the institutional
inefficiency inherent in international policymaking bodies . . . reducing the number of decisions, and
focusing costs on a small number of parties (Michaelson, 1998: 23). Urgency, once again, is the driver. If
we want victory, the time is now, which in turn means either affirming or acquiescing to the state or states
with the technological advantage to invent and implement the strategy. By dint of the fact that only the
United States has the overriding material resource plus military and technologically integrated capacity as
well as technical expertise to undertake it, a geo-engineering MP will also primarily be a US MP. But the
fact that the future environmental consequences of any such programme are completely in the
realms of the unknown (nobody has any real idea what locally or globally, immediately or cumulatively,
dumping iron oxide will do to the oceans or what masses of sulphur particles sprayed into the atmosphere
will do to the ozone layer) (Webb, 2008b) means that as with the nuclear experiment, what we are
being offered is a very peculiar form of salvation. Geo-engineering proposals do not seek to engage
with the environmental consequences for the longer term. Like the atom bombs in 1945, they
operate on combating a perceived threat as it presents itself now. As a consequence, our children , or
childrens children, will still have to cope with the burden of our ghg emissions (presumably requiring
them to develop some even more extraordinary technical fixes for the purpose) just as they will with our
radioactive waste.
***MP = Manhattan Project
G-E fails no sustainable international

cooperation, and conflict prevents solvency
Schneider 10 Professor of Climatology @ Stanford
Stephen Schneider, Professor of Climatology @ Stanford, Geo-engineering: could
we or should we make it work?, pg. 21
Institutions currently do not exist with the firm authority to assess or enforce responsible use of the
global commons (Nanda & Moore 1983; Choucri 1994). There are some partially successful examples (e.g.
the Montreal Protocol and its extensions to control ozone-depleting substances, the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty or the atmospheric nuclear test ban treaty) of nation states willing to cede some national sovereignty to
international authorities for the global good. However, it would require a significant increase in 'globalmindedness' on the part of all nations to set up institutions to attempt to control climate and to compensate
any potential losers should the interventions possibly backfire - or even be perceived to have gone awry.
Moreover, such an institution would need the resources, skills and authority to inject continuously,
and monitor over a century or two, measured amounts of dust in the stratosphere, iron in the oceans
or sea-salt aerosols into clouds in order to counteract the inadvertent enhanced heat-trapping effects
of long-lived constituents such as CO2. I, for one, am highly dubious about the likelihood of a
sufficient and sustainable degree of global-scale international cooperation needed to assure a high
probability that world climate control and compensation authorities (e.g. see Schneider & Mesirow
1976) could be maintained without interruption by wars or ideological disputes for the next
two centuries. Just imagine if we needed to do all this in 1900 and then the rest of twentieth-century history
unfolded as it actually did! Would climate control have been rationally maintained, or would gaps and rapid
transient reactions have been the experience? -
Emissions mitigation is comparatively better

In Schneider (1996), I proposed the following health metaphor as apt: it is better to cure heroin addiction
by paced medical care that weans the victim slowly and surely from drug addiction than by massive
substitution of methadone or some other 'more benign' or lower-cost narcotic. For me, a more rapid
implementation of energy-efficient technologies, alternative, less polluting agricultural or energy
production systems (e.g. Johansson et al. 1993), better population planning, wildlife habitat protection
(particularly for threatened ecosystems) and commodity pricing that reflects not simply the traditional costs
of labour, production, marketing and distribution but also the potential 'external' costs from a modified
environment (e.g. NAS 1992 ; IPCC 2007c) are the kinds of lasting measures that can cure 'addiction' to
polluting practices without risking the potential side effects of geo-engineering -planetary methadone
in my metaphor. Rather than pin our hopes on the gamble that geo-engineering will prove to be
inexpensive, benign and administratively sustainable over centuries - none of which can remotely
be assured now - in my value system, I - and most of the authors of this volume as well - would prefer to
start to lower the human impact on the Earth through more conventional means .
Cuts are comparatively more effective and

predictable any GE strategy risks global climate
disruption
Rasch 10 Professor of Climate Sciences
Philip Rasch, Chief Scientist for Climate Science at the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, Geo-eningeering Climate Change: Environmental Necessity or
Pandoras Box, pg. 280
Substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions must take place soon to avoid large and
undesirable climate impacts. This study has reviewed one technique that might be used in a planetary
emergency to mitigate some of the effects of a projected global warming. We emphasize that, while the
studies highlighted here are a step along the way, we believe no proposal (including the ideas explored here)
has yet completed the series of steps required for a comprehensive and thoroughly studied geoengineering mitigation strategy occurring in the peer reviewed literature (Cicerone 2006). Our
review of studies of geo-engineering by sulphate aerosols suggests it will ameliorate some
consequences of global warming. The study highlights some positive aspects of the strategy.
However, many uncertainties remain in understanding the influence of geo-engineering on the
climate system (particularly on aspects related to likely impacts on the biosphere ). More work is
required to understand the costs, benefits and risks involved, and to reconcile the legal, political and ethical
issues of geo-engineering.
Geoengineering will be perceived as a clandestine

weapon leads to war
We went on to argue that some people could even consider use of climate modification as an overt or
clandestine weapon against economic or political rivals , and that that prospect might require the need
for an international treaty. We noted that the potential for disputes would be very high since any natural
weather disaster occurring during the time that some group was conducting deliberate climate
modification experiments could lead those affected by that disaster to make accusations that the
climate modifiers were responsible for that event. Courts could be clogged with expert witnesses
testifying on the one hand how the deliberate intervention could not possibly have caused some
unusual hurricane or '300-year flood', followed by other witnesses (perhaps the same ones collecting
double fees?) turning around and testifying for the other side that current knowledge is insufficient to rule out
the possibility that a geo-engineering scheme in one part of the world might very well have affected some
extreme event on the other side of the world. We concluded, only partially tongue in cheek, that: We have
raised many more questions than we are even remotely capable of answering, but we do wish to offer one
'modest' proposal for 'no-fault climate disaster insurance.' If a large segment of the world thinks the benefits
of a proposed climate modification scheme outweigh the risks, they should be willing to compensate those
(possibly even a few of themselves) who lose their favored climate (as defined by past statistics), without
much debate as to whether the losers were negatively affected by the scheme or by the natural course of the
climate. After all, experts could argue both sides of cause and effect questions and would probably leave
reasonable doubts in the public's mind...(Keilogg & Schneider 1974)
Leads to conflict
-creates perception that it causes climate disruptions like hurricanes or floods
encourages backlash and war against the country that implements it

Indeed, as noted by all responsible authors who have addressed this problem, much is technically
uncertain and geo-engineering could be a 'cure worse than the disease' (Schneider & Mesirow 1976),
given our current level of ignorance of both advertent and inadvertent climate modifications . But,
there is also the potential for human conflict associated with the fact that deliberate intervention in
the climate system could, as noted more than 30 years ago, coincide with seriously damaging climatic
events that may or may not have been connected to the modification scheme and likely could not
conclusively be shown to be connected to or disconnected from that modification. This potential
for conflicts poses serious social and political obstacles to would-be climate controllers, regardless of
how technically or cost effective the engineering schemes may eventually turn out to be . Of course,
this has to be traded off against the potential for conflicts from the uneven distribution of climate impacts
from unabated emissions that will drive global warming.
Destroys the Environment

CP causes a litany of environmental problems
Parry, 7/18/12 LiveScience senior staff writer (Wynne, July 18, 2012, Could
Fertilizing the Oceans Reduce Global Warming?, http://www.livescience.com/21684geoengineering-iron-fertilization-climate.html, Hensel)
In spite of the experiment's success, Smetacek is cautious about the
implications for cleaning up human's greenhouse gas emissions . "It's a very thorny subject,"
he said. "What we can say here at this stage is that we need to have more experiments (before)
we can make any firms statements on that." Many questions about the feasibility and
safety of this approach remain. Buesseler points out that iron fertilization has the potential
to stimulate toxic algae blooms ; cause the production of nitrous oxide , a more
potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide ; or to suck oxygen out of water as the
algae decompose, a phenomenon that is responsible for creating dead zones , like the one found in
the Gulf of Mexico. The approach also has limited potential , since even used on a large
scale, it could only remove a fraction of the excess carbon dioxide humans are
emitting.
Far from proven
Unpopular
Geoengineering is unpopular
Bullis, 09 (Kevin, senior editor, Technology Review, November 6, 2009, U.S.
Congress Considers Geoengineering, MIT Technology Review,
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/416187/us-congress-considersgeoengineering/, Hensel)
These last two reasons seem to have been in the back of Gordon's head during his opening remarks.
"Geoengineering
carries with it a tremendous range of uncertainties , ethical and

political concerns , and the potential for catastrophic environmental side-effects . But
we are faced with the stark reality that the climate is changing, and the onset of impacts may outpace the world's
political and economic ability to avoid them," he said. "This issue is too important for us to keep our heads in the
We must get ahead of geoengineering before it gets ahead of us." Not everyone
is taking things seriously though. Just before the committee got underway, the ranking Republican on the
committee, Ralph Hall (Texas), turned to Gordon and asked, "You can stand a little fun about that
outrageous thing we're going to talk about today ?" Then, during the hearing he compared
geoengineering to "flying elephants."
sand.
Water Scarcity
Desalination CP
1NC
Text: The United States federal government should provide
sovereign guarantees of water purchase for domestic water
desalination production.
Desalination solves better than the case its a question of
sovereign funding for the projects
Boals 9 (Connor Boals, Circle of Blue, Drinking from the Sea,
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2009/world/drinking-from-the-sea-demandfor-desalination-plants-increases-worldwide/, ZS)
Technology and Need Converge As is so often the case in the 21st century, the
growing desalination market is made possible by powerful trends that have
converged. Technology has dropped the per-gallon cost of turning seawater or
brackish water into drinking water, and improved the energy efficiency of plants.
Shortages of fresh water and the unyielding movement of the worlds rural people
to cities has dramatically increased the need for alternatives. The Middle East has
long been the dominant market, with Saudi Arabia producing more than 10 million
cubic meters a day and the United Arab Emirates producing almost 8.5 million cubic
meters a day, according to Global Water Intelligence. But the United States is now
the worlds third leading builder of desalination plants. Other top markets are Spain,
Kuwait, Algeria, China, Qatar, Japan and Australia. Almost two-thirds of all
desalination plants use seawater, with 19 percent drawing from brackish sources.
Without any other sources for freshwater, desalination is quickly becoming vital to
many regions. St. Martins desalination plant is run by Frances Veolia Water
Caribbean. The industrys leading companies Frances Veolia Environment (5.4
million cubic meters a day), Italys Fisia Italimpianti (3 million), South Koreas
Doosan (2.8 million) and GE Water in the United States (2.5 million) now compete
with hundreds of companies for lucrative municipal contracts. We do see double
digit growth rates in the [desalination] market, said Jeff Fulgham, chief marketing
officer for GE Water. That is a big deal for us from an investment standpoint.
Fulgham said GE is involved in desalination in more than 100 countries and will
reinvest 3 percent of its overall revenue in technology development over the next
three years - a large piece of which will be going to seawater desalination, brackish
water desalination and water reuse projects. Companies are attracted to seawater
desalination, executives say, because the projects are very large usually in
excess of $100 million are very visible and often generate lots of publicity,
making them attractive to private firms. In Carlsbad, Calif., Poseidon Resources is
finishing permitting on a desalination plant that will supply 50 million gallons a day
to nine Southern California water municipalities. The company selected Barclays
Capital to oversee the $300-plus million project, said Scott Maloni, vice president at
Poseidon Resources. The basic business strategy is straightforward. Although the
plants involve significant investment, most projects come with a sovereign
guarantee that municipalities will purchase water as long as the plants
continue to produce it. Along with the water purchases, the companies are
usually contracted to operate the plants for up to 20 years. [Companies] have to
recover some initial investments, said Tom Pankratz, of the International

Desalination Association. But its not a risky endeavor. Pankratz predicted that the
total global seawater desalination market could be worth $25 billion over the next
five years and $58 billion over the next ten years.
AT: Not Feasible

Israel proves feasibility this directly translates to the US
Odenheimer and Nash 14 (Alisa Odenheimer and James Nash, Staff writers
for Bloomberg News, Israel Desalination Shows California Not to Fear Drought,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/israel-desalination-shows-californianot-to-fear-drought.html, ZS)
Six decades of providing water in a country thats 60 percent desert have made
Israel a technological leader in the field, a model that points the way for droughtstricken California. Desalination of sea water, reuse of treated sewage for
agriculture, software creating an early-warning system for leaks, computerized drip
irrigation and careful accounting of every drop have become the norm in Israel, the
worlds 40th biggest economy. Officials in California, which would be the 10th
largest if it were a nation, are paying attention. North of San Diego, Israels IDE
Technologies Ltd. is helping to build what it says will be the largest seawater
desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. The facility, when finished in 2016,
will be able to provide 50 million gallons of potable water a day. Three smaller
plants already operate in California, and 15 more have been proposed. This is the
one supply that San Diego County is investing in that is truly drought-proof, said
Peter MacLaggan, senior vice president of privately held Poseidon Resources Corp.,
which is developing the $922 million plant with IDE. It does cost more, but it has
some reliability benefits that are very important to the regional economy.
AT: Tech Not Feasible

Tech exists now makes it economically feasible
Griggs 7/21 (Brandon Griggs, 7/21/14, Staff writer CNN, How oceans can solve
our freshwater crisis, http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/26/tech/city-tomorrowdesalination/, ZS)
Thanks to improved technology, turning ocean water into freshwater is becoming
more economically feasible. And a looming global water crisis may make it crucial to
the planet's future. Can surveillance make life easier? Should smart cities from
scratch? Smart garbage: The future of stink LAPD's data mining program has CIA
roots Secrets behind this super-green building Giant wind turbines vs a tiny bird The
genius evolution of the park bench The United Nations predicts that by 2025, twothirds of the world's population will suffer water shortages, especially in the
developing world and the parched Middle East. Scientists say climate change is
making the problem worse. Even in the United States, demand for water in droughtravaged California and the desert Southwest is outpacing supply. This is why a huge
desalination plant is under construction in Carlsbad, California, some 30 miles north
of San Diego. When completed in 2016, it will be the largest such facility in the
Western Hemisphere and create 50 million gallons of freshwater a day. "Whenever a
drought exacerbates freshwater supplies in California, people tend to look toward
the ocean for an answer," said Jennifer Bowles, executive director of the Californiabased Water Education Foundation. "It is, after all, a seemingly inexhaustible
supply." A growing trend Most desalination technology follows one of two methods:
distillation through thermal energy or the use of membranes to filter salt from
water. In the distillation process, saltwater is heated to produce water vapor, which
is then condensed and collected as freshwater. The other method employs reverse
osmosis to pump seawater through semi-permeable membranes -- paper-like filters
with microscopic holes -- that trap the salt while allowing freshwater molecules to
pass through. The remaining salty water is then pumped back into the ocean.
Officials at the Carlsbad plant say they can covert two gallons of seawater into one
gallon of freshwater by filtering out 99.9% of the salt. There are some 16,000
desalination plants on the planet, and their numbers are rising. The amount of
desalted water produced around the world has more than tripled since 2000,
according to the Center for Inland Desalination Systems at the University of Texas at
El Paso. "Desalination is growing in arid regions," said Tom Davis, director of the
center. "We are making progress in the USA, but the countries around the Persian
Gulf are way ahead in the use of desalination, primarily because they have no
alternative supplies of freshwater." Israel, in an arid region with a coastline on the
Mediterranean, meets half its freshwater needs through desalination. Australia,
Algeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also rely heavily on the
ocean for their municipal water. In the United States, desalination projects are
concentrated in coastal states such as California, Florida and Texas. Some
environmentalists are wary of desalination, which consumes large amounts of
energy, produces greenhouse gases and kills vital marine organisms that are sucked
into intake pipes. But proponents believe the technology offers a long-term,
sustainable solution to the globe's water shortages. One entrepreneur has even
built an experimental solar desalination plant in California's San Joaquin Valley.

"When other freshwater sources are depleted, desalination will be our
best choice," said Davis, a UTEP professor of engineering.
AT: Same Internal Link

Its a question of cost only federal guarantees solve by
allowing broader investment
Stroud 12 [Matthew, MA from the University of Arizona in Hydrology, Solar
Desalination in the Southwest United States: A Thermoeconomic Analysis Utilizing
the Sun to Desalt Water in High Irradiance Regions, Masters Thesis]
A solar desalination model utilizing Southwest climate data and current technology
was constructed, generating cost data. Short and long-term viability of solar
desalination in the Southwest was determined, and used to assess what role solar
desalination should play in the region Solar desalination was found to be feasible in
both the short and long-term. This result depends on subsidies, the cost of money
and competing energy costs; bearing that in mind, using current solar and
desalination technology in the Southwest is financially viable in the short-term.
Long-term technology trends favor improved solar and water conversion rates.
Intuitively, solar desalination viability should increase with time; even so, solar
desalination feasibility compared to traditional methods does not address
desalination as a new, alternative water source. Furthermore, water in the
Southwest is a fundamental social force: politics and institutional arrangements
necessary for wide scale implementation are significant feasibility factors. In
general, motivated and collaborative water resource managers, politicians and
other leaders acting together over the entire Southwest in advance of impending
water crises will increase solar desalination feasibility. Solar desalination cost still
remains higher than efficiently using renewable water sources, but through greater
solar and water conversion efficiency, strategic conveyance, and ecofriendly waste
management, solar desalination has considerable potential as a groundbreaking,
sustainable source of water in the Southwest.
Sovereign guarantees key and also proves a massive alt

cause to the aff because they cant solve that
Pappas 2011Michael. Unnatural Resource Law: Situation Desalination in Costal
Resource and Water Law Doctrines. Tulane Law Review 86 (81): 81-134
As discussed above, the federal government holds sovereignty over saltwater
unless it conveys such sovereignty to the states. Thus, the federal government is in
the position to clarify, via federal legislation, whether it wishes to retain sovereign
control and federally administer desalination projects or to follow the example of the
SLA and expressly grant the states proprietary control over saltwater for
desalination purposes. Ultimately, this choice between federal and state control
comes down to a policy decision, and while there is significant room for debate on
the issue, this Article suggests that federal control over desalination is a preferable
approach. There are a number of possible benefits to federal administration of
desalination projects. First, a federalized desalination program would create a
degree of uniformity in desalination programs that, as demonstrated by the
example of groundwater law, is lacking in state-based water law regimes. Rather
than allowing each state to dictate its own doctrines and limitations regarding
desalted water, a uniform, federalized approach could allow for more efficiency in
managing and distributing water resources, particularly if a desalination plant were
to distribute water to multiple states. Additionally, the experience of the federal
government, particularly the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of
Engineers, in executing large water projects may give it an advantage over states in
managing major desalination facilities. Further, a federal approach to desalination
could make it easier and less expensive to construct and maintain desalination
plants because the federal government could manage multiple plants, rather than
individual states managing one or few. Finally, a consolidated, federalized system of
desalination would allow easier integration with federal environmental laws and
policies. For example, federal planning makes sense in such an energy consumptive
context as desalination, which could benefit from integration with greenhouse gas
emission initiatives, possible Clean Air Act controls, or National Environmental Policy
Act review. Further, federal planning of desalination projects could promote more
integrated, ecosystem-based coastal planning.
AT: Environment DA
Some mechanisms exist to prevent catastrophic impacts
Australia and Israel prove
Lokiec 13 (Fredi, Executive Vice President, Special Projects IDE Technologies
Ltd, SUSTAINABLE DESALINATION: ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACHES, http://www.idetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Sustainable-Desalination-EnvironmentalApproaches.pdf, ZS)
Global depletion of water sources and water scarcity are serious problems that are
affecting municipal health and industry in an increasing number of regions
throughout the world. In many countries the lack of water resources also acts as a
limiting factor affecting the development and growth of their economic sectors, thus
affecting countries GDP. As seawater desalination technologies have matured over
the past four decades, seawater desalination is being increasingly utilized by both
governmental agencies and industry as a sustainable solution to the lack of usable
water. While the social and economic benefits of desalination are recognized,
scientific and public concerns are raised over potential adverse impacts of
desalination on the environment. Key concerns are the energy demand to drive the
process and the emission of greenhouse gases. Impacts associated with land use,
construction activities, intake and the related effects of concentrate discharge are
also among the main issues raising public awareness. The desalination industry is
focused today on incorporating sustainability aspects and mitigation measures into
the design and operation of desalination plants, rising to the challenge to reduce
the environmental footprint of desalination facilities and recognizing effective
environmental management that also brings potential economic benefits. The
potential environmental impacts on the marine and terrestrial environments, as well
as on the atmosphere, at both construction and operation stages of large-scale
desalination facilities are analyzed in this paper, which also describes various
measures and approaches aimed at avoiding, mitigating or minimizing these
potential environmental impacts. Field experience results of several monitoring
programs held on the marine environment in the proximity of large scale desalt
plants in Israel and Australia is also assessed.
Shipbuilding
1NC Title XI
Text: The United States federal government should increase
Title XI loan guarantee funding.
Counterplan solves shipbuilding Title XI loan guarantees
would stimulate the shipbuilding industry
Goure, 11 [Lexington Institute, Obama Could Create Jobs And Support Defense,
Daniel, PhD, http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/obama-could-create-jobs-andsupport-defense?a=1&c=1171]
Since the President probably is still working on the big economic proposal to be unveiled in September, I would like to offer him a
few thoughts. Over the past two and a half years the administration has put forward one spending initiative after another. It is
difficult to remember them all or to distinguish one idea from the other. How many times can the White House advocate for more
spending on infrastructure before the idea, however plausible, loses credibility with Congress and the American people?
President Obama could take a leaf from President Roosevelts playbook during the
last great economic downturn. During the Great Depression the federal government spent funds from stimulus
programs such as the Works Project Administration (WPA) to support expansion of shipyard capacity and even to build warships.
Pre-war shipbuilding made a significant contribution to positioning the United States

to become the Arsenal of Democracy. It also helped win the battle of Midway; the aircraft carrier Yorktown was
built with Roosevelt-era stimulus funds. The administration likes to tout its stimulus plan as having halted the economic downturn
and prevented even more job losses. I would suggest that continuing high levels of defense spending probably had a lot to do with
In fact, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, defense spending probably had a greater

positive impact on the economy than infrastructure spending because the money
generally went for high value products and services. President Obama would be wise to consider
this.
opportunities to invest in the defense sector as a way of both stimulating the economy and supporting national security. Let me
provide just one example. Both China and Russia have just demonstrated their first entrant in the competition for a fifth-generation
fighter, something the U.S. already has in the F-22. The fact that the Russians and Chinese have entered the competition earlier
than anticipated is a cause for alarm since the U.S. halted the F-22 program at only 187 aircraft. Mr. President, how about providing
the funds to restart the F-22 line and build another 50 or 60 aircraft? That is a lot of high-tech jobs and a significant improvement to
A less well recognized candidate for increased government investment

that would create jobs, improve infrastructure, remove impediments to economic
growth and help national security is the domestic shipbuilding industry . Simply put, the
national security.
United States has always supported a domestic shipbuilding industry and merchant marine on national security grounds. The
centerpiece of this policy is the Jones Act, passed in 1920, which requires that vessels engaged in trade between two U.S. ports be
American-built, owned and crewed. This is important for national security because the Navy both acquires its support vessels
tankers and supply ships from U.S. shipyards and uses that same industrial base for overhaul and maintenance for its surface
combatants. This industrial base could not be sustained on Navy funding alone, hence the need to support commercial activities
The first thing that the President could do is provide

continued funding for the Title XI Federal Ship Financing Program . Title XI provides
loan guarantees on contracts to build or overhaul commercial vessels in U.S.
shipyards. The guarantees can be employed to cover the production of any type of
commercial vessel including barges and offshore oil rigs. Title XI encourages the
maintenance of commercial facilities and a skilled workforce that can also be
employed in constructing and maintain Navy vessels. An even bigger boost to the
nations economy and national security would result from an administration decision
to expand implementation of the Marine Highway Initiativ e. The MHI is intended to
accelerate development of waterborne shipping services thereby reducing
congestion on land as well as saving money since waterways shipping is extremely
cost effective for the movement of high volume and bulk freight . Because of the Jones Act,
initiatives under the MHI that involve funding support for the construction of carrier vessels would go to U.S. shipyards. The
results would be a double boost to the economy (ship construction and reduced
such as the construction of Jones Act ships.
freight costs), the creation of jobs and support for national security. Mr. President,
put more money behind the MHI.
2NC
The counterplan solves shipbuilding lowers startup costs and

ensures long term financial sustainability
U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration 11
(Americas Marine Highway Report to Congress April 2011
http://www.marad.dot.gov/documents/MARAD_AMH_Report_to_Congress.pdf)
The Title XI Federal Ship Financing Program, administered by MARAD, enables
owners of eligible vessels and shipyards to obtain long-term capital financing with
attractive terms by providing a full faith and credit guarantee of eligible debt
obligations. When credit markets are constrained, this program has been
particularly helpful to obtain long-term financing for vessels. Stakeholders have
suggested modifications to the Title XI program to help introduce more
environmentally sustainable vessels into the U.S. fleet and stimulate growth in U.S.
shipyard jobs. Potential changes to the program could prioritize Marine Highway
vessels, allow Title XI to be used for directly-related shoreside facility
improvements, revise debt/equity and working capital requirements (responding to
the needs of startup operators), and include a mandate to conform to high
environmental standards. Any such changes, however, would need to be made in a
manner that would not jeopardize the financial integrity of the Title IX program.
Direct beneficiaries of Title XI loan guarantees would be vessel owners and
operators and, potentially, shoreside infrastructure owners.
Counterplan solves ship building

Cook, 12 [H. Clayton Cook, Esq. has been involved with Jones Act issues for more
than 40 years and served as General Counsel of the Maritime Administration from
1970-1973. He is currently Counsel to Seward & Kissel LLP in Washington, DC., The
Dual-Use Vessel Program and Americas Marine Highway Next Steps, [
http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/the-dual-use-vessel-program-andamerica-s-marine-highway-next-steps ] ,//hss-RJ)
A MarAd and Department of Transportation (DOT) short sea shipping" program was
announced by Maritime Administrator William Schubert in 2002 and discussed at
length in his FY 2003 authorization testimony. The program was rechristened
"America's Marine Highways" by Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton.
Congress addressed these short sea shipping issues in the Energy Independence
and Security Act of 2007, which contained provisions establishing a formal marine
highway program within the federal government and charged DOT with
responsibility for implementation and administration. DOT received a broad grant of
authority for federal action and for federal and local government collaboration in
order to attract public and private sector projects to access the nations ocean
highways, including the authority for European-style Marco Polo and Motorways of
the Sea programs. The merits of these initiatives to move traffic from our highways
to our waterways were obvious. The House version of the 2007 Act addressed the
need for U.S. government-assisted financing for the required vessels by extending
the CCF tax-deferral program to ro/ro and container services nationwide and
authorizing $2 billion for short sea transportation use from the Title XI loan
guarantee program. As the 2007 Act was enacted, it included the CCF program
extension but not the $2 billion authorization for Title XI financing. Furthermore, it
did not remove the 1986 Treasury initiatives that had been designed to curtail CCF
program use and diminish its value. No initial funding was provided for
implementation of the 2007 Acts grants of authority, and only limited funding has
since been available. However, MarAd moved ahead in designating Marine Corridors
and Connectors and providing Marine Highway Grants and entering into Marine
Highway Cooperative Agreements. Most importantly, as funds have become
available MarAd has worked with the Navy to coordinate AMH and DUV program
objectives. Prescription for Progress The principal issues of shipyard construction are
apparently agreed on the basis of the 2007 and 2008 Workshop recommendations
and the Design Report assumptions. The potential for Title XI and CCF programs to
reduce fully financed costs is apparently agreed as tabled during the 2008
Workshop, subject to the removal of the 1986 tax barriers to CCF program use. With
the Design Report in hand and two additional corridor studies due in May, MarAd
and the Navy appear well on their way to achieving the Navys 2005 Senior
Executive Sealift Forum objective of learning what it will require to induce U.S.
shippers and ship operators to move cargo and operate U.S.-flag ships, respectively,
that will have military utility and be available for military use during a major
contingency. The next step will be to obtain Office of Management and Budget
approval for a series of legislative initiatives to include the following: 1. Repeal of
the Harbor Maintenance Tax as applied to AMH services; 2. Repeal of the Treasurys
1986 CCF limitations enactments (returning that program to the form in which it
was originally enacted); 3. Modification of the tonnage tax to allow its application on
a strictly days-in-service foreign vs. domestic basis (returning the tonnage tax to the
form in which it was originally drafted); 4. Authorization of a multiyear federal
financing guarantee program that was a part of the House-passed version of the
2007 Act, backed by some form of multiyear appropriations funding; and 5.
Authorization for a specific European-style Marco Polo program to mitigate start-up
risks. With industry support, congressional approval of such legislation appears
achievable. And with these changes made it may be possible to initiate one or more
AMH services with relatively modest forms of government start-up assistance.
ADV CP Warming
Notes
What is REDD?
The UN-REDD Program is the United Nations collaborative initiative on Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) in developing
countries.
http://www.un-redd.org/AboutUN-REDDProgramme/tabid/102613/Default.aspx
http://theredddesk.org/what-is-redd
Why is reforestation important to mitigate warming?

Reforestation is important to warming for 2 main reasons:
1) Trees act as carbon sinks- that means they take in the co2 out of the air and
release oxygen
2) Deforestation cuts down trees and as a result releases Co2 out into the air
What is the carbon tax?

Carbon tax is a form of pollution tax. It levies a fee on the production, distribution or
use of fossil fuels based on how much carbon their combustion emits.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/carbon-tax.htm
Possible Strategies?
- can just read the forestry plank (if you do, have the United States Forest Service
do the plan and Read Agency shields links)
1NC
Carbon Tax/Brazil Module

Counterplan Text: The United States Federal Government
should:
- assist the Federative Republic of Brazil in funding their
Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation
program
- implement a carbon tax
Brazil needs additional funding
Michael Wolosin 12, one of Climate Advisers' Managing Directors shaping
research and policy work on reducing emissions from global deforestation, US
ForestClimate Assistance, Climate Advisers, September 2012,
http://www.climateadvisers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2012-09-U.S.-ForestClimate-Assistance.pdf
A substantial portion of the 40 percent of US bilateral funding that is currently spread
thinly should be consolidated and directed instead toward additional investment in
priority geographies. The top five countriesIndonesia, Peru, Brazil, DRC, and Colombiashould be considered
for additional investment, along with a second tier of countries with high mitigation potential but currently low
US investments, such as Mexico, Zambia, and Ecuador. Several other countries, including Malaysia, Honduras, the
Republic of Congo, and Gabon, should be kept on the radar screen and considered for REDD+ investments in the
future if the policy landscape shifts.39
Amazon Conservation efforts solve global warming- REDD key

Center for Strategic Studies and Management, 2011, REDD in
Brazil: A focus on the Amazon. Principles, criteria, and institutional structures for a
national program for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation REDD. Braslia, www.cgee.org.br/atividades/redirect/7342 ||RS
Tropical rainforests serve as massive storehouses of carbon , which, if
protected, will assist in controlling global warming. However, GHG emissions from the
deforestation and degradation of tropical forests continue at high levels. Deforestation
in the Brazilian Amazon alone corresponds
country. Despite the recent
Brazil continues to lead the

the highest deforestation rates. However, the greater Amazon
region represents the largest block of
to more than half the total emitted by deforestation in the whole
declines in the rates of rainforest destruction,
ranking of countries with

still considered preserved.
continuous remaining tropical vegetation in the world, with 80% of its area
Brazil encompasses 60% of this richness.
The region is also considered a
great cradle of planetary

represents a fundamental
biodiversity, harboring more than 20% of known terrestrial species. It

component in the maintenance of regional and global climatic equilibrium, such as
in the region or mitigating global warming. The combination of deforestation with

the progress of global warming may increase the emissions of greenhouse gases caused by
regulating rain
fire. The increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts, with reductions in the volume of rain on the order of
20-30%, could become common in the future in certain regions of the Amazon. Besides more intense drought
periods, the uncontrolled exploitation of forest resources elevates the flammability of vegetation. Under this new
the impoverishment of the rainforest could intensify, culminating
in a process of forest degradation that could lead to savannization of a large part of the
regional climate order,
region.Although the Amazon rainforests are highly tolerant of dry seasons, they can enter into collapse if
submitted to prolonged droughts, giving rise to a process of irreversible degradation. The process of forest
degradation will be even more intense if the production of grains and livestock, the demand for biofuels, and
infrastructure investments continue along a rising trajectory, like that recorded in the past several years, despite
the oscillations and recent declines in deforestation rates. Deforestation in the region, however, cannot be viewed
simply as a reflection of the national economy and government investments. It is also a globalized process.
Historically, a strict relationship exists between deforestation and the growth in the gross domestic product (GDP)
in the Amazon. The greater the available capital for the Amazonian or national economies, the greater the amount
of government or private investments (in infrastructure, agriculture, and ranching) in the region, which require or
result in deforestation. The current pressures exerted by the expansion of new areas under cultivation and the
growing demand for Amazonian products, such as beef and soybeans produced with state-of-the-art technology,
could stimulate extensive deforestation in the future. Such increases would threaten the benefits attained from
the rainforest is being cut down. In the last two decades,
Amazonian deforestation has been combated by mechanisms of command and control
the recent decline in the rates at which
(effective monitoring, robust and coherent environmental legislation, and a government
presence in remote areas
These mechanisms are important and should be improved , but they are,
nonetheless, insufficient. In general, the reduction or even elimination of deforestation in the Amazon
has not materialized due to the fragility of governance, since the state is still absent. To put a stop to
Amazonian deforestation, governance should be established before making investments in
of the region).
infrastructure, which stimulate new deforestation. Government actions, in combination with
and payments for environmental services, coordinated through a mechanism

could alter the historical course of development and economic growth in the region.
such as REDD,
policies of incentives
Carbon tax is politically popular and would be effective against

net emissions
Laura DAndrea Tyson 13, a professor at the Haas School of Business at the
University of California, Berkeley, and served as chairwoman of the Council of
Economic Advisers under President Clinton, The Myriad Benefits of a Carbon Tax ,
6/28/13, NY Times, http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/the-myriadbenefits-of-a-carbon-tax/ ||RS
Few goals in Washington have more bipartisan support , at least in theory, than cleaning up the
tax code. Republicans and Democrats say they want a system that is simpler, fairer
and more efficient. Put simply, they want a system with fewer special tax breaks and lower rates. Yet one of
the best ideas for advancing all of those goals and also heading off catastrophic climate change isnt even on
a carbon tax, which would impose a price on emissions of carbon

dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Most climate experts concur that dangerous climate change is
the table. I refer to
occurring at a more rapid rate than expected. They also agree that the deterioration in the earths climate is
primarily a result of carbon emissions from fossil fuel consumption by humans. If you dispute the overwhelming
scientific consensus about man-made climate change and the role of fossil fuel emissions, you should probably stop
reading now. Evidence is unlikely to affect your opinions. But if you accept this consensus, you should know that
economists across the political spectrum agree that a carbon tax is the most
effective way to discourage carbon consumption and lower the risks of catastrophic
climate changes. I am convinced by the environmental case for a carbon tax. But I want to make a broader
argument: a carbon tax could be an engine for tax simplification, deficit reduction, less
government regulation and even increased competitiveness . To be sure, the environmental
urgency alone is compelling. In May, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide reached nearly 400 parts per
million. When concentrations were last that high more than three million years ago humans had not yet
appeared, the world was warmer by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius, and sea levels were 80 feet above where they are
today. United Nations negotiators have set a limit of 450 parts per million to prevent costly and irreversible
changes in the earths climate. At current emission trends, the world will cross this limit in a matter of decades.
The anecdotal evidence of climate change is everywhere: melting Arctic ice, new migration patterns for plants and
animals and extreme weather events including record droughts, heat waves, epic floods and super storms. The
frequency, intensity and costs of such events are increasing at an alarming rate. Climate scientists have moved
from the view that such events are consistent with climate change to the view that climate change significantly
increases the odds of their occurrence. Economists have long contended that a carbon tax is the most effective
and simplest way to reduce carbon emissions. Conservative supporters include Gregory Mankiw, a former economic
adviser to President George W. Bush, and George P. Shultz, who was secretary of state under President Reagan.
Economic centrists include Alan Blinder of Princeton and Robert Frank of Cornell University. Further to the left are
the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Reich, former secretary of labor. James Hansen, NASAs former top
climate scientist, is also a vocal champion of carbon taxes. So is former Vice President Al Gore, who has advocated
carbon taxes for the last 35 years as the policy most likely to be successful in combating carbon emissions. The
beauty of a carbon tax is its market-based simplicity. Economists since Adam Smith have insisted that prices are by
far the most efficient way to guide the decisions of producers and consumers. Carbon emissions have an unpriced
societal cost in terms of their deleterious effects on the earths climate. A tax on carbon would reflect these costs
and send a powerful price signal that would discourage carbon emissions. Producers and consumers would adjust
their behavior in response to this signal in ways that are most efficient for them. And these efficient micro decisions
would support efficient societal outcomes. Theres much debate about what the proper social cost of carbon
might be, but there is no debate that carbon emissions are seriously underpriced. Any tax on carbon would be an
important step in the right direction, and it could be gradually increased to give consumers and producers time to
modify their decisions. Without a tax, the government has to rely on second-best regulations to limit carbon
emissions. Facing Congressional inaction and staunch opposition to a carbon tax, this week President Obama
proposed regulations on carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants using his executive authority
under the Clean Air Act. A carbon tax is also a cheaper and often more efficient way to reduce carbon emissions
than subsidies for alternative fuels. Generous subsidies for biofuels have cost billions of dollars; by reducing the
price of gasoline they may have perversely increased rather than decreased carbon emissions. Other subsidies,
like the production tax credit, have been successful at ramping up research, development and deployment of
alternative energy technologies in recent years. Such subsidies would be even more effective in combination with a
carbon tax that would make fossil fuels less price-competitive and would stimulate research on renewable and
energy-saving technologies. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that even a modest carbon tax could
reduce both greenhouse emissions and the federal budget deficit. A tax of $20 per ton of carbon dioxide, which
would translate to about 15 cents per gallon of gasoline, would reduce emissions by 8 percent and generate up to
$1.2 trillion in tax revenues over 10 years. None of this is controversial to economists. As Professor Mankiw
remarked a few years ago, the basic argument for a carbon tax is so straightforward as to be obvious. Politically,
of course, its anything but obvious. Republicans and Democrats fear that a carbon tax would antagonize voters by
raising the prices of products with fossil fuel content for everyone who uses them. Republicans worry that a carbon
tax would be a source of government revenue to feed big government spending. Democrats worry that a carbon
tax would be regressive. Both objections are easy to address. The revenues from a carbon tax do not have to be
used for more government spending; the taxs burden on low-income families can be offset by targeted income
support measures, like those used in other countries to offset the regressive effects of value-added taxes. Adele
Morris at the Brookings Institution estimates that diverting just 15 percent of the revenues from a $16-per-ton
carbon tax would provide enough money to keep low-income households whole. The remaining money could be
used to finance a substantial reduction in corporate tax rates and reduce deficits by $815 billion over 20 years.
Government spending would not increase. Put another way, a carbon tax can be a central pillar of tax reform and
sound fiscal policy. If a carbon tax were used in part to replace other forms of taxation, it would be a major force for
tax simplification. It may seem like a liberal initiative, because its core purpose is to slow climate change. But a
carbon tax also bears a strong resemblance to the kind of flat, broad-based tax on consumption favored by many
Opponents of a carbon tax, and of climate-change legislation in general, often assert

that it would put the United States at a competitive disadvantag e. They usually point to
conservatives.
China, the worlds biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (the United States is in second place and not far behind).
The
competitiveness objection to a carbon tax is crumbling fast , however. This year, China
announced plans for a carbon tax. Many European countries with which the United States competes,
including Germany, an export powerhouse, already have carbon taxes in addition to very high gasoline taxes. In
May, the World Bank reported that countries that either have carbon taxes or are scheduled to impose them
account for 21 percent of global greenhouse emissions. If you add China, Brazil and other countries that are actively
President Obama said

the United States must lead international efforts to combat climate chan ge, calling for a
considering carbon taxes, the share goes up to more than 50 percent. In his speech,
global free trade in environmental goods and services and renewed negotiations on a global agreement to reduce
The United States could breathe new life into these negotiations by
announcing its commitment to a carbon tax harmonized with those of other
nations. A well-designed carbon tax is probably the single best tool for
fighting catastrophic climate change and safeguarding the earth for future
generations. It can also be a key component of tax reform and deficit reduction, both of which would enhance
carbon.
the nations competitiveness. Much of the world is already heading for a carbon tax: the United States should get
out in front and lead the way. As Mr. Gore recently blogged, A tax on carbon is an idea whose time has come.
Possible States Module (Working)

Counterplan Text: The 50 States and all relevant territories
should substantially increase its forest conservation efforts
and a a
States can form carbon policies- Minnesota proves
EPA No Date, Carbon Sequestration through Reforestation A LOCAL SOLUTION
WITH GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS, http://www.epa.gov/aml/revital/cseqfact.pdf ||RS
In the United States, states have taken the lead in formulating carbon policies .
States have developed GHG registries or inventory programs that support carbon banking or the use of trading
Minnesotas Releaf Program promotes the

planting, maintenance, and improved health of trees in the state. The programs
goal is to reduce CO2 levels and promote energy conservation.7 Californias Climate
to reduce GHG
emissions within a states boundaries.
Action Registry serves as a voluntary GHG registry to encourage early actions to reduce GHG emissions in the
state. Appendix B provides additional information on public and private sector trading and banking programs.
2NC Brazil Plank
Top Level Solvency

US is key to jumpstart Brazils REDD program
Michael Wolosin 12, one of Climate Advisers' Managing Directors shaping
research and policy work on reducing emissions from global deforestation, US
ForestClimate Assistance, Climate Advisers, September 2012,
http://www.climateadvisers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2012-09-U.S.-ForestClimate-Assistance.pdf
the United States launched a major effort to help tropical forest
nations dramatically reduce deforestation, one of the primary sources of climate
pollution. This report assesses the progress made implementing this program and offers concrete
recommendations for reform. By and large, the United States has done a good job getting the
new REDD+ program (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) off the ground.
The US government has significantly ramped up funding and will come close to
meeting its international commitments in this area. It is helping to create the institutions,
standards, knowledge, and new practices necessary for large-scale deforestation reductions. It is also
making important contributions to several forested developing countries
as they build national-level forest policies and capacity for better forest
and land management.
Almost three years ago,
Does Not Link to Politics

Reforestation has bipartisan support-avoids climate debates
Peter T. Jenkins and Michael Wolosin 11, Peter Jenkins is an independent
consultant on environmental policy doing business as Biopolicy Consulting. Michael
Wolosin, Ph.D., is the Director of Research and Policy, Forest Carbon for Climate
Advisers, and a Visiting Scholar at Resources for the Future, International Forest
Conservation: A Survey of Key Staff in the 112th Congress, May 2011,
http://www.rff.org/RFF/Documents/RFF-IB-11-05.pdf ||RS
congressional staff support international forest conservation , seeing it as

a bipartisan issue. They recognize a broad variety of benefits; in particular, they singled out
On the whole,
the potential role of reducing excessive, often illegal, deforestation in assisting U.S. businesses and producers in
the forest products, agriculture, and other sectors. Staffers consistently support the wildlife and nature
conservation message associated with saving the rainforests.
Brazil Key
Brazilian REDD key to stop Amazon deforestation
Center for Strategic Studies and Management, 2011, REDD in
Brazil: A focus on the Amazon. Principles, criteria, and institutional structures for a
national program for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation REDD. Braslia, www.cgee.org.br/atividades/redirect/7342 ||RS
REDD programs may bring important dividends to Brazil . The
country finds itself sufficiently prepared and in a privileged position to take
advantage of the full potential that this new economic mechanism offers. Brazil has had
valuable experiences with endeavors such as the Amazon Fund, as well as the National Policy on Climate
Considering this scenario,
Change (PNMC) approved
by the national Congress, establishing national targets for the first time, which aim at
These efforts demonstrate

how well prepared Brazil is to absorb a new economic logic mediated by the
mechanism of REDD. Furthermore, Brazil maintains a satellite monitoring system operated by the
National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which puts the country at the vanguard of technology
that can assist in measuring and verifying new deforestation activities, thereby
effectively assessing reductions in the rhythm of forest destruction. Finally, the
engagement of various sectors of Brazilian society in discussions of a national REDD system, added to
reducing
GHG and deforestation in the Amazon and the cerrado savanna.
the efforts of the Amazonian states to establish
their own plans and targets for reducing deforestation,
reinforces the notion that the country has enormous potential for implementing a
new economic logic based on low carbon emissions . Brazilian leadership in this new economic
order can only be consolidated if the country paves the way for others by defining its national REDD strategy.
Such a strategy should rest on different levels of action, both national and state, that have two primary objectives:
giving financial value to efforts to maintain forest stocks and reducing GHG emissions from deforestation.
the strategy must ensure that the distribution of REDD benefits is fair and
transparent, reaching those who truly make efforts to reduce deforestation or conserve the forest. A massive
Similarly,
investment of financial resources must be made to bring about a genuine transformation of agriculture and
ranching, enabling these to become low carbon activities. These actions, integrated with those of command and
control, will allow the country to create the foundations of an economy based on the valorization of forests and
their environmental services and to contribute toward the development of its economy based on low GHG
emissions.
A REDD strategy for Brazil that is economically efficient, socially just, and
politically viable will certainly create more modern, efficient economic means for
environment protection and the sustainable use of forest resources . Otherwise, the risk
of a return to deforestation will be high. The tendency over the long run of rising world demand for commodities
(grains and meat), for example, in addition to infrastructure investments (such as the Accelerated Growth Program
(PAC) and attacks on environmental legislation, will exert pressures for new rounds of deforestation in the future.
The country will thus encounter difficulties in fulfilling its emission reduction goals established by the PNMC.As a
contribution to the formulation of a new REDD strategy for Brazil, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute
(IPAM), with support from the Secretariat for Strategic Affairs of the Presidency of Brazil (SAE/PR) and the Center
for Strategic Studies and Management (CGEE), produced this publication, which offers some of the political,
institutional, technical, and operational principles for a REDD system. More specifically, the objective was to select
and analyze the options for institutional and operational arrangements for a REDD system that includes schemas
for benefit-sharing and
contributed the
that region
the Amazon region

largest portion of national emissions, the present report focuses on
which could serve as the basis for a national strategy. Since
Forests Key
Amazon Is critical- affects the entire world
Samantha-Rae Tuthill 13, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer, 11/22/13, Deforestation
of Amazon Could Alter Global Weather, AccuWeather,
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/amazon-climate-change/20184965 ||
RS
Over the course of the past 40 years, almost 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest
has been lost due to deforestation. Some experts worry that the rapid depletion of
this vast ecosystem could eliminate what remains in the next 40 years. While the
safety and longevity of the Amazon is important for its own sake, weather
patterns and the climate can also be affected on a global scale by the
increased loss of this area. "The issue is that the Amazon is so big that it affects
weather at the continental and even the global scale," Meg Symington, Amazon
director at the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. (WWF), said. According to Symington,
researchers have been looking for teleconnections, the impacts such a massive
forest can have beyond on just its immediate environment. The World Bank released
a report in 2011, Assessment of the Risk of Amazon Dieback, which discusses how
changes in the Amazon could transform it from a carbon sink to a carbon
source. The density of the trees in the rainforest absorb a great deal of carbon
dioxide, 0.8 to 1.1 billion metric tons of it. As the ecosystem changes, however, it
could begin to release more of the greenhouse gas than it takes in, which could
affect global temperatures. Because of the size and location of the Amazon, as well
as the amount of rain that it produces, the effects it has on weather patterns reach
well beyond its immediate area. "Studies have shown that rainfall in southern South
America is actually impacted by the Amazon and could decrease significantly if you
have additional deforestation," Symington said. "Maybe even the American
Midwest, parts of North America, in terms of the weather pattern, could be
affected." Symington said that trade winds bring 50 percent of all the rain that falls
in the Amazon from evapotranspiration, which is a crucial part of the water cycle
that includes water evaporated from plants; as precipitation falls in the rainforest
into the lush vegetation, the evaporation of that rain from the plants creates more
rain to fall. Fifteen percent of the atmosphere's water vapor comes from this
process. "All of this has to do with a tipping point," Symington said. "With
deforestation, if you go beyond a certain point in the Amazon there's an issue of
where the whole system becomes destabilized and you would switch from a
tropical, moist forest system, to something that was much drier and more like the
Cerrado of central Brazil, sort of a dry forest, savanna system. If that happened it
would have a huge impact on species in the Amazon and also on the climate."
About 20 percent of the fresh river water in the world comes from the Amazon
River, and drying of the forest can negatively influence that water source.
Symington told Accuweather.com that changes to this freshwater output would
affect the entire current off the coast of South America, which could affect the jet
stream, which would ripple into a change in weather patterns across the globe.
There is also an immediate issue of how the balance of the rain forest affects its
own ecosystem. "The Amazon is home to at least 10 percent of the world's species,
probably more, because there are a lot of species that have not been discovered yet
that live in the Amazon," Symington said. "The most fish species in the world are
found in the Amazon. Too much deforestation and you lose not only the terrestrial
species, but you would completely change the hydrological system in the Amazon
with flooding. The river comes up meters in the rainy season and that would all
change if you had this forest dieback as well." Without the trees to absorb the
river's flooding, the soil and landscape around the river would be drastically altered.
In Brazil, where a large percentage of their electric energy comes from hydropower,
a change to the flow of the river would affect the amount of gigawatts that the
hydropower dam produces. Moderate, careful and controlled use of the Amazon also
supports local food sources, livelihoods and pollinating animals and insects that
agriculture depends on. Some scientists and researchers seek out genetic resources
that could be used for global medicinal purposes. Too much unnecessary change to
an ecosystem can create a chain reaction on its species and on the general
environment, and we may not fully know the extent of where this chain reaction
may go. "We always talk about conservation in terms of 'don't throw away the
rivets,'" Syminton said. "If you pull rivet by rivet out and throw them away, the
whole system falls apart, so we need to be careful. People may think, 'What's one
species?' but then you never know what happens when the whole system falls
apart." The World Bank's assessment supports the same idea, stating, "Changing
forest structure and behavior would have significant implications for the local,
regional and global carbon and water cycles. Amazon forest dieback would be a
massive event, affecting all life-forms that rely on this diverse ecosystem, including
humans, and producing ramifications for the entire planet."
Forests are the biggest internal link- carbon sinks

Donna St. Jean Conti 8, President at St. Conti Communications and Public
Relations and Communications Consultant , Carbon sequestration as part of the
global warming solution Using software to combine environmental stewardship
with economic benefit , April/May 2008, Remsoft,
www.remsoft.com/docs/case_studies/CIF_Carbon.pdf ||RS
Of interest here is the use of forests as carbon sinks. Forests and other areas of
vegetation sequester carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, and forests act as
an important store of carbon even when they have reached maturity and are not
increasing in size. Sequestrated carbon in eligible new forests can be used to
create carbon credits for sale to organizations or individuals who are looking to
offset some of their carbon emissions.
REDD Good
REDD is good-has a net better effect on indigenous people
Fund E, 2014, REDD+ is ready to help save the Earth's climate, Environmental
Defense Fund, http://www.edf.org/climate/redd || RS
REDD+ policies will provide important economic incentives for forest conservation. EDF's economic and policy
REDD+ will produce the following benefits: Cuts pollution

substantially right away, without waiting for new technologies. With the right economic incentives for
forest protection, deforestation can be reduced drastically in the short term . Provides more overall
greenhouse gas reductions at a lower cost than policies without REDD+ Creates positive
incentives for major developing countries to participate in global emissions reductions. The world's
analysis demonstrates that
fourth largest overall emitter, Brazil, has already slowed its deforestation by 75% and has committed to an 80%
reduction from the 19962005 average by 2020. Brazil national and state REDD [PDF] Ensures
emissions
reductions. REDD+ reductions at the national level are far more certain than one-off "offsets" to achieve global
emissions cuts, because REDD+ is tied to a national commitment to absolute reduction in a country's overall
emissions. (As critics have pointed out, local forest project "offsets" can be erased by increased emissions
elsewhere, including in neighboring forests.) Protects unique ecosystems. Since tropical forests are
home to at least half of all plant and animal species, deforestation threatens the biological diversity of the entire
world. Promotes development by giving forest dwellers new sources of income to improve living standards while
maintaining traditional ways of life. This is the soundest and most just route forward for the threatened indigenous
peoples who inhabit the world's remaining tropical forest lands. Provides greater transparency . Bringing
efforts to stop deforestation into a global system and a soundly constructed global carbon market will provide
greater transparency and protections at both local and national levels. Regulated markets demand the accurate,
transparent monitoring and measurement that today's satellite observing technology can deliver. National- and
state-level REDD In a national-level REDD+ program, a country that commits to reducing deforestation below an
established baseline would receive valuable credits in carbon markets for reducing carbon emissions. Requiring a
national baseline eliminates the shortcomings that critics have pointed out in a handful of local one-off forest
projects. Independent satellite observations and spot ground inspections of forested areas would reliably verify that
the national commitment is in fact being met. EDF believes that jurisdictional-level approaches, i.e. state and
local programs, can be an important stepping stone toward national-level REDD+, and we're working to make sure
that jurisdictional programs have environmental integrity. REDD+
programs are getting off the

ground around the world, including in the states of Acre, Brazil, and Chiapas, Mexico. We have
partners and staff working in both countries helping them develop their jurisdictional approaches, and both states
are working with California to develop good programs that could link with Californias cap-and-trade system.
Indigenous peoples and REDD+ Central to the success of REDD+ are the indigenous peoples who inhabit and
protect much of the world's tropical forested area. Their livelihoods and cultures are put at risk when forests are
REDD+ is the best way

to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation, contribute to sustainable livelihoods for
indigenous peoples and conserve tropical biodiversity on a large scale. It must be implemented now, before
destroyed, so they have a great deal to gain from the REDD+ approach. In short,
the world's remaining tropical forests go up in smoke.
2NC Carbon Tax Plank
Carbon Tax Solvency

Carbon tax is cost effective and solves-MIT economist
David Kestenbaum 13, a correspondent for NPR, holds bachelor's of science
degree in physics from Yale University and a doctorate in physics from Harvard
University, 6/28/13, Economists Have A One-Page Solution To Climate Change, NPR,
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/06/28/196355493/economists-have-a-onepage-solution-to-climate-change ||RS
Climate change seems like this complicated problem with a million pieces. But
Henry Jacoby, an economist at MIT's business school, says there's really just one
thing you need to do to solve the problem: Tax carbon emissions. "If you let the
economists write the legislation," Jacoby says, "it could be quite simple." He says he
could fit the whole bill on one page. Basically, Jacoby would tax fossil fuels in
proportion to the amount of carbon they release. That would make coal, oil and
natural gas more expensive. That's it; that's the whole plan. Jacoby's colleague John
Reilly told me the price of gasoline might rise by 25 cents a gallon in the first year.
Over time, that would increase. By 2050, Reilly figures the carbon tax would add
about $1 to the price of every gallon. Across the economy, prices of energyintensive goods and services would rise. This would encourage people and
businesses to be more efficient. This is why economists love a carbon tax: One
change to the tax code and the entire economy shifts to reduce carbon emissions.
No complicated regulations. No rules for what kind of gas mileage cars have to get
or what specific fraction of electricity has to come from wind or solar or renewables.
That's by and large the way we do it now. Reilly says the current web of rules is a
more complicated and more expensive way of getting the same outcome as a
carbon tax. The current system "pretty much is one of the worst ways we could do
it," he says. As with any fix for climate change, a carbon tax would hit some people
harder than others. People with long commutes would pay more. People who work in
coal mines could lose their jobs. But here is where Reilly brings up what is perhaps
the most surprising thing about a carbon tax: If you do it right, he says, carbon
tax can be nearly painless for the economy as a whole. Besides reducing
carbon emissions, a carbon tax brings in a bunch of money it's a tax after all. So,
Reilly says, you can reduce, say, income tax to balance out the new taxes people
are paying for carbon emissions. People pay more for gas, but they get to keep
more of their income. I called around and talked to a bunch of economists about
this, and they said the basic idea was sound: If you give the carbon-tax money back
by cutting income taxes, you can probably offset a lot of the pain.
Carbon Taxes help the economy and the environment

Robert J. Samuelson 13, columnist for The Washington Post, 11/17/13, Robert J.
Samuelson: Global warming pragmatism, The Washington Post,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-j-samuelson-global-warmingpragmatism/2013/11/17/01a09856-4e1e-11e3-ac54-aa84301ced81_story.html||RS
Economist Robert Pindyck of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently
examined the computer models that estimate the effects and costs of climate
change and he didnt like what he found. The models reflect two gaping
uncertainties, he says. First, we dont know how much increased atmospheric
carbon dioxide (CO2) will raise global temperatures. There are feedback loops
interactions between greenhouse gases and weather that arent easy to
measure. The models make assumptions. Next, he says, we dont know what
economic losses will result from higher temperatures. More assumptions. The
damage functions in the models, he says, are completely made-up. Pindyck
sounds like a global warming denier. He isnt. True, he thinks climate change and
its adverse economic consequences could be wildly overstated. He also thinks they
could be wildly understated. The effects might ultimately be catastrophic. We simply
dont know. Ignorance reigns. The best course, he says, would be to adopt a modest
carbon tax because there are certainly some ill effects of global warming and
adjust it as we learn more. Meanwhile, we shouldnt assume that computer models
convey scientific truth. The models create an illusion of knowledge, he says. For
me, the issue is being honest. Id call Pindyck a global warming pragmatist, and
its a middle path that I find appealing. It acknowledges warmings uncertainties but
doesnt use them as an excuse for inaction. For years, Ive advocated an energy tax
my preference now is a carbon tax because it could advance other national
goals. It could reduce budget deficits and enhance energy security by pushing
consumers toward more efficient cars and trucks. Thats my standard: Support
policies that, though they might address climate change, can be justified on other
grounds. Its a partial solution, because there is no complete solution. If global
warming is as dangerous as alarmists claim, we cant do much about it. The world
now gets roughly 80 percent of its energy from fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas),
whose burning is the main source of man-made CO2. Unless theres some
technological breakthrough, theres no way to replace this energy without shutting
down much of the world economy. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
forecasts that, despite assumed rapid growth in wind and solar, fossil fuels will still
provide almost four-fifths of global energy in 2040..
Does Not Link to Politics

Carbon Tax is popular with businesses, and conservatives
Ryan Koronowski 13, Co-Editor of Climate Progress, graduated from Vassar
College with dual degrees in Psychology and Political Science. pursuing his M.S. in
Energy Policy and Climate at Johns Hopkins, 5/8/13, A Price Is Right: Carbon Tax Has
Very Broad, Bipartisan Support (Outside Of Congress), Think Progress,
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/08/1702861/price-carbon-tax-broadbipartisan-support-congress/ ||RS
The Washington Post editorial board calls a carbon tax one of the best ideas in Washington almost no one in
conservative economists, big oil

companies, environmental advocates, and most Americans) that thinks pricing carbon
pollution is smart policy. People are talking about it, if you know where to listen. First, there is some
activity in Congress. The Senate Finance Committee released a white paper last month which
recommended a carbon tax as a way to reduce the estimated $16 billion of foregone energy tax
Congress will talk about. It joins a very diverse group (including
expenditures in 2013. Back in February, Senators Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer introduced comprehensive
climate legislation that would put a price on carbon pollution and invest in a renewable energy economy. Boxer,
Chair of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, said she would move the bill through her
committee and hopefully to the Senate floor this summer. Rep. Henry Waxman, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Sen. Sheldon
Whitehouse, and Sen. Brian Schatz have also released a carbon price discussion draft for review. However, given
the last few years of congressional inaction, it would be surprising if the Senate passed legislation to put a price on
carbon or the bill received bully pulpit support from the White House. Even more so if the House took it up. During
the budget debate in March, the Senate rejected an amendment that would have made it more difficult to pass a
carbon tax, though it did get majority support. The GOP House leadership, following the lead of Americans for
Prosperity and the Tea Party, signed a no climate tax pledge along with nearly 100 other House members. And
new Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in a written statement prior to his confirmation that the administration is not
planning to propose a carbon tax, though its hard to believe President Obama would veto a bill containing one if it
actually arrived at his desk. That is a lot of strikes against a proposal, even by the standards of the barelyfunctioning U.S. political system. 90 percent of Americans support background checks on gun sales but that could
not make it out of the Senate. So is a price on carbon completely dead? Or mostly dead? Putting a price on carbon
pollution is something that finds support in across the globe, and in some very unexpected places. Large areas of
the world have already put a price on carbon: 33 countries and 18 sub-national jurisdictions will price carbon in
2013. This comprises 850 million people and nearly a third of the global economy. An official in the Chinese
Ministry of Finance said that the country was considering a price on carbon along with a market-based cap-andtrade system. Chinas emissions are the largest in the world and if the nation put a well-designed price on carbon it
would have a significant impact. Support for pricing carbon pollution is surprisingly widespread in the U.S.: 67
percent of Americans would rather reduce the deficit via a carbon tax t han through
cutting government programs, according to a poll conducted last December. A revenue neutral carbon tax that
would provide dividends back to taxpayers and invest in renewable energy received 70 percent support in the poll .
Another poll by YouGov found 56 percent of Americans would prefer a carbon tax to help
reduce the deficit. The poll used an interesting tool that allowed participants to try to balance the budget
themselves, which led to more than half concluding that a carbon tax would be a good idea. (Another poll found less
support if the revenue would only be used to pay for renewable energy initiatives, so the fiscal component is key to
gaining wider support.) Many
businesses prefer taxing carbon pollution: Microsoft founder Bill
Gates said it was a matter of when, not if: When we get a carbon tax we should put some of that into
innovation. ExxonMobil nominally supports a carbon tax (largely because of its natural gas investments that
would become more valuable compared to coal), though the corporation will not be lobbying for any kind of carbon
regulation. It simply views the carbon tax as the most straightforward option if the country decides to do something
about carbon pollution. Royal
Dutch Shell, Swiss Re, Statoil, and Kodak signed on to a joint
statement that called for a clear, transparent and unambiguous price on carbon emissions. BP and British
producer EDF Energy also signed on to the joint statement. Caterpillar said it preferred a
Energy announced it would lobby for a carbon tax
in 2005. FedEx CEO Fred Smith argued a carbon tax would help solve the huge costs externalities of our
electricity
carbon tax over other methods of regulating carbon. Duke
national defense: A predictable, graduated tax would have an impact on the role of the military overseas,
improve the environment and be good for the economy, Smith argued. If people want to call me a socialist for
recognizing these huge costs externalities of our national defense we need to solve this problem, he said.
The failure to do it is not only going to create serious consequences in terms of our economy, but were going to
make a big mistake and get into a big conflagration over this thing, he predicted. Conservatives
and
Republicans see the benefits of pricing carbon as well: Former Representative Bob Inglis (R-SC)
continues to advocate for a carbon tax as a solution to our fiscal problems and an easy way to reduce carbon
emissions. Inglis said supporting a carbon tax really is a conservative position that could unite the party and win
over independents and progressives. Former GOP Reps. Sherwood Boehlert and Wayne Gilchrest wrote in a
Washington Post op-ed that a carbon price should be a no-brainer. Ronald Reagans Secretary of State George
Schultz pushed for a carbon tax in Washington DC in March, arguing that all types of energy should compete on a
level playing field but only after externalities such as the cost of carbon pollution are integrated. Gregory Mankiw,
economic advisor to Mitt Romney and a chairman of former President Bushs Council of Economic Advisers, writes
that The economics here is straightforward: emitting carbon into the atmosphere entails a negative externality. In
absence of any policy, people will emit too much. The case for a carbon tax looks even stronger after examining
the other options on the table. He then advocates for a price on carbon much wider in scope: A global carbon tax
would be much easier to negotiate. Bush and McCain adviser Douglas Holz-Eakin made the case for a revenueneutral carbon tax in 2011. The Financial Times editorial board calls a carbon the least regrettable option that
deserves much wider enthusiasm. Though the paper is often skeptical of government action and taxation, it
makes an extremely compelling case for pricing carbon: The prospect that extra revenues will be needed to
stabilise the public finances in the long term suggests that some taxes are likely to rise, and a carbon tax would be
one of the least painful ways to do it. Shifting the tax burden off incomes and on to carbon would be a good idea at
any time. Right now, the case is overwhelming. Conservative economist Art Laffer, inventor of the Laffer Curve,
says he is officially neutral on climate change but thinks it is strange that the U.S. allows something we want less
of carbon dioxide pollution to be emitted without penalty. He argued that it is fiscally conservative to match a
carbon tax with tax cuts in other areas. Cato Institutes Peter van Doren argues, So if fossil fuel combustion
produces byproducts that cause negative health effects on third parties as well as changes in the temperature of
the atmosphere, the obvious lesson from economics is to increase fossil fuel prices enough through taxation to
account for these effects. The American Enterprise Institute released a budget plan in 2011 that would have
instituted a relatively high price on carbon. AEIs Aparna Mathur explained that a tax on carbon could correct
pollution externalities as part of a broader fiscal reform. She said that carbon tax revenues could be fairly
substantial and though revenues would decrease over time, the decrease in emissions is what we would like to
see. AEIs Kevin Hassett has also argued for a carbon tax. The Hudson Institutes Irving Steltzer argued that a
fiscally-neutral carbon tax was an opportunity for conservatives that would make America more energy
independent. Other
moderate and progressive voices also see the imperative of taking

the externality of carbon pollution into account : The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) budget
blueprint uses carbon pricing to meet the Waxman-Markey targets with half of the revenue from proposed carbon
pricing earmarked for energy rebates and tax credits for low-and moderate-income populations to fully offset the
higher cost of energy for the lowest 60% of earners. A Brookings Institute paper finds that a carbon taxs effects
on investment and GDP are more moderate than the capital tax increase, and it also significantly reduces CO2
emissions. In the end, it says, A carbon tax thus offers a way to help reduce the deficit and improve the
environment, and do so with minimal disturbance to overall economic activity. Key environmental figures like Al
Gore, Bill McKibben have long favored a price on carbon. The Washington Post editorial board supports a carbon
tax as the smartest hedge against the massive, uncertain threats presented by climate change. In addition to
proposing a price on carbon in 2011, the Center for American Progress issued a report last year explaining how a
well-constructed carbon tax would rein in climate change and actually stimulate the economy (much like current
environmental regulations already do). So how would this win-win legislation get passed? Rep. Inglis recently said
said conservatives need to get over themselves when it comes to climate change and energy: We apparently think
we are no good at energy and climate, therefore it leads to us just sort of pooh-poohing the science, throwing rocks
at other peoples houses, Al Gores house, rather than stepping forward with a solution. But the interesting thing is,
we have the solution that is going to work, which is a true-cost comparison between competing fuels. That is
bedrock conservatism. Pricing
carbon pollution is critical and has popular support, a

conservative fiscal justification, many climate science imperatives, and a savvy
business rationale. It once enjoyed much broader bipartisan support. It will take a concerted effort to connect
those dots, but it will have to happen eventually.
If Kicking
Alt Cause-Deforestation
Alt Cause- Deforstation of tropical forests
Daniel Howden 7, reporter for the Guardian, 2007, Deforestation: The Hidden
Cause of Global Warming, Independent UK,
https://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/14/1175 ||RS
"Tropical forests are the elephant in the living room of climate change,"
said Andrew Mitchell, the head of the GCP. Scientists say one days' deforestation is
equivalent to the carbon footprint of eight million people flying to New York.
Reducing those catastrophic emissions can be achieved most quickly and most
cheaply by halting the destruction in Brazil, Indonesia, the Congo and elsewhere.
No new technology is needed, says the GCP, just the political will and a system of
enforcement and incentives that makes the trees worth more to governments and
individuals standing than felled. "The focus on technological fixes for the emissions
of rich nations while giving no incentive to poorer nations to stop burning the
standing forest means we are putting the cart before the horse," said Mr Mitchell.
Most people think of forests only in terms of the CO2 they absorb. The rainforests of
the Amazon, the Congo basin and Indonesia are thought of as the lungs of the
planet. But the destruction of those forests will in the next four years alone, in the
words of Sir Nicholas Stern, pump more CO2 into the atmosphere than every flight
in the history of aviation to at least 2025. Indonesia became the third-largest
emitter of greenhouse gases in the world last week. Following close behind is Brazil.
Neither nation has heavy industry on a comparable scale with the EU, India or
Russia and yet they comfortably outstrip all other countries, except the United
States and China. What both countries do have in common is tropical forest that is
being cut and burned with staggering swiftness. Smoke stacks visible from space
climb into the sky above both countries, while satellite images capture similar
destruction from the Congo basin, across the Democratic Republic of Congo, the
Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. According to the latest audited
figures from 2003, two billion tons of CO2 enters the atmosphere every year from
deforestation. That destruction amounts to 50 million acres - or an area the size of
England, Wales and Scotland felled annually. The remaining standing forest is
calculated to contain 1,000 billion tons of carbon, or double what is already in the
atmosphere. As the GCP's report concludes: "If we lose forests, we lose the fight
against climate change." Standing forest was not included in the original Kyoto
protocols and stands outside the carbon markets that the report from the
International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) pointed to this month as the best hope
for halting catastrophic warming. The landmark Stern Report last year, and the
influential McKinsey Report in January agreed that forests offer the "single largest
opportunity for cost-effective and immediate reductions of carbon emissions".
International demand has driven intensive agriculture, logging and ranching that
has proved an inexorable force for deforestation; conservation has been no match
for commerce. The leading rainforest scientists are now calling for the immediate
inclusion of standing forests in internationally regulated carbon markets that could
provide cash incentives to halt this disastrous process. Forestry experts and policy
makers have been meeting in Bonn, Germany, this week to try to put deforestation
on top of the agenda for the UN climate summit in Bali, Indonesia, this year. Papua
New Guinea, among the world's poorest nations, last year declared it would have no
choice but to continue deforestation unless it was given financial incentives to do
otherwise. Richer nations already recognise the value of uncultivated land. The EU
offers 200 (135) per hectare subsidies for "environmental services" to its
farmers to leave their land unused. And yet there is no agreement on placing a
value on the vastly more valuable land in developing countries. More than 50 per
cent of the life on Earth is in tropical forests, which cover less than 7 per cent of the
planet's surface. They generate the bulk of rainfall worldwide and act as a
thermostat for the Earth. Forests are also home to 1.6 billion of the world's poorest
people who rely on them for subsistence. However, forest experts say governments
continue to pursue science fiction solutions to the coming climate catastrophe,
preferring bio-fuel subsidies, carbon capture schemes and next-generation power
stations. Putting a price on the carbon these vital forests contain is the only way to
slow their destruction. Hylton Philipson, a trustee of Rainforest Concern, explained:
"In a world where we are witnessing a mounting clash between food security,
energy security and environmental security - while there's money to be made from
food and energy and no income to be derived from the standing forest, it's obvious
that the forest will take the hit."
Alt Cause- Deforestation

EarthTalk 12, environmental group, 11/13/12,Deforestation and Its Extreme
Effect on Global Warming, The Scientific American,
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deforestation-and-global-warming/ ||RS
cutting and burning trees adds more global warming pollution
to the atmosphere than all the cars and trucks in the world combined ? Mitchell Vale,
Houston By most accounts, deforestation in tropical rainforests adds more carbon dioxide
to the atmosphere than the sum total of cars and trucks on the worlds roads.
Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that
According to the World Carfree Network (WCN), cars and trucks account for about 14 percent of global carbon
emissions, while most analysts attribute upwards of 15 percent to deforestation. The reason that logging is so bad
for the climate is that when trees are felled they release the carbon they are storing into the atmosphere, where it
upshot is
that we should be doing as much to prevent deforestation as we are to increase fuel
efficiency and reduce automobile usage. According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a
mingles with greenhouse gases from other sources and contributes to global warming accordingly. The
leading green group, 32 million acres of tropical rainforest were cut down each year between 2000 and 2009and
the pace of deforestation is only increasing . Unless we change the present system that rewards
forest destruction, forest clearing will put another 200 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere in coming
decades, says EDF. Any
realistic plan to reduce global warming pollution

sufficientlyand in timeto avoid dangerous consequences must rely in
part on preserving tropical forests, reports EDF. But its hard to convince the poor residents of
the Amazon basin and other tropical regions of the world to stop cutting down trees when the forests are still worth
more dead than alive. Conservation costs money, while profits from timber, charcoal, pasture and cropland drive
Exacerbating global warming isnt the only

negative impact of tropical deforestation. It also wipes out biodiversity :
More than half of the worlds plant and animal species live in tropical rainforests .
One way some tropical countries are reducing deforestation is through participation in the United Nations
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program. REDD essentially works to
people to cut down forests, adds EDF.
establish incentives for the people who care for the forest to manage it sustainably while still being able to benefit
economically. Examples include using less land (and therefore cutting fewer trees) for activities such as coffee
growing and meat and milk production. Participating nations can then accrue and sell carbon pollution credits when
they can prove they have lowered deforestation below a baseline. The REDD program has channeled over $117
million in direct financial aid and educational support into national deforestation reduction efforts in 44 developing
countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America since its 2008 inception. Brazil is among the countries embracing
REDD among other efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Thanks to the program, Brazil has slowed deforestation
within its borders by 40 percent since 2008 and is on track to achieve an 80 percent reduction by 2020.
Environmentalists are optimistic that the initial success of REDD in Brazil bodes well for reducing deforestation in
other parts of the tropics as well.
Aff
2ac
No bipartisan support for carbon tax
Christopher Flavelle 14, writes editorials on health care, economics and taxation.
He was previously a senior policy analyst for Bloomberg Government. He also
covered the 2009 stimulus package for ProPublica, 7/21/14, A Carbon Tax Even
Republicans Can Support, Bloomberg View,
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-07-21/a-carbon-tax-even-republicanscan-support
A new survey suggests the conventional wisdom about carbon taxes is wrong:
Promising to give people their money back with rebate checks isn't the best way to
win public support. Polling by the National Surveys on Energy and Environment, a
joint project by the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy and the
Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College, shows that Americans in general
(and Republicans in particular) still don't like the idea of a tax on carbon emissions
in general. Democrats are evenly split, and Republicans overwhelmingly oppose it.
Carbon Tax fails- cant solve in the long term

Brad Plumer 12, reporter focusing on energy and environmental issues. He was
previously an associate editor at The New Republic, 11/20/12, Would a carbon tax
cut emissions drastically? Not on its own., Washington Post,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/20/would-a-carbontax-reduce-emissions-sharply-not-on-its-own/ ||RS
Lately, the White House and Congress have been talking up tax reform. And that's given policy wonks an excuse to
revisit one of their favorite environmental proposals the carbon tax. The government would slap a fee on
greenhouse-gas emissions to offset tax cuts elsewhere. It would boost the economy and address global warming.
What's not to love? Well, set aside the fact that
there aren't yet any prominent politicians
touting the idea. It's still worth discussing on its merits. And one of the biggest questions here is whether a
carbon tax would actually reduce U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions significantly. Is it a comprehensive solution to
climate change? Or just a small first step? Many economists would argue that it could indeed be a comprehensive
solution on its own. If you tax oil, coal, and natural gas and make them all more expensive, then people and
companies will either use fewer fossil fuels or they'll seek out alternatives. Markets will adjust to the change in
price. That's the standard theory: If you price the carbon externalities correctly, markets will adjust. But
not
everyone's convinced. Over at the Brookings Institution, Mark Muro recently argued that a carbon tax, by
itself, might not be enough to make a significant dent in U.S. global-warming
emissions. Sure, in the near term people would cut back on fossil fuel use and companies would
find innovative ways to reduce emissions. This is what appears to be happening in British Columbia, which levied a
But modern economies are so heavily dependent on

fossil fuels that there's only so much we can reasonably cut back.
Alternatives aren't readily available yet. One way to see this, Muro says, is to ask carbon tax
carbon fee in 2008. That's a start.
advocates what they think will happen. Sebastian Rausch and John M. Reilly of the MIT Global Change Institute
recently put forward a proposal for a $20/ton carbon tax that would rise 4 percent each year, starting in 2013. (The
funds would be used to offset taxes elsewhere.) Here's what their economic model predicts would happen to U.S.
With a carbon tax in place, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions do start declining
quite a bit (this is the green line). But by 2030, emission levels stall, even though the carbon
tax keeps rising and rising each year. The United States wouldn't get anywhere near
the 80 percent cut by 2050 that the White House has envisioned. One explanation here is that MIT's
proposed carbon tax just isn't high enough . But Muro favors another possibility--that a carbon tax
greenhouse-gas emissions:
alone isn't enough to drive deep reductions.
The private sector tends to under-invest in energy
R&D
and key bits of infrastructure such as transmission lines. Without further policies, it's unlikely that we'll see a
sweeping transformation of our energy system to give people alternatives to coal plants and gasoline-powered
cars. That's why Muro argues that a portion of the revenue raised by a carbon tax should be used to fund public
clean-energy R&D. The country won't wean itself off oil solely because carbon gets taxed .
We'll also need public-transit alternatives, or electric-vehicle infrastructure, or futuristic new hydrogen cars. And in
many cases, he notes, the government may have to help bankroll this infrastructure.
REDD programs have a negative impact on Indigenous peoplemoral obligation to vote affirmative
Holly Brentnall 14, writer for The International, 1/28/14, The International, N.REDD program criticized for negative impact on Indigenous communities,
http://www.theinternational.org/articles/487-un-redd-program-criticized-for-negative
||RS
According to a report by GenderCC-Women for Climate Justice, with the support of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), indigenous people in Kenya were arrested and evicted from 21,000 hectares of land in 2009
REDD is also permitting the

destruction of lands inhabited by indigenous peoples, who REDD deny ever owned
the land in the first place. One man was arrested and held at gun-point by government
officials for cutting down trees to fix his mothers house . In Panama, economic
growth was at first privileged by REDD over the rights of indigenous peoples such as
alone. On Brazils Atlantic coast, it has been reported that
the Guna, Ngbe, Bugl, Naso-Tjrdi, Bribri, Ember and Wounaan. When the National Coordinating Body of
Indigenous Peoples in Panama (COONAPIP) voiced its concern for the encroachment onto their territories, a report
While
pressurizing activities can in some case force REDD to confront their short-fallings,
conservation has been translated by the indigenous rights report, as meaning
forced eviction in order to make way for commercial forestry . REDD itself admits on its
was filed and REDD was forced to address indigenous concerns, an issue which they are still working on.
website: there is widespread concern that REDD activities may inappropriately impact Indigenous Peoples and
local communities. It is only in Panama, after external reports were filed, that the program has done anything to
address these unintended effects, engaging in extensive consultations with indigenous people about how to
improve their strategy.
Alt Cause- Indonesian deforestation rate is the highest

John Vidal 14, Guardian's environment editor, Rate of deforestation in Indonesia
overtakes Brazil, says study, The Guardian, 6/29/14,
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/29/rate-of-deforestation-inindonesia-overtakes-brazil-says-study ||RS
Indonesia has greatly under-reported how much primary rainforest it is cutting
down, according to the government's former head of forestry data gathering. UN
and official government figures have maintained that the country with the third
biggest stretch of tropical forest after the Amazon and Congo was losing 310,00
hectares of all its forest a year between 2000 and 2005, increasing to 690,000
hectares annually from 2006 to 2010. Exact rates of Indonesian deforestation have
varied with different figures quoted by researchers and government, but a new
study, which claims to be the most comprehensive yet, suggests that nearly twice
as much primary forest is being cut down as in Brazil, the historical global leader.
Belinda Arunarwati Margono, who was in charge of data gathering at Indonesia's
Ministry of Forestry for seven years and is now on secondment at South Dakota
university, calculates that nearly 1m extra hectares of primary forest may have
been felled in the last 12 years than was recorded officially. In the paper in the
journal Nature Climate Change published on Sunday, Margano says primary forest
losses totalled 6.02m hectates between 2000 and 2012, increasing by around
47,600 hectares a year over this time. Because previous estimates of forest loss
have included the clearing of pulp plantations and oil palm estates the real loss of
primary forest has until now been obscured. In 2012, she calculates, Indonesia lost
840,000 hectares of its primary forest, compared to 460,000 hectares in Brazil,
despite its forest being roughly a quarter the size of the Amazon. This, says
Margano, was the most lost by any country.
1ar
REDD fails- too many loopholes
Global Justice Ecology Project, No Date, explores and exposes the
intertwined root causes of social injustice, ecological destruction, and economic
domination, Why REDD is worng?, http://globaljusticeecology.org/why-redd-iswrong-2/ ||RS
The UN definition of forests is vague enough to include monoculture tree plantations (such as oil palm,
pine, eucalyptus), as well as clearcuts (termed temporarily unstocked areas) and genetically engineered (GE)
While forest-dependent peoples are reduced to wage-labor, national and

corporate entities will be enabled to temporarily unstock forests before planting
new trees. Californias forest protocol allows for clearcuttin g (called even-aged
management); Californias international REDD protocols may have similar loopholes .
trees[xv].
Changing the definition of forests is a prerequisite to effective

REDD
REDD Monitor 9, aims to facilitate discussion about the concept of reducing
deforestation and forest degradation as a way of addressing climate change, REDD
will fail with the current definition of forest, 9/8/9, REDD Monitor, http://www.reddmonitor.org/2009/09/08/redd-will-fail-with-the-current-definition-of-forest/ ||RS
The photograph on the left was taken by Global Witness in 2006. It shows an area of illegal logging inside the
Bokum Sakor National Park in Cambodia. Heres the problem:
What area should be delineated as
forest? You might think thats easy. The area covered in trees is forest. Isnt it? Yes, obviously. But according to the
UNFCCCs definition of forests, the logged over area is also forest. The UN describes this sort of destruction as
areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily unstocked as a result of human intervention.
In the looking glass world of the UNFCCC, then, a clearcut is a forest. And a monoculture eucalyptus plantation is
also a forest. A recent report in Conservation Letters focusses on the weak definitions of forest and forest
Sasaki (of Harvard University and

the University of Hyogo) and Francis Putz (of the University of Florida) argue that under the current
definitions, great quantities of carbon and other environmental values will be lost
when natural forests are severely degraded or replaced by plantations but
technically remain forests. They explain that their concern is that while forest degradation is
recognized as a major problem, it is mostly being disregarded by the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) partially because of the way they
define forest. Below are the current definitions of forest, deforestation, forest management,
degradation in the global climate change agreements. The authors, Nophea
reforestation and afforestation as agreed under the UNFCCC. (Source: Annex to decision 16/CMP.1, Land use,
land-use change and forestry.) Forest degradation is not included, for the simple reason that there is no agreed
definition. Lack
of a universally agreed-upon definition of forest degradation will cause

complications when REDD projects are implemented, Sasaki and Putz note, with academic
understatement. Negotiations on this agreement are scheduled to be completed by December 2009, which
means that discussions about the broader issue of defining forests and debates over the inclusion of forest
degradation need to be resolved very soon, Sasaki and Putz write. As REDD-Monitor has previously pointed out,
the way that forests are defined is crucial to whether REDD helps preserve or
destroy forests. Without a definition of forests that differentiates between forests and industrial tree
plantations, REDD will spell disaster.
Minor Repairs File
Warming/Economy - Carbon Tax
1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government should implement
a tax on the carbon content of fossil fuels starting at $20 per
ton and increase that rate 4% every year.
The CP solves warming and the economy generates revenue
and leads to reduced emissions and renewables shift
Rausch et al., Co-director of The MIT Joint Program on the
Science and Policy of Global Change, 2012
(Sebastian, Carbon Tax Revenue and the Budget Deficit: A Win-Win-Win Solution?,
pdf)
The U.S. faces a large Federal deficit and all parties recognize the need to
eventually bring it under control. The recession greatly exacerbated the deficit
situation by reducing tax receipts because economic activity fell and because
temporary tax cuts (reduction in the payroll tax, Bush tax cut extension) were enacted. On the
expenditure side, stimulatory deficit spending (e.g., the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act),
automatic increases in spending (e.g., higher unemployment leading to more spending on
unemployment benefits), and extension of benefits of these programs (e.g., lengthening the period
of eligibility for unemployment) also contributed to the deficit. * Joint Program on the Science and Policy
of Global Change, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. Corresponding author (email:
jreilly@mit.edu).2 These are all temporary conditions and Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2011b) analysis
indicates that with current law and return to more normal economic conditions the deficit would fall. But even with
the removal of these temporary influences the debt-to-GDP ratio would rise to 77% by 2021, far above the roughly
35 to 40% that was maintained for the most of post-World War II period. CBO also notes that current law includes
many provisions that may be changed or extended, but unfortunately most of the changes being discussed would
have further negative consequences for the deficit. Examples include further extension of at least some part of the
Bush tax cuts, indexing of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), originally intended for only the very wealthy but now
affecting many more people, or failure to follow through with Medicare reductions for physician payments. The
recognition of the long-term deficit problem was largely responsible for the agreement, as part of last summers
effort to raise the debt ceiling, that if deficit reduction could not be reached, automatic cuts to defense and social
programs would take effect. That agreement was intended to create the incentive for both political parties to
negotiate in good faith, with Republicans particularly motivated to stave off cuts to defense and Democrats wanting
to avoid cuts to social programs. While raising taxes is never popular, a carbon tax is potentially a win-win-win
solution.
First, carbon tax revenue can allow revenue-neutral relief on personal income
taxes, corporate income tax, or payroll taxes, or could be used to avoid or limit cuts
to social programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Food Assistance) or Defense spending.
Among the revenue raising options evaluated by the CBO was a carbon tax that
would start at $20 in 2012 and rise at a nominal rate of 5.8% per year, approximately
4% in real terms given the underlying inflation rate they projected. By their
estimate it would raise on the order of $1.25 trillion over a 10-year period. Second,
economic analysis has demonstrated the potential for a double dividend whereby recycling of revenue from a
carbon tax to offset other taxes could reduce the cost of a carbon policy or even under some circumstances boost
The Bush tax cuts and other temporary tax relief

measures are due to expire at the end of 2012. A carbon tax could allow their
further extension. And, third, a carbon tax would lower fossil fuel use, reducing
economic welfare (Goulder, 1995).
carbon dioxide emissions; and lowering oil imports. The effects of this last win would spread
across the energy sector. With the new requirements for improved vehicle efficiency t he higher taxinclusive gasoline price would make fuel efficient vehicles more attractive to
consumers and thus make it easier for automobile producers to sell a fleet that meets the efficiency
requirements. With a more efficient fleet, even though gasoline prices would rise, the actual fuel cost of driving
could fall. A carbon tax would also create support for renewable fuels and electricity.
Provisions to stimulate these alternative sources have often involved tax expendituresinvestment in or production
of renewable energy gives companies a tax credit, thereby reducing tax revenue and aggravating the deficit. The
investment and production tax credits for renewable electricity are due to expire, and with the looming deficit it
A carbon tax would 3 continue to provide

encouragement for these technologies by making dirtier technologies more
expensive, and raise revenue rather than spend it. To investigate the potential tradeoffs among
would be more difficult to justify their continuation.
different strategies for reducing the deficit we use the MIT U.S. Regional Energy Policy (USREP) model. USREP has
been widely used to investigate energy and climate policy, including interactions with tax policy, and effects on
economic growth, efficiency, and distribution (Rausch et al., 2010, 2011a,b; Caron et al., 2012). The version we
apply here is that in Rausch et al. (2010). We find that any of several different options for using the carbon tax
revenue would generate a win-win-win solution. Given that all other options for dealing with the Federal deficit
require difficult tradeoffs, it would seem hard to pass up one that offers so many advantages. 2. POLICY SCENARIOS
As our reference we use USREP to create a baseline scenario where the temporary payroll cuts and Bush tax cuts
expire as scheduled under current law. We use estimates from the Committee for a Responsible Budget (2012) on
revenue effects of these tax changes in 2013 to adjust personal income tax rates upward. 1 We include those items
We then create several scenarios

using USREP that include a carbon tax starting in 2013 at $20 per ton and rising at
4% in real terms to match the CBO assumption. CBO results are in nominal dollars, with an
listed as tax cuts, AMT patches, and jobs measures shown in Table 1.
assumed inflation rate, and so their rate of carbon price increase is higher. USREP solves in real termswe adjust
All
of our scenarios enforce revenue neutrality and so the carbon tax revenue allows us
to cut other taxes or to avoid reductions to social programs. We consider two options (1) All
the key revenue projections to nominal dollars using CBO assumed inflation rates to make a ready comparison.
of the carbon tax revenue, after assuring revenue neutrality, is used for tax relief or social programs (2) One half of
the revenue is used to fund an investment tax credit, and any remainder, after assuring revenue neutrality, is used
for tax relief.2
CP is popular with the public

Chan, Writer for FOE, 2013
(Michelle, U.S. voters favor carbon tax by 4-to-1 margin,
http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2013-01-us-voters-favor-carbon-tax-by-4-to1-margin)
Sixty-seven percent of Americans would rather see the government tax carbon
pollution rather than cut spending as a way of solving our budget problems. This is
the result of a national survey of 1,000 voters by Mellman Group, a leading polling firm. It was
conducted last month, at a time when raising taxes on wealthier Americans was being hotly debated. The numbers
are in: American voters strongly support new ways of solving our budget problems, while protecting our planet at
the same time, said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, which commissioned the poll. The president and
members of Congress dont need to think about another harsh round of cuts to our social safety net, when carbon
Even a modest tax on carbon dioxide

pollution, like that proposed by Representative Pete Stark (D-Calif.) in 2009, has the
potential to generate substantial revenue: Starks tax, for example, could have
yielded $80 billion in the first year alone, and $600 billion over 10 years. That is about
taxes are a popular and promising budget solution.
half the amount that the automatic spending cuts ($1.2 trillion) would save over nine years, less if part of the
revenue were refunded to consumers.
Survey respondents were very supportive of a carbon
tax even when presented with strongly-worded arguments against it, including the
contention that with the economy in trouble and too many people struggling to find
jobs, this is a wrong time to pass a new tax on every business and consumer in
America. The poll also indicated that: Compared with taxing carbon pollution, only 15 percent of respondents
favored cutting government spending as a way of solving our budget problems. Voters strong support for
carbon taxes do not differ greatly based on how the revenue would be used:
whether to help solve our budget problems (70 percent in favor), or to help solve
our budget problems as well as fund climate and clean energy jobs programs (72
percent in favor). Support for a carbon tax was high among Democrats (93 percent
in favor) and Republicans (66 percent) alike . The survey was conducted between December 16-19,
2012, by the Mellman Group, two-time winner of Pollster of the Year by American Association of Political
The survey polled a scientifically selected random sample of 1,000 adults

from throughout the United States. All voted in the 2012 presidential election. The
survey was balanced between men and women, and between those who described
themselves as Democrats versus Republicans, and liberal versus conservative . The
Consultants.
margin of error associated with this survey is +/ 3.1 percent.
2NC Extensions
Politics Link Extension

Carbon tax is popular public wants action on climate change
Metcalf, Department of Economics at Tufts University, 2008
(Gilbert E., DESIGNING A CARBON TAX TO REDUCE U.S. GREENHOUSE GAS
EMISSIONS, http://www.nber.org/papers/w14375.pdf)
Public sentiment and political opinion have recently shifted dramatically in favor of
the United States taking action on climate change. As illustration, the Democratic
and Republican nominees for president last year supported imposing limits on U.S.
carbon emissions. This would complement European actions on carbon emissions through the European
Unions (EU) Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), which recently finished the first year of its second phase of emission
With the United States poised to take the major policy step of initiating limits
on carbon emissions, this article reviews the economic and political arguments for using a carbon tax as the
limits.
policy instrument for curtailing domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Conventional wisdom holds that a
carbon tax is not a politically viable option for controlling carbon emissions because the tax makes overly explicit
the costs associated with controlling GHG emissions. While this has perhaps been true historically, it is also true
the
political discussion and consideration of carbon pricing schemes has progressed
over the last year and a half, it has become clear that a thoughtfully designed
carbon tax would address many of the concerns of those who oppose carbon pricing
in general while overcoming many of the shortcomings of a cap and trade system .
that any form of carbon pricing has not been politically viable in the United States up until now. However, as
Indeed, the most serious cap and trade proposals include features that make them "feel" like a tax while looking like
a cap and trade system. A carbon tax is in large measure an energy tax. Because any policy to raise the price of
energy will disproportionately impact poor households, one of the major concerns that always arises when energy
taxes are discussed is equity. This article 2 describes how a carbon tax swap can be designed for the United States
that specifically addresses this distributional concern. Such a tax swap would be distributionally neutral by using
the proceeds in a way that offsets the regressivity of the carbon tax. The remainder of this article is organized as
follows. Section 2 describes a revenue and distributionally neutral carbon tax proposal in detail. A detailed
distributional analysis of this proposal is presented in section 3. In Section 4 I argue that a carbon tax is preferable
to a cap and trade system in a number of ways. In section 5 I respond to the main arguments that have been made
against a carbon tax. Some concluding comments are presented in the final section. 2. A Revenue and
Distributionally Neutral Carbon Tax Proposal This section describes the key elements of a carbon tax reform that is
both revenue and distributionally neutral. The carbon tax rate would be set, ideally, to maximize social welfare,
taking into account the dynamic nature of the problem as well as the interaction between the carbon tax and the
various distortionary taxes currently in place. A starting point for thinking about the optimal tax rate is an estimate
of the social marginal damages of GHG emissions denominated in dollars per metric ton of CO2 equivalent (CO2e).
Unfortunately, precise estimates of these social marginal damages do not exist. The IPCCs Working Group II
estimates a mean cost for 2005 of $12 per metric ton of CO2, but notes that social cost estimates range from $3 to
$95 per ton in a survey of 100 estimates (IPCC 2007b, p. 16). The report goes on to note that these costs are likely
to underestimate the social costs of carbon because of the difficulty in quantifying many impacts. This report
attributes its higher estimate to its explicit treatment of risk and the newer evidence on which it relies. Despite the
uncertainties, the 3 report suggests that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to
increase over time (p. 16). Stern (2007) estimates the social cost of CO2 at $85 per ton. In contrast, Nordhaus
(forthcoming), using his Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy (DICE) model, estimates an optimal
tax rate of just over $11 per ton CO2e in 2015 (in year 2005 dollars). Simply put, the literature does not provide a
consensus view on the marginal damages of GHG emissions and the optimal tax rate. Another way to set the initial
tax rate is to focus on a given stabilization target. A recent analysis by researchers at MIT suggests that an initial
carbon price of $18 per ton CO2e that rises over time at 4 percent per year (real) is consistent with the U.S. policy
modeled in the recent U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) exercise to achieve a CO2 target by 2100 of
550 parts per million (Paltsev et al., 2007). Whether this is a sufficiently stringent target is open to debate. The
proposal presented here takes a more modest approach. It suggests setting an unambiguous price signal through a
tax at a modest level initially with a commitment to increase it over time. The revenue would be used to fund a
reduction in the income tax. A clear price signal would provide the incentive for firms to begin the process of
adjusting their behavior and investment to offset and avoid emissions. Specifically, the tax proposal contains the
following elements: A tax on GHG emissions at an initial rate of $15 per metric ton of CO2e that gradually
increases over time. A refundable tax credit for sequestered emissions and other approved sequestration
activities. 4 A refundable credit for the embedded CO2 in exported fuels and taxation imposed on the embedded
CO2 in imported fossil fuels. An environmental earned income tax credit on personal income taxes equal to the
Carbon stays in the atmosphere

for hundreds of years. Enacting a carbon tax now and gradually increasing it is more
cost effective than having to cut emissions drastically in the future. As new
information emerges on the appropriate time path for carbon prices, Congress can
revisit the issue and adjust the tax rate's time path as needed .
employer and employee payroll taxes on initial earnings, up to a limit.
Carbon Tax is popular, bipartisan, and supported by energy

lobbyists
Koronowski, Co-Editor of Climate Progress, 2013
(Ryan,A Price Is Right: Carbon Tax Has Very Broad, Bipartisan Support (Outside Of
Congress), URL http://thinkprogress.org/?p=1702861)
Putting a price on carbon pollution is something that finds support in across the
globe, and in some very unexpected places. Large areas of the world have already put a price
on carbon: 33 countries and 18 sub-national jurisdictions will price carbon in 2013. This comprises 850
million people and nearly a third of the global economy. An official in the Chinese Ministry of
Finance said that the country was considering a price on carbon along with a market-based cap-and-trade system.
Chinas emissions are the largest in the world and if the nation put a well-designed price on carbon it would have a
significant impact. Support
for pricing carbon pollution is surprisingly widespread in the

U.S.: 67 percent of Americans would rather reduce the deficit via a carbon tax than
through cutting government programs, according to a poll conducted last December. A revenue neutral
carbon tax that would provide dividends back to taxpayers and invest in renewable energy received 70 percent
support in the poll.
Another poll by YouGov found 56 percent of Americans would prefer a carbon tax to help reduce the deficit.
The poll used an interesting tool that allowed participants to try to balance the budget themselves, which
led to more than half concluding that a carbon tax would be a good idea. (Another poll found less support if
the revenue would only be used to pay for renewable energy initiatives, so the fiscal component is key to
gaining wider support.)
Many businesses prefer taxing carbon pollution:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates said it was a matter of when, not if: When we get a carbon tax we should
put some of that into innovation.
ExxonMobil
Royal Dutch Shell, Swiss Re, Statoil, and Kodak signed on to a joint statement that called for a clear,
transparent and unambiguous price on carbon emissions.
BP and British electricity producer EDF Energy also signed on to the joint statement.
Caterpillar said it preferred a carbon tax over other methods of regulating carbon .
Duke Energy announced it would lobby for a carbon tax in 2005.
nominally supports a carbon tax (largely because of its natural gas investments that
would become more valuable compared to coal), though the corporation will not be lobbying for any kind
of carbon regulation. It simply views the carbon tax as the most straightforward option if the country
decides to do something about carbon pollution.
FedEx CEO Fred Smith argued a carbon tax would help solve the huge costs externalities of our
national defense:
A predictable, graduated tax would have an impact on the role of the military overseas, improve the environment
and be good for the economy, Smith argued. If people want to call me a socialist for recognizing these huge costs
externalities of our national defense we need to solve this problem, he said. The failure to do it is not only
going to create serious consequences in terms of our economy, but were going to make a big mistake and get into
a big conflagration over this thing, he predicted.
Conservatives and Republicans see the benefits of pricing carbon as well:
Former Representative Bob Inglis (R-SC) continues to advocate for a carbon tax as a solution to our fiscal
problems and an easy way to reduce carbon emissions. Inglis said supporting a carbon tax really is a
conservative position that could unite the party and win over independents and progressives.
Former GOP Reps. Sherwood Boehlert and Wayne Gilchrest wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that a carbon
price should be a no-brainer.
Ronald Reagans Secretary of State George Schultz pushed for a carbon tax in
Washington DC in March, arguing that all types of energy should compete on a level playing field but
only after externalities such as the cost of carbon pollution are integrated.
Gregory Mankiw, economic advisor to Mitt Romney and a chairman of former

President Bushs Council of Economic Advisers, writes that The economics here is
straightforward: emitting carbon into the atmosphere entails a negative externality. In absence of any
policy, people will emit too much. The case for a carbon tax looks even stronger after
examining the other options on the table. He then advocates for a price on carbon much wider in scope:
A global carbon tax would be much easier to negotiate.
Bush and McCain adviser Douglas Holz-Eakin made the case for a revenue-neutral carbon tax in 2011.
The Financial Times editorial board calls a carbon the least regrettable option that deserves much wider
enthusiasm. Though the paper is often skeptical of government action and taxation, it makes an
extremely compelling case for pricing carbon:
o
The prospect that extra revenues will be needed to stabilise the public finances in the long term
suggests that some taxes are likely to rise, and a carbon tax would be one of the least painful
ways to do it. Shifting the tax burden off incomes and on to carbon would be a good idea at any
time. Right now, the case is overwhelming.
Conservative economist Art Laffer, inventor of the Laffer Curve, says he is officially neutral on climate
change but thinks it is strange that the U.S. allows something we want less of carbon dioxide pollution
to be emitted without penalty. He argued that it is fiscally conservative to match a carbon tax with tax
cuts in other areas.
Cato Institutes Peter van Doren argues, So if fossil fuel combustion produces byproducts that cause
negative health effects on third parties as well as changes in the temperature of the atmosphere, the
obvious lesson from economics is to increase fossil fuel prices enough through taxation to account for
these effects.
The American Enterprise Institute released a budget plan in 2011 that would have instituted a relatively high price
on carbon.
AEIs Aparna Mathur explained that a tax on carbon could correct pollution externalities as part of a
broader fiscal reform. She said that carbon tax revenues could be fairly substantial and though
revenues would decrease over time, the decrease in emissions is what we would like to see.
AEIs Kevin Hassett has also argued for a carbon tax.
The Hudson Institutes Irving Steltzer argued that a fiscally-neutral carbon tax was an opportunity for
conservatives that would make America more energy independent.
Other moderate and progressive voices also see the imperative of taking the
externality of carbon pollution into account:
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI)
A Brookings Institute paper finds that a carbon taxs effects on investment

and GDP are more moderate than the capital tax increase, and it also
significantly reduces CO2 emissions. In the end, it says, A carbon tax thus offers a way to
budget blueprint uses carbon pricing to meet the WaxmanMarkey targets with half of the revenue from proposed carbon pricing earmarked for energy rebates and
tax credits for low-and moderate-income populations to fully offset the higher cost of energy for the
lowest 60% of earners.
help reduce the deficit and improve the environment, and do so with minimal disturbance to overall
economic activity.
Key environmental figures like Al Gore, Bill McKibben have long favored a price on carbon.
The Washington Post editorial board supports a carbon tax as the smartest hedge against the massive,
uncertain threats presented by climate change.
In addition to proposing a price on carbon in 2011, the Center for American Progress issued a report last
year explaining how a well-constructed carbon tax would rein in climate change and actually stimulate the
economy (much like current environmental regulations already do). So how would this win-win legislation
get passed?
Rep. Inglis recently said said conservatives need to get over themselves when it comes to climate change
and energy:
We apparently think we are no good at energy and climate, therefore it leads to us just sort of pooh-poohing the
science, throwing rocks at other peoples houses, Al Gores house, rather than stepping forward with a solution. But
the interesting thing is, we have the solution that is going to work, which is a true-cost comparison between
competing fuels. That is bedrock conservatism.
Pricing carbon pollution is critical and has popular support, a conservative fiscal
justification, many climate science imperatives, and a savvy business rationale. It
once enjoyed much broader bipartisan support. It will take a concerted effort to
connect those dots, but it will have to happen eventually.
2NC: Laundry List Solvency

Carbon Tax solves the economy, warming, and avoids politics
Bloomberg, 6/19/2014
(Lower Emissions and Lower Taxes?, http://www.businessweek.com/articles/201406-19/getting-bipartisan-support-for-a-carbon-tax)
The best way to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases is to put a tax on carbon.
Almost all economists would agree on this, yet in the U.S. its assumed the idea will
always be unpopular. Smartly framed, however, a carbon tax has a fighting chance
of success. And heres how: Dedicate all the revenue, not just some, to cutting other
taxes. Granted, some Republicans oppose a carbon tax merely because it
recognizes climate change as a problem requiring action. Theres nothing one can
do to persuade this group. Many more Republicans oppose a carbon tax because its
a tax. For this latter group, at least, the argument can be recast: The idea is not so
much to impose a new tax as it is to reduce government intervention in the
economy. Instead of listing all the fine things a carbon tax could buya tax cut
here, a budget reduction thereadvocates should simply offer to give back the
revenue in the form of tax cuts elsewhere. Its a worthwhile trade, because a tax is
by far the best way to reduce carbon emissions. Consider the proposal by Adele
Morris of the Brookings Institution: a modest levy of $16 a ton on carbon dioxide,
rising at 4 percent a year above inflation. It would reduce power-sector emissions by
more than the recent EPA proposals and curb emissions across the rest of the
economy as well. A $16-a-ton tax would add about 16 to the price of a gallon of
gasoline and raise household energy costs by 5 percent to 20 percent, depending
on the source. Such costs are most often cited by opponents of the tax. Yes, families
and businesses would be paying a new tax. But no, they would not be paying more
tax. The new carbon tax would raise about $1 trillion over 10 years and almost $3
trillion over 20a handy sum. That would be enough to send every U.S. resident a
check for about $300 (or $1,200 for a family of four) in the first year, with bigger
checks to follow. It would be more than enough to cut the corporate tax rate to 28
percent from 35 percent, for instance, or take a bite out of payroll taxes, or some of
both. This windfall would lead to an argument about what taxes to cut. At which
point, admittedly, the debate could bog down all over again. But at least it would be
framed by a shared assumption: that a carbon tax is good policy. It gets liberals a
more effective climate policy, and Republicans a less intrusive government.
2NC: Solves Warming

Carbon Tax Decreases CO2 Emissions and Spurs Renewables
InvestmentEmpirically Proven in Sweden
Fouch, Writer for The Guardian, 2008
(Gwladys, Sweden's carbon-tax solution to climate change puts it top of the green
list,
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/apr/29/climatechange.carbonemissi
ons)
In 2007 Sweden
topped the list of countries that did the most to save the planet - for the second
year running - according to German environmental group, Germanwatch. Between
1990 and 2006 Sweden cut its carbon emissions by 9%, largely exceeding the
target set by the Kyoto Protocol, while enjoying economic growth of 44% in fixed
prices. Under Kyoto, Sweden was even told it could increase its emissions by 4% given the progress it had
If there's a paradise for environmentalists, this Nordic nation of 9.2 million people must be it.
already made. But "this was not considered ambitious enough," explains Emma Lindberg, a climate change expert
at the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. "So parliament decided to cut emissions by another 4% [below
1990 levels]. The mindset was 'we need to do what's good for the environment because it's good for Sweden and its
The main reason for this success, say experts, is the introduction of a
carbon tax in 1991. Swedes today pay an extra 2.34 kronor (20p) per litre when they fill the tank (although
many key industries receive tax relief or are exempted). " Our carbon emissions would have been
20% higher without the carbon tax," says the Swedish environment minister,
Andreas Carlgren. "It was the one major reason that steered society towards
climate-friendly solutions," reckons Lindberg. "It made polluting more expensive and
focused people on finding energy-efficient solutions ." "It increased the use of bioenergy,"
economy'."
concurs Professor Thomas B Johansson from the University of Lund, a former director of energy and climate at the
UN Development Programme. "It had a major impact in particular on heating. Every city in Sweden uses district
heating [where steam and hot water are piped to a building in a particular area]. Before, coal or oil were used for
district heating. Now biomass is used, usually waste from forests and forest industries." Another reason is that,
paradoxically, energy consumption remained relatively stable at a time of high economic growth. "Non-energyintensive industries, such as the service sector, grew more in Sweden, compared to energy-intensive industries,
such as paper mills," states Johansson. Sweden also became conscious of its dependency on fossil fuels early on,
after the oil shocks of the 70s. "The country switched in the 80s to direct electric heating and in recent years
increasingly uses heat pumps, which uses two-thirds less electricity to heat. People were also helped with subsidies
to substitute," says Johansson. And Swedes were perhaps environmentally aware at an earlier time than most. "The
general public concern in terms of climate change really arose in the mid-80s. The authorities were very active in
the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1988," reckons Johansson. " There
was a
real wish to turn Sweden into a leading environmental country ," agrees Lindberg. "And
Swedes are proud that their country is leading on environmental issues." Today,
environmental measures are common throughout the country. Take Linkping,
Sweden's fifth biggest city, which is running its fleet of buses and rubbish lorries, a
train line and some private taxis on biogas, from methane produced from the
entrails of slaughtered cows. Similarly, Stockholm's central station is planning to harness the body
warmth of 250,000 daily commuters to produce heating for a nearby office block. The body heat would warm up
water that would in turn be pumped through pipes over to a new office block. And King Carl Gustaf XVI last month
had all the lights at royal castles turned off for an hour to back an energy efficiency campaign. But not all is fine and
dandy. Swedes are in love with their gas-guzzling estate cars, and are among the worst vehicle polluters in the EU.
Environmentalists are also concerned that the authorities' green enthusiasm is waning. "[Swedish PM] Fredrik
Reinfeldt is pushing within the EU for more emphasis on flexibility, ie that a larger proportion of carbon cuts should
be done outside of the EU than inside," says Lindberg which, she argues will not help the EU decrease its emissions
enough to meet the target of limiting the Earth's temperature to less than two degrees Celsius. The environment
minister dismisses the claim, arguing that flexibility is the most-efficient way to reduce emissions at the European
level and that it will help technology transfers to developing countries. More broadly, is there anything Britain could
learn from Sweden? "Homes have virtually no insulation in Britain. You could do a lot just by doing more of that,"
says Johansson. "When a building is renovated in Sweden, it can be properly insulated and renovated, cutting
energy consumption by at least half." "Impose
a carbon tax," suggests Lindberg. "You would

make it more attractive financially to go for green solutions than for carbon
options." "A carbon tax is the most cost-effective way to make carbon cuts and it
does not prevent strong economic growth," adds Carlgren.
CP solves warming encourages better fossil fuel tech and a

shift to renewables
Rausch and Reilly, members of the MIT Joint Program on the
Science and Policy of Global Climate Change, 2012
(Sebastian, Professor of Economics, Former Research Scientist; U.S. Regional Energy
Policy (USREP) Model Project, Former Project Director, John, Co-Director of the Joint
Program at MIT, http://globalchange.mit.edu/files/document/MITJPSPGC_Rpt228.pdf)
The effects of this last win would spread across the energy sector. With the new requirements for
improved vehicle efficiency the higher tax-inclusive gas oline price would make fuel efficient
vehicles more attractive to consumers and thus make it easier for automobile producers to sell a fleet that meets the
efficiency requirements. With a more efficient fleet, even though gasoline prices would rise, the actual fuel cost of driving could fall.
A carbon tax would also create support for renewable fuels and electricity . Provisions to
stimulate these alternative sources have often involved tax expendituresinvestment in or production of renewable energy gives
companies a tax credit, thereby reducing tax revenue and aggravating the deficit. The investment and production tax credits for
A
carbon tax would continue to provide encouragement for these technologies by making
dirtier technologies more expensive, and raise revenue rather than spend it. To investigate the potential
renewable electricity are due to expire, and with the looming deficit it would be more difficult to justify their continuation.
tradeoffs among different strategies for reducing the deficit we use the MIT U.S. Regional Energy Policy (USREP) model. USREP has
been widely used to investigate energy and climate policy, including interactions with tax policy, and effects on economic growth,
efficiency, and distribution (Rausch et al., 2010, 2011a,b; Caron et al., 2012). The version we apply here is that in Rausch et al.
the carbon tax revenue would generate a

win-win-win solution. Given that all other options for dealing with the Federal deficit require difficult tradeoffs, it
would seem hard to pass up one that offers so many advantages.
(2010). We find that any of several different options for using
CP solves warmingensures emission reductions

Rausch and Reilly, members of the MIT Joint Program on the
Science and Policy of Global Climate Change, 2012
(Sebastian, Professor of Economics, Former Research Scientist; U.S. Regional Energy
Policy (USREP) Model Project, Former Project Director, John, Co-Director of the Joint
Program at MIT, http://globalchange.mit.edu/files/document/MITJPSPGC_Rpt228.pdf)
4. EFFECTS ON CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS Figure 3 shows carbon dioxide emissions in the reference case
The carbon tax has a significant effect on carbon dioxide

emissions. The reference is very similar to recent EIA projections that show little growth in
emissions through 2030/2035. After that we begin to see a pick-up in emissions as the economy continues to
without a carbon tax and in the tax cases.
grow, and some of the effects of new fuel economy standards are fully realized, and then resume growth with
emissions are 14% below 2006 emissions in 2020, and they

continue to drift down over time to about 20% below 2006 in 2050. Those cases with the
investment tax credit lead to higher economic activity and somewhat higher emissions in later
economic activity. In the policy cases
years but this effect is very smallabout a 0.6% difference in 2050.
AT: Arguments
AT: Carbon Leakage

No Evidence of Carbon Leakage
European Commission, 2013
(European Commission, Carbon Leakage Evidence Project: Factsheets for selected
sectors,URL: http://goo.gl/htaC4e)
In early 2013, in the context of the work for the 2030 climate and energy framework
debate, DG CLIMA commissioned a study to investigate whether there is factual
evidence for the occurrence of carbon leakage over phases 1 and 2 of the EU ETS (2005-2012).
The study focuses on energy intensive sectors such as iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, refineries, cement, lime,
The study is based on publicly available and industry data, and an

earlier draft was discussed with EU industry representatives. The general
conclusions of the study are that there is no evidence detected for the occurrence of
carbon leakage as defined by the ETS Directive in the period of application of the EU
ETS, 2005-2012. In some, but not all, assessed sectors increasing imports and/or decreasing exports were
pulp and paper.
observed, driven mainly by global demand developments, and input price differences.
AT: Poverty DA
Carbon Tax solves poverty
EEPSEA, 2006
(Economy and Evironment Program for Southeast Asia, "Can a Carbon Tax Help the
Poor? A Study from the Philippines, http://idlbnc.idrc.ca/dspace/bitstream/10625/45924/1/132397.pdf)
According to the model, tariff reduction results in a fall in poverty. Moreover, poverty
decreases additionally whever the carbon tax revenue is used to reduce household
income taxes. This would allow the government to make reductions in household
income taxes, yielding higher disposable incomes. These changes would offset any
decrease in relative wages that would be caused by the carbon tax itself . In summary,
the simulation results suggest that a carbon tax would not only compensate for any tariff revenues foregone as part
of the tariff liberalization process, it would also reduce poverty and increase welfare. Imposing a carbon tax during
the ongoing trade liberalization process provided that the carbon tax is used to reduce income taxes is a
sensible approach that may satisfy both the economic and environmental objectives of the country.
AT: Hurts Manufacturing

Their studies are flawed Australia proves that other factors
influence manufacturing more than a carbon tax
Australia Institute, 2013
(Powered by The Australia Institute, MANUFACTURING ENERGY COSTS? > CHECK
THE FACTS,
http://www.factsfightback.org.au/how-much-has-the-carbon-tax-increasedmanufacturing-energy-costs-check-the-facts/)
Who: I was speaking to a major manufacturer in NSW the other day [the energy bill for his NSW plant was] 52 million dollars a
year. Of that 52 million, 12 million is the carbon tax.the biggest input cost at the moment which is detracting from manufacturing
is the carbon tax Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey. The claim: The carbon tax has greatly increased the cost of energy and is currently
The price impact of the carbon tax claimed by Joe

Hockey, $12 million of a $52 million energy bill, is 30 per cent. In a survey of manufacturing
the biggest input cost for manufacturing. The facts:
businesses undertaken by the Australian Industry Group (AIG) it was reported that manufacturing energy costs had increased on
average by 14.5 per cent as a direct result of the introduction of the carbon tax. This is half the amount claimed. The finding: Since
July 2012, when the carbon tax was introduced, energy costs for manufacturing have reportedly increased by an average of 14.5 per
cent, half the 30 per cent figure claimed. Discussion of evidence:
It may be true that the manufacturer Joe

Hockey spoke with has seen a large increase in energy costs since the carbon tax
was introduced. However, it is unlikely that all these costs are a direct consequence
of the carbon tax. Electricity prices have been increasing rapidly for the past two
decades with an increase of 170 per cent from 1995 to 2012. There have been other
factors putting pressure on energy prices since the introduction of the carbon tax. For
example,costs associated with poles and wires have had a large impact on prices. When stating the price rises associated with the
carbon tax, only costs attributable to the carbon tax should be considered.
Carbon tax has a minimal effect on manufacturing

Janda, Reporter for ABC, 2013
(Michael, Businesses overestimate carbon tax costs,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-29/businesses-count-carbon-taxcosts/4488490)
A survey has found many businesses believe the carbon tax has increased their
costs by far more than it actually has. The study of nearly 500 firms by the Australian Industry Group
found around half experienced an immediate impact on the cost of production inputs when the carbon tax was
A follow up survey
found that businesses said the carbon tax had increased their energy costs by an
average of 14.5 per cent, but the Bureau of Statistics Producer Price Index found a
much lower 6.7 per cent rise in energy prices during the September quarter which followed the
introduced on July 1, with 61 per cent of manufacturing businesses noting rising prices.
introduction of the tax. The Australian Industry Group says many firms also overestimated the impact of the tax
versus the effect of network price increases due to transmission maintenance and improvement (poles and wires).
"In
the November survey, manufacturing businesses attributed close to 85 per cent

of their total electricity cost increases over the past year to the carbon tax, whereas
data from other sources suggest that, at least for many smaller businesses, the
contribution of the carbon tax to total energy price rises was probably closer to one
half," observed the Ai Group's chief executive Innes Willox. The Ai Group says the recent 18 per cent price increase
for electricity in New South Wales was roughly half due to the Federal Government's carbon pricing scheme and half
The survey also found that around a third of manufacturers and

construction businesses and almost half of services businesses surveyed could not
estimate the direct impact of the carbon tax on their own energy costs six months
after its introduction. While many businesses may have overestimated the impact of the tax in rising energy
due to rising network costs.
costs, Mr Willox says a lot of firms are struggling to pass on any of those rising costs. "The first survey in our multistage research program, which we conducted in June before the carbon tax took effect, suggested that just 42 per
cent of businesses intended to pass on their increased costs," he said. "The barriers they face include: pricing
power among their customers; local demand conditions; and competition from imports produced in countries that
do not impose similar carbon costs." The Ai Group says food manufacturers have been hit particularly hard, with 90
per cent reporting immediate cost increases but only 11 per cent being able to pass on those increases to
customers. "Food manufacturers do not qualify for the trade exposed industry assistance program and are currently
facing substantial resistance to price rises from the major retailers," Mr Willox added.
Aff - Carbon Tax
Tax bad Laundry List

Carbon Tax fails Higher income Taxes, increased deficit,
higher unemployment, and no reduced emissions, Australia
Proves
IER, Institute for Energy Research, 2013
(IER, Australia's Carbon Tax: Lessons for the United States, URL:
http://wp.me/ph596-4Yk)
In the year after Australias carbon tax was introduced, household electricity prices
rose 15%, including the biggest quarterly increase on record. Currently 19% of the typical
households electricity bill is due to Australias carbon tax and other green programs such as a
renewable energy mandate. The following chart from Robsons study illustrates: CarbonTaxBlogImage1 The job
market had previously been stable, but after Australias carbon tax the number of
unemployed began rising rapidly. Robsons chart shows the gory details: CarbonTaxBlogImage2 In
addition to the total number of unemployed, there are numerous examples of
specific businesses laying off workers and/or shutting down because of the carbon
tax. Here is just one example from the study: 11 March 2013: CSR announced a restructure of its glass
manufacturing business, Viridian, with the loss of 150 jobs overall at two sites Ingleburn and Wetherill Park. Rob
Sindel, the Managing Director, confirmed that the carbon tax had added around $500,000 to the annual costs at its
Ingleburn facility. [Robson, page 39] Immediate Spike in Emissions So if Australias carbon tax thus far has led to
a large spike in electricity prices, and rising unemployment, what about the environmental benefits? Did it lead to a
slowdown in emission growth? Ironically, no. Look at what happened to total emissions since introduction of the
And even according to the governments own projections, the

carbon tax (which is scheduled to morph into a cap-and-trade scheme in 2015) will still allow for total
Australian emissions to rise through the year 2027, and they will not fall below
current levels until the year 2043: CarbonTaxBlogImage4 Why such a low bang for the buck?
tax: CarbonTaxBlogImage3
Robson explains that by its design, Australias carbon scheme allows for significant emissions reductions to be
achieved in foreign jurisdictions. In other words, Australian businesses can pay for foreign abatement and
continue domestic emissions. This should make even die-hard environmentalists wary, as it becomes clear that in
practice, governments are using their anti-carbon mindset merely as a way to enact new measures with hard-tomonitor loopholes that dont really achieve environmental goals. The Australian Experience Obliterates the
Conservative Case for a Carbon Tax Robsons new study also explodes the fantasies put forth by a small but
vocal group in the U.S. who claim that a carbon tax is a pro-growth policy. In future posts Ill elaborate on these
points, but to provide a quick summary: Australias carbon tax led to income tax hikes . The key
claim for the conservative case for a U.S. carbon tax is that the new revenue would allow for pro-growth cuts in
other taxes. But in Australia, the carbon tax was accompanied by so many give-aways (to mitigate the impact on
various groups with political pull) that the Australian government actually raised effective marginal income tax
meaning more
Australians saw their marginal income tax rates go up, rather than down, by a
margin of almost 4-to-1. Australias carbon tax ushered in more inefficient energy
regulations, not fewer. The Australian carbon tax was not accompanied by any reform of their inefficient
rates on 2.2 million taxpayers, compared to income tax reductions for only 560,000 taxpayers,
wind and solar subsidies, or Renewable Energy Target (RET) mandates. In fact, Australias carbon tax was instituted
along with a Clean Energy Finance Corporation, showing that it led to more command-and-control regulations, and
Australias carbon tax has led to more policy

uncertainty. Another key claim is that a U.S. carbon tax will establish a predictable
price for carbon that firms can incorporate into their long-term investment plans.
Yet in Australia, the carbon tax has been a comedy of errors. Originally the government
more entry points for the politically-connected.
promised during the 2010 campaign that it would not implement a carbon tax in the next 3-year cycle. That quickly
went out the window, with the new carbon tax introduced in July 2012, with a planned transition to a cap and trade
scheme in 2015, which at that time would be subject to floor and ceiling prices on the emission permits. However,
in the very next month after introducing the carbon tax, the government announced that there would no longer be
a floor price. Recently the government has proposed to move earlier towards a cap and trade scheme, with the new
transition taking place on July 2014. Depending on the result of the forthcoming September 7 Australian election,
the tax may either remain in place and transition to cap and trade in 2015, or it may move to a cap and trade
The
carbon tax made Australias budget deficit worse. Another key claim is that a
carbon tax will help reduce the U.S. federal budget deficit. Yet in Australia, because
of the changes in income taxes and new spending programs designed to offset the
impacts of the tax, for the first three years they are projecting a net loss to the
Treasury of $4.4 billion. Heres the chart from Robsons study: CarbonTaxBlogImage5 Conclusion Dr.
Alex Robson is a serious academic who has published peer-reviewed technical
papers on the interaction of public finance with environmental policy. His new study
documents Australias first-hand experience with a carbon tax. The result has been
sharply rising electricity prices and unemployment, with no demonstrated benefit in
emission reductions. Moreover, the promises of those calling for a pro-growth U.S.
carbon tax have been have been proven to be utterly false in Australia : Its carbon tax
scheme in 2014, or it may be abolished. The policy certainty of a carbon tax is yet another bogus promise.
came with income tax increases and fewer jobs as well as more command-and-control energy regulations. The
debate over a carbon tax is now not just one of theoretical speculation; proponents need to explain why the U.S.
outcome would be different from what actually happened in Australia.
Carbon doesnt solve harms manufacturing and the poor

Morgan, Vice President for the Institute for Economic Freedom
and Opportunity, 12
(Derrick, A Carbon Tax Would Harm U.S. Competitiveness and Low-Income
Americans Without Helping the Environment, URL: http://goo.gl/Krlfa)
Even if one concludes that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are leading
to increased temperaturesand there is robust debate and far from a public
consensus on the magnitude of man-made warming, particularly among
conservativesa carbon tax would be counterproductive because it would do next
to nothing to lower global temperature, while it would harm American
manufacturing competitiveness, create a new revenue stream based on behavior
modification, and harm low-income Americans.
Free-market conservatives in particular should denounce a new carbon tax as more
meddling by the federal government. Specifically, they should urge Congress and
the President to:
Categorically reject a new carbon tax, which would have little environmental
impact, harm manufacturing, be another tax seeking to control behavior, and
disproportionately harm the poor;
Work to stop EPA regulations of greenhouse gases, which will wreak havoc on the
economy and have no appreciable impact on the stated environmental goal of
reducing global GHGs; and
Work toward tax reform that results in a system that will raise the revenue to fund
necessary government operations in ways that cause the least possible economic
damage and not pick winners and losers with preferential or punitive policies.
A carbon tax is in essence a perpetuation of a disastrous policy of picking winners
and losers from Washington instead of allowing families to choose which energy
sources work best for them. From ethanol subsidies to grants awarded to nowdefunct solar manufacturers like Solyndra, these policies have increased costs to
American families and wasted taxpayer dollars.
Energy, like other sectors, should not become a playground for connected lobbyists
to collude with government for special treatment. The bottom line in energy is that
supplies can be delivered and new supplies created through the private sector
rather than through mandates, regulations, taxes, and subsidies ordered by
government.
Cant Solve Warming

Carbon Tax cant solve for Global warming only the AFF
solves
Trembath and Step, A Policy analyst in the Energy and Climate
Program at Breakthrough and B.A in Environmental Economics
and Policy form UC Berkeley and a senior policy analyst at the
Information Technology and innovation Foundation, 2013
(Alex and Matthew, Why a carbon tax is a bad idea, URL:
http://www.energypost.eu/?p=2934)
Economists attraction to a carbon tax was on full display recently when economist Greg Mankiw wrote in the New
York Times, calling a carbon tax a climate policy America could live with, compared to the grab bag of regulations
Carbon tax supporters believe it will lead

consumers to use less dirty energy. Mankiw writes, When making everyday
decisions, people would naturally look at the prices they face and, in effect, take
into account the global impact of their choices. Global pollutant If greenhouse
gases were a pollutant like sulphur dioxide that largely stays within national borders
such a policy might make sense. But they are not. Its a global pollutant . Thats why we
and fuel standards targeted by the Obama administration.
talk about addressing global warming, not American warming. Mankiws preferred climate solution aims at
getting U.S. consumers to buy slightly more fuel efficient cars or turn off light bulbs
more regularly because energy prices are modestly higher. This will have little
impact on global emissions because virtually all their growth will be in rapidly
growing developing nations like China and India. While Europeans buy smaller cars and take
more mass transit, they dont buy more electric vehicles Moreover, greenhouse gases are not like traditional
We therefore
cant afford to simply slow their growth; we need to dramatically cut emissions.
This gets to the second major problem with the carbon tax. The only way to get to
dramatic cuts in global emissions is by developing significantly cheaper and better
clean energy technologies. Current clean energy alternatives cost significantly more than conventional
pollutants in another sense: they are cumulative, essentially filling the atmospheric bath tub.
energy. Expecting consumers and businesses, especially in poor developing nations, to pay a large price premium
for clean energy is wishful thinking.
The only path to cheap and reliable clean energy is
innovation: better batteries, better solar cells, better biofuels, better nuclear reactors, etc. Unfortunately, few
economists focus on innovation and to the extent they do they see it as manna from heaven, something that just
happens. To the extent a carbon tax induces innovation it is through the magic of the market: higher prices provide
an incentive for entrepreneurs to develop a better energy mousetrap.
Carbon Tax Fails Doesnt reduce emissions

Hunt, Member of the Australian House of Representatives M.A
in International Relations from Yale, 2013
(Greg, Carbon Tax Confirmed As An Environmental Failure, URL:
http://goo.gl/DkKF76)
The key aim of the Carbon Tax to reduce energy use to drive down emissions has
failed, according to a new industry report. A survey by the Australian Industry Group has found that
despite business being slugged by the Carbon Tax the main impact has been to drive down profits rather than
The survey confirms that as an environmental measure, the

Carbon Tax is a flawed policy. 70 per cent of businesses have not reduced their
carbon intensity as a result of the Carbon Tax. Only 6 per cent have been able to pass through the
costs, leaving them to absorb the price rises and that has come off the bottom line. Industrial businesses
have on average faced a 15 per cent increase in electricity and gas prices as a
result of the Carbon Tax, with the overwhelming majority of businesses receiving no
compensation. And this will go up further on 1 July this year and again on 1 July next year as the Carbon Tax
goes up and up. The sooner the Carbon Tax is scrapped the better for Australian jobs,
businesses, the economy and the environment. There is a better way and the Coalition, if elected,
greenhouse emissions.
will introduce a scheme which will support businesses to reduce emissions and deliver for the environment.Under
the Coalitions Direct Action Plan, instead of penalising businesses with a tax which makes them uncompetitive, we
will provide incentives for positive environmental change.
CP Links to Midterms
Koch brothers hate the carbon tax they have influence
The Hill, 2011
(The Hill, Kochs hire ex-Cantor aide to lobby against carbon tax, URL:
http://thehill.com/node/157966)
Charles and David Koch, to paraphrase the famous Raid bug spray slogan, want to kill carbon tax
proposals dead. Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC has contracted lobbyists including
a former aide to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to lobby on a House resolution that
declares carbon taxes detrimental to American families and businesses. Newly
available lobby filings show that Koch has hired Shockey Scofield Solutions, LLC, to lobby on the anti-carbon tax
resolution. ADVERTISEMENT Lobbyists working on the account include partner Mike Ference, a former senior
policy aide to Cantor who announced in late 2012 he was stepping down to join Shockey Scofield Solutions. Also
listed in the filing are the firms other leaders, John Scofield and Jeff Shockey, who are both former top GOP aides on
Carbon tax proposals floated by some Democrats face

opposition from numerous conservative groups and GOP lawmakers, and have not
gained political traction. But an ad-hoc, left-right coalition of advocates is seeking
to advance the idea, and opponents hope to ensure they dont gather momentum .
the House Appropriations Committee.
Shockey Scofield Solutions is working on House Concurrent Resolution 24, a measure with nearly 150 co-sponsors
The House resolution

declares that a carbon tax would raise prices for energy and other consumer goods,
fall hardest on the poor, the elderly, and those on fixed incomes, and hurt the
economy and U.S. competitiveness in several ways. In addition to the carbon measure, the
introduced in March by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), their lobby filing shows.
lobbyists will work for Koch on issues related to the limiting the impact of the Renewable Fuels Standard,
The Koch
brothers are major players in conservative politics and bankroll a number of advocacy
groups in Washington.
according to the filing, referring to the national biofuels blending mandate that many refiners oppose.
New taxes are unpopular

Rasmussen Reports, 4/3/2013
(Rasmussen Reports, 63% Think No New Taxes Are Needed, URL:
http://goo.gl/OSIAA6)
Voters make it quite clear that theres no need for the federal government to raise
taxes. Theyd prefer more tax cuts instead but are much more closely divided on
that question.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 28% of
Likely U.S. Voters think additional tax hikes are needed to fund the federal
government. More than twice as many (63%) disagree and feel more taxes are not
necessary.
Carbon tax is unpopular public isnt ready

WWI, World Watch Institute, 7/30/14
(WWI, Hansen to Obama: Support a Carbon Tax, URL: http://goo.gl/JK1bQN)
Carbon taxes are currently in place, with frequent exemptions, in Scandinavia, the
United Kingdom, British Columbia, and select U.S. cities. The taxes are generally
politically unpopular - national plans in New Zealand and Canada failed to win
residents' support. According to a global BBC poll in 2007, about half of the 22,000
people surveyed were in favor of increased fossil fuel taxes, and 44 percent
opposed the proposal. James Hoggan, chair of the David Suzuki Foundation, said
carbon tax proponents have to overcome the disinformation campaigns that
regularly attack new tax proposals. "Any legislator considering a carbon tax has to
prepare the ground more effectively than we have in Canada," he said at Tuesday's
Capitol Hill panel. "Stop calling it a carbon tax. Call it a carbon dumping fee or
something that makes it seem more like a climate change solution." Connecticut
Representative John Larson has sponsored U.S. legislation that would impose an
excise tax on any taxable carbon substance sold by a manufacturer, producer, or
importer. The bill currently has support of 12 fellow Democrats. "It's gaining
momentum every single day," Larson said on Tuesday. "Twelve members may not
seem like a lot, but [three of] these are influential members of the Ways and Means
Committee."
Carbon tax unpopular the public doesnt understand the

benefits and only perceive a tax incease
Lawrence, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Middle
Georgia State College, 2007
(Chris, Public Opinion and the Carbon Tax, URL:
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/?p=20917)
Personally, I think opposition can be explained almost entirely by lack of public

understanding and by a real absence of any marketing of the idea. I expect that
most Americans dont grasp or get the notion that taxing something reduces the
quantity of that something consumed; rather, I imagine the tax is perceived as a
way to fund technologies that might fight climate change. And while wonks love
carbon taxes, few politicians have embraced the policy, so few people are out there
publicly making the case for such a tax. Of the Democratic presidential contenders,
only Mike Gravel has really stood up for higher gas taxes, which isnt exactly helpful
to the issue. Of course, if only one of the front-runners embraced it, theyd probably
be quickly skewered by his or her peers. It would be nice if Democrats could, as a
party, get behind the issue, making it easier for individuals to speak out about it.
Thinking about it a bit more, though, I think that opposition also stems from the fact
that most Americans cant respond all that well to higher gas prices. If you just
bought a house a 45 minute drive from your office, what are you going to do when a
gas or carbon tax doubles your pump price? Hybrids arent cheap, and nows not
the best time to flip that suburban home. There are simply limited opportunities for
most drivers to substitute away from driving. Which is yet another reason that we
ought to be spending more on transit. Transit systems are helpful in reducing
emissions outright, and they also reduce the level at which any potential carbon tax
must be set in order to achieve resultsas a good substitute for driving, transit
makes demand for gasoline more elastic. McArdle attributes the lack of support to
voter self-interest: Id say they understand [the carbon tax] all too well: a tax will
make it more expensive for them to drive, forcing them to do less of it. If they didnt
like driving right now, they wouldnt be doing so much of it. This is true of a lot of
policy plans for which advocates claim a groundswell of mass support: people
support them in abstract, but in actual particulars, they are against them. People
support universal healthcareuntil the majority who are perfectly satisfied with their
health care right now hear the details of the plans, and the taxes required to pay for
the plans. People like wars, but not the part where we spend a lot of money and
soldiers die. People think we should do something about the environmentbut only
as long as it doesnt involve driving less, or buying smaller, more fuel efficient
vehicles and homes, or giving up the long-distance plane flight to Disneyworld, or . .
. well, when you come right down to it, what Americans have so far proven willing to
do is buy biodegradeable cleaning products once a year, and waste a lot of carbon
dioxide talking about how the government should do something. Ill certainly agree
theres an element of the general public tendency to support the general case
without supporting the specifics, or the publics simultaneous desire for low taxes
and high spending, at work here. Commenter Thorley Winston also reminds us that
one of the selling points behind a carbon tax is that there would be some sort of
corresponding reduction in other taxes (usually either payroll taxes or income taxes)
to make it revenue neutral. Many people (rightfully) think that if you agree to a new
tax on carbon in exchange for a promised reduction in another tax, all youre going
to ultimately end up with just a new tax as the promised reductions in other taxes
would either never materialize or just be reversed soon afterwards. My guess,
though, is that things are closer to how Avent sees them: Pigouvian taxes like the
carbon tax have an inside-the-beltway cachet to them that is lost on the public at
large, perhaps in part out of ignorance about the purpose of this particular tax. It
doesnt exactly help that other taxes designed to correct negative externalities from
individual behavior, like higher cigarette taxes, usually wind up being diverted to
other pressing needs instead of offsetting the externalitiesto the point the state
comes to depend on the revenue generated from the behavior it wanted to stamp
out in the first place. Add in a healthy dollop of public ignorance and the affectivelyloaded word tax, and presto, you have public opposition.
Carbon Leakage DA
A US Carbon Tax would accelerate warming via Carbon
Leakage
and Opportunity, 12
Even if one assumes that rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to higher global temperatures, a
carbon tax in the United States that reduces emissions domestically would have
zero direct effect on foreign emissions if we acted alone. In fact, unilateral action by
the U.S. would have very little effect on total global emissions. US has largest Fossil fuel
reserves The EPA analyzed a cap-and-trade proposal and projected global CO2 concentrations in a baseline and
under legislation, demonstrating the effects graphically.[16] (See Chart 1.) The Administrator of the EPA testified on
July 7, 2009: I believe the central parts of the [EPA] chart are that U.S. action alone will not impact world CO2
levels.[17] The analysis showed that even if the U.S. adopted stringent carbon caps under that legislation[18]
and the international community did not, global CO2 concentrations would decrease 25 parts per million (with
concentrations equaling 694 ppm in 2095). International action, by contrast, would decrease concentrations by 202
unilateral U.S. carbon tax would likely

further increase foreign emissions because of a phenomenon called carbon
leakage. As energy-intensive industry relocates from the United States to other
nations such as Mexico, Vietnam, or China (already the worlds largest emitter of
greenhouse gases), GHG emissions and toxic pollutants could increase more than
they would if those industries remained in the United States.[19] Unilateral action
by the United States to tax carbon emissions is unwise because it would not achieve
its stated environmental goal: material reduction of global GHG emissions.
ppm. Just as in a unilateral U.S. cap-and-trade system, a
Manufacturing DA
Carbon tax destroys US manufacturing sector Only the Aff
Solves
and Opportunity, 12
the United States is a post-industrial power, it is still the worlds top

manufacturer[25] (although China is gaining), with manufacturing accounting for 12.2 percent of U.S. GDP.
While some may believe that
[26]
Proponents of cap-and-trade acknowledged that a price on GHG emissions would negatively affect domestic
manufacturing unless the cost was fully and permanently offset. Additionally, to offset the impact on manufacturing
fully and permanently would be to negate the desired environmental impact of the policy (make it more expensive
to emit GHGs and therefore reduce GHGs).
To make up for the impact on manufacturers, the WaxmanMarkey cap-and-trade bill gave temporary free
Nearly all manufacturers use

energy, and for those that emit greenhouse gases in significant quantities, such as
steelmakers, a tax on a major input would be devastating. Moreover, a tax on
carbon would also affect those who use carbon-intensive fuels for feedstocks, as is
the case in the chemical and fertilizer industry. The recent natural gas boom is
encouraging more investment in these industries,[27] but a carbon tax would make
such investments much less appealing.
allowances to manufacturers to ease the impact of the cap on emissions.
During the cap-and-trade debate in 2009, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Black
Chamber of Commerce commissioned studies looking at the effect of carbon caps on manufacturing and found that
hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs would be lost.[28] A Heritage Foundation study reached the same
A carbon tax would raise prices on energy inputs for manufacturing and
therefore destroy manufacturing jobs.
conclusion.[29]
A carbon tax would especially hurt states with higher concentrations of

manufacturing and that use coal for electricity generation. The Heritage Foundation developed the
Manufacturing Vulnerability Index, a list of states with their combined manufacturing prevalence and coal electricity
generation, highly concentrated in the Midwest.[30] These states have substantial infrastructure for manufacturing
and coal-powered electricity generation that would be hit especially hard. A transition to other power-generation
sources and economic activities would be very costly to these already hurting states .
While proponents of a carbon tax explain that they could impose an adjustment tax on goods from countries
Moreover, it
would place U.S. manufacturers that export from the United States to other markets
at a disadvantage when compared to manufacturers that produce in nations without
GHG controls.
without a carbon tax to help level the playing field, such an action could precipitate a trade war.
A new carbon tax should not be imposed because it would harm U.S. manufacturing,
destroying the livelihood of too many Americans who want to go to work producing
products for the world.
Manufacturing DA Impact
(In OCS 1AC) Manufacturings key to resilience
Michael Ettlinger, Vice President for Economic Policy at the Center for American
Progress and prior to joining the Center spent six years at the Economic Policy
Institute directing the Economic Analysis and Research Network and previously was
tax policy director for Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and
Economic Policy for 11 years and has also served on the staff of the New York State
Assembly, April 2011, The Importance and Promise of American Manufacturing
Why It Matters if We Make It in America and Where We Stand Today,
http://www.americanprogress.org/wpcontent/uploads/issues/2011/04/pdf/manufacturing.pdf
Manufacturing is critically important to the American economy . For generations, the

strength of our country rested on the power of our factory floors both the machines and
the men and women who worked them. We need manufacturing to continue to be a bedrock
of strength for generations to come. Manufacturing is woven into the structure of
our economy: Its importance goes far beyond what happens behind the factory gates. The strength or
weakness of American manufacturing carries implications for the entire economy,
our national security, and the well-being of all Americans. Manufacturing today
accounts for 12 percent of the U.S. economy and about 11 percent of the privatesector workforce. But its significance is even greater than these numbers would
suggest. The direct impact of manufacturing is only a part of the picture. First, jobs
in the manufacturing sector are good middle-class jobs for millions of Americans.
Those jobs serve an important role, offering economic opportunity to hard-working, middle-skill workers. This
creates upward mobility and broadens and strengthens the middle class to the
benefit of the entire economy. Whats more, U.S.-based manufacturing underpins a
broad range of jobs that are quite different from the usual image of manufacturing.
These are higher-skill service jobs that include the accountants, bankers, and
lawyers that are associated with any industry, as well as a broad range of other
jobs including basic research and technology development, product and process engineering and design,
operations and maintenance, transportation, testing, and lab work. Many of these jobs are critical to
American technology and innovation leadership . The problem today is this: Many multinational
corporations may for a period keep these higher-skill jobs here at home while they move basic manufacturing
elsewhere in response to other countries subsidies, the search for cheaper labor costs, and the desire for more
direct access to overseas markets, but eventually many of these service jobs will follow. When the basic
manufacturing leaves, the feedback loop from the manufacturing floor to the rest of a manufacturing operationa
critical element in the innovative processis eventually broken. To maintain that feedback loop, companies need
with those jobs goes American

leadership in technology and innovation . This is why having a critical mass of both
manufacturing and associated service jobs in the United States matters. The
industrial commons that comes from the crossfertilization and engagement of a
community of experts in industry, academia, and government is vital to our
nations economic competitiveness. Manufacturing also is important for the nations
economic stability. The experience of the Great Recession exemplifies this point.
to move higher-skill jobs to
Although manufacturing
where they do their manufacturing. And
plunged in 2008 and early 2009 along with the rest of the economy, it is on the
today while other key economic sectors, such as construction, still
languish.
rebound
Diversity in the economy is
importantand manufacturing is a particularly important part of the mix. Although

manufacturing is certainly affected by broader economic events, the sectors internal diversity
supplying consumer goods as well as industrial goods, serving both domestic and
external markets gives it great potential resiliency. Finally, supplying our own
needs through a strong domestic manufacturing sector protects us from
international economic and political disruptions. This is most obviously important in the realm of
national security, even narrowly defined
as matters related to military strength, where the risk of a weak
overreliance on imports and substantial

manufacturing trade deficits weaken us in many ways, making us vulnerable to
everything from exchange rate fluctuations to trade embargoes to natural
disasters.
manufacturing
capability is obvious. But
(In OCS 1AC) Economic collapse causes escalating global wars

Kemp 10 Geoffrey Kemp, Director of Regional Strategic Programs at The Nixon
Center, served in the White House under Ronald Reagan, special assistant to the
president for national security affairs and senior director for Near East and South
Asian affairs on the National Security Council Staff, Former Director, Middle East
Arms Control Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2010, The
East Moves West: India, China, and Asias Growing Presence in the Middle East, p.
233-4
The second scenario, called Mayhem and Chaos, is the opposite of the first scenario; everything that can go wrong
The world economic situation weakens rather than strengthens , and India,
China, and Japan suffer a major reduction in their growth rates, further weakening
the global economy. As a result, energy demand falls and the price of fossil fuels
plummets, leading to a financial crisis for the energy-producing states, which are
forced to cut back dramatically on expansion programs and social welfare. That in
turn leads to political unrest: and nurtures different radical groups, including, but not limited
to, Islamic extremists. The internal stability of some countries is challenged, and there are
more failed states. Most serious is the collapse of the democratic government in
Pakistan and its takeover by Muslim extremists, who then take possession of a large
number of nuclear weapons. The danger of war between India and Pakistan
increases significantly. Iran, always worried about an extremist Pakistan, expands and weaponizes
its nuclear program. That further enhances nuclear proliferation in the Middle East,
with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt joining Israel and Iran as nuclear states. Under
these circumstances, the potential for nuclear terrorism increases, and the possibility of a
nuclear terrorist attack in either the Western world or in the oil-producing states
may lead to a further devastating collapse of the world economic market, with a
tsunami-like impact on stability. In this scenario, major disruptions can be expected,
with dire consequences for two-thirds of the planets population.
does go wrong.
Poverty DA
Carbon tax unfairly burdens the poor
and Opportunity, 12
The poor tend to spend a higher proportion of their earnings on energy, particularly
utilities and transportation. Moreover, some Americans use more fossil-fuel energy than others because
of driving distances (rural families drive more27,700 miles per household vs. 17,600 miles for urban
households[44]); geography (less temperate weather means more heating and cooling costs); and already
A carbon
tax would disproportionately hit these families, whose behavior is difficult to change
in the short run. While economists like to imagine that the carbon tax would be offset by reductions in taxes
constructed energy infrastructure (coal plants are prevalent in the Midwest near mining operations).
on capital or some other particularly economically damaging tax, the fact is that, politically, it is far more likely that
funding from the carbon tax would be used to reduce the taxs impact on the poor. Senator Barbara Boxer (DCA),
who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, rejected the idea of using new revenue from
the carbon tax to reduce corporate taxesa favorite idea among some on the center-rightand said that any
revenues should be used to make surethe middle class gets the breaks in the interim while we move to clean
energy.[45] Nearly all of the cap-and-trade proposals introduced during the 111th Congress included measures to
while such proposals would soften the blow for

low-income households, an energy tax would harm families again and again, both
directly through energy prices and indirectly through higher prices for goods and
services.[46] As Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf has said: [A]t any point in which we
blunt the impact on less affluent families, but
are putting a price on carbon emissions, that would be passed through to the cost that consumers face on energy
products but also all other products that are made using fossil fuels. I dont know if there are any goods that use
no energy in their production. It seems to me unlikely.[47]
Monitoring K Aff Carbon Tax

Supplement
Neg
Solvency Data
A carbon tax would improve data collection on global warming
Australia proves
Miller, editor at large of Data Center Knowledge 2011
[Rich, has been reporting on the data center sector since 2000, Australias Carbon
Tax and Data Centers,
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/07/14/australias-carbon-taxand-data-centers/]
Australia has approved plans to implement penalties for the nations largest carbon
emitters. This carbon tax will affect the top 500 polluters , and commence on July 1, 2012.
Since data centers are typically among the largest users of electricity, the data center sector is
examining the likely impact on its business. Heres a roundup of early commentary
and analysis: Techworld NextDC chief executive, Bevan Slattery, has predicted that it may be
incurring costs of 2.7 cents per kilowatt at its Melbourne facility once the Gillard Governments
carbon tax comes into effect. Speaking to Computerworld Australia, Slattery said the companys calculations show
that the carbon tax will create further incentives for NextDC and fellow data center providers to pursue energy
In a sector by sector analysis of the impact of the

carbon tax, Smart Company predicts that the tax is likely a benefit for some data
centre operators. During the past few years there has been a move towards more sustainable data centres.
Businesses may start shifting to more efficient centres or simply store data in house. Gartner Several
sources cited a report from Gartner, which says Australias high carbon intensive
energy generation is far from conducive to the development of a long-term green IT
services sector. Around 92 percent of Australias energy is sourced from fossil fuels. New Zealand is
efficiency measures. Smart Company AU
comparatively green, classed as a low-emission intensity country. The development of IT storage and services in
New Zealand, leveraging the vast and established renewable energy sources such as geothermal, wind, tidal and
hydro power, could provide the basis for a substantial content-based economic model. DatacenterDynamics
Data
center providers in Australia can be put into two groups providers with
legacy facilities with monolithic designs with poor energy standards and movers and
shakers coming into the market with far more progressive designs, said IDC
Australia associate director Matthew Oostveen. There is some excitement amongst new players
in the marketplace because they realise than energy efficiency is becoming a hot topic again. These data center
operators believe they can benefit by attracting businesses with a greener solution. Energy efficiency is also
proving a win for some vendors inhouse, Oostveen says.
Solvency Networks
A Carbon tax creates alliances and networks across a variety of
political spectrums
Hsu, Law Professor at Florida State University, 2012
[Shi-Ling, The Case for a Carbon Tax, pp. 184-185]
Cognitive biases and the reinforcement of these biasesinadvertent by pollsters, to

some extent purposeful by politicianshave seemingly created a deep political pit
from which carbon taxes will never emerge to see the light of day. Carbon taxes
mean higher energy prices, and it is easy for anti-tax groups to tap into consumers
fears and squeeze out other considerations.1 But although these biases are
widespread, they are fragile and fixable. Misperceptions and errant decisionmaking processes can be corrected, and information can be supplied to help citizens evaluate
different policy instruments What if public opinion polls weren't so loaded against the idea of carbon taxes? One survey by the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy at the University
of Michigan actually asked respondents their willingness to pay for climate policies, automatically signaling to respondents that climate policies cost money.' Also, this study asked
respondents about their support for cap-and-trade programs and I'm carbon taxes, if (i) cost was not specified, (ii) at a cost of S15 per month, and (iii) at a cost of $50 per month.3 This
is better than those surveys noted in the previous chapter, which pretend that these kinds of policies are free. But they can be made better. For one thing, there is still no indication of
effectiveness included in the policy proposals. Put forth as if they were equal policies, a respondent could be forgiven for thinking that all of these policies accomplish the same thing.
A study conducted at MIT to measure the public's acceptance of carbon capture and
storage technology seems to reveal a very prominent role for information about
costs. In split samples, people were asked what they thought was the way to "best address the issue of global warming as it relates to electricity production." The potential
responses included "do nothing . [w]e can live with global warming," but also several alternatives including these two: carbon capture and storage, and increasing use of renewable
energies. Generally, using renewable energy was more popular, but in one subsample, respondents received information that carbon capture and storage would reduce emissions by 90
percent and double the average household cost of electricity from S1,200 to 52,400 per year; they were also told that using renewable energies would increase electricity costs to $4,000
per year. Not surprisingly, the effect of this information was to make carbon capture and storage more popular than renewable energies.' Given these results, consider instead of the
question formats in the public opinion polls reviewed above, the following (the numbers in table 6-1 are for illustrative purposes only, and do not reflect economic modeling results):
having an argument over the costs

and estimated emissions reductions of each climate policy option would be a vast
improvement over current practice, which is to ignore them when they are difficult to calculate. Just debating
Of course, there would be considerable debate over exactly what to put in the different boxes. But
how to put all of the climate policy instruments on even footing would improve the instrument choice process. Of course, we can only speculate about the effects or even the
the misperceptions about carbon taxes

vis-a-vis other climate policy instruments are partially the result of the haphazard
(and sometimes consciously misleading) descriptions (or lack thereof) of policy
instruments and their effectiveness. Just attempting to cure these defects would be
a very important step toward neutralizing the bias against carbon taxes . Even if the
feasibility of conducting public opinion polls on climate policy in a balanced way. But certainly
misperceptions are fixed, the politics of carbon taxes will have to change. But already, the potential for change is palpable. If the former chief economic adviser to President Clinton
(Stiglitz) and the former chief economic adviser to President George W. Bush (Mankiw) can agree on the need for carbon taxes, one suspects other surprising alliances are possible. A
surprising variety of public figures and groups have either come out in support of carbon taxes, or even more controversially, in favor of gasoline taxes: Leon Panetta, the former
Democratic congressman and President Clinton's former budget director5; Nobel laureate and University of Chicago economist Gary Becker"; the very liberal environmental organization
Friends of die Earth7; Charles Krauthammer, the very conservative Washington Post columnist'; the very controversial Obama economic adviser and former Treasury secretary Lawrence
Summers"; economist Arthur Laffer, a member of President Reagan's economic advisory team, and die original "supply-side" economist10; and most prominently to environmentalists,
Carbon
taxes and gasoline taxes thus have supporters at both ends of the political
spectrum, as well as places in between . Capitol Hill figures that have supported carbon taxes in-dude former Democratic senator
NASA atmospheric scientist James Hansen, one of the first and most forceful scientists to speak of the urgency of climate change, a hero to environmentalists.11
Christopher Dodd of Connecticut12; recently defeated Republican congressman Robert Inglis of South Carolina13; and Democratic congressmen Pete Stark of California and Jim
McDermott of Washington, who proposed carbon tax legislation in 2007." And who could make up stranger bedfellows than the rancorous New York Times columnist (and also Nobel
laureate) Paul Krug-man, and fiber-libertarian Grover Norquist, the thunder of the aggressive anti-tax lobbying group Americans for Tax Reform, both of whom support higher gasoline
taxes (but Norquist only if the proceeds are returned in the form of cuts in other taxes?15
AT: Need Systemic Solution

The carbon tax is not a one-shot solution it ENABLES a
multitude of innovative strategies against warming to come to
the fore
Hsu, Law Professor at Florida State University, 2012
[Shi-Ling, The Case for a Carbon Tax, pp. 80-83]
is there a way to incentivize these little inventions that

potentially have a huge impact? The ACUPCC is a positive step, but a bottom-line
incentive might move even more colleges and university into action, perhaps even
beyond the 629 that have signed on to the ACUPCC . These colleges and universities will have to
From a government policy point of view,
learn from others, but also develop more ways of reducing emissions in addition to purchasing (and perhaps even
Innovation will not only require a stable and sufficient price signal,
but also a comprehensive price signal that ripples throughout an economy , in order to
refining) Vegawatts.
take advantage of as many greenhouse gas reduction opportunities as possible. Earlier in this chapter, I argued that
a comprehensive price signal is required to avoid distortions that produce leakage of greenhouse gas emissions and
divert resources away from the most efficient ways of reducing emissions. This is a different reason to have a
comprehensive price signal, and a different justification for a carbon tax over cap-and-trade. To further build on a
greenhouse gas reduction opportunities are diverse,

disparate, and beyond the comprehension of any single agency, group of agencies,
or even any network of governmental entities . We drive, we buy houses with the idea that we will
theme developed in this chapter,
drive for every trip taken out of the house, and we build buildings and communities in which wasteful amounts of
driving are built into our lifestyle, our infrastructure, and our economy. We turn up thermostats, we build inefficient
homes and buildings, fail to weatherize and insulate our existing homes and buildings, and consume energy in ways
that would be stunningly simple to avoid. But because energy savings in individual instances are small, it does not
seem worth it on the individual level to undertake the costly and sometimes time-consuming measures to reduce
emissions and increase efficiency. As summarized in the McKinsey energy efficiency report that found 5680 billion of
energy savings in the American economy: Efficiency potential is highly fragmented, spread across more than 100
This dispersion
ensures that efficiency is the highest priority for virtually no one .130 In addition, we buy
million locations and billions of devices used in residential, commercial and industrial settings.
imported toys and other goods and we buy imported produce so that we can enjoy all kinds of foods in all seasons.
We use too much carbon-intensive cement, and burn too much coal for electricity and consume too much
activities imposes a carbon dioxide emissions externality. There

are undoubtedly many solutions for each of these externality-imposing activities , as
well as the millions of other such activities and products. The problem with the way that some
pundits view "innovation" is that it is too often thought of as highly technological,
research-intensive, and expensive inventions carried out in the laboratories of
universities. This latter kind of innovation for grand changes could be important, but climate policy has
neglected the simpler and potentially more widely applicable innovative changes that can be made. Integrated
assessment models lend theoretical support to this conclusion . 'Those models that include
electrieity. Each of these
endogenous technological innovationas opposed to simplistic models that merely assume a fixed rate of
exogenous technological innovationshow that with greenhouse gas emissions coming from many sectors of the
economy, the breadth of a price signal matters much more than improving any specific technology.131 Thus,
the
maintenance of a price signal that is as wide as possible is much more likely to

reduce emissions and at the lowest cost than putting massive bets of government
spending behind a putative "game-changing" technology . For that reason, government
subsidies, as argued above, have the shortcoming of backing only a few horses, and too often the wrong horses,
instead of opening up the entire horse race.
There are presently an almost uncountable number
of ideas to reduce energy consumption and therefore greenhouse gas emissions .

Areas in which greenhouse gas reductions can be achieved at little or even negative cost include: residential
electronics, residential appliances, HVAC, retrofits, insulation retrofits, and switching from incandescent light bulbs
to energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs or even light-emitting diodes.132 A host of other low-cost (but probably not nocost) ideas are also effective in reducing consumption and are ridiculously simple, like installing programmable
thermostats, updating home insulation and weatherization. On the front end, a number of new building construction
practices have bubbled up from the concept stage into development, and, where there are incentives, into the
construction business. These include a renewed emphasis on natural light and heating, green walls and roofs,
passive radiant heating, and ingenious vays of combining water and space heating. It has become commonplace in
some jurisdictions for new construction of residential homes to include a high-efficiency furnace to heat water that
The urgency of
climate change has caused a groundswell of ideas to bubble up into public
discourse. But more than government support, price signals are needed to sustain
their development. These types of measures are essentially market mechanisms,
and need healthy markets with carbon prices. At the same time, market forces are
needed to filter out losers. Some ideas have risen and fallen somewhat out of favor, such as some cornserves the dual purpose of supplying hot water as well as providing radiant floor heating.
based biofuels, hydrogen fuel cell technology, and reforestation as a carbon sequestration technique. Some, such
as nuclear power, have enjoyed a resurgence. It is beyond the capability of any governmental entity, even one
aimed at compiling information, to identify all of the opportunities to innovate to reduce greenhouse gases, to
evaluate their merits, and to tap into them. The ubiquitous nature of fossil fuel combustion means that the
opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are ubiquitous. Moreover, most everyone in the developed world
A carbon tax maximizes the breadth of

the potential to innovate in reducing emissions, tapping into the creativity of almost
everyone, by offering, a monetary incentive in the form of lower costs. I argued above
that a consistent carbon price across the entire economy is necessary to ensure a fair
contest among all of these potential solutions . This separate argument emphasizes the need to
does things and uses things that emit greenhouse gases.
ensure a contest among many alternatives, and reaching many activities. A fundamental market tenet is that the
Along the same lines, a

thorough search for the most effective and efficient ways to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions will require the ferreting out of ideas from all quarters . As I noted earlier, if a caplarger the number of market participants, the more robust the market.
and-trade program is applied upstreamat the point of extraction, processing, or importthen the resulting price is
as broad as it is for a carbon tax, and many of the advantages of a carbon tax over cap-and-trade fall away. This set
of arguments presented here fall into that category. This set of arguments, however, still apply to the cap-and-trade
A carbon tax,
which gets at the fundamental problem of fossil fuel combustion across all sectors
and activities, creates the kind of broad-based incentives that no other instrument
does.
programs that seem most likely to emerge: those that are less comprehensive than a carbon tax.
AT: Technocratic Approaches Bad

Global warming changed the game we need MORE
calculation, not less
Stanescu, PhD in philosophy at Binghampton, 2008
[James, formerly a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Communication Studies at
Mercer University and currently an independent scholar in Washington D.C.,
Abstraction, Calculative Thinking, Global Warming, and Environmental Ethics; or the
Polar Vortex of Thinking!,
http://criticalanimal.blogspot.com/2014/01/abstraction-calculative-thinkingglobal.html]
Global warming is a lure for thinking about issues of consumption and production , of
energy and waste, of diet, transportation, and development. We can understand how, as ethicists, we need this abstraction of
global warming in order to ask and answer certain questions . And, we can also see here how the
discrete is the opposite of the concrete, rather than the abstract. For example, Ted Cruz's 'joke' that Al Gore told me this wouldn't happen. Such a
move refuses the very actual, very concrete reality of global warming by discreting the moment
of snow and cold in D.C. from the broader reality and the broader context of global warming. We can give many other examples. How colorblind policies
discrete the reality of racism, or how 'tone' criticisms are used to discrete the lived experiences under the abstract and concrete realities of white
supremacy and heterosexist patriarchy. To bring us to animals, when we are able to cherish the family pet and treat her as if she was a family member,
and then to go and eat the parts of bodies of other animals, is certainly a manifestation of the discrete. That is to say, the ability to de-contextualize our
our response to global

warming cannot simply be through appeals to phenomenological immediacy . Moreover,
we will not be saved by virtue, infinite responsibility for the infinite other , or voluntarism.
What we need is better abstractions, more calculative thinking, more en-framing,
and stronger institutional responses. As David Wood has shown, when it comes to
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Katrina, global warming, and a variety of other
events, it has been the conservative response to embrace the impossibility of
calculative thought. Perhaps our project going further is to, as Isabelle Stengers has
argued, to calculate again. This is not the calculative thought of the capitalist costbenefit system, but a different calculation . It is, to steal a phrase from Jane Bennett, about mutually enabling
pets from animals in general is a moment of discretion, and not abstraction. My point here is that
instrumentalizations. Long quotation from Stengers ahead, so bear with me: The cosmopolitical Parliament is not primarily a place where instantaneous
decisions are made, but a delocalized place. It exists every time a "we" is constructed that does not identify with the identity of a solution but hesitates
before a problem. I associate this "we" with the only slogan Leibniz ever proposed: Calculemus. Let us calculate. It's an odd expression, constructed to
conceptualize the possibility of peace during a time of war. But Leibniz was a mathematician, not an accountant or statistician. For him, calculation was
not a mere balance sheet contrasting homogeneous quantities, calculations of interest or benefits that were presented as being commensurable. For a
mathematician, the accuracy of a calculation and the validity of its result are relatively simple questions, "trivial" in the language of mathematics.
What is important, and which is not in the least trivial, is the position of the problem
that will, possibly, allow it to be calculated , the precise creation of relationships and constraints, the distinction
between the various ingredients, the exploration of the roles they are liable to play, the determinations or indeterminations they engender or bring about.
There is no commensurability without the invention of a measurement, and the challenge of Leibniz's calculemus is, precisely, the creation of a "we" that
excludes all external measures, all prior agreements separating those who are entitled to "enter" into the calculation and those subject to its result. [...]
Calculemus, therefore, does not mean "let us measure," "let us add," "let us
compare," but, first and foremost, let us create the "we" associated with the nature
and terms of the operation to be risked. It is not a question of acting in the name of truth and justice, but of creating
commensurability. It is a question of knowing that the "truth" of the created common measure will always be relative to what such creation will have been
capable of, knowing also that a radical heterogeneity preexists such creation, the absence of any preexisting shared measure among the ingredients to be
One can begin to understand that the way of an abstraction

of global warming, and our calculating, can produce a different we . Malcolm Bull has argued that
global warming has the power to extend our moral imagination (another long quotation coming on): What this reveals is the
extent to which climate change is now constructed not as a scientific problem that
articulated. (Cosmopolitics II, pp. 399-401).
generates unexpected moral dilemmas, but as an ethical problem that necessarily

requires moral solutions. The sceptics are understandably wary of this, and, as Bjrn Lomborg has argued, we are not generally as
moral as climate change ethics assumes, for if we were we might not make climate change our top priority. If we were concerned about polar bears we
would start by not shooting them, rather than worrying about how much ice they had left to stand on, and if we were really worried about the global poor,
we could help them now rather than helping their descendants at the end of the century, who will probably be a lot better off anyway. These are in many
respects valid arguments, but they miss the point that were it not for climate change, we would be giving even less thought to polar bears, or to the global
poor, and would see little connection between our actions and their fate. As Peter Ungers Living High and Letting Die showed, our customary moral
intuitions barely extend to poor foreigners, let alone to their descendants, or to Arctic fauna. It is thanks to climate change that an entire body of political
thought has emerged which positions our everyday actions in direct relation to their most distant consequences. [...] Contrary to Gardiners concerns
about moral corruption, climate change does not tempt us to be less moral than we might otherwise be; it invites us to be more moral than we could ever
have imagined. [...] Climate ethics is not morality applied but morality discovered, a new chapter in the moral education of mankind. It may tell us things
The
calculative thinking and en-framing of responding to global warming, and the
abstractions that will be necessary for such a response, is not one that will leave the
world as it is.
we do not wish to know (about democracy, perhaps), but the future development of humanity may depend on what, if anything, it can teach us.
Aff
No Solvency Market Fails

Overly market-based approaches to ecology fail
White 2 [Damian Finbar, Post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Cultural and Innovation Studies at the
University of East London, A Green Industrial Revolution? Sustainable Technological Innovation in a Global Age,
Environmental Politics, 11:2, 1-26]
What is interesting about these texts, however, is that underneath the glossy and reassuring surface, a rather different second narrative starts to emerge.
Notably, after all the various protestations of 'market purity', a subordinate discourse slowly begin to hint that there might be rather more problems
between contemporary capitalism (particularly in its current 'red in tooth and claw' neo-liberal mode) and the environment than their corporate readership
after endless celebrating `win-win' scenarios and new eco-businesses opportunities, it is

conceded that a central failing of 'industrial' (that is, contemporary) capitalism is that it
neglects to assign any value to the largest stock of capital that it depends on notably
the ecosystem. It is recognised that the market mechanism does not adequately
account for its own externalities [Hawken et al., 1999: 5]. Moreover, it is also conceded that existing
capitalism relies on accounting systems and incentive structures that actively encourage the
liquidation of 'natural capital'. Quite rapidly after embarking down this line of thought Natural Capitalists start to list a whole
range of structural deficiencies of market societies that are seen as giving rise to ecologically
irrational outcomes: from the chronic short term-ism that governs the movement of investment capitals to the
`destructive potential of free trade' [Von Weiziicker et al., 1998: 282]; from the whole tax and
incentive structure to the irrational use of urban space . Indeed, (and in direct contrast to other corporate
might want to hear. Thus,
friendly statements) concerns are even raised with 'the massive interests some capital owners have in preserving existing structures' [Von Weiziicker et
What solutions exist then for dealing with these dilemmas?
al., 1998: xxvi].

When the discussion turns in
this direction, both Factor Four and Natural Capitalism begin to suggest that a range of much deeper changes are necessary for a functioning green
market economy. Thus, drawing from standard themes of ecological economics, it is maintained that markets need to be reconfigured so that prices reflect
the true price of goods (factoring in their environmental impacts), GDP needs to be changed to an index which would reflect to a much greater degree
It is maintained that we
need a whole rethinking of urban policy and urban planning to encourage `smarter
land use' `stronger neighbourhoods' and compact convivial cities [Hawken et al., 1999: 47] to replace anomic and ecologically irrational
quality of life issues, and indeed it is argued the whole tax and incentive structure needs to be revised.
urban sprawl. Indeed, shading rather dangerously closely to the 'redgreen' end of the spectrum at one point it is even suggested that we could perhaps
see a moment where a progressive and active trade union movement took the lead in demanding 'just transitions' for the workers and communities reliant
on unsustainable production processes [Hawken et al., 1999: 1]. What is interesting about this turn in the discussion (and somewhat at variance with the
the sum total of these changes suggests that free-market capitalism needs to
be transformed rather more than the surface self image of this project admits. ' Indeed,
creating the conditions of possibility for a viable ecological modernist project would
appear crucially to depend on a re-legitimised public sphere and a broader public
realm that pursues an interventionist economic policy, a credible industrial policy and intelligent urban planning. If we ignore here some rather
first discourse) is that
questionable ideas about taxation that are floated in Natural Capitalism,1 it could be argued that the actual project the Lovinses and their co-workers end
up with would by and large be more accurately entitled Natural Social Democracy than Natural Capitalism. Challenges for 'Green Social Democracy': Homo
Consumer as Human Being The discourse of Natural Social Democracy does seem rather more credible than its Natural Capitalist rival. When the
discussion turns in this direction it is certainly the case that a series of reforms are advocated in this project which all but the most unthinking dogmatist
would recognise as highly desirable. A series of further obstacles, though, need to be examined. One of the ongoing doubts that have been raised about
the 'treadmill of production' thesis [Schnaiberg, 1980].

maintained that a central anti-ecological tendency of contemporary capitalism is that the
very dynamics of the production process ensure it has a distinct tendency to
generate endless quantities of products with built in physical obsolescence. The Lovinses
the ecological rationality of free market societies has revolved around
It has been
and their co-workers are certainly aware of this problem. Interestingly, though, rather than make immediate recourse to belt tightening arguments they
make the rather different argument that an ecologically rational society would seek to make products that are long lasting, durable and upgradable. It is
thus argued we need to move towards a 'service and flows' economy. The basic idea here is that product durability could be improved by manufacturers
becoming less sellers of products and more providing leasing and renting arrangements for services. Mechanisms and incentive structures could be
created so that it is manufacturers that are responsible for serving, upgrading and disposing of products. This idea makes good sense and could perhaps
play a central role in developing an ecologically rational political economy [Dryzek, 1987]. One could envisage how a service and flows economy might
well have theoretical attractions in business-to-business ventures given that renting of accommodation, appliances and equipment is already a wellestablished part of business culture. As a strategy to make domestic consumption more sustainable though, questions remain as to whether this proposal
has fully thought through the complex social, cultural and psychological dynamics that consumption has come to play in the lives of the homo consumer
of free market societies. For example, it would seem evident that a desire for ownership of property, goods and resources is still intimately and
understandably tied in many advanced capitalist societies with desires for security and autonomy. Current consumption patterns are also clearly linked in
complex ways to the preserve and legitimisation of 'distinction' [Bourdieu, 1984], conspicuous consumption as Veblen has observed, the desire for novelty
and coping with status anxiety in an increasingly anomic world. Credible elaboration of a viable 'service and flows' economy thus needs to address how it
is not simply built-in physical obsolescence that can give rise to ecologically irrational outcomes but built-in cultural obsolescence [O'Connor, 1990: 12].
Projects that seek to rethink or re-channel consumerism also clearly need to grapple
with what can only be called 'the ideology of consumerism' . The point is here not to demonise
consumption as Barry has cautioned [Barry, 1999]. (Indeed, it would seem evident that large sections of the world current need to consume more!). But it
one of the increasing irrationalities of àctual

existing' capitalist societies is the manner in which they are characterised at their
core by 'consumption for the sake of consumption' even when there is no evidence that consumption beyond a
does seem important to at least recognise as Bookchin argues, that
certain level contributes anything to longer term feeling of well being or personal happiness." Indeed, if we consider how current patterns of consumption
are centrally important for maintaining work discipline and the economic health of capital as a whole, it would seem evident that 'buy or die' or
To seek the
transformation of this toward more socially and ecologically rational consumption patterns, to champion the active citizen self over the
passive consumer self will require a cultural and political project well beyond anything
conceptualised by Factor Four or Natural Capitalism.
alternatively `work and spend' have become civic duties of the citizen-consumer of advanced capitalist societies.
Economy/Warming - RPS
1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government should institute a
20% Federal Renewable Portfolio Standard by 2020.
20% by 2020 solves for price spikes
Sovacool, Senior Research Fellow at Network for New Energy Choices, Cooper,
Executive Director of The Network for New Energy Choices, 2008
(Benjamin, Professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in
Blacksburg, VA, former Eugene P. Wigner Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Christopher, Congress Got It Wrong: The Case For A National Renewable Portfolio
Standard and Implications For Policy)
http://www.law.uh.edu/eelpj/publications/3-1/03Sovacool%26Cooper.pdf
The most recent economic analysis by UCS in 2007 compared a range of potential economic impacts of a national
RPS by examining four RPS scenarios matching proposals expected for consideration in the 110th Congress. Using
more conservative estimates than those used by the Department of Energy to forecast the market potential for
wind, geothermal and biomass resources, UCS found that a federal RPS mandate would lower consumer energy bills
UCS determined that a 20% federal RPS by the year 2020 would
decrease consumer energy bills by an average of 1.5% per year and save
consumers a total of $49.1 billion on their electricity and natural gas bills. According to
in all four cases.
UCS, a 20% RPS by 2020 would lead to substantial cost-savings for four reasons: (1) a national RPS would reduce
competition for fossil fuels and lower future prices; (2) many renewable energy technologies are now less expensive
a national RPS would reduce

the cost of renewable energy by creating economies of scale in manufacturing,
installation, operations and maintenance; and (4) increased reliance on renewable
energy would offset expensive natural gas-fired generation and hedge against
volatile natural gas prices. Significantly, when UCS performed the same calculations
without modifying any of EIAs assumptions, the results still favored a national RPS .
Using EIA forecasts, UCS showed that a 20% RPS would save consumers in every
region of the United States more than $27 billion in electricity and gas costs.
than new fossil fuel plants that generate the same amount of energy; (3)
RPS accelerates renewable development solves warming

Horner et al, The Daily Fusion Journalist, 2013
(M. , Azevedo, I. and Houndshell, D. The Daily Fusion Journalists, Renewable
Portfolio Standards Drive Wind Energy Innovation
http://dailyfusion.net/2014/05/renewable-portfolio-standard-28392/
A Carnegie Mellon University study has found that Renewable Portfolio Standards
(RPS)regulatory mandates for an increase in renewable energy production are most likely the
strongest policy drivers for the recent increase in wind-related technology patents.
In addition, the researchers determined that tax credits, such as the Production Tax Credit (PTC), and federal
research and development investments have not been particularly successful incentives for innovation .
A
Renewable Portfolio Standard is a regulation that requires the increased production
of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and
geothermal. Other common names for the same concept include Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) at the
United States federal level and Renewables Obligation in the UK. The Renewable Portfolio Standard
mechanism generally places an obligation on electricity supply companies to
produce a specified fraction of their electricity from renewable energy sources. RPStype mechanisms have been adopted in several countries, including Britain, Italy,
Poland, Sweden, Belgium, and Chile, as well as in 33 of 50 U.S. states, and the
District of Columbia. The growth in patents has been substantial over the past
decade, with U.S. wind electricity generation capacity 18 times higher in 2011 than
it was in 2001, and the number of patents filed per year 10 times greater. Determining
what caused this increase will influence future policy aimed at renewable energy innovation. These results make
intuitive sense, said Nathaniel Horner, a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP).
Programs that provide a steady, long-term signal to investors, like the RPS, are
more efficient at encouraging innovation than are policies like tax credits with nearterm deadlines. The researchers report that PTC, a tax credit that aided those who sold electricity
generated by qualified energy sources, may not have been as effective as an RPS due to the fact that, in the U.S.,
the PTC undergoes annual or biannual cycles of near-expiration and renewal. A
more stable PTC could

potentially create a more balanced mix of construction and technology
development, said Ins Azevedo, an assistant professor in EPP and co-director of
the Center for Climate and Energy Decision Making. The PTC just expired in January 2014, and
there is uncertainty on when or whether it will even be re-started. When it comes to federally funded research
and development, researchers found these programs have been too small to have a large impact on patents. The
study, published in Environmental Research Letters, (see footnote) was conducted by Carnegie Mellons Center for
Climate and Energy Decision Making (CEDM). The team included Horner, Azevedo and David Hounshell, a professor
of social and decision sciences and EPP. Research funding was provided by CMUs CEDM and EPP.
And the plans bridge isnt required renewables can be

deployed in a few years
A national RPS can help minimize construction cost overruns by deploying

technologies that are smaller, modular, and less capital-intensive. Renewable
energy technologies require lead times of two to five years, or less, compared with
conventional coal and nuclear plants that can take five to fifteen years to plan,
permit, and construct. Florida Power and Light (FPL) boasts that it can take a wind farm from
groundbreaking to commercial operation in as little as three to six months.
2NC Extensions
2NC: Solves Renewables

RPS stimulates a market for renewables results in additional
investment
everyone benefits from the environmental advantages of renewable

energy, private companies that invest millions of dollars in researching and
developing clean energy technologies are often unable to recover the full profit of
their investments.19 Inevitably, the market allows some consumers to be free riders, benefiting from the investments of others without paying for them.20
RPS mandates stimulate a market for renewable resources and spur additional
research, development, and implementation of renewable energy technologies.
Government intervention helps level the playing field by neutralizing a legacy of
unequal subsidies. Mandating a certain percentage of renewable penetration also helps internalize some of the environmental costs associated with dirty energy
sources and provides a mechanism for early developers of cleaner resources to recover more of the value of renewable energy technologies. RPS policies create
an incentive for retail utilities to either build their own renewable facilities or buy
RECs from other generators.
Finally, because
2NC: Solves Price Spikes

RPS minimizes the impact of price spikes
As mentioned earlier, the wellhead price of natural gas has generally increased over the past 25 years, with wide
fluctuations observed, especially in the past ten years. In 2003, for example, a spike sent wellhead prices up 72%
The estimates of future natural gas costs made by the Department of

Energy suggest that prices will trend upward relatively smoothly over the next
twenty years. (See first chart below) The DOE estimates do not project price spikes,
since these are, by definition, not knowable future events. Since some renewable
resources (e.g., wind and solar) have essentially zero fuel costs, these resources
can serve as a hedge or insurance against price spikes such as those
observed in 2000 and 2003. While it is not possible to predict price spikes, it is
possible to model the mitigation of their impact with the presence of renewable
energy systems in the resource mix. The economy is replete with examples of hedges against price
over 2002 levels.
fluctuation. Individuals assign a value to predictability in prices: consumers will often select fixed-rate options even
when a market-rate or variable-rate option might be advantageous, simply to reduce the risk of price fluctuations.
Similarly, firms often hedge their risk by purchasing various types of financial options. Importantly, these options
are valuable even if they do not pay off in the sense of actually functioning in the case of fluctuations. While it
may be difficult to obtain a precise value of the hedge when applied to renewable electric energy resources, we can
simulate the pay off value of renewables as a hedge by assuming that natural gas prices take unexpected spikes
in the future. The chart on the left shows the most recent estimates of future natural gas prices published by the
Energy Information Administration in its Annual Energy Outlook 2004. The chart on the right illustrates the effect of
two hypothetical price spikes in 2010 and 2017, and in the shoulder years of 2011 and 2018. From inspection of
the chart, these price spikes are seen to be plausible, if not predicable.
RPS Solve Price Spikes

Natural-gas induced price spikes have been devastating to the U.S. economy. Because
natural gas accounts for nearly 90% of the cost of fertilizer, escalating natural gas prices in 2005 created significant economic hardships for U.S. farmers.71 Additionally, some
manufacturing and industrial consumers that relied heavily on natural gas moved their facilities overseas. For instance, the U.S. petrochemical industry relies on natural gas as a primary
feedstock as well as for fuel. In 2004, the petrochemical sector lost approximately 78,000 jobs to foreign plants where natural gas was much cheaper.72 When the price of natural gas
spiked in 2001, almost half of the countrys methanol capacity and one-third of its ammonia capacity were shut down, and the Dow Chemical Company moved 1.4 billion pounds of
production from the United States to Germany because of higher energy costs.73 Even dairy producers in California temporarily suspended milk and cheese production until natural gas
prices receded, and three of the states sugar refineries went bankrupt.74 The countrys higher natural gas prices have cost the economy $50 billion and more than 100,000 jobs in
As a result, many electricity generators switched back to coalfired peaking units. However, the switch only increased demand for coal, driving the
price up. In 2003, for example, the cost of coal in Central Appalachia was $35 per ton. The price increased nearly 7% each
year until, by 2006, a ton of coal in the region cost close to $60 a ton. 78 In some areas of the United
States, coal prices actually doubled between 2002 and 2004, due in part to high demand. In addition, because the most economical
reserves were already, a majority of the remaining coal and natural gas reserves
were stranded. While such stranded resources may be quite abundant, they are located primarily in areas geographically distant from major consuming areas and,
thus, in areas from which it is more difficult to extract, process, and transport . A national RPS can save consumers money by
reducing demand for both natural gas and coal. Several studies have documented
that an increase in renewable energy production would decrease costs for electricity
generation by offsetting the combustion of fossil fuels. Because some renewable
resources generate the most electricity during periods of peak demand, such
resources can help offset electricity otherwise derived from natural gas-fired
peaking or reserve generation units. For example, PVs have great value as a reliable source of power during extreme peak loads.
Substantial evidence from many peer-reviewed studies demonstrates an excellent
correlation between available solar resources and periods of peak demand.
Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, and West Virginia.75
National Action Key

State Plans Not as Functional- We Need USFG Action
state RPS statutes have created a patchwork of

inconsistent, often conflicting mandates that distort the market for renewable
energy technologies and unintentionally inflate electricity prices. By subjecting an
While most state efforts have been laudable,
increasingly interstate electric utility market to confusing and sometimes contradictory state regulations, the circus
of state-based RPS programs discourages long-term investments and, in some cases, encourages utilities to exploit
the inconsistencies. Yet the vacuum of federal leadership on renewable portfolio standards is not without
The instability inherent in a state-based approach to RPS is dramatically

distorting private investments in renewable energy generation nationally and
prohibiting the expansion of a robust renewable energy sector in the United States.
A federal mandate is critical to correcting these market distortions and signaling a
national commitment to renewable energy generation. A federal policy would
promote a national renewable energy technology sector that contributes to the U.S.
economy, weans the nation from foreign and polluting sources of energy, and
decreases the real and social costs of electricity for American consumers .
consequence.
Aff - RPS
Links to Politics
Even if renewables are popular there is strong resistance to
RPS
McElroy, BioMass Magazine Staff Writer, 2008
(Anduin Kirkbride, High-Voltage Debate Over Renewable Electricity Mandate
http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/1334/high-voltage-debate-over-renewableelectricity-mandate)
Even though political support for all-things "green" is at an all-time high, the RPS
has trailed behind other such policies. "Many elected officials who supported the RFS object to the RPS," Wentworth observes. "There is an
essential contradiction. Why do you support the mandate in one area and oppose the mandate in another?" Wentworth credits this contradiction to the big political powerhouses on
"There's real strong opposition on the part of a lot of electric utilities

to having a requirement," he says. "There's real strong support from a lot of farmers
for having a fuel requirement. The politics are different, that's all. Both are
mandates." This opposition is a reason previous Congresses haven't passed the
measure. Some argue an RPS would favor regions of the country that have more abundant renewable resources. This argument comes primarily from the Southeastern
Capitol Hill, and Lowry agrees.
states. Sterzinger says there is some validity to the claim. "It's extremely likely that a national RPS would have a provision to allow trading," he says. "Hypothetically, the example that
everyone throws out is that a state like North Dakota with enormous wind resources would develop in excess of their requirements. The electricity wouldn't necessarily go to the South,
but they could sell over-compliance credits to someone who needs them."
National RPS is unpopular perceived as expensive

Spence, Professor of Law, Politics, and Regulation, University of Texas 2010
(David B. Co-Director, Energy management and innovation, Political Barriers to A
National RPS
http://uconn.lawreviewnetwork.com/files/documents/DavidB.Spence.pdf)
A national renewable portfolio standard (RPS) represents one way to move the
American economy toward cleaner sources of energy. By requiring electricity providers to
secure a specified percentage of their power from renewable sources, a national RPS would replace some fossilfueled power with cleaner power from solar, wind, biomass, and other renewable energy sources .
As such, it
represents one tool policy makers can use to reduce American emissions of
greenhouse gases, which drive climate change. At the same time, a national RPS
imposes its own costs costs that make passage of a national RPS politically
difficult. Renewable energy sources are, generally speaking, more expensive than
conventional sources, meaning that increased reliance upon renewables implies
higher electricity rates. While those higher rates will fall on todays voters, many of
the benefits of using renewable power will accrue to future generations and to
people living outside of the United States. In addition, some parts of the country are blessed with
more renewable energy potential than others, meaning that the national standard would impose more costs on
these issues make supporting a national RPS

politically risky and difficult for members of Congress.
some regions than others. This Article examines why
The CP cant be spun in a positive light the benefits from RPS are too diffuse for
the public to perceive
Rossi, Vanderbilt Professor of Law, 2011
(Jim, Author, The Shaky Political Economy Foundation of A National Renewable
Electricity Requirement)
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1792770
A national RPS is seen as a way of fostering renewables development through an effective and efficient market, a
market where geography does not matter.26 Unfortunately, however, in its present formulation the national RPS is
also hobbled by realities. Of course, legislation such as a national RPS may have some symbolic value by shaping
public attitudes and changing social norms over time.27 As a practical policy matter, however, evaluating the
desirability of a national RPS requires an assessment of whether its costs justify the benefits. The costs of adopting
a national RPS in its present form would be concentrated within a few states (many of which are natural resourcepoor), rather than spread evenly among all states. It is not new to claim that the costs of climate change initiatives
may be disproportionately concentrated on certain statesthat concern, for example, has also plagued national de-
the national RPS also presents a dubious claim of climate

change benefits. Many of the purported benefits of a national RPS are
geographically widespread, but the most diffuse benefits (in the form of climate
change reduction) are also the most questionable. Of the purported benefits that
would accompany a national RPS, for example, job growth, technological adoption in
infant industries, and the like, many are not concentrated in the states that would
bear the costs, casting doubt on the political economy claim used to support
national regulation in this context. The significance of these cracks in the foundation not only highlight
bates surrounding cap-and-tradebut
the likely inefficiency of a national RPS; they also reveal the political obstacles supporters face in garnering a
sufficiently strong coalition to convince Congress to adopt a national RPS.
Cant Solve Warming

(Any cards from the AFF renewables tradeoff DA are helpful
so cards saying renewables are not ready)
RPS fails Companies would pay the fine rather than switching
to renewables
Taylor, 2002 [Jerry, director of natural resource studies at the Cato Institute,
Evaluating the Case for Renewable Energy Is Government Support Warranted?,
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa422.pdf]
The Clinton administration proposed a federal RPS that would require all U.S.
electricity suppliers to obtain renewable energy credits equal to 7.5 percent of sales
from 2010 through expiration in 2015. Under the administrations plan, credits could
be obtained by generating electricity with specified renewables (one credit for every
kilowatt-hour), purchasing credits from others, or purchasing credits unsupported by
generation from the Department of Energy at 1.5 cents per credit, effectively
setting a cap on the price of renewable energy. Because actual renewable sources
of electricity have costs that exceed 1.5 cents per kWh, retail suppliers would for
the most part buy credits from the Department of Energy rather than actually
purchase or produce renewable energy. The EIA estimated that the Clinton RPS
would increase renewables market share only to 3.4 percent in 2020.80
Approximately 82 percent of the 36 billion kWh increase in renewable energy would
come from mixing biomass (essentially, wood chips, paper, and various specialty
plants) with coal in existing coal-fired power plants.81 Removing the 2015 sunset
provision would increase the predicted market share for renewables to 4.2
percent.82
RPS fails trades off with better bridge technologies

Michaels, 2007 [Robert, professor of economics at California State University,
Fullerton, and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, Hot Air and Wind,
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9473]
Renewables may be costly, but RPS advocates see both environmental and
industrial benefits. Those benefits, however, come at a higher price than necessary.
An RPS reverses decades of improvement in environmental regulation, where capand-trade markets have replaced command regimes and regulators set allowable
emissions by comparing costs and benefits. Instead, it forces the use of politically
favored technologies rather than allowing market participants to choose their own
methods of environmental compliance.
Utilities are investing in relatively few renewables because they can better comply
with future emissions standards by building conventional generators equipped with
newer control technologies. Some experts even believe that a combination of

nuclear energy and carbon sequestration (extraction and underground storage of
CO2 from the plant's stack gases) can control greenhouse gas emissions more
cheaply than renewables. The government can set carbon-reduction goals, but the
market should determine the best ways of meeting them.
Prefer our evidence their evidence is utopian, practical considerations make it

ineffective
Apt et al, Professor of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Melon University
2013
Jay, Lester B. Lave, Professor of Economics at Carnegie Mellon University, Sompop ,
Pattanariyankool, Ph.D student at Carnegie Mellon University A National Renewable
Portfolio Standard? Not Practical
http://issues.org/25-1/apt-4/
A discussion of renewable energy seems to addle the brains of many sensible
people, leading them to propose policies that are bad engineering and science or
have a foundation in yearning for utopia. For example, Michael Bloomberg, self-made billionaire and
mayor of New York City, proposed putting wind turbines on the tops of skyscrapers and bridges. No need to ask the
engineers whether the structures could bear the strain or whether there were good wind resources. Disagreeing
with the mayor, the Alliance for Clean Energy New York said, New York is really a solar city. Like Mayor Bloomberg
and the Alliance, 25 governors, and more than 100 members of Congress, we love renewable energy. However,
even this wonderful idea requires a hard look to see what is sensible now and why some current and proposed
policies are likely to be costly, anger many people, and undermine the reliability of our electricity system. Congress
We share the
goals of reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing energy
security, maintaining electric supply reliability, and controlling costs. The mistake is
to think that a blinkered emphasis on renewable energy sources is the best way to
achieve these goals. Unfortunately, this mistake has swept through 25 state legislatures. Renewable
energy sources are a key part of the nations future, but wishful thinking does not
provide an adequate foundation for public policy. These states have indicated their
needs to understand some facts before voting for a national renewable portfolio standard (RPS).
dissatisfaction with the current electricity-generation system by enacting binding RPSs, which require that wind,
solar, geothermal, biomass, waste, or other renewable resources be used to generate up to 30% of the electricity
sold by 2025. At the federal level, H.R. 969 was introduced in the 110th Congress to require that 20% of the
nations electric power be generated by renewable energy sources. Organizations ranging from MoveOn.org and the
Union of Concerned Scientists to the American Wind Energy Association urged its passage as a way to fight global
warming, promote energy independence, increase wind-lease payments to farmers, and move the country toward a
clean energy economy based on solar and wind power. H.R. 969 was not enacted, but a national RPS will certainly
A national RPS is a bad idea for three reasons. First,

renewable and low greenhouse gas emissions are not synonyms; there are
several other practical and often less expensive ways to generate electricity with
low CO2 emissions. Second, renewable sources such as wind, geothermal, and solar
are located far from where most people live. This means that huge numbers of
unpopular and expensive transmission lines would have to be built to get the power
be reconsidered after the election.
to where it could be used. Third, since we doubt that all the needed transmission
lines would be built, a national RPS without sufficient transmission would force a city
such as Atlanta to buy renewable credits, essentially bribing rural states such as
North Dakota to use their wind power locally. However, the abundant renewable resources and low
population in these areas mean that supply could exceed local demand. Although the grid can handle 20% of its
power coming from an intermittent source such as wind, it is well beyond the state of the art to handle 50% or more
in one area. At that percentage, supply disruptions become much more likely, and the highly interconnected
electricity grid is subject to cascading blackouts when there is a disturbance, even in a remote area. Renewable
energy sources are a key part of the nations future, but wishful thinking does not provide an adequate foundation
for public policy. The national RPS that gathered 159 cosponsors in the last Congress would be expensive and
difficult to attain; it could cause a backlash that might doom renewable energy even in the areas where it is
abundant and economical. Consider the numbers. Past mandates and subsidies have increased winds share of
generated electric energy to 0.8% of total U.S. generation and geothermals share to 0.4%. Generation from
photovoltaic cells and ocean waves and currents totals less than 0.02%. Wood and municipal waste provide 1.3%,
and conventional hydroelectric 6% (but large hydroelectric power is generally excluded from RPS calculations). The
near-term potential for acquiring significant additional generation from any of the renewable sources except wind is
small. Thus, a renewable portfolio standard requiring 15 to 30% of electricity from renewable sources requires that
wind generation be expanded at least 15-fold and perhaps more than 30-fold. The timeframes for reaching these
production goals are very short. Eighteen states require that by 2015 at least 10% of their electricity must come
from renewable sources. California and New York require 25%. Satisfying the state mandates would require the
production and siting of hundreds of thousands of wind turbines. Because there is little wind power near large
population centers, tens of thousands of miles of new transmission lines would have to be built within the next few
years. Not only can transmission costs double the cost of delivered power, but the median time to obtain
permission and build long-distance transmission lines has been 7 yearswhen they can be built at all. A Wall Street
executive responsible for financing transmission lines stated that of 35 lines he has been involved with at an
advanced stage, 80% were never built. As Massachusetts has already discovered, implementing an RPS is far more
difficult than passing popular legislation. The proposed wind farm off Cape Cod is stalled, and Massachusetts is
badly behind in meeting its RPS. Even beyond siting the wind farms, states and the federal government would have
to expedite permitting and obtaining the land and permission to build transmission lines, as well as provide the
resources to review interconnection applications quickly. Although the public supports renewable energy in the
abstract, many groups object vociferously to wind farms in particular places and to transmission lines nearly
everywhere. Producing sufficient wind turbines would require a major increase in manufacturing capacity. Demand
(driven by state RPSs and the federal renewable production tax credit) has already stretched supplies thin, creating
an 18-month delivery delay for wind machines. It has also emboldened manufactures to reduce wind turbine
warranties from five years to two. Many current laws mandate the use of a specific technology, apparently
assuming that legislators can predict the success of future R&D. An RPS is such a law. In our judgment, laws ought
to specify requirements that generation technologies must meet, such as low pollution, affordability, power quality,
and domestic power sources, and leave the means of realizing the goals to technologists and the market.
Grid cant handle the RPS

Schoofs, Calvin College, 2004
[Sam, 6 August 2004, A federal Renewable Portfolio Standard: Policy Analysis and
Proposal, http://www.wise-intern.org/ journal/2004/WISE2004SamSchoofsFinalPaper.pdf]
4) Technological Ability The main technological question surrounding a federal RPS

is whether or not the current power transmission grid could handle the added
transmission from renewable sources. In many cases, building new renewable
generation sources would require supplemental transmission lines to be built,
adding cost to an already expensive technology [23]. Oftentimes the sites that are
the best for renewable generation are located far from where people want to live,
for example with wind generation, people dont like to live where its windy enough
to be of commercial significance [23]. This means that new generation is often
built where the resource is best, but far away from where large densities of people
and the best transmission linesare located [23]. These new transmission lines can
be quite costly and can face lengthy permitting delays [18]. In some cases, it is
possible that the rapidity of renewable development could outpace the ability of the
transmission lines, leading to available capacity with no technological ability to be
used [23]. In order to prevent such delays, careful planning must be done to make
sure proper local and state procedures have been followed.
Manufacturing - Manufacturing
American Innovation Act
1NC
Text: The United States federal government should implement
the Manufacturing American Innovation Act
The counterplan solves manufacturing
Schwartz, Congresswomyn, 2012
(Allyson Y. Shwartz, Representing the 13th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, THE MANUFACTURING AMERICAN
INNOVATION ACT: A NEW WAY OF THINKING IN CORPORATE TAX POLICY Online: http://schwartz.house.gov/pressrelease/manufacturing-american-innovation-act-new-way-thinking-corporate-tax-policy-0#.U9ZttfldVP9)
As tax reform discussions heat up, U.S. Rep . Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and U.S. Rep. Charles
Boustany (R-LA) are calling on Congress to advance tax policies that incentivize
innovation and promote new domestic manufacturing. America leads the world in innovation
and research and development, but our current tax code fails to reflect the challenges of a competitive global
the
Manufacturing American Innovation Act to further incentivize innovation, research and
development, and manufacturing in the United States. The bipartisan legislation reduces
business taxes by more than half, to a 10 percent rate, for companies that manufacture
patented products in the United States. By creating a fair playing field, this plan would lead
to both U.S. and foreign companies bringing jobs back to the United States , as well as
economy, especially as it relates to domestic manufacturing. Today, Schwartz and Boustany introduced
the creation of new jobs. Its time that we think differently about how to ensure America can compete in a
challenging 21st century global economy, Schwartz said. We
should start by mixing the old:

Americans might in manufacturing, with the new: Americas might in innovation .
Providing a targeted, meaningful tax cut to spur additional domestic manufacturing
and research and development would be transformative for Pennsylvania companies, leading
them to hire more workers and expand to new markets.
The counterplan avoids agenda politics

Christie, Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2014
(Bob, Pheonix based AP reporter, Brewer signs Manufacturing Tax Cut Law Online:
https://www.azchamber.com/news-and-resources/in-the-news/2014/brewer-signs-manufacturer-tax-cut-law.html)
the elimination of the tax in her State of the State address in January, saying it was
needed to make Arizona more competitive and draw new manufacturing to the state. The bill
received bipartisan support in both legislative chambers , although one conservative
Brewer called for
Republican in the House of Representatives dissented when it came up for a vote earlier this week. Rep. Brenda
Barton, R-Payson, says the bill places a burden on rural counties that rely on that tax base. She and other rural
lawmakers managed to get $1.3 million in the budget to make up for the cuts, but Brewer vetoed that money Friday
afternoon. I am getting to the point that a lot of these special legislation bills that we are promoting are harming
the state of Arizona, and they are harming our rural counties and our rural cities, and I dont believe we are doing a
very good job of doing whats right for the right reasons, Barton said during debate earlier in the week. She didnt
anytime we can support

small businesses and reduce their taxes and large businesses and reduce their
immediately return calls seeking comment. Others defended the bill. I think
taxes, and allow them to reinvest in their business and reinvest in the communities
and reinvest in their employees, I think we need to be looking for opportunities to
do this, Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria, said.
2NC: Solvency
The counterplan creates jobs and sustains the manufacturing
industry
Brown, Senator, 2014
Sherrod, Senator for Ohio, Brown Author of Bipartisan Legislation Endorsed by Senate Manufacturing Caucus that
Would Establish Network of Manufacturing Hubs to Ensure U.S. Out-Innovates Rest of the World Online:
http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/following-president-obamas-call-for-more-advancedmanufacturing-hubs-sen-brown-urges-passage-of-his-bipartisan-bill-that-would-create-network-of-manufacturinginnovation-
Following President Obamas State of the Union call for more advanced manufacturing hubs, U.S. Sen. Sherrod
the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation

Act (RAMI). Browns bipartisan legislation would establish a Network for Manufacturing
Innovation (NMI) and create thousands of high paying, high-tech manufacturing jobs .
Brown (D-OH) urged Congress to pass
This builds on the momentum created when the Administration announced earlier this month that it would support
the creation of a new public-private manufacturing hub modeled after Youngstowns National Additive
Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII). We cant give up our manufacturing edge to countries like China that
are racing to lead the world in 21st century research, development, and manufacturing, Brown said. We know that
jobs in the manufacturing industry support more spin-off jobs and have a stronger
multiplier effect on our economy. Congress must come together to strengthen the
middle class and ensure that every Ohioan has the opportunity to be a part of it. We can help achieve
this by building our countrys manufacturing infrastructure by establishing a
Network for Manufacturing Innovation. My bipartisan bill would ensure that American
workers, universities, and large and small manufacturers can out-compete and outinnovate the rest of the world. This would have strong ripple effects on the rest of
our economy while creating thousands of middle-class jobs for hardworking
Americans.
The American Manufacturing and Innovation Act is needed to

stay competitive with other nations
Brewer, Founder and president/CEO of Brewer Science, 2014
(Terry, Writer for the Hill and founder and president/CEO of Brewer Science, a leading technology manufacturing
company headquartered in Rolla, Missouri, American Manufacturing 2.0 Online: http://thehill.com/blogs/congressblog/economy-budget/204401-american-manufacturing-20)
Congress is considering landmark legislation that would help ensure the United States remains the global leader in
advanced manufacturing initiatives and the discovery of new products and technologies.
The bipartisan Revitalize
American Manufacturing and Innovation Act (S. 1468/H.R. 2996), championed by Sens. Roy Blunt
(R-Mo.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in the Senate and Reps. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) in the
would bring together industry, higher education, federal agencies, and local
governments to accelerate manufacturing innovation . Creating a much-needed Network for
Manufacturing Innovation (NMI), the legislation would establish public-private advanced
manufacturing hubs that would leverage investments in industry-relevant
House,
manufacturing technologies to bridge the gap between innovation and

commercialization. It would provide the right boost at precisely the right moment so
the United States can continue driving the innovation that creates thousands of
high-paying, high-tech manufacturing jobs. Last fall, the Senate Commerce Committee held a
hearing on the bill during which I had the opportunity to testify as part of a panel of industry leaders in support of
the legislation. We know firsthand how important this legislation would be to businesses like ours as well as to the
We also discussed how these hubs would also

help bolster Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs
with education and training for students in advanced manufacturing, helping meet
demand for the highly skilled workforce America needs to remain competitive .
customers we serve and the employees we need.
Historically, the government has helped to create an environment where entrepreneurs can succeed, allowing the
private sector to successfully develop emerging technologies, which lead to new products and new advanced
manufacturing jobs. Public-private partnerships have also had a big impact on developing many technology-focused
aspects of our economy. For example, Silicon Valley would not have become a global driving force in
microelectronics development and manufacturing if not for the Defense Departments initial investment and
support. Today, smaller companies like mine are fueling the microelectronics industry with new innovations that are
making electronic devices smaller, faster, and more powerful. Emerging technologies such as 3-D printing and a
multitude of nanomaterials and nanodevices hold great promise for new American start-ups and existing advanced
manufacturers. This legislation simply recognizes this promise of new technologies without attempting to determine
technology winners. By not prescribing the specific technology solutions, it encourages our business and scientific
The benefits of a strong

manufacturing economy are powerful. Manufacturing supports an estimated 17.2
million jobs in the United States and about one in six private-sector jobs. Nearly 12
million Americans are employed directly in manufacturing. In 2012, U.S.
manufacturers contributed $2.03 trillion to the economy, which was 12.5 percent of
GDP. For every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.32 is added to the
economy, the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector according to the
National Association of Manufacturers. American manufacturing is ready for a
resurgence that will ultimately be driven by the hard work and innovation of privatesector businesses and their employees. Other countries see the value of attracting the businesses
minds to explore and determine the best and most needed solutions.
and people that embrace advanced manufacturing to their locations. Our government should provide the leadership
and support needed to coordinate the establishment of advanced manufacturing hubs that embrace diversity in
location and technology in the United States. With support for this bill from the White House and bipartisan leaders
in both chambers of Congress, we urge action on this legislation as quickly as possible. Such action would send a
signal that our government is determined to keep pace with technology and advances in our manufacturing
economy so the United States remains a world leader in innovation.
Manufacturing Tax Incentives create jobs and help the

economy grow
CalChamber, Californias bipartisan business voice, 2013
(Calchamber, Californias bipartisan business voice, Manufacturing, R&D Jobs Get Boost from Tax Incentive Bill
Online: http://www.calchamber.com/headlines/pages/07122013manufacturingrdjobsgetboostfromtaxincentivebill.aspx)
legislation that improves tax treatment for

manufacturing and research and development (R&D) investments. This legislation will help grow our
economy and create good manufacturing jobsLets get to work! Governor Brown said. The
legislation encourages employers to maintain and expand their manufacturing
operating in California by providing a full sales-and-use tax exemption for purchases of
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. yesterday signed
manufacturing and R&D equipment for eight years on purchases made on or after July 1, 2014. The CalChamber is a
longtime advocate of eliminating the cost of sales tax on equipment in long-term capital investments as most states
The tax exemption is necessary to ensure a level playing field to make California
more competitive in attracting long-term capital investment. The tax exemption for manufacturing
equipment or R&D equipment purchases for biotech and manufacturing companies was part of a
package that eliminates enterprise zones as of January 1, 2014. Enterprise zone credits that have
already do.
already been acquired can be carried forward for 10 years from the elimination date.
2NC: No Link to Politics

The counterplan avoids politics- bipartisanship and industrial
support
Blunt, Congressman, 13
Roy, Missouri Senator, Bipartisan Legislation Would Create More Next-Generation Advanced Manufacturing Centers
to Out-Innovate Global Competitors, Attract Investment Online:
http://www.blunt.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news?ID=520bb84f-3c35-4632-a058-33f3a15d1836
industry associations support the Revitalize American

Manufacturing and Innovation Act, Blunt said. Missouri is home to world class research institutions
Im pleased to see these
and innovative manufacturers, large and small many of which are represented by organizations such as NAM and
This bipartisan bill will create an important network of partnerships to bolster

private sector job creation and encourage more manufacturing innovation in Missouri and
SEMI.
nationwide. I appreciate the support from these industry associations who represent several Ohio companies.
Small and medium companies play a critical role in manufacturing supply chains, and their competiveness is crucial
to our economy, Brown said. By partnering with universities, community colleges, workers, and the public sector,
members of NAM and SEMI can transform American manufacturing. In order for our country to maintain its
we need to give greater support to our

manufacturing sector, and our bipartisan bill is a big step forward. The strong
support were receiving for our manufacturing bill is a testament to the bills mission
of revitalizing American manufacturing competitiveness, Reed said. As co-chair of the House
competitive edge and help rebuild the middle class,
Manufacturing Caucus, I hear from manufacturers of all sizes about the need to facilitate the kinds of public-private
partnerships our bill provides. With this infrastructure in place, we can grow domestic manufacturing with a make it
here, sell it there approach and put Americans back to work. This countrys manufacturing base lies at the
epicenter of efforts to address some of our greatest economic challenges, Kennedy said. From still-stubborn
a national manufacturing policy is

essential to continued economic recovery. This national network will be smart and
strategic in addressing perennial manufacturing challenges, building an
infrastructure from the local level up that is directly tapped into the unique regional
challenges US manufacturers face. Im pleased that this bill received endorsements from these two
unemployment rates to trade deficits and income inequality:
influential organizations in the manufacturing industry.
The American Manufacturing and Innovation Act has support

Kotb, President of ASME, 2014
(Madiha, President of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Dear Senator Brown and Blunt and
Congressman Reed and Kennedy Online: https://www.asme.org/wwwasmeorg/media/ResourceFiles/AboutASME/Get
%20Involved/Advocacy/Policy-Publications/PS14_01RAMI-Act-final-1-7-14.pdf)
The Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2013 is bipartisan

legislation, supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association
of Manufacturers (NAM), and SEMI, that would create a network of regional institutes across the country, each
focused on a unique technology, material, or process related to advanced manufacturing. These institutes would
expand research and development, help new technologies bridge the valley of death, support small and mid-sized
manufacturers, and train the next generation of advanced manufacturing workforce. At a time when the United States is
addressing major budget issues, the funding requested in this legislation would be an important
investment in Americas future. The investment in the advanced manufacturing

enterprise offers one of the best returns compared to any industry in the United
States. The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation is a sound plan to
revitalize the advanced manufacturing sector, and has been demonstrated by a pilot institute on Additive
Manufacturing established in Youngstown, Ohio in the summer of 2012. This pilot institute attracted private investment from over 80
organizations to exceed the mandated 50% match of federal funds. Coupled with the hundreds of applications for the next three
institutes, there is a demonstrated interest and need for expansion of this network.
Aff - MAI
CP Fails
Tax incentives will fail companies dont even use the
deductions
Zerbe, Senior Counsel for the Chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, 2012
Dean, Senior Counsel and Tax Counsel for the Chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, Obama and Tax Breaks for Manufacturing -- Good Ideas But
Manufacturers Not Taking Advantage of Current Tax Breaks Online:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/deanzerbe/2012/02/10/obama-and-tax-breaks-formanufacturing-good-ideas-but-manufacturers-not-taking-advantage-of-current-taxbreaks/
that small and medium manufacturers are not taking it (although

the deduction has reached the 9% level) and even more likely are not
taking full advantage of the deduction leaving too much savings on the cutting room floor.
The biggest problem here is
that is changing in recent years as
Industries that can benefit particularly from the Domestic Production Deduction are not only the obvious
manufacturers but also construction firms, engineering and architectural firms, software, electricity and gas
the Domestic
Production Deduction is a case of one hand giveth the other taketh. It is a favorite
for the IRS to audit. So while at the same time companies need to take advantage of the deduction they also
producers, food and beverage producers and even film and video production. In addition,
need to make sure they are doing it right. Some of the best practices we see are you cannot do shortcut
calculation methods. Keys to avoiding IRS headaches include doing an item-by- item determination of qualified
property and applying the appropriate wage and income limitations. One last point, while my shop has had good
success defending businesses against IRS examinations of the Domestic Production having proper workpapers and
utilizing a proven is a big big help.
And the R&D credit proves that businesses wont use the
incentives
Virani, Managing Director of Alliant Group, 14
(Rizwan, Rizwan Virani is a Managing Director in alliantgroup's Houston national
office and is an Industry Specialist in the firm's Architecture & Engineering,
Construction, Software & Technology, Semiconductor & Electronics, Power & Energy,
and Aerospace industry groups, part of alliantgroup's Industry Specialization
Program, Eight Myths That Keep Manufacturers From Claiming the R&D Tax Credit
Online: http://www.manufacturing.net/articles/2014/03/eight-myths-that-keepmanufacturers-from-claiming-the-r-d-tax-credit)
At nearly $10 billion a year, the R&D tax credit is one of the biggest incentives
available and can save manufacturing companies hundreds of thousands of dollars
yet only one out of twenty small- and medium-sized companies eligible for this
credit takes advantage of it. Why, you ask? There are a number of self-censoring myths
preventing developers from securing the credit. Taking advantage of these

incentives for many companies can be the easiest way to get funding quickly
Tax Incentives hurt investment and job creation

Harrison, the Washington Post, 14
(J.D. , J.D. Harrison covers startups, small business and entrepreneurship, with a focus on public policy, and he
manages the Post's On Small Business blog, How an oft-used economic development tactic may actually be hurting
the economy Online: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/how-an-oft-used-economicdevelopment-tactic-may-actually-be-hurting-the-economy/2014/07/08/700017aa-06d7-11e4-8a6a19355c7e870a_story.html)
the firms who received incentives

actually generated slightly fewer jobs than those that didnt receive incentives .
Moreover, after the initial bump resulting from their relocation, Jensen found that transplanted companies were no
more likely to generate jobs than similar companies that were already operating in
their state. He thus concluded that there is no evidence that those oft-used tax incentive
programs have any positive effect on job creation. In fact, by cutting into public
funds that could have been used for other programs that, say, spur private
investment or fund research, and by making it harder for employers who do not
receive tax breaks to compete in the market, the programs may actually be having
a detrimental effect. Maybe this is a downer, Jensen told the room full of economic development officials. But Im
sorry, this is what the data says . Despite the research, because incentive-based programs are now deeply ingrained
What he found was that, in the six years after incentives were awarded,
in the economic development system nationwide, Jensen acknowledged that theres little chance state and city officials will abandon
the practice for fear of losing firms to their neighbors.
Links to Politics
The counter plan links to politics- would cause democratic
backlash and costs political capital
Olorunnipa, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau, 2012
Toluse, Toluse Olorunnipa is a reporter for Bloomberg News in Tallahassee, Gov. Rick Scott needs
Democrats to pass business tax cut Online: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/corporate/govrick-scott-needs-democrats-to-pass-business-tax-cut/1274886
Scott's top legislative priority this year a $141 million
tax cut for manufacturers comes with an
asterisk: It has to garner 'Yes' votes from two-thirds of the Legislature to pass. That means Democrats whose
gains in November breached the Republican supermajorities in Tallahassee suddenly find themselves in an
unfamiliar power position as they try to defeat Scott in 2014. " I
doubt that'll be able to get a

supermajority," said Rep. Perry Thurston, a Plantation Democrat and minority leader
in the Florida House. "It's just another (business) incentive. We don't know if it
works." The bill seeks to eliminate sales taxes on all manufacturing equipment and machinery. Scott has already
put considerable political capital behind the tax cut , stating on numerous occasions that this was
his top priority for 2013, along with a $1.2 billion boost in education funding. "We need to build up manufacturing
jobs in the great state of Florida," he said in unveiling a $74.2 billion budget plan last month. Scott said the tax cut
would create jobs and increase exports. A failure on the measure would be politically embarrassing for Scott, who
It's not clear if the entire

Democratic caucus agrees with Thurston in opposing the tax break , which faces a higher
has staked his governorship on job creation and CEO-like efficacy.
vote threshold because it would hit local governments. Many Democrats have voted in favor of Scott's tax cuts for
the party has begun to take a

more aggressive stance against such cuts. Democrats recently slammed Scott for
supporting "tax giveaways to special interest cronies ." If Democrats decide to take a united
businesses in the past. But as 2014 nears and Scott's poll numbers sag,
stand against the manufacturing tax cut, it could be the first time the minority party leverages its strengthened
numbers to torpedo a Scott-backed initiative. The party has been mostly marginalized for the last two years, as
Scott and a Republican supermajority pushed through conservative legislation. "Politics always come into play," said
Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel-Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, acknowledging her party's newfound power to buck Scott's tax
cut. "There's the political piece as well. And yes, that political piece will be in play. As it should be." RehwinkelVasilinda, the top Democrat on the finance and tax committee, said she has not decided how she will vote on the
measure. She said the bill's supporters would have to convince her that it would create jobs and not overburden
local governments, who stand to lose tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue. Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm
Beach, called the proposal "ridiculous" and "trickle-down, voodoo economics." Scott's team said the governor fully
expects to get bipartisan support for the measure. "Gov. Scott is confident that those who support job creation will
support this," said Jackie Schutz, a spokesperson for the governor. "This is about job creation. It's about bringing
more manufacturers to Florida." Manufacturers already enjoy a tax break for their equipment, but they must first
show that the new machinery boosted productivity by at least 5 percent. It's not clear how effective Scott's proposal
to scrap the productivity requirement would be. In 2010, the Legislature and former Gov. Charlie Crist earmarked
$43 million for a similar program. It allowed manufacturers to benefit from a tax break even if their new equipment
did not boost productivity. During the two-year program, only 35 companies took advantage of the deal and only
$505,000 of the $43 million was spent. There are more than 17,000 manufacturing companies in Florida. The
Florida Manufacturers Association said the 2010 program took place during the recession and was riddled with red
tape, turning off potential participants. "The
new proposal would just be an elimination (of

taxes) without extensive paperwork burdens," said Nancy Stephens, director of FMA. While current
law requires manufacturers to get an official tax exemption document from the Department of Revenue, Scott's
A group of
government economists met last week to discuss the proposal and brought up a
number of concerns. For example, out-of-state companies would be able to take advantage of a loophole in
proposal would allow them to simply sign a document stating they are eligible for the tax exemption.
the law to buy tax-free machinery in Florida, without creating jobs here. Also, fraudsters could easily take
advantage of the law, declaring themselves eligible for a tax break with a simple signature and no verification.
Because of Florida's statute of limitations, it could be difficult to prosecute them if the fraud is eventually
discovered, officials said. The tax break also could cost more than the $141 million Scott originally claimed.
According to estimates discussed Friday by state economists, the proposal could potentially reduce tax revenues by
more than $200 million per year. Much of that impact would fall on local governments. The bill has to garner a twothirds majority vote because Florida's Constitution discourages Tallahassee lawmakers from passing on unfunded
mandates to local governments. State Sen. Chris Smith, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat and minority leader in the
caucus would be skeptical of any plan that hit local government

revenues too hard. There are 14 Democrats in the 40-member Senate, meaning Scott needs at least two of
Senate, said his
them to get the necessary 27 votes to pass his bill. In the 120-member House, there are 44 Democrats and 76
Republicans. Scott needs 80 votes to pass his measure.
Arctic Shipping Lanes

Security Assistance
1NC
its engagement with the security forces of Egypt, including
providing assistance in developing a sensor system in the Suez
Canal.
US assistance is neededCP solves
Shelala, Researcher for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS), 2014
(Robert, Saving Suez, http://goo.gl/BFZkqo)
The most likely risk is not necessarily a vessel being sunk, but the erosion of confidence in
Egypts ability to protect the canal . Sustained attacks on vessels and canal
infrastructure could put upward pressure on insurance and transportation costs, as
well as commodity prices for energy which are largely based on speculation. This raises
question as to how the United States should react. In response to last summers coup,
Washington stopped a joint exercise with the Egyptian military that could have bolstered maritime security
capabilities, while allowing an engine modification for the Egypts F-16s. Washington undoubtedly has an obligation
to coerce the Egyptian government in the wake of the coup. However, cutting joint training that could build a
capability to protect U.S. interests in the canal, while sustaining an F-16 fleet of minimal strategic benefit to the
United States, is not the way forward.
Washington should fine-tune its security assistance with
Egypt, cutting assistance that serves as an unwarranted reward and which does not directly benefit the United
States. However, Washington should engage security forces on key strategic matters
such as maritime security to develop integrated reconnaissance and response
forces that can protect the canal. The 125-year old Constantinople Convention, which sets protocol for
canal use, must be revisited with a fresh strategy to tackle the canals new threats. Developing a sensor
system such as forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems on the desolate banks of
the most vulnerable stretches of the canal could be beneficial. While rocket propelled
grenades may not be enough to sink a vessel, the introduction of more advanced weaponry like anti-tank or antiaircraft missiles or even crude sea mines could breach hulls, causing fatal damage. Caution must be exercised in
ensuring that missiles do not proliferate from Syria or Libya to groups like Al Furqan in Egypt, the way weapons from
Libya armed insurgents in Mali. The United States has an obligation to prevent the transfer of such weapons to non-
the United States must push the Egyptian government to develop

rules of engagement for dealing with extremists and a counterterrorism policy that
zeroes in on violent groups, while not turning a marginalized population against the state. Cairos
state actors. Lastly,
preoccupation with the Muslim Brotherhood has already cost the regime the support of many Sunni Muslims, and
has diverted attention from targeting dangerous terrorist groups like Al Furqan and Ansar Beit al Maqdis, which
Egypt will struggle to attract the

foreign investment needed to develop the Canal Zone . Wishfully thinking that a few
poorly organized extremists could not possibly stop traffic in one of the worlds most
important waterways is not enough to maintain the confidence in the canal that the
global economy requires. Washington should work with Cairo to bolster this
confidence before it is quickly lost.
target the canal region. Without the stability of cities like Ismailia,
Israel lobbying ensures no loss of political capitalAvoids link

to politics
Hudson, A writer for The Cable, 2013
(John, Egypts Rulers Have A New Friend In DC: The Israel Lobby,
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/19/egypts_rulers_have_a_new_frien
d_in_dc_the_israel_lobby,)
Cairo has found an awkward ally in the form of
AIPAC, the influential pro-Israel lobby firm that is actively pushing for continued U.S. aid
to Egypt. Long considered an incentive for Cairo to maintain peaceful ties with Israel, America's $1.3 billion package in annual U.S. military
As pressure mounts on Washington to cut off U.S. military aid to Egypt,
assistance to Egypt has come under global criticism as Egypt's military continues its bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters with U.S.-
AIPAC, which was credited with helping kill an amendment to cut Egyptian aid in July, is now operating
behind the scenes in private meetings with lawmakers to keep alive Cairo's funding,
funded tanks and tear gas.
congressional aides from both political parties said. "They made and continue to make their views known on this issue," a congressional aide tells The
AIPAC has generally been that they will not be terribly vocal in
public. To be sure, they feel strongly about keeping the aid flowing, but I wouldn't expect a massive call in
and letter writing campaign." Another aide from the opposite party concurred. "On sensitive issues like this, AIPAC will 'lobby' very quietly,
by reaching out to select influential folks on the Hill, " he said. "It's not in the Egyptian military's or Israel's interest
Cable. "But on an issue like aid to an Arab country, my experience with
to have AIPAC loudly supporting Egyptian FMF." Publicly, few governments or lobbying firms want to be viewed as supportive of a crackdown that has led
to more than 800 deaths and thousands of injuries across Egypt. In Israel, where the Netanyahu government has been largely silent on the issue, officials
are said to be aware of how an endorsement of the aid package could backfire given Israel's unpopularity in the Middle East. But privately, officials aren't
shedding tears about the military crackdown on the Islamist movement Muslim Brotherhood. An AIPAC source speaking with The Cable on the condition
of anonymity insisted that aid to Egypt was not a top issue for the lobbying group. But the source noted that AIPAC's support for the aid was not
contingent on the way Egypt treats anti-government protesters. "The primary criteria on how we evaluate this issue is if Egypt is adhering to the peace
treaty," the source said, referring to the 1979 peace accord that normalized relations between Egypt and Israel. "We realize that the situation is very fluid
AIPAC has gone relatively quiet in recent weeks, some

congressional aides expressed surprise at how publicly the group moved to kill an amendment sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul in July
that would've suspended aid to Egypt until it holds free and fair elections. In a letter sent to Sen. Robert Menendez,
and that policymakers will have a range of considerations on this matter." Although
chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Bob Corker, the ranking member, the group opposed the amendment saying it "could
increase instability in Egypt and undermine important U.S. interests and negatively impact our Israeli ally." The letter was read aloud on the Senate floor
by Sen. Lindsey Graham before the amendment was soundly defeated in an 86-13 vote.
2NC
2NC: Solvency
CP SolvesUS aid allows for increased securitization
Christy, Senior policy analyst at the Foreign Policy Initiative, 2013
(Patrick, Writer for US News, United States Must Offer Internal Security Assistance
to Egypt, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/02/08/unitedstates-must-offer-internal-security-assistance-to-egypt)
While recent news reports have focused on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's high-profile visit to Egypt to attend a summit of the Organization of
persistent attention needs to be paid to Egypt's internal security

challengesmany of which directly impact the strategic interests of the United States and its regional partners. For one, weapons from war-torn
Islamic Cooperation, more
Libya and neighboring Sudan are being smuggled across Egypt's porous borders to militants in Gazain particular, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Indeed, Israel has long charged that Iran uses Sudan as a launching point to send weapons to Gaza militants, and the government of Egyptian President
Cairo is increasingly worried that loose

arms are falling into the hands of militants who are hostile to the Egyptian government. Militant attacks against
Mohammed Morsi canand shoulddo much more to address those concerns. For another,
Egyptian security forces in the lawless Sinai Peninsula are on the rise. This was made clear in August 2012, when 16 Egyptian border agents were
ambushed and killed in an attack near Sinai's Egypt-Israel border. What's more, according to a recent news report, Western officials now believe foreign
The challenge for policymakers and

lawmakers in the United States is to craft a security policy towards Egypt that
encourages Cairo to further actively confront these threats. That's no easy task. Morsi, a member of the
jihadistspossibly from Yemen and Somaliaare also currently operating in the Sinai.
Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, has consolidated political power at home, aggressively cracked down on rivals and critics, and failed to
Washington should not completely

eliminate all U.S. foreign assistance to Egypt , as some members of Congress have suggested in recent weeks. On the
implement much-needed economic reforms since his election in June 2012. On the one hand,
other hand, the United States should not blindly assist the Morsi government. The more prudent path lies somewhere between these two policy
extremes. [Read the U.S. News Debate: Given The Current Deficit Crisis, Should Foreign Aid Be Cut?]
U.S. economic and security
assistance to Egypt gives America tremendous influence in discussions with the Morsi government. Given
that Egypt has been one of the top recipients of U.S. foreign assistance for decades, Washington should use its leverage to
demand Cairo do more to halt weapons from being smuggled from across Egypt's borders with Libya and Sudan. Moreover, the
Obama administration should pressure Egyptboth publicly and privatelyto take decisive action
to halt illegal arms shipments through Sinai and into the Gaza strip . As a bipartisan group of
Senate lawmakers wrote in a December 2012 letter to President Morsi, "Given Israel's naval blockade of Gaza, there's only one way to get weapons into
Gaza, and that is through Egypt. ... In order for the ceasefire to hold, it is imperative that your government bolster its efforts to halt all weapons smuggling
Washington should determine how future

assistance to Cairo can be more directly tied to counter violence and threats along Egypt's borders.
[See a collection of political cartoons on Congress.] While security cooperation with Cairo is important, the United States should
take care not to neglect Egypt's political transition . The Obama administration should work with members
taking place via both overland and underground routes." Finally, lawmakers in
of Congress to positively pressure the Morsi government to protect the rights of ethnic minorities, religious minorities, and women; hold free and fair
elections; maintain the peace treaty with Israel; and protect U.S. diplomats, the American Embassy in Cairo, and other U.S. government facilities. The
Obama administration's recent rhetoric suggests that it understands the need for Egypt to shore up its
internal security. As Secretary of State John Kerry said during his recent Senate nomination hearing: Egypt has thus far
supported and lived by the peace agreement with Israel ... and has taken steps to
begin to deal with the problem of security in the Sinai. Those are vital to us and to
our national interests and to the security of Israel. That said, it's critical for U.S.
policymakers to work with Congress, and take concrete steps to realize their
rhetoric on Egypt.
The time for funding is nowany delay risks undermining US-Egypt relations and
escalating terrorism
London, President emeritus of the Hudson Institute, 2014
(Herbert, Author of The Transformational Decade, and Decline and Revival of

Higher Education, http://www.newsmax.com/HerbertLondon/Middle-East-EgyptUnrest/2014/07/21/id/583815/)
It is time to move forward with Egypt. The Administrations current stance towards that historic ally
since the removal
has not only undermined U.S.Egyptian relations but created a dangerous leadership vacuum that emboldens
militant Islam. America needs to act, now. Egypt is in a fragile state, and we believe that long-term
U.S. security and even the goal of eventual peace in the Middle East is best served
by siding with the majority of the Egyptian people , who rose up against a budding Islamist dictatorship
last summer and have been fighting Islamist terrorism ever since. This engagement should begin immediately
with the provision of promised military and political support to Egypt and to its war on terror
of Muhammad Morsi and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in July of 2013
networks inside their country. Last April, you promised that Apache helicopters and needed military parts would be sent to the
Egyptian military to support it in the war on terrorism. Recent reports, however, indicate the Apaches have not been sent and are
currently being stored at Ft. Hood, Texas. Not only does this undermine the new governments ability to bring peace and stability to
the region but it raises serious questions concerning the relationship between our two nations and encourages violent adventurism
among militant Islamic groups. Delay in delivering the promised helicopters also flies in the face of your recent West Point speech
and a new foreign policy doctrine to create international alliances to support the fight against terrorism and to shift our counterterrorism strategy to more effectively partner with countries where terrorists networks seek a foothold. As you outlined in your
America should be supporting our allies in our common war on

terrorism. Al Qaeda has direct historical and ideological roots to the Islamist
movement in Egypt; the mastermind of the September 11th attacks, Mohammed Atta, and the current leader of Al
speech at West Point,
Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri are both Egyptian-born alumni of the Muslim Brotherhood. The mastermind of the first terrorist attack
against America, the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, Omar Abdel-Rahman (the Blind Sheikh) was also Egyptian. The secular
Egyptian state and America have a common enemy and our partnership is critical to Americas national security interest.
Beyond issues of terrorism, the US-Egyptian relationship is vital to other U.S. national
interests in the Middle East and has been essential to maintaining security and
stability in the region. Egypts military has been trained by our own for decades, and our two nations have worked hand
in hand in securing and maintaining the Camp David Agreement, leading to a military and economic relationship that has lasted
The Egyptian military is Americas

strongest ally in the Arab world, and has accompanied the United States to conflicts
outside of Egypts immediate interests for the sake of that alliance . In 1991, the Egyptian
nearly four decades and bolsters any meaningful hope of Arab-Israeli peace.
military fought at our side with U.S. troops in the Gulf War, sending 35,000 troops. Since 2001, the Egyptian military served with
NATO and American forces in Afghanistan, providing medical care to over 1 million Afghans. Mr. President, instead of supporting the
Egyptian military, your Administration has chosen to punish it by withholding the military aid that has consistently provided to Egypt
since 1979. Presumably those in your administration believe that by not supporting the military, you are preserving democracy. We
by withholding Apache helicopters that are so desperately needed to fight

militants in the Sinai, you are imperiling Egyptian security and creating a dangerous
vacuum in the region that actually invites terrorism . Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other militant extremist
contend that
groups that have declared war against America, havent changed their minds about who they are fighting. Egypt is fighting the very
same ideological movement that killed thousands of Americans in 2001 and thousands elsewhere around the globe in Pakistan, Mali,
Nigeria, Iraq, Libya, and especially Syria.. There have been consistent assassination attempts, against both senior-ranking officials of
the Egyptian military and police. In September there was an assassination attempt against the Minister of Interior, killing one person
and wounding 22. Last week, another high-ranking Egyptian police officer was killed while he was leaving his home for work.
America should be supporting the people of Egypt who espouse Americas values such as democracy,
freedom and the rule of law. By refusing to reauthorize economic aid and political support to
Egypt during this time we are sending an indirect message that the United States is
supporting the radical militants who have declared war against the Egyptian people. Egypts failure to
succeed against Islamist terrorism and other challenges would have catastrophic consequences for the region
and also will directly and irreparably affect the national security of the United States.
US assistance is key to solve quickly escalating terrorism
Adler and Mably, reporters for Reuters, 2014

(Stephen and Richard, Exclusive: Egypts Sisi Asks For US Help In
Fighting Terrorism, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/15/usegypt-sisi-idUSBREA4E07X20140515)
Egypt's next head of
state, called on the United States to help fight jihadi terrorism to avoid the creation of new
Afghanistans in the Middle East. In his first interview with an international news organization in the run-up to the May 26-27 vote, Sisi called
for the resumption of U.S. military aid, worth $1.3 billion a year, which was partially frozen after a crackdown on the Muslim
Brotherhood. Asked what message he has for U.S. President Barack Obama, Sisi said: "We are fighting a war against
terrorism." "The Egyptian army is undertaking major operations in the Sinai so it is not
transformed into a base for terrorism that will threaten its neighbors and make Egypt unstable. If
Egypt is unstable then the entire region is unstable," said a quietly spoken Sisi, wearing a dark civilian suit. "We need American
support to fight terrorism, we need American equipment to use to combat
terrorism." He said neighboring Libya, which has descended into chaos following the Western-backed uprising that toppled Muammar
Gaddafi, was becoming a major security threat to Egypt with jihadis infiltrating across the border to fight security forces.
Sisi said the West must understand that terrorism would reach its doorstep unless it
helped eradicate it. "The West has to pay attention to what's going on in the world the map of extremism and its expansion. This map will reach you inevitably ," he said.
(Reuters) - Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who ousted an elected Islamist president and is set to become
SYRIA NEW AFGHANISTAN? In a sideswipe at Western policy on Syria, where U.S. and European support for rebels fighting for three years to bring down
President Bashar al-Assad has seen a proliferation of jihadism and the fragmentation of the country, Sisi stressed the need to maintain the unity of
Otherwise we will see another Afghanistan ", he said. "I don't think you want to create another Afghanistan in
the region." CRITICAL TIME The past nine months have also seen a rekindling of jihadi insurgency
in the lawless Sinai Peninsula with numerous lethal attacks on targets in Egypt's cities. Several hundred policemen and soldiers were
Syria. "
killed in attacks last year after the government killed hundreds of Mursi's supporters in August in the bloodiest crackdown in Egypt's modern history. Sisi,
treated as a savior in a personality cult that grew after his overthrow of Mursi last July, says he is conscious of the challenges facing Egypt after more than
he dismisses the idea of a U.S.-style 100 days

policy blitz to give Egyptians the bread, freedom, security and social justice they yearn for. "The truth is one hundred days is
not enough. The challenges present in Egypt are so many, " Sisi said. "I believe that within two
years of serious, continuous work we can achieve the type of improvement Egyptians
are looking for." Political turmoil and violence have hammered Egypt's economy, which the government forecasts will grow only up to 2.5
three years of turmoil since the overthrow of Mubarak. But
percent in this fiscal year. The Egyptian pound has hit record lows, weakened by the absence of foreign investors and tourists. "We have to admit that the
economic situation in Egypt is difficult, and not just over the last three years. Egyptians were aspiring to a more stable life than the reality we are living in.
More than 50 percent of the Egyptian people suffer from poverty. There is a lot of unemployment," said Sisi. Egypt, which has mediated between
Palestinians and Israelis, was ready to help revive deadlocked peace talks. "We need to see a Palestinian state. We need to move on peace, which has
been frozen for many years. There will be a real chance for peace in the region. We are ready to play any role that will achieve peace and security in the
region," he added. WESTERN HELP The world knew little of Sisi, Mubarak's head of military intelligence, before he appeared on TV on July 3 to announce
the removal of Mursi after massive protests by those who accused him of exceeding his powers and mismanaging the economy. In a country where
protests have helped oust two presidents in three years, Sisi must deliver quick results, especially for the economy, which suffers from a weak currency,
Aside from security cooperation with the

West to fight Islamist extremism, Sisi said Washington's aspiration to usher in democracy
to Egypt and elsewhere could be done through economic and educational
cooperation, by granting scholarships and creating projects that could resolve youth unemployment.
high unemployment, a bloated public sector and a widening budget deficit.
2NC: Politics
Israel lobby pushing for CPNo loss of pol cap
Sterman, A writer for Time of Israel, 2014
(Adiv, Pentagon to Israel: Sway Congress against Egypt cuts,
http://www.timesofisrael.com/pentagon-to-israel-sway-congress-against-egyptcuts/,)
An Israeli request to US legislators to restore all American military aid to Egypt was
orchestrated at the behest of high-ranking US officials in the Pentagon and the US State Department.
According to a report in Maariv on Wednesday, the Israeli effort came about after US officials ,
including some who are close to US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, urged Jerusalem to help
influence Congress against the cuts. The Pentagon, even at level of Secretary of Defense Chuck
Hagel, understood full well what the aid cuts would mean for the Egyptian economy
and for regional stability, an unnamed Israeli official was quoted by Maariv as saying. [They]
requested from Israel to work to soften those in Congress who supported the aid
suspension. According to US federal law, all non-humanitarian aid to a country whose leadership was
overthrown in a coup must be suspended. For months, the Obama administration had been debating whether to
label the ouster of Islamist president Morsis ouster a coup, a step that would force the government to stop sending
aid to Egypt. In October, the US finally announced that it would freeze a sizable portion of the $1.5 billion it
provides Egypt each year. The US said it would continue to provide support for health and education and
counterterrorism, spare military parts, military training and education, as well as border security and security
assistance in the Sinai Peninsula, where near-daily attacks against security forces and soldiers have increasingly
Israeli officials told their US counterparts that it was a

strategic error to cut aid to Egypt, and that the US needed to look at wider
interests, Channel 2 News reported following the freeze. The officials urged Washington to cancel
the cuts altogether, and if that was not possible, to at least redirect military funding for planes and
tanks to instead bolster the fight against terror . This advice was ignored, but the funding already
resembled a full-fledged insurgency.
in place for fighting terror was not cut, as it might otherwise have been, according to the report.
Israel lobbies have major influence
Petras, Professor of Sociology at Bingham University, 2006

(James, Noam Chomsky And The Pro-Israel Lobby: Fourteen Erroneous Theses,
http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=7,)
the lobby has secured the biggest

Congressional majorities in favor of allocating three times the annual foreign aid
designated to all of Africa, Asia and Latin America to Israel (over 100 billion dollars over the past 40 years). The Lobby has 150 full time
functionaries working for the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC),
accompanied by an army of lobbyists from all the major Jewish organizations (AntiChomsky claims that the Lobby is just another lobby in Washington. Yet he fails to observe that
Defamation League, B?nai Brith, American Jewish Committee, etc) and the nation-wide, regional and local Jewish Federations which hew closely to the line of the ?majors? and are active
No other lobby
combines the wealth, grass roots networks, media access, legislative muscle and
single-minded purpose of the pro-Israel lobby. Chomsky fails to analyze the near unanimous
congressional majorities which yearly support all the pro-Israel military, economic,
in policy and local opinion on Israel and promote and finance legislative candidates on the basis of their adherence to the Lobby?s party line.
immigration privileges and aid promoted by the Lobby . He fails to examine the list of over 100 successful legislative
initiatives publicized yearly by AIPAC even in years of budgetary crisis, disintegrating domestic health services and war induced military losses. Chomsky?s clich?-ridden attribution of
war aims to ?Big Oil? is totally unsubstantiated. In fact the US-Middle East wars prejudice the oil interests in several strategic senses. The wars generate generalized hostility to oil
companies with long-term relations with Arab countries. The wars result in undermining new contracts opening in Arab countries for US oil investments. US oil companies have been
much friendlier to peacefully resolving conflicts than Israel and especially its Lobbyists as any reading of the specialized oil industry journals and spokespeople emphasize. Chomsky
chooses to totally ignore the pro-war activities and propaganda of the leading Jewish pro-Israel organizations and the absence of pro-war proposals in Big Oil?s media, and their
beleaguered attempt to continue linkages with Arab regimes opposed to Israel?s belligerent hegemonic ambitions. Contrary to Chomsky, by going to war in the Middle East the US
sacrifices the vital interests of the oil companies in favor of Israel?s quest for Middle East hegemony at the call and behest of the pro-Israel lobby. In the lobbying contest there is
absolutely no contest between the pro-Israel power bloc and the oil companies when it comes to favoring Israeli interests over oil interests, whether the issue is war or oil contracts.
Chomsky never examines the comparative strength of the two lobbies regarding US policy toward the Middle East. In general this usually busy researcher devoted to uncovering obscure
documentation is particularly lax when it come to uncovering readily available documents, which shred his assertions about Big Oil and the Israel Lobby. Chomsky refuses to analyze
the diplomatic disadvantages that accrue to the US in vetoing Security Council resolutions condemning Israel?s systematic violations of human rights. Neither the military-industrial
complex nor Big Oil has a stranglehold on US voting behavior in the UN. The pro-Israel lobbies are the only major lobby pressuring for the vetoes, against the US? closest allies, world
Chomsky fails to discuss

the role of the Lobby in electing Congress-people, their funding of pro-Israel
candidates and the over fifty-million dollars they spend on the Parties, candidates and propaganda
campaigns. The result is a 90% congressional vote on high priority items pushed by the
Lobby and affiliated local and regional pro-Israel federations. Nor does he undertake to analyze the cases of
candidates defeated by the Lobby , the abject apologies extracted from Congress-people who have dared to question the policies and tactics of
public opinion and at the cost of whatever role the US could play as a ?mediator? between the Arabic-Islamic world and Israel.
the Lobby, and the intimidation effect of its ?exemplary punishments? on the rest of Congress. The ?snowball? effect of punishment and payoffs is one reason for the unprecedented
majorities in favor of all of AIPAC?s initiatives. Chomsky?s feeble attempts to equate the AIPAC?s pro-Israel initiatives with broader US policy interests is patently absurd to anyone who
studies the alignment of policy groups associated with designing, pressuring, backing and co-sponsoring the AIPAC?s measures: The reach of the Jewish lobby far exceeds its electoral
constituency ? as the one million dollar slush fund to defeat incumbent Georgia Congresswoman, Cynthia McKinny demonstrates. That she was subsequently re-elected on the basis of
Chomsky ignores the unmatchable

power of elite convocation which the Lobby has. The AIPAC annual meeting draws
all the major leaders in Congress, key members of the Cabinet, over half of all members of Congress who pledge unconditional support for Israel
low keying her criticism of Israel reveals the Lobby?s impact even on consequential democrats.
and even identify Israel?s interests as US interests. No other lobby can secure this degree of attendance of the political elite, this degree of abject servility, for so many years, among
both major parties. What is particularly important is the ?Jewish electorate? is less than 5% of the total electorate, while practicing Jews number less than 2% of the population of which
None of the major lobbies like the NRA, AARP, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Chamber of Commerce
can convoke such a vast array of political leaders, let alone secure their
unconditional support for favorable pro-Israel legislation and Executive orders . No less an
not all are ?Israel Firsters?.
authority as the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, boasted of the power of the pro-Israel lobby over US Middle East policy. Chomsky merely asserts that the Pro-Israel lobby is just like
any other lobby, without any serious effort to compare their relative influence, power of convocation and bi-partisan support, or effectiveness in securing high priority legislation. In his
analysis of the run-up to the US-Iraq War, Chomsky?s otherwise meticulous review of foreign policy documents, analysis of political linkages between policymakers and power centers is
totally abandoned in favor of impressionistic commentaries completely devoid of any empirical basis. The principal governmental architects of the war, the intellectual promoters of the
war, their publicly enunciated published strategies for the war were all deeply attached to the Israel lobby and worked for the Israeli state. Wolfowitz, number 2 in the Pentagon, Douglas
Feith, number 3 in the Pentagon, Richard Perle, head of the Defense Board, Elliot Abrams in charge of Middle East affairs for the National Security Council, and dozens of other key
operatives in the government and ideologues in the mass media were life-long fanatical activists in favor of Israel, some of whom had lost security clearances in previous administrations
for handing over documents to the Israeli government. Chomsky ignores the key strategy documents written by Perle, Wurmser, Feith and other ZionCons in the late 1990s demanding
bellicose action against Iraq, Iran and Syria, which they subsequently implemented when they took power with Bush?s election. Chomsky totally ignores the disinformation office set up
in the Pentagon by ultra Zionist Douglas Feith ? the so-called ?Office of Special Plans? ? run by fellow ZionCon Abram Shumsky to channel bogus ?data? to the White House ? bypassing
and discrediting CIA and military intelligence which contradicted their disinformation. Non-Zionist specialist in the Pentagon?s Middle East office Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski described in
great detail the easy and constant flow of Mossad and Israeli military officers in and out of Feith?s office, while critical US experts were virtually barred. None of these key policymakers
promoting the war had any connection to the military-industrial complex or Big Oil, but all were deeply and actively tied to the State of Israel and backed by the Lobby. Astonishingly
Chomsky, famous for his criticism of intellectuals enamored with imperial power and uncritical academics, pursues a similar path when it concerns pro-Israel intellectuals in power and
their Zionist academic colleagues. The problem is not only the ?lobby? pressuring from outside, but their counterparts within the State. Chomsky frequently criticized the half-hearted
criticism by liberals of US foreign policy, yet he nowhere raises a single peep about the absolute silence of Jewish progressives about the major role of the Lobby in promoting the
invasion of Iraq. At no point does he engage in debate or criticism of the scores of Israel First academic supporters of war with Iraq, Iran or Syria. Instead his criticism of the war revolves
around the role of Party leaders, the Bush Administration etc? without any attempt to understand the organized basis and ideological mentors of the militarists. Chomsky fails to
analyze the impact of the concerted and uninterrupted campaign organized by all major US pro-Israel lobbies and personalities to silence criticism of Israel and the Lobby?s support for
the war. Chomsky?s refusal to criticize the Lobby?s abuse of anti-Semitism to destroy our civil liberties, hound academics out of the universities and other positions for criticizing Israel
and the Lobby is most evident in the recent smear campaign of Professors Walt and Mearsheimer. While the Lobby successfully pressured Harvard to disclaim Professor Walt and
eventually force his resignation from the Deanship at the Kennedy School at Harvard, Chomsky joined the Lobby in condemning their extensive critical scholarship and meticulous
analysis. At no point does Chomsky deal with the central facts of their analysis about the Lobby?s contemporary power over US Middle East policy. The irony is Chomsky himself an
occasional victim of academic Zionist hatchet jobs, this time is on the givers? end. Chomsky fails to assess the power of the Lobby in comparison with other institutional forces. For
top US Generals have frequently complained that Israeli armed forces receive
new high tech military hardware before it has become operational in the US. Thanks
to the Lobby, their complaints are rarely heeded. US defense industries (some of whom have joint production contracts with
example
Israeli military industries) have bitterly complained of Israel?s unfair competition, violation of trade agreements and the illegal sale of high tech weaponry to China. Under threat of losing
During the run-up to the US invasion

of Iraq, many active and retired military officials and CIA analysts opposed the War ,
all their lucrative ties with the Pentagon, Israel cancelled sales to China, while the Lobby looked on?
questioned the assumptions and projections of the pro-Israel ideologues in the Pentagon like Wolfwitz, Feith, Perle and in the National Security Council, the State Department and the
Vice President?s office (Irving ?ZionCon? Libby).
in the major print media.
They were over-ruled, their advice dismissed by the ZionCons and belittled by their ideological backers writing
Aff Security Assistance
No Solvency
Terrorism is inevitableDiverting the Suez is the only answer
Nawara, Writer for Al-Monitor, 2014
(Wael, Can Sisi End Terrorism in Egypt?, http://www.almonitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/04/sisi-terrorism-egypt.html#,)
As Egypts presidential race starts with a few slow notes, terrorist attacks persistently sound loud percussions in the background. Three explosions
rocked the vicinity of Cairo University on April 2, killing two people, including a police brigadier general, and injuring five. Following the incident, the
university's administration decided to allow police onto the campus while the government drafted new anti-terror legislation. If ratified by Adly Mansour,
Egypts interim president, the new law would introduce tough punishments, including the death penalty, for anyone convicted of committing terrorist
attacks or establishing or joining a terrorist organization. The law also increases the number of judicial districts dedicated to handling trials related to
terrorism to ensure speedy trials. But can mere legislation, tougher punishments and tight security plans be sufficient for Egypt to see the light at or
A political solution is essential but perhaps not sufficient to

end terrorism in Egypt any time soon. A few weeks after the removal of Mohammed Morsi, then-Minister of Defense Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
even near the end of the tunnel of terrorism?
demanded that Egyptians give the army and police a popular mandate (through mass protests) to confront potential terrorism. Since then, thousands
of Islamists have been detained, killed or injured in confrontations with the police, army or civilian supporters of Sisi. Terrorist attacks by Islamist militants
have left hundreds of security forces dead or injured in just a few months. Many activists and critics blame the government and Sisi personally for the
escalation of violence. On Aug. 14, 2013, the Rabia al-Adawiya and Nahda encampments were disbanded 50 days after they began, with several hundred
dead. That day marked a new level of violence in the country. Could it have been avoided? Perhaps. But the more important question for Sisi is: What is his
plan to end this bloody cycle of violence and terrorism? Economic recovery and balancing foreign currency cash flows need security and stability. Should
he become Egypts president, Sisi has a number of choices to achieve these goals: either reach out to Islamists with a political reconciliation package, or
eradicate militant Islamists while designing an economic recovery plan. The Muslim Brotherhood is known for its ability to make political deals, but even if
its leaders conclude it is in the organization's best interest to return to the political process either accepting or pretending to accept the new ground
there will always remain a sufficient number of suicidal hard-liners who would
wage a war of attrition against the state. The third choice would be a blend of the first two: reaching out to moderate
rules
Islamists to deprive them of valuable resources and political cover, while weakening their logistical and fighting capabilities. Following past attacks, Sisi
repeatedly said that terrorist attacks will only strengthen our resolve and that there will be no reconciliation with "those who carry Egyptian blood on
their hands." This is more or less the same line used by many Brotherhood leaders and allies, though they attribute the "bloody hands" to Sisi, the army
and the police. Will this cycle of violence intensify during elections? Violence will probably escalate, but it is unlikely to seriously influence the process in
any way. If anything, it may even urge more people to show up on election day to give yet another this time, official mandate to the "mosheer," or
field marshal, the title now widely used to describe Sisi, as it is the rank he received a few weeks before resigning to run for president. More than 98% of
voters supported the constitutional referendum three months ago, which many considered a legitimacy test. Is there a political solution to Egypts
political inclusion of moderate Islamists would reduce the

problem. Yet, extremists believe it's their divine right to control the country. They
seek domination of, not participation in, the political process. Realizing this, a vast majority of
Egyptians have become more hardened and less uncompromising due to the bloodshed, although
terrorism problem? Yes and no. Surely,
this may not be sustained for long. Egyptians were threatened by Brotherhood leaders and their allies during the 2012 presidential elections. If the
Brotherhoods candidate didn't win, they were told, then there would be blood baths.
CP cant solve terrorismDoesnt address the fundamental reason for attacks.

Nisman, A Writer for Daily News Egypt, 14 (Daniel, To Stop Terrorism Egypt
Needs Support and Reconciliation,
http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/05/19/stop-terrorism-egypt-needs-supportreconciliation/,)
Defeating Egypts terrorism behemoth requires a basic understanding of each of its roots,
which now extend across geographical borders and rally varying Islamist ideologies
to violent jihad. Like their counterparts in Yemen, Libya, Tunisia, and elsewhere, Egypts jihadists have adopted a
new strategy blessed by Al-Qaeda leaders Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Nasir Al-Wuhayshi. Its a strategy, which emphasizes maintaining the support
of the local population by limiting attacks to security forces and baiting the government into deploying harsh, disenchanting crackdown policies. The
continuing violence in Egypt despite the governments 11-month counter terrorism campaign indicates the need for a change in approach. It starts with
more involvement by Egypts Western allies, who have until now been fractured in their support for the transitional government due to human rights
allegations, and hesitant to provide necessary assistance and coordination to prevent terrorism on Egypts borders, particularly in eastern Libya. Such
discord only encourages jihadists in Egypt and across the region, who interpret Sisis inability to rally traditional allies as weakness. Supporting counterterrorism over human rights violations surely isnt popular in the West, but is nevertheless being pursued in other nations such as Algeria and Yemen.
Israeli support has been one exception, assisting Egypt through aft-publicised intelligence sharing and covert activity across the region to prevent
Internally, Egypts policing policies need a complete overhaul.
weapons smuggling into the Sinai.

The
starkest example lies in northern Sinai, where the local Bedouin populations contact with the government has become limited to helicopter attacks and
checkpoints, rather than community engagement to boost intelligence gathering. Recently, the government erected a wall around Al-Arish, the largest city
on the Peninsula to stop jihadist infiltration; while residents in the surrounding areas have begun to complain that their telecommunications are routinely
Lessons can be learned from the experiences of Saudi Arabia and

Algeria, which only succeeded in stamping out their insurgencies after
implementing an amnesty and jihadist rehabilitation program . As vile as it may seem in Egypts current
political climate, the Muslim Brotherhood members must be allowed with an outlet other
than violence to express themselves, and separating from those jihadists who never
had any intention from taking part in peaceful politics. Chiding the ways of their traditional leadership, some
disrupted, hindering every-day life.
newly-founded Brotherhood splinter movements have already called for reconciliation. With the clock ticking toward the next parliamentary elections,
the Egyptian government must encourage an environment where the Brotherhood is

accepted back into the political discourse , albeit with tough restrictions on exploiting religion and charity to advance
undemocratic and intolerant ideals.
Links to Politics
Bill UnpopularCauses backlash against the President
Pequet, Journalist for Al-Monitor, 2014

(Julian, March 17th, 2014, Congress Threatens Showdown Over Military Aid To
Egypt, http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/congress-egypt-militaryaid-showdown-us.html#,)
Key lawmakers of both parties are warning the Obama administration of serious
consequences if it resumes aid to Egypt's military government, including Apache attack
helicopters needed to fight al-Qaeda-inspired Islamists in the Sinai. Secretary of State John
Kerry told Congress last week that the State Department would make a decision "in the days ahead" and made it clear that his
"hope" was to reopen the aid spigot before Egyptian presidential elections that could take place as soon as next month.
Democrats and Republicans who control the government 's purse strings vowed in turn to put
their foot down unless Egypt makes clear progress toward democracy. The Obama administration suspended
aid after President Mohammed Morsi's ouster in July, bowing to pressure from critics in Congress.
"We've got a piece of the pie," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the top Republican on the appropriations panel on foreign aid. "I
think our piece is the key, and I want to see Egypt move toward a civilian-controlled, democratically elected government." Graham
said he was worried a military crackdown could spark an Islamist insurgency like the one that plagued Algeria in the 1990s. He said
there are "a lot of members who want to make sure our money is conditioned,
that we don't just write blank checks ." Graham told Al-Monitor that he didn't think administration officials
would be "bold" enough to resume aid after his warnings. But if they do, he vowed to tie their hands in the future. "We've got
to pass another appropriations bill, so sometime between now and the fall there will
be several vehicles," Graham said. "I intend to reinforce democratic transition [with] more conditions on Egyptian aid,
that
being talked about as we speak." Graham may be able to count on the support of the subpanel's chairman, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Leahy championed language in January's omnibus spending bill that requires Kerry to certify that Egypt is "taking steps to support a
democratic transition," that it has held "parliamentary and presidential elections" and that the new government is "taking steps to
The spending bill contains

exemptions for "counterterrorism, nonproliferation, and border security programs, and development
programs in the Sinai." But the administration may be wary of cutting Congress out of the loop once again: Kerry
govern democratically" before $1.3 billion in annual military aid can resume.
ignored legislation barring aid to countries that undergo military coups last year, and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton angered
Leahy two years ago when she used a national security exemption to maintain US aid despite a lack of democratic progress at the
time. If
they move forward [with military aid] absent credible progress in supporting a democratic transition that
would be a mistake," said a Senate Democratic aide. The recourse would be to either hold up the funds which
Congress has the ability to do or in the fiscal year 2015 legislation approach it differently by giving the administration less
flexibility. The aid also faces skepticism in the House . Many Tea Party members in particular believe that
the US is wasting its money supporting non-democratic countries that aren't America's friends. "A lot of the newer members,
they don't like the instability in Egypt and sending a lot of hardware over there and
any money," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle
East. "So I think it's going to be a heavy lift for the leadership to get any big aid package .
But we've done it before." Indeed, the administration's aid push comes at a time of growing
Republican frustration with unilateral White House decisions , notably with delays to the health
care law. The Republican-controlled House is considering several bills aimed at limiting the
president's use of executive orders.
CP unpopularCongress wants aid cut off

Ohlemacher, Journalist at AP, 2013
(Stephen, Congress Split On Cutting Aid Off To Egypt,

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/gop-lawmakers-split-cutting-aid-egypt,)
Members of Congress are split over whether the U.S. should cut off
military aid to Egypt, highlighting the difficult choices facing the Obama administration amid spiraling violence on the
streets of an important Middle East ally. Democratic leaders have generally supported the
president's approach. But on Sunday, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said he would end aid to
Egypt. Ellison is the first Muslim elected to Congress and is co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "I would cut
off aid but engage in intense diplomacy in Egypt and in the region to try to say, look, we will restore aid when you
stop the bloodshed in the street and set up a path towards democracy that you
were on before," Ellison said. "In my mind, there's no way to say that this was not a coup. It is. We should say so.
WASHINGTON (AP)
And then follow our own law, which says we cannot fund the coup leaders." National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden
said funding for Egypt remains under review. "As we've made clear, all of our assistance to Egypt is currently under review, and we
will consider additional steps as we deem necessary," Hayden said. "At this point, no additional decisions have been made regarding
Among Republicans, there were growing calls to

eliminate military aid to Egypt. But others were more hesitant. "We are not winning the hearts and minds of the
Egyptian people," said Paul, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "The aid has to end."
assistance. That review process is ongoing."
Aid only entrenches military corruption funds from CP will be

diverted
Lando, A Writer for The World Post, Which is a Partnership with
The Huffington Post and The Breggruen Institute On
Governance, 2013
(Barry, Egypts Military State Within A State, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barrylando/egypt-coup_b_3545469.html,)
the system
of massive military corruption and patronage that has gone on for decades in Egypt, a
system that has given the military unimpeded control over an estimated 40 percent of the Egyptian
economy -- "a state within a state" as a well-informed Egyptian friend of mine puts it. For years, Egypt's top military ranks
have enjoyed a pampered existence in sprawling developments such as Cairo's Nasr
City, where officers are housed in spacious, subsidized condominiums . They enjoy
other amenities the average Egyptian can only dream of, such as nurseries, bonuses, new cars, schools and military
consumer cooperatives featuring domestic and imported products at discount prices. In other areas, top officers are able to buy
luxurious apartments on generous credit for 10 percent of what those apartments are actually worth. But we're not just talking about sensational official perks. Many of
Egypt's brass are notoriously corrupt. Vast swathes of military land, for instance,
were sold by the generals to finance some major urban developments near Cairo -with little if any accounting. Other choice military property ran on the Nile Delta and Red Sea coast boasted idyllic beaches, and exquisite coral reefs. In
But since the fall of Mubarak, the military have feared not just a takeover by radical Muslims. There is also the fact that real civilian rule could spell an end to
return for turning the land over to private developers, military officers became key shareholders in a slew of gleaming new tourist developments. The generals also preside over 16
enormous factories that turn out not just weapons, but an array of domestic products from dishwashers to heaters, clothing, doors, stationary pharmaceutical products, and microscopes.
Most of these products are sold to military personnel through discount military stores, but large amount are also sold commercially. The military also builds highways, housing
developments, hotels, power lines, sewers, bridges, schools, telephone exchanges, often in murky arrangements with civilian companies. The military are also Egypt's largest farmers,
running a vast network of dairy farms, milk processing facilities, cattle feed lots, poultry farms, fish farms. They've plenty left from their huge output to sell to civilians through a
sprawling distribution network. The justification for all this non-military activity is that the military are just naturally more efficient that civilians. Hard not to be "more efficient" when
you are able to employ thousands of poorly paid military recruits for labor. Many civilian businessmen complain that competing with the military is like trying to compete with the Mafia.
And upon retiring, top military officers are often rewarded with plum positions running everything from factories and industries to charities. Whatever the number, Robert Springborg,
who has written extensively on Egypt, says officers in
the Egyptian military are making "billions and billions and
billions" of dollars. But there's no way to know how efficient or inefficient the military are, nor how much money their vast enterprises make, nor how many
millions or billions get skimmed off since the military's operations are off the nation's books. No real published accountings. No oversight. Even Mohammed Morsi was obliged to agree
none of the above is a surprise to U.S.

officials who dole out some 1.3 billion dollars a year in military aid to the Egyptian
Army, and hope that sum and the neat weapons it provides will keep the army in line. The U.S. also
has a $1.3 billion carrot dangling in front of the Egyptian Army. That annual
American military aid to Egypt has allowed the Egyptian officers to get their hands
on some of the most sophisticated of modern weapons -- as we've seen over the past couple of years in downtown
to the military's demand that there be no civilian oversight of the military budget. Of course
Cairo. The generals realize there is no way the U.S. will continue paying for those goodies if a new regime more hostile to Israel takes power in Cairo. A perceptive look into all this
came via a 2008 U.S.diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.The writer in the U.S. Embassy in Cairo ticked off the various businesses the military was involved in, and considered how
the military might react if Egypt's then president, Hosni Mubarak, were to lose power. The military would almost certainly go along with a successor, the cable's author wrote, as long as
that successor didn't interfere in the military's business arrangements. But, the cable continued, "in a messier succession scenario,
it becomes more
difficult to predict the military's actions." No scenario could be "messier" than the mounting chaos in Egypt over the past few months.
Turn dependency: providing aid to Egypt keeps their security

forces weak
Egyptian Streets, Online News Site, 2014
(Egyptian Streets, Four Reasons Why Egypt Doesnt Need US Military Aid, http://goo.gl/etffwb)
For more than 30 years, Cairo has received billions of dollars of aid from Washington .
Recently, this aid has become a topic of heated discussions, with US government officials threatening to pull the aid
over uncertainties over whether or not to label Egypts recent uprising as a coup. Yet, here are four reasons why
Egypt does not need this aid. 1. Egypt Doesnt

Choose Where The Aid Is Spent Every year, the USA sends Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid, for Egypts
US aid to Egypt is here to stay, and why
military to spend on technology and infrastructure of its choice, right? Wrong. According to a government official,
the US government decides exactly which weaponry to send to Egypt . The same government
official states that often, Egypt is sent weapons that are not as advanced as those sent to
neighboring countries like Israel. This fact was recently supported by an email sent to NPR from the State
Department, which said The U.S. decides which weapons to send to countries like Egypt in consultation with our
Egypt has too much of

the same weaponry The fact that Egypt doesnt explicitly choose where the military
aid is spent, has led to stockpiles of weaponry that Egypt no longer requires or has
enough of. NPR recently discovered that the US has sent Egypt more than 1,000 tanks valued at
partners own determination of their strategic and force structure requirements. 2.
$3.9 billion which Egypt maintains along with several thousand Soviet-era tanks. One source interviewed by
NPR said Theres no conceivable scenario in which theyd need all those tanks short of an alien invasion. So what
they sit in deep storage, and thats where

they remain, said NPR. This is also the case with F-16 fighter jets sent to Egypt. Though recently Obama
happens to these tanks? They are crated up and then
ordered the suspension of delivery of four F-16s to Egypt, the USA has sent Egypt 221 jets since 1980, valued at $8
billion.
Essentially, deliveries of tanks and fighter jets has amounted to nearly nine
years of US aid to Egypt. Where are the drones that can be used to track, locate,
and eliminate militants in the Sinai (which Egypt has none of)? Why has none of this aid
been spent to invest in an anti-missile shield, like Israels Iron Dome? Have too many tanks? Deploy them across
Egypt! 3. US aid is keeping Americas war-machine alive 100 percent of the $1.3 billion sent to Egypt is spent on
weaponry and equipment that is manufactured by the United States. Though Egypt is receiving tanks, aircraft, and
other equipment for free, the aid is also crucial for many weapons manufacturers and their employees in the
USA. So, while certain US Senators (i.e. Rand Paul) believe that the US should cancel its military aid to Egypt, it is
important to recognize that this aid also benefits the US economy. Yet, apart from the economy, US aid has also
bought valuable cooperation between the Pentagon and Egypts Military: from joint military exercises and counterterrorism operations to priority passage through Egypts Suez Canal, this cooperation has become invaluable for the
US government. According to Time Magazine, the U.S. is the worlds only nation entitled to cut the line at the
US aid is
getting in the way of Egypts control in the Sinai American aid to Egypt has often
been connected to the 1978 Camp David Accords, which established peace between Israel and
Egypt. This treaty also limits the control Egypt has over the Sinai , with limits and
restrictions placed onto the type of weaponry, number of security personnel and
more that Egypt is allowed to have in the Sinai . Essentially, Egypt does not have full
sovereignty over the Sinai region. Where is the link between that and the aid? The US
government has often encouraged Egypt to not officially call for amendments of the
treaty, using aid as leverage.
crowded canal usually months long and to sail nuclear-armed and powered vessels through it. 4.
Russian Relations Track

II/START
1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government, through Track II
negotiations with Russia, should offer to reduce its nuclear
weapons arsenal.
Russia says yes and the CP serves as a confidence building
measure wants unilateral reductions by the US
Finger and Meier, Institute for Peace Research and Security
Policy, 2014
(Anne- Visiting Research Fellow at the Queens Centre for International
Relations, Oliver- Associate at the International Security Division of the
German Institute for International and Security Affair, Confidencebuilding on tactical nuclear weapons: Whats on the table?online:
http://d-nb.info/104313851X/34)
The requirement for reciprocity is often based on political perspectives on the NATO-Russia relationship, rather than an analysis of
security needs and necessities. For NATO, demanding reciprocity on TNW is a means of satisfying those member states that are
For Russia, the

is a means of asking for concessions from the United States and
NATO on other security issues, including missile defense and conventional imbalances. For both
skeptical of engaging Russia and want to use TNW as a bargaining chip in future talks on nuclear reductions.
demand for NATO reciprocity
sides, requesting reciprocity on an issue where the other side is inflexible can be a convenient way of avoiding difficult discussions
on the purpose of TNW. (Seay 2011) In addition, establishing reciprocity as a necessary precondition for changes in nuclear
postures may be counterproductive: It conveys political value to TNW which, from a military perspective, these weapons no longer
have. This is particularly true for NATO. For NATO, making further cuts continued upon Russian reductions means handing over the
initiative to Moscow. It implies that nothing will happen unless Russia agrees to cuts. Why would NATO want to tie its hands like
that? (Kristensen 2011: 2) On the other hand, Russia is cementing NATO unity by appearing inflexible in addressing concerns about
the status of its vast arsenal of TNW. Both sides would be well-advised to consider breaking this deadlock through unilateral
initiatives. Given the fact that TNW have little or no military value against todays security threat, such measures would have little or
no bearing on deterrence or defense capabilities.
If CBMs can break the ice on the difficult issue of

reducing TNW, they may help to improve overall political relations between Russia
and NATO. The U.S. decision to cancel Phase IV of the European Phased Adaptive Approach was not taken with a view to
breaking the political impasse with Moscow. Nevertheless, it is an indication that the United States (and NATO) are able to
unilaterally forego military systems that are no longer viewed as necessary from a military point of view. The onus is now on
Russia to reciprocate and thus pave the way for a substantive dialogue on a reduction of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. The
advantage of confidence-building measures is that they can improve the chances

for a substantive dialogue on nuclear reductions simultaneously by improving
transparency and establishing a process that tackles many of the technical hurdles
that will need to be overcome in the context of negotiations on a future accord to
reduce and ultimately eliminate TNW. Without political backing, even such modest
proposals to deal with this important part of the Cold Wars nuclear legacy will not
be realized.
Track II Diplomacy Is Effective and Avoids Politics

Mapendere, Assistant Director Conflict Resolution Program,
2014
(Jeffrey, Track One and a Half Diplomacy and the Complementarity of
Tracks, online:
http://www.peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/TrackOne
andaHalfDiplomacy_Mapendere.pdf)
The strengths of Track Two Diplomacy have been discussed in detail, but separately
by Montville (1991), Ury (1999), Sanders (1991), Ryan (1995), and Lederach (1997).
First, Track Two parties are not inhibited by political or constitutional power;
therefore, they can express their own viewpoints on issues that directly affect their
communities and families. Second, Track Two officials do not have the fear of losing
constituencies because they are the constituency. Third, Track two empowers the
socially, economically, and politically disenfranchised groups by giving them a
platform from which they can air their views on how peace can be achieved in their
own communities or nations. Fourth, Track Two is effective both at the pre-violent
conflict and post violent conflict stages; therefore it is a very effective tool for
violent conflict prevention and post-conflict peacebuilding. Fifth, Track Two involves
grassroots and middle leadership who are in direct contact with the conflict. Sixth,
Track Two is not affected by electoral cycles.
2NC
2NC: Nukes key to Relations

Russia Wants Arms Reduction because they want US cuts
Pifer director of the Brookings Arms Control and NonProliferation Initiative 2/4/2014(Steven, New START at Three and
What Next?, Online: http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2014/02/04-newstart-treaty-three-years-old-what-next-pifer)
New START requires both countries to reduce arsenals to no more than 1,550 deployed
strategic warheads on 700 deployed strategic missiles and bombers by February 2018. Implementation appears to
be going smoothly. Russia has already met these limits , while U.S. strategic forces are moving towards
them. The two sides have carried out more than one hundred inspections and exchanged almost 6,000 treaty
notifications. These are encouraging developments, but President
Obama took office with a more ambitious

called for a world without
agenda. He made that clear in his April 2009 Prague speech, in which he
nuclear weapons. Negotiation of the New START Treaty began shortly after the Prague speech.
Administration officials originally sought to conclude an agreement by December 2009, before the expiration of the
START I Treaty. They hoped for quick Senate ratification of New START, after which the Administration could focus its
efforts on ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). This would set the stage for negotiation of more
far-reaching nuclear reductions with Moscow. Two obstacles frustrated this plan. First, in part due to Moscows
bargaining tactics, negotiating New START took longer than Washington expected. For example, in November 2009
Russian negotiators brought the pace to a crawl, attemptingunsuccessfullyto extract U.S. concessions before
President Obamas December visit to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Since the signature of New START,
President Obama has called for new negotiations to address non-strategic and reserve strategic weapons. In June
2013, he proposed a one-third reduction of the New START deployed strategic warhead limit, which would lower the
Russian officials
seek to link further cuts to other issues, such as missile defense . At the start of the Obama
number from 1,550 to around 1,000. Thus far, however, Moscow has shown no interest, as
administration, the Kremlin clearly wanted a new treaty to cap U.S. nuclear forces and provide predictability after
START I. New START achieved this objective.
Relations Low Now- Reductions Key to ties

Baczynska, International relations writer for The reuters,
5/6/14
(Gabriela, Russia to abide by arms reduction treaty with U.S.: deputy
minister, online: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/06/us-russiausa-arms-treaty-idUSBREA4504420140506)
Russia will abide by a 2010 strategic arms reduction treaty with the United States despite their
differences over the crisis in Ukraine, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Signing
the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in 2010 as part of a general improvement in bilateral ties with
Moscow was hailed in Washington as a major success for President Barack Obama. But
relations between Russia and the United States have since soured over the war in Syria, with both sides pulling out of various forums of
cooperation, and are now at their lowest since the Cold War due to the crisis in Ukraine. In March, Russian news
agencies quoted a source as saying the Defense Ministry was considering suspending on-site inspections under START. However, Ryabkov told RIA
There are no reasons today not to fulfill the treaty
Novosti news agency, "

." In the latest version of the treaty,
originally agreed in 1991, the United States and Russia pledged to cap their deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 each and limit the numbers of
strategic nuclear missile launchers to 800 by 2018. The treaty allows each side to conduct 18 on-site inspections per year in the other country. Ryabkov
Moscow's accusations that Washington was aggravating the crisis in

Ukraine and said Russia was trying to ease tensions in the former Soviet republic.
The weekend release of international military observers held by pro-Moscow
separatists in Ukraine's east was an example of Russia's constructive approach , he told
RIA, adding it would not have happened without President Vladimir Putin's mediation. "(But) our partners, instead of taking
concrete steps and practical measures, limit themselves to tarring Russia. We are
constantly hearing statements on sanctions. That does not help things ," he said. The United
States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine where the West believes Moscow is
fomenting separatist unrest - a charge Moscow denies .
also reiterated
Reductions solve Ukraine put relations on the brink

Pifer director of the Brookings Arms Control and NonProliferation Initiative 2014(Steven, Arms Control Helps Contain the
Ukraine Crisis, online: http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/arms-control-helpscontain-the-ukraine-crisis-10219)
The Ukraine crisis has plunged U.S. and Western relations with Russia toward a
postCold War low. The damage will continue for some time, especially in the event
of a Russian military incursion into eastern Ukraine. Among the victims could be
further progress on arms control . Yet arms control is now all the more valuable. It
puts important bounds on an increasingly confrontational U.S.-Russian relationship.
The Kremlins occupation and annexation of Crimea plus its persisting military pressure on Ukraine have broken a cardinal rule of the
postWorld War II European order: states should not use force to take territory from other states. The West has responded with
This
deterioration in East-West relations caused by Russian actions has already claimed a
number of victims, including NATO-Russian cooperation. The U.S. government has
frozen a wide range of bilateral contacts with Moscow, as have European
governments. Unfortunately, another victim could be further arms control. Prior to the
sanctions against Russia, and will likely apply additional penalties if Moscow continues to escalate the crisis.
Ukraine crisis, Washington and Moscow had a full arms-control agendaincluding further cuts in strategic forces, limits on tactical
nuclear weapons, a resolution of differences on missile defense, and the restoration of a conventional arms-control regime in Europe
little progress had been registered in the past two years. Russia has shown
particularly little interest in new bilateral nuclear-arms reductions, arguing instead
for multilateral nuclear arms control, even though U.S. and Russian nuclear forces
dwarf those of any third nuclear-weapons state. Furthermore, the broader downturn in bilateral relations
though
makes pursuing bilateral arms control even more difficult. The U.S. government will put actions on hold that once seemed sensible,
such as accelerating its implementation of the New START agreements limit on deployed strategic warheads. In the current
The
administration, moreover, has to contend with unwise proposals offered as ways to
punish the Russians for their actions against Ukraine . Some on Capitol Hill, for example, have
suggested that the United States withdraw from New START, which makes no sense
for U.S. interests, as discussed in greater detail below. Others call for reviving the Bush administrations plan to place ten
atmosphere, other proposals for reducing or limiting nuclear weapons will not receive serious hearings in Washington.
ground-based missile interceptors in Poland and a supporting radar in the Czech Republic. Russia already does not like U.S. plans to
deploy SM-3 missile interceptors in Central Europe (the first are scheduled to be deployed in Romania in 2015, with others to be
placed in Poland in 2018). Implementing the Bush plan might make Moscow a tad more unhappy, but the Czechs have said they
While
current tensions make arms control more difficult to pursue, they also underscore the value of armswould not accept the radar, and the troubled ground-based interceptor has not had a successful flight test in six years.
control constraints. The New START caps the number of Russian strategic nuclear
forces and provides a significant degree of transparency and predictability. The treatys
data exchanges, notifications and on-site inspectionsall of which have continued to be implemented in spite of the Ukraine crisis
providing an important degree of

stability. What if New START were not in place? The U.S. military and intelligence community
would have significantly less information regarding Russian strategic forces. The
Pentagon would have to begin making worst-case assumptions . Russia currently
offer assurance that the strategic-nuclear-arms relationship remains bounded,
has ongoing building programs for new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles and ballistic-
U.S. strategic modernization

programs will not begin in earnest for another seven to ten years . New START means
that the Defense Department, which must now weigh the implications of a more
threatening Russian posture for U.S. conventional forces and their deployments,
does not have to worry about an increase in Russian strategic nuclear numbers
beyond New STARTs limits. Instead of spending more on strategic forceswhere Russia can build ICBMs more
missile submarines. As U.S. strategic forces are in different stages of their life cycles,
cheaply than the United States canthe Pentagon could fund high-tech conventional systems where the U.S. military has a
comparative advantage.
Arms control thus serves to keep the deterioration in relations in
check. With New START in place, Washington does not have to worry about a strategic-nuclear-arms race on top of everything
else it must deal with regarding Russia. We should also bear in mind that, during the Cold War, even the most
tense periods, arms control provided a key channel for communication between
Washington and Moscow. At times, it offered the only working channel of any
significance. Arms control, moreover, often provided momentum to push the
broader relationship to a better stage. During the late 1960s, negotiation of the SALT agreements gave a major
impetus to dtente. Following the suspension of nuclear arms talks in 1983 and a low point in U.S.-Soviet relations, Ronald
Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev used arms control to forge a more cooperative
relationship. The negotiation of New START in 2009-2010 helped create conditions in which Washington secured greater
Kremlin cooperation on pressuring Irans nuclear program and facilitating the supply of American and coalition forces in
Afghanistan. Bilateral arms control currently appears a difficult proposition. There is no question, however, that New START offers a
It provides a
channel of communication when other contacts are closing up. And later, when the
crisis is resolved, it could provide a means to spur restoration of a more positive
relationship.
useful degree of stability and predictability in the uncertain times between Washington and Moscow.
2NC: Track II -> Policy

Track II relations have been shown to be an effective setting
for creating nuclear agreements
Kurtzer, et. Al., workshop director at the WOODROW WILSON
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, 2013
(AMBASSADOR DANIEL, BRIDGING DIVIDES: TRACK II DIPLOMACY IN THE MIDDLE
EAST, online: https://wws.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/content/docs/591d
%20WWS%20Track%20Two%20Diplomacy%20Report_Final_MARCH%205.pdf
For more than ten years, an ongoing series of Track II dialogues facilitated
relationships between influential U.S. and Iranian officials and academics, which in
turn led to the development of ideas that formed the groundwork for the November
24 Interim Agreement on Irans nuclear program. President Hassan Rouhanis negotiating team
includes several figures, such as Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who participated in Track II discussions,
where they gained a better understanding of U.S. positions and discussed possible compromises.
2NC: Avoids Politics

Track II is secret and keeps a low profile, therefore avoids
politics
Burgess and Burgess, Co-directors of the Conflict Information
Consortium, 2010
(Heidi and Guy Conducting Track II Peacemaking, online:
http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PMT_Burgess_Conducting
%20Track%20II.pdf)
Official negotiations cannot succeed if they are not supported by the wider society.
Complex conflicts affect all people and are played out at all levels of society, from the elites down to the
grassroots. If the lower levelsthe grassroots and the mid-level leadersare still heavily invested in the conflict, the leaders are
track II
activities that bring people together in all sorts of ways across conflict lines can
contribute to building a peace constituencypeople who see the value of
peaceful relations with the enemy and who will push for and support
negotiations before, during, and after they occur. Further, track II processes give space and legitimacy
unlikely to be interested in or willing to negotiate an agreement. And even if they do, it likely will not hold. Thus,
to advocates of moderation. Voicing moderation in long-running, violent conflicts can be dangerous. It can be seen as treason or
Frequently, moderates on all sides are silenced, ostracized, exiled, or even

track II processes are often held in secret or with a very low
public profile. Although participating in private cross-conflict dialogues is still not without risk, it is safer to do
so than being open in ones willingness to talk with the other side, and it can quietly grow a
supporting the enemy.
killed. For that reason,
set of moderates who can come to the fore when the time is ripe. Although such efforts are not sufficient to instigate ripeness on
their own,
having the support of significant mid-level and grassroots leaders once

track I negotiations do begin is very important. If track I negotiators are too far out in front of their
publics, spoilers will find it easier to scuttle the negotiations and/or the implementation of a peace agreement.
AT: Perm do the Plan in Track II

Track II is organizing material resources for resolution, doesnt
include scientific exploration
Chigas, Director of Programs at the Conflict Management
Group, 2003
(Diana, Track II (Citizen) Diplomacy, online:
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/track2-diplomacy)
The "consultant's" role described above originated with the development of "Track Two" interventions. The term
distinguished traditional diplomatic activities

from "unofficial, informal interaction between members of
adversarial groups or nations with the goals of developing strategies, influencing
public opinions and organizing human and material resources in ways that might
help resolve the conflict."
"track two" was coined by Joseph Montville, who
(track one diplomacy)
AT: Arguments
AT: Russia Says No

Their evidence assumes the US demanding a concession from
Russia the CP has the US take unilateral action
Russia will say yes - it is in their best interest
Nagy, CEPI Research Fellow Slovak Atlantic Commission, 2013
Tom A. - CEPI Research Fellow Slovak Atlantic Commission whose interests are
International Politics of Nuclear Weapons, International Organizations & Global
Governance, and US Foreign Policy & Transatlantic Affairs, No Place for Pausing
Nuclear Arms Cuts, online: http://www.atlantic-community.org/-/no-place-forpausing-nuclear-arms-cuts)
Nuclear warhead reduction is desirable for both Moscow and Washington because ,
due to current economic and fiscal conditions, neither power can justify spending billions of
dollars in order to maintain an oversized nuclear arsenal. Moreover, both the US and Russia
have valid legal obligations and made binding pledges to continuously reduce their nuclear weapon stockpiles. And
it is also affordable because no reduction could realistically hinder the strategic and
political advantage that nuclear weapons bestow upon the US and Russia compared
to any other nuclear power since countries with the next largest nuclear arsenals possess only numbers
in the low hundreds (i.e. from 100 to 300). Potentially, even in a case of massive nuclear cuts, at the level of 50% of
both the US and Russia would still maintain at least seven times as
many nuclear weapons as any of the next largest nuclear weapons states be it France,
the overall stockpiles,
China or the United Kingdom.
Russia is open to disarmament if it is mutual

Nuclear Threat Initative, A nonpartisan nonprofit news
organization, 2012
(New Russian Nuke Cuts Will Depend on U.S. Missile Defense Moves:
Putin, online: http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/new-russian-nuke-arsenalcuts-will-depend-us-missile-defense-putin/)
Putin on Friday said his government would only contemplate further
bilateral nuclear arms reductions with the United States if issues with NATO's evolving
ballistic missile shield are first handled, Reuters reported. Stemming the global spread of
Russian President Vladimir
unconventional weapons is a "key issue on the world agenda," the Russian leader said, adding that Moscow's
adherence to the New START accord with Washington
shows just how dedicated Russia is to arms
control. The treaty requires the United States and Russia by 2018 to each reduce deployment of strategic
nuclear weapons to 1,550 warheads and 700 delivery systems . President Obama has said he would
like to open new bilateral arms control talks with Russia that would cover not only
deployed long-range nuclear arms but also nonstrategic warheads and weapons
held in storage. "Russia is open to new joint initiatives in this area, " Putin said in a
statement prepared for reading at an anti-nuclear weapons conference in Japan. "At the same time, their realization
possible only on a fair mutual basis and if all factors affecting international
security and strategic stability are taken into account ."
is clearly
Russia says yes - New political situations dont affect attitude

toward disarmament
Ria Novosti, Russian News source, 7/28/2014
(Rossiya Segodnya, Russia-US Arms Reduction Treaty Should Not
Depend on Political Situation Diplomat, online:
http://en.ria.ru/politics/20140728/191412762/Russia-US-ArmsReduction-Treaty-Should-Not-Depend-on-Political.html)
Russia and the United States have no grounds to make the Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty (START) dependent on the current political environment, Russian
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Rossiya Segodnya International News
Agency Monday. I think that we shouldnt judge on any environment and current
processes not related to the sphere of control over weapons . We should judge on the efficiency of
this or that document, and mainly its resistance to foreign influence. Initially, we considered this document
as mutually beneficial, Ryabkov said. The diplomat said the START treaty has been weighed from the viewpoint of
balance of interests, and there are no any unjustified concessions in it . It is simply
impossible to find anything in this document that would now demand a radically
new opinion to preserve it. And if so, there are no grounds to question this tool that in
general, is really aimed at strengthening our security , both of the United States and Russia, and
contribute to supporting the strategic stability, he said.
Russia says yes - can retain its power for cheaper

Peek, Professor of political theory and Strategic studies,
7/27/2014
Andrew-former U.S. Army intelligence officer, Sorry, Hillary: The
Russian Reset Never Worked, online:
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2014/07/27/Sorry-Hillary-Russian-ResetNever-Worked)
Why? Prestige. Remember, by virtual any measure of power economic, military, diplomatic, etc the United States
But Russias entire claim to great-power status rests on

its vast arsenal of nuclear weapons. Its also much poorer than the United States, and upkeep of those
weapons is thus relatively more of a burden. To reduce them unilaterally simply weakens
Russias claim to global significance; but to do so through a great-power agreement
with the U.S. not only maintains its relative nuclear prominence (and thus status)
more cheaply, but lets Moscow negotiate with Washington on the high stage. It gets
the same prestige for half the price, and a nice signing ceremony to boot.
ranks at or near the top of the world.
AT: Leaks
Even if leaks happen it will be after the midterms/agenda item
is passed
Deniability solves the impact to leaks
Ahmed, writer for IPS, 2008
(Aisha, International Policy Studies, Talking to the Enemy: Track II and its
Significance for Afghanistan, http://goo.gl/7tTwx6)
Secrecy in Track II: As indicated throughout this paper, the unofficial, off-the-record,
and secret character of Track II work is critical for success. The secrecy of Track II
meetings is an absolute must, as the premature public exposure of private
discussions might undermine the success of the entire effort. Worse, in some
situations the security of participants may be jeopardized if their involvement in
pre-negotiations becomes publicly known. Secrecy allows deniability, and deniability
is necessary to protect individual participants security. Moreover, deniability
allows participants the opportunity to speak more candidly; nothing said in an offthe-record, closed-door session can be held against them once they leave the room.
Deniability thus allows participants to feel secure in exploring solutions that may not
resonate with the rest of their domestic audience or with the official parties to the
conflict. As long as talks are private and off-the-record, the parties can officially
deny ever even having participated in diplomatic engagement with their rivals;
individuals can disassociate themselves personally and professionally from the
problem-solving workshop. Secrecy allows the most sensitive topics and the most
controversial solutions to be explored, without fear of repercussions from domestic
or international audiences.
Even if its leaked theres no way Obama or the dems will get
blamed for lower agency action
Aff Track II/START
Track II Doesnt Solve

Track II fails delay, limited influence, no accountablility
Mapendere, Assistant Director Conflict Resolution Program,
2014
(Jeffrey, Track One and a Half Diplomacy and the Complementarity of Tracks,
online:
http://www.peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/TrackOneandaHalfDiplo
macy_Mapendere.pdf)
Weaknesses of Track Two Diplomacy Regardless of its advantages ,
Track Two Diplomacy also has

several weaknesses. The first weakness is that Track Two participants have limited ability to
influence foreign policy and political power structures because of their lack of
political power. Second, Track Two interventions can take too long to yield results . Third,
Track Two has limited ability to influence change at the war stage of a conflict. Fourth,
Track Two participants rarely have resources necessary for sustained leverage
during negotiations and for the implementation of agreements . Fifth, Track Two is not
effective in authoritarian regimes where leaders do not take advice from lower level
leaders. Sixth, Track Two actors due to their lack of political power, are in most cases
not accountable to the public for poor decisions . Seventh, because of their multiplicity
Track Two actors/organizations are notoriously known for their lack of coordination.
Links the politics - leaks

Kurtzer, et. Al., workshop director at the WOODROW WILSON
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, 2013
(AMBASSADOR DANIEL, BRIDGING DIVIDES: TRACK II DIPLOMACY IN THE MIDDLE
EAST, online: https://wws.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/content/docs/591d
%20WWS%20Track%20Two%20Diplomacy%20Report_Final_MARCH%205.pdf)
Publicized participation or support for a Track II dialogue can prompt domestic
criticism. Many Track II dialogues seek to move beyond existing conflict dynamics by bringing together
adversaries unwilling to meet in public. Moreover, Track II dialogues may include non-state actors,
such as Hamas, whose violent backgrounds make any engagement through Track II
deeply controversial. When U.S. officials either participate in Track II dialogues or
appear to endorse their proceedings, they incur a risk of exposure that may lead to
a backlash from Congress or other domestic lobbies. For participants, the stakes may be even
higher, as leaks revealing participation may compromise the safety of their families and associates. An experienced
Track II sponsor is essential for ensuring secrecy. Track II dialogues may not produce policy-relevant outcomes. Not
all Track II dialogues seek to influence policy in a direct manner. Many are designed to bring people together to
Dialogues that aim to promote agreement may

fail to achieve it because of deep differences among participants . Track II diplomacy
may undermine or compete with official conflict resolution efforts. Track II efforts
that are poorly coordinated with Track I can serve as distractions and drain
resources and attention from official initiatives. At times, Track II participants come
away from their experiences feeling less confident about the odds of reaching
build sustained contact and mutual understanding.
agreement. In other cases, ideas or proposals from Track II become public and
distract from the substance of formal talks.
Leaks mean they cant solve

Agha et. Al., BSCIA Studies in International Security, 2003
(Hussein-Senior Associate Member of St. Antonys College, Oxford, and coauthor of
A Framework for a Palestinian National Security Doctrine, Track-II Diplomacy:
Lessons from the Middle East, pg 112)
The venue also demonstrated the vulnerability of Track-II talks to four problems: The first was the lack of sufficient
expertise among Track-II participants; clearly ,
the Syrians taking part in the discussions did not
have the professional expertise required to reach agreement on security measures. The second was the
extreme vulnerability of Track-II talks to leaks: When Track-II talks are conducted on behalf of a
regime that is almost obsessive about maintaining control over the policy process,
any significant untimely leak may lead to an immediate end to the exercise.
Doesnt result in actual policy

DiMaggio, director of policy studies at the Asia Society, 2011
(Suzanne- leads the Asia Societys Iran Initiative, Track II Diplomacy, online:
http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/track-ii-diplomacy)
Measuring the success of past and current track II efforts is difficult because there is
usually not an immediate breakthrough or impact on policy. Current and past track II exchanges
generally have taken a long-term approach geared toward socializing elites with
access to and influence on policy makers. The goal is to shape the policy debate by
presenting a more nuanced picture of problems and possible options for cooperative
solutions.
Russia Says No
Russia is not interested in reducing its nuclear weapons stock
pile
Nagy, CEPI Research Fellow Slovak Atlantic Commission, 2013
Tom A. - CEPI Research Fellow Slovak Atlantic Commission whose interests are
International Politics of Nuclear Weapons, International Organizations & Global
Governance, and US Foreign Policy & Transatlantic Affairs, No Place for Pausing
Nuclear Arms Cuts, online: http://www.atlantic-community.org/-/no-place-forpausing-nuclear-arms-cuts)
In June President Obama committed himself to further reduce the number of nuclear weapons around the world. USRussian relations are key to the success of this process. The escalation of the Snowden affair and the cancellation of
Russia's reluctance to
reduce its stockpiles, as one of the two largest nuclear powers, it is necessary for the US to work with Russia
a meeting between both leaders in August threatened the future of the talks. Despite
to take a leading role in nuclear disarmament. In the not that distant past, Russia and the United States had agreed
upon another round of nuclear reductions bringing the size of respective nuclear arsenals to the lowest level since
their peak during the Cold War era. Since those celebratory moments, their relations have been spiraling downward.
This was further enhanced by president Obamas announcement to abandon the planned presidential summit in
August with the Russian president Vladimir Putin largely due to the political fury originating from Moscow's
decision to grant asylum to Edward Snowden a former NSA employee with a valid US arrest warrant. While there
Obama's ambitious goal

of reducing nuclear weapons by one-third , announced recently in Berlin, has just suffered a
crucial blow it might never recover from. President Obama has made the reduction of nuclear
weapons worldwide a priority of his administration. Given the fact that the US and Russia together
possess over 90% of the world's nuclear warheads, it was important that the
Kremlin was the first place for President Obama to initiate talks. Unfortunately,
beyond the updated START treaty of 2010, the Kremlin has never really had
leadership aspirations on this particular matter . In addition to that, a consistent lack of
political initiation, low public enthusiasm for more nuclear cuts, illogical demands
for legal guarantees of a purely "defensive" American missile defense system and
the multilateralization of reduction talks have essentially nulled the realistic
potential for an agreement. While the Snowden affair gets most of the media coverage, problems in
US-Russia relations lie considerably deeper. The two sides have been in a state of perpetual
disagreement over a host of key geo-political issues take for example the fate of Syrian
are numerous political implications of the announcement, the main worry is that
President Bashar Assad and the way forward in the Syrian civil war. On the other hand, irrespective of significant
mutual differences, the meeting should have taken place because of the importance of the other issues on the
table. Nevertheless, neither the Snowden case nor the canceled summit should endanger critical US-Russian
cooperation on global security related issues in the future. In respect to nuclear security, the absence of a summit
shall not, in the long run, threaten nuclear arms reductions across the board. The US and Russia, each with nuclear
stockpiles of circa 4,500 nuclear weapons, significantly dwarf other nuclear powers thus making any eventual
reduction both "desirable" and "affordable." Nuclear warhead reduction is desirable for both Moscow and
Washington because, due to current economic and fiscal conditions, neither power can justify spending billions of
dollars in order to maintain an oversized nuclear arsenal. Moreover, both the US and Russia have valid legal
obligations and made binding pledges to continuously reduce their nuclear weapon stockpiles. And it is also
affordable because no reduction could realistically hinder the strategic and political advantage that nuclear
weapons bestow upon the US and Russia compared to any other nuclear power since countries with the next
largest nuclear arsenals possess only numbers in the low hundreds (i.e. from 100 to 300). Potentially, even in a case
of massive nuclear cuts, at the level of 50% of the overall stockpiles, both the US and Russia would still maintain at
least seven times as many nuclear weapons as any of the next largest nuclear weapons states be it France, China
It is apparent that the global nuclear disarmament agenda cannot

(in long run) rely solely on reductions from the US and Russia . However, with the current
or the United Kingdom.
disparity in nuclear arsenals, the two nuclear superpowers can undertake at least one more bilaterally fashioned cut
before legitimately seeking a broader platform of nuclear negotiations possibly including China and the European
nuclear allies of the US. Progress in global nuclear disarmament was proclaimed to be President Obama's key
legacy - already in action since the day of his initial election. With three bold years left of his tenure,
the
Russians appear to be no certain partners for disarmament as initially perceived or at least

hoped to be. Admittedly, proactive disarmament advocacy was never really on the Kremlin's
agenda in the first place. If the bilateral path proves to be a dead end, which is not
totally unrealistic at this stage, President Obama will be forced to seek alternative
ways to fulfill his key presidential legacy or possibly have to admit early defeat. Either
way, Russia's lack of interest compared to Obama's positive embracing of the cause ensures that the historical
legacy of these talks will only be his own. Tom A.Nagy is CEPI Research Fellow Slovak Atlantic Commission. His
interests are in Internation Politics of Nuclear Weapons, International Organizations & Global Governance, and US
Foreign Policy & Transatlantic Affairs.
Perm: Plan Through Track II

Track II has been used to make agreements for exploration
1985 space agreement proves
Track-II, 2013
(The website for Track-II, Accomplishments of Track-II, online:
http://www.trackii.com/accomplishments.html)
1985 [Track II] Helped create the Association of Space Explorers with Astronaut Rusty
Schweickert, the first forum in which Russian and American astronauts and cosmonauts
could share their experiences in space and their hopes for the future of space
exploration. Signed one of the first agreements between an American private-sector
group and the USSR Ministry of Health. This agreement has facilitated work in the
areas of health promotion, productivity in the work place, and non-pharmacological
methods of treating disease and stress, as well as agreements with the European branch of the
World Health Organization, responsible for the USSR in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Arctic Oil Spills Dispersants
1NC
its investment in dispersant technologies for removing oil
spills from the Arctic.
Development of dispersants solve for oil spill faster than
conventional methods and is less harmful to the environment
Arctic Response Technology JIP, joint industry programme
increases oil spill response capabilities in the Arctic region,
2012
(Arctic Response Technology Joint Industry Programme, a international oil and gas
industry collaborative effort to enhance Arctic oil spill capabilities under the
auspices of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) active since
2012, Spill Response in the Arctic Offshore, 2012, online:
http://www.arcticresponsetechnology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/FINALprinted-brochure-for-ATC.pdf)
Dispersants are a mixture of chemicals, similar to common dish soap, that quickly
dilute and biodegrade in water. Dispersants are most effective when applied to fresh oil but can work
well on weathered oil depending on the oil type and ambient conditions. They are typically applied using boat,
Dispersants are used to remove oil from

the environment by enhancing natural biodegradation. This is achieved by Dispersion of oil
plane or helicopter spray systems or by subsea injection.
using either chemical or mineral additives can be an effective way to enhance the natural biodegradation process
for removing oil from the environment in the case of a spill. Research has shown that dispersants are an effective
solution in arctic environments.
Oil is naturally dispersed in water when waves and wind

are strong enough to break an oil slick into tiny droplets that mix into the water
below. The extent to which this dispersion occurs depends on the type of oil and the amount of mixing energy
provided by wind and waves. Chemical and mineral products, called dispersants, can enhance this natural process
The decision to use dispersants for oil spill response is

determined through a Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA). A NEBA helps decisionmakers determine which response strategy for example mechanical recovery, dispersants, or insitu burning [ISB] will minimize environmental harm. The NEBA process is
important in an arctic environment, and it is a critical aspect of any contingency
plan. converting an oil slick to micronsized droplets that disperse and dilute in the
water. Although dispersants may increase the amount of oil in an area of water in
the short term, the rapid dilution of dispersed oil in the water column quickly
reduces potential impacts on sealife in the immediate spill area while removal of
oil from the surface minimizes the potential harm to marine mammals and birds
and prevents oil from reaching the shore. Dispersants have an advantage over
other response options not only because they can treat large areas very rapidly,
but also because they can be applied over a greater range of wind and wave
conditions than other response options. Another advantage of dispersants is they can be
remotely applied using aircraft. This increases responder safety by minimizing the
need to put personnel on the water surface and also increases the speed of the
to help reduce the effects of spills.
response compared to boat-based options. Dispersants in Cold Water and Ice: Dispersants
have been proven to be effective when applied at freezing and near-freezing
temperatures where spilled oil has not gelled. Water partially covered with ice can
increase the time a dispersant is effective by up to one week, as ice can prevent
oil from becoming weathered and emulsified. Research has also shown that ice can
enhance dispersion, since ice motion can increase the surface turbulence, or
mixing energy, needed for the process. Further, in marine situations where there are inadequate
waves, the propeller wash from a ship can be used to enhance the necessary mixing energy. Dispersants in
Brackish Water: Marine dispersants are most effective in salt water. However,
fresh and brackish water
dispersants have also been developed.
The most effective dispersant will have to be determined

during oil spill contingency planning, considering the conditions for specific spill scenarios. Dispersed Oil in
Arctic Habitats:
Dispersed oil readily biodegrades in marine environments, all of which

contain petroleum degrading bacteria. Laboratory studies have shown that
naturally occurring oil-degrading microbes begin to grow on dispersed oil droplets
within a few days. The microbial communities in arctic waters have adapted to the
low temperatures of their environment and rapidly adapt to and consume
dispersed oil, removing the spilled oil from the environment. Modern dispersants
are made of low toxicity, biodegradable components and ingredients found in
many household products. Research indicates that: Dispersants themselves are of low toxicity to
marine life and they are rapidly diluted; Dispersants do not increase the toxicity of oil;
Arctic organisms are no more sensitive to dispersed oil than temperate
organisms; Dispersed oil can cause temporary impacts to sensitive marine
species but these are limited to the immediate spill vicinity and for a short period
of time; and, Rapid dilution and biodegradation limit impact to the ecosystem
from both dispersants and dispersed oil.
Doesnt link to midterms Gulf of Mexico oil spill has created

support for cleanup technology
Zimmerman, Project Controls Manager at Wilbros, 2009
(Eric Zimmerman, Colorado State University, Oil spill changes public opinion on
environment, Online: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/100291-polloil-spill-changes-public-opinion-on-environment)
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has caused a sharp shift in public opinion about
environmental protection, In March, Americans favored prioritizing energy production over environmental
protection by 50 percent to 43 percent. A new poll released today found those numbers have
more than reversed: 55 percent now prioritize the environment, compared to 39
percent for energy production.
2NC
2NC: Solves Cleanup

Dispersants rapidly clean spills and avoid environmental DAs
Shata and Jrgensen, master of environmental technology and
math/science professor,2010
(Asmaa Ali,wrote masters thesis in environmental technology specifically in
offshore drilling , Professor Kre B.,professor in the dept of math/science for
University of Stavanger (Norway), Recovery of Oil Spills by Dispersants in Marine
Arctic Regions, 2010, online:
http://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/182414/Shata,%20Asmaa
%20Ali%20Mahmoud.pdf?sequence=1)
Dispersants are made of surfactants (surface active agents) dissolved in one or

more solvents. The characteristic features of a molecule of any detergents are
hydrophilic (water-attracting) end and hydrophobic (oil- attracting) end. The solvent
content of a dispersant has many important functions. First, of course, it must solubilize the blend of
surfactant components and yield a liquid viscosity suitable for the various
dispersant application systems. Secondly, it must penetrate into the oil when applied,
and assist in the diffusion of surfactants through the oil slick to the oilwater
interface. Low toxicity solvents used in modern dispersants include oxygenated
compounds such as glycols and glycol ethers and petroleum-derived nonaromatic hydrocarbons. Some of them
are also used in cosmetics and household cleaners . Components such as alcohols and water are
sometimes used as cosolvents or cosurfactants to help solubilize the surfactants and modify viscosity. The
surfactants used in modern dispersants are generally blends of nonionic and anionic
types. The nonionic types include sorbitan esters of fatty acids, polyalkoxylated sorbitan esters of fatty acids,
polyalkoxylated fatty alcohols, polyethylene glycol esters of oleic acid and tall oil esters. Anionic type surfactants
include salts of dialkyl sulfosuccinates and of alkyl benzene sulfonic acid. The
use of dispersants in
arctic and sub arctic waters presents a special set of considerations and concerns.
Reduced water temperatures, variations in salinity, and the presence of ice can all
impact dispersant effectiveness. Brown and Goodman [49] tested dispersant
effectiveness (corexit 9527 and corexit 9500) in tanks filled with broken ice and
water. The researchers found 90% or better dispersion, even when 95% of the water
surface was covered by large ice floes. They found that the size distribution of the
ice floes had little effect on dispersion. Researchers at the national marine fisheries service auke
bay laboratory in Juneau, Alaska, USA reported on laboratory effectiveness tests that examined the dispersability of
Alaska North Slope under a combination of sub arctic salinities and temperatures, by using (corexit 9527 and corexit
9500). Their results showed an effectiveness of less than 40% for fresh oil and less than 10% of weathered oil.
However these results are based on laboratory studies performed at low mixing energy [49]. These results
contradict with another study by Ross [50] which concluded that, if used properly , corexit 9527 should be
reasonably effective on spills of Alaska North Slope crude in prince William sound or the gulf of Alaska. 23
Another set of researchers in Alaska determined that minimizing weathering time and applying the dispersant prior
to the beginning of mixing was critical to the successful dispersion of Alaska North Slope at 8oC[51]. Corexit 9527
is constitute of about 48% non-ionic surfactants, including ethoxylated sorbitan mono- and trioleates (Tween 80 and
Tween 85) and sorbitan monooleate (Span 80), about 35% anionic surfactants, including sodium dioctyl
sulfosuccinate (AOT), and about 17% ethylene glycol monobutyl ether as a solvent [52-53]. You may have already
noticed that the science surrounding surfactants is somewhat of a black art. For this reason, companies tend to
keep secret their industrial recipes that use surfactants. This culture of secrecy surrounding surfactants has led to a
large number of trade names. The trade names include things like "Span", "Tween" and letter codes like "AOT".
The following section will include some details about each chemical in Corexit 9527.
Chemical dispersants show little threat to Arctic ecosystems

and are more effective than mechanical methods
NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration, a center of
expertise in preparing for, evaluating, and responding to
threats to coastal environments, 2012
(NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R), a center of expertise in
preparing for, evaluating, and responding to threats to coastal environments,
including oil and chemical spills, releases from hazardous waste sites, and marine
debris, How Would Chemical Dispersants Work on an Arctic Oil Spill?,July 9, 2012,
online:
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/how-would-chemical-dispersantswork-arctic-oil-spill.html)
JULY 9, 2012 -- If there were a huge oil spill in the Arctic, would chemical dispersants work under the frigid
conditions there? And once dispersants break down oil into smaller droplets, how toxic are the oil and chemicals to
key species in the short Arctic food web? Would the dispersed oil and dispersant actually biodegrade in cold Arctic
waters? With Shell currently on track to drill several exploratory wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas this
summer, these are very timely questionsand finally, we are beginning to find some answers. For the last three
years, a special oil industry research group (called a "joint industry program") has been trying to resolve these
questions before any major oil exploration, development, and production happens off the northern Alaskan Arctic
coastline. Lead scientists Dr. Jack Word of Newfields Environmental (Port Gamble, Wash.) and Dr. Robert Perkins of
University of Alaska, Fairbanks, coordinated this research program to determine the viability of using dispersants on
Arctic Ocean oil spills.
Conceptual model of an Arctic oil spill's impacts on marine food
webs. The illustration, not associated with this study, shows potential oil spill impacts to wildlife and habitats in
the Arctic Ocean. Aiming for as realistic Arctic conditions as possible, they captured
arctic zooplankton (krill and Calanus copepods, which are tiny marine crustaceans) as well as larval and
juvenile fish (arctic cod and sculpin) from the coastal waters of the Beaufort Sea .
These organisms are key players in the Arctic food web and culturing them in order
to conduct toxicity tests hopefully would reveal how negative impacts from oil and
dispersants could cascade through the ecosystem . The researchers also conducted
toxicity and biodegradation tests in actual waters collected from the Beaufort Sea.
Five oil companies were pooling their talents and financial resources to conduct these tests and gather information:
Shell, ConocoPhillips, Statoil, ExxonMobil, and BP. NOAA's Scientific Support Coordinator for Alaska, John Whitney,
was fortunate enough to serve on a unique, yet very important, part of the group: the Technical Advisory
Committee, which is composed of non-industry technical and non-technical stakeholders. We met once a month to
discuss the results and advise them on ongoing scientific tests. Drs. Word and Perkins and their colleagues recently
presented the results of this research at a workshop in Anchorage, Alaska. The workshop began with Tim Nedwed of
ExxonMobil making a strong case for immediate and robust access to all the major oil spill response options
mechanical methods, in situ burning, and dispersantsin order to deal with a large oil release in the Arctic or any
Mechanical methods (e.g., skimmers) and in situ burning typically

encounter spilled oil at low rates, historically removing only 5% to 15% of the oil on
the water's surface. This makes chemical dispersants a very attractive option when
approaching a big spill using a large aircraft (such as a C-130) to deliver
dispersants. After all, Dr. Nedwed pointed out, the ultimate goal of dispersants is to deliver a
significant boost to the rate of oil biodegradation that happens naturally after most
other location.
oil spills. Here are some of the major findings from their research: Arctic marine species show
equal or less sensitivity to petroleum after exposure than temperate (warmer water)
species. The Arctic test organisms did not show significant signs of toxicity when
exposed to recommended application rates of the dispersant Corexit 9500 by itself,
which also tends to biodegrade on the order of several weeks to a few months .
Petroleum does biodegrade with the help of indigenous microbes in the Arctics
open waters under both summer and winter conditions . Chemical dispersants more
fully degraded certain components of oil than petroleum that was physically
dispersed (for example, from wind or waves breaking up an oil slick). Under various scenarios for
large and small oil spills treated with Corexit 9500, the effects on populations of
arctic cod, a keystone species in the Arctic, appeared to be minor to insignificant.
This workshop garnered attention from the oil industry, government regulatory and natural resource agencies,
academia, Alaska North Slope residents, private consultants, and non-governmental organizations. It concluded
with a brief discussion of Net Environmental Benefit Analysis, a scientific process of weighing the costs against the
benefits to the environment, with emphasis on the importance of making this process both science-based and, at
the same time, compatible with listening to the subsistence Alaska Native population, a significant and valuable
voice in the Arctic.
Dispersants solve better than conventional methods can be

quickly deployed
Coolbaugh & McElroy, Oil Spill Advisor at Shell & Marine
Inspector at US Coast Guard, No Date
(Thomas Coolbaugh & Amy McElroy, NA & Officer at US Coast Guard, Dispersant
Efficacy and
Effectiveness,Online:http://www.crrc.unh.edu/sites/crrc.unh.edu/files/media/docs/W
orkshops/dispersant_forum_13/Dispersant_efficacy_effectivenes.pdf)
Further, dispersants can be applied from airplanes and helicopters in addition to

vessel application, allowing for rapid deployment over long distances and rapid
treatment of large areas. Both mechanical recovery and in situ burning are limited
to boat-based operations, which means relatively slow transit times and even
slower operational speeds because of their reliance on boom-based systems, which
leads to lower encounter rates with the oil. In the case of vessel-mounted dispersant spray systems
both large and small vessels may be used, offering a level of flexibility with respect range of operation (see Figure
2, for example). When one considers that, from a risk perspective, small and medium spills happen more
frequently, the use of vessels may offer an effective dispersant response. For example, in Norway, contingency
plans that include the use of dispersants are based on the analysis of various scenarios, including those from spills
of less than 100 m3 (625 bbl, 26,250 gal).
AT: Dispersants Hurt Humans

No risk of negative effects on humans
Layton, Staff Reporter at Washington Post, 2010
(Lyndsey Layton, NA, Chemical dispersants in Gulf of Mexico not
hurting seafood, FDA says, Online:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/08/06/AR2010080603185.html)
FDA scientists do not think that the chemicals accumulate significantly in the tissue
of fish and shellfish; even if fish absorb the chemicals through gills or other ways,
the fish do not retain them, Jeanne Ireland, the FDA's assistant commissioner for
legislation, wrote to Markey. That means the chemicals are not passed up the food
chain to humans and are not considered a public health concern, according to the
FDA. BP sprayed 1.8 million gallons of the dispersant Corexit on the surface of the
gulf and, for the first time, at the wellhead a mile underwater. Dispersants were last
used July 19, four days after BP temporarily capped its leaking well.
Aff Dispersants
No Solvency
Dispersants dont fully solve for oil spills, they are ineffective
on highly viscous oils.
International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, Function to
administer an oil compensation scheme, No Date
(International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, provides its key
service of emergency response to tanker owners since the 1970s,
Dispersants, Online: http://www.itopf.com/knowledgeresources/documents-guides/clean-up-techniques/dispersants/)
Dispersants have little effect on very viscous oils, as they tend to run off the oil into
the water before the solvent can penetrate. They are also unsuitable for dealing
with viscous emulsions (mousse) or oils which have a pour point near to or above
that of the ambient temperature. Even those oils which can be dispersed initially
become resistant after a period of time (usually a few hours to days) as weathering
processes make the oil more viscous.
Multiple factors effect Arctic oil response dispersants arent a

quick fix
World Wildlife Fund, leading non-governmental organization in
wildlife conservation, 2009
(World Wildlife Fund, focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most
of the world's biodiversity: oceans and coasts, forests, and freshwater ecosystems,
Not So Fast: Some Progress in Spill Response, but US Still Ill-Prepared for Arctic
Offshore Development, 2009,
online:http://assets.worldwildlife.org/publications/401/files/original/Not_So_Fast_Som
e_Progress_in_Spill_Response__but_US_Still_Unprepared_for_Arctic_Offshore_Develo
pment.pdf?1345754373)
After reviewing the MMS methods of testing oil spill response tools, as well as its
report summarizing key lessons from its research, WWF concludes that despite
progress, significant gaps remain in the availability of effective oil spill response
tools for the Arctic. WWF reached six findings regarding oil spill response in arctic
waters. FINDINGS 1. The inability to detect oil spilled in and under ice in the most
common arctic conditions remains a major technical challenge. Ground penetrating
radar (GPR) may be used to locate thick slicks of oil (1 or thicker) under ice or
trapped in ice up to 3 thick (when detected by air) and up to 7 thick (when
detected by a ground level unit). GPR cannot detect thin oil slicks or oil trapped
under new ice, young ice, first year ice, rafted ice, rubbles or ridges, or ice thicker
than 7. GPR ground units are slow and labor intensive. Only one GPR unit is
available for the entire Alaskan Arctic at this time. It is not easy to detect and map
spilled oil among drifting broken iceThe detection and mapping of spilled oil
encapsulated in and under ice is very difficult since the oil is hidden from view
beneath a (generally) thick sheet of ice. (MMS Decade of Achievement paper,
p.10) 2. Oil spill thickness mapping requires additional testing in arctic conditions.
While multispectral aerial imagery,2 combined with infrared detection show some
promise in mapping oil thickness, additional testing is required to tune these tools
to arctic conditions and oils produced in the Arctic. The sensor has been tested in
California, but no arctic field tests have been conducted. Additional work is needed
to develop a commercially available multispectral tool for arctic use; this tool is not
currently available in the Alaska Arctic at this time. A critical gap in spill response
is the lack of capability to accurately measure and map the thickness of oil on water
and to rapidly send this information to response personnel in the command post.
(MMS Decade of Achievement paper, p.12) 3. Mechanical response equipment has
very low effectiveness in waters with more than 30% ice coverage in the spill area.
While MMS has tested new, stronger ice booms and has tested a new type of
skimming system (MORICE) to separate oil from ice, neither of these types of tools
are commercially available at this time. Improved oleophilic3 skimming systems,
such as brush and grooved drum skimmers, have shown some minor improvement
(a few %) increase in oil recovery, but the main challenge in the Arctic is the ability
to access the spilled oil. Ice class tugs or barges are not available in Alaska at this
time. Oil skimmers are not effective in ice conditions if they cannot reach the spilled
oil. Oil recovery in 30%-70% surface ice coverage conditions remains a major
challenge. Oil trapped under ice is nearly impossible to recover. Field deployment
tests of booms and skimmers in broken ice conditions in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea
highlighted the severe limitations of conventional equipment in even trace
concentrations of broken ice. (MMS Decade of Achievement paper, p.25)
http://www.mms.gov/tarprojectcategories/arcticoilspillresponseresearch.htm 2
Photographs taken from the air. 3 Oleophilic means strong affinity to attract oil,
leaving water in the sea. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 4. In situ Burning (ISB) is limited
to thick, pooled oil. Experts agree that in situ burning (ISB) is a viable response tool
in some arctic conditions. However, the efficacy of this tool is dependent on a
number of limiting factors. One of major response limitations for ISB is oil thickness.
Oil must be at least 2 mm (0.08) of crude oil or 5 mm (0.2) of emulsified crude oil
to sustain ignition. Emulsified oil (containing sea water) makes the oil very difficult
to burn. Most oils spread rapidly on the sea, making the slick too thin for burning to
be feasible within a very short time from point of release.4 Oil spilled under the sea
(occurring from a subsea blowout or pipe leak) quickly becomes emulsified and can
spread into thin slicks when it reaches the sea surface. While MMS reports burn
efficiencies between 55-98%5 in cold water and broken ice conditions, this data is
based on burns conducted in lab and field conditions where the oil was contained in
a tank or by boom, thickened and available for burning. Catastrophic oil spills (e.g.,
well blowouts or subsea pipeline releases) will not provide optimal thick, nonemulsified oil for burning all across the spill area. When surface ice coverage
conditions are between 30-70%, it may be possible to burn oil in thicker oil spill
pockets but the efficiency and effectiveness is low. Above 70% ice, oil is trapped in
ice floes and in situ burning at higher efficiencies may be possible only if ice class
vessels and/or air support are available. There are no ice class vessels in the
Beaufort Sea at this time. One fundamental problem with the application of in situ
burning to oil well blowouts or subsea oil pipeline leaks is that the slicks are initially
too thin, or they can thin quickly, preventing effective ignition and burning. (MMS
Decade of Achievement paper, p.25) 5. Dispersants do not remove oil from the sea;
rather they spread it through the water column. Dispersants may be used as a last
resort in deeper marine waters to prevent oil from reaching sensitive environments,
but are of little value when the oil is spilled at the shoreline or in shallow waters.
The use of chemical dispersants as a viable response tool for arctic waters in Alaska
is still many years off. MMS correctly reports there is regional concern regarding
dispersants. Opposition to using these chemicals has been based on the fact that
dispersants do not remove oil from the environment and that toxicity impacts to
marine life are not well understood. In field conditions, wind, wave, and other
weather factors will limit the ability to apply dispersants to the oil slick.
Furthermore, application of dispersants is frequently stymied by arctic conditions,
preventing targeting application of the sprayed chemicals on the oil slick at the
necessary optimal concentrations. Some wind and weather conditions (e.g. poor
visibility) will preclude dispersant application from the air, and some conditions will
make application very inefficient. Additionally, ice class vessels capable of storing
and spraying large quanities of dispersants in Alaskas arctic waters do not exist at
this time. Remote portions of Alaskas arctic waters lack port infrastructure and
runways needed to support large-scale dispersant use. 6. Chemical herding agents6
may be helpful but are not currently available for use in Alaska. Herding agents may
be helpful in thickening oil when the ice coverage is too high to use containment
boom for mechanical response and ISB techniques. To date, there are no
commerically produced herding agents that have the approval of the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) which are available
Without infrastructure and communication between Arctic

countries theres no reliable response to an oil spill
Gramling, a staff writer for Science, 4/23/2014
(Carolyn, has a doctoral degree in marine geochemistry from the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution/MIT Joint Program for Oceanograph , Panel Says U.S. Not
Ready for Inevitable Arctic Oil Spill, April 23, 2014, online:
http://news.sciencemag.org/earth/2014/04/panel-says-u.s.-not-ready-inevitablearctic-oil-spill)
As eagerness to explore the Arctics oil and gas resources grows, the threat of a major Arctic oil spill looms ever
the United States has a lot of work to do to prepare for that inevitability, a
panel convened by the National Research Council (NRC) declares in a report
released today. The committee, made up of members of academia and industry,
recommended beefing up forecasting systems for ocean and ice conditions,
infrastructure for supply chains for people and equipment to respond, field research
on the behavior of oil in the Arctic environment, and other strategies to prepare for
largerand
a significant spill in the harsh conditions of the Arctic. The report identifies the
different pieces that need to come together to have a chance at an effective oil
spill response, says Martha Grabowski, a researcher in information systems at Le
Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, and chair of the NRC committee . Even in the
absence of oil and gas exploration, the Arctics rapidly intensifying trafficwhether from barges, research ships, oil
tankers, or passenger cruisesmakes oil spills increasingly likely. So the committee felt some urgency about the
issue, says geologist Mark Myers, vice chancellor for research at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The report,
sponsored by 10 organizations ranging from the American Petroleum Institute to the Marine Mammal Commission,
focused primarily on the United States territorial waters north of the Bering Strait, including the Chukchi and
Beaufort seas. Cleaning up oil in the Arctic is particularly tricky for a number of reasons, the committee notes. The
extreme weather conditions are one problem. The lack of many kinds of datahigh-resolution topography and
bathymetry along the coasts; measurements of ice cover and thickness; distributions in space and time of the
regions fish, birds, and marine mammalsis another.
And if an emergency happens, theres no

infrastructure in placeno consistent U.S. Coast Guard presence and no reliable
supply chains to support a rapid response . On top of that, there is little real-world information
about how the Arctics own oil (rather than an amalgam from an oil pipeline, as is now tested) will behave in the
Arctics heavily stratified water column, which could prevent deep spills from reaching the surface. Then theres the
lingering question of how effective chemical dispersants or oil-munching microbes are in the frigid Arctic
environment. And virtually nothing is known about how oil and sea ice will interact. Ice really changes everything,
Myers says. Some oil might make its way into the ice, only to later become liquid again when the ice melts; some
might remain trapped beneath it, moving with the iceor possibly not. We have very few observations of the
The report calls for upgrading oil spill response

infrastructure, additional studies, and more coordination between agencies,
industry, academia, and other Arctic nations. Grabowski also emphasized the need for
under-ice environment, he says.
standardizationof data collection and sharing, of oil spill exercises and responses. Who would coordinate all of
this and who would pay for it remain unsettled questions. Grabowski notes that she and her panel members
recommend public-private partnerships, interagency coordination, and working with, for example, local
communities to develop trained response teams in local villages. But in terms of an overall framework, she says,
I think that that is a wide-open question. And obviously connected to that is a resource question. We can identify
lots of ideas for a framework but without adequate resources that causes a real difficulty. Still, amid the flurry of
Arctic-related reports that have papered Washington, D.C., in the last few years, the committee hopes its
recommendations will stick. By digging deep into the science, Myers says, we felt it was going to be a good
authoritative source which people can use to help make decisions. This is a study thats both broad and deep,
Grabowski adds. In terms of whether anyone picks this up and runs with itthats another step.
Dispersant investment isnt key- multiple other barriers

Nunez, writer for National Geographic, 4/23/2014
(Christina, a Washington, D.C.-based senior producer at National Geographic
focused on the Great Energy Challenge, an online initiative designed to inform and
engage readers about energy issues, What Happens When Oil Spills in the Arctic?,
April 23, 2014, online:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/04/140423-nationalresearch-council-on-oil-spills-in-arctic/)
As sea ice melts and the oil industry prepares to exploit the Arctic's vast resources,
the United States faces big gaps in its preparedness for an oil spill in the region,
according to a report released Wednesday by the National Research Council (NRC).
The 183-page report marks the first time in more than ten years that the NRC, an arm of the National Academy of
Sciences, has taken a comprehensive look at the impact of oil and gas exploration in the Arctic. In the intervening
decade, sea ice cover hit a record low, shipping traffic increased dramatically, and the price of oil rose sharply,
prompting such companies as Shell,* ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips to acquire new leases for oil and gas.
(Related: "Ice-Breaking: U.S. Oil Drilling Starts as Nations Mull Changed Arctic.") The Arctic contains an estimated
13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil, and one-third of that oil lies within U.S. territory. Shell's attempt to drill
into it in 2012 illustrated the challenge of working in the Arctic: The campaign ended with the drilling rig, the Kulluk,
running aground and needing to be rescued. (See: "Coast Guard Blames Shell Risk-Taking in Kulluk Rig Accident.")
Shell and other companies have suspended Arctic drilling plans for 2014, but there is little doubt the push to
develop the region's energy resources will continue. (Read more Arctic coverage from the Great Energy Challenge.)
The NRC report invokes the Kulluk incident, as well as the BP Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez disasters, as
cautionary tales. It was authored by a committee that included representatives from academia, research and
environmental organizations, and the energy industry. (Related: "Summer Arctic Sea Ice Recovers From 2012, But
Here are five of the gaps that the panel says need to be
addressed for the U.S. to be ready for an oil spill in the Arctic: 1. We need to spill
some oil (on purpose). Much of the existing research on oil properties and spill
response has been done for temperate regions, the report notes. More research is
needed to understand how oil behaves in an Arctic environmentand unfortunately,
the best way to find out is to spill some in a controlled way. Research facilities such as the
Trend 'Decidedly' Down.")
Ohmsett test center in New Jersey have simulated spills in icy conditions. But permits to deliberately release oil into
U.S. waters for research have become harder to obtain in the United States in the past 15 years. The NRC advocates
We
need to know more about the Arctic. The technology available for monitoring and
mapping the Arctic has improved markedly over the last decade, but there are
significant holes. "A decade ago, I think there was hope we might have filled some
of these data gaps," says Mark Myers of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, who
contributed to the report. "Fundamental, high-resolution data that we need
sometimes just isn't there." Existing nautical charts for the Arctic shoreline are
"mostly obsolete," the NRC says, with many of them last updated in the 1950s . Less
a streamlined permit process. (Related: "As Arctic Melts, a Race to Test Oil Spill Cleanup Technology.") 2.
than 10 percent of the coastline, some 2,200 miles (3,540 kilometers), has adequate data on seafloor topography,
Myers says. That increases the chance a vessel could run aground and spill oil, according to the report, and it could
hamper a cleanup too. So could ice and stormy seas, of course. The report points to a need for better real-time
data and forecasts of sea ice coverage and thickness. Though energy companies target late summer and early fall
for exploration activity, "ice-free regions can transition to ice-covered conditions in a matter of days at the start of a
fall freeze-up," the report says. Sea ice does offer one advantage, though, according to the report: It could help
We need more U.S.

Coast Guard presence. "The U.S. Coast Guard has a low level of presence in the
Arctic, especially during the winter," the NRC warns. Its closest station to the Arctic,
in Kodiak, is more than 900 air miles (1,448 kilometers) south of Alaska's North
Slope, limiting its ability to respond to a spill quickly. "A 'presence' is bodies, but it
is also vessels or platforms, and aerial capability for airlift in the event of an oil spill
response," says Martha Grabowski, who chaired the NRC report committee. "The
transportation infrastructure that the rest of us would presuppose to be existing as
it is in the lower 48 simply doesn't exist up north." But "the Coast Guard can't do
this alone," Grabowski says; it doesn't have the budget . The NRC report stresses the need for
contain spilled oil in a way that would make it easier to set fire to and burn off. 3.
public-private partnerships and community engagement to address the challenges of dealing with an Arctic spill. 4.
We need to work with the Russians. Last year, the Northern Sea Route between
Asia and Europe saw many firsts: the first transit for a container ship, the first
voyages for Chinese and South Korean vesselsand the first tanker accident. Russia
has promoted use of the route, where its state-operated icebreaker fleet offers
mandatory escort in exchange for a fee. Among the ships traveling the Northern Sea
Route last year, the NRC says, were oil tankers carrying more than 800,000 barrels
of oil. (Related: "Arctic Shipping Soars, Led by Russia and Lured by Energy.") The expansion of the Northern Sea
Route has in turn led to increased traffic through U.S. waters in the Bering Strait. This points to the need
for better traffic managementthe U.S. doesn't have a system for monitoring ships
in the Arctic. But "the international demarcation line [between Russian and U.S.
waters] runs right down the middle of the Bering Strait, so we can't make a
unilateral determination with respect to what to do for vessel traffic monitoring,"
Grabowski says. The United States should also conduct joint oil spill response
exercises with Russia, the report says. Such planning has already taken place with Canada, but even
though the U.S. has an oil spill response agreement with Russia, it has not
conducted formal exercises or hammered out any contingency plans . 5. We need a plan
for wildlife. The Arctic is home to endangered species such as bowhead whales, polar bears, and ringed seals.
Rehabilitating wildlife affected by an oil spill in the Arctic is complicated by remote locations, adverse conditions,
the use of marine mammals for subsistence by indigenous people, and safety concerns (dealing with an injured
walrus or polar bear is more hazardous than dealing with, say, an oiled pelican). What's more, there's no plan for
keeping animals out of harm's way in the Arctic. "There is a general lack of scientific study, approved protocols, and
consensus" on how best to deter wildlife from entering a spill zone, the report says. (Take the quiz: "What You Don't
Know About Energy in the Changing Arctic.")
Cleanup tech isnt ready requires further research

ITOPF, organization that provides key service of emergency
response to tanker owners, 7/3/14
(ITOP (International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation) a technical services
function and established a team of well qualified scientists able to offer around the
clock technical support to tanker owners, Limitations of Arctic Oil Spill Response,
July 3, 2014, online: http://www.itopf.com/knowledge-resources/documentsguides/arctic-cold-climates/limitations-of-arctic-oil-spill-response/)
Whilst a range of response techniques have proven successful in laboratory and
controlled field experiments in Arctic conditions, they are yet to be tested in a fullscale incident. The remoteness, lack of infrastructure, and inhospitable
environmental conditions in the Arctic mean significant logistical and operational
challenges must be overcome. Equipment, vessels and personnel would need to be mobilised over
potentially vast distances. Personnel would need to be trained not only in oil spill response, but also in extreme
environment first aid and survival skills. Ensuring the comfort and safety of responders in Arctic conditions which
may include 24-hour darkness, extreme cold and exposure, and potentially dangerous wildlife would require
considerable planning. Incident
management and communications in the far North will

pose further challenges to responders. Clean-up sites may be very remote, and
clean-up may be protracted over many months given the extreme seasonality of
Arctic environments. The storage, transport and disposal of oily waste can be a
challenging and costly aspect of any oil spill response, but this is particularly
relevant in remote areas with limited infrastructure such as the Arctic. The first
question to be addressed during contingency planning and following an incident in the Arctic will be: given the
location, the time of year, and the environmental conditions, is it possible to
respond? If it is possible to respond, the question of whether or not a response is
necessary must be addressed, taking into account the sensitive ecological and
socio-economic resources at risk. The issue of reasonableness must also be
considered in the context of ship-source pollution. It is important to note that
there is a discrepancy between the research and development that has been and
continues to be undertaken, and the response technology that is commercially
available. To date, research and development of Arctic response techniques has focused on crude oils, driven by
the increase in exploration and production activities in the Arctic. However, over recent years ITOPF has attended
an increasing number of spills of bunker fuels from non-tankers, highlighting the potential pollution risk associated
with any shipping activity in the Arctic. Heavy fuel oils tend to be less dispersible than crude oils under any
environmental conditions, and although they are designed and produced expressly for combustion, in-situ burning
may not be possible under Arctic conditions.
Environment DA
Dispersants dont actually solve for oil spills but actually
devastate marine organisms and ecosystems.
Hellerman, CNN Medical Senior Producer, 2010
(Caleb Hellerman, Writer at ABC News, Officials weigh pros, cons of
using dispersant chemicals on Gulf spill, Online:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/04/gulf.oil.spill.dispersant/)
The material data safety sheet for Corexit 9500 said it includes petroleum
distillates, propylene glycol and a proprietary organic sulfonic salt. According to the
safety sheet, it can cause eye or skin irritation with prolonged contact. It also warns
that "repeated or prolonged exposure may irritate the respiratory tract ." Henry said the
dispersants being used in the Gulf show "fairly low toxicity." He added that any dispersant must be preapproved by
the Environmental Protection Agency and listed on an approved product schedule before its use. A 2005 report by
the National Research Council found that Corexit is "significantly less toxic than oil or dispersed oil," based on
numerous studies. Nalco describes the product as biodegradable. "It's made up of products that are used in
everyday life, products used in food and products used in cosmetic applications as well," Shane said .
Toxicologists and environmental scientists said Corexit and other dispersants are
unlikely to cause immediate harm to people, but can have a big impact on marine organisms that
are directly exposed. A report by scientists at Exxon Biomedical Sciences said an
earlier version of Corexit is harmful to some marine organisms at even lower doses
than oil itself. Fish eggs and larvae, shrimp, coral and oysters are potentially most at
risk. The National Research Council report noted elevated concentrations of
dispersant chemicals in shellfish after a spill in Coos Bay, Oregon. The chemicals
can also contaminate the skin of ocean-farmed fish if their cages are near the site of
the spill, according to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, a
nonprofit that offers technical guidance on cleaning up spills. Jackie Savitz, senior
scientist with Oceana, an environmental group that opposes offshore drilling, said
the use of dispersants may be warranted, but that chemicals only shift the environmental
impact, rather than eliminate it.
Human Health DA
Dispersants are harmful to humans
Jamail, BA in Sociology, 2010
(Dahr Jamail, BA in Philosophy and Psychology, BP dispersants
'causing sickness', Online:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2010/10/201010271321362
20370.html)
Injected with at least 4.9 million barrels of oil during the BP oil disaster of last
summer, the Gulf has suffered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history.
Compounding the problem, BP has admitted to using at least 1.9 million gallons of
widely banned toxic dispersants (one that has been banned in the UK), which
according to chemist Bob Naman, create an even more toxic substance when mixed
with crude oil. And dispersed, weathered oil continues to flow ashore daily. Naman,
who works at the Analytical Chemical Testing Lab in Mobile, Alabama, has been carrying out studies to search for
the chemical markers of the dispersants BP used to both sink and break up its oil . According
to Naman,
poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from this toxic mix are making people sick. PAHs
contain compounds that have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. Fisherman
across the four states most heavily affected by the oil disaster - Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida - have reported seeing BP spray dispersants from
aircraft and boats offshore. "The dispersants are being added to the water and are
causing chemical compounds to become water soluble, which is then given off into
the air, so it is coming down as rain, in addition to being in the water and beaches
of these areas of the Gulf," Naman added. "Im scared of what I'm finding. These cyclic
compounds intermingle with the Corexit [dispersants] and generate other cyclic compounds that arent good. Many
This is an unprecedented environmental

catastrophe." Commercial fisherman Donny Matsler also lives in Alabama. "I was
with my friend Albert, and we were both slammed with exposure," Matsler explained
of his experience on August 5, referring to toxic chemicals he inhaled that he
believes are associated with BP's dispersants. "We both saw the clumps of white
bubbles on the surface that we know come from the dispersed oil." Gruesome
symptoms "I started to vomit brown, and my pee was brown also," Matsler, a
Vietnam veteran who lives in Dauphin Island, said. "I kept that up all day. Then I had
a night of sweating and non-stop diarrhea unlike anything Ive ever experienced."
He was also suffering from skin rashes, nausea, and a sore throat. At roughly the
same time Matsler was exposed, local television station WKRG News 5 took a water
sample from his area to test for dispersants. The sample literally exploded when it
was mixed with an organic solvent separating the oil from the water. Naman, the
have double bonds, and many are on the EPA's danger list.
chemist who analyzed the sample, said: "We think that it most likely happened due to the presence of either
methanol or methane gas or the presence of the dispersant Corexit." "I'm
still feeling terrible,"

Matsler told Al Jazeera recently. "I'm about to go to the doctor again right now. I'm
short of breathe, the diarrhea has been real bad, I still have discoloration in my
urine, and the day before yesterday, I was coughing up white foam with brown spots
in it." As for Matsler's physical reaction to his exposure, Hugh Kaufman, an EPA whistleblower and
analyst, has reported this of the effects of the toxic dispersants: "We have dolphins that are
hemorrhaging. People who work near it are hemorrhaging internally. And thats what
dispersants are supposed to do..." By the middle of last summer, the Alabama
Department of Public Health said that 56 people in Mobile and Baldwin counties had
sought treatment for what they believed were oil disaster-related illnesses. A
dispersed oil tar ball in Orange Beach, Alabama [Erika Blumenfeld] "The dispersants used
in BP's draconian experiment contain solvents such as petroleum distillates and 2-butoxyethanol," Dr. Riki Ott, a
toxicologist, marine biologist, and Exxon Valdez survivor, told Al Jazeera. "Solvents dissolve oil, grease, and
rubber," she continued, "Spill responders have told me that the hard rubber impellors in their engines and the soft
rubber bushings on their outboard motor pumps are falling apart and need frequent replacement." "Given
this evidence, it should be no surprise that solvents are also notoriously toxic to
people, something the medical community has long known," Dr. Ott added. "In
'Generations at Risk', medical doctor Ted Schettler and others warn that solvents
can rapidly enter the human body. They evaporate in air and are easily inhaled, they
penetrate skin easily, and they cross the placenta into fetuses. For example, 2butoxyethanol (in Corexit) is a human health hazard substance; it is a fetal toxin and
it breaks down blood cells, causing blood and kidney disorders." Pathways of
exposure to the dispersants are inhalation, ingestion, skin, and eye contact. Health
impacts include headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, chest pains,
respiratory system damage, skin sensitization, hypertension, central nervous
system depression, neurotoxic effects, genetic mutations, cardiac arrhythmia, and
cardiovascular damage. Even the federal government has taken precautions for its
employees. US military officials decided to reroute training flights in the Gulf region
in order to avoid oil and dispersant tainted-areas. Growing number of cases And
Al Jazeera is finding a growing number of illnesses across the Gulf Coast. Denise
Rednour of Long Beach, Mississippi, has been taking walks on Long Beach nearly
every day since the disaster began on April 20, and she is dealing with constant
health issues. "I've had health problems since the middle of July," she said. "At the
end of August, I came home from walking on the beach and for four days had
bloody, mucus-filled diarrhea, dry heaves, and blood running out of my ear." Karen
Hopkins, in Grand Isle, Louisiana, has been sick since the middle of May. "I started
feeling exhausted, disoriented, dizzy, nauseous, and my chest was burning and I
cant breath well at times," she said. Dean Blanchard, who runs a seafood distribution business in
Grand Isle, is Hopkins' boss. He too is experiencing similar symptoms. "They [BP] are using us like lab rats," he
explained, "I'm thinking of moving to Costa Rica. When I leave here I feel better. When I come back I feel bad again.
Feeling tired, coughing, sore throat, burning eyes, headaches, just like everyone around here feels." Lorrie
Williams of Ocean Springs says her son's asthma has "gotten exponentially worse since BP released all their oil and
dispersants into the Gulf." "A plane flew over our house recently and sprayed what I believe are dispersants. A
fine mist covered everything, and it smelled like pool chemicals. Noah is waking up unable to breath, and my
husband has head and chest congestion and burning eyes," Williams said. Like others, when Lorrie's family left
the area for a vacation, they immediately felt better. But upon coming home, their symptoms returned. Wilma
Subra, a chemist in New Iberia, Louisiana, recently tested the blood of eight BP cleanup workers and residents in
Alabama and Florida. "Ethylbenzene, m,p-Xylene and Hexane are volatile organic chemicals that are present in the
BP Crude Oil," Subra said, "The blood of all three females and five males had chemicals that are found in the BP
Crude Oil.
The acute impacts of these chemicals include nose and throat irritation,
coughing, wheezing, lung irritation, dizziness, light-headedness, nausea and
vomiting." Indications of exposure Subra explained that there has been long
enough exposure so as to create chronic impacts, that include "liver damage,
kidney damage, and damage to the nervous system. So the presence of these
chemicals in the blood indicates exposure." Testing by Subra has also revealed
PAHs present "in coastal soil sediment, wetlands, and in crab, oyster and mussel
tissues." Trisha Springstead, is a registered nurse of 36 years who lives and works
in Brooksville, Florida. "What I'm seeing are toxified people who have been
chemically poisoned," she said, "They have sore throats, respiratory problems,
neurological problems, lesions, sores, and ulcers. These people have been poisoned
and they are dying. Drugs arent going to help these people. They need to be
detoxed." Chemist Bob Naman described the brownish, rubbery tar balls that are a product of BP's dispersed
oil that continue to wash up on beaches across the Gulf: "Those are the ones kids are picking up and playing
with and breathing the fumes that come off them when you crush them in your hand. These will affect anyone who
comes into contact with it. You could have an open wound and this goes straight in. Women have a lot more open
mucus membranes and they are getting sicker than men. They are bleeding from their vagina and anus. Small kids
are bleeding from their ears.
This stuff is busting red blood cells." Dr Ott said: "People are
already dying from this Im dealing with three autopsies' right now. I dont think
well have to wait years to see the effects like we did in Alaska, people are dropping
dead now. I know two people who are down to 4.75 per cent of their lung capacity,
their heart has enlarged to make up for that, and their esophagus is disintegrating,
and one of them is a 16-year-old boy who went swimming in the Gulf."
Water Scarcity Cloud Seeding
1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government should
substantially increase its investment in cloud seeding
technology.
Cloud seeding more environmentally-safe and cost-efficient
than desalination
Daigneau, Managing editor at Governing, a national monthly
magazine whose subject area is state and local government in
the US, 2014
(Elizabeth,Dried Up and Maxed Out, California Tries to Make It Snow
http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-california-triesto-make-snow.html)
What to do when the rain wont come?
If youre California, you seed the clouds. At least

thats what water managers, utilities and ski-resort operators in the state are hoping to do this winter. 2013 was the
driest year on record for the Golden State. So officials there plan to spray silver iodide into the clouds in an effort to
squeeze every last possible snowflake out of them and replenish state water resources. Cloud seeding has been
around for almost 70 years now, since Vincent Schaefer, a self-taught chemist, dumped six pounds of dry ice into
the clouds over the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts in 1946, making them snow. The experiment led to
speculation that cloud seeding could fight drought, control storms, reduce hail and quench forest fires. Indeed,
today about 10 states, mostly in the West, have cloud-seeding operations to combat such conditions. In Arizona,
California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, cloud-seeders are hired to increase the snowpack. In
Kansas and Texas, they work to induce rain, and in North Dakota, they induce rain before the clouds can produce
Cloud seeding is the process of spreading either dry ice or more often
silver iodide into the upper part of clouds to try to stimulate the precipitation process
and form rain or snow. With the recent glut of extreme droughts, floods, forest fires and other adverse
crop-damaging hail.
weather conditions, interest in cloud seeding is growing. Jeff Tilley, director of weather modification at the Desert
Research Institute (DRI), part of the Nevada system of higher education, told the San Francisco radio station KQED
that the practice of cloud
the colloquial term for rocket-launching chemicals into clouds, accelerating the
creation of ice crystals that eventually become rain (China uses military aircraft too). This
meteorological enema isnt just handy for combating the countrys increasingly severe droughts and, supposedly, preventing hail.
Local governments use weather modification to clear away lingering billows of air pollution. + Chinas come a long way since
1958, when Russia brought cloud-seeding to the Middle Kingdom. Its now the most trigger-happy cloud-seeder in the world.
In
2011, China spent $150 million on a single regional artificial rain program ; its unclear how
much other local governments spend. The US, by comparison, spends around $15 million a year. It now creates 50 billion
tonnes (55 billion tons) of artificial rain a year. That compares seeding has become more and
more scientifically robust over the last 10 to 15 years. As a result, we now know much more about how to seed
clouds properly, he said, what techniques work under what conditions. But while the technology is better, there
is still a dearth of good evidence on whether cloud seeding really works, or what, if any, the long-term
There does seem to be a general consensus that cloud

seeding isnt harmful to the environment. The amount of silver iodide used is so
little, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that there is no
reason to fear any toxic effects. As for complaints that cloud seeding robs Peter to pay Paul: Weather
consequences are of altering nature.
experts say theres not a shred of evidence that shows cloud seeding affects snow and rainfall downwind of specific
areas. The biggest debate is over how much extra water cloud seeding actually generates. The DRI estimates that
cloud seeding produces about a 10 percent increase in snowpack. A 2013 report by the California Department of
Water Resources estimated an average snowpack increase of just 4 percent. That lack of certainty is one reason
why the weather modification world is eagerly awaiting the results of a Wyoming study to be completed later this
year. The state has invested $13 million since 2005 in a project to determine whether cloud seeding really increases
the amount of snowpack in several of the states mountain ranges. It is the first rigorous and comprehensive study
of the field, and many believe it will bring new credibility to cloud seeding. Similarly, Colorado recently asked cloudseeding programs in the state to do more stringent target and control evaluations, comparing seeded areas with
comparable geographic areas that arent targeted. Cloud seeding isnt a panacea for water woes, but its one of the
The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reports that building and
operating a desalination plant, for example, costs between $1,000 and $2,000
for every acre-foot of water it yields. Cloud seeding, on the other hand, yields
that same acre-foot of water for $5 to $15. But it is not the cheapest. In NRDCs magazine,
cheaper solutions.
OnEarth, senior policy analyst Robert Moore said, As it gets hotter and drier, efficient use of water is the cheapest
and most reliable way of making more of it available for future use, he said. In the energy world, the cheapest
kilowatt of electricity is the one you never have to generate. The same goes for water. The cheapest gallon of water
is the one you never take from the tap.
AND, its popular with the public

Travis, faculty member at the Center for Science and
Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado, 2010
(Willliam R., Geo-Engineering the Climate: Lessons from Purposeful Weather and
Climate Modification, online:
http://www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_3402_s07/Travis_geoen
gineering.pdf)
A flurry of peer reviewed studies occurred in the 1970s, when federally-supported weather modification was more common; but a survey of abstracts in
the Weather Modification Journal (annual publication of the Weather Modification Association, http://www.weathermodification.org/journal.htm) revealed no
perception or attitude studies over the last decade, despite the fact that literally dozens of cloud seeding projects operate year after year in many parts of
a sociologist asking people what

they thought of cloud seeding in 1971 while I was a student employee on NOAAs Florida Area Cumulus Experiment (FACE; see:
the country. Nevertheless, a small foundation of social science does exist; indeed, I first ran into
Woodley et al., 1977). Admittedly the project meteorologists did not think much of his efforts, believing that simply asking people about the project would
the results (also for Colorado and South Dakota projects) showed strong support for cloud
seeding (Haas, 1973). Haas made it a point to interview farmers who voiced concerns
about increased rainfall (mostly high-value vegetable growers), and even they mostly supported cloud
seeding. Ironically, when I asked sugarcane farmers in the seeding target area what they thought, some said that they already partly controlled the
bias them against it, but
rain by flooding their fields; they were little bothered by the federal governments cloud seeding. The most well-developed assessment was conducted in
Extensive surveys and other social analyses found

that a majority of the public, especially farmers, believed that the technology could
work and that its benefits would outweigh the costs. But the hail studies also asked urbanites what they
the 1970s for hail suppression (Changnon et al., 1978).
thought, and explored how cities might deal with extra rainfall (more car accidents). Despite the cloud seeders expectations that people would imagine all
sorts of negative effects, fears about unintended consequences and over-correction seem to have been relatively mild. Farhar2 (1975; 1977)
specifically examined residents worst fears, and concluded that the dominant concern in the hail project area was that regular hail suppression would
decrease rainfall (i.e., create permanent drought), a sensible worry based in the causal-chain that cloud seeders themselves had presented to locals. A
more demanding test of social acceptability came with the 1972 Rapid City flash flood, which occurred amidst a Bureau of Reclamation seeding program
was cited by some as causing the flood. Steinbergs (2000) study of the floods connection (real or imagined) to seeding, based on hearings and reviews
by the Bureau of Reclamation, found alarms raised by at least some proportion of the affected population, especially those at risk and those who feel that
Farhar (1976), based on surveys of residents before and

found that the perceived link between cloud seeding and the flash flood
had only a small effect on the strong support her surveys revealed for cloud seeding
in the area. So, there is indeed a history of asking whether the local inhabitants would
be in favor of such schemes, despite Flemings argument, and the answer, to my reading of the thin literature, is Yes. The simple
humans should not try to change nature or interfere in Gods will (Steinberg, 2000). But
after the flood,
persistence today of literally hundreds of cloud seeding projects in the U.S. and elsewhere suggests that despite anecdote and wary cloud seeders, no
implacable opposition has emerged. In the U.S. cloud seeding is especially popular in the West, and some dozens of seeding projects have been operated
in and around the Colorado River Basin since the 1960s, and 2 Farhar, as far as I can tell, has more experience studying public acceptance of purposeful
weather and climate modification than any other social scientist, and almost all this work was conducted before c.1980. She has made her extensive
weather modification files available for further research. 4 plans are underway for coordinated projects to run for the next quarter century in order to
deliver more water to the system (Peterson, 2007). One early project, winter seeding in the San Juan Mountains of SW Colorado (an effort originally under
U.S. Bureau of Reclamations Project Skywater) elicited a series of impact studies and hearings (perhaps the most at the inception of a major modification
project); concerns were raised about flooding and avalanche, and placated by a simple criterion: seeding would not occur if snowpacks were above normal
(when, of course, it is also less needed). Seeding in the area has run with little overt opposition off-and-on since then, with a hodgepodge of local, federal
Cloud seeding in Texas is so popular that local tax districts pay for it . Overall,
cloud seeding seems to evoke little negative response, and stakeholders from
farmers, to skiers, to water managers evince at least the hope that it can help. In many
and private funding.
ways the literature suggests that public perception of routine weather and climate modification leans toward the positive and credulous, perhaps even
toward an outsized sense of control over nature, a willingness to accept poorly-supported claims of effectiveness, and a belief that we can change
atmospheric systems quite dramatically, and for the better. Various engineering studies, white papers, and agency discussion documents about a
renewed, larger seeding effort to enhance runoff in the Colorado River (e.g., Griffith and Solak, 2006) suggest that such optimistic assessments run deep
cloud
seeding: application is relatively cheap compared to the benefits even of an effect (signal) that resides within, or just
barely rises above, the noise of weather variability . This applies to everything from snow pack augmentation to hurricane seeding (Sorkin, 1982, p. 95);
within professional water managers, too. And almost without exception a very positive benefit/cost ratio adheres to, and furthers,
even a small reduction in wind speed in a hurricane destined to cause billions of dollars of damage would pay off handsomely. Current estimates of
additional water in the Colorado River yield benefit/cost ratios of 4-1 to 60-1 (Peterson, 2007). Finally, cloud seeding is palliative, and called for to fix
weather and climate hazards. Cotton (2008), a cloud seeding veteran, finds that weather modification appeals to politicians wishing to do something
when local economies are threatened by weather problems, and the fields history is full of applied efforts called for by political and business leaders,
despite lack of evidence for effectiveness (this occurred in FACE when the governor asked NOAA for operational seeding in the 1971 drought; the scientists
were ambivalent but they agreed to seed without case-and-control randomization for two months before the experimental regimen was reinstated
(Woodley et al., 1971). Recent hurricane disasters have re-kindled interest in hurricane modification (Department of Homeland Security, 2008).
2NC
2NC: Water Scarcity Solvency

Cloud seeding is cost efficient and produces lots of water
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, 2011
(TDLR, HARVESTING THE TEXAS SKIES IN 2011 - A Summary of Rain Enhancement
(Cloud Seeding) Operations in Texas,
http://www.tdlr.texas.gov/weather/summary.htm)
Texas has a lengthy history of using cloud seeding to lessen the impact of periodic, often severe, droughts.
Numerous rainmaking efforts sprouted during the epic drought of the 1950s, and some continued into the 1960s,
giving impetus to the Texas Legislature to adopt a law, in 1967, governing the use of weather modification
technologies. In ensuing years, both the State and federal governments provided funds for both cloud seeding
With more substantive

evidence that cloud seeding, when performed in timely and appropriate ways, could
invigorate convective clouds, promoting their growth and capacity to produce
rainwater, a coordinated, State-funded program began in earnest in the latter half of the 1990s. Today, with
research and assessing the impact of commercial weather modification projects.
drought a pending, if not ever present, threat to the economy and well-being of Texans, rain enhancement projects
flourish within large areas of Northwest, West, and South Texas. In fact, the six cloud seeding projects today cover
about 26 million acres (or about one-seventh of the land area of the state). When drought was most intense and
widespread a decade ago, as many as 51 million acres were included in cloud seeding target areas in the state.
Texas present-day cloud seeding efforts are much more than well-considered responses to drought, however. They
are also concerted efforts, using the latest technological tools and understanding, to replenish fresh-water supplies
in aquifers and reservoirs as well as to help meet the growing needs of agriculture, industry, and municipalities for
Political subdivisions like water conservation districts and county

commissions have embraced the technology of rain enhancement as one element
of a long-term, water-management strategy designed to ensure a growing
population has enough water to meet its future needs. Each of the cloud seeding projects uses
fresh water.
specially-equipped aircraft designed to place seeding materials (in the form of pyrotechnic devices, or flares,
containing silver iodide and other compounds) into convective towers (turrets of growing thunderstorms) to induce
them to expand and process more atmospheric water. The seeding is achieved by burning flares either mounted on
the wings of single and twin-engine aircraft or held in racks, and dropped (ejected), from the underside of the
aircraft fuselage. Pilots in the aircraft are directed to convective clouds believed by the meteorologist to be
treatable with the seeding agent. Timing and targeting are the two critical factors in successful seeding of young
thunderstorms. The concerted efforts of both pilot(s) and meteorologist are designed to give the growing cloud a
nudge to enable it to be more efficient in the way it uses available cloud droplets to grow raindrops. Projects in
Texas As each of the rain enhancement projects became established in recent years, State matching funds were
allocated to the sponsoring groups to enable them to procure needed hardware such as specially-equipped aircraft
and ground-based radar systems.
Each project initially constructed its program, either

leasing or purchasing aircraft, at a cost of 8 to 9 cents per acre, with the State
assuming up to 4.5 cents of that cost. Eventually, the State share of the cost declined, such that
today no residual State funds are used to sustain these programs. From the time the State began paying in part for
the programs (1997) until State funds were exhausted (2004), the State contributed about $11.7 million. An
additional $1.5 million in State funds was spent during that time to assess the projects performance. No grant
funds are available now, and none will be for the coming biennium, which begins on September 1, 2013. In 2012,
the cloud-seeding season lasted 209 days, beginning on March 19 and continuing through October 13. Most (88
percent) of the total of 162 missions occurred from May through September. In all, a total of 353 individual
thunderstorms were treated. Each year an independent analyst, based in Lubbock at Texas Tech University, uses
Doppler weather radar data from the National Weather Service network to assess the impact of these rainenhancement projects on seasonal rainfall within the projects target areas. The analysis of cloud-seeding
operations conducted by these projects in 2012 showed that, on average, seeded thunderstorms lived 40 percent
longer than untreated storms in the vicinity and covered some 47 percent more area than the unseeded ones. Rain
output from seeded storms, on average, was more than double (124 percent more) than that from nearby untreated
Single, isolated thunderstorms that were seeded produced an estimated

190,959 acre-feet above and beyond what could have been expected without
storms.
intervention. More complex thunderstorm clusters that were seeded yielded an

estimated 1,326,307 additional acre-feet of rainwater. The cost to produce this
additional rainwater was estimated at less than $11 an acre-foot. The following is a
description, by project, of rain enhancement operations being conducted in 2013 in Texas.
AT: Cloud seeding isnt feasible

Cloud seeding is a real thing Australia proves
Macfarlane, staff reporter for Cosmos Magazine, 2009
(Melanie, Major study proves cloud seeding effective, online:
http://cosmosmagazine.com/news/major-study-proves-cloud-seeding-effective/)
A 45-year Australian trial is the best evidence yet that cloud seeding the practice of
artificially inducing clouds to make rain really works. Cloud seeding has been controversial, but a new 45-year
study seems to show it can cause a modest improvement in rainfall. Since the mid-20th century scientists have
attempted to produce rain by dispersing chemical substances into the clouds and stimulating precipitation.
until now, there has been little concrete scientific evidence that cloud
seeding is effective. This is the first time that an independent analysis of cloud seeding data over several
However,
decades has shown a statistically significant increase in rainfall, said Steven Siems, a meteorologist from Monash
University in Melbourne and leader of the study. The Monash team, in conjunction with renewable energy firm Hydro
Tasmania, analysed monthly rainfall patterns over the hydroelectric catchment area between May and October from
the analysis
revealed higher levels of rain in the parts of the catchment where the rain making
technique was used than in those where it was not . A number of independent
statistical tests showed a consistent increase of at least five per cent in monthly
rainfall over the catchment area, said Siems. For the cloud seeding technique, the researchers select
1960 until 2005. As they detailed in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
clouds using specialist weather radar technology that allows them to see all the tiny processes that take place
within them.
Once clouds for seeding are chosen, minute particles of a silver compound
are dusted into them by light aircraft to stimulate rain formation . Anthony Morrison, a
climatologist at Monash and co-author of the study, explained that these silver particles cause supercooled water in the clouds to freeze. As these particular clouds are so high in the atmosphere that
they are below freezing point, the frozen drops recruit water and get heavier causing them to fall from the clouds as
rain. However, the researchers caution that the result may be due to the unique clouds in this part of Tasmania and
would be difficult to reproduce elsewhere. Clouds over the Southern Ocean are different to any other clouds,
Siems told Cosmos Online. They are really loaded with super cool liquid water. Just as important, he said, is the
remoteness of the location: the air in the Southern Ocean is exceptionally clean with virtually no pollution. And
the researchers are still at a loss to precisely explain how the technique was successful. Theyre really not
comparable to clouds that have been seeded anywhere else in the world, said Morrison. Further field
measurements of cloud microphysics over the region are needed to provide a physical basis for these statistical
results. Despite the caveats, other experts are excited by the results. At
long last there is scientific

backup for the [cloud seeding] hypothesis that has been suggested over the years ,
commented Roger Stone, director of the Australian Centre for Sustainable Catchments at the University of Southern
Queensland in Toowoomba. However, while the study is a breakthrough, he noted that cloud seeding does not work
in all locations and specific techniques have to be developed for each region. For example, in Queensland the
conditions are highly different. It has to be the right time and exactly the right cloud for it to work, he said. The
key is to get a very good weather radar. Let it snow Paul Johnson, a spokesperson from Snowy Hydro, who are
conducting similar experiments to artificial induce snowfall in Victorias Snowy Mountains, said the results were
promising. Its another indicator that supports our preliminary data and backs up what the experts said in the
beginning. That we would see an increase in snow. Because of the unusual nature of the Tasmanian clouds,
additional studies may be needed to determine if the cloud seeding really was the cause of the increase in rainfall.
Unfortunately, very little cloud physics research has been associated with the cloud seeding experiment in
Tasmania, so that we are at the full mercy of the statistics, commented Daniel Rosenfeld, a climatologist from
Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Clouds do not distinguish between the impacts of aerosols based on our
intentions when we disperse them, he said. Therefore, understanding cloud seeding and impacts of air pollution is
inseparable. Pollution effects Rosenfeld has previously worked on computer models of weather systems to
understand the effects of cloud manipulation, and he admitted it is difficult to directly link cloud seeding with
weather patterns. It has been much easier to detect impacts of air pollution, because we pollute the clouds at a
much grander scale than we seed them intentionally, he said. Siems said the new study may have wider
implications. He hopes the research highlights the importance of weather radar technology and will pave the way
for a better understanding of weather patterns. The
more we understand precipitation and the

better climate models we have, the closer we will be to understanding droughts , he
said, a significant problem in Australia.
AT: Environment DA
Cloud seeding has little to no effect on the environment
California Department of Water Resources, 2009
(CDWR, Precipitation Enhancement, online:
http://www.waterplan.water.ca.gov/docs/cwpu2009/0310final/v2c10_precipenhance_
cwp2009.pdf)
Questions about potential unintended impacts from precipitation enhancement have

been raised and addressed over the years. Common concerns relate to downwind effects
(enhancing precipitation in one area at the expense of those downwind), long-term toxic effects of silver, and
added snow removal costs in mountain counties.
The US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) did
extensive studies on these issues.
The finding is reported in its Project Skywater programmatic

environmental statement in 1977 and its Sierra Cooperative Pilot Project environmental impact statement in
The available evidence does not show that seeding clouds with silver iodide
causes a decrease in downwind precipitation; in fact, at times some of the increase
of the target area may extend up to 100 miles downwind. The potential for
eventual toxic effects of silver has not been shown to be a problem. Silver and
silver compounds have a rather low order of toxicity. According to USBR, the small
amounts used in cloud seeding do not compare to industry emissions of 100 times
as much into the atmosphere in many parts of the country or individual exposure
from tooth fillings. Watershed concentrations would be extremely low because only
small amounts of seeding agent are used. Accumulations in the soil, vegetation,
and surface runoff have not been large enough to measure above natural
background. A 2004 study done for Snowy Hydro Limited in Australia has confirmed the earlier findings cited
1981.
above. Some recent silver accumulation testing by PG&E on the Mokelumne River and Lake Almanor watersheds
was reported at the 2007 annual meeting of the Weather Modification Association. Both watersheds have been
seeded for more than 50 years. Sampling at Upper Blue Lake and Salt Springs Reservoir showed very low to
nondetectable concentrations in water and sediment. Similar results were found at Lake Almanor in testing water,
sediment, and fish samples during the 2000 to 2003 period. Amounts were far below any toxic levels, and there
continued operations should not result in any

significant chronic effect on sensitive aquatic organisms . In regard to snow removal, little
was little to suggest bioaccumulation. Therefore,
direct relationship to increased costs was found for small incremental changes in storm size because the amount of
equipment and manpower to maintain the roadway is essentially unchanged. That is, the effort is practically the
same to clear a road of 5.5 inches as it is to clear 5 inches. All operating projects have suspension criteria designed
to stop cloud seeding any time there is a flood threat. Moreover, the types of storms that produce large floods are
naturally quite efficient in processing moisture into rain anyway. In such conditions, seeding is unlikely to make a
difference.
Cloud seeding does not cause destructive storms and flooding

Poppick, staff writer for Live Science, 2013
(Laura, Cloud Seeding Not to Blame for Colorado Flooding, online:
http://www.livescience.com/39683-cloud-seeding-not-to-blame.html)
Colorado's recent massive flooding, which has left hundreds of people unaccounted
for, has been called an anomalous 100- or even 1,000-year event by the scientific
community. Such floods have a 1 percent and 0.1 percent chance of occurring, respectively, during any given
year. While those odds make them rare events, they are the result of natural larger-scale weather and climate
patterns, with perhaps an assist from climate change. Still, some Internet users have voiced alternative views,
suggesting that the destructive rainstorms were more directly human-induced, the result of Colorado's cloud-
Cloud seeding, in which tiny silver iodide particles are sprayed into clouds to provide a core
falls within the Colorado Weather Modification Program that
is overseen by the Colorado Water Conservation Board and is used primarily by ski
resorts to increase the snowpack during the winter . The program which has been
reported to increase the snowpack by 10 to 15 percent each year remains
controversial among those concerned about the unknown repercussions of
manipulating weather in this way. [Colorado Flood Photos: 100-Year Storm] But Andrew Heymsfield,
seeding program.
for ice crystals to form around,
senior research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., (which was shut down
there is no scientific basis for the argument that cloud seeding

could have caused the recent destructive storms. "You would have to be seeding over massive
areas continuously for this to happen," Heymsfield told LiveScience. " You cannot create the
precipitation we had by cloud seeding. There is no way that man can do that." Aside
by the floods) says that
from being physically unfeasible on the scale that the storms occurred, Heymsfield said, cloud seeding in Colorado
also takes place predominately in the western part of the state, where the large ski resorts are located. The weather
system responsible for the flooding blew northward from the south, further ruling out any association with cloud
seeding in the western part of the state, Heymsfield said. Even if the weather modification program were able to
produce the storms that occurred within the past week, they would not be doing so at this time of year, since few, if
any, ski resorts have begun cloud seeding this early in the season, Heymsfield said.
Cloud seeding is safe and has no harmful effects

Weather Modification Association, 2009
(WMA, WEATHER MODIFICATION ASSOCIATION (WMA) POSITION STATEMENT ON
THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF USING SILVER IODIDE AS A CLOUD
SEEDING AGENT, online:
http://www.weathermodification.org/images/AGI_toxicity.pdf)
The Weather Modification Association (WMA) is occasionally asked to comment on questions regarding the
environmental effects of silver iodide aerosols used in cloud seeding, which include silver iodide aerosol complexes
Silver iodide is the primary component of silver iodidebased ice-nucleating complexes used in cloud seeding , and all these complexes will be referred
to as silver iodide (AgI) in this statement. The published scientific literature clearly shows no
environmentally harmful effects arising from cloud seeding with silver iodide
aerosols have been observed; nor would they be expected to occur . Based on this work,
the WMA finds that silver iodide is environmentally safe as it is currently being
dispensed during cloud seeding programs.
such as silver iodide-silver chloride.
AT: Links to Politics

Cloud seeding is popular at times of water scarcity aka now
Young, staff reporter at the Associated Press, 2009
(Samantha, Governments turn to cloud seeding to fight droughts, online:
http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2009/12/11/governments-turn-to-cloudseeding-to-fight-drought)
On a mountaintop clearing in the Sierra Nevada stands a tall metal platform holding a crude furnace and a box of
silver iodide solution that some scientists believe could help offer relief from searing droughts. This is a cloudseeding machine designed to increase rainfall by spraying a chemical vapor into the clouds. Under the right
Faced with water

shortages, growing populations and the threat that climate change could make
matters worse, governments around the globe have increasingly turned to cloud
seeding in an attempt to wring more rain and snow from the sky . But the efforts are
conditions, it can help water droplets grow heavy, coalesce and fall to the ground.
threatened by budget cuts in states struggling to begin an economic recovery and by critics who insist the
technique is unproven and might pose a threat to the environment. " When
there is a drought in a
particular country, they start looking at alternative sources of freshwater, and
cloudy air is one source," said Duncan Axisa, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in
Boulder, Colo., who supports expanding cloud-seeding research. Government agencies and utilities
from California to North Dakota spend an estimated $15 mil]lion a year on cloud
seeding, and the number of projects has jumped by nearly a third in the last decade .
But spending in the United States is far lower than in many other countries. China spends an estimated $100 million
a year on cloud-seeding efforts that include using anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers to blast the sky with silver
iodide. "What's going on in the U.S. is tiny," said Arlen Huggins, an associate research scientist at the Desert
Research Institute in Reno, Nev. "There's more being done outside the U.S. than here." Other countries conducting
cloud-seeding research include Australia, France, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Venezuela. In the U.S., utilities
They say it is a cost-effective

way to increase limited water supplies by 10 percent or more. Cloud seeding is also
used in Texas and the Midwest to make hail smaller, reducing crop damage. Lack of
federal funding has not stopped dozens of other cloud-seeding projects run by
public agencies and private enterprise . In 2008, 63 projects in nine states were
reported to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. That's up from 48 a decade
that run hydroelectric dams are among the most active cloud seeders.
ago. California officials estimate that cloud seeding throughout the Sierra Nevada could produce another 300,000 to
400,000 acre-feet of water annually. An acre-foot is about enough water to supply a typical household for a year.
And proponents say cloud seeding is far cheaper than building a new dam or running ocean water through a
desalination plant. But finding money for the projects in a rough economy is a challenge. Oklahoma, Texas and
Nevada have cut money for cloud-seeding projects, so many advocates of cloud seeding are now seeking federal
funding, which was halted 14 years ago. Legislation to restore federal funding has stalled several times in Congress.
Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas introduced a $25 million bill that was passed by a Senate committee
the government
funneled money to states conducting research, "we think we can pile up the
evidence that the seeding we're doing is having a pronounced, profound effect, " said
in May, but it is unclear when the measure might be taken up in the full Senate. If
Texas state meteorologist George Bomar. The request for federal help has also renewed a debate about the
The National Research Council in 2003 found there was no convincing

evidence to prove the technique works, but the panel's scientists acknowledged the potential
and encouraged more study. "I think there's more science necessary to understand what conditions it will
effectiveness of cloud seeding.
work in and what won't work," said Roelof Bruintjes, a weather-modification expert at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. He was one of the authors of the 2003 report. Cloud-seeding proponents
cite data from several states: - In the northern Sierra Nevada, where Pacific Gas & Electric has operated cloud
seeders since 1953, the utility says data going back four decades show the area has received 5 percent more snow
on average than before. - In North Dakota, records indicate that between 4 and 14 percent more rain has fallen in
areas subject to cloud seeding, according to the state's Atmospheric Resource Board. Scientists say weather
conditions must be right for cloud seeding to work. In the Sierra Nevada, if passing storm clouds are cold enough, a
meteorologist in San Francisco uses a radio signal to turn on PG&E's mountaintop cloud seeder. The invisible silver
iodide vapor is carried by the wind into the clouds, and it can begin to snow within 15 to 30 minutes. Clouds can
also be seeded by airplanes equipped to release the vapor. Questions have been raised about the environmental
effects, including whether the silver iodide solution used to stimulate snow harms water supplies. Silver iodide is a
salt that does not dissolve in water. It's a concern for some residents of a rural Northern California county where
PG&E plans to install seven, 20-foot-tall generators for cloud seeding. "We trust natural systems to regulate our
atmosphere themselves," said Angelina Cook, who sits on the board of directors of the nonprofit McCloud
Watershed Council in Siskiyou County. "We feel like tampering with meteorology results in more damaging
consequences than the benefits derived." The Weather Modification Association, which has a board comprised of
federal researchers and program operators, published a study last summer concluding that years of research have
Colorado has doubled its state and

local spending on cloud seeding over the last 10 years to about $700,000 a year. In
shown no "environmentally harmful effects" from silver iodide.
2005, Wyoming lawmakers committed nearly $9 million to a five-year project to determine whether the technology
Cloud-seeding supporters say federal research funding would not only validate
the system but lead to improvements in techniques . "We want to chip away at changes in
works.
climate change now and do a good job at augmenting our precipitation now," said Joe Busto, who sits on the North
American Interstate Weather Modification Council, a group of regulators from 10 states organized to promote cloud
seeding.
Cloud seeding is popular droughts motivate support

Schoch, staff writer for the LA Times, 2008
(Deborah, Clouding the issue of drought, online:
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/16/local/me-seeding16)
Hoping to wring water from the skies, a parched Los Angeles County plans to launch
an $800,000 cloud-seeding project in the San Gabriel Mountains that officials believe will boost rainfall and raise the levels of
local reservoirs. The project, which will rely on injecting clouds with silver iodide particles, has won county supervisors' backing and is slated to begin this
winter. "We're basically coaxing Mother Nature to give us 15% more rain than there would be otherwise," said county civil engineer William Saunders. He
said the county did seeding for several decades, beginning in the 1950s. This time, officials decided to resume the program after a seven-year lapse
With California gripped by dry

weather and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declaring a statewide drought, cloud-seeding is attracting both fresh
attention and skeptics. Critics throughout the West have long dismissed seeding as a dubious technological rain dance. They worry it
caused by concerns over mudslides in some mountain areas ravaged by brush fires.
can trigger landslides, such as the deadly one in the San Gabriel foothills 30 years ago. Some water experts, including Peter Gleick at the nonprofit Pacific
Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Oakland, believe public funds would be better spent promoting proven water-conservation measures, such as low-
It's a bit of a sign of desperation
flow toilets. "

," Gleick said. "They've been doing cloud seeding for decades, but we've never
clearly been able to show if it's what we've done or what nature has provided." That's because researchers who try to prove seeding's efficacy face unique
roadblocks. Rain forms in nature, not in a laboratory, and scientists can't very well seed one cloud and leave another one unseeded as a "control cloud."
Also, cloud behavior varies widely. "To have them be in the right place at the right time, that's where it gets really complicated," said scientist Daniel W.
Breed, who studies cloud physics and precipitation at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a federally funded center in Boulder, Colo. When
county public works officials estimate that seeding will increase rain 15%, for instance, they're depending on a 36-year-old county analysis that compares
rainfall from a decade of seeding with rainfall during the previous 20 years. The National Academy of Sciences released a report in 2003 calling cloud
seeding unproven and urged more thorough study. But federal money is scarce, and the most significant studies today are happening in the Mideast and
elsewhere overseas, often conducted by U.S. scientists. "It's something that I wish there were more good hard research on," said Maury Roos, the state's
chief hydrologist. "I think there's something to it. The question is, how much, versus how much is it going to cost?" Yet the phones are ringing at the offices
of so-called weather modification firms that use airplanes or ground-based generators to spray silver iodide above mountains and watersheds, typically on
contract to public agencies. Santa Barbara County water officials swear by the practice; so does a Monterey County water agency. Electric utilities have
used it regularly in the Sierra Nevada. Even some cities in the bone-dry Southeast United States are investigating the approach. "In a drought, that's when
we get the majority of calls," said Don Griffin, president of North American Weather Consultants Inc., the firm the county is hiring, based in Sandy, Utah.
"When there's above-average precipitation, people don't think about it." Ironically, a drought can be the worst time to try cloud seeding because clouds
are scarce, and the technique works best in a normal year, when it is believed to entice more raindrops from rain clouds, Breed said. For years, companies
such as Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric seeded clouds in winter over the Sierra Nevada to boost snow runoff that feeds hydroelectric
plants. Until recently, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power seeded in the Eastern Sierra, a major source of city water. What sets the San
Gabriel Mountains project apart from those programs is its proximity to urban areas. The county plans to target the watersheds of five reservoirs -Pacoima, Big Tujunga, Cogswell, San Gabriel and Morris -- high above the communities of the San Gabriel Valley. While many think of airplanes seeding
clouds, the county plans to use ground-based generators, another common method. The generators will be placed along the base of the San Gabriels and
will use flares or propane burners to spray particles. Flares would be used only during winter rains, not during fire season, said Diego Cadena, deputy
director of the county Department of Public Works. Rain and snow are created when ice nuclei in clouds swell from water in the air, create ice crystals and
fall to earth. During seeding, silver oxide particles are supposed to act like a proxy for ice nuclei. Since their structure resembles that of ice crystals, the
theory goes that spraying particles into clouds will mean more crystals and eventually more rain and snow. In the San Gabriels, rainwater will be collected
in the reservoirs and transferred to spreading basins. There it will percolate into aquifers and later be pumped for public use. The county did cloud seeding
over the San Gabriels in the 1960s and '70s but killed the program after a February 1978 storm caused major flooding in Big Tujunga Canyon near
Sunland-Tujunga. Eleven people died in the storm and subsequent landslides, with damage estimated at $43 million. Dozens of people sued the county,
alleging that seeding a day before the storm worsened its impact and that the uncertainty of the science made seeding dangerous. Although the county
prevailed in all the suits, its attorneys remained leery 13 years later when public works officials proposed restarting the program. The county counsel's
office warned at the time that "cloud seeding immediately adjacent to the second largest metropolitan area in the nation involves potential risks of very
substantial liability." Even so, the county resumed seeding in 1991 after requiring North American Weather Consultants to take out a $10-million insurance
policy. The 1978 cloud seeding occurred in the San Gabriel watershed, not where the flooding occurred, Cadena said Friday. He has requested that an
upcoming environmental review include a study of potential flooding and whether more insurance was needed. The review will also look at the effects, if
any, of silver iodide entering water supplies. Seeding was halted again in 2002 after the Curve and Williams fires burned parts of the San Gabriel
watershed, prompting concerns about landslides. But the burn area has recovered to the point that seeding can resume, officials said. Cadena said that
although the county is a strong supporter of conservation, funding low-flow toilets -- as Gleick suggested -- is better done by water supply agencies. He
funded seeding is timely. "With everything that is going on today, and the
potential for cutoffs of water coming from up north, we're looking at every source of
water," he said.
said county-
AT: Economy DA
Cloud seeding yields many economic benefits
Langerud, Division Director for the Atmospheric Resource
Board, 2009
(Darin, Cloud Seeding Has Big Economic Impacts, online:
http://www.swc.nd.gov/4dlink9/4dcgi/GetSubContentPDF/PB-1950/Jun09.pdf)
The economic impact of rainfall enhancement from cloud seeding was evaluated at two intervals: 5 and 10 percent.
In the 5
percent scenario, the value of increased crop production is estimated to yield $8.4
million annually, while in the 10 percent scenario the value of increased production
is estimated to yield $16 million annually. The analysis of hail reduction or hail suppression shows
These two numbers reflect the long-term evaluations of the NDCMPs ability to increase rainfall.
the average crop value saved through cloud seeding is $3.7 million per year. Including hail suppression benefits, the
total direct impact in the 5 percent rainfall scenario is $12 million annually, while the total direct impact in the 10
These results yield a benefitto-cost ratio, based on

anticipated 2009 project costs, of 16 to 1 for the 5 percent scenario, and 26 to 1
under the 10 percent scenario. From a producers perspective, the direct economic value of cloud 18
percent scenario is $19.7 million.
seeding, averaged across the NDCMP counties, is estimated to range from $5.16 to $8.41 per planted acre, said
study author Dean Bangsund. Those
values represent a meaningful boost in revenues to

producers. Total Impacts for the NDCMP Under the 5 percent rainfall scenario, total direct impacts from the
NDCMP were estimated to average $12 million annually. This additional net revenue
would generate secondary economic activity of $25 million annually, resulting in
gross business volume of over $37 million, or $15.87 per planted acre. In the 10 percent
rainfall scenario, total direct impacts from the NDCMP were estimated to average $19.7 million annually. This
additional net revenue would generate secondary economic activity of $40.9 million
annually, resulting in gross business volume of $60.5 million, or $25.89 per planted acre.
AT: Weather Warfare DA

Weather warfare wont happen the UN has banned it
Chussudovsky, Director of the Centre for Research on
Globalization, 2009
(Michel, Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD) and Climate Change,
online: http://www.globalresearch.ca/environmental-modification-techniques-enmodand-climate-change/16413)
The term environmental modification techniques refers to any technique for changing through the deliberate
manipulation of natural processes the dynamics, composition or structure of the Earth, including its biota,
lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, or of outer space. (Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other
Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques, United Nations, Geneva: 18 May 1977) Environmental
warfare is defined as the intentional modification or manipulation of the natural ecology, such as climate and
weather, earth systems such as the ionosphere, magnetosphere, tectonic plate system, and/or the triggering of
seismic events (earthquakes) to cause intentional physical, economic, and psycho-social, and physical destruction
to an intended target geophysical or population location, as part of strategic or tactical war. (Eco News) [Weather
modification] offers the war fighter a wide range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary Weather
modification will become a part of domestic and international security and could be done unilaterally It could have
offensive and defensive applications and even be used for deterrence purposes. The ability to generate
precipitation, fog and storms on earth or to modify space weather and the production of artificial weather all are a
part of an integrated set of [military] technologies. (US Air Force document AF 2025 Final Report) World leaders
are meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009 with a view to reaching an agreement on Global Warming. The
debate on Climate Change focuses on the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and measures to reduce manmade
CO2 emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. The underlying consensus is that greenhouse gas emissions constitute
the sole cause of climate instability. Neither the governments nor the environmental action groups, have raised the
issue of weather warfare or environmental modification techniques (ENMOD). for military use. Despite a vast
body of scientific knowledge, the issue of climatic manipulations for military use has been excluded from the UN
agenda on climate change. John von Neumann noted at the height of the Cold War (1955), with tremendous
foresight that: Intervention in atmospheric and climatic matters .will unfold on a scale difficult to imagine at
present [T]his will merge each nations affairs with those of every other, more thoroughly than the threat of a
nuclear or any other war would have done. (Quoted in Spencer Weart, Environmental Warfare: Climate Modification
an international Convention was ratified

by the UN General Assembly which banned military or other hostile use of
environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe
effects. (AP, 18 May 1977). Both the US and the Soviet Union were signatories to the
Convention. Guided by the interest of consolidating peace, and of saving
mankind from the danger of using new means of warfare , () Recognizing that
military use of such [environmental modification techniques] could have effects extremely
harmful to human welfare, Desiring to prohibit effectively military use of
environmental modification techniques in order to eliminate the dangers to
mankind. and affirming their willingness to work towards the achievement of this
objective, () Each State Party to this Convention undertakes not to engage in military use of
environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe
effects as the means of destruction, damage or injury to any other State Party .
Schemes, Global Research, December 5, 20090 In 1977,
(Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques, United
The
Convention defined environmental modification techniques as referring to any
technique for changingthrough the deliberate manipulation of natural processes
the dynamics, composition or structure of the earth, including its biota, lithosphere,
hydrosphere and atmosphere or of outer space. (Environmental Modification Ban Faithfully
Nations, Geneva, May 18, 1977. Entered into force: 5 October 1978, see full text of Convention in Annex)
Observed, States Parties Declare, UN Chronicle, July, 1984, Vol. 21, p. 27) The substance of the 1977 Convention
was reasserted in very general terms in the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) signed at the
1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro: States have in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the
principles of international law, the () responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do
not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. (UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change, New York, 1992) Following the 1992 Earth Summit, the issue of Climate
Change for military use was never raised in subsequent climate change summits and venues under the auspices of
the UNFCCC. The issue was erased, forgotten. It is not part of the debate on climate change. In February 1998,
however, the European Parliaments Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense Policy held public hearings
in Brussels on the U.S based weather warfare facility developed under the HAARP program. The Committees
Motion for Resolution submitted to the European Parliament: Considers HAARP.[The High Frequency Active
Auroral Research Program based in Alaska].. by virtue of its far-reaching impact on the environment to be a global
concern and calls for its legal, ecological and ethical implications to be examined by an international independent
body; [the Committee] regrets the repeated refusal of the United States Administration to give evidence to the
public hearing into the environmental and public risks [of] the HAARP program. (European Parliament,
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense Policy, Brussels, doc. no. A4-0005/99, 14 January 1999). The
Committees request to draw up a Green Paper on the environmental impacts of military activities, however,
was casually dismissed on the grounds that the European Commission lacked the required jurisdiction to delve into
the links between environment and defense. Brussels was anxious to avoid a showdown with Washington. (see
European Report, 3 February 1999). In 2007, The Daily Express reported following the release and declassification
of British government papers from the National Archives that: The
[declassified] documents reveal

that both the US, which led the field, and the Soviet Union had secret military
programmes with the goal of controlling the worlds climate . By the year 2025 the
United States will own the weather, one scientist is said to have boasted.
These claims are dismissed by sceptics as wild conspiracy theories and the stuff of James
Bond movies but there is growing evidence that the boundaries between science fiction and fact are becoming
increasingly blurred. The Americans now admit that they invested L12million over five years during the Vietnam war
on cloud seeding deliberately creating heavy rainfall to wash away enemy crops and destroy supply routes on
the Ho Chi Minh trail, in an operation codenamed Project Popeye. It is claimed that rainfall was increased by a third
in targeted areas, making the weather-manipulation weapon a success. At the time, government officials said the
region was prone to heavy rain. (Weather War?, Daily Express, July 16, 2007) The possibility of climatic or
environmental manipulations as part of a military agenda, while formally acknowledged by official government
documents and the US military, has never been considered relevant to the Climate debate. Military analysts are
mute on the subject. Meteorologists are not investigating the matter, and environmentalists are strung on global
warming and the Kyoto protocol. The HAARP Program The High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program
(HAARP) based in Gokona, Alaska, has been in existence since 1992. It is part of a new generation of sophisticated
weaponry under the US Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Operated by the Air Force Research Laboratorys Space
Vehicles Directorate, HAARP constitutes a system of powerful antennas capable of creating controlled local
modifications of the ionosphere [upper layer of the atmosphere]: HAARP has been presented to public opinion as
a program of scientific and academic research. US military documents seem to suggest, however, that HAARPs
main objective is to exploit the ionosphere for Department of Defense purposes. (See Michel Chossudovsky, The
Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction: Owning the Weather for Military Use, Global Research, September 27,
2004 Without explicitly referring to the HAARP program, a US Air Force study points to the use of induced
ionospheric modifications as a means of altering weather patterns as well as disrupting enemy communications
and radar. (Ibid) HAARP also has the ability of triggering blackouts and disrupting the electricity power system of
entire regions: Rosalie Bertell, president of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health, says HAARP
operates as a gigantic heater that can cause major disruptions in the ionosphere, creating not just holes, but long
incisions in the protective layer that keeps deadly radiation from bombarding the planet. Physicist Dr Bernard
Eastlund called it the largest ionospheric heater ever built. HAARP is presented by the US Air Force as a research
programme, but military documents confirm its main objective is to induce ionospheric modifications with a view
to altering weather patterns and disrupting communications and radar. According to a report by the Russian State
Duma: The US plans to carry out large-scale experiments under the HAARP programme [and] create weapons
capable of breaking radio communication lines and equipment installed on spaceships and rockets, provoke serious
accidents in electricity networks and in oil and gas pipelines, and have a negative impact on the mental health of
entire regions. Weather manipulation is the pre-emptive weapon par excellence. It can be directed against enemy
countries or friendly nations without their knowledge, used to destabilise economies, ecosystems and agriculture.
It can also trigger havoc in financial and commodity markets. The disruption in agriculture creates a greater
dependency on food aid and imported grain staples from the US and other Western countries. (Michel
Chossudovsky, Weather Warfare: Beware the US militarys experiments with climatic warfare, The Ecologist,
December 2007) An analysis of statements emanating from the US Air Force points to the unthinkable: the covert
manipulation of weather patterns, communications systems and electric power as a weapon of global warfare,
enabling the US to disrupt and dominate entire regions of the World. According to an official US Air force report
Aff Cloud Seeding
No Solvency
Cloud seeding doesnt solve, doesnt increase rainfall and is
just as expensive
Tel Aviv University, hosted on phys.org, 2010
(Time for a rain dance? Research finds 'cloud seeding' doesn't produce rain,
http://phys.org/news/2010-11-cloud-seeding-doesnt.html)
In many areas of the world, including California's Mojave Desert, rain is a precious and rare resource. To encourage
rainfall, scientists use "cloud seeding," a weather modification process designed to increase precipitation amounts
research now reveals that the common practice of

cloud seeding with materials such as silver iodide and frozen carbon dioxide may
not be as effective as it had been hoped. In the most comprehensive reassessment
of the effects of cloud seeding over the past fifty years, new findings from Prof. Pinhas
Alpert, Prof. Zev Levin and Dr. Noam Halfon of Tel Aviv University's Department of Geophysics
and Planetary Sciences have dispelled the myth that seeding is an effective
mechanism for precipitation enhancement. The findings were recently reported in Atmospheric
Research. Throwing seeds into the wind During the course of his study, Prof. Alpert and his colleagues looked
over fifty years' worth of data on cloud seeding , with an emphasis on the effects of seeding on
rainfall amounts in a target area over the Sea of Galilee in the north of Israel. The research team used a
comprehensive rainfall database and compared statistics from periods of seeding and
non-seeding, as well as the amounts of precipitation in adjacent non-seeded areas.
by dispersing chemicals into the clouds. But
"By comparing rainfall statistics with periods of seeding, we were able to show that increments of rainfall happened
by chance," says Prof. Alpert. "For
the first time, we were able to explain the increases in

rainfall through changing weather patterns" instead of the use of cloud seeding.
Most notable was a six year period of increased rainfall, originally thought to be a
product of successful cloud seeding. Prof. Alpert and his fellow researchers showed
that this increase corresponded with a specific type of cyclones which are consistent
with increased rainfall over the mountainous regions. They observed that a similarly significant
rain enhancement over the Judean Mountains, an area which was not the subject of seeding. The researchers
concluded that changing weather patterns were responsible for the higher amount of precipitation during these
years. Their research method may be useful in the investigation of cloud seeding in the U.S. and other regions.
Despite being relatively expensive, there are more than 80 cloud

seeding projects around the world, according to a recent World Meteorological Organization report. In
Considering the alternatives
Beijing, China, for example, Prof. Alpert notes, a large amount of chemical particles were introduced to the clouds to
inhibit precipitation a process called "overseeding" to limit rainfall during the 2008 Olympics. Seeding is also
used in the Sierra Mountains of California and in Wyoming to try to increase precipitation in the mountains, thus
there is no proof that this method is

successful. The only probable place where cloud seeding could be successful, Alpert
says, is when seeding is performed on orographic clouds, which develop over
mountains and have a short lifespan . In this type of cloud, seeding could serve to accelerate the
increasing water levels in reservoirs. However, he says,
formation of precipitation.
Cloud seeding requires precise conditions, cant solve intl

water scarcity
Moseman, staff writer for Scientific American, 2009
(Andrew, Does cloud seeding work?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cloud-seeding-china-snow/)
At long last, it snowed in northern China. The first snow of the year came to Hebei, the northern province
surrounding Beijing. In the Chinese capital, it was the first real bout of precipitation since last October. The blizzard
caused 12 area highways around Beijing to close. Travel inconveniences aside, the blast of moisture was more than
welcome in China, which is suffering through its worst drought in decades. Earlier this week, government officials
announced that even the country's massive water projects, like the North-South Water Transfer Project, couldn't
hope to deal with future shortagesthe country would have to cut back its demand as well. It should come as no
surprise, then, that the Chinese government wanted to claim a little credit for the good weather fortune, and they
have. Officials said their cloud-seeding program directly caused the snowstorm. Engineers blasted more than 400
cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide into the sky shortly before the storm, and a senior engineer told Reuters that it
was "a procedure that made the snow a lot heavier." Cloud seeding and other weather-modification schemes have
been around for years. But how do they work? And can you really claim that cloud seeding caused a particular
storm? We asked cloud-seeding expert Arlen Huggins, associate research scientist in the division of atmospheric
sciences at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nev., to give us some answers. [An edited transcript of the
interview follows.] Tell us a little about the basics of cloud seeding. Clouds, whether in summer or winter, are not
perfectly efficient at producing precipitation. There's some part of a storm that's much less than 100 percent
efficient in turning clouds into precipitation. In winter, the problem is that there aren't sufficient ice crystals. If
droplets fall in liquid form they generally evaporate. The idea is to add ice-forming particles. Why silver iodide? One
thing people discovered early on is that the structure is very similar to that of ice. The lattice structure at the
molecular level is very, very close. We think that's why ice wants to bond to it. When did scientists get serious
about experimenting with cloud seeding? I think it was the day after they finished the experiments in the lab
[chuckles]. The initial discoveries were in the 1940s, with substances like silver iodide. It was a short period before
they started trying to affect larger systems, without much success. Wasn't Kurt Vonnegut's brother one of the lead
scientists in the 1940s? Yeah, Bernard Vonnegut. [Editor's note: Bernard Vonnegut, the older brother of the late
novelist Kurt, uncovered silver iodide's weather-modifying properties as a researcher for General Electric in 1946.
He later taught atmospheric science at the State University of New York at Albany before passing away in 1997.]
initial experiences were using cloud

seeding to try to reduce hail fall. This was in northeast Colorado, where
they don't get the massive hail people get in the Midwest, but they got it
at a higher frequency. It turned into more of a research project into how hail and thunderstorms work.
There was very little evidence that seeding was reducing hail, but we had some success
What are your experiences with cloud seeding? My
later in increasing snowfall in the Sierra Nevadas, and more success in the mountains of Utah. We were able, in
some instances, to monitor the chain of events, following the storms with aircraft. Now we're studying the actual
snow for trace concentrations of the seeding material to see how effective the procedure was. Plenty of scientists
and organizations have tried to write off cloud seeding. Why does it keep coming back? It keeps coming back
because of the demand for water, especially the dire straits of the arid Southwest. It's always been seen as a cheap
way to add additional water. What are the best results you can hope for with cloud seeding? It depends on where
you are, and the reasoning behind it. If you're trying to increase rain or snowfall for the water supply, a 10 percent
addition could do a lot. If you had a large basin like I work with, between 300,000 and 500,000 acre-feet*, a 10
percent increase would equal 30,000 to 50,000 more acre-feet of water. If you can do that, it's very economically
sound. Can you attribute any one storm to cloud seeding, as the Chinese government has done with this
snowstorm? Generally, you can't look at one individual storm. Would it have snowed anyway? You don't know. NCAR
(the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.) is in Wyoming studying several seasons in
comparison, where you seed one place and withhold another. Attributing one storm to seeding is very difficult
unless the cloud system is incredibly simple, like fog that has no chance of precipitation. If you see snowfall then,
that's pretty demonstrative evidence that you succeeded. Will China's cloud-seeding efforts help to end its drought?
If they are in a drought, they wouldn't be able to draw enough from cloud seeding,
just for the lack of clouds. You treat the storms you have, so cloud seeding certainly
isn't going to bring you out of a drought. The best time to do cloud seeding is when
you have normal levels, or higher-than-normal levels, of precipitation. Then you
could save the extra water in a reservoir for when you are in a drought. It certainly
won't bring you out of one. Is cloud seeding unnatural? Those concerns generally come from places
where there's never been a cloud-seeding project before. The problem with saying it's unnatural is that as a human
species, since we first set foot on the planetor at least since we started burning fossil fuelswe've been
modifying weather systems on a much larger scale than cloud-seeding projects. We actually get more questions
about the potentially harmful effects of chemicals like silver iodide. As a pollutant, silver iodide is almost
overshadowed by smokestacks spewing kilotons of pollution, or by auto exhaust.
Cloud seedings environmental effects takes out solvency and

isnt a long term solution
Xin, staff writer for chinadaily.com.cn, 2013
(Zheng, Experts pour cold water on cloud seeding plans,
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-12/19/content_17183342.htm)
Plans have been unveiled to explore the use of weather manipulation techniques to
reduce air pollution over Beijing, but experts have urged caution, citing the risks of
secondary pollution. Officials in the Chinese capital are aiming to adapt feasible
meteorological interventions including the creation of artificial rain by means of cloud seeding to cut
down on air pollution, according to a Xinhua News Agency report. Lin Keqing, deputy mayor of Beijing, was
quoted as saying on Tuesday that the city is seeking to conduct scientific experiments on the use of weather
manipulation to beat pollution. He made the remarks during a conference on the modernization of meteorology but
did not elaborate on the plans. According to Guo Xueliang, who works for the weather modification center of the
China Meteorological Administration, the main measures under consideration include cloud seeding and the
removal of smog by artificial means. The decision came after a document released by the China Meteorological
Administration last month, saying that all provincial-level meteorological bureaus should be capable of artificially
reducing smog by 2015. However, some weather experts are not positive about the proposals .
Feng Yongfeng, founder of the Beijing-based environmental NGO Green Beagle, said weather manipulation is not
The creation of
artificial rainfall involves releasing chemical substances such as silver iodide into
the air to encourage the formation of rain drops a process known as cloud seeding. However, these
chemicals would then fall to earth, polluting soil and water, Feng said. Such substances
could cause dangerous heavy-metal pollution and would provide only temporary relief for air
pollution problems, he said. "It's like taking medicine. Despite the momentary curative
effects, the side effects cannot be calculated , while posing threats to the purifying capacities of the
only against the laws of nature, but would result in secondary contamination of soil and water.
soil and water. "It's okay to blow away the smog through weather manipulation once or twice, but it's not
acceptable as a long-term solution," he said. The government should conduct careful studies before implementing
such methods, he said, adding that the key lies in the reduction of emissions, economic transition and public
participation, which will take decades. A researcher with the Institute of Policy and Management of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, said on condition of anonymity that weather manipulation is still a very sensitive topic and
it's better not to interfere with

or disturb the weather, and it's possible we might become dependent on these
chemical fixes and resort to them whenever the pollution worsens," he said. Wu Zhenghua, a retired
researcher from the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, said such pollution clearance measures were
feasible as small-scale scientific experiments, and might have short-term effects.
But the government should also take into consideration the considerable costs in
terms of equipment and the risks of secondary pollution , Wu said. Apart from attempts at
that limited research has been conducted into it. "Unless it's necessary,
weather manipulation, Beijing will enhance the monitoring and forecasting of the meteorological environment, Lin,
the deputy mayor, was quoted as saying. Beijing plans to set up more than 200 new automatic meteorological
observation stations by 2015, according to earlier media reports.
Cloud Seeding Bad

Cloud seeding causes floods and kills, empirically proven
Eden, staff writer for weather.co.uk, No Date
(Philip, The Day They Made It Rain, http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/philipeden/Lynmouth-Flood-man-made.htm)
"The Day They Made It Rain" was the provocative and inaccurate title of a recent Radio 4 programme. Its aim was to show that
cloud-seeding experiments may have been responsible for the disastrous Lynmouth flood
in 1952. That flood destroyed much of that north Devon village on the night of
August 15-16, leaving 34 people dead and 420 homeless . The radio programme presented evidence
of rain-making experiments in southern England in the early-1950s thanks to the detailed recollections of RAF personnel, now long
retired. These airmen remembered meteorologists supervising the seeding of selected clouds, and the great satisfaction of the
scientists when rain was subsequently reported. It was also claimed that these exercises were conducted in secret. All this falls into
the "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story" category. Far from being secret, rain-making experiments were talked about
all over the place in the early-1950s. The Royal Meteorological Society's popular magazine, "Weather", devoted a whole issue to the
subject in July 1952 - just a month before the Lynmouth disaster. One article by E.G.Bowen described a systematic research
programme of artificial stimulation of rainfall in Australia which had begun in 1947, while one of Brita in's foremost atmospheric
physicists of the day, Frank Ludlam of Imperial College, described in detail the physical processes underpinning cloud-seeding
research in the UK. Any meteorologist with a rudimentary knowledge of cloud seeding could explain why it is preposterous to blame
the Lynmouth flood on such experiments. The key to understanding why this is the case is that completely different rain-making
processes are involved. Scientists involved in rainfall stimulation were only interested in seeding individual cumulus clouds - those
cauliflower-shaped clouds, usually less than a mile across, which sometimes produce showers which may last 10 or 20 minutes.
Injecting modest amounts of dry ice or silver iodide into such a cloud stimulates the
production of ice-crystals in the cloud which in turn accelerates the rain-making
process. But the cloud has to have sufficiently vigorous updrafts to spread the
chemical throughout the cloud. This in turn means that the cloud may have
eventually produced rain in any case, and the seeding merely caused it to happen
earlier. For this reason there has never been unequivocal evidence of how
successful these rain-making programmes have been . The storm which caused the
1952 disaster was not confined to the Lynmouth district. Heavy rain fell over the
whole of the West Country and south Wales, and it was caused by a depression
which had stagnated in the Southwest Approaches for two days . Similar depressions have
triggered serious flooding in southwest England at regular intervals, and previous devastating floods hit Lynmouth in the 18th and
The August 1952 depression was several hundred miles across, and the
prolonged heavy rain associated with it was caused by the large-scale lifting of very
moist air. A fleet of RAF Hercules stuffed with dry ice wouldn't have made a ha'p'orth of the difference.
19th centuries.
Weather Warfare DA
Cloud seeding can be used as weather WMDs, contributes to
structural violence Vietnam proves
The Daily Express, 2005
(The Daily Express, Weather War? New evidence suggests US & Russia are
embroiled in an illegal race to harness the power of hurricanes & earthquakes,
online: http://www.globalresearch.ca/weather-war/1061)
THE huge mushroom cloud soared skywards, the captain was gripped by fear, believing his plane was about to be
engulfed by the fall-out from a nuclear explosion. After declaring mayday and ordering his crew to don oxygen
masks, the experienced pilot had the presence of mind to record that the cloud measured an estimated 200 miles in
diameter and was tipped by an eerie light, like nothing he had seen before. Eventually, it soared harmlessly into the
atmosphere, leaving the passenger jet to continue safely on its journey from Anchorage, in Alaska, to Tokyo. But far
below, a fleet of fishing boats trawling the sea between Japan and the Soviet Union was drenched by a violent but
short-lived downpour before the weather suddenly cleared. Nuclear tests and volcanic activity were later ruled out
More than two decades later

suspicion still exists that the stunned airline crew and fishermen in 1973 were
witnessing a sinister Cold War experiment, in which water from the Sea of Japan was
blown into the air to create clouds and rain . British government papers, just released by the
but scientists concluded that this was not a natural phenomenon.
National Archives, show that throughout the Seventies there was deep mistrust between the two superpowers over
The documents reveal that both the US, which led the field, and
the Soviet Union had secret military programmes with the goal of controlling the
worlds climate. By the year 2025 the United States will own the weather, one scientist is said to have
environmental warfare.
boasted. Since then, a United Nations treaty has been signed which bans environmental warfare, such as causing
earthquakes, melting the polar ice caps and altering climate. But some experts believe that clandestine work to
create the ultimate weapon of mass destruction continues. These claims are dismissed by sceptics as wild
conspiracy theories and the stuff of James Bond movies but there is growing evidence that the boundaries between
The Americans now admit that they

invested L12million over five years during the Vietnam war on cloud seeding
deliberately creating heavy rainfall to wash away enemy crops and destroy supply
routes on the Ho Chi Minh trail, in an operation codenamed Project Popeye . It is claimed
science fiction and fact are becoming increasingly blurred.
that rainfall was increased by a third in targeted areas, making the weather-manipulation weapon a success. At the
time, government officials said the region was prone to heavy rain. However this sort of rain-making experiment
it has been alleged that before the devastating Lynmouth

floods in Devon in 1952, the RAF had been conducting secret rain-making tests. Aircraft showered clouds
was nothing new. In Britain,
with silver iodide, on which water droplets formed, became heavy and eventually fell to the ground as rain. In the
next 12 hours nine inches of rain fell 250 times the normal amount for August and 35 people were killed. Former
North Devon MP Tony Speller, then a 22-year-old soldier who helped in the relief effort, sought answers from the
MoD. I have no doubt they were seeding in the area because there were RAF log books to prove it, he says now.
Of course the MoD denied any knowledge but that is not to say it did not happen. Speller, now 76, adds: I doubt
it is claimed that
both the Americans and Russians continued to experiment behind closed doors
even after the UN ban in the mid-Eighties, and both now possess sophisticated
systems which are capable of controlling the weather with potentially devastating
results. In the US, the technology was developed under the high-frequency active auroral research programme
we will ever know the truth. Early work on climate control was crude and unpredictable but
( HAARP) originally part of Ronald Reagans controversial Star Wars defence system. Based in Gokoma, Alaska, the
weapon operates by beaming powerful radio waves into the upper atmosphere to alter weather patterns. Some
experts claim the system is already up and running, while others say it wont be ready for another 20 years. Michel
Chossudovsky, professor of economics at the University of Ottawa in Canada, who has studied official military
documents about HAARP, is in no doubt that the weapon is ready. There
are very clear statements by
the US Air Force to the effect that weather modification technology is available.
HAARP will be fully operational by next year and could be used in actual military situations, he says. To claim
this system has any nonmilitary purposes is twisting the truth. I dont think there
are any peaceful applications it is a weapon of mass destruction, capable of major
climatic disturbance. Part of the beauty is that the enemy might never know that a weapon had been used. I
believe the UN agreement is certainly being violated. He claims that at least one British firm has been involved in
its development. It is time people began focusing on these weapons instead of concentrating solely on global
warming, Chossudovsky adds. Both are a serious threat. The Russians are thought to have their own weather
steering system, called Woodpecker, involving the transmission of low-frequency waves which are capable of
disrupting the atmosphere and altering the path of the jet stream. It is claimed that a prolonged drought in
California in the Eighties was caused by the blocking of warm, moist air for many weeks. According to Damian
Wilson, a physicist with the Met Office, controlling climate is a reality but not a precise science. Clearing fog by
dropping dry ice into clouds is a proven technique which has been around for decades, he says. Large amounts of
research have been invested in seeding clouds to generate rain and it is done in countries where there are water
shortages. The problem is that it is unpredictable and you need clouds to start with. The technology does not exist
WILSON
believes it is possible to alter the course of a hurricane, which could have enormous
life-saving potential. The current mayhem in the Caribbean and Americas Eastern seaboard also shows
what a destructive weapon a well-targeted storm could prove . The Americans used cloud seeding to
try to control a hurricane in 1947 but the tactic backfired when it picked up strength
and hit Savannah, Georgia. It is known that the US carried out further hurricane-manipulation
to make rain fall from clear blue skies so it cannot be used in the desert to end droughts and famines.
experiments between 1962 and 1983, under the codename Project Stormfury, after it was calculated that a single
hurricane contained as much energy as all the worlds power stations combined. More recent projects have involved
pouring tens of thousands of gallons of vegetable oil on to the sea. Hurricanes gather their strength from the warm
sea surface, says Wilson. By spreading a large film of oil on the sea it would reduce the intensity by cooling the
In theory it is possible to change the path of the hurricane this way. It would
not surprise me if military research into controlling the weather goes on . As we suffer
surface.
more summer droughts in the south-east of England I would also expect to see pressure for cloud seeding to be
introduced in this country. It is not just the weather that has attracted the attention of the military. Scientists have
also researched ways of triggering earthquakes. By setting off small quakes, pressure could be released and a
disaster averted. But military scientists believe it is also possible to direct powerful energy beams into vulnerable
fault zones, causing the Earths plates to shift, creating a massive earthquake. Along fault lines beneath the oceans,
the same technology could be used to launch devastating tsunamis. Part of the problem in banning experiments
involves agreeing a definition of what environmental warfare is. It has been argued that the famous Dambusters
mission during the Second World War, when bouncing bombs were used to flood the German industrial heartland,
were a form of environmental warfare. Half a century later, the threat is still being taken sufficiently seriously.
Former US defence secretary William Cohen warns: Terrorists are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism
whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes and volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic
waves. Its real, and thats the reason why we have to intensify our efforts. Owen Greene, director of research at
Bradford Universitys department of Peace Studies, believes efforts are continuing in secret to develop weapons
that harness nature. There
is so much money within the Pentagon that it would surprise

me if they were not looking into it, he says. I suspect it is going on in both the US
and Russia. You cant stop people researching the weather. As for earthquakes, you
dont even need to spend money on active military programmes because there is so
much other work going on which could easily be adapted . Some of the ideas are quite
credible. Another defence source says: The risk is that by fooling around with nature, we may unleash irreversible
Despite these stark warnings, such is the

immense power of nature, it seems inevitable that Man will continue to play God.
damage and change our entire planets atmosphere.
Its technically feasible

Simms, lawyer for the American Bar Association, 2010
(Virginia, Making the Rain: Cloud Seeding, the Imminent Freshwater Crisis, and
International Law, online: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/41757393?
uid=3739920&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104018102
051)
Some speculate that cloud seeding technology may be a springboard for a new kind
of weapon.214 One potential weapon is an "unmanned stealth aircraft that could
seed clouds above massing troops with fine particles of heat-absorbing carbon "to
"produce localized flooding and create mud, which has been the bane of all of
history's armies."215 In fact, the U.S. military began a cloud seeding operation dubbed "Project Popeye" in
1966, designed to slow supply delivery in Vietnam by extending monsoon season.216 The project continued for six
years.217 Some Americans also suspected cloud seeding was used during the 1969 Woodstock Festival.218
Multiple attendees claim to have seen seeding operations being conducted by U.S. military and speculated those
actions caused "the rain which lasted throughout most of the festival." 219 As previously stated, the U.N. General
Assembly formally banned using weather modification as a weapon in 197 7. 220 But the effectiveness of such a
declaration, particularly one drafted over thirty years ago and regarding a technique so difficult to prove, is likely
marginal.221 In the 1990s the U.S. Air Force commissioned a report on weather modification, which concluded that
Weather modification
can provide battlespace dominance to a degree never before imagined." 222 In a bizarre
"[o]ver the course of the next century, the weather will be our most powerful weapon.
statement following Haiti's recent devastating earthquake, Venezuelan President Chavez again referenced man's
possible control over the weather by accusing the United States of deliberately causing the earthquake that tore
through Haiti.223 He claimed that the United States has an "earthquake weapon" that was also responsible for "a
Jan. 9 quake in Eureka, Calif., and may have been behind the 7.8-magnitude quake in China that killed nearly
90,000 people in 2008."224 Chavez says that the quake was a ploy to occupy Haiti and a test run for a U.S. weapon
designed to strike Iran.225 Such statements, while unlikely to be taken seriously by the international community, do
The scientific area, despite

having existed for more than half a century, can still be considered in its infancy
with regard to confirmed results.
serve to underscore the state of thorough research into weather modification.
Weather warfare is worse than a nuclear bomb

Sukin, political science major from Brown University, 2014
(Lauren, Make It Rain: On Clouds and Conspiracy Theories,
http://www.brownpoliticalreview.org/2014/04/make-it-rain)
Lately that intervention has manifested in a new and especially powerful tool for environmentalists: geoengineering, or the
deliberate alteration of environmental processes. Perhaps new is a misnomer. While geoengineering has experienced a resurgence
its currently being used in California to combat drought the strategy has actually been implemented for decades. Cloud
seeding, the most common geoengineering technique, is the attempt to influence the amount or type of precipitation through the
atmospheric dispersion of substances. It originated in the 1830s, when James Storm King Espy, believing that the smoke would
stimulate rain, suggested that the US government burn down forests. A century later, showmen in the West launched rockets
containing catalysts into the clouds to induce artificial precipitation. The practice reached its peak in the Depression-era Dust Bowl,
Though cloud seeding was born from

economic desperation, it came to unexpected prominence as a military technique .
and while it would sometimes produce rain, it didnt stave off drought.
During the Cold War, the US military became increasingly interested in the wartime opportunities that geoengineering provided.
research came to fruition during the Vietnam War; in order to limit the
movement of North Vietnamese forces, the military dropped silver iodide flares
thought to cause rainfall over enemy territory. The project, dubbed Operation Popeye,
That
was meant to slow the efforts of the Vietnamese army to move men and supplies
during the dry season. Instead, the effect of the cloud seeding fell on civilians and
likely caused the catastrophic floods and typhoons in North Vietnam that devastated
much of the countrys harvest in 1971. These unintended consequences of geoengineering demonstrate two
key principles. First, weather modification can be successful, but dangerous. Co-opting the environment whether
through dams or silver iodide dispersion systems is always risky. Second, militarized weather
modification constitutes a total war strategy, as the attacks affect both military and
civilian figures. This reveals something unique about weather modification: It can seem benign when wrapped up in
environmentalist packaging, but even brief military experimentation reveals the ominous depth of geoengineerings effects. In light
of this troubling reality, the United Nations created the 1977 Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of
Environmental Modification Techniques, a declaration with 48 signatories including the United States that bans weaponized or
hostile use of environmental modification. Regardless, the US military continued to pursue domination of weather modification
techniques well after the convention; in the late 1990s, the US Air Force Academy produced a paper entitled, Weather as a Force
Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025. The report, often referred to as Air Force 2025, details a series of futuristic systems that
The Cold War may have been

the beginning, but Air Force 2025 ensured that interest in weather modification did
not end with the fall of the Berlin Wall . Cyclic storms on demand or Zeus-like thunderbolts dropped from
the military could develop in order to control weather patterns as a strategic asset.
drones may not be realistic, but its easy to see why the military had experiments to that effect in mind. As Air Force 2025 points
out, A
tropical storm has an energy equal to 10,000 one-megaton bombs. The bomb
dropped on Hiroshima released only 0.016 megatons of energy . However, no storms-on-demand
will be cycling through anytime soon, as the reports team largely failed to spark a weather modification revolution, and the
technology needed remains far in the future. But some of the papers goals, at least for hyper-accurate weather monitoring, are
nearing completion, and the success of the military in this field indicates a sustained strategic interest in the environment as an
asset. The radar communications technology credited with a major role in the 1991 Gulf War, for example, has its roots in weather
radar research. And its the militarys environmental monitoring technologies that produce the nighttime satellite imagery critical to
US efforts to aid recuperation from natural disasters. But weather monitoring isnt without its skeptics, who view it as a
conspiratorial cover-up or a next step towards governmental weather control. In March, approximately 17,000 activists in Australia
turned up to protest the countrys current government. Among those was an odd constituency with an imaginative message:
America was controlling Australias weather. The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program ( HAARP), funded by the US
is a project that government officials have

repeatedly said is designed for weather monitoring, but many have suspected it of
being for weather control. HAARP is also reportedly part of US radio communications and surveillance projects.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),
Because of its secretive nature, it has been accused of everything from disabling satellites to mind control, the Gulf War Syndrome
This kind of paranoia about weather manipulation

demonstrates the pervasiveness of todays skepticism towards government
involvement in environmental issues. While there is much to admire about environmental noninterventionisms
and the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia.
focus on local and private solutions, the conspiracy theorists at the movements fringes have negatively influenced attitudes
towards geoengineering. DARPA probably isnt using HAARP for mind control, but with the political nonstarter of conspiracy theory
attached to it and other weather monitoring and control programs, there is now a distinct lack of pressure from the public for
politicians to seriously consider even the mildest of geoengineering solutions. In short, the suspicion and distrust of a few have been
a constant barrier to useful research and even-handed experiments in the environmental field.
Environment DA
Silver iodide in cloud seeding harmful to people and the
environment
Zive, staff writer for the Daily Titan, 2013
(Amanda, Cloud seeding leaves skies clear, but lasting effects remain hazy,
online: http://www.dailytitan.com/2013/03/cloud-seeding-leaves-skies-clear-butlasting-effects-remain-hazy)
Recently Texas officials have claimed that the state now controls its own weather through a process called cloud
seeding. Weather modification has been going on for decades. In the 1940s glaciogenic cloud seeding was
discovered; the process involved ice crystals being introduced into thin clouds. Soon after, scientists began work on
concocting a chemical crystalline that would have the same effect. Chemists found similar qualities in a chemical
compound traditionally used to process film. Silver iodide is the most common form of cloud seeding used today.
When China hosted the summer Olympics, cloud seeding was used in neighboring areas of Beijing to guarantee
clear skies over the games. After successfully keeping that promise, China launched a full biological assault on the
skies. Yet following the games, China officials admitted the weather became out of their control and attributed a
2009 blizzard to their own handy work. This weather modification is sweeping the globe and though the biggest
offender is China, at least 30 other countries have developed cloud seeding programs, including the U.S. With the
extensive work going into constant effort to control rainfall, one might imagine an equal amount of time has been
spent on testing the effects of the chemical they are spraying into the clouds. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
While there has been direct human testing on silver iodide, it has only been on the
effects for someone using it as a solvent in old fashioned film processing. According to
Medscape.com, prolonged exposure can cause discoloration of the hands . While the yellow
white film-processing chemical would sometimes leave the skin a little yellow or orange, the lasting result was often
This discoloration is a side-effect of the disorder, agyria .

Argyria is classified as a skin condition though it also can potentially affect mucous
membranes. Basically, the silver particles impregnate the skin and leaving residue
in mucous membranes. Studies conclude that an unknown amount of silver can
cause this condition because the rate at which it affects individuals varies so much.
a grey ashy color staining their hands.
But this is, again, testing contact with the skin, not on the inhalation of silver iodide. Conceptually, the silver iodide
will encapsulate water droplets in a cloud. The chemical would cause the droplets to form a snow-like crystal, and
descend to earth. The claim by scientists is that during this process the silver iodide evaporates. Yet this chemical is
The chemically engulfed drops fall

on deserts, lakes, rivers, the crops we eat and the mountain ranges we get our
drinking water from. Silver iodide has proven to be highly toxic in high doses, as
part of the compound is the most toxic heavy metal; silver. A 1970 study by the University of
being injected into our clouds to create drops that fall to the ground.
Michigan did extensive tests on silver build-up in various organisms and environments. Testing on fish showed that
silver only materialized on specific areas of the fish, on and around its gills. Yet the most drastic effect has been
The tests
of drinking water confirmed the presence of silver in areas which used cloud
seeding. Such contamination has resulted in health regulation by the EPA that allows only a certain amount of
silver to be considered non-threatening. Though it is enough to kill a small fish, we are assured that over
seen with microorganisms. When tested, they developed silver tracts within their vital living systems.
a 27-year period of being exposed to this water, humans are not likely to develop argyria. Cloud seeding programs
are all over the U.S. With Texas leading the way, many other states trail just behind including Utah, Colorado,
Nevada and California. California officials have expressed the benefit of cloud seeding in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains. The silver iodide for that mountain range is released from the ground, whereas many traditionally inject
the vapor via jet or rocket. The vapor reportedly gets blown up into the clouds, and half an hour later snow begins
to fall.
All of this claims to be harmless, but contemporary testing is sparse . By living in a

state where they practice this system of weather modification, essentially its being tested on us. The only way
well know if these levels of silver in our snow, water, food and air have long-term
effects is by living them. And while potentially harmless, its still a troubling notion
to be something of a test subject.
Silver iodide in fresh water has ecological repercussions kills

keystone species
Cooper and Jolly, staff members of the School of Natural
Resources at the University of Michigan, 1970
(Charles F., William C., Ecological Effects of Silver Iodide and Other Weather
Modification Agents: A Review, online:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/WR006i001p00088/abstract)
The data reviewed here indicate that there is little likelihood that silver from cloud
seeding will adversely affect terrestrial plant and animal communities or marine
environments, either immediately or after some 20 years of AgI application. Such a statement is
clearly risky; a similar survey of pesticide effects 20 years ago would almost certainly not have anticipated the
recent discovery that DDT lowers the reproductive rate of many bird species by reducing the thickness of their
eggshells. Similar unforeseen effects of silver may appear, but we believe that they are unlikely. Direct lethal effects
on fresh water fish are also improbable either as a result of detrimental levels of silver in the water or of ingestion
There is a possibility,
however, that there may be sufficient silver in some fresh waters, especially at the
headwaters of streams, to slow the growth of susceptible fish or of the aquatic
invertebrates upon which they feed. Perhaps the most likely possibility is that
adsorbed silver will inhibit the growth of algae, fungi, and bacteria in fresh water. If
such an effect does occur, it is more likely to be selective Ejects 95 reduction in growth rate of
certain organisms than a dramatic lethal response. Growth reduction would be detrimental if the
affected microorganisms serve as food for larger animals. More serious would be inhibition or
of harmful silver compounds concentrated through the aquatic food chain.
slowing of biological decomposition of bottom sediments, particularly in lakes and ponds. Decomposition by
bacteria and fungi is a vital link in the cycle that returns essential nutrients to the water. Similar inhibition might
affect sewage treatment processes, but this is less likely because of the rapid turnover and close control in such
systems.
Loss of keystone species kills a majority of the ecosystem

Munscher, writer for SWCA Environmental Consultants, 2013
(Eric, Understanding the Role of Keystone Species in Their Ecosystems, online:
http://www.swca.com/index.php/media/newsdetail/understanding-the-role-ofkeystone-species-in-their-ecosystems/)
The term keystone species was first coined by Dr. Robert Paine in 1969 after extensive studies examining food
webs in rocky intertidal ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. In 1966, Paine had observed that the diversity of
organisms in rocky intertidal ecosystems declined as the number of predators in those ecosystems decreased. He
hypothesized that some of these predators might be playing a greater role than others in determining the numbers
of species coexisting in these tidal communities. His research found that the purple sea star (Pisaster ochraceus)
acted as a control mechanism by preventing mussels from overpopulating these intertidal ecosystems. Paine
dubbed Pisaster a keystone species. What is a Keystone Species? A keystone species is one that plays a unique
and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions. It has a disproportionally large effect on its environment relative
to is abundance. There are two hallmarks of a keystone species. First, the presence of a keystone species is crucial
in maintaining the integrity of its ecosystem through species diversity and organization. Second, these species are
relatively more important in structuring their ecosystem when compared to most other species of equal biomass
found within their community. Like the keystone at the top of a masonry arch that keeps a whole structure from
collapsing, a keystone species can be the central supporting element that allows its ecosystem to function as we
know it. The loss of these species often can result in trophic level collapse. Given their perceived importance, some
ecologists have suggested that management of individual keystone species should be the focus for managing the
entire community. In this article we discuss two examples that showcase the importance of keystone species to
their ecosystems and the species communities within those ecosystems. A Cascading Effect WolfOnce abundant
throughout the Western United States, the gray wolf (Canis lupus) was almost driven to extinction by human
As wolves disappeared from the Yellowstone National Park ecosystem in

the early 1900s, the resident elk population significantly increased. This resulted in
overgrazing by elk of numerous plant species and the local extirpation of some of
the parks flora. This loss had a negative effect on other organisms dependent on
these plant species for survival. For example, heavy browsing pressure prevented
tree seedlings from reaching maturity. Over time, the natural attrition of large trees
along creeks and rivers decreased stream bank stability, canopy cover, and
therefore shade. As a result, water temperatures increased, which in turn reduced
the abundance of some fish species within the park . Not only did the loss of the gray wolf affect
persecution.
the number of elk in the park, it had a cascading effect on the entire ecosystem. The gray wolf was listed as
endangered in 1967 under a precursor to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Endangered Species Preservation
Act of 1966. The Yellowstone population recovered following the release of 66 gray wolves from Canada in 19951996. As the population thrived, predation decreased elk numbers, resulting in decreased browsing pressure. This in
turn allowed the vegetation to change through natural succession, and the ecosystem is returning to its pre-wolf
eradication structure. The recovery of the gray wolf in Yellowstone demonstrates how crucial keystone species are
to maintaining the integrity of their ecosystems. Most importantly, the preservation and restoration of keystone
species is essential for maintaining and/or reestablishing the historic structure and function of the ecosystems they
inhabit. Modifying Ecosystems from Within gopher tortoiseAnother important keystone species is the gopher
tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus). Gopher tortoises dig numerous large burrows throughout their long life span.
These burrows become microhabitats for many other organisms that live within the same turkey oak-pine scrub
upland habitat, providing protection from predators, severe weather, and other natural disasters. The gopher
tortoises habitat is maintained by fire, and many species rely on gopher tortoise burrows for protection during
these fires. More than 400 species of plants, insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals have been documented to use
gopher tortoise or their burrows for some aspect of their life history. Examples include mice, foxes, skunks,
opossums, rabbits, quail, armadillos, burrowing owls, snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, crickets, and beetles.
Alarmingly, there has been a drastic decline in gopher tortoise populations over the past few decades due to loss of
habitat, upper respiratory tract disease, and human consumption. Due to this decline, the gopher tortoise has
gained federally threatened status over parts of its range, requiring federal permits to legally take the gopher
tortoise where it is listed. Some states where the species is not afforded federal protection, such as Florida, offer
strong state protection in its place. Such protected status can have a direct effect on project development (see ESI:
Endangered Species Investigators in the Winter 2013 edition of The Wire). Why Do Keystone Species Matter &
Why Should We Care? The presence of a keystone species that is protected under the ESA means lengthy
coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide the best available scenario for species avoidance or
keystone species loss can result in

more species becoming endangered, triggering more requirements for future project
development. From a human perspective, we rely on a large number of animal, plant, and
fungal species for functions as basic as food and medicine . At least 40 percent of the worlds
minimization of impacts. But even if it is not protected at all,
economy is derived from biological resources. The more diverse the earths biota, the greater the opportunity for
medical discoveries, economic development, and adaptive responses to such challenges as climate change. More
importantly, biodiversity affords protection of water resources and soil, nutrient storage and recycling, pollution
Keystone species positively influence

biodiversity because they play a crucial role in structuring and maintaining the
integrity of ecosystems. Therefore, efforts to manage and protect keystone species can help stabilize the
control, and better recovery from unpredictable events.
entire biological community.
Links to Politics
Cloud seeding is controversial
North Carolina State University, 2012
(NCSU, Cloud Seeding, online: https://www.ncclimate.ncsu.edu/edu/k12/.CloudSeeding)
The use of cloud seeding is very controversial . Some people say it isnt worth the
resources, because even the most dramatic rainfall increases only amount to 5-20%. If it is done
incorrectly, it can even reduce the amount of rain that might have fallen by
dissipating clouds. If it does work, some people say it will alter energy transport
across the world and have catastrophic repercussions in the future. Some countries
employ cloud seeding to try and maintain a level of precipitation high enough to support them, but think nothing of
the countries downstream who would have gotten the rainfall had the clouds not been seeded. Even at the local
seeding clouds in one place could result in a reduction of rainfall downwind and
negatively impact their crops, resulting in potential lawsuits . At the 2008 Summer Olympic
level,
Games, Beijing employed cloud seeding to clear the air of pollutants and to keep it from raining over the Birds Nest
stadium while the games were going on. Occurrences like this may become more frequent if climate change alters
precipitation patterns and we try to adapt to it with cloud seeding.
Lots of opposition ranchers, Native American groups, and

environmentalists hate seeding
Schwartz, campaign director of Tapit Water Network, 2009
(William, Nevada Water Authorities Look To Cloud Seeding To Combat Drought,
online: http://www.tapitwater.com/blog/2009/09/nevada-water-authorities-look-tocloud-seeding-to-combat-drought.html)
Cloud seeding, a process by which clouds are pumped with chemicals to increase precipitation, is being considered
by the Southern Nevada Water Authority to remedy severe droughts in the Las Vegas area. The Authority is looking
to increase funding to the Desert Research Institute, who has been working on cloud seeding for many years. The
institute have figured out a way to effectively increase dwindling snowpack in the mountains in Northern Nevada
and parts of Colorado. They set up stations on remote mountain tops and wait for particular cloud patterns to
appear. They then add silver iodide to the clouds which cools ultra cold water particles in the cloud into snow or ice,
which then drops into the mountains. According to the institute they have been able to successfully produce 65,000
acre feet of precipitation a year from 23 cloud seeding stations around the region. Not all parties in the Las Vegas
Many ranchers, Native American groups and

environmentalists say that cloud seeding throws off the balance of the eco-system
by taking needed precipitation from other areas. The program, they say will
adversely affect ranches, residents and national parks.
area are happy about this potential new project.
Opposition of cloud seeding is growing grassroots

movements oppose
Keyes, Environmental & Water Resources Institute
representative to American Society of Civil Engineers, 2006
(Conrad G., Guidelines for Cloud Seeding to Augment Precipitation, online:

http://books.google.com/books?
id=8q0tb13D0FMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false)
The decision to adopt cloud seeding has historically focused on the question, Can we do it? However, as technical
capabilities improve, a value question arises: Should we do it? (Sewell, 1969). Attempting to modify precipitation
by seeding clouds is a product of peoples continual search for means to manage their environment. Even in
situations where cloud seeding offers potential economic benefits or environmental advantages, the weather can be
Much of
what actually can be done is governed by societal choice . The human dimensions of cloud
purposefully managed only if those affected agree that it should be done (Borland, 1977; Farhar, 1977).
seeding programs must be considered if the technology is to be effectively used (Sewell, 1966). Interest in cloud
seeding has historically risen during dry periods and waned when rain and snow are plentiful. Most communities
where cloud seeding has been carried out have accepted scientific experimentation, and some communities have
In a few communities, grassroots groups organized

political opposition against cloud seeding in states such as Delaware, Colorado,
California, Texas, and South Dakota. For proponents and opponents alike, once
issues and attitudes toward cloud seeding are established, they tend to persist for a
very long time (Farhar and Fitzpatrick, 1990). Therefore, the would-be cloud seeder or water manager may be
actively sought operational projects.
served best by understanding insights from social science about public response to cloud seeding and introduction
of new technology in general (Reinking et al., 1995). The perceived value of cloud seeding, derived by weighing
both potential opportunities and adverse effects, incorporates considerations beyond simple economics and the
efficacy of the technology. The issues surrounding cloud seeding may reach deeply into social relationships and
even into aesthetic and spiritual values, including concern about the risk of human intervention in weather
Fear of disasters that might be perceived as potential effects of cloud

seeding, such as flooding, avalanches, or ecological calamities that might carry
property and social losses, also shapes attitudes (Swell, 1966; Larson, 1973; Farhar, 1977;
processes.
Dennis, 1980). There are, and most likely always will be, those who are convinced that it is possible to modify the
weather, and those who believe it is a fraud (Sewell, 1966), irrespective of the scientific basis (Reinking et al.,
1995). Scientifically conducted surveys can measure the distribution in factors that affect the social acceptability of
projects. Examining the range of social factors that can come into play provides some perspective on this. Attitudes
toward weather modification in South Dakota, Colorado, and Florida were measured using survey items that
measured (1) favorability to the technology, (2) beliefs that cloud seeding was effective in increasing precipitation
and suppressing hail, (3) concern about risk, (4) credibility of sources of information about the cloud seeding
program, (5) knowledge about the program, (6) evaluation of the cloud seeding program, and (7) preferred decision
making and funding sources (Farhar, 1975a, 1975b). Belief in the effectiveness of the technology, favorable
attitudes toward it and toward science, and low concern about risk were statistically most highly correlated with
positive public assessment of operational seeding programs. Belief in efficacy emerged in this and other research as
the most powerful predictor of societal program evaluation outcomes. Information on the efficacy and secondary
effects of cloud seeding is commonly and appropriately sought from the technical experts. Scientists themselves
have divergent views on the efficacy (Farhar and Clark, 1978). Although this is the nature of scientific probing,
public disillusionment can be fueled by scientists who disagree in public about the facts and the uncertainties
(Lambright, 1972; Changnon and Lambright, 1990). Conversely, problems may occur if operators do not openly
state the uncertainties. More recent AMS, ASCE, WMA, and WMO statements on atmospheric water management
have been presented in the recent standard practice documents on hail suppression and precipitation enhancement
(ASCE, 2003, 2004, and 2005). Some of the details of these statements are provided in Section 5.4 and other
reports by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Science on weather modification are under
review at this time. The South Dakota experience with cloud seeding is significant because the first state-sponsored
weather modification program began there in 1972. At its height, the program included about 60% of the land area
of the state at a cost of approximately $1 million each growing season. Surveys of the South Dakota public from
1972 to 1975 found the majority were favorable toward the program (Farhar, 1973; Farhar, 1975b). South Dakotans
favored cloud seeding because they believed it would help farmers in a state where agriculture is the mainstay of
after an opposition group organized, and the legislature failed to

appropriate funds, did majorities fail to favor the program (Reinking et al., 1995). In contrast,
the economy. Only
North Dakota has maintained an operational program with public support, and some opposition, for over 40 years.
Links to Spending
Cloud seeding is expensive
Silverman and Lamb, staff writers for HowStuffWorks, 2007
(Jacob, Robert, Can China control the weather? online:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/meteorologists/cloudseeding2.htm)
Chinese athletes won 51 gold medals in the 2008 summer games -- the most of any participating nation [source:
NBC]. The Beijing Weather Modification Office celebrated another key victory: the opening ceremony's defeat of its
dreaded adversary, the storm cloud. The ceremony went by without a drop, the temperature never rose above 83
degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius) and most of the day passed with no more than a few scattered clouds.
Impressed? Well, not everybody's sold on cloud seeding. The United States began weather control
research in 1946. Currently, some states use cloud-seeding programs in an attempt to increase precipitation levels
or prevent crop-damaging hail. An eight-year experiment in Texas and Oklahoma, conducted over 5,000 square
miles (12,950 square kilometers), showed that cloud seeding increased rainfall, cloud height, length of storms and
enthusiasm for cloud seeding in the U.S. has

dried up since the early 1970s, when federal funding was about $19 million a year
the area in which rain fell [source: Eckhardt]. Even so,
[source: Cotton, Engber]. Now states have to kick in the dough if they want to try ruling the skies. Internationally,
Russia, Israel, Thailand, South Africa and Caribbean nations have all tried their hand at cloud seeding, with mixed
Australian scientists conducted numerous experiments, discovering that static

seeding didn't appear to be effective over Australia's plains but was very effective
over Tasmania. Despite some successful tests, cloud seeding still has many problems. The
results.
fundamental concern is: Does it work? It may be a chicken-and-egg conundrum -- would it have rained in a given
Cloud seeding also depends

heavily on environmental conditions like temperature and cloud composition . In 2003,
area without the use of cloud seeding, and would it have rained less?
the United States National Academy of Sciences declared that 30 years of studies had not produced "convincing"
evidence that weather modification works [source: Associated Press]. On the other hand, the American
Meteorological Society claims that some studies on cloud seeding show a 10 percent increase in rain volume
[source: Eckhardt]. A staff member from Beijing's Xiangshan Weather Modification Practice Base equips a two-pipe
cannon used for rain reduction and cloud dispersion with projectiles. China Photos/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Cloud seeding is quite expensive, though potentially cheaper than other projects, like diverting rivers,
building new canals or improving irrigation systems. Then again, the allure of cloud seeding may redirect attention
and funding from other projects that could be more promising. Then there are questions about altering weather. Are
some areas taking moisture out of the air that would have fallen as rain in another region? And if regions are
experiencing drought due to climate change, isn't effort better spent tackling the causes of global warming?
Despite reassurances from cloud-seeding companies, concerns also remain about exposure to silver iodide toxicity
and soil contamination. Other safety issues are more transparent. In China, wayward munitions have damaged
property and even killed one person in May 2006. The Chinese government contends that it has improved training,
licensing and safety practices. In the end, cloud seeding has strong supporters, but it remains controversial.
Scientists may not be sure if cloud seeding actually works , but despite the skepticism,
China is moving forward. The nation spends $60 to $90 million a year on weather
modification, in addition to the $266 million spent from 1995 to 2003 [source: Things
Asian]. The government plans to produce 1.7 trillion cubic feet (50 billion cubic meters) of rain a year through the
practice [source: Aiyar]. Is cloud seeding just a way of sweeping pollution and climate change under the rug and
playing God to ensure you don't have to schedule a rain date? Or is it merely a matter of tweaking weather to your
advantage? However you look at it, it's not likely to go away any time soon. In fact, scientists have already
proposed building fleets of massive, unmanned ships to seed clouds over Earth's oceans to provide a cooling
counter to carbon dioxide-induced global warming [source: Cartlidge]. If cloud seeding is ultimately a way to "fake
it" when guests come to visit or crops need a sprinkle, do we really want a world where we have to manually adjust
the planet's atmosphere just to stave off environmental disaster?
Specters Reparations
1NC
We advocate that the United States federal government should
give reparations for the past and present enslavement of black
bodies.
Our call for reparations is not limited to fiscal or legal
requests, but is an impossible demand that requires a
fundamental rupture and reorganization of modernity
Harding, Professor and Civil Rights Activist, 1970
[Vince, Professor of Religion and Social Transformation at Illiff School of Theology,
Black Students and the Impossible Revolution, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1
(Sep., 1970)]
The demand for reparations is always revolutionary, for it often involves

levels of confiscation deemed unacceptable in the orderly processes of things , but
orderly processes almost never serve the disinherited, only the privileged. That is why the privileged (and their
servants) call for law and order and the disinherited call for justice. The campus experience strongly indicates that
in a society where law and order support exploitation, justice may demand disorder. Another revelation from the
student experience is no less revolutionary if it should now move to serve as total challenger to American
the black community cannot possibly enter this society's overall life in full,
pulsating, living surges without transforming the mainstream. Actually, the student position,
education;
the increasingly explored black position, is that the mainstream is deeply poisoned in its content and dangerous in
Only
in the deepest, probing, dreamlike sections of the mind can we imagine a blackaffirming throng surging into every institution of American society , from the ederal
government on out, transforming as it goes. But the impossible must be imagined if there
is to be hope. One example of the chance might be that black people who shared a deep
sympathy with and relationship to, the wretched of the earth would have no choice but to
force changes in Americas exploitative, repressive relationship to the nonwhite
world. Such a reordered America could send no more sons to fight that worlds poor
on behalf of a racist societyand it would have to send none at all if that society
moved toward the humanity that blacks so desparately need. Black movement into America
on terms deemed acceptable by black people would likely surpass even the student energies . It would
demand, for instance, that the society do at home what it has the power but not the
will to do: at least end poverty. Black participation could not be satisfied until that
were accomplished with more than deliberate speed, through whatever
redistribution and rechanneling of national wealth and priorities were deemed
necessary. Following the student lead, moving beyond it into the heart of American institutions, we would
the direction of its flow. It is therefore in need of purification and radical redirection. What would this mean?
redefine all experiences. American culture and the arts, education, business-all would be saturated not only with
black people but with evidences of the black experience, with proud development of the black perspective. Who can
imagine, for instance, what television would be like if it were not only filled with black images, but if it reflected a
White
America as we know it could not survive the second coming of black life to these
shores. It would have to die.
vision of life that came out of the black encounter with oppression, suffering, struggle, and endurance?
We solve the aff demanding reparations OPENS UP our

relationship to history it challenges progressivist notions of
time
Henry, Professor of African American Studies at Berkeley, 2007
[Charles P., Long Overdue: The Politics of Racial Reparations, pp.6-7]
Following the Civil War and Emancipationand in the absence of truth and reconciliation commissionsAmericans have had to sort
out the relationship between healing and justice. White Americans in the North chose to heal the wounds with White Americans in
the South. This politics of reconciliation, which took several decades and still exists in some forms today, forged a number of
reconciliation between North and South did

not, however, include Black Americans. Even at the fiftieth reunion of battle of Gettysburg in 1913, Black Civil War
unifying myths to make it safe to remember the Civil War. This
veterans were literally and figuratively left out of sight and mind. Fifty years later, Lincoln's "rebirth of freedom" had become
Woodrow Wilson's forward-looking "righteous peace."'' The Emancipation Proclamation and the Twelfth through Fifteenth
Amendments to the Constitution, also known as the Civil War Amendments, granted Blacks citizenship in the "civic" nation but
the Civil War ended slavery but did not create

equality. In short, to satisfy Whites in both the North and the South, Blacks were given citizenship but
denied equality. Whites, Blacks, and others assume the responsibility of historical obligations when they become citizens,
whenever and however that occurs. A nation is an intergenerational community, and the existence of historical
obligations is predicated on our moral relations to our successors . Our government's ability to
denied them membership in the "ethnic" nation. That is,
make treaties, for example, is dependent on the belief that the agreements we make will be honored by our successors. But we are
entitled to interpret the agreements of our predecessors according to our own ideas of justice.18 We may know, for example, that
our "founding fathers" did not include African Americans as citizens in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If our
political community is to continue to evolve, we must remedy that. Many other countries, as well, are having difficulty dealing with
Memory of historical injustice is not a trivial matter to

be swept under the rug in the name of progress. Memory or, more precisely, remembering is an
the past because the past is still with them.'"
important part of the identity of individuals and communities. The moral identity of a nation may be defined as the remembrance of
those events that comprise its obligations and entitlements. Practices that require the living to keep the promises and contracts of
the dead are inseparable from the value we assign to the self-realization of individuals and their ability to fulfill their responsibility to
The call for racial reparations challenges the official histories that
ignore, explain away, or trivialize mass cruelties. Reparations thus are a
way of democratizing history and hearing those voices that were silenced in the past.
others.20
The historical determinism K is a net benefit Reparation is

not just an act but a distinct mode of thinking about politics.
The affs drive to demystification is a paranoid reading of
history that confirms what it already knows about the Middle
Passage. Instead, our reparative reading gestures towards a
future not yet known one able to disrupt temporality and
recognize historical contingency without falling into the trap of
historical determinism that turns the case and is a DA to the
perm
Shahani, assistant professor at Washington State University,
2012
[Nishant, Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies, Queer
Retrosexualities: The Politics of Reparative Return, pp.8-11]
In response to Jameson's urge to "always historicize" in order to oppose the pseudo-history of retro culture, Eve
Always historicize? What could have less

to do with historicizing than the commanding, atemporal adverb "always"? It reminds
Sedgwick offers quite possibly the most trenchant critique:
me of the bumper stickers that instruct people in other cars to "Question Authority." Excellent advice, perhaps
wasted on anyone who does whatever they're ordered to do by a strip of paper glued to an automobile!32 Behind
the sardonic humor and irreverence of Sedgwick's riposte can be discerned a more engaged resistance to a
prescriptive form of historicizing. It is not surprising that to Sedgwick,
the "always historicize"
command comes off as a paternalistic injunction to queer theorizing. In this project then, I wish to
offer the framework of queer retrosexualities as an alternative mode of historiography that draws on the "failures"
of nostalgia and other "backward feelings"33 that inform the politics of retrospection. First, I briefly turn to the
essay in which Sedgwick makes her critique of Jameson, since it not only offers the means to rethink the "passivity"
associated with retrospective and nostalgic thinking, but it provides valuable methodological tools for this project in
general. In "Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading, or You're So Paranoid, You Probably Think this Essay is about
Sedgwick critiques the epistemological framing of critical practice' which, according to her,
presumes too often that the process of demystification is the ultimate
goal of social and ideological critique. The stasis that such a hermeneutics of
exposure can result in obscures the more important question of what such a form of
knowledge can performwhat does, to quote Sedgwick, such "knowledge do?"35 According to
Sedgwick, such readings are "paranoid" since they insist that "bad news he always
already known.''36, Thus paranoid readings are those that ultimately only confirm
what is already known. The act of exposure then, becomes a theoretical end in itself
without any consideration of alternative possibilities of thinking and organizing . As a
result, paranoid readings, writes Sedgwick, "may have made it less rather than more
possible to unpack the local contingent relations between any given piece of
knowledge and its narrativeiepistemological entailments for the seeker, knower, or teller."'
You,"
Paranoid readings are implicated in interpretive methods that only confirm what they already always suspect.
paranoid reading practices result in critical tendencies that have rigid and
tautological relations to questions of temporality . In other words, in insisting on
anticipatory forms of thinking, paranoid readings privilege what Sedgwick calls, "the notion of the
inevitable"38 and efface epistemological questions concerning the performativity of knowledge productionthe
fact that "knowledge does rather than simply is."39 Thus Sedgwick writes: "f or someone to have an
unmystified view of systemic oppressions does not intrinsically or necessarily enjoin
that person to any specific train of epistemological or narrative consequences ."40
Since as a psychic defense mechanism paranoia attempts to foreground a pre-emptive
knowledge of a future violence, the successful exposure of that violence results ironically
in a triumphant grand narrative that basks in the process of unveiling. Sedgwick
Hence
rethinks the rigid investment in exposure and the insistence on unveiling through an articulation of "reparative"
possibilities, which are effaced by the paranoid faith in exposure. Drawing on the psychoanalytical formulations of
Melanie Klein and her insistence on the instability and flexibility of psychic positions, Sedgwick's notion of
"reparation"
enables a shift from the hermeneutic of suspicion to a critical practice

that allows for a critical reassembling. In a Kleinian framework, infants or adults constantly oscillate
between the depressive position and the reparative position that promises pleasure-seeking possibilities. According
to Sedgwick, the depressive position is temporarily occupied by the infant or adult as an escape from the threat and
violence of trauma so that the resulting anxiety can he contained in the ego. It is from this depressive position of
anxiety that the adult or infant attempts "to assemble or 'repair' the murderous part-objects into something like a
wholethough ... not necessarily like any preexisting whole":' [T]o read from a position is to surrender the knowing,
anxious paranoid determination that no horror, however apparently unthinkable, shall ever come to the reader as
to a reparatively positioned reader, it can seem realistic and necessary to

experience surprise. Because there can be surprises, however, there can also be good ones. Hope, often a
fracturing, even a traumatic thing to experience, is among the energies by which the reparatively
positioned reader tries to organize the fragments and part-objects she encounters
and creates." As a result of the flexible movement among causes and effects, reparative practices
new;
operate through a principle of recursivity in other words, knowledge of effects could

not only result in a rethinking of the cause (so that consequently the effects may no
longer seem axiomatic or inevitable), but more importantly, the flexible circularity implied in the
reparative mode of thinking enables a move away from the anticipatory observative practices of paranoid reading
reparative readings
enable more mutable and less linear understandings of temporality , there
is a recognition of historical contingency and the ways in which the
present historical moment is recursively structured by the past as well as
the promise for a better future. As Sedgwick writes: Because the reader has room to
realize that the future may be different from the present, it is also possible for her to
entertain such profoundly painful, profoundly: relieving, ethically crucial possibilities
as that the past, in turn, could have happened differently from the way it actually
did.44 At one level, paranoia seems to share an intimate relation to nostalgia in that they both are characterized
towards reading practices that Sedgwick defines as "additive and accretive."' Since
by what Svetlana Boym calls "the disease of an afflicted imagination."45 In fact Boym makes this connection
between paranoia and nostalgia more explicitly when she points out: " Nostalgia
operated by an
àssociationist magic,' by means of which all aspects of' everyday life related to one
single obsession. In this respect nostalgia was akin to paranoia, only instead of a
persecution mania, the nostalgic was possessed by a mania of longing ."46 Sedgwick's
critique of paranoid thinking, however, illuminates the intimate connection between reparation and retrospection.
The reparative reader in the above quote enables "ethically crucial possibilities" by recognizing the performative
The retrospective
rethinking of the past enables the reparatively informed reader to be more open to
democratic possibilities in the future. Reparation in this context is an illustration of what Svetlana
potential in returning to the past. It is only in retrospect that reparation is gleaned.
Boym calls "reflective nostalgia." Boym's distinction between "reflective" nostalgia and "restorative" nostalgia offers
crucial insight into the reparative possibilities of retrospection. Boym points out that while restorative nostalgia is
preoccupied with the recovery of lost origins and the pursuit of authenticity, restorative nostalgia "dwells in algia, in
longing and loss, the imperfect process of remembrance . . . Restorative nostalgia manifests itself in total
reconstructions of monuments of the past, while reflective nostalgia lingers on ruins, the patina of time and history,
in the dreams of another place and another time."'
2NC/1NR
Solvency Empire
The demand for Reparations challenges American
exceptionalism and revitalizes Black politics
Henry, Professor of African American Studies at Berkeley, 2007
[Charles P., Long Overdue: The Politics of Racial Reparations, pp.31-32]
reparations is a reminder of our history, which was not benevolent. It

also is a reminder of who bears the burden of empire and who benefits from it. It
creates an opposing public space to confront the proponents of American empire
and to promote an alternative vision of the future . With this in mind, I try to answer two central
The discourse on
questions here: After at least two decades of relative obscurity, why have racial reparations become a primary issue
in the African American community? And why is the larger political communityin an "age of apology"so opposed
Reparations is a divisive issue precisely because it is

impossible to avoid directly talking about race and race privilege. Slavery has become a
to even discussing racial reparations?
focal point in this discussion because there were no White slaves in the United States. Finally, even though there
are no surviving slaves now, there are many survivors of the legalized apartheid that existed nationally until 1954
and in some state constitutions through 2000. The removal of legal apartheid or the formal barriers of racial
segregation led to a transitional period of what the political scientist and Nobel laureate Ralph Bunche called the
Black and White opponents of reparations argue that we

currently live in a color-blind society in which race is irrelevant and the past is past.
social construction of race." Both
From another perspective, those people with a mixed racial heritage contend that all their ancestral roots should be
Racial reparations therefore both challenge and complicate

issues of racial identification. Most leaders of the reparations movement in the United States reflect an
acknowledged and celebrated.
earlier tradition that saw the "one drop" rule or custom" as imposing an external unity. The politics of reparations
thus has forced an internal racial discussion among Blacks over issues of racial identity. One of the great political
accomplishments of the Reagan revolution was to succeed in labeling civil rights interests as special interests. The
fact that so many White Americans accepted this designation and supported Reagan's racial policies is indicative of
the failure of American society to see the civil rights movement as a positive development for all Americans. This
illiberal tradition in American politics68 recently reached new extremes after September 11 with attacks on civil
reparations permit Blacks to assume the higher moral

ground that was lost in the postcivil rights movement period. Unlike affirmative
action, welfare, and other social programs, reparations discourse avoids
counterarguments of merit or behavior. Reparations demands also tend to be redistributive rather
liberties and civil rights. As an issue,
than individual and incremental. Finally, reparations attempt to reclaim the sense of identity created during the civil
rights and Black power movements. From Phyllis Wheatly to Gunnar Myrdal's exaggerated American to today's color
blindness, Blacks could become modern political subjects only by giving up their Black identity. To become modern
political subjects, that is, citizens, they would have to be remade and, in the remaking, would no longer be Black.
Building on the ideas of the activists and scholars of the 1960s, reparations demand both citizenship and Black
identity.
Solvency History
Reparations connects history to action it politicizes static
histories
Rupprecht, lecturer in Cultural and Historical Studies at the
University of Brighton, 2008
[Anita, A Limited Sort of Property: History, Memory and the Slave Ship Zong,
Slavery & Abolition: A Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies, Volume 29, Issue 2]
By returning, however obliquely, to the Zong, Cliff reminds us that the Zong's terms for trauma are the terms of law,
The question
becomes, as Franco puts it in his discussion of ways in which we might read Beloved, of whether there is
a way of conceptualising memory work that comprehends and enables both
mourning but also material redress, that is neither so wedded to the past nor so
utopian as to supplant ethics with ideology, resentment, guilt or facile fictions of narrative
identification?15 His answer, that the discourse of reparation might be adequate to this task in
that it provides a mediating link between the idea of a traumatic history and
current political and material action, also provides a frame for re-thinking the story of the Zong.
property, the violent production of global labour and, ironically perhaps, financial compensation.
The campaign for reparations for slavery is now Atlantic-wide, though it is perhaps best established in the United
States. The issue there, as elsewhere, has been, and continues to be, highly controversial and divisive.
Those
most hostile to the campaign have tended to focus on the impracticalities , if not the
impossibility, of adjudicating some kind of financial recompense for a generalised
notion of traumatic legacy. While there are significant problems with the ways in which the claim for
reparations can be framed, as it must be delineated by established legal practice, my immediate focus here
recent activist initiatives that involve returning to the archive of slavery and
the slave trade once again. If, to put it rather schematically, the abolitionist archive gives us access, in
concerns
part, to what has been remembered about slavery, and contemporary black Atlantic writers have used that archive
in order to develop an ethically driven poetics based around what ought to be remembered, I suggest that
the r
Reparations does not abandon memory but translates it into

action
Thompson, Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at
Melbourne University, 2005
(Janna, Memory and Ethics of Reparation, Online:
http://www.yale.edu/glc/justice/thompson.pdf)
Robinson makes this remark in the context of a visit to the monuments of Washington D.C. where the historical
achievements of white Americans some of them slave owners,arecelebrated,butthestoryofslaveryanditslegacy,ofthe
generationsofAfricanAmericanswhowereuprooted,enslaved,wholabored,died,struggledagainstoppression,andinsomecasesachieved
this national amnesia, shared by blacks as well as whites,

is at the root of the disabilities that blacks continue to suffer in American society,
and he thinks that the debt America owes to blacks includes remembering and
acknowledging past in justices as well as programs to end black disadvantage. Inthis
paper,Iwillprovideadefense of reparations for slavery and its legacy that stresses the
greatthings,isnotpresent.He thinks that
importance of memory and historical identity in a nation whose citizens are

embedded in a history and have intergenerational obligations. I will argue that such
an account can overcome the difficulties, which, according to many philosophers,
make claims for reparations for historical in justices morally problematic.
AT: Too Future Oriented/AT: Perm

Acting towards the future is key its the way that power
presently operates. Their Black Atlanticist approach is too
exhausted by history to understand the future.
Eshun, author and editor, 2003
[Kodwo, author of numerous pieces on music, culture, and the arts. He is associate
editor of the relaunched magazine 21C, and author of More Brilliant Than the Sun:
Adventures in Sonic Fiction (Quartet Books, 1998). He also is editor of the
forthcoming Afrofuturist Reader, Further Considerations on Afrofuturism, CR: The
New Centennial Review 3.2 (2003) 287-302]
reparation indicate that these traumas continue to shape the contemporary era. It is never a matter of
forgetting what it took so long to remember. Rather, the vigilance that is necessary
to indict imperial modernity must be extended into the field of the future. For African artists,
Ongoing disputes over
there were good reasons for disenchantment with futurism. When Nkrumah was deposed in Ghana in 1966, it signalled the collapse of the first attempt to
build the USAF. The combination of colonial revenge and popular discontent created sustained hostility towards the planned utopias of African socialism.
This
fatigue with futurity carried through to Black Atlantic cultural activists,
who, little by little, ceased to participate in the process of building
futures. Imagine the archaeologists as they use their emulators to scroll through the fragile files. In their time, it is a
commonplace that the future is a chronopolitical terrain. a terrain as hostile and as
treacherous as the past. As the archaeologists patiently sift the twenty first-century archives they are amazed by the impact this
For the rest of the century, African intellectuals adopted variations of the position that Homi Bhabha (1992) termed melancholia in revolt.
realization hod on these forgotten beings. They are touched by the seriousness of those founding mothers and fathers of Afrofuturism. by the
responsibility they showed towards the not-yet. towards becoming. CONTROL THROUGH PREDICTION Fast forward to the early twenty-first century. A
inquiry into
production of futures becomes fundamental. rather than trivial. The field of Afrofuturism does not seek to deny the
cultural moment when digitopian futures are routinely invoked to hide the present in all its unhappiness. In this context,
tradition of countermemory. Rather, it aims to extend that tradition by reorienting the intercultural vectors of Black Atlantic temporality towards the
It is clear that power now operates predictively as

much as retrospectively. Capital continues to function through the dissimulation of the imperial archive, as it has done
throughout the last century. Today, however, power also functions through the envisioning.
management. and delivery of reliable futures. In the colonial era of the early to
middle twentieth century. avantgardists from Walter Benjamin to Frantz Fanon revolted in
the name of the future against a power structure that relied on control and representation of
the historical archive. Today. the situation is reversed. The powerful employ
futurists and draw power from the futures they endorse, thereby condemning the
disempowered to live in the past. The present moment is stretching. slipping for some into yesterday, reaching for
proleptic as much as the retrospective.
others into tomorrow.
AT: Reparations Fail

Reparations can overcome entrenched power structures
Woolford and Ratner, Professors of Sociology at the University
of Manitoba and the University of British Columbia
(Andrew and R.S., Informal Reckonings: Conflict Resolution in Mediation,
Restorative Justice and Reparations, Online:
https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/CJS/article/viewArticle/4355)
Reparations involve truth commissions, compensation, restitution, symbolic politics

(regrets, apologies), and communicative history acts (commemorations). While belonging to the
informal-formal justice continuum they nonetheless remain open to disruptions by transformative informal justice.
Woolford and Ratner apparently believe that unlike mediation and restoration, reparations are practices established
only after the Second World War which is moot (Thucydides, Arrian, Caesar and others describe practices akin to
formal and informal reparations of our time).
Broader systems of power, juridification,

instrumentalization, and inequities within the reparations processes lock it within
the informal- formal justice continuum, and thereby reinforce the status quo. This is
more so with affirmative than transformative reparations, as the former rather openly support the social order,
Such
limitations do not render reparations futile, as their potential can be released
through transformative informal justice. Woolford and Ratner offer four types of transformative
while the latter seek to transform it away from conditions conducive to actions requiring reparations.
informal justice. First, it could be situated beyond the informal-formal justice complex (communes or communities
beyond the social mainstream) with risks of self-isolation and impotence. Second, it may remain within the
informal-formal justice complex while aiming to transform it which remains elusive. Third, spaces for informal
justice may be carved within the informal-formal complex which raises the question of their expansion without
co-optation. Fourth, informal justice counterpublics may be created as spaces from which disruptions and
transformation of the informal-formal justice complex are staged our authors preferred option. While
acknowledging that informal justice counterpublics are ideals, Woolford and Ratner maintain that they are
They fulfill Foucaults demand to

disrupt the ubiquity of governance and domination, and Habermass quest for
dialogical space whence critical engagements could spread out into policy
deliberations. True to their critical orientation, the authors recognize only Zapatista public-oriented guerrilla
tactics as approximating the ideal, and they close this illuminating and commendable work with an invitation
to multiply and broaden such disruptive actions with the aim of encouraging public
debates directed at deeper changes in institutional social order. My single critical remark of
attainable to degrees adequate to their transformative goals.
consequence may best be put as a question: Is the plain old repression of radical opposition absent from their
analysis because it is assumed that it does not occur in the presumed and never evidenced liberal
democracy?
AFF
Perm Solvency History

Our theories of history are not mutually supportive the
counterfactual history engendered by demands for reparations
is expanded by our spectral analysis
Lambert, Professor at University of London, 2010
[David, Department of Geography, Black-Atlantic counterfactualism: speculating
about slavery and its aftermath, Volume 36, Issue 3]
this paper has begun to chart some counterfactual

currents across a black-Atlantic or Global African context, from recent claims for
reparations in the USA and Africa anchored in conjecture, to implicit and explicit forms of speculation in Walter Rodney's
Although there is not the space for a full genealogy,
underdevelopment thesis, and finally to the alternate history of Steve Barnes's Bilalistan novels. In conclusion, I want to extend some of the insights that
can be gained from examining alternate history, such as Barnes's novels, to the other examples of counterfactualism. In so doing, I use the opportunities
provided by the fictional amplification he provides to understand features of black-Atlantic counterfactualism in general. I make two points in closing: first,
to clarify how the positing of worlds that might have been enables these counterfactuals to articulate demands in the contemporary world and, second, to
show that these examples of counterfactual thought complicate conventional accounts of how time and history are usually articulated in contemporary
responses to Atlantic slavery. In Re-forming the past, Timothy Spaulding discusses a series of works, including Morrison's Beloved, Butler's Kindred and
Reed's Flight to Canada, that he characterises as postmodern slave narratives. Rejecting the boundaries of narrative realism through their use of fantastic
devices and genres, and blurring the distinction between realism and fantasy, past and present, these defamiliarize both the history of slavery and
traditional approaches to writing that history in an effort to critique its legacies in the present by radicalizing the view of the past. Spaulding argues that
these postmodern slave narratives constitute an epoch of sorts 19761991 within AfricanAmerican literary responses to the history of slavery. 58
While not wanting to posit a radical break from this period, he argues that Barnes's work represents something of a retreat from the transgressive
dimensions of these postmodern novels because it maintains the distinction between the narrative modes of realism and fantasy: [E]ven as Barnes
maintains an echo of American slavery in his narrative, the world of the novel and the real history of slavery remain distinct. Barnes presents his readers
with an alternate timeline rather than a conflation of past and present, one of the primary components of the postmodern slave narrative. As a result,
rather than blurring the two histories, Lion's Blood maintains its status as a fantastic historical romance, depicting a world separate from our own. 59
While Spaulding may be right to argue that Barnes's novels are not postmodern (by this definition at least), he is wrong to claim that they do not blur the
world of the novel and the real history of slavery. Given his focus on formal devices and literary genres, and concern with classifying these as
postmodern or not, he fails to recognize that the blurring of the real and the alternate can take place, as Leonard's comments about readerly alienation
indicate, in the audience's imagination rather than only in the text. This is precisely how alternate histories produce their disorientating effects. Moreover,
it is not just Barnes's novels that can defamiliarize the history of slavery and critique its legacies through conjecture. The contrast between actual and
alternate histories, between the world that is and worlds that might have been, is the main way in which all the black-Atlantic counterfactuals discussed in
black-Atlantic counterfactuals I have considered here are not

narrowly academic exercises, which adhere to a minimal-rewrite rule in an effort to prove their scholarly rigour and legitimacy,
but instead involve wild speculative leaps, displacements and inversions to
generate worlds that might have been.60 They posit radical counterfactual geographies rather than plausible
this paper make demands of our world. The
counterfactual histories: the USA without slave labour that underpins the free worker standard; a non-underdeveloped Africa in Rodney's work; and an
Alternate America colonised by African slaveholders. This distinction between geographical and historical counterfactuals is similar to that which
Hellekson makes between true alternate histories and nexus stories and, as in the former, at stake in these black-Atlantic counterfactual geographies
are the consequences of what might have been, not the causes of how they might have come about in the first place.61 These consequences are apparent
in conjectural patterns of power and wealth, and in hypothetical relations linking social groups, states, and world regions. Moreover, the rhetorical,
affective, and ethical force of these black-Atlantic counterfactuals derives from the extent to which their conjectural geographies differ from the actual
patterns and relations in our world. This counterfactual difference is apparent across the cases I have discussed. Many of the terms used to describe that
which is missing social distance, underdevelopment are implicitly counterfactual and posit a difference not only from the West or the socio-economic
lives of white Americans, but also from what Africa and people of African-descent would have been in the absence of Atlantic slavery. In terms of the work
performed, this counterfactual difference can play a number of roles: calculative, by helping to assess how much is owed to the victims of slavery; antideterministic, in challenging racially essentialist versions of history; and affective, through producing something like readerly alienation. This explains the
attraction of this historical mode, despite what critics see as its absurd, illogical and even counter-productive tendencies. When Roberts calls it utopian
and fantastic, he intends to highlight the weaknesses of counterfactualism, but for others its strength lies precisely in how counterfactuals can be used to
imagine new worlds and by articulating how such worlds differ from our own, demands can be made for the restitution of that which was taken away. 62
The production of differences between real and alternate historical geographies is the main way in which black-Atlantic counterfactuals highlight, measure
the existence of these

counterfactuals also complicates accounts of the forms of time consciousness and
historicity that are most often associated with contemporary responses to Atlantic
slavery. In Specters of the Atlantic, Ian Baucom addresses the work of a range of writers who have insisted on the foundational status of
Atlantic slavery in the history of modernity. He argues that these writers, who include Edouard Glissant, Derek Walcott, Fred D'Aguiar and,
once again, Toni Morrison, articulate a black-Atlantic philosophy of history. Opposed to
Enlightenment notions of temporality, periodicity, and contemporaneity , Baucom characterises
and dramatise the continuing effects of Atlantic slavery. By way of closing remarks, I want to argue that
this philosophy as a not-entirely-Benjaminian sense that [t]ime does not pass, it accumulates and that what has been begun does not end but endures.
This black-Atlantic philosophy of history, with its hauntological sense of time consciousness and attendant concerns with return, ghosts, trauma and
melancholia, has perhaps become the dominant critical mode of engaging with Atlantic slavery and its legacies. 63 It finds expression, albeit a little more
faintly, in concerns with place, memory and the memorialisation of Atlantic slavery. 64 Yet, the forms of counterfactualism that I have discussed here
demonstrate how Atlantic slavery has been made present in other ways across the black Atlantic. Consider, for example, the contrast between Morrison's
While
both seek to defamiliarize contemporary understandings of slavery, the former does
so through its haunting and melancholic atmosphere, in contrast to the latter's
realist narrative set in a fantastic, alternate world . The contrast indicates that both
counterfactual and hauntological senses of time consciousness are
possible when engaging with Atlantic slavery's after-effects and, hence, that the
speculative requires attention as well as the spectral. And if Barnes's work might be dismissed as marginal, then in discussing the
reparations movements and Rodney's work I have sought to demonstrate that this has been a
wider feature of black-Atlantic thought and politics. 65 Baucom contrasts this hauntological philosophy of
Beloved and Barnes's Lion's blood (other than that one is regarded as high literature, while the other might be written-off as genre fiction).
history with what he terms a speculative epistemology, which he associates, among other things, with financial capitalism, an Enlightenment sense of
progressive temporality and the systems of exchange that underwrote Atlantic slavery.66 Given that black-Atlantic counterfactualism also differs from
Baucom's black-Atlantic philosophy of history, it might be tempting to align it with his speculative epistemology not least because of the
the
forms of conjectural reasoning in black-Atlantic counterfactuals are distinct from
both and indicate the multiplicity of ways of responding to Atlantic slavery .
What the presence of black-Atlantic counterfactualism suggests is that an expanded conceptual vocabulary is
needed to describe and understand the full range of ways in which Atlantic slavery's
pasts have been made present. Hence, a historical geography of the after-effects of
Atlantic slavery should not only be concerned with ghostly returns, places of
memory and sites of commemoration, but also with exploring the worlds that might
have been that are evoked, elaborated and fictionalised through counterfactual
thought and practice, and with understanding how such conjectural worlds can be used to make demands of this world.
correspondence of speculation and speculative, which have common roots in notions of mental and visual sight. However, I would argue that
Perm Solvency Memory

Truly radical reparations require a direct politicization of
historical memory our counter-monumentalization IS a form
of reparation in itself
Thompson, Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at
Melbourne University, 2005
(Janna, Memory and Ethics of Reparation, Online:
http://www.yale.edu/glc/justice/thompson.pdf)
to enslave someone is an evil for which there is no

reparation in the above sense any more than there is proper reparation for torture
or murder. Forms of reparation for slavery that have been proposed reveal the gap
between the nature of the injustice and any possibility of repair. Corlett, for example, suggests that
The problems of claiming reparations for slavery are obvious. First of all,
reparations are owed for the labor power stolen from those who were enslaved; others have suggested that compensation should be based on what slaves could have earned if they had
the evils of slavery go far beyond the stealing of labor power (which, according to Marx,
is done by capitalists to every worker) or denial of wages. The point is not that it is inappropriate to offer monetary compensation for irremediable injustices, but
that in these cases compensation is not reparation in the standard sense, but
should be regarded as a symbolic gesture that shows the willingness of perpetrators
to acknowledge an injustice and their desire to make recompense for it. The second
problem is identifying the agent who can legitimately be made responsible for
reparations in the case of a historical injustice like slavery. The slaveholders are dead, and so are all of the
been free workers. But
government officials, politicians and others who supported slavery or made it possible for it to exist. The most plausible candidates for responsibility are those intergenerational
associations which in one way or another aided and abetted slavery: the American government, which for a long time tolerated slavery and passed and enforced laws that supported it,
there are obvious problems with assigning responsibility to

a nation that has a largely non-voluntary membership . At one time, says Boxill,
companies which profited from it, churches which condoned it. But
collectives especially a collective like
the US Government had a duty to pay reparation to slaves. None of this supports the claim that the present US Government owes present day African Americans the reparation an earlier
US Government owed their ancestors but never paid. Since present day US citizens were not complicit in the crime of slavery that claim can only be based on the morally repugnant idea
that individuals can be burdened with the duties that other people incurred. Some supporters of black reparations insist that the US Government ought to be regarded as a person in its
own right: an agent that persists through time and the generations, incurring debts and responsibilities which, as a moral person, it is bound to discharge. Nations are expected to keep
the treaties that they have made, even when this requires sacrifices from people who were not alive or were children when the treaty was approved and signed. Nations are expected to
pay reparations even though some of the sacrifice will be borne by taxpayers who had nothing to do with the wrong. Corlett thinks that so long as citizens support the political
institutions that they have inherited from the past they are liable for their governments past debts. But a political practice of requiring present citizens to honor past agreements or past
The government is supposed to represent the people, and the

problem remains of justifying the imposition of moral debts on citizens who were
unborn when the wrongs occurred. There is in fact a robust tradition in American
thought, and indeed in liberal thought in general, that holds that a democratic
nation of free individuals ought not to tolerate such impositions. According to Thomas Jefferson, one
debts needs a moral justification.
generation is to another as one independent nation to another. Can reparation be demanded from white Americans because they have been unjustly enriched by the legacy of slavery:
because they now have benefits that they wouldnt enjoy if this legacy had not existed? This idea raises questions about how the existence and extent of unjust enrichment is to be
determined. But more serious is the problem of making sense of unjust enrichment in cases of historical injustice. Reparations, according to the standard account, are not owed because
of enrichment but because an injustice has been done, and they are owed by the perpetrator and not by people who have unintentionally benefited by the effects, sometimes remote, of
the injustice. It is true that many people hold an idea of distributive justice that requires that those who have been unfairly advantaged compensate unfairly disadvantaged citizens. This
The third problem

faced by those who defend reparations for slavery is explaining why presently
existing African Americans are owed reparation for this historical injustice. Since they are not the
ones against whom this injustice was committed, then, according to the standard account, it is difficult to understand how they could
be candidates for reparation. If injustices have been committed against them during their lifetime, then they are entitled to reparation for these
idea of justice would undoubtedly support a re-distribution of resources from wealthier whites to poorer blacks. But this is a different issue.
wrongs but not for slavery, not for the system of oppression that was put in place in the South after the Civil War, and not for other historical injustices to African Americans. Historical
injustices cast a long shadow. That the legacy of slavery still adversely affects black people today is one of the points that Robinson makes. But there is a well-known difficulty in making
, in order to claim reparations for

slavery, have to show that they are worse off than they would have been if slavery
had not existed. But if their ancestors had not been enslaved, removed from their country, shipped to America, these descendants
these bad effects into grounds for reparations for slavery. For it seems that existing African Americans
would not have existed at all, and can therefore not claim to be worse off. So it seems that reparations for the legacy of slavery can only be owed to
black Americans for the unjust deprivations that they have suffered during their lifetimes. The above idea about when reparations are owed depends on people being able to
demonstrate that they have been harmed by an injustice. A different account of why we ought to make reparation to existing people for an injustice to their forebears relies instead on
rights of inheritance. If a possession is stolen from someone and reparation is not made during his lifetime, then it is reasonable to insist that what is owed ought to be paid to his heirs.
Boxill uses Lockes account of what is due to heirs in order to defend the idea that reparation in the form of money and property ought to be given to the descendants of slaves. By right,
slaves had title to a part of the estates of heirs of slaveholders and of those who assisted, concurred or consented to their transgressions. Since this reparation was not paid, the heirs of
slaves have in each generation inherited the entitlement and the heirs of transgressors and their supporters the reparative debt. These heirs, Boxill thinks, include virtually the whole
white population of the US. All white Americans have inherited the debt because the whole of each generation of whites specified that only the whites of the succeeding generations
were permitted to own or compete for the assets it was leaving behind. One of the problems with Boxills defense of reparations is the equivocal use of the word heir. Heirs, according
to Locke, are those who receive property by right of bequest or the laws of inheritance. In order to encompass whole generations, Boxill has to count as heirs those who have benefited in
some way from persisting discrimination against blacks. In doing so, he conflates an appeal to unjust enrichment with an appeal to inheritance. The more serious problem is his reliance
on a view about property and inheritance according to which, having an original claim to a possession or receiving it by gift, sale or bequest are the only ways that a person can obtain a
legitimate title. More plausible accounts of right to property do not have this implication. Rights of property, according to many philosophers, should enable people to have reliable
access to resources, to make plans for their lives based on possession of these resources. If property is unjustly taken from its possessor, then its owner or his/her heirs are owed
reparation, says Waldron. But if reparation does not occur, time passes, and the possession eventually comes into the hands of those who are innocent of the injustice, then reparation is
This brief survey does

not show that all attempts to justify black reparation have failed or that there is no
plausible response to the problems that I have discussed. However, the difficulties
indicate the desirability of a different approach. The one that I favor has three
facets. First of all, it questions the usefulness of the standard, legalistic, approach
to reparation. Second, it moves away from the individualistic focus of this approach
and looks instead at what families have suffered and what members of them can
now claim. Third, it emphasizes the importance of historical memory and moral
relationships between generations in a political society. Reparation and Reconciliation There are two ways in which the
no longer possible or desirable. To insist on it would undermine the ability of innocent others to make and carry out plans for their lives.
standard account of reparation fails in cases of historical injustice (and, in fact, in many other cases). The first is that it is often not possible, for both pragmatic and moral reasons, to
return victims and their heirs to the situation that existed before the injustice took place, or even to compensate them by giving them something equal in value to what was taken from
them by the injustice. Apart from the difficulty of determining a just compensation after time has passed and social conditions have changed, there is the problem, discussed above, of
dealing with wrongs that cant be undone and are beyond compensation. Gaus goes so far as to argue that there is no adequate material compensation for any injustice.14 All injustice,
he thinks, involves a lack of respect of perpetrators for their victims, and an act of 7disrespect can no more be undone or compensated for than can murder. Reparation merely provides
the victim with possessions, money, or new opportunities. It doesnt restore the moral balance. Disrespect and other uncompensatable wrongs can, however, be apologised for.
Perpetrators can make recompense by acknowledging to the victims that they did wrong, showing in an appropriate way that they are sorry and intend to avoid doing wrong in the
future. These acts are outside the scope of a legalistic conception of reparation, but nevertheless they seem particularly appropriate in many cases of injustice. Robinson, for example,
stresses the disabling effect of the psychological and spiritual legacy of slavery that presently existing African Americans have inherited, and thinks that paying the debt requires
measures to overcome this legacy. These would require that white Americans face up to the injustices in their history and demonstrate in appropriate ways that they have done so.
Admission of wrongdoing and symbolic acts of reconciliation do not preclude being required to provide material compensation and most advocates of Black reparations have demanded
it. However, the standard account of what is required in reparation does not answer well to cases where states of affairs for both successors of victims and perpetrators are substantially
different from conditions that existed when the injustice was done. What successors of victims want and need is relief from the disadvantages that now inflict them and assurance that
they and their children will be respected and have an equal place in their society. The most appropriate form of compensation, it seems, should be oriented to needs and relationships in
the present and the future. It should be forward rather than backward looking. In another place, I have advocated an account of reparation for historical injustices which is reconciliatory
rather than rectificatory; forward-looking in its aims, rather than backward- 8looking.15 According to this idea, reparation is achieved when the harm done by injustice to relations of
respect, trust and equality that ought to exist between individuals or communities has been repaired or compensated for by the perpetrators in such a way that the victims should no
longer regard this harm as standing in the way of establishing or re-establishing these relations. Achieving this end would require symbolic acts as well as, in most cases, economic
compensation. It would require a widespread willingness of individuals and representatives of groups to interact with each other, to understand each others point of view, and to come
to a common understanding of the wrongs done. This ideal may never be fully achieved, but governments and other organisations can promote it and work toward its achievement. The
conception of reparation that I advocate seems especially appropriate for dealing with a legacy of injustice that continues to have debilitating effects on people of the present. However,
the problem remains of explaining why descendants of victims of injustice are owed reparation and why descendants or successors of perpetrators are responsible for providing it. This
problem is increased, rather than diminished, by an account of reparation that requires perpetrators to make recompense to their victims. Why should guiltless people apologise and why
are people who are not the victims owed an apology? Injustices to Family Lines How can individuals who were not themselves enslaved be owed reparation for slavery, especially since
they would not have existed at all if their ancestors had not been enslaved? Part of the answer to this question is to stress that slavery, as it was practiced in the US, was not merely a
wrong against individuals but an injustice to family lines. Slavery as a system perpetuated itself (in part) by the enslavement of families. The children of slaves were also 9slaves. Once
enslaved, a family was meant to remain in subjugation down through the generations, and the Jim Crow system, established in the South after the Civil War, was meant to perpetuate the
subordination of black families by other means. Another part of the answer would be provided by a demonstration that slavery, the Jim Crow system, and other forms of discrimination
against blacks in both the South and the North were intrinsically related: that they were (and to some extent are still) components of a system of oppression for subjugating or keeping in
subordination black families. If this plausible view is correct, then it seems that African Americans, as existing members of family lines, can claim reparation on behalf of themselves and
their descendants for a history of injustices that includes slavery. This conclusion is likely to be resisted in two main ways. In a society that emphasises the entitlements and obligations
of people as individuals it is likely to seem odd and unacceptable that anyone should have entitlements as the member of a family line. Why should we suppose that a persons identity
as a member of a family is such as to give him or her a claim to reparation? In any case, it might be thought that all that families or members of families can claim is a remedy for the
injustices that they suffer: that history is irrelevant except to explain why these injustices exist. A good reason for insisting that being the member of a persecuted family is of moral
Many theorists have pointed out the role

of historical memory in the formation of an individuals identity. Remembrance, says Waldron, is crucial to the
identity of individuals and communities. To neglect the historical record is to do violence to this identity and thus to the
significance is that histories of their families and of their people are important to individuals.
community that it sustains. And since communities help generate a deeper sense of identity for the individuals they comprise, neglecting or expunging the historical record is a way of
undermining and insulting individuals as well.16 Moreover an injury to identity can cause or compound other harms. Members of nations or groups whose ancestors were the victims of
Remembrance is important, Annette Baier claims,

because individuals are essentially second persons: Persons are essentially successors, heirs to other
persons who formed and cared for them, and their personality is revealed both in their relations to others and in their response to their
historical wrongs often suffer from despair, depression, loss of confidence and hope for the future.
own recognized genesis.17 She means not merely that we depend physically and psychologically on our parents and others who raise us, but that our conception of self is bound up with
the heritage we receive from our cultural and familial predecessors. We acquire a sense of ourselves as occupying a place in a historical and social order of persons, each of whom has a
personal history interwoven with the history of a community.18 Acquiring such a sense of self plays a role in the self development of individuals: in forming their values and aspirations
If their identities as second persons are blighted

by a history in which their family members and other people of their group were
oppressed or treated with disrespect in a nation that has refused to acknowledge their suffering or their contributions, then, in one way or another, their development as
selves will be set back. Memories of a history of oppression are likely to afflict those who inherit
them with feelings of depression, lack of self-esteem and despair about the future of themselves and their children especially if the disadvantages that result from this history are
and enabling them to regard themselves as respected participants in a society that spans the generations.
still present. But if self development of individuals and ability to participate with confidence in building a future for themselves and their children depends on having a secure place in a
historical community, then forgetting a history of oppression and disrespect is no solution.
These views about the role of memory in
self formation and development indicate that coming to terms with the injustices of
the past is important to descendants of victims, and probably also descendants and
successors of perpetrators. But the question remains whether it is necessary or even
appropriate to think of this coming to terms as reparation . If people are now suffering psychologically and spiritually
from a history of oppression, then this calls for a remedy. We should find some way of healing them, of boosting their self-esteem and confidence as well as alleviating their poverty. An
apology and other symbolic gestures might help, but why should this be regarded as reparation and not simply a mental health strategy? A symbolic gesture like an apology cannot be
taken seriously (and have its desired affects) unless it is intended as an act of reparation. If people think that it was made merely to make them feel better about themselves and their
Historical memory is not merely a psychological

phenomenon. It is the source of obligations and entitlements, and to be
proper and appropriate, an act of reparation has to discharge the
obligations created by a historical injustice. Taking these obligations seriously,
it seems to me, requires that we accept the idea that obligations exist in respect to
the past or to people of the past, and that what concerns present people, what
makes historical memories of moral importance to them, is their belief that these
obligations ought to be discharged.
future, they will regard it, rightly, as insincere.
Aff = Prereq
The aff is a prereq to the counter-advocacy it is impossible to
think of reparations without understanding slavery through
melancholy
Best and Hartman, Associate Professors of English at UCBerkeley, 2005
[Stephen and Saidiya, Fugitive Justice, Representations, Vol. 92, No. 1 (Fall 2005)]
Restitution
for the crimes of slavery depends upon the expression of grief and the working through of the "melancholy
instances," which, like the stations of the cross, are tableaus of loss, suffering, and death that point
toward redemption. As Veena Das notes, in the process of mourning, "the transactions between
body and language lead to an articulation of the world in which the strangeness of
the world revealed by death, by its non-inhabitability, can be transformed into a
world in which one can dwell again, in lull awareness of a life that has to be lived in
loss."' A life lived in lossthis perhaps is the great gift of Cugoano's harsh words and laments, the recognition that abolition could not redress the crime
In Thoughts and Sentiments, Cugoano connects the possibilities of habitation to the act of lamentationthe enactment of black grief.
of slavery but could only commute its death sentence. In this regard, he was perhaps more hopeful than Henry Highland Garnet, who believed slavery was
a condition that was not terminated even by death, since the progeny of the enslaved inherited the wretched condition of their predecessors. Cugoano's
plan for reform entailed working through "the injuries already done" and operating within the limited scope of the possible, rather than making right a
wrong, restoring what has been destroyed, or giving back what has been taken. By 1787, it had already become too late for that. What we find of interest
in Cugoano's text is its nuanced conceptualization of redress discourse, a sophisticated understanding captured in the rhetorical distinctions between
grievance and grief; between the necessity of legal remedy and the impossibility of redress ("these could not avail"); between the unavoidable form of the
"appeal" and its ultimate illegibility and insufficiency (it "can only be .. . known to the cars of Jehovah"); between the complaint that is audible to "noble
Britons" and the extralinguistic mode of black noise that exists outside the parameters of any strategy or plan for remedy. We find in this loophole
the
interval between the no longer and the not yet, between the destruction of the old
world and the awaited hour of deliverance. That interval is the hour of the captive's redemption, it is not only
the governing trope of the captive's complaint but also, viewed from the
retrospective glance of our political present, the master trope of black political
discourse.' In this interval we find the mutual imbrication of pragmatic political advance with a long history of failure; in it, too, we find a
between hope and resignation (Cugoano's differend) a deeper significance, a sign of the political interval in which all captives find themselves
representation in miniature of fugitive justice. These concerns have animated the Redress Project, a group of scholars and activists devoted to questions of
slavery, fugitive forms of justice, and the role of history in the political present. Among these questions are: Why is justice fugitive? Why for a captive
such as Cugoano, does justice appear elusive and perceptually dubious from within the crucible of slavery and at the height of the slave tradewhen the
time of injury and the time of repair would have been coeval? Cugoano and his comrades in arms could not have been accused, as many arc today, of
"sleeping on their rights." Is this elusiveness then an index of the incommensurability between grief and grievance, pain and compensation? What is
justice for the slave? What is justice for the slave's descendants? Does the slave even have descendants? Who are the slave's many descendants?' What is
It is not possible to think about reparations for

slavery without thinking seriously about what the constituent elements of
slavery are. In The Slavery of Emancipation, Guyora Binder asks, "What was the essential feature of the slavery that the Thirteenth
slavery? What is the violence particular to slavery?
Amendment commands us to disestablish": (1) property in human beings, (2) physical compulsion and corporal correction of the laborer, (3) involuntary
servitude, (4) restrictions on mobility or opportunity or personal liberty, (5) restrictions of liberty of contract, (6) the expropriation of the material fruits of
What is crucial for

us (and for Binder as well) is the incompletion of abolition. We understand the particular
character of slavery's violence to be ongoing and constitutive of the unfinished
project of freedom. What is the slaveproperty, commodity, or disposable life? The slave, according to Anthony Farley, "is the apogee of
the slave's labor, (7) absence of collective self-governance or noncitizenship, (8) dishonor and social death, (9) racism?'
the commodity. It is the pointin time as well as in spaceat which the commodity becomes flesh." For Farley, remedying the injuries of slavery would
the somnambulant path of law leads to the question of

reparations because the law promises a remedy for every wrong ." Prayers for
relief are "acts of state worship" that can only reproduce extant structures of
powerlessness and dispossession. " The state will not grant the prayer for
reparations; it cannot without destroying itself"8 What is the time of
entail the abolition of capitalism. In his estimation, "
slavery? Is it the time of the present, as Hortense Spillers suggests, a death sentence reenacted and
transmitted across generations? "Even though the captive flesh/body has been 'liberated,' and no one need pretend that even
the quotation marks do not matter, dominant symbolic activity the ruling episteme that releases the dynamics of naming and valuation,
remains grounded in originating metaphors of captivity and mutilation so that it is as if neither
time nor history nor historiography or its topics, show movement, as the human subject is 'murdered' over and over again by the passions of a bloodless
Is it a time that we can all remember? As George

Jackson wrote from his prison cell in Soledad: "My recall is nearly perfect, time has faded nothing. I recall the first kidnap,
I lived through the passage, died on the passage, lain in the unmarked shallow
graves of the millions who fertilized the American soil with their corpses; cotton and corn growing out of my chest 'until the third and fourth
generation,' the tenth, the hundredth."10 'Why is the history of reparations for slavery, to paraphrase Robert Westley in
this volume, a history of a nonevent, a history of events either too recent to deserve the
name of history or events that reverse contemporary expectations about
reparations?" And extending from this last question, why is the appeal for redress one that seems
always to arrive too late, and to be marked by a note of belatedness and
insufficiency? This is not a volume on reparations (on that discourse's structural account of slavery and certain knowledge of what the slave
is); nor is it a volume on remembering and working through historical trauma. Rather, what this volume represents is the
attempt to interrogate rigorously the kinds of political claims that can be mobilized
on behalf of the slave (the stateless, the socially dead, and the disposable) in the political present. In posing the
question of slavery in terms of the incomplete nature of abolition, we are concerned neither with "what happened
then" nor with "what is owed because of what happened then," but rather with the
contemporary predicament of freedom, with the melancholy recognition of
foreseeable futures still tethered to this past . In this effort we are very much guided by the work of David
and anonymous archaism, showing itself in endless disguise."'
Scott, particularly his recent book Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment, which encourages us to think about the epistemological
and political dilemmas entailed in writing histories of the present, and invites us to write histories of the present that squarely engage the problem of
"futures." Scott cautions us to tread carefully when writing histories of dispossession in the space of the interval, in "a time . . . in which old horizons have
collapsed or evaporated and new ones have not yet taken shape." In other words, to paraphrase Scott, what is the story about the slave that we ought to
tell out of the present we ourselves inhabita present in which torture isn't really torture, a present in which persons have been stripped of rights
heretofore deemed inalienable?'
Rubbish Landfills
1NC
The United States federal government should mandate that
new landfills and toxic waste dumps be sited near affluent
socio-economic areas in the United States.
Corporations dump waste near poor communities in order to
distance consumers from rubbish. Its not just the ocean thats
perceived as infinite, its the entire world this belief
abstracts from wastes materiality and externalizes its effects
onto the poor.
Clapp, Professor at the University of Waterloo, 2005
[Jennifer, Professor & Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and
Sustainability, Distancing of Waste: Overconsumption in a Global Economy, TIPEC
Working Paper 01/10, http://wwwrohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/dunnweb/rprnts.2005.10.10Clapp.pdf]
as distance between consumers and waste increases, more waste tends to

be generated. When people have little understanding of where their postconsumptive waste actually go, and have even less understanding of where the waste associated with the production of their
purchases ends up, they tend to make decisions that perpetuate the generation of waste.
Once waste is out of sight, people tend to forget about it, assuming that it
is someone elses responsibility. This someone else may be firms, the federal government, or
local municipalities. The understanding gap and geographical distance between consumers and
their waste sever ecological feedback loops, thus perpetuating otherwise undesirable
consumption choices. This distancing is present between the consumers act of throwing away and the ultimate fate of that garbage (what I
Significantly,
will call post-consumer waste), and between consumption and the waste generated in the production of consumer items (what I will call pre-consumer
waste). Distancing is also crucial for understanding another important and closely related aspect of waste crisis. With more waste being generated, more
As more and more waste is disposed, the waste-sink

capacity that is, the capacity of the earth, both socially and environmentally, to
absorb this growing mountain of waste is being consumed. There is little if any frontier for waste
disposal left on the planet. Most of the waste-sink capacity in rich industrialized countries has already been used up. With the ecological
impacts of waste dumps better understood today, fewer communities are willing to
accept them. There are fewer landfills available in the U.S. today, for example, than 20 years ago. For this reason wastes
are travelling longer distances, including to poorer less industrialized countries. The transport to and
disposal of wastes in developing countries is perpetuating the consumption of waste-sink capacity, only now on a global scale. It creates an
illusion that there are enough places for wastes to go. But such transport
creates grossly unfair situations where the poor must bear the burden of the wastes
from the rich. And it cannot go on forever. Eventually the waste sink capacity of the Earth will be used up. Indeed, some might argue that we
must be disposed of; it must go somewhere.
are already there, as there is just no place for certain wastes to go (see below). A better understanding of the root causes of waste distancing should help
to promote policies to reduce it. Three factors promoting waste distancing stand out. One is the extremely large scale of modern industrial life. Seemingly
ever-expanding systems for production, consumption, and waste collection have developed, beginning with the industrial boom experienced at the end of
the Second World War.4 To achieve economies of scale and enhance growth prospects, industrialists, planners, and government agencies promoted everlarger production and consumption systems. Increasingly, a growing number of items used in daily life are manufactured on a large-scale in factories and
brought to consumers via globally connected distribution systems (Chapter 6). Such mass production and consumption systems contribute to distance
between consumers and waste because of the sheer volume of goods which makes it nearly impossible to know much about the wastes associated with
their production. At the same time, a mass waste collection system, for both post-consumer and industrial wastes, has developed, making waste disposal
easy and cheap, something producers and consumers need not think about once the waste is taken away. A second factor is economic globalization. The
drive toward economic liberalization since the 1980s, in North and South alike, has contributed to this increasingly global organization of production, trade,
and consumption. In the North this process has been largely driven by ideological beliefs about the benefits of a global free market. The North then
presses policies on the South that promote a global free market via structural adjustment reforms prescribed by global economic institutions such as the
IMF and the World Bank.5 Liberalization of trade, investment, and financial policies under these reform programs bring these countries into the globalscale systems for production, consumption and trade. Concomitantly, globalization leads directly to waste distancing. The waste collection business itself,
A third
factor promoting waste distancing is economic inequality . On both the local and the global scale,
inequality can lead to situations where some communities have little choice but to
accept others wastes, despite the environmental and social problems that such wastes create. These communities
accept wastes because they are desperately poor ; they cannot turn down the jobs and financial remuneration.
particularly the private industrial waste disposal industry, has become ever more global in scale over the past few decades, facilitated by trade.6
Economic inequalities both within and between countries have in fact become more pronounced over the past thirty to forty years. Between 1960 and
1989, for example, the economies of those countries with the richest 20 percent of the worlds population grew almost three times faster than the
economies of countries with the poorest 20 percent. The result is that over that same time period, the poorest 20 percents share of global income
dropped from 2.3 percent to 1.4 percent, while the richest 20 percents share of global income rose from 70.2 percent to 82.7 percent.7 Indeed, some
waste brokers have

increasingly sought out disadvantaged communities, people who are the least able to resist the jobs and
argue that economic globalization is a contributing factor to global inequality.8 Along with this growing inequality,
revenues. And the brokers use the channels of the global economy to get the wastes there. The Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) syndrome with respect to the
siting of waste dumps has meant that some communities keep dumpsites out of their neighborhood while others are paid to take them. A number of
dumps tend to end up disproportionately in poor communities.9
studies have shown that such

displacement of waste disposal from rich to poor occurs within local communities, within countries, and globally.
This
The counterplan solves it forces rich communities to take

their fair share and confront their waste
Dobson, Professor of Politics at Keele University, 2012
[Andrew, Social Justice and Environmental Sustainability, in Just Sustainabilities:
Development in an Unequal World edited by Robert D. Bullard, Julian Agyeman, and
Bob Evans, pp. 90-91]
Let me recall, then, a remark 1 made in commenting on Figure 4.1. There I said that in the context of environmental sustainability
'our intuition is that not only is social justice

compatible with the sustaining of critical natural capital, but that social justice
demands the sustaining of critical natural capital and its fair sharing around the
community of justice'. Nom it should be clear that this bold conclusion is reached at the cost of assuming that the
understood as the sustaining of critical natural capital,
principle of social justice in question is 'need'. By its very nature critical natural capital is a fundamental human need, and therefore
'distribution according to need' suggests that this basic need be equally satisfied. But what if the principle of social justice in
question is not need but, say, deserved? Can we say that critical natural capital is equally deserved? This seems counter-intuitive, in
part because the principle of desert is usually used to justify inequalities of distribution, but also because the term has no purchase
on the thing being distributed. This is what philosophers call a 'category mistake', and I shall follow up the important implications of
this point in the paragraph after next. For the moment, though, it should he clear that our apparently one-dimensional, if still
complex, question of whether social justice is compatible with environmental sustainability has many more ramifications than
This is much more than a merely theoretical interest. The implications

for policy-makers are profound. The view in government in the UK at present, for instance, seems to be that
appear at first sight.
policies for social justice, in the international arena, will result automatically in greater environmental sustainability. This belief is
exemplified in the activities of the Department for International Development which has plenty to say about international justice but
is virtually silent on environmental sustainability, in the mistaken belief that more of the former will necessarily produce more of the
more nuanced understanding of the relationship between social justice

and environmental sustainability would make for more realistic coalition-building in
'civil society'. Spats between the Sierra Club and the environmental justice movement in the US would seem less surprising,
latter. Similarly, a
for example, and disagreements could be more carefully negotiated with a view to building longer lasting, more secure and more
These coalitions are difficult to build because , I think, social justice and
environmental sustainability speak different languages and have different objectives. There are three
realistic coalitions.
ways in which the languages of social justice and environmental sustainability might be related: (a) the environment as something
to be distributed, (b) justice as functional for sustainability, and (c) 'justice to the environment'. The first of these discourses is that
of the environmental justice movement. We noted above that all theories of justice have to have answers to certain common
questions, and the one we focused on above was that of the principle of distribution (according to need, desert, or entitlement).
Another question to which all theories of social justice must have an answer is: what
is to be distributed? There are all sorts of possible answers: money, calories, political posts, for example. The
answer that environmental justice gives to this question of what is to be

distributed is: landfill sites and toxic waste dumps . Landfill sites and toxic
waste dumps are distributed around the country in ways which the environmental
justice movement considers to be unfair, and the movement's political project is
organized around making people aware of this and asking that wealthier
communities take their fair share of the rubbish.
Our utopian demand opens critical space to challenge

ecological distancing and destruction a focus on
environmental justice is key
Fournier, Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies at the
University of Leicester, 2002
[Valerie, Utopianism and the cultivation of possibilities: grassroots movements of
hope, The Sociological Review, Vol. 50, Issue 1]
corporate actions 'dictated' by the 'force of the market' have 'real

effects' on local material conditions, they do so by appropriating or wrecking the means of livelihood of distant
communities. Since these effects are often inscribed in and distributed through the
environment (eg through the appropriation of land, of life forms as in biopiracy, the degradation of soil, water or air and the depletion of natural
resources), it is maybe not surprising that many grassroots movements against global capitalism have tended to
articulate their protest around environmental concerns , or land reform. Environmental
concerns here are not about aesthetic sensibilities but material conditions for meeting basic subsistence needs, they are matters
of survival (Korten, 1995; Thomas-Slayter et al, 1996). As many have noted, the environment acts as a powerful
material for critique for it bears the scars of corporate capitalism, of its social
injustice and devastation (Bookchin, 1990; Dickens, 1996; Konen, 1995). It is the poor and the
marginalized who often bear the brunt of pollution , natural resource degradation, or the appropriation of land
As the example of PASAR outlined above suggested,
(Miller et al, 1996; Pulido, 1996), and who are therefore most likely to know the impact, the devastating effects of corporate capitalism, for, to put it
bluntly, they carry these effects on their bodies. It is the location of grassroots protest movements at the points where the devastating effects of corporate
that makes them powerful starting points for critique,

for exposing the outrageous effects of corporate actions. This understanding of the
capitalism are most likely to be felt,
environment, as a set of local, material conditions for survival, has been a central point of critique of global capitalism for many women's environmentalist
movements. Through their material positions as carers and main providers of food, women are often the first to know and bear the brunt of environmental
degradation; and they have used this `mundane', everyday knowledge to resist the dumping of toxic waste by corporations (Miller et al., 1996; Seager,
1996), or the so called `green revolution' promoted by programmes of structural adjustment in developing countries (Agarwal, 1992; Mehta, 1996;
Sweetman, 2000). These programmes have encouraged the restructuring of agriculture away from subsistence towards cash crop oriented systems, fed
by privatization and the use of expensive technology and pesticides. As many have illustrated, these programmes have had dire effects on women's
material conditions and ability to provide for domestic food, water and health needs9'. The Chipko movement, in the Himalayan valley, was among the
first to organize against these programmes of agricultural restructuring (eg Agarwal, 1992; Mehta, 1996); but similar protests have been raised by
grassroots women movements in other developing countries (see Campbell. 1996; Sweetman, 1999; Wangari et al., 1996). Arguing that women may be
the first to notice and suffer the effects of corporate capitalism is not to assume that they have some inherent and privileged connections with nature
which give them a unique knowledge of or sensitivity to the environment (the ècofeminist argument' eg Merchant, 1980; Plant, 1989). It is not their
'womanhood' that gives them this 'privileged access' to devastation, but their location in certain material conditions (the gendered division of labour, the
customs and practices that govern their access to land, market, knowledge and financial resources) (Agarwal, 1992; Rocheleau et al., 1996). And it is
obviously not just women who are affected by the environmental and material wreckage created by corporate capitalism; nor are they the only ones to
protest (Bennholdt-Thomsen and Mies, 1999; Rocheleau et all, 1996). Indeed, as many recent publications have been at pain to show, grassroots
movements against global capitalism are emerging in many different places, and are articulated around a range of concerns from local movements
reclaiming the use of the 'commons' (Donahue, 1999; The Ecologist, 1993), the related Zapatista movement for self-determination by local people
(Holloway and Pelaez, 1998), to protests against acts of `biopiracy' (Shiva, 1997) sanctioned by GATT regulations on Trade Related Intellectual property
Rights (TRIPS)10. The point here is not to privilege one group or concern over another, but simply to stress that if the devastating effects of global
it is at this local, grassroots level that the

outrageous nature of these effects can be most powerfully exposed, and that
demands for alternatives can be most forcibly made. But exposing the blatant injustice and insanity of market
capitalism are inscribed in the local material conditions of those on the margins,
liberalism is not enough to get us to move away from it. As the 'third way' concocted by world leaders at Davos suggested, the response to mounting
evidence of human and environmental devastation is to re-affirm the promise of market liberalism and ensure that no one is spared from its benevolent
and irresistible force. Putting a face to the 'inevitable force of the market' If
utopianism is about opening up a
space for alternatives, it has to shatter any notion of 'inevitable' or 'natural' forces, and
in particular the commonly accepted notion that the forces of capitalism and neoliberalism are inescapable (Korten, 1995). 'There is no alternative' is a
common response to any criticism of neoliberalism and capitalism; neoliberalism may take time to bear its fruits to the disenfranchised, it may even
create its victims in the short term, but it is the best of all alternatives, and it is simply not within anyone's power to resist its 'force'. Thus in response to
the problems outlined above, all politicians can do is offer more of the ineffectual solutions that created the problem in the first place. Encouraging
economic growth through deregulation, removing trade barriers, unleashing the 'free forces of the market' are to be the solution to all ills, from poverty, to
crime, the provision of better public services, or environmental degradation (Korten, 1995). We indeed seem to have become 'unable to conceive of
anything different'. And as Blaug (1998) notes, this sense of closure about the way we organize the economy extends to the type of organization we can
conceive of We, or at least some of us, are unable to break away from the mould of modern capitalist organizations and the principle of `hierarchism'. For
Blaug (1998), `hierarchism' refers not only to the hierarchy of command typical of modern organizations, but also the division of labour, the centralization
Hierarchism and neoliberalism have become like a new

religious faith, a form of evangelism (George, 2000; Korten, 1995), and as such are self-confirming prophecies, 'a perceptual aberration,
of control and the privileging of expert knowledge".
immunized against revelation' (Blaug, 1998:46). The faith goes on, unabated by (more) empirical investigation of its tyranny and devastation, or its
blatant failure to reduce poverty (BennholdtThomsen and Mies, 1999; Blaug, 1998; George, 2000; Derrida, 1994)12. In order to resist the apparent
is important to understand the mechanisms

that serve to sustain it. One of the key mechanisms here is that of distancing, of
disconnecting organizational actions and decisions on the one hand, from
their effects on the other. These disconnections serve to place organizational
effects out of our sight, or at least 'out of our control' . Marx and Bauman have ceptual failure', the failure to
see that effects are the products of choices and decisions (Blaug, 1998). As Marx understood, capitalism relies on
fragmentation on a global scale: the geographical and social distances separating capital, production, and consumption serve to
inevitability of the force of the market, of neoliberalism and capitalism, it
blur the connections between actions and consequences. Capitalism is a global and macro-system that can effectively hide its environmental and social
by scattering its effects around the globe it 'prevents

us from seeing the aggregate of our actions, the big picture' (Blaug, 1998:39). And modern organizations are built on
costs behind geographical distance and social divisions;
the same principle of fragmentation and distancing. Bauman (1989) has powerfully demonstrated how the bureaucratic principles of modern
organizations, such as the division of labour, hierarchy, the privileging of impersonal rules, expert knowledge and instrumental rationality, translate
organizational action into a series of fragmented technical issues, free of questions about moral choice. Modern organizations efface moral responsibility
by distancing actions from effects, and effacing the 'face' of those who are made to suffer from these consequences (Desmond, 1998). These
distancing mechanisms keep the effects and suffering created by organizations

invisible; even when we do see suffering we don't see the connections to our
actions, we don't know what lever to pull, or we don't feel that any lever is within
our reach. These distancing mechanisms create the impression that the 'system' is unrolling, independently of our action, and there is nothing to
stop it.
2NC/1NR
Solvency Biodiversity
Challenging consumption and environmental inequality is the
key internal link to solving biodiversity loss
Shiva, Indian Environmental Activist, 1998
[Vandana, PhD in physics and prolific anti-globalization author, BIODIVERSITY,
CONSUMPTION PATTERNS AND GLOBALISATION,
http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/shiva-vandana_biodiversity.pdf]
Globalisation is a process which creates global consumption and production patterns which are based on
monocultures and uniformity. This in turn has an impact on the consumption patterns of
the poor in the Third World who depend on local biodiversity for their survival. The destruction of
biodiversity is therefore the destruction of the sustainable livelihoods and sustainable consumption of the poor. Globalisation is leading to a loss of
biodiversity and hence a destruction of livelihoods in three ways. Firstly, globally mobile investment and the demand for clean production in the North is
leading to relocation of resource and pollution intensive industries to biodiversity rich areas in the South, thus destroying both biodiversity and livelihoods
global consumption patterns create the need for production based

on uniformity and monocultures, which is the most important cause for
biodiversity erosion as well as displacement of small producers. Thirdly, globalisation is leading to intellectual property rights
dependent on it. Secondly,
regimes, which restrict the rights and entitlements of the poor to continue to have access to the biological resources and knowledge which has been
Biodiversity erosion starts a chain reaction. The disappearance of a species is related to the extinction of
innumerable other species with which it is interrelated through food webs and food chains, and about which humanity is totally ignorant. The crisis
of biodiversity is not just a crisis of the disappearance of species which serve as industrial raw
material and have the potential of spinning dollars for corporate enterprises. It is, more basically, a crisis that threatens the
life-support systems ande livelihoods of millions of people in Third World countries. Biodiversity is a
theirs.
people's resource. While the industrialised world and affluent societies turned their back on biodiversity, the poor in the Third World have continued to
depend on biological resources for food and nutrition, for health care, for energy, for fibre, for housing. 2.1 Globalisation and biodiversity and livelihood
erosion through habitat destruction: The case of "kewra" against steel. Steel plants around the world are closing down due to excess capacity and global
competition. Steel plants are then getting relocated in countries like India where ecological destruction and displacement are forced on people to provide
the social and environmental subsidy to make steel production in India "globally competitive". Tata Steel and Iron Com.Ltd. (TISCO) ar proposing a Rs.
7000 crore steel project for exports. The project also requires the construction of a dam across the Rushikulya to pump water to the plant. The project will
affect the inhabitants of around 25 villages of the Chhatarpur -Berhampur tehsils and 12 villages at Pipalapanka Reserve Forest in Saroda block, of the
Ganjam district, in Orissa. The plant would require about 4.4 million tonnes of iron ore per annum, for which a deposit having a potential of 400 million
tonnes of iron ore reserves should be necessary. For this a mining lease for 38 sq .km area around Mankadnacha -- Baliapahar area in Keonjhar and
Sundergarh districts in Orissa has been applied for, Nippon Steel Corporation of Japan has been appointed technology consultants, while serveral other
foreign interests are vying for technical contracts associated with the project. 5000 acres of private land is being sought by TISCO, in addtiion to about
1500 acres for a township for its workforce and for rehabilitation colony. More than 25,000 people will be displaced from the plant site alone, in addition to
displacement from the township and displacement colony site, as a sacrifice for exporting steel at a time when steel plants in the north are closing down.
The 5000 acres set in mind for the site is rich in biodiversity, containing lush green fields of coconut groves, jack fruit, banana, mango, cashew nllt.
pineapple, date, black berry. guava, rose berry. papaya, tamarind, palwlg (Calophythum inophyllum), dntmstick. ca~llrina, lemon, achu. Most important to
the local people is the Kewra (pwldwms fascicularis) -- endemic to the local region. Please see Table I. This plant, known for its aromatic properties, has
provided the mainstay for the local economy, providing the dominant source oflivelihood for several generations oflocal people. Financial assessments
were carried out gauging the current approximate earnings for Gopalpur families. Two acres of orchard land through the sale of fruit alone, provides an
annual income ofRs. 334,700, while the annual income from one acre of agricultural lands is Rs. 35,950.Please see Tables 2 and 3. From these figures,
approximations have been made for 5000 acres of orchards and agricultural crops in the porposed plant site being approximately 50 crores (I crore = 10
million rupees). This amount represents the potential lost income for 25,000 local people. The people of Gopalpur are meantime blocking the
establishment of the steel plant through direct action. They are refusing to leave their homes, their fields and their kewra plantations. The proposed steel
plant will devastage the livelihoods of the people of Gopalpur, who are dependent on the kewra plant and other biodiversity for their living.14 2.2.
Globalisation of consumption
patterns creates monocultures and leads to the destruction of diversity. The poor
are affected by biodiversity erosion linked to globalisation -- first, they are pushed into deeper poverty by
Globalisation, the Homogenisation of Consumption Patterns and Production of Uniformity
being forced to "compete" with globally powerful forces to access to these local biological resources. The Leipzig Global Plan of Action on Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture based on 158 country reports and 12 regional and sub-regional writings has stated that "the chief contemporary cause
of the loss of genetic diversity has been the spread of modem, commercial agriculture. Please see Figure 2.
Solvency Environmental Justice

Landfills are disproportionately concentrated in low income
communities justice means spreading them around
Lieberman, Environmental Lawyer, 2000
[Stuart, founding Shareholder of Lieberman & Blecher with over 25 years of
experience representing individual, business, and governmental clients in all facets
of environmental and land use matters, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR ALL?,
http://realtytimes.com/todaysheadlines1/item/20798-20000210_envirojustice]
If you do not have power, you may very well end up getting what those with power do not
want. Landfills, incinerators, stinky factories, waste storage facilities, etc. You do not typically find
these kinds of things in wealthy neighborhoods. They seem to generally be located in poorer,
often minority communities. Rich folks make political donations and get to have their voices heard. Politicians
generally will not risk offending these people with even a suggestion that they might be called on to house the next
landfill or incinerator. In addition, poor people cannot retain lawyers and experts that are sometimes necessary to
fight the fight. So, when a large company is considering moving a potentially hazardous business into a
neighborhood, if it's a choice between a neighborhood that contains residents who can afford to fight and one that
contains residents who cannot afford to fight, guess where the facility usually ends up. This issue is generally
referred to as "environmental
justice." It has been simmering for 20 years or so, but now is simmering
to a boil. What environmental justice signifies, essencially, is that being poor or a member of a minority
population does not give license to the government or to industry to place a disproportionate amount of noxious
operations in your neighborhood. Are there environmental justice problems in this country? This is something that
people disagree about today. Some people seem to be quick (too quick) to label any siting of a less than desirable
operation into a poor community as evidence that this injustice is alive and well today. On the other hand, others
There have been numerous well

publicized cases which seem to point to environmental "in-justice." There was a California
call the entire concept hogwash. I fall squarely in the middle.
neighborhood that already had housed every kind of nasty operation known to man when the local power utility
proposed a new plant that would spew additional toxins. There was a New York state playground that was known to
contain lots of arsenic laden soil, which was apparently ignored by officials for years. There was a Pennsylvania
community that already housed a disproportionate number of noxious operations, and had to go to the U.S.
Supreme Court to block yet another such operation. These stories suggest that environmental "injustice" may be at
work in certain cases. But, how can we know for sure when this is a factor in a particular instance? Fortunately, the
government is suggesting how we can tell. The New York region of the U.S. EPA has just proposed very
comprehensive environmental justice guidelines. They were published in December 1999. You may review them at
the Agency's web site and can submit comments about them to the Agency. If you care about this issue, this might
be a productive exercise for you. Other EPA regions have also published guidance documents concerning this area
as have also various state agencies. Expect much more to come and expect scholars to continue to evaluate this
Environmental
justice is another way of saying "spread the wealth and spread the detriment."
As you can see, environmental issues are often grounded more in socio-economic
considerations than in pure science
issue. Many law schools and social organizations are now devoting resources to this pursuit.
Affluent communities should host more waste sites

Navarro, Staff Writer for the New York Times, 2011
[MIREYA, In Fight Against Trash Station, Upper East Side Cites Injustice,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/science/earth/01garbage.html?
pagewanted=all]
But city officials and environmental justice advocates counter that a housing project does not make a community
the sanitation plan is

intended to redress the disproportionate number of waste stations in poorer
neighborhoods. None of the stations are in Manhattan. For the Upper East Side to claim the
disadvantaged. The Upper East Side is one of the citys wealthiest areas, they say, and
environmental justice legacy is just ridiculous on its face, said Gavin Kearney, director of environmental justice for
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, which represents the neighborhoods that hold most of the roughly 60
waste transfer stations. Any
community will have low-income residents to a certain

extent. A fair system is one that distributes this equitably . A review by The New
York Times of census tracts within roughly a half-mile of the transfer stations confirms
that most of them are in moderate- to extremely low-income neighborhoods. More than
half the stations are in two areas in particular: the Greenpoint and Williamsburg sections of Brooklyn, and the South
Bronx. About 73,000 residents with a median household income of $40,200 for 2009 live near the waste transfer
stations in those two Brooklyn neighborhoods, the census figures show; 92,000 people with a median income of
$21,000 live near the sites in the South Bronx. By comparison, the neighborhood near the proposed East River
transfer station, Yorkville in the Upper East Side, has about 47,000 residents with a median household income of
$91,000. It shows that they generally dont build this sort of facility in high-income
said Andrew A. Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College who analyzed the census figures for The Times.
areas ,
Certain neighborhoods have certainly gotten more than their share. On average, people
living near the waste stations had a median income in 2009 of about $40,000, compared with a city median of
$50,000. People interviewed in some of those areas said they were not wishing that other New Yorkers had their
problems truck traffic, odors and emissions that have been linked to health issues like asthma. But fair is fair,
they say. Where do people think the trash goes? said Misra Walker, 19, a resident of Hunts Point in the South
Bronx, which has about more than a dozen transfer stations. They
should collect waste, too, and

we should try to support each other , she said of the Upper East Siders.
Solvency Distancing
The primary purpose of landfills is to make waste invisible
Reno, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Binghamton
University, 2009
[Joshua, Your Trash Is Someone's Treasure: The Politics of Value at a Michigan
Landfill, Journal of Material Culture 2009 14: 29]
when waste materials are managed by 'modern societies', they are

first 'divested of their intimate individual and collective meanings' so that they
might be 'connected . . . to economic contexts in which their pecuniary value might
release profits to private enterprise' (2007: 122). This is not simply a matter of commodifying
waste, as he suggests, but about confronting its negative possibilities . All businesses
According to O'Brien,
dealing in rubbish must attend to its indeterminacy, as do scavengers. Junkyards earn profits by sorting through
used vehicles and making their potentially reusable components available for salvage, while the regulations,
technologies, and transactions that make up the waste disposal industry are meant to contain or lessen its potential
The American-style sanitary landfill was

introduced as an affordable solution to the rising tide of waste and growing public
concern for 'cleanliness' during the interwar years (see Hoy, 1995). The first 'sanitary landfill', with its
for pollution, as much moral and social as environmental.
controlled tipping, trenching, compacting, and soil cover, appeared in 1938 in Fresno, California, though its use was
not widespread until after the 1950s (Rogers, 2005: 87-9). Jean Vincenz, who established the design, was Fresno's
acting city commissioner on public works. When combined, the techniques he advocated promised to dispose of
While the
design of landfills has changed over the course of the 20th century, their basic
approach to waste has not. Then as now, the primary purpose of landfills has been
to render waste invisible as rapidly as possible, to prevent them from
offending senses of place and of propriety. Municipalities and waste contractors now must handle
waste loads more quickly and, equally important, to keep their gradual putre faction from public view.
regulation and
waste with reference to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 and its later versions, which
define different wastes and appropriate treatments according to relative hazardousness to human health and the
even where wastes are reused in some way by the

contemporary landfill industry (as a 'cover' material or as a source of alternative energy, for example),
they are primarily dealt with not as a resource that can be tapped but as a problem to be solved for a
fee. The calculation of that fee requires that mixed waste streams be rendered
fungible, that is, transferable as a discrete form of property, thereby performatively establishing a 'frame'
environment. Consequently,
within which market transactions can take place (Callon, 1998: 19; see also Keane, 2008). Unlike gift and
commodity exchange (Carrier, 1995), furthermore, detaching rubbish from its previous owner is seemingly
straightforward since, ideally at least, items in the waste stream have been willfully abandoned. The more pressing
problem is not alienation, but how to compare the diverse contents of waste loads, qualitatively and
quantitatively, so that they can be effectively priced and handled.
AT: Ocean Waste Unique

Every type of waste is available on land in quantities larger
than in the sea
IFA, non-profit environmental organization, last date cited
2006
[Information for Action, formed in 1999, Land Pollution,
http://www.informaction.org/index.php?main=landpol_gen&subject=Land
%20pollution]
All types of waste can be found on land. Some is left behind after human activities and some is washed ashore
from boats and sewage outlets. Waste The definition of waste depends on what is viable to recycle, both economically and environmentally. Landfill
is the major method for waste disposal . Landfills are holes in the ground where the waste is placed, perhaps the site of a
disused quarry or pit, or they may be purposefully excavated. Landfills may be noisy with traffic, dusty and smelly: in addition, wind blown litter, pests and
. Landfills contain a mixture of wastes, some of which may be soluble,

toxic and reactive during decomposition. When full, landfills are landscaped and may appear no different from the
flies may be a problem
surrounding countryside. Although some old ones are being built on, they are not really suitable for habitation. Biodegradable matter in landfills is
decomposed by bacteria, producing large quantities of carbon dioxide and methane - both greenhouse gases. Methane is potentially explosive and can
cause fires. Pollutants such as heavy metals, toxic chemicals and the result of a chemical reaction between the mixture of different wastes may
contaminate the environment. In the short- term, landfills appear the cheap option. But in the long term they are a huge financial burden. This is because
they need to be monitored for landfill gas and contamination of nearby land, waterways and groundwater, for many decades after they are closed. People
who live near landfill sites may be exposed to chemicals released into the air, water, or soil. Air contamination includes off-site migration of gases, dust
and chemicals bound to dust, especially during the operation of the site. Local surface water and groundwater can become contaminated, and these may
in turn contaminate drinking water supplies or water for recreational use. Chemical contamination of air, water, or soil may also affect locally grown and
consumed food produce. Therefore, a landfill site may be a health risk for local residents and their children. Landfill sites have to be chosen carefully. In
some countries land is scarce and it is difficult to find suitable areas. The danger of pollution to groundwater supplies, caused by the leaching of toxic
An industrial country with the population the size of the

UK creates around 350 million tonnes of waste per yea r, of which 9% or 30 million tonnes is household
waste. The collection and disposal of household waste costs 720 million (US$ 1.15 billion) a year. About 85% of it goes into
landfills, 10% into the sea, and 5% into incineration, deep burial and chemical solidification. 7.7 million tonnes of paper from
liquids from the rotting mess, is a serious problem.
130 million trees are consumed in Britain each year, yet only 27% are recycled. The daily circulation of one popular newspaper alone consumes 4000
trees. 700 million aerosol cans are produced in the world every year; even though they are wasteful, dangerous if burned or punctured and cannot be
recycled. Australians use 7kg of steel cans a year and only 30% of these are recycled. They use over one billion milk and juice cartons every year, and
An average Western dustbin contains 10% Glass, 30%

Paper/Cardboard, 9% Metals, 3% Textiles, 4% Plastics, 23% Vegetables, 21% Dust,
Cinders and others. Some of this waste also contains poisonous substances, such as
only 10% of these are currently recycled.
mercury and cadmium from batteries, old medicines, household cleaning and decorating chemicals and garden chemicals. Less than 10% of household
waste is recycled.
AT: Oceans Key

Attempting to politicize the ocean fails
Steinberg 8
Philip E. Steinberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at
Florida State University. Trained as a political geographer, much of his work analyzes
the governance and representation of global spaces, especially the ocean and the
Internet. These interests, in turn, have led him to focus his current research on
processes of mobility (and the persistence of places that exist amid global flows),
the externalization of nature, the possibilities and limits of cartographic
representation, and the changing of sovereiV1ty amid global fragmentation, 200 8
[Its so Easy Being Green: Overuse, Underexposure, and the Marine
Environmentalist Consensus, Geography Compass 2/6 (2008), pp 2091,
http://philsteinberg.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/easygreen-1.pdf]/sbhag 7.6.2014
Despite the analytical richness of this alternate perspective, a geographic approach

to the ocean will not, in itself, necessarily lead to attitudes, behaviors, or policies
that value its environmental system over the short-term services that it provides to
humans. There are many places on land that are universally recognized as space s
within societies but that nonetheless are subjected to environmental degradation , and
there is no guarantee that a geographically informed analysis that views the ocean
as a space (as opposed to it being merely a set Of geographically clustered resource management challenges)
will lead to enlightened stewardship. Indeed, one could easily point to the sales
figures for books and documentaries celebrating the mysteries of the ocean, the
attendance figures at attractions like Sea World, and the attention paid to the
environmental degradation of the ocean by institutions like the US Commission on
Ocean Policy and the Bush White House and argue that there is no reason to veer
from the present course. Twenty-first- century marine environmentalism, which combines
fears of overuse of marine resources with a lack of actual exposure to the ocean's material nature, has been
remarkably successful in environmental awareness and policies , notwithstanding its
analytical shortcomings.
AT: Anthropocentrism
Their overreaching critique of anthropocentrism conceals its
white male center dooming their politics
Lynn 2009
Wendy Lynne, professor of philosophy at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Restoring Human-Centerednes to
Environmental Conscience: The Ecocentrist's Dilemma, the Role of Heterosexualized Anthropomorphizing, and the
Significance of Language to Ecological Feminism 14.1: Spring
What analyses like Martin's show is that, even at a level of description taken to be objectively testable, not only
chauvinistic, but heterosexist constructions of the "real" come to be understood as a reflection of nature "her" self.
Failing to
recognize the primarily white, male, and Western face of chauvinism, it matters less
to the ecocentrist how human institutions become implicated in environmental
destruction, only that they doyet this is precisely what invites the determinism
that jeopardizes the ecocentrist approach . This lacuna is made poignantly clear in Bender's
It is unsurprising, then, that the ecocentrist mistakes chauvinism for human-centeredness per se.
discussion of ecofeminism where, although he rightly credits Karen J. Warren's insight that dualisms of mind and
body, male and female, human and animal, civilization and nature solicit oppression (2003, 3645), he nevertheless
erects a false dichotomy of his own by pitting ecofeminism's concern for social justice against the ecocentrist's
By insisting that the only way to escape

ecocide is to disavow precisely that which women have been systematically denied
for virtually the whole of human historythe opportunity to experience and develop
a humanly-centered selfBender effectively reproduces in ecocentrism the male
privilege he otherwise eschews. Who, after all, is in a position to disavow their selfinterest but those who have enjoyed the material opportunity to realize it? Who are
these if not primarily white, Western men ? As Bruno Latour puts it: "it is simply a matter of asking
preoccupation with avoiding ecocide (2003, 36570).
the militant ecologists to stop being so nave as to believe that they are defending, under cover of nature,
When they speak of putting an end

to anthropocentrism, they manifest their own ethnocentrism " (2002, 32). That male
privilege is built into Bender's view is not surprisingit follows from the conflation of humancenteredness with human chauvinism , all the while failing to register the significance
of the historical fact that the "lion's share" of environmental destruction has been
sponsored, financed, and wrought by men (pun intended). The central point, however, is that this
criticism applies to any ecocentric perspective : First, philosophicallybecause the best
arguments for ecocentrism turn out to be question begging . And second, practically
because the failure to recognize that human chauvinism assumes a prerogative
enjoyed primarily by men risks the reproduction of future oppression, even in an
ecologically sustainable "utopia." In short, where among the most foresightful versions of ecocentrism,
something other than a particular viewpoint, that of Westerners.
Bender's and Acampora's, fail to lay down the welcome mat for womenparticularly feministsecocentrism is in
trouble. That ecological feminists might respond to Bender's moral axiom "form one body with all beings" with
incredulity in the face of a history of oppression also makes Martin's point all the more compelling that
we
anthropomorphize the actions of cells at all raises the first question with respect to
who benefits from the use of the intentional stance . In other words, human chauvinism is
not about human benefit per se, but about who benefits. Heterosexualist
anthropomorphizing simply reinforces a construction of "who" that guarantees such
benefits to those identified not as passive recipient "eggs," but as active and
deliberate "sperms." Dennett, however, is also correctthere remains an important place in the explanation
of behavior, including scientific explanation, for attributing human characteristics to nonhuman animals and things.
In fact, it is hard to imagine the sciences without the powerful explanatory tool provided by this "as if." It is,
however, at the very juncture of the "as if" that the crucial link between environmental responsibility and social
the moment we treat something as if she/he/it exhibited

human qualities, we have already gendered and heterosexualized her/him/it via the
norms naturalized by our "forms of life." This is so not because we cannot do otherwise, but
because the use of gendered and heterosexualizing language is basic to the ways in
which we experience a world whose most fundamental institutionsfamily,
government, military, capitalist enterprise, and religionremain dominated by
those men who promote their ideologies and are responsible for the ongoing
justice is forged. Why? Because
commodification and exploitation of women, nonhuman animals, indigenous

peoples, and the environment. The "how," then, of the role of human institutions
matters to the development of an environmental conscience precisely because
these institutions could have evolved differently, because they are changeablethe
essential ingredient in both environmental activism and the struggle for social
justice. Human-centeredness is not necessarily chauvinisticand if it is, even those
who have benefited from it will ultimately come to pay the price that so many
others have paid already, namely, in the ecocide that continuing environmental
abuse will generate. Coming then, as Ludwig Wittgenstein might have put it, to a more perspicuous
understanding of the role of anthropomorphizing language in our "forms of life" supplies us with a key tool toward
developing the only conscience that stands any hope of delivering us to a future for human consciousness, that is, a
future centered on the responsibility only human beings can take (1953, para.19).
Aff
Oceans Key Coalitions

Thinking with waters materiality enables a coalitional politics
that resists multiple vectors of environmental destruction
Chen, Macleod, and Neimanis 13

Thinking with Water Cecilia Chen is an architect and a doctoral candidate in
communications at Concordia University. Janine MacLeod is a doctoral candidate in
the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. Astrida Neimanis is a visiting
scholar of the Posthumanities Hub at Linkping University, Sweden.
we insist on
thinking with water - and not, for instance, with air, with plastics, with rare earths, or with any of the other
Given our entanglements with the lively materiality that we inhabit, we may, here, address why
articulable categories of matter that we experience. First, we love water. Water attracts us: rivers, ponds,
rainstorms, coastlines - even puddles - have an undeniable sensual charisma. Waters hold great spiritual meaning
across cultures; they gather stories, identities, and memories. For many of us, water possesses spirit. And of course,
water is a material substance essential to our life . As so many of us (plant and animal) are largely
made up of water, we cannot help but be moved by this shared relation. Furthermore, among the many elements
that come together to materialize life,
water offers a visceral experience of the

transformations that all biota sense, both internally and in their surrounding
environments. Unlike other kinds of elemental matter (earth, fire, air, metal, stone, and wood, for example),
water moves from solid to liquid to vapour with acute environmental responsiveness. We experience circadian and
seasonal rhythms most prominently through water's phase changes: from rain to snow, from morning dew to
Even otherwise invisible phenomena like climate change become

immediately tangible through the volatility of weather patterns and the intensity of
floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, and droughts. At the slower but epochal scale of
acidifying oceans, changed currents, wetland encroachment, and desertification, we
are also part of watery transformations. Water's responsiveness to particular places
- its ability to interact with the permeability, chemistry, and temperature of a
particular environment - offers radical insight into any ecocultural context. Although the
afternoon humidity.
works collected here diverge widely in their disciplinary backgrounds, modes of expression, and sites of inquiry,
they share five currents of thought. First,
in bringing water to the forefront, the authors and

artists in this volume are driven by ecopolitical concerns ; they explore what it might mean to
practise politics in more aqueous modes. Next, they resist the tendency to approach water as an
abstract idea - waters are carefully placed or embodied in specific materialities and
spacetimes. Third, this collection underlines the continuity of watery materiality (for example, its capacity to
gestate life, transform, or destroy) with discursive practices and ways of knowing. In addition, the contributions
the
works gathered here demonstrate water's capacity to challenge our ways of
knowing, both by crossing conventional disciplinary boundaries and by revealing the
ways in which nature and culture are always co-constituted. Throughout, our
aim is to demonstrate how a recognition of water's critical presence in all aspects of
our lives can encourage a radically inclusive politics and an invigorated practice of
cultural theory. An Aqueous Ecopolitics We - in the broadest of senses - all have water in common.
If we think of politics as the practice of speaking and acting together on matters of
common concern,5 then water may be the most exemplary of political substances;
it is an intimately and continuously shared matter, in both senses of the term. This
emphasize water's relationality, and its ability to generate unexpected or unrecognized communities. Finally,
political commons includes not only those of us living here now, but also all life that is past and all life that is still to
come.6 And, although it may be argued that politics is a distinctly human facility ,
thinking with water

continues to raise the question of politics as concerned also with the (imperfectly
surmised) interests of a squeaking, humming, chirping, and pheromone-exuding nonhuman
multitude/ Accordingly, more aqueous ecopolitics might above all encourage further
expansion of the sphere of political stakeholders, and shift our focus toward those
multiple others human and otherwise, past, present and future - with whom these
watery matters are shared. Moreover, given water's capacity to connect and
combine, thinking the political with water might help us bring together issues and
concerns too often addressed in isolation. When we take common waters into
account, environmental actions against species extinction or ecological degradation
become more difficult to separate from alter-globalization efforts, anticolonial
struggles, or social justice activism more broadly. We more clearly see, for example,
how in the Athabasca watershed, human and wildlife health, the preservation of
wetlands, geographies of colonization, petropolitics, gendered labour-related
mobility, and the flows of multinational capital are all intricately bound to the waters
of the river. Similarly, water plays a central role in multi-dimensional issues such as
climate change, which urgently demand conversation across arenas of political
engagement.
Oceans Key Otherness

Ocean trash uniquely captures us the otherness of an ocean
just beginning to be discovered is more likely to challenge
affective complacency
Arnshav, National Maritime Museum, 2014
Mirja, Stockholm. The Freedom of the Seas: Untapping the Archaeological Potential
of Marine Debris, Journal of Maritime Archaeology.
For most of history however, the underwater world (of its time) was a terra incognita, just about
inaccessible to mankind. Today the situation is somewhat changed . Due to technological innovations such as
the aqualung, remotely operated underwater vehicles and acoustic survey instruments, the seafloor is presently
being discovered bit by bit. As this process proceeds, we are becoming increasingly
aware of the fact that the footprint of modern civilization on the sea floor is extensive,
represented by shipwrecks and construction works as well as trawl marks, dead bottomsand garbage. Although marine
debris in a sense offers a familiar element in a milieu different in flora, fauna and bodily experience, the
overall impression of the materiality is strangeness (Arnshav 2011:95). Without doubt, the
material culture situation of the underwater world stands in sharp
contrast to our often studiously planned and managed everyday
environment (compare Edensor 2009:9495) and to the general layering of deposits in archaeology. By means of river
outlets, tsunamis, currents and marine dumping practices, more or less all kinds of things are able to find their way even to the
outermost seas. And because of erosion and low sedimentation, many thingsancient as well as recentremain comparatively
The result of these site formation processes is somewhat peculiar . To begin with,
there are things where no things are expected to be. Secondly, many of these findings are generally
uncovered.
not considered having maritime connotations or applications. And thirdly, they tend to form a material medley that all too often
seem unfamiliar to us. On an ordinary archaeological site, it is not unusual to find plastic furniture, household electronics,
armaments or other effects of the twentieth century mingling with wrecks, submerged Stone Age tree stumps or other ancient
remains. The overall impression is a random juxtaposition of incommensurate things, creating a bizarre, almost surrealistic collage
As spaces of an
alternative ordering, the sea and the seafloor might be regarded as places of
Otherness. In some cases, this Otherness may be perceived as exiting and amusing. For example, it has been noticed that
that stands in contrast to the taken-for-granted mundane idea of social and material order.
scuba divers sometimes make playful underwater installations by placing everyday terrestrial objects on the sea floor (thereby
creating effects much comparable to the Ready-made art (Arnshav 2011:95). However, this Otherness is not always pleasant. When
confronted with an assemblage of recent beer bottles on a seventeenth century wreck site, most people would probably reckon the
mixture a bit queer, and object to the bottles rather that to the wreck. As may be illustrated by a statement of Captain Moore,
Over the decades wed gotten used to

the sight of trash on the beach, by roadsides, and in riverbeds, of shopping bags
garbage at sea generally evokes a strong feeling of wrongness:
fluttering fences and branches, near-weightless foamed polystyrene cups skittering on the breeze, cigarette butts and bottle caps
But something seemed very wrong about this plastic trash in the
mid-Pacific (Moore and Phillips 2011:17). To me, the Otherness of the seafloor as regards its
materiality is one of its most striking and fascinating features , doubtless worthy the
attention of maritime archaeologists, garbologists as well as anyone with an interest in material culture studies. But as
far as I am concerned, marine debris has barely been highlighted from such a point of view.
everywhere.
At best, you can catch a glimpse of it in archaeological reports (for example see Hjulhammar 2008), but it has seldom been in focus.
Oceans Key Biodiversity

Oceans are critical for biodiversity
Craig 03
[Robin Kundis, Attorneys Title Insurance Fund Professor at Florida State University
College of Law and leading environmental law scholar, Winter 2003, Taking Steps
Toward Marine Wilderness Protection? Fishing and Coral Reef Marine Reserves in
Florida and Hawaii, Lexis] WD
The worlds oceans contain many resources and provide many services that humans
consider valuable. Occupying more than seventy percent of the Earths surface and
ninety-five percent of the biosphere, oceans provide food; marketable goods such
as shells, aquarium fish, and pharmaceuticals; life support processes , including
carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and weather mechanics; and quality of life,
both aesthetic and economic, for millions of people worldwide. Indeed, it is difficult
to overstate the importance of the ocean to humanitys well-being: The ocean is
the cradle of life on our planet, and it remains the axis of existence, the locus of
planetary biodiversity, and the engine of the chemical and hydrological cycles that
create and maintain our atmosphere and climate. Ocean and coastal ecosystem
services have been calculated to be worth over twenty billion dollars per year,
worldwide. In addition, many people assign heritage and existence value to the
ocean and its creatures, viewing the worlds seas as a common legacy to be passed
on relatively intact to future generations. (It continues...) More generally , ocean
ecosystems play a major role in the global geochemical cycling of all the elements
that represent the basic building blocks of living organisms , carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur, as well as other less abundant but necessary
elements. In a very real and direct sense, therefore, human degradation of marine
ecosystems impairs the planets ability to support life. Maintaining biodiversity is
often critical to maintaining the functions of marine ecosystems. Current evidence
shows that, in general, an ecosystems ability to keep functioning in the face of
disturbance is strongly dependent on its biodiversity, indicating that more diverse
ecosystems are more stable. (It continues...) We may not know much about the sea,
but we do know this much: If we kill the ocean we kill ourselves, and we will take
most of the biosphere with us . The Black Sea is almost dead, 863 its once-complex
and productive ecosystem almost entirely replaced by a monoculture of comb
jellies, "starving out fish and dolphins, emptying fishermen's nets, and converting
the web of life into brainless, wraith-like blobs of jelly." 864 Mo re importantly, the
Black Sea is not necessarily unique.
Ocean Waste O/W

Oceans are key theyre the largest landfill and considered the
best place for waste
Gleich, Journalist for oilprice.com, graduate of Cronkite school
for journalism 7/15/14
(Amy, The Largest Landfill On Earth: Plastic Garbage In The Oceans? Online:
http://goo.gl/wyiKtg)
Americans throw away over 30 million tons of plastic every year, of which only about 25 percent is recycled. The
the largest landfill on Earth is actually in the

North Pacific Ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to be
anywhere from 3,100 square miles to twice the size of Texas. You may be wondering how
garbage dumped on land can make it to the ocean. Well, first of all , some garbage is directly dumped
into the ocean. Secondly, as Scripps Institution marine biologist Miriam Goldstein puts it, the ocean is
downhill from everywhere; if someone in Iowa throws a bottle into a river, it will eventually end up in the
ocean. Finally, about 20 percent of the debris in the garbage patch comes from seagoing vessels and oil platforms. The garbage patch forms in the North Pacific gyre,
one of five main ocean gyres worldwide: North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic,
South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. These gyres are created when the jet stream goes one way and the
rest goes to landfills. Unfortunately,
trade winds go the opposite way creating a huge, gently swirling circle. On the outside of the circle, the currents
move around, but the inside remains calm, making it the perfect place for debris to accumulate . In
the case of the North Pacific gyre, pretty much everything that falls off the west coast of North America and the
While the North Pacific garbage patch is the

largest, each of the five gyres has its own accumulation . In fact, the trash from all five
gyres put together covers 40 percent of the worlds oceans.
east coast of Asia will most likely end up in there.
EJ = Anthropocentric
Environmental justice is fundamentally anthropocentric its
concern begins with humans and radiates outwards, but
anthropocentrism is a categorically different oppression
Mueller 9 [Michael, an environmental philosopher and science education professor at the University of
Georgia, Educational Reflections on the Ecological Crisis: EcoJustice, Environmentalism, and Sustainability, Sci
& Educ (2009) 18:10311056]
Without a careful analysis of the phrase ecological crisis, educators and their students are likely to trivialize anthropocentrism. An
example is Peter Singers term speciesism, (i.e., privileged species) recently criticized by Noddings (2003, 2006):
To
associate speciesism with racism, sexism, and classism is a powerful emotional move, but it may
involve a category mistake. At least in principle, each of the big human isms applies to all
the entities involved all human beings. We usually think of racism in connection with the oppression of
blacks by whites, but clearly, if power relations were reversed, the oppression of whites by
blacks would still be racism. The same could be said of sexism and classism. Such a reversal is,
however, meaningless with respect to species. All species give special consideration
to their own, and we would not think of criticizing nonhuman animals for their
preference, nor would it make sense to accuse them of speciesism. They are not
capable of such discrimination (2003, pp. 134135). Noddings point calls into question the
anthropocentrism deeply embedded in phrases such as ecological crisis and
environmental racismthe latter not wrestled with here. Although these phrases have previously served
environmental scholars, they do not promote the careful study of the environmental sciences. Are the trees, hawks and soil really in
crisis? If not carefully considered, the crisis supposition could be interpreted to mean that humanitys conservation choices are
shared with the birds, insects, microorganisms and the soilall complex components of the Earths many ecosystems. As noted by
Harvard biologist Wilson (2006), humans may not wish to save all life forms. For example, Wilson notes malaria-infested mosquitoes
and invasive fire ants, and yet there are other pesky critters such as the protozoan Plasmodium falciparum, that causes malaria; and
hookworms, and liver flukes, and organisms that cause river blindness, dengue fever, yellow fever, cholera, typhoid, leprosy, and
The criticisms above also could be applied to my use of the term ecojustice. What
is considered justice is mostly human construed and positioned . For example, social
justice focuses on how people are advantaged or disadvantaged and attempts to eliminate
tuberculosis.
disparities that occur someplace(s) (i.e., in-relation-to-other-places) (Thayer-Bacon 2000, 2003, 2008). Emerging research (de Melo-
deciding which disparities to eliminate involves

ethical, political and social evaluations (Chalmers 1976/1982/1999; Longino 1990; Thayer-Bacon 2003).
Thus, ecological justice considers how Earths ecosystems are advantaged or
disadvantaged and attempts to eliminate disparities that occur someplace(s).
Because rejecting unjust conceptualizations is warranted, the case can be made
that eliminating species or habitats in someplace(s) is justified. Ecojustice is human
preconceived when it comes to renewing and revitalizing the commons; it runs the
risk of privileging what is considered good for humans rather than for the
overarching ecosystems. Because there are obvious and not so obvious margins of error between human sustainability
Martin and Intemann 2007) further supports that
and species conservation, I will uphold the tradition of using ecojustice to convey the constructed and positioned meanings of social
and ecological justice for both humans and the Earths other species. For the sake of argument,
lets assume that
environmental advocates do consider every species on Earth in decisions to renew and revitalize the
many diverse ecosystems. Would the other-than-human-species really have a voice in how
these decisions are approached? For example, if eliminating a species someplace(s)
means more outdoor experiences and reduces consumerism would it be appropriate
to do so? Turn that idea upside down and we come back to Wilson (2006), who speculates on what might
happen if there were no more humans for other species to contend with: ecological
bliss! Likewise, evolutionary ecologists point out that conserving all components of the ecological world is not responsible
stewardship from the other-than-human-vantage-point (Pennisi 2007). Studies in evolutionary ecology suggest that wildlife biologists
and conservationists will need to be very careful about revitalizing ecosystems with particular species that have been extirpated for
extensive periods of time. Moreover, conservation policies need to consider how species might differ genetically across space, and
how the coevolutionary paths they travel might vary (p. 687). The implicit danger of crisis thinking is that it carries the false
assumption that educators and their students can save every species and habitat. This point is evidenced by the fact that the
idealized assumption of the deepening ecological crisis does not depend on any particular place(s) in Bowers (1993, 2001, 2006)
works, because if it were, the ecological crisis would be compromised by nonhumans.
Economy/Competitiveness CPs
Corporate Tax Reform
1NC
CP text: The United States federal government should set a statutory corporate tax
rate of 25 percent, provide a 95 percent exemption of tax on foreign dividends of
active business income, not deny domestic deductions for expenses not directly
allocable to foreign earnings, extend the business tax provisions that expired at the
end of 2011, including the research and development credit, maintain revenue
neutrality, and announce that these changes are permanent.
Tax reform solves economic growth promotes competitiveness, investment and job
creation
BRT 12 an association of CEOs with over $6 trillion in annual revenues and 14
million employees, BRT members comprise a third of the total value of the U.S.
stock market and invest more than $150 billion annually in research and
development (Business Roundtable, Taking Action for America, March 2012,
http://businessroundtable.org/uploads/studiesreports/downloads/20120307_BRT_Taking_Action_for_America.pdf)
The U.S. corporate tax system has failed to keep pace with the changing global economy. The U.S. system is an
outlier at a time when capital is more mobile and the worlds economies are more interconnected than ever before.
Modern, streamlined and fiscally responsible tax policies contribute to a competitive

business environment that attracts new investment and supports strong economic
growth and job creation.
Many countries have reformed their tax policies in response to the increasingly important role that national
corporate tax rates play in many investment and plant location decisions. Unfortunately, the United States has not
The last significant overhaul of the U.S. corporate tax system was in 1986 before
Internet, before the Soviet Union collapsed and before China became a modernizing
economy and much existing policy dates back to the 1960s and earlier. Most of the policies introduced in
the interim have been patchwork solutions that are often temporary in nature. As a result, U.S.
corporate tax policy has become increasingly outdated and overly complex, making
the United States a less attractive site for new investment and placing U.S. companies at
a disadvantage in the global marketplace.
followed suit.
the widespread use of the
Reforms of the U.S. corporate tax system must focus on two critical components: the corporate tax rate and the
system of international taxation.
the U.S. combined statutory corporate tax rate currently stands at more than 39
percent, now the highest in the OECD after Japan reduced its corporate rate this year. In contrast, the
average combined statutory corporate tax rate in other OECD countries was 25.1 percent in 2011. 6 This
difference actually understates the United States disadvantage. Prospective investors
will compare the United States not to the average but to the best country when it
comes to tax rate comparisons. Although not as widely noted as the high statutory corporate tax rate,
the United States also has a high effective tax rate on corporate income. A study of
financial statement effective tax rates for the 2,000 largest companies in the world
First,
found that U.S.-headquartered companies faced a higher worldwide effective tax

rate than their counterparts headquartered in 53 of 58 foreign countries over the 2006
09 period. 7
the United States continues to use a worldwide tax system that taxes U.S. companies on both
the income that they earn at home and the foreign earnings of their subsidiaries,
when those earnings are remitted back to the United States . In contrast, the vast majority of
OECD countries use a territorial tax system in which little or no additional tax is
typically imposed by the home country on active trade or business profits earned abroad
because that income is already taxed in the country where it was earned. The
additional tax imposed by the United States on foreign earnings creates a barrier for U.S.
companies desiring to access their foreign earnings that is not faced by their
competitors headquartered in most other OECD countries. Foreign markets represent 95 percent
of the worlds consumers, and access to these markets helps expand the demand
for U.S. goods and services. 8 Accordingly, U.S.-headquartered companies and the jobs of their
employees depend on their ability to compete and win in the global arena.
Second,
A competitive U.S. corporate tax rate and territorial system can enhance U.S. economic
performance, including more jobs, more investment and increased economic growth
with increased living standards for American families. A lower corporate tax rate will enhance the
incentives for companies to locate here, attract high-value investments, reduce
investment distortions across sectors and lessen the current incentives to rely on
debt rather than equity in financing capital investments . Likewise, the adoption of a
territorial tax system will increase the incentive for companies to incorporate in the
United States, allow U.S.-headquartered companies to compete more effectively in foreign
markets, and encourage existing U.S. companies to bring home their earnings from
overseas and reinvest them in the United States.
Modernize and simplify the tax code to increase the competitiveness of the United
States as a location for investment and employment by both U.S.-based and
foreign-based companies. A stable, reliable, equitable and nondiscriminatory tax
system that provides a level playing field is essential for long-term economic
growth. U.S. policies should strive not only to make the nation competitive with the
other world economies, but also to make the United States the best place in the
world to launch a career, headquarter a business, hire employees and conduct
business operations. In todays global economy, tax reform is absolutely essential to
economic growth and job creation. BRT CEOs believe that these reforms can be undertaken in a fair
and fiscally responsible manner, with the cost of these reforms to be offset as much as
possible through appropriate base broadening. The key elements of a modern, streamlined and
fiscally responsible corporate tax system include:
A competitive corporate tax rate comparable to the OECD average. A combined federal and
state rate of 25 percent would create a U.S. statutory tax rate equal to the average
of Americas trading partners.
A competitive territorial tax system similar to the rest of the world. This fundamental reform
recognizes the jobs created and the value contributed to the U.S. economy by
successful American companies with worldwide operations. Fundamental components for a
competitive territorial system include:
Providing a 95 percent or greater exemption of tax on foreign dividends of active

business income; and
The U.S. system should not deny domestic

deductions for expenses not directly allocable to foreign earnings . The U.S. system also
should not include other features not adopted abroad including antideferral rules
for active income that can impede the competitiveness of American companies
relative to their foreign competitors.
Following the practice of other countries.
Extend the business tax provisions that expired at the end of 2011, including the
research and development credit and important international provisions . While corporate
tax reform is the priority, the extension of these expiring provisions should not be delayed while Congress considers
overall reform.
Make every feature of the reformed U.S. corporate tax code permanent,
establishing the high-priority objective of eliminating corporate tax policy
uncertainty.
any attempt to reform and modernize Americas corporate tax system must
achieve the shared goal of creating a strong, competitive, job-creating U.S. economy .
If the United States is guided by these principles and provides competitive and growthpromoting features for research and investments in plant and equipment, the nation will
become more attractive for company headquarters and for the new investment that
will increase production of goods and services. This approach to tax reform will
foster economic growth, job creation and a higher standard of living.
Ultimately,
2NC Solvency
Corporate taxes bad deters investment, shrinks capital, loopholes, and
multinationals
Master 4/5/12 writes about the economic underpinnings of U.S. foreign policy for
the Council of Foreign Relations (Jonathon, Council on Foreign Relations, U.S.
Corporate Tax Reform, http://www.cfr.org/united-states/us-corporate-taxreform/p27860)
What are the distortions at the international level?
corporate taxation across an increasingly globalized economy have the

effect of distorting economic outcomes in at least three principal ways, say economists. First, a
country with a corporate tax regime that places less of a burden on businesses (i.e.
through a lower effective rate) will tend to draw investment away from those with higher taxes ,
all other factors being equal. A second distortion arises where a reduction in investment in a
relatively high-tax country, like the United States, shrinks the capital available to
workers and reduces wage levels as a result.
Differing levels of
the tax base of a high-tax nation may drop further as domestic companies with
international operations cut their taxes by "re-characterizing" their income so as to
fall in a lower tax country, or engage in other such methods like internal transfer pricing (Bloomberg).
This profit shifting costs the U.S. Treasury roughly $90 billion a year , according to Kimberly
Third,
Clausing, an economics professor at Reed College.

What role do multinationals play in the U.S. economy?
U.S. multinationals are domestic companies that own at least 10 percent of a foreign affiliate. According to a
2010 McKinsey report, multinationals represented less than 1 percent of total U.S. companies in 2007, but
accounted for some 19 percent of private sector jobs; 25 percent of private sector
wages; 25 percent of private sector gross profits; 48 percent of total U.S. goods
exported; and 74 percent of research and development spending.
They are particularly sensitive to international business conditions, including
inconsistencies in the way countries tax. Under the current U.S. code, multinationals
not only face a relatively high tax rate at home, but are also taxed on their profits
made abroad when repatriated. Most other developed countries exempt their
corporations from such taxation.
Corporate tax policy hurts competitiveness and growth

The United States currently possesses the highest statutory corporate tax rate in the
world, at 35 percent (discounting state and local taxes). Many analysts say the comparatively high
U.S. rate, coupled with a complex array of tax subsidies and loopholes, is a doubly
flawed system, overburdening businesses with compliance and planning costs while
reducing federal revenues at a time of rising national debt . Others point out that the U.S.
system, which taxes foreign profits of U.S. multinational corporations , may put the
country at a competitive disadvantage with most of the industrialized world, which
only taxes domestic corporate income. At time when global economic competition is
intensifying, some critics suggest an overhaul of the tax code , which last took place in 1986, is
long overdue.
Why does corporate taxation matter?
As a percentage of the economy, corporate tax dollars have declined steadily in the post-World War II period, from
more than 5 percent of GDP in 1946 to hovering around 2 percent in recent years.
In 2010, corporate taxes represented the third-largest source of federal revenue, accounting for roughly 9 percent
of Treasury's income (behind the individual income tax [42 percent] and payroll taxes [40 percent]).
corporate taxes
alter incentives and may distort domestic economic behavior in ways that are
harmful for growth. Donald Marron of the Tax Policy Center says the government shouldn't favor one industry
The way a country taxes corporations matters for two primary reasons, say economists. First,
over another in the way it taxes business: "Far better would be a system in which investors deployed their capital
based on economic fundamentals."
different tax regimes across the world interact with each other to distort the
allocation of international investment. The confluence of these micro and
macroeconomic forces has significant consequences for the ability of the United
States to compete and thrive in an expanding global economy .
Second,
Corporate taxation is an essential component of the national business climate, and one of several factors that
multinational corporations weigh when deciding how and where to invest. Others include access to human capital,
efficient infrastructure, regulatory environment, rule of law, political stability, etc. "The [United States] used to be so
much more attractive in these areas," says Eric Solomon, former assistant secretary for tax policy at the U.S.
Treasury Department (2006-2009),"but now we have so much more competition from abroad, so that each of these
margins have become much more important."
the United States ranked 72nd out of 183 economies worldwide in the area of
corporate taxation, and 19th out of 31 OECD nations, according to the World Bank's Doing
In 2011,
Business Project. Rankings accounted for the number of tax payments, the time spent paying, and the overall rate
borne by medium-sized businesses.
business
executives interviewed "believe that current U.S. policies--particularly in the areas of
corporate taxes, limits on the immigration of skilled workers, and bureaucratic
hurdles and inconsistencies--handicap U.S. companies when competing abroad."
A 2010 McKinsey Global Institute report on U.S. multinationals and competitiveness says that many
However, the effective corporate tax rate--the ratio that companies actually pay after leveraging a myriad of tax
breaks--has averaged around 26 percent in recent years (1987-2008).
How does the U.S. corporate tax compare internationally?
The United States has the highest statutory corporate tax rate in the world --39.2
percent (including state and local) versus an OECD weighted average of 27.8 percent (excluding the U.S.), and a G7 average of 32.3 percent (excluding the U.S.).
Elections CP Popular
Corporate Tax Reform popular
Malhotra 7/4/12 writer for the Epoch Times (Heide, Corporate Tax Dodges on
the Table, http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/business/corporate-tax-dodges-onthe-table-252636.html)
During an election year, corporate tax reform is believed to be very

effective, given that the U.S. public pays high taxes, while many
corporations dont pay their fair share. It is not that corporations are not handing over a check
to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The concern is over the many tax loopholes and
subsidies corporations have landed due to their lobbying tactics. In February, the sitting
administration released The Presidents Framework for Business Tax Reform. At first
look, this report appears to be a good deal for the American public.
AT: Hurts revenue

Inefficiencies result in more money being lost than collected from
corporate tax
Corporate taxation distorts the U.S. economy in several important ways, according to the Congressional Budget
Office. "Once
economic activity takes on a pattern that is based on tax rates,

resources in the economy are misallocated and inefficiency results, as economic
activity shifts away from its most valuable opportunities ." A 2010 White House report on tax
reform notes that more than 15,000 changes to the tax code have been made since the 1986 reform, many of
which are "targeted tax provisions [implemented] to achieve social policy objectives normally achieved by spending
programs."
According the Fiscal Times, corporate tax expenditures (tax breaks) will cost the Treasury some $628.6 billion over
the next five years.
In addition, the CBO lists the following primary domestic economic distortions created by the corporate tax:
Decreases the incentive for individuals to save (vs. consume)

and for businesses to invest because it taxes income from capital. Taxes on capital/labor
are often juxtaposed with taxes on consumption (i.e. value-added tax), which many
economists see as more efficient and pro-growth .
1) Savings and Investment bias:
Increases the incentive for businesses to organize as non-corporate

entities (WSJ) (i.e. sole proprietorships, partnerships, etc.), which are not taxed. Consequently, the tax
puts certain industries at a disadvantage to the extent that businesses in those
industries rely on the corporate form to raise large amounts of capital from many
investors.
2) Organization bias:
Increases the incentive for businesses to raise capital by borrowing

(debt) versus selling shares (equity), since the interest on debt is tax deductible. A greater reliance
on borrowing may increase the exposure of some firms to bankruptcy, especially in
economic downturns such as the recent financial crisis (FT).
3) Financing bias:
Biases some types of capital investment over others to the extent that the
which allow companies to spread tax deductions for a capital asset
over its life span, do not reflect actual economic depreciation.
4) Depreciation bias:
IRS depreciation rules,
The complexity of the code requires businesses to spend a

great deal of money on tax compliance and planning--funds that under other
circumstances would be allocated elsewhere.
5) Compliance and Planning:
the
combined cost of these five domestic inefficiencies (plus a bias against dividends)
could surpass the total amount of corporate tax dollars collected.
In her book The Economic Effects of Taxing Capital Income, economic policy expert Jane Gravelle asserts that
No revenue now too many loopholes

Corporate Tax Payments and Subsidies CTJ participated in the
research of tax payments made by
280 of Americas large Fortune 500 corporations during the 20082010 and 20082011 tax seasons.
Thirty companies paid no taxes during 20082010. During the 20082011 tax period, DuPont
Co. paid a 10.9 percent effective tax rate and Wells Fargo & Co. paid a 3.8 percent
effective tax rate. Due to subsidies, Pepco Holdings Inc. received the highest tax break
during the 20082010 and 20082011 tax seasons, -57.6 percent and -39.5 percent
respectively, followed by General Electric Co. (GE) with a tax rate of -45.3 percent
and -18.9 percent respectively. During the 20082011 tax season, Wells Fargo & Co. garnered the
largest subsidy at $21.6 billion, followed by GE with a $10.6 billion subsidy, despite an income of $19.6 billion.
Verizon Communications Inc.s subsidy was $7.7 billion, despite an income of $19.8 billion. The Boeing Co. received
a subsidy of $6 billion, despite $14.8 billion in profit. The subsidies for the remaining 26 corporations were below
$3.5 billion. The company with the highest federal tax break (-39.5 percent), Pepco Holdings, was among the 14
companies that received a subsidy below $1 billion ($941 million). The company with the lowest subsidy ($171
the IRS would have received an

additional $78.3 billion in federal income taxes if those 30 companies had paid their
fair share, according to CTJs research. The Treasury Department reports that corporate taxes fell to
only 1.2 percent of our gross domestic product over the past three fiscal years.
Thats lower than at any time since the 1940s except for one single year during President
million) was Con-way Inc. Over the four-year period of 20082011,
Reagans first term. By comparison, corporate taxes averaged almost 4 percent of our GDP during the 1960s, CTJ
said. Truth About the U.S. Corporate Tax Rate America
has one of the lowest corporate income
taxes of any developed country, but you wouldnt know it given the hysteria of corporate lobbying
outfits like the Business Roundtable, according to an April 5 article on the CTJ website. Gallup Poll surveys
conducted between 2004 and 2011 suggest that the majority of survey respondents
believe that corporations are getting away with paying too little taxes. Of the 280
companies studied by CTJ, 134 companies earned a large portion of their income in foreign countries. The majority
of these companies (87) were taxed at a lower rate on their U.S. earnings than they paid in taxes on their earnings
corporations employ a number of accounting gimmicks

to make it look like their earnings in the United States come from their subsidiaries
located in tax havens, although most of the time, these so-called companies are no more than a post office
in foreign countries. According to CTJ,
box. The problem that corporations are complaining about is actually the high taxes they pay to foreign
governments, how could Congress possibly provide any remedy for that? Clearly, what corporations pay in U.S.
taxes is whats relevant to the corporate tax debate before Congress, the CTJ article said. Keeping Up the Hype
financial executives from both large and small businesses

view an effective tax rate of 2025 percent as necessary to make the U.S. federal
corporate rate competitive with global tax rates , according to a recent article by Alvarez &
About Corporate Taxes Overall,
Marsal Taxand LLC (A&M Taxand), a tax advisory firm. Executives surveyed for the A&M Taxand article said that
they were more concerned about tax code changes than the actual tax expenses. But, they did
state that a lowered tax rate would make our U.S. tax rate more competitive with other
countries. The article did not address the subsidies companies received, which lowered the U.S. tax rate below
that of foreign countries.
AT: Doesnt Solve Competitiveness

Failing tax system is the largest internal link competitiveness reports prove
Donlan 6/9/12 Editorial Page Editor at Barron's National Business and Financial
Weekly (Thomas, Barrons, An Invisible Problem,
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111904470204577452681573138
746.html?mod=BOL_twm_fs)
It was a pleasant surprise the other day to encounter a different story , published by a
well-regarded Swiss business school called IMD (formerly the Institute for Management Development). It operates
World Competitiveness Center, which may sound like more of the same old stuff, but the new report
shows a different way of thinking.
The U.S. was ranked second for 2011, behind Hong Kong. The bad news is that it was first in 2010 and
most years before, but it's worth contemplating the advantages that a group of
international business executives and analysts still can find in the U.S. economy.
At the top is access to financing, followed by a strong research-and-development
culture, an effective legal environment, dynamism of the economy, a skilled
workforce, and reliable infrastructure. At the bottom, they find the U.S. lacks
competency of government and a competitive tax regime.
All of the top six assets are usually cited as American problems by competitiveness
experts, especially those in government, while we rarely meet officials aware that American
governments and their tax system are so poorly regarded . The experts rarely work on economic
problems created by government.
*AFF Isolated Corporate Tax Reform Fails

Isolated corporate tax reform fails it must be combined with a more
comprehensive reform
corporate tax reform will have to address the effects on federal
revenue, especially given current levels of U.S. debt and the expected growth of
entitlement spending over the next several decades.
Any proposal for
"A tax package that reduces revenue is not tax reform ," writes tax policy expert Bruce Bartlett
in The Benefit and the Burden. "It's just another tax cut." Most economists, he says, view true tax
reform as a revenue-neutral, zero-sum game with both winners and losers. In this view, if the top
corporate tax rate is lowered, the tax base will need to be broadened so that some
businesses will have to pay more, or funds will have to be raised through other
means of taxation (i.e. consumption tax, gas tax, etc.).
Eric Toder of the Tax Policy Center says that "corporate
taxes cannot be thought of in isolation,"

but that any corporate tax reform must be considered in the context of general tax
reform that may include other changes, such as the way individuals are taxed. Many
economists see the integration of the corporate and individual income tax as a
solution to this problem. CFR's Ted Alden writes that it is difficult "to move discretely on any
single aspect of tax reform. A tax system that is both more competitive and more
fiscally responsible would require an array of changes."
Reform shifts tax burden to income taxes on the lower and middle classes
Shifting Tax Burden to Americas Citizens These big, profitable corporations are
continuing to shift their tax burden onto average Americans . This isnt fair to the rest of us,
it makes no economic sense, said Bob McIntyre, director at Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), in an April 9 article on the
Cantor, House Majority leader, suggested in

April at a Bank of America event that people whose earnings are so low that they dont pay
federal personal income taxes should be required to pay such taxes. The CTJ article said
that Cantors comments suggest that, like Rep. Ryan [House Budget Committee chairman], he is interested
in ending those tax subsidies that benefit the lower-income or middle-income
households but not those benefitting [sic] the rich.
CTJ website. According to another CTJ article on April 20, Eric
*AFF Doesnt Solve Keynes

Corporate tax cuts have no Keynesian stimulus effect
Huang 9 tax policy analyst with the Centers Federal Fiscal Policy Team, where
she focuses on the fiscal and economic effects of federal tax policy, taught tax law
and conducted research in tax law and policy at the University of Auckland (ChyeChing, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Corporate Tax Rate Cut Likely To Be
Ineffective As Stimulus, http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2269)
corporate tax rate cuts provide relatively
little bang-for-the-buck as stimulus. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), for example, has
concluded that a corporate rate cut is not a particularly cost-effective method of
stimulating business spending.[1] The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has found that in
terms of stimulating aggregate demand, the effect of corporate rate cuts
is likely small.[2] And Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moodys Economy.com, has rated a corporate
tax rate cut as one of the least effective of all tax and spending options in
stimulating the economy, estimating that it would generate only 30 cents in
economic demand for every dollar spent on the tax cut .[3] Nevertheless, some policymakers
Numerous government and independent studies agree that
and business groups many of them longstanding proponents of corporate tax cuts regardless of economic
conditions now advocate cutting corporate tax rates as a stimulus measure.[4] There is a serious debate to be
had about whether cutting corporate rates, especially if done in tandem with measures to close corporate tax
corporate rate cuts simply are not

credible as short-term economic stimulus in a recession. Corporate Rate Cut Would
Not Reward New Investments Explaining why a corporate tax rate cut is relatively ineffective as
stimulus, CRS noted that Increasing the after-tax income of businesses typically does not
create an incentive for them to spend more on labor or to produce more, because
production depends on the ability to sell output .[6] The primary problem employers face
in a recession is a shortage of demand for their products, not a shortage of cash.[7] When
firms face a shortage of demand, they will find it more attractive to retain or pass
to shareholders any new cash they receive from a tax cut, rather than invest in
increased production of goods and services for which no customers exist. But passing
the tax benefits to shareholders and business owners would not stimulate the economy much.
Shareholders and business owners are two groups that tend to have higher incomes
and thus to save, rather than spend, much of any additional income they receive .
As CRS concluded, such a tax cut is more likely to be spent on reducing debt, or paying
out dividends. Both choices would not expand aggregate demand .[8] In the short run,
loopholes, would strengthen the economy over the long run.[5] But
therefore a substantial effect of reducing current corporate tax rates is to increase the returns from past
investments rather than increase the attractiveness of new investments, according to CBO.[9]
investments are stimulative.
Only new
H1B Visas (Neg)
H1B CP 1NC
the cap on H-1B Visas to 195,000.
Solves competitiveness and economy - increases innovation,
talent, and job creation
David Bier 6/17/12, - immigration policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise
Institute- H1-B Visa Quotas Greatly Restrain Small Business Expansion; Forbes
Magazine; http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/06/17/h1-b-visa-quotasgreatly-restrain-small-business-expansion/
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS)
announced this week that it had filled its annual H1B visa quota for foreign high-skilled workers. The announcement comes about five months earlier
than last year, signaling that U.S. businesses are expanding again. But many companies must now wait
until next year to attempt to hire needed talent. This constraint is slowing their
renewed growth, while unfairly disadvantaging small businesses that lack the
resources necessary to navigate Americas complex immigration code. As
Americas technology and service-based economy has expanded over the last
decade, its demand for high-skilled labor has increased greatly . Global
competition requires access to the worlds best talent. Yet during this same period,
Congress has allowed the H-1B quota for high-skilled workers to drop in halffrom
195,000 in 2001 to 85,000 today. In 2006, the quota was tapped in less than two months. In 2008, it
vanished in less than a daynearly 125,000 applications were received in just two days. Market-driven demand
the Government Accountability

Office found last year, demand for new H-1B workers exceeded the cap . This
mismatch is further exacerbated by fees and regulations that prevent businesses,
particularly small firms, from even applying. One company estimated the cost of the H-1B and
grew while government-controlled supply shrank. In most years,
green card process at $16,000. More than sixty percent of small businesses surveyed by the GAO incurred
significant business costs resulting from petitions denied due to the cap, delays in processing H-1B petitions, and
H-1B regulations advantage large companies because they can

absorb application costs and afford more qualified consultants. Complicated
other costs.
forms and regulationsand the imperative of speed and accuracyforce most businesses to hire experts for $3,000
for a single applicant. Multinational companies surveyed by the GAO were generally able to hire their preferred
candidates because the firms were skilled at navigating the immigration system. This legal inequity places startups and small firms at a disadvantage. Some companies would not want to be bothered with foreign students
because it would require a lawyer to do all the paperwork, Elias Shiu, a professor at the University of Iowas
department of statistics and actuarial science, told The Des Moines Register earlier this year. International students
constitute more than sixty percent of Shius department, like many science, engineering, and technology
departments at other universities. Yet finding jobs for these highly-qualified workers in the U.S. is almost impossible
due to H-1B regulations. Not only can big players navigate the system better than small firms, they often manage
to avoid it completely. Large firms like Principal can afford to have actuary offices in China and Brazil. Similarly,
Microsoft recently opened offices in Vancouver to make use of Canadas more expeditious immigration system for
foreign software designers. Not only is stimulating off-shoring bad policy, it is unfair to small U.S. competitors who
cannot afford offices overseas to avoid visa constraints. Multinational firms do not always need to leave the U.S. to
hire the workers they wantthey can also use an L-1 visa to bring workers from their foreign offices to a U.S. site
for up to seven years, or they can use a B-1 visa to conduct short-term activities like holding business conferences.
While these options are unavailable to most small firms and start-ups,
the best response
to such inequality
isnt to restrain multinationals, but to open competition for all American

businesses by eliminating H-1B restrictions. Highly-skilled foreign workers do
not take jobsthey make jobs. H-1B applications fell dramatically during the
recession because companies use H-1B visas not to replace Americans during
downtimes, but to recruit workers during expansion . A 2009 National Foundation for American
Policy study found that every H-1B request is correlated with five new jobs at major
firms and more than seven jobs at firms with less than 5,000 employees . H1B restrictions slow this expansion and hurt economic growth . Immigration quotas
and restrictions are fundamentally unfair and stand in the way of Americas future
prosperity. Increasing the H-1B quota would constitute progress. But better yet, abolishing the quota
system and H-1B constraints entirely would not only allow more highly-skilled
workers to come, but also make Americas immigration system fair for small
competitors. Fairer competition would increase innovation,
entrepreneurship, and job creation, benefiting all Americans.
H1B CP 1NC
Prerequisite to the aff The high-skilled worker shortage
undercuts infrastructure projects
Ratzenberger 7-31-10 [John, inventor, entrepreneur and board member of the
Foundation for Fair Civil Justice, Skilled workers key to state, national economies,
http://newsok.com/skilled-workers-key-to-state-national-economies/article/3480964]
A cultural shift has taken place in America that's tragically made the skilled worker a thing of the
past. Our media has glorified celebrity at the expense of our nation's basic needs, and America will reap the
whirlwind within the next two decades. At stake is nothing less than our long-term economic vitality and
national security. Let's start with infrastructure - bridges, roads, water and sewer systems .
America is dangerously close to failures that will result in loss of life and are already
resulting in loss of economic competitiveness. In many cases, currently funded
infrastructure projects cannot move forward due to lack of skilled workers . For example,
a national shortage of 500,000 welders has resulted in delays or cancellations of many key projects. Expand that
By 2012, there will be a 3

million skilled worker shortfall in our nation , according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In
out over the entire economy and we have a massive crisis on our hands.
Oklahoma, which has had solid energy and manufacturing industries, top companies have difficulty finding
adequate skilled workers to fill positions. The average age of American skilled workers is 55, which means
the bulk of our skilled worker base will retire in the next decade. There are not enough skilled workers to replace
them and maintain the nation's competitive global position. In my interviews with employers across the nation, I
hear the same story: Business owners are desperate for skilled workers. Many are reaching out to local schools to
attract young people into the trades. Despite the offer of good pay and benefits, the noble skills that involve
working with your hands and mind don't hold the same appeal as they did in decades past. Some businesses are
We're experiencing the loss of the oncevaunted edge that America enjoyed. From aviation to energy, our national security is at risk . In
considering moving their operations (and jobs) overseas.
order to maintain the world's most sophisticated military, we must produce systems, parts and hardware in
Without domestic manufacturing operations, critical component work has

been moved offshore as a stop-gap measure . The lens through which I view the world is simple:
America.
The manual arts always take precedence over the fine arts. Remember, someone had to build the ceiling before
Michelangelo could go to work. Negative images of skilled workers - what I call "essential workers" - pervade our
culture. The truth is, high-profile athletes and entertainers are non-essential. If all the celebrities like me
disappeared overnight, it would be sad, but the world would continue with little disruption. But if plumbers,
electricians, welders, carpenters, lathe operators, truck drivers and other "essentials" disappeared, our country
would grind to a halt.
2NC Solvency Economy

Raising the cap on H1B visas solves the economy1) Outsourcing H1Bs bring jobs back onshore
James Sherk and Diem Nguyen 9- Heritage Foundation Center for Data Analysis
for Labor Policy; Douglas Research Assistant and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign
Policy Studies; , Restricting H-1B Visas Is Bad for Business and the Economy;
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/05/restricting-h-1b-visas-is-bad-forbusiness-and-the-economy
American employers cannot find enough highly skilled workers to fill essential
positions. There are not enough American workers with advanced skills in computer,
engineering, and mathematical occupations to perform the work that many hightech companies need. This shortage of skilled labor has forced many companies to
outsource operations abroad. Raising the cap on H-1B visas for skilled workers
would allow American businesses to expand operations here in the United States,
creating more jobs and higher wages for American workers. Increasing the H-1B cap
would also raise significant tax revenue from highly skilled and highly paid workers.
Heritage Foundation calculations show that raising the cap to 195,000 visas
would increase revenues by a total of nearly $69 billion over eight years.
Unlike tax increases, this would be an economically beneficial source of revenue for
PAYGO offsets. (The pay-as-you-go rule mandates that any new congressional
spending or tax changes must not add to the federal deficit; any new costs must be
offset with money from existing funds.) Congress should therefore act now to raise
the cap on visas for highly skilled workers.

2) Job generation- Increasing cap to 195,000 solves
James Sherk and Diem Nguyen 9- Heritage Foundation Center for Data Analysis
for Labor Policy; Douglas Research Assistant and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign
Policy Studies; , Restricting H-1B Visas Is Bad for Business and the Economy;
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/05/restricting-h-1b-visas-is-bad-forbusiness-and-the-economy
Reports have indicated that Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL)
plan to introduce a bill that would limit the ability of companies to hire H-1B
employees.[1] Arguing that H-1B visa recipients are a threat to American workers,
their proposal would add new layers of regulation and procedures making it more
difficult for companies to hire foreigners. This argument is misguided. Given the
current economic climate, handcuffing employers from hiring talented workers will
hurt--not help--the economy, further delaying the ability of businesses to restart the
national economic engine. In order to grow the American economy and support the
American workforce, Congress should expand and improve the H-1B visa program.
Unfounded Fears of the H-1B Current law restricts the H-1B visa to highly skilled
foreigners who have an undergraduate degree or higher. Each year, the federal
government allows 65,000 visas to be issued, with an additional 20,000 visas for
people who have masters degrees or higher. The visas are granted to individuals
who have been offered employment in the United States. It is valid for three years
and can be renewed once for an additional three years. Many believe H-1B workers
merely compete with Americans looking for work. They are wrong. The U.S.
workforce is not a "zero-sum game." One hired H-1B worker does not mean an
American is out of a job. In fact, the National Foundation for American Policy found
that employers hired four new American workers for each new H-1B employee they
hire. Additionally, hiring H-1B employees does not lower the wages of American
workers. Current law requires that when employers apply for H-1B visas, they must
attest that they will pay the visa recipient the same wage they would pay an
American with similar skill sets. Rather than limiting the ability of employers to hire
H-1B workers by adding more rules and restrictions, Congress should ensure the
federal government exercises appropriate oversight in enforcing current laws.
Closing the Doors on H-1B Preventing companies from hiring foreign workers harms
the U.S. economy's ability to rapidly adapt to marketplace demands. Companies
must be able to hire persons best suited to fill positions based on their skill sets--not
their nationality. People have varying skill sets unrelated to their country of
residence. Simply requiring companies to hire Americans means that the company
may not get the best qualified person or even the individual with the right set of
professional skills to do the job. The federal government should not be making
personnel decisions for American businesses. Keeping the Visa Successful Adding
regulations to the H-1B program would be a serious setback to U.S. visa policy and
would only end up hurting the U.S. economy. Instead, Congress should Return the
cap to the 2001 quota of 195,000 visas a year.

Make the program flexible. If the
visa quota is met the year before, the cap should be automatically increased by a
preset amount legislated by Congress. In addition, unused visas should be
recaptured and used the following year.
Create interoperable databases. Making
sure the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security databases
are interoperable will help minimize the number of fraudulent cases.
Increase
oversight. The federal government should keep employers who have hired H-1B
employees accountable to the program rules. Random site visits should be
conducted to ensure employers are following the rules. By improving and
expanding the H-1B visa program, Congress can ensure that American businesses
have the workforces necessary for further economic growth.

3) Innovation- its key to a rebound
Ajay Malshe, Cornell Law School J.D.; Goodwin Procter Fellow at the Capital Area
Immigrants Rights (CAIR) Coalition in Washington D.C, 2010, From Obsolete to
Essential: How Reforming Our Immigration Laws Can Stimulate and Strengthen the
United States Economy, 3 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 358, HeinOnline
Despite the clearly positive impact that immigrants can have in reviving the U.S.
economy, the government has already begun instituting protectionist policies, most
notably with the Grassley Sanders amendment to the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009. Section 1611 of the new law restricts the ability of
companies receiving Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funding from hiring 11113 workers except under certain conditions.49 Most notably, banks and other
financial institutions are now barred from hiring H-1B workers unless they have
offered those positions first to equally qualified U.S. workers.5 Therefore,
employers receiving TARP assistance must now comply with LCA attestations
previously imposed only on H-1B dependent employers) The Economist has also
argued that [r]estricting the immigration of highly skilled workers in the stimulus
plan will hurt Americas ability to innovate and revive the economy)5 TARP
restrictions will only hinder the countrys ability to more efficiently dig out of this
crisis. Furthermore, President Obama has stated that part of the solution to the
economic crisis will come from our investment in science, research, and
technology.53 This will lead to new medical breakthroughs, new discoveries, and
entire new industries. Immigrants are disproportionately represented in the field of
research and their innovative ideas can potentially create jobs and jumpstart the
economy.55 However, because the government only issues 65,000 H- lB temporary
visas each year, the United States cannot properly spend the billions of dollars
allocated to scientific research in the stimulus plan because there are not enough
highly skilled workers to take advantage of the allotted funds) While education
reform may eventually provide the United States with a native labor force capable
of meeting the demand for highly skilled workers in the science, technology,
engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields, such changes will not take place for
some time. The United States must continue to usher in highly skilled foreign labor
to use the stimulus funding effectively and help renew its commitment to
groundbreaking research. Reforming the immigration scheme to remove backlogs
and quotas in immigrant visas while allowing more highly skilled foreign
professionals to contribute their innovative ideas and unique backgrounds will allow
the United States to spearhead the kind of research and development needed to
strengthen the fundamentals of the economy and bring it out of recession. Most
importantly, however, the United States must avoid the urge to hide behind
protectionist policies and prevent immigrants from being able to make a valuable
contribution. In doing so, the United States will rise out of this economic crisis and
secure the long-term economic future of this country.
4) Reverse brain drain

Case et all, 11,Steve Case-Revolution CEO, John Doerr-Partner of Kleiner Perkins
Caufield & Byers ; Paul Otellini- Intel Corporation CEO, and Sheryl Sandberg,
Facebook COO, all members of the Presidents Council on Jobs and Competitiveness;
America needs a 21st century immigration policy; May 19, 2011; Reuters,
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2011/05/19/america-needs-a-21st-centuryimmigration-policy/)
President Obamas recent focus on immigration highlights Americas broken

system and its impact on our economy. Fixing it requires Republicans and
Democrats to show political courage and implement reforms to expand and
strengthen the American economy. As members of the Presidents Council on Jobs
and Competitiveness, we share his deep concern that our nations ability to
compete economically is being damaged by the two parties battling over
immigration laws and policies. To some, the link between immigration reform
and economic growth may be surprising. To Americas most innovative
industries, it is a link we know is fundamental. The global economy means
companies that drive U.S. job creation and economic growth are in a worldwide
competition for talent. While other countries are aggressively creating policies and
incentives to attract a highly educated workforce, America has stagnated. Once a
magnet for the worlds top minds, America now faces a reverse brain drain and is
no longer the first choice for many entrepreneurs creating new companies and jobs.
America needs a pro-growth immigration system that works for U.S. workers and
employers in todays global economy. And we need it now.

We control uniqueness Economic crisis is looming due to
workforce deficiencies
a. Babyboomer retirement
Evan Nolan, JD Candidate Georgetown University Law Center, Fall 2009, Picking
Up After The Baby Boomers: Can Immigrants Carry The Load?, 24 Geo. Immigr. L.J.
77, Lexis
The landscape of the U.S. labor market is set to change dramatically in the next
several decades. The largest generation in the history of our nation is preparing to
retire. The Baby Boomer generation will exit the workforce in significant numbers
over the next twenty to thirty years. n1 Behind them, the Baby Boomers leave
arguably the greatest period of workforce productivity ever accomplished.
Unfortunately, the achievements may be second thoughts to the pending crises that
the retiring generation will also leave behind them. In the next couple years, the
oldest of that generation will reach the age of sixty-five and begin thinking about
retirement. The oldest of the Baby Boomer generation has already filed for Social
Security benefits. n2 Over the next twenty years, more than seventy million
Americans will follow. Subsequent generations have not sustained the growth of the
Baby Boomers and will not have the capacity to fill the workforce void or pay for
their parents' retirement. n3 The current financial crisis only darkens the forecast.
The Baby Boomer retirement could potentially cause two major economic crises:
an "entitlement crisis" and a "workforce crisis." n4 The entitlement crisis involves
the growing discrepancy between revenue from payroll taxes and the federal
expenditures on Social Security, Medicare, and other social aid, particularly for
retirees who have paid their dues. A potentially debilitating workforce crisis would
also ensue when millions set to retire from a labor force that is already seeing
declines in growth. n5 Dowell Myers and other social scientists have sought to turn
this awful predicament into opportunity, by throwing open the doors to immigration.
n6 [*78] They suggest that by liberalizing immigration policies, the influx of
immigrants would "significantly mitigate" the entitlement and workforce crises , and
the "illegal" stigma attached to millions of unauthorized immigrants would be
removed. n7 These immigrants could legally join the American workforce, filling the
void left by Baby Boomers and contributing to the Social Security coffers through
taxes. n8 The economic benefits of immigration, and even "permitting"
undocumented workers, are clear. n9 Expanding the workforce, and subsequently
the economy, helps promote GDP growth and provides an answer to the Baby
Boomer crises.

b. STEM worker shortage
Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International
Economics, 7-1-2008, US High-Skilled Immigration Policy: A Self-Inflicted Wound,
Peterson Institute for International Economics,
http://www.iie.com/publications/papers/paper.cfm?ResearchID=972
America rose to global economic prominence, superpower status, and victory in the
Cold War on the shoulders of the most highly skilled workforce in the world. However,
America's global "skills leadership" is now under challenge . An increasingly vicious
combination of long-term trends in the form of retiring baby boomers and stagnating US
educational attainment, combined with increasingly restrictive laws on high-skilled
immigration increasingly undermines the US position. This will seriously jeopardize
long-term economic growth opportunities, especially for US high-tech sectors. Aging US baby boomers
were the best-educated workers in the world when they entered the workforce 30-some years ago. Building on
visionary policies like the GI Bill of 1944, college-level graduation rates for US baby boomers reached almost 40
percent during this period, far exceeding graduation rates of 20 to 25 percent enjoyed by contemporary British,
French, German, or Japanese baby boom generations in the late 1960s and 1970s. The year 2008 is the first in
which Americans born after World War II can retire with public pensionshence, the loss of large numbers of welleducated baby boomers will be more severely felt in the United States than among other major industrialized
economies. Another long-term worry is the stagnation seen in the average educational attainment of Americans in
recent decades. Almost unique in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the
tertiary-level graduation rates among present-day US labor market entrants, aged 25 to 34, is the same as that of
there's a risk in coming years

that as many high-skilled Americans will retire as will enter the workforce . The centurylong continuous compositional skills improvement of America's workforce may soon end. Moreover, while
America failed to continue to improve broad educational standards during the last 30
years, the rest of the world has not stood still . Today, over 50 percent of young Canadians, Japanese,
their baby boomer parents, aged 55 to 64stuck below 40 percent. Hence,
and Koreans obtain tertiary education representing a vast educational advancement relative to their parents'
for
the first time in generations, the US risks becoming less skill-abundant than an
increasing number of its global economic competitors (see figure 11). US and Canadian baby
generation. American labor market entrants today barely make the global skills top-10 list. As a direct result,
boomers, aged 55 to 64, were indeed the "brightest kids on the global trading block," when they entered the
workforce and rapidly globalizing marketplace. Thus baby boomers were ready to take advantage of trade
liberalization and the opening of global markets during the last part of the 20th century, far less true for today's
American youth. Policymakers cannot stop the graying of the US population or the imminent retirement of baby
boomers. Similarly, successful overhaul of the US education sector could only begin to reverse more than 30 years
of educational stagnation over the long term. Improving the education system is hardly a realistic or quick solution
US policymakers can only

hope to counter these long-term phenomena in a timely manner by reforming high-skilled
immigration policies and facilitating the continued and increasingly economically necessary inflow
of high-skilled workers from abroad. Instead, US high-skilled immigration policies have in recent years
to forestalling broad skill shortages in the US economy over the next decade.
become tangibly more restrictivewaylaid by wider congressional gridlock on immigration and political emphasis
on indiscriminate enforcement. This restrictiveness is relative to earlier periods in US history and, more importantly,
other industrialized countries today. In April 2008, for instance, about half of 163,000 US businesses wishing to hire
a foreign high-skilled worker on H-1B visas were denied this opportunity by the annual quota of 85,000 available
visas2 (65,000 plus 20,000 available to foreign graduates with advanced degrees from US universities). The
immigration policy undermines the economic characteristicsentrepreneurial vitality and mastery of new advanced
technologiesthat make the United States the envy of the world. Just like Google, eBay, and Yahoo, more than half
of engineering and technology companies founded in Silicon Valley from 1995 to 2005 had at least one foreign-born
founder.3 More than a third of US venture capitalbacked technology firms report shifting investments and jobs
outside the country due to restrictive regulation,4 and America's largest, most competitive companies cannot get
visas for foreign high-skilled workers they want to hire. Meanwhile, contours of the global battlefield for talent are
rapidly changing. The recent proposal for an EU "Blue Card" would allow high-skilled workers from outside the
European Union to work in multiple EU countries, just one example of a new trend across the OECD. Affected by
more rapid population aging than the United States, other OECD countries aggressively work to liberalize their highskilled immigration laws, while simultaneously tightening regulation of low-skilled and humanitarian-based
immigration. Ironically, the other nations frequently copy US policies, particularly those that attract and retain
foreign students. Equally worrisome for the United States, the top countries of origin for high-skilled migrantsfastgrowing China and Indiaoffer incentives for skilled workers to return home. In 2007, China launched its "green
passage" initiative, aimed at luring back tens of thousands of acclaimed overseas Chinese scientists, engineers, and
executives with promises of guaranteed university places for their children, exemption from household-residence
registrationor hokourequirements, and tax benefits.5 The United Stateshistorically the world's country of
choice for foreign high-skilled workershas the most to lose from any change in these human-capital flows. While
the rest of the rich world has caught up in welcoming high-skilled foreigners, the United States could soon struggle
With the skill-base of the US workforce declining at an

accelerating pace relative to the rest of the world, America in the 21st century will need foreign
high-skilled workers more than ever. At stake is the ability of the US economy to thrive in the
to attract global talent.
global marketplace.
2NC Solvency Competitiveness

Admitting highly skilled workers boosts US competitiveness
Marshall Fitz, Director of Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress
12-2009, Prosperous immigrants, Prosperous Americans, Center for American
Progress,
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/12/pdf/highskilled_immigrants.pdf
Reforming our high-skilled immigration system will stimulate innovation, enhance
competitiveness, and help cultivate a flexible, highly-skilled U.S. workforce while
protecting U.S. workers from globalizations destabilizing effects. Our economy has
benefitted enormously from being able to tap the international pool of human
capital.5 Arbitrary limitations on our ability to continue doing so are ultimately selfdefeating: Companies will lose out to their competitors making them less profitable,
less productive, and less able to grow; or they will move their operations abroad
with all the attendant negative economic consequences. And the federal treasury
loses tens of billions of dollars in tax revenues by restricting the opportunities for
high-skilled foreign workers to remain in the United States.6
We control uniqueness Theres massive workforce shortage

looming visa change is key to restoring US competitiveness
Dowell Myers, Professor at the USC School of Policy Planning and Development,
director of Population Dynamics Research Group and Co-Director of the Center for
the Study of Immigrant Integration, 11-24-2008, Old Promises and New Blood:
How Immigration Reform Can Help America Prosper in the Face of Baby Boomer
Retirement, The Reform Institute,
http://www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/bitstreams/15660.pdf
America is facing a demographic tsunami. The aging of the population will have a
profound impact on the federal budget, the workforce, and the housing market. The
response to these perils will determine if the United States continues to be a global
leader in the 21st century capable of supporting high economic growth and a rising
standard of living. Immigration will play a vital role in confronting the challenges
posed by an aging society and keeping three promises at the heart of our economic
success: a secure retirement for seniors; an ample and competent workforce for
employers; and a healthy housing market for families. Policy makers cannot afford
to view immigration and the retirement of baby boomers as two separate
phenomena. We must evaluate our immigration needs in light of the pending
massive movement of a significant portion of the population out of the labor pool
and housing market and into government funded entitlement programs. Keeping
our bedrock promises will require new blood from beyond our borders. Immigrants
can significantly mitigate the three crises. By firmly grasping the implications of
the graying of America we can develop a practical immigration policy that meets
the nations future needs and enhances our resilience against powerful
demographic and economic forces that threaten our global standing and
competitiveness.

And its key to competitiveness
Jonathan G. Goodrich, March 2008, Immigration in the Twenty-First Century,
42 U. Rich. L. Rev. 975, ln
In multiple ways, immigration, whether temporary or permanent, provides for
economic growth. Economists estimate that at a minimum America's foreign-born
population adds $ 12 billion to the economy by working, consuming, investing, and
paying taxes. n97 Despite claims to the contrary, the costs associated with
immigration do not outweigh these economic benefits. n98 Moreover, [*987]
immigration enhances the competitiveness of the United States in today's global
economy by allowing multinational corporations to integrate their operations and
recruit skills from a global labor force. n99 At both ends of the occupational
spectrum, however, family-focused, security-centric immigration laws prevent U.S.
businesses from hiring necessary workers. n100 For cashiers and computer
scientists, for those that build homes and for those that build robots, U.S
immigration policies are an impediment to, rather than a facilitator of, economic
progress. Several factors influence economic growth, including labor force
expansion, technology, education, entrepreneurship, and research. n101 Two closely
watched factors are a country's productivity rate and its labor growth. n102 Due to
a baby-boomer generation on the verge of mass retirement, n103 a declining U.S.
fertility rate, n104 and a country at near full employment, economists predict that
satisfactory economic expansion will not come from increased productivity. n105
Thus, continued economic success must rely upon a growing labor force. n106 The
immigration polices that are now in place, however, prevent that growth from
occurring. In addition to immigration's economic implications, living in a post-9/11
world means that security concerns are now also intertwined with immigration
policy. But overly broad security measures disregard important economic
considerations and result in [*988] unintended and negative consequences on
actual security. Millions of low-skilled workers illegally come to the United States and
live in near anonymity in order to fill available jobs - many of which are both vital to
the economy and the country's infrastructure. Millions of high-skilled workers cannot
come to the United States; yet, as President Bush explained, "science and
technology [are] essential to the defense of the Nation and the health of our
economy." n107 Increasingly, American companies have to rely on foreign
businesses in key technological areas. n108 Moreover, the remittances that
noncitizens send back to their native countries create strategic ties for the United
States and provide an indirect form of international aid. n109 This benefits American
security by reducing the lack of education and poverty that often breeds terrorism.
n110 Full of rhetoric, however, Congress's current black and white approach to
immigration fails to promote either the economy or security of the United States.

Solves global competitiveness- more talent
Santiago A. Cueto 6/26/12, International Business Law Advisor

and head of Cueto Law Group Firm, How to make America
More Competitive, First, Abolish the H1-B Visa QuotaInternational Business Law Advisor: Insights on International
Litigation and Transactions,
http://www.internationalbusinesslawadvisor.com/2012/06/articl
es/random-thoughts-and-observatio/h1-b-visa/
As an international attorney based in Miami, I field lots of questions from both
foreign and domestic companies looking to hire foreign workers for skilled positions
available in our region. And thats hardly a surprise there are hundreds of foreign
based multinational companies operating in our region including Embraer,
Telefonica, Bacardi and Komatsu. The primary mechanism by which foreign workers
are hired by these companies is through the H-1B temporary visas. These visas are
typically the only practical way for a skilled foreign national to work long-term in the
United States. Thats why I was disappointed to learn that companies in Floridaor
anywhere in the U.S. wont be able to hire anyone on a new H-1B visa until April,
2013. This is because the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services just announced
that it reached the statutory cap for Hi-B visas for the current fiscal year. While it
will still be possible for those already in H-1B status to change jobs to another
employer or for someone to obtain a new H-1B visa to work at a university or
nonprofit research institute (and other limited exceptions) all new H1-B applications
will be rejected for the next 15 months. The moratorium on issuing H1-B visas could
not have come at a worse time. America is struggling to get back on its feet after
suffering through the most severe fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.
Eliminating multinational companies from hiring highly skilled labor will
only make the U.S. less competitive and prolong an already glacially paced
recovery. As one Forbes Capital Flows commenter noted in the article H1-B Visa
Quotas Greatly Restrain Small Business Expansion: Global competition requires
access to the worlds best talent. Yet during this same period, Congress has
allowed the H-1B quota for high-skilled workers to drop in halffrom 195,000 in
2001 to 85,000 today. In 2006, the quota was tapped in less than two months. In
2008, it vanished in less than a daynearly 125,000 applications were received in
just two days. The article further notes that: A 2009 National Foundation for
American Policy study found that every H-1B request is correlated with five new jobs
at major firms and more than seven jobs at firms with less than 5,000 employees.
H-1B restrictions slow this expansion and hurt economic growth. As the article
makes clear, immigration quotas and restrictions are fundamentally unfair and
stand in the way of Americas future prosperity. The only fair thing to do is to
abolish the H-1B quota. Doing so would benefit all Americans and result
increased innovation, entrepreneurship, and job creation.
Boosting high-skilled immigration restores US competitiveness

Darrel M. West, vice president and director of Governance Studies and founding
director of the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings Institute, 2010, Brain
Gain: Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy
The most important challenge is to develop a new narrative that defines
immigration as a brain gain that improves economic competitiveness and national
innovation. A focus on brains and competitiveness would help America overcome
past deficiencies in immigration policy and help the country meet the economic and
innovation challenges of the twenty-first century. There is considerable evidence
that the United States is falling behind on innovation. An analysis of patents granted
shows that the long-term U.S. dominance has come to an end. In 1999 American
scientists were granted 90,000 patents, compared with 70,000 for those from all
other countries. In 2009, for the first time in recent years, non-U.S. innovators
earned more patents (around 96,000) than did Americans (93,000). one-third of the
American workforce holds science or technology positions. That is slightly less than
the 34 percent figure for Germany and the Netherlands hut is higher than the 28
percent in Canada and France. Looking at another measure, the U.S. government
spends only 2.8 percent of its GDP on public research and development. That is less
than the 4.3 percent spent by Sweden, 3.1 percent by Japan, and 3.0 percent by
South Korea hut is more than is spent by Germany (2.5 percent), France (2.2 per
cent), Canada (1 .9 percent), or England (1 .9 percent). Europe as a whole devotes
1.9 percent of its total GDP to research and development, while industrialized
nations spend around 2.3 percent.

Immigration Key- spur innovation and competitiveness
David Park 3/23/12, Jobs Creation Alliance Founder/Creator, Immigration Reform is
key to Job Creation, US News and World Report,
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economicintelligence/2012/03/23/immigration-reform-is-key-to-job-creation
As America continues to look for more jobs Washington can't seem to come up with
an answer. We've heard solutions from policy wonks, politicians, and academics, but
rarely from people who have first-hand experience actually creating jobs. The voice
of the small business owner is faintly being heard, but I'm not so sure our friends on
Capitol Hill are listening. There is continual talk about destructive regulations and
burdensome red tape, but very little discussion over specific policies and regulations
that are so burdensome and in need of reform. Well, here's one from a job creator:
immigration. Immigration reform is key to spurring innovation and getting the
economy back on track. I'm a small business owner who realizes the role legal
immigrants play in creating new jobs. As founder and CEO of a boutique merchant
bank, I've started or acquired nearly 30 small and midsize companies, creating
hundreds of jobs for Americans across the country. I am also an immigrant and an
example of how highly-skilled immigrants educated in the United States can drive
job creation right here at home. Employment-based immigration provides ways for
highly skilled immigrants to come to the United States on either a permanent or
temporary visa and contribute to our economy. I came to the United States at the
age of six because my parents wanted me to have the opportunity to live the
American Dream. While at that time, immigration law was by no means lax, the
window of legal immigration opportunity has been closing more and more as the
process gets bogged down in the bureaucratic morass. The sad truth is, America's
dysfunctional immigration law doesn't hurt the would-be immigrants as much as it
cripples our nation's competitiveness and prospect for future prosperity and job
growth.
Solv Hegemony
Highly skilled immigration makes heg sustainable and effective
Joseph Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Sultan of
Oman Professor of International Relations at Harvard Kennedy School, Nov. 2010,
The Future of American Power: Dominance and Decline in Perspective, Foreign
Affiars, Nov/Dec
Some argue that the United States suffers from "imperial overstretch," but so far,
the facts do not fit that theory. On the contrary, defense and foreign affairs
expenditures have declined as a share of GDP over the past several decades.
Nonetheless, the United States could decline not because of imperial overstretch
but because of domestic underreach. Rome rotted from within, and some observers,
noting the sourness of current U.S. politics, project that the United States will lose
its ability to influence world events because of domestic battles over culture, the
collapse of its political institutions, and economic stagnation. This possibility cannot
be ruled out, but the trends are not as clear as the current gloomy mood suggests.
Although the United States has many social problems--and always has--they do not
seem to be getting worse in any linear manner. Some of these problems are even
improving, such as rates of crime, divorce, and teenage pregnancy. Although there
are culture wars over issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion, polls show an
overall increase in tolerance. Civil society is robust, and church attendance is high,
at 42 percent. The country's past cultural battles, over immigration, slavery,
evolution, temperance, McCarthyism, and civil rights, were arguably more serious
than any of today's. A graver concern would be if the country turned inward and
seriously curtailed immigration. With its current levels of immigration, the United
States is one of the few developed countries that may avoid demographic decline
and keep its share of world population, but this could change if xenophobia or
reactions to terrorism closed its borders. The percentage of foreign-born residents in
the United States reached its twentieth-century peak, 14.7 percent, in 1910. Today,
11.7 percent of U.S. residents are foreign born, but in 2009, 50 percent of
Americans favored decreasing immigration, up from 39 percent in 2008. The
economic recession has only aggravated the problem. Although too rapid a rate of
immigration can cause social problems, over the long term, immigration
strengthens U.S. power. Today, the United States is the world's third most populous
country; 50 years from now, it is likely to still be third (after India and China). Not
only is this relevant to economic power, but given that nearly all developed
countries are aging and face the burden of providing for the older generation,
immigration could help reduce the sharpness of the resulting policy problem. In
addition, there is a strong correlation between the number of H-1B visas and the
number of patents filed in the United States. In 1998, Chinese- and Indian-born
engineers were running one-quarter of Silicon Valley's high-tech businesses, and in
2005, immigrants were found to have helped start one of every four American
technology start-ups over the previous decade. Equally important are the benefits of
immigration for the United States' soft power. Attracted by the upward mobility of
American immigrants, people want to come to the United States. The United States
is a magnet, and many people can envisage themselves as Americans. Many
successful Americans look like people in other countries. Rather than diluting hard
and soft power, immigration enhances both. When Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew
concludes that China will not surpass the United States as the leading power of the
twenty-first century, he cites the ability of the United States to attract the best and
brightest from the rest of the world and meld them into a diverse culture of
creativity. China has a larger population to recruit from domestically, but in his view,
its Sinocentric culture will make it less creative than the United States, which can
draw on the whole world.
Solv Hegemony
Highly skilled immigrants are vital to US leadership
Ed Hooper, staff writer, 4-28-2010, Politics Trumping Visa Reform, Huffington
Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-hooper/politics-trumping-visare_b_555596.html
National organizations estimate more than 37 percent of PhDs in science and
engineering awarded by colleges and universities each year go to foreign-born
students. While most are reportedly staying according to a 2007 study, experts say
those numbers are likely to nosedive in the next report. Undoubtedly the U.S.
produces great home-grown engineers and scientists, but a formidable number of
immigrants have brought revolutionary advances in sciences and technologies to
American shores. Croatian immigrant Nikola Tesla made the national electrical grid
possible with his invention of a coil. Russian immigrant and aviation pioneer Igor
Sikorsky invented the helicopter. German immigrant Albert Einstein and Italian
immigrant Enrico Fermi helped usher in the atomic sciences. Hungarian immigrant
John von Neumann pioneered the digital age that made computers possible. And, if
Werner von Braun hadn't surrendered to the 44th Infantry Division in World War II
Berlin, Americans wouldn't have had a space program. These immigrants helped
form the backbone of U.S. leadership in science and technology that sustained this
nation on the world's stage for the last 100 years. This is one case where the U.S.
needs history to repeat itself. The unique business model that drives
competitiveness between private and government laboratories in a capitalist
system has been the propellant that maintains the U.S. as the world's leader in
science and technology. From Silicon Valley to Oak Ridge, the greatest tool
American-based companies have is their historical ability to bring in talented foreign
minds without hassle to research, start new businesses and teach at colleges or
universities. And it must be preserved.
Highly skilled immigrants are key to US leadership and military

superiority
Doris Meissner, former Commissioner of the US Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) and Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, Deborah w. Meyers,
Demetrios g. Papademetriou and Michael Fix, Summer 2007, Immigration and
America's Future: A New Chapter, 5 Geo. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 473, Lexis
Immigration helps the United States maintain its leadership in science and
technological innovation, which has traditionally been a foundation of American
economic power and performance. Some of the world's most talented people are
attracted to the United States for schooling, work, and freedom. The attraction often
springs from the American higher education system, which [*477] provides an
unrivalled teaching and research infrastructure. Seventeen of the top twenty
universities considered to be the best in the world are located in the United States.
n22 This higher education system sustains U.S. leadership in the global
marketplace and undergirds U.S. superiority in critical national security sectors such
as defense and intelligence. Science and engineering specialties are particularly
essential to national security and economic success, and here immigrants play a
substantial role. While 12% of the population and 14% of the workforce were
foreign-born in 2003, a quarter of all college-educated workers in science and
engineering occupations were foreign-born; 40% of scientists and engineers holding
doctoral degrees were foreign-born; and a majority of doctorate holders in computer
science, electrical engineering, civil engineering, and mechanical engineering were
foreign-born. n23 In 2005, graduate enrollments in engineering were 48% foreignborn temporary residents; in the physical sciences, they were 40%. n24 In contrast,
the two largest graduate fields chosen by native-born students are education and
public administration. n25 In the 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush
announced the American Competitiveness Initiative, an ambitious math and science
education program that funds increased training to maintain American leadership in
innovation. n26 At the same time, foreign students and professionals will continue
to play a key role in maintaining the country's edge in the global economy. And,
given the global nature of science and technology research and development,
workers in these careers will likely always be mobile and international. Effective,
predictable, and welcoming immigration regimes are becoming important factors in
a newly competitive global environment. The United States thus has a strong
interest in building an immigration system that provides opportunities for the highly
skilled and their families to travel, work, and live here.
Solv Green Tech

Highly skilled immigrants are key to developing the US
alternative energy industry
Jeff Joseph, A Senior Partner at the Joseph Law Firm, Immigration: They Key to a
Booming, Green Economy, 6-25-2010,
http://josephlawfirm.blogspot.com/2010/06/immigration-key-to-booming-green.html
If there is one thing on which economists, analysts, and researchers seem to agree,
it is this: Immigration is essential to keeping American business at the top of the
international business market, especially in the energy and engineering sectors.
Indeed, even some politicians, such as New Yorks Mayor Michael Bloomberg and
Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), have recognized the important
role immigration has to play in American business. According to Mayor Bloomberg,
Our immigration policy is national suicide. I cant think of any ways to destroy this
country quite as direct and impactful as our immigration policy. We educate the best
and the brightest and then we dont give them a green card. We want to create jobs
and we wont let entrepreneurs from around the world come here. It is for that
reason that Senators Kerry and Lugar have introduced the Startup Visa Act. The
Startup Visa Act proposes legislation that would modify the EB-5 Visa to increase job
creation and Americas international business competitive edge. Immigrant
entrepreneurs who are creating new businesses would be able to obtain visas, so
long as there is investment capital from within the U.S. of at least $100,000 and
equity financing of at least $250,000. A new Migrant Policy Institute Report, The
Impact of Immigrants in Recession and Economic Expansion, found that
immigration unambiguously improves employment, productivity and income,
although it does require some short-term adjustments, such as job training or new
technology. Despite common conceptions among Americans, immigration does not
reduce Americans employment rates over the long-term (ten years). But it does
increase Americans productivity and the average income over the same period. In
fact, immigration between 1990 and 2006 is credited with a 2.9% wage increase
among American workers. Still, immigration during a recession can have short-term,
negative effects, but those effects dissipate fairly quickly, within seven years at
most. In contrast, immigration during economic growth periods has an immediate,
positive effect, creating enough jobs to leave Americans jobs completely
untouched. Darrell M. West, author of a new book, Brain Gain: Rethinking U.S.
Immigration Policy (Brookings Institution Press, 2010), points out that many of
Americas greatest scientists, inventors, educators, and entrepreneurs came to the
United States as immigrants. He asserts that the U.S. must establish an increased
open-door policy to attract unique foreign talent in the fields of energy, information
technology, and international commerce. In a review of the book, Mayor Bloomberg
recognizes that the most important step we can take to strengthen Americas longterm economic health is passing comprehensive immigration reform. For America to
compete in the 21st Century, we need to be able to attractand keepthe worlds
best, brightest, and hardest working. And this seems to be particularly important
in the green energy field. A recent report published by the Immigration Policy
Center of the American Immigraiton Council, authored by Richard T. Herman and

Robert L. Smith, Why Immigration Can Drive the Green Economy, discusses how the
connection between immigration and the development and commercialization of
alternative fuel sources is rarely discussed among policymakers. Yet it is this very
connection that will help the United States lead the way towards cleaner, less
expensive energy. Although policymakers imagine that the development of
renewable energy will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, most fail to understand
that much of the clean-energy talent remains abroad. Thus, experts urge that
expanding our own clean-energy industry will require working with people overseas,
in countries that have been pursuing alternative fuel sources for several decades
already. Unfortunately, tough immigration restrictions make this type of foreign
collaboration difficult, if not impossible.
Solv Hegemony
Even without foreign founders there arent enough workers
to sustain domestic clean tech companies
Norman C. Plotkin, immigration attorney and partner at Jackson & Hertogs LLP, 316-2009, Time to plan for the H-1B visa filing deadline,
http://cleantech.com/news/4270/time-plan-h-1b-visa-filing-deadline
Clean technology companies in the U.S. may find themselves in the unusual position
of receiving federal stimulus funding while at the same time not being able to hire
and retain key employees. The economic downturn has stopped many employers
across all industries from making new hires, but cleantech companies are gearing
up for even greater hiring to meet the challenges of our changing economy.
However, many of the best potential hires will be foreign nationals who require
employment authorization issued by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services
(USCIS) to legally work in the U.S. Many times the most appropriate visa for these
workers is the H-1B visa. The H-1B nonimmigrant visa is for highly skilled workers
and is one of the few visas available to foreign scientists and engineers to work for
U.S. companies. The predicament is that H-1B visas are not always available. Strict
annual quotas have meant that many more H-1B visas have been requested in each
of the last few years than available numbers. What this means for cleantech
companies is that they in particular may be barred from hiring key personnel
because of strict reductions in visa numbers. Since most cleantech companies are
startups, they may not be prepared to deal with this hiring issue because they do
not have the infrastructure in human resources to make them aware of the
restrictions. For individuals who have not already been counted against the annual
H-1B cap, there is only a short window in which to file H-1B visa petitions: between
April 1 and 7, 2009. Given the relative youth of cleantech, cleantech companies are
particularly vulnerable to being shut out by the H-1B cap. How many F-1 students
(recent Masters and PhD candidates) has your company hired in the past year? If
you even have one, you should be looking at a long term solution to keeping the F-1
student on board. What are your hiring needs going into the balance of the calendar
year?
Solv STEM Shortage XT

US economic leadership is collapsing now because of the STEM
gap
Marvin Cetron, president of forecasing international Ltd and Oven Davies,
science analyst and former senior editor of Omni magazine, 8- 2010, Trends
Shaping Tomorrow's World forces in the natural and Institutional environment, The
Futurist, Vol. 44, No. 4
The United States is losing its scientific and technical leadership to other countries.
* "The scientific and technical building blocks of our economic leadership are
eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength," the National
Academy of Sciences warns. "Although many people assume that the United States
will always be a world leader in science and technology, this may not continue to be
the case inasmuch as great minds and ideas exist throughout the world. We fear the
abruptness with which a lead in science and technology can be lost--and the
difficulty of recovering a lead once lost, if indeed it can be regained at all." *
According to the National Science Board, R&D spending grows by 6% per year in the
United States, on average. China spends 20% more on R&D each year. * China is
now second to the United States in the number of research articles its scientists
publish each year and gaining rapidly. * In patents earned each year, Americans are
now in sixth place and falling. * Military research now absorbs much of the money
that once supported basic science. Since 2000, U.S. federal spending on defense
research has risen an average of 7.4% per year, compared with only 4.5% for
civilian research. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been
legendary for its support of "blue sky" research that led to dramatic technical
advances, including the creation of the Internet. Today it focuses increasingly on
immediate military needs and low-risk development efforts. * More than half of
American scientists and engineers are nearing retirement. At the rate American
students are entering these fields, the retirees cannot be replaced except by
recruiting foreign scientists. According to the National Academy of Engineering, the
United States produces only about 7% of the world's engineers. Only 6% of
American undergraduates are engineering majors, compared with 12% in Europe
and 40% in China. Of the doctoral degrees in science awarded by American
universities, about 30% go to foreign students. In engineering, it is 60%. * By
inhibiting stem-cell research, cloning, and other specialties, the United States has
made itself less attractive to cutting-edge biomedical scientists. The United
Kingdom is capitalizing on this to become the world's leader in stem-cell research.
In the process, it is reversing the brain drain that once brought top British scientists
to the United States. More than 70 leading American biomedical researchers have
moved to the U.K. along with many less noted colleagues. Latin America also has
been receiving scientific emigres from the United States. * About 25% of America's
science and engineering workforce are immigrants, including nearly half of those
with doctoral degrees. During the 15 years ending in 2007, one-third of the
American scientists receiving Nobel Prizes were foreign-born. * According to Purdue
University President Martin Jischke, more than 90% of all scientists and engineers in
the world live in Asia. Assessment and Implications: If this trend is not reversed, it
will begin to undermine the U.S. economy and shift both economic and political
power to other lands. According to some estimates, about half of the improvement
in the American standard of living is directly attributable to research and
development carried out by scientists and engineers. Demand to import foreign
scientists and engineers on H-1b visas also will continue to grow. Publicity about the
H-1b program, and about the offshoring of R&D to company divisions and consulting
labs in Asia, in turn will discourage American students from entering technical fields.
This has already been blamed for shrinking student rolls in computer science. In
2005, China for the first time exported more IT and communications goods ($180
million) than the United States ($145 million). Its lead has grown each year since
then.
Solv Boomer Retirement XT

Highly skilled labor shortage coming baby boomer retirement
Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, Edward Alden, Bernard L. Schwartz senior
fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, specializing in U.S. competitiveness, and
Thomas F. McLarty III, former White House Chief of Staff for US President Bill
Clinton, 2009, U.S. Immigration Policy, Council on Foreign Relations,
www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/Immigration_TFR63.pdf
The Task Force believes that the costs of losing preeminence in attracting talented
immigrants would be very high. The United States has hit a plateau in the numbers
of American students graduating with advanced degrees, particularly in scientific
and technical fields. Indeed, the number of science and engineering PhDs earned by
U.S. citizens has fallen by more than 20 percent in the past decade. 23 The United
States will face an accelerating shortage of highly skilled workers as the bulk of the
baby boom generation starts heading into retirement. In 2006, there were more
holders of masters, professional, and doctoral degrees among the age fifty-five to
fifty-nine cohort, which is nearing retirement, than among the thirty to thirty-four
cohort. More worrisome, this stagnation in the educational achievement levels of
Americans has come at a time when many other countries South Korea, Canada,
Japan, France, Spain, and othershave continued to expand the share of their
populations receiving higher education.
Immigration key to mitigate the coming baby boomer

retirement
What would these same citizens say about the three perils of our aging society?
Many may not be thinking about it or considering what lies ahead. Given the
substantial ways in which immigrants can help us meet our coming challenges, it is
time to rethink whether immigrants are a burden or whether they might be a
benefit. There are times when new blood could be much desired. The United States
is currently facing a painful, yet short-term economic downturn. The aging of our
society, as expressed by the ballooning senior ratio and the impending retirement of
the baby boomers, represents a singular event with severe implications for
longterm economic growth and prosperity. Immigration will play a critical role as we
seek to confront this epic challenge. The next president and congress will have to
deal with immigration reform and the retirement of the baby boomers. In order to
deal effectively with both they must not be viewed separately. As policy makers
address fixing our broken immigration system, they must be cognizant of the perils
presented by the retirement of the boomers and the vital role of a rational and
forward-looking immigration policy for mitigating these threats and making America
more resilient.
Solv Outsourcing XT
Low H-1B Visas Cap outsource work and skilled foreigners
NFAP 08- National Foundation for American Policy- 2008, H1B Visas and Job
Creation, pg. 2, http://www.nfap.com/pdf/080311h1b.pdf
Preventing companies from hiring foreign nationals by maintaining the current low
limit on H-1B visas is likely to produce the unintended consequence of pushing
more work to other countries. When asked, Which of the following your company
has done in response to the lack of H-1B visas to fill positions in the U.S.? 65
percent of the companies said they Hired more people (or outsourced work)
outside the United States. This is significant in that even if those companies
responding to the survey are heavier users of H-1B visas it means that these are the
companies most likely to hire outside the United States in response to an
insufficient supply of skilled visas for foreign nationals.
A2: Cap not Filled

Visa cap reached mid year
PTI 12, Press Trust of India reporter, June 14, 2012, First time in years, cap on
H1B visa reached, The Times of India: United States,
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-14/us/32234919_1_specialtyoccupation-petitions-cap-subject-petitions-cap-on-h1b-visa
WASHINGTON: For the first time in several years, the Congressionally mandated
65,000 H-1 B work visas, the most sought after by Indian professionals in the US,
has reached its cap. "USCIS announced today that it has received a sufficient
number of H-1 B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY)
2013. June 11 was the final receipt date for new H-1 B specialty occupation petitions
requesting an employment start date in FY 2013," an official statement said. In the
past few years, it either crossed over to next year or the cap was reached later in
the year. It is noteworthy that the cap has been reached mid-year in particular
during the recent economic crisis.
A2: Wages
H-1B Visa workers do NOT steal jobs
Immigration Policy Center 11, Immigration Policy Center; American Immigration
Council; "The US Economy Still Needs Highly Skilled Foreign Workers; 3/2011,
www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/us-economy-still-needs-highly-skilled-foreignworkers/)
H-1B workers dont steal jobs from U.S. workers. H-1B visas are issued to
temporary, nonimmigrant workers in specialty occupations. As described by the
Congressional Research Service, a specialty occupation is one requiring
theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge in a
field of human endeavor including, but not limited to, architecture, engineering,
mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education,
law, accounting, business specialties, theology, and the arts, and requiring the
attainment of a bachelors degree or its equivalent as a minimum. Under the H-1B
program, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is tasked with ensuring that H-1B
workers do not displace or adversely affect wages or working conditions of U.S.
workers. To this end, each employer seeking to hire an H-1B worker is required to
file a Labor Condition Application (LCA) with DOL in which the employer must
attest that the firm will pay the nonimmigrant the greater of the actual
compensation paid other employees in the same job or the prevailing compensation
for that occupation; the firm will provide working conditions for the nonimmigrant
that do not cause the working conditions of the other employees to be adversely
affected; and that there is no applicable strike or lockout. If DOL certifies the
employers LCA, the employer can file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services on behalf of a potential H-1B worker, who must demonstrate
that he or she has the requisite education and work experience for the job. If
approved, the H-1B worker is authorized to work for the U.S. employer for up three
years, with one renewal allowed, for a maximum stay of six years.
A2: Brain Drain

H-1B Workers return home
Mandira Banerjee 09- News Reporter for News America Media - 2009,
"Hanging in Balance"; Khabar; www.khabar.com/magazine/coverstory/Hanging_In_Balance.aspx/)
Vivek Wadhwa describes the return of H-1B workers to their home countries as a
reverse brain drain. Most students and skilled temporary workers who come to the
United States want to staybut were leaving these potential immigrants little
choice but to return home. In non-technology fields, getting an H-1B is more
challenging. Durga, who was searching for a job last year, was told by a recruiter in
Chicago that the clients wont want to touch her with a bargepole because she
needed an H1-B visa to work for them. So she moved to New York, where it has
been easier moving on to a better position. The major issue with H-1B visas is that
it is tied to an employer. So, in many ways, H-1B workers are at the mercy of their
employer-sponsors. If they are fired or choose to quit, they must return to their
native countries. They can't change jobs unless the old and new employers agree.
There was a situation in 2001 where my then-employer gave me two months
notice to find another job since they were cutting costs and had to let people go. It
was a little nerve-wracking until I found my next job, says Shankar (H-1Bees), who
now has a green card. Durga, too, feels restricted by the visa situation. I feel like I
am leashed to a post and always straining at it. If I didnt need a work permit, I
would have been able to move into a field that better suits my temperament and
my long-term goals.
CP is best causes reverse Brain Drain- Immigrants return

home and bring talent back
MICHELLE HIRSCH 5/14/2012, The Fiscal Times Economics and tax policy for
Washington, D.C. Bureau; US Educated Immigrants Return to Their Homelands;
The Fiscal Times;
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/05/14/US-Educated-Immigrants-Returnto-Their-Homelands.aspx#page1
Demographers were stunned last month when new data revealed a trend reversal:
immigrants are no longer flocking to the U.S., and some have made a U-turn and
returned home. Data from the Internal Revenue Service show that 1,800 people,
mostly living abroad, either renounced their U.S. citizenship or handed in their
green cardsmore than the total number of people who did so in 2007, 2008, and
2009 combined. A few made the choice to avoid paying U.S. taxes on income
earned abroad, but others are seeking greener pastures in the global economy.
With the U.S. facing a shortage of skilled workers, the wave of immigrants who are
turning their backs on America is foreboding. A growing population of highlyeducated Americans and foreign nationals educated in the states are less
committed to living and working in the U.S., preferring to return to their homelands,
many of which are emerging economies. Its only really come to light in the last
year or two, but were noticing a pattern of highly-skilled children of foreign-born
U.S. immigrants leaving the U.S. for the countries where their parents were born,
said Madeleine Sumption, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. Sumption
says the trend is strong in China, India and Brazil where dramatic economic growth
over the last decade has opened up opportunities for entrepreneurship and led U.S.
multinationals to hire overseas employees with western educations. Were putting
together a picture of whats happening partly from data and partly from anecdotal
evidence since its a relatively new phenomenon. Entrepreneurship experts say a
combination of booming developing economies, a still-soft U.S. economy, and
difficulty obtaining green cards is driving foreign-born U.S. students who in past
years would have remained in the U.S. on temporary visas to move home. Some
of the sheen has come off the U.S. economy as the place to make your fortune
especially if youre from another country and have a U.S. education, said Robert
Litan, vice president of research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation. They know
all the hot things that are going in the United States, and see a real opportunity to
replicate them or do something similar in their home country that doesnt have it.
According to data from the Brazilian government, U.S. applications for permanent
work visas in Brazil rose 77 percent between 2008 and 2011, and temporary visas
rose 36 percent during that time. China and India have not released those same
statistics, though other data point to growing numbers of American-educated
individuals choosing to move to those countries. The Chinese Ministry of Education
estimates that the number of Chinese living overseas who returned to China morethan tripled between 2007 and 2010 from 44,000 to 135,000.
A2: Brain Drain

No Brain Drain- foreigners go back
Stacy Nguyen 11, Editor of Northwestern Asian Weekly, New Program aimed at
slowing U.S.s brain drain, The Northwest Asian Weekly, 10/28/2011,
http://www.nwasianweekly.com/2011/10/new-program-aimed-at-slowing-u-s%E2%80%99s-brain-drain/
Each year, many American employers, including Microsofts Bill Gates, lobby
Congress to lift the H1B cap, stating that it is too restrictive and companies cannot
hire the workers they need. We heard from the entrepreneurs in the community
and they articulated a concern that there are not adequate avenues for the best
and brightest students who come here to the U.S. for education to remain here in
the U.S. to use the skills and knowledge they have gained for the good of this
country, said USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas in a conference call. What we see
is an exodus instead. We educate and we train, and because the access is not
available to them, they leave and they contribute to other countries.

CP is popular- strong and broad constituencies and
congressional support
Patrick Thibodeau, Computerworld, 3-15-08 Five reasons why the H-1B visa cap
will increase,
http://blogs.computerworld.com/five_reasons_why_the_h_1b_visa_cap_will_increase?
page=23
There is grass root support for the H-1B visa A major use of H-1B visas is to help
facilitate offshore outsourcing and even in this downturn outsourcing will continue
to grow. Thats the broad outlook by industry analysts. The pressure for visas
remains. But the H-1B visa has a very broad, grass root constituency that extends
beyond the tech sector. In the 2007 fiscal year, nearly 20,000 companies, academic
institutions, hospitals, public schools and others received only one H-1B visa. These
organizations send emails as well. Four: The H-1B lottery is a big problem for tech
firms The forecasted demand for H-1B visas is going to force the U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Service (USCIS) to hand out visas via a random lottery for the fiscal
year 2009 that starts Oct 1. For the 2008 fiscal year, the USCIS received more than
123,000 visa petitions in two days for the 65,000 cap. Despite that number, the
odds were still good that a petition would be approved in its lottery. The USCIS put
all those visa petitions in a hat and selected about 100,000, rejecting the rest. The
selection process works like college admission: The USCIS accepts more petitions
then it has slots and expects a certain number of these applications to be
withdrawn or disqualified. But this year there seems to be broad consensus that the
number of visa petitions will exceed last year's total, and companies may face visa
odds of two-to-one or higher. This makes the outlook for getting a visa very
unpredictable and unacceptable to tech groups, which are now pushing for a cap
increase with special urgency. But here is an important point to keep in mind: The
people who receive visas under the 65,000 cap are more likely to only have a
bachelor degree. They are the worker bees. The U.S. has a separate H-1B visa cap
of 20,000 for foreign nationals who graduate with advance degrees from U.S.
universities. But there was no lottery for these graduates because there was no
sudden rush in demand. The USCIS filled those petitions on a first-come, first serve
basis until April 30 that year. That may change this year. Five: Congressional
support for visa Lawmakers have moved the cap up and down before and they will
do it again. Congress will increase the cap this year or next and may make it
retroactive as well. Had an immigration bill been approved last year the cap would
have been 115,000. The open question is whether the H-1B visa will be reformed as
part of a cap increase. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) last year
pushed for a reform that set a limit on how the visa is used. One rule set a limit that
no more than 50 percent of the U.S.-based employees at a company using H-1B
workers can be visa holders. It was a measure aimed at making the India offshore
firms a little less nimble and raising it as a trade issue for India.
Democrats and Republicans support increasing the caps of H1B

visas
Roy Mark, InternetNews Reporter 05-11-07 http://www.internetnews.com/busnews/article.php/3671211/Bills-Would-Expand-H1-B-Visa-Quotas.htm]
Bills to expand H1-B visas are stacking up like cordwood in Congress. A favorite
among the technology industry, H1-B visas allow U.S. companies to sponsor foreign
born U.S. graduates in science, engineering and math for up to six years of U.S.
employment. In the wake of last week's announcement that the 2008 allotment of
85,000 H1-B visas was expended after only one day, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.)
reintroduced Tuesday his Securing Knowledge, Innovation and Leadership (SKIL) bill.
The legislation would exempt from the H1-B visa quotas U.S. educated foreign
workers with advanced degrees in math, science, technology and engineering fields.
The bill would also create a market-based H-1B cap, expanding or decreasing
depending on demand. Last month, U.S. Reps. Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Jeff
Flake (R-Ariz.) introduced the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a
Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 (STRIVE), which would expand the current H1-B cap of
65,000 to 115,000. Under the bill, the cap would jump to 180,000 in any year after
the 115,000 limit is reached.

H-1B opponents have no clout
Patrick Thibodeau, Computerworld, Five reasons why the H-1B visa cap will
increase 03-15-08.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/five_reasons_why_the_h_1b_visa_cap_will_increase
H-1B opponents have no clout If H-1B visas werent part of the larger immigration
reform issue in Congress, the H-1B cap would have been increased long ago. The
opponents have been piggybacking on the broader immigration debate and they
know it. But the H-1B opposition is in decline even as the debate grows more
intense. Five years ago, tech workers in Connecticut many working or connected
to the financial services industry (the first industry to really embrace offshoring)
organized a lobbying group, the Organization for the Rights of American Workers
(TORAW). By 2003, Connecticut's congressional reps had introduced several bills
all affecting the H-1B issue. The legislation went nowhere, but Connecticut tech
workers proved that an organized effort can have impact. Its all part of history now.
TORAW has disbanded, out of money and members. The broader base of opponents
are alert, well connected and can fire off thoughtful, well researched emails to
lawmakers at an instant, but TORAW is illustrative of the anemic state of the
opposition. Opponents lack lobbying muscle in Washington. Two: The Gates effect
Bill Gates is, obviously, a powerful proponent of the H-1B visa. But where is the
oppositions star power? Lou Dobbs isnt it. The Programmers Guild has been
effective in raising issues, but the real heavy weight organization, with true lobbying
ability, is the IEEE-USA, and it has scaled back its opposition to H-1B visas. This
group has staked out a position focused on visa reform and improving access to
permanent residency, the Green Cards. The IEEE-USA was once more direct about
the impact of the H-1B visa: In 2004, when the cap was scaled back to 65,000 the
IEEE-USA pointed out: The number of unemployed U.S. high-tech professionals
dropped sharply from the first quarter of 2004 to the third quarter. The decline
mirrors the reinstatement of the H-1B visa cap to its historical level of 65,000 in
Fiscal Year 2004 from 195,000 in FY 03. That was a strong message to send to
Congress. But the IEEE-USA also represents many academic institutions that depend
on the H-1B visas. Although universities are exempted from the cap, foreign
enrollments may suffer if students feel they have little chance of remaining in the
U.S. longterm. Universities also have strong ties to tech companies. It is probably
safe to say that the IEEE-USA, as an organization, is getting pulled in different
directions.
H-1B lobbies dominate the opposition

Rob Sanchez, Computerworld, Five reasons why the H-1B visa cap will increase
03-15-08.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/five_reasons_why_the_h_1b_visa_cap_will_increase
Opposition to H-1B is almost non-existent except for a few unhappy technical
workers that have been victimized by the flood of cheap foreign labor into the U.S.
So far techies and other types of workers affected by H-1B such as teachers and
nurses have been unwilling or unable to organize and none of them cooperate
across career boundaries. Most opposition groups have either withered or shut down
due to lack of public support. Employers and a scattering of immigration support
groups have shown no such reluctance to organize and actively lobby Congress -and they are being heard. Ironically many engineers and programmers dont believe
an H-1B increase is possible because they arrogantly believe that Congress is
somehow afraid of them. Considering their lack of participation in politics that kind
of narcissistic thinking could be fatal to their careers. The best hope that H-1B
increases wont happen is that Congress continues its reputation as Do Nothing.
Unfortunately with the pressure and enticements Bill Gates just offered them they
have every reason to do something this time around. So far it looks like a very
one sided battle in which only one voice is being heard. Techies are going to lose
this battle if they don't quickly get their acts together, and judging by the fact that
H-1B has been in place for over 18 years, there is little reason for optimism.
H1B Aff Answers
Solvency
Immigrants cant solve the coming economic crises
77, Lexis
The general suggestion recently put forth by social scientists promotes liberalization of immigration laws as a response to resolving
the imminent crises of the Baby Boomer retirement. n110 They believe that an influx of immigrants could fill the void in the U.S.
workforce left behind by the retiring Baby Boomers and help pick up part of the tab for the Baby Boomers' Social Security and
Medicare benefits. I recognize that the Baby Boomer crises may provide excellent justification for opening the doors to more
it is essential to understand how small of an impact

these immigrants could make on solving the pending workforce and entitlement
crises, and I point out where they fall short. Such policy decisions may help resolve the immigration debate, for now, but they
liberalized immigration policies. However,
still leave the Baby Boomer retirement issues relatively unresolved. Many hope that immigration reform can be at least one of the
answers in resolving, or at least alleviating the pressures of the pending entitlement and workforce crises. Myers insists in the title of
his work that "immigration reform can help America prosper in the face of the baby boomer retirement." n111 He points out that
immigration reform may help slow the rapidly rising senior ratio and help pay for the Baby Boomers' retirement, because immigrants
tend to be younger and have even higher workforce participation rates than native workers. n112 Though Myers refrains from
offering specific suggestions for immigration reform, others have suggested loosening the strict requirements for high skill-level
Myers addresses the

entitlement crisis by suggesting that immigrants and, over time, their American
school-educated children will be able to help bear [*92] the weight of the Social
Security and Medicare burdens. n115 By liberalizing immigration laws, more immigrants could legally join the taxvisas n113 and withdrawing the harsh restrictions and penalties on "illegal" immigrants. n114
paying American workforce. The tax payments of these immigrants and their children, once they start working, will help pay for the
this approach falls short for three reasons. First, the

additional tax revenue that immigrants would produce through their employment
would fall drastically short of anything resembling an answer to the entitlement
crisis. A quick look at the current immigration situation, which permits a significant number of undocumented workers already,
reveals how far off an answer is now. In 2005, undocumented immigrants paid $ 9 billion in Social
Security and Medicare taxes. n116 Yet, the federal budget outlays for Social Security
and Medicare totaled over $ 800 billion. n117 The undocumented workforce makes up five percent of the
retirement of the Baby Boomers. However,
American workforce, and anywhere from one-half to three-quarters of the undocumented workforce contributes to Social Security
their tax payments amount to only one percent of the Social

Security and Medicare expenditures, and this is before any Baby Boomers have
retired. A significant number of illegal immigrants already contribute their income to Social Security taxes, and this
revenue still comes no where close to meeting the current needs of Social Security,
let alone the future needs of the Baby Boomers. Allowing even more immigrants to enter America and the workforce
would be a move in the right direction. But such a policy would require an unrealistic number of
immigrants to meet the needs of the Baby Boomers, as demonstrated by the current, vast discrepancy between Social
Security revenues and expenditures. Second, growing the U.S. workforce by liberalizing immigration
laws would require legalizing the "illegal" immigration. Doing so would just complicate the problem
and Medicare taxes. n118 Yet,
both in the short and long term. Immediately, millions of undocumented workers would be entitled to social benefits to which they
they
would eventually be able to collect Social Security and Medicare themselves as they
reach retirement, exacerbating the problem. The Social Security system is not a Ponzi scheme to which
currently do not have access. After years of contributing to Social Security and Medicare taxes, as many currently do,
more and more people should be added to help pay others off. This leads to the final shortfall: the creation of disincentives.
Because immigration reform is pulled into the Social Security debate, even more Americans may be less likely to favor such
immigration reform if it means [*93] the formerly "illegal" immigrants will suddenly be entitled to benefits they had previously been
precluded from collecting. Those who followed the rules will likely oppose liberalizing the immigration laws in favor of those whose
Myers turns to the workforce crisis. Here, he acknowledges the

immigrants' share of the growth in the American workforce. "[Immigration] has accounted for a
"illegal" activity would be instantly rewarded. Next,
large share of the growth: 23.8% of workforce growth in the 1980s, 39.6% of the 1990s, and 54.2% of 2000-07." n119 Though the
it is merely a present day snapshot, and does not offer much

suggestion for the pending workforce crisis. The implication that immigrants are
capable of filling the Baby Boomer void again suffers three significant shortfalls.
First, the number of immigrants necessary to move to the United States to fill the
void is likely unavailable. When the Baby Boomers retire, the workforce demand may increase, but the supply
of available immigrants to join the workforce will likely be unable to keep pace .
numbers look good,
Immigration numbers are still increasing, but at a much lower rate than in previous years. n120 Baby Boomers will be exiting the
workforce in much higher numbers. In the last twenty-seven years, the foreign-born workforce increased from seven million to
twenty-four million. n121 With more than seventy million Baby Boomers settling into retirement over the next twenty-seven years,
the immigration rate would need to triple before it filled any significant part of the
void. The home countries of our current immigrants may not have enough people to support such an expansion of emigration.
The second problem with invoking immigration reform to fill the workforce void of retiring Baby Boomers involves
an age discrepancy. Immigrant workers tend to be young. n122 The Baby Boomers are
retiring from more experienced positions . The current workforce lacks the numbers
to fill those spots and inexperienced immigrants would need years of work and time for advancement before they were
qualified to step into those roles. The final shortfall involves a discrepancy in skill levels , but should
not be confused with experience, or the age discrepancy described above . Skill levels, as indicated by
education, differ significantly between native workers and most of the immigrants that have been migrating to the United
States for work. The immigrants, who include low-skilled workers in high proportions, are
being asked to replace the Baby Boomer generation, which includes a relatively
high proportion of highly-skilled workers . Overall average skill level across the U.S. workforce would fall, and
productivity would likely fall along with it. Certainly, the United States could loosen the restrictions and [*94] improve the
incentives for attracting more highly-skilled foreign workers. Unfortunately, this sub-market is complicated with "natural"
restrictions, such as requiring bar passage for lawyers, passing the boards for doctors and nurses, and other kinds of certifications
for highly-skilled jobs. Such restrictions might deter an otherwise qualified candidate from immigrating to the United States. And
there is likely little support for waiving many of these self-imposed restrictions.
Solvency
Raising the cap is insufficient- only green cards solve
workforce shortage
Cromwell J.D. Candidate Brooklyn 9
(Courtney L.-, Spring, Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commerical Law,
Friend of Foe of the U.S. Labor Market: Why Congress Should Raise or Eliminate the
H1-B Visa Cap, 3 Brook. J. Corp. Fin. & Com. L. 455, Lexis)
Proponents of the H-1B visa argue that the visa cap threatens to set the United
States behind in innovation and science and actually increases layoffs of U.S.
workers because it encourages off-shoring. 190 If employers in the United States
cannot hire foreign workers with the experience and training required, "then
companies who are trying to remain globally competitive are left with only one
solution: shifting those operations offshore." 191 Many U.S. companies "concede
that the uncertainty created by Congress' inability to provide a reliable mechanism
to hire skilled professionals has encouraged placing more human resources outside
the United States to avoid being subject to legislative winds." 192
While the practice of off-shoring began mainly with the working class, commonly
with apparel workers, and then moved into areas like customer service (as with
American Express), a number of IT industry leaders such as IBM have begun the
practice of off-shoring some of their technical support positions and software jobs.
193 Companies are finding that "knowledge-based endeavors," such as technical
support positions and software jobs, "require relatively little overhead costs beyond
a basic telecommunications infrastructure." 194 Moreover, information-based
productive activities involve far less complex issues of coordination by virtue of the
ability of [*476] work products to "move unencumbered by the limits of time and
space as bits and pixels in global communication networks." 195
Most recently, Microsoft Corp. announced the plan to open a large software
development center in Vancouver to enable it to "recruit and retain highly skilled
people affected by immigration issues in the [United States]." 196 The stated
benefits for companies engaging in off-shoring are plentiful and include cheaper
labor (which benefits consumers), economic efficiency and the ability to bring new
job opportunities to third world nations. 197 However, off-shoring has many
disadvantages including the loss of American jobs, which forces more people into
unemployment and hurts the U.S. economy. 198 Other disadvantages include the
risk of abuse of workers in foreign countries who are forced to work for low wages
199 and most relevant, the risk of the United States "losing its leading role in
innovation." 200 If the cap remains low, then foreigners who make up a significant
portion of U.S. university science graduates, and "who have been extremely helpful
to U.S. technological success" will no longer be able to come to the United States
with their creative and innovative ideas, 201 thus depriving the United States of the
vital brain power needed to remain a leading intellectual influence in the global
realm.
As more and more U.S.-educated foreign students are forced to leave the United
States after graduation for lack of available visas, they return to their home
countries, which become "attractive locales for off-shoring." 202
n202 Yang, supra note 51, at 154. But see Wadhwa et al., America's New Immigrant
Entrepreneurs, supra note 172, at 2. Adding to the off-shoring problem is that "the
number of skilled workers waiting for visas [green cards] is significantly larger than
the number that can be admitted to the United States. This imbalance creates the
potential for a sizeable reverse brain-drain from the United States to the skilled
workers' home countries." Id. Therefore, it can be argued that increasing the visa
cap for H-1B workers, who will eventually seek permanent residence status in the
United States, without also increasing the limit on employment-based immigration,
will still worsen the backlog on permanent residence applications and thus will not
prevent knowledge-based H-1B workers from returning back to their countries of
origin after their six-year terms are expired if they cannot obtain green cards. Under
these facts, increasing the H-1B visa cap alone will not likely solve the off-shoring
problem. See also Scott Duke Harris, Now Playing in Immigration Politics, the
'Reverse Brain Drain', SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, Aug. 22, 2007 ("The tight cap on
permanent visas may force entrepreneurs back home to create rival companies in
China, India and elsewhere. To avoid the possibility of a 'reverse brain drain,' they
urged immigration reform to allow skilled immigrants to stay, thus protecting the
U.S. competitive advantage.").
A2: Skills Shortage

No skills shortage
Harold Salzman, PHD, Senior Research Associate, the Urban Institute, 11-62007, Globalization of R&D and Innovation: Implications for U.S. STEM Workforce
and Policy, Submitted to the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation of the
Committee on Science and Technology,
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901129_salzman_stem_workforce.pdf
Wheres the Problem? Hiring Difficulties versus Labor Market Shortages and
Perceptions about the Future of Science and Engineering It is generally asserted,
without much evidence, that education deficits are responsible for the difficulty
employers experience in hiring. It is important to distinguish between the problems
an employer may have hiring the people he or she wants and an actual shortage of
workers or potential workers. Although there may, in fact, be a labor market
shortage, all the evidence cited in various policy reports is entirely individual
employer accounts of problems in hiring. The industries most vocal about labor
market shortages and the need to import workers may be voicing unrealistic
expectations of desired work experience more than deficiencies in the skills or
education of a new hire, or just dissatisfaction with the cost of labor. In previous
research (Lynn and Salzman 2002), we found that managers in engineering and
technology firms do not claim a shortage of applicants, nor do they complain about
applicants with poor math and science skills or education. They do often note
difficulty in finding workers with desired experience, specific technical skills, or a
sufficient number of brilliant workers in the pool.8 The complaint, quite often,
appears to be one of unrealistic expectations, as unwittingly illustrated in a recent
BusinessWeek (2007) article on labor shortages. In this article, a company president
described the current labor shortage as follows: There are certain professions
where skills are in such demand that even average or below-average people can get
hired. It is difficult to consider an inability to only hire above-average workers a
labor market shortage. Complaints also reflect firms dissatisfaction about the need
to train new entrants; often at issue is whether firms or education institutions
should shoulder the costs of training new hires.
A2: Labor Shortage

No labor shortage flawed data and industry lies.
T. D. Clark, Staff writer for Industry Market Trends, 11-21- 2006, Labor Shortage:
Fact or Fiction?
http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2006/11/qualified_labor_shortage_debate_f
act_or_faction.html
Doomsayers rely on such demographic data, as well as employment projections from the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), to determine that as early as 2010 there won't be enough workers available to staff
such predictions often are flawed or fail to take into account a full
view of the facts. Perhaps more intriguing: by 2012, there will be 3.3 million fewer workers than jobs. But
there are numerous flaws with that math. Most significantly, the two data sets involved, both of which
are supplied by BLS, are derived from different sources and cannot be compared
accurately. To subtract one from the other is to make an apples-and-oranges
comparison that is invalid and misleading. There are a slew of other examples in the cover story debunking the
the nation's jobs. But
BLS, but even without all these mitigating factors, the number of available workers still will exceed the number of
jobs, according to the HR Magazine analysis. Then again, a piece from The Seattle Times earlier this month has the
ability to send the labor shortage debate into a tailspin once again, with immigration as the catalyst. Stephen
Anthony, president of the Fort Worth Building and Construction Trades Council, a network of union groups, said
illegal immigrant welders have kept wages down for U.S. workers. Union welders earn on average $23 an hour,
while nonunion welders generally earn about $12 an hour in the Fort Worth area, he said. Yet Steven Camarota,
director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based group that opposes illegal
immigration, is skeptical. "Any
industry you care to name, you will generally find that the
employer says, 'We can't find anybody,'" he said. "What they really mean is, 'Given what
we want to pay, we can't find anybody.' And that's the kicker." Are select employers and the BLS full
of, ahem, BS? Are they creating a false sense of panic as it relates to labor shortages in order to acquire workers
willing to work for income less than they're worth? Well, perhaps we should toss in some more statistics to
complicate the debate further. This month, the Small Business Times had the lowdown on some figures released by
the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) based on a survey of small businesses. "An historically high
63.3 percent of the adult population has a job, and the unemployment rate [was] 4.4 percent in October," said NFIB
chief economist William Dunkelberg. "This does not sound like a labor market with deficient labor demand, but it's
showing clear signs of a mismatch between supply and demand, with clear shortages of qualified workers." That's
qualified workers. Hmm, so, 1) highly skilled/qualified workers 2) willing to work for less than their worth? Sounds
just like the problems IMT hears from engineers on a fairly frequent basis. One of our readers recently touched on
both factors: What does exist is a shortage of educated, skilled, motivated people who are willing to work for small
dollars, few or no benefits, in positions offering little advancement potential. Employers want to get by very
cheaply, so instead of hiring an experienced individual who knows the technology, they'll haul a guy off the plant
floor and make do with him, paying him very small dollars. I've seen this done repeatedly in corporations whose
names you would recognize. According to The Associated Press (via Leading the Charge), the purported shortage is
felt the greatest in the energy and power sector, where there may soon be a shortage of workers who operate
power plant equipment and repair power lines. A handful of schools aim to correct the problem by offering power
industry training, and utility companies have started "aggressively seeking out colleges to create more." "Every day
we delay hiring people, another 40-year veteran is retiring and won't be there to pass along valuable experience,"
said Jim Hunter, director of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers utility department. While labor
shortages in the utilities sector might appear more sincere, there is still plenty of other compelling information out
there claiming that the labor shortage debate carries little merit and is even a hoax. The news and comments
posted at the Inside Recruiting blog, for instance, perpetuate these beliefs; meanwhile, the blog even serves up a
recent reader poll, the results of which indicate that not everyone is on board with the labor shortage estimates
currently circulating. The most critical piece that has come across our desks on the labor shortage scare is derived
from The American Economic Alert in an article entitled "The Labor Shortage Hoax," by Alan Tonelson, a Research
Fellow at the U.S. Business & Industry Educational Foundation and the author of "The Race to the Bottom: Why a
Worldwide Worker Surplus and Uncontrolled Free Trade are Sinking American Living Standards." In his analysis,
Tonelson tears into recent labor shortage stats and studies with the ferocity of a pit bull, even taking on the likes of
Deloitte regarding a study the company did for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM): To put it mildly,
NAM should ask for its money back. Only 10 percent of the 8,000 companies contacted by Deloitte replied, and as
Wall Street Journal columnist David Wessel noted, lots of self-selection surely was at work. Specifically, employers
not perceiving any shortages probably were much less likely to bother responding than those that did. But that's
only the beginning of Tonelson's criticism: Deloitte ignored a major irony that practically shouts out from the results:
Although the consulting firm recommended that companies spend at least three percent of their payrolls on
employee training, it found that fully three-quarters of all respondents fell short of this threshold. Does this sound
the validity
and accuracy of labor shortage data is questionable . And the myriad of factors that play into the
like the behavior of firms that value trained workers and are desperate to secure them? Clearly,
debate, whether retiring baby boomers, illegal or even legal immigrants, offshore outsourcing or fewer upcoming
engineers all seem to feed the flames of this hot-button topic from different and seemingly unrelated angles. It's a
debate that will surely continue but so long as outspoken pundits and everyday workers continue to voice their
displeasure with sloppy data and unnecessary panic, a labor shortage capable of bringing the U.S. economy to its
knees is about as likely as John Kerry becoming a successful stand-up comic.
Wages DA
CP Decreases American Jobs- companies replacing with H1-B
immigrants
Phyllis Schlafly 12, columnist for Town Hall Daily and author of Feminist
Fantasies, H1-B Visas Take American Jobs, Town Hall, 3/20/12,
http://townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/2012/03/20/h1b_visas_take_american
_jobs
When President Obama was participating in a live video chat, Jennifer Wedel asked
him, "Why does the government continue to issue and extend H-1B visas when
there are tons of Americans just like my husband with no job?" Her husband is a
semiconductor engineer who was laid off three years ago and is still unable to find
an engineering job. We all would like the answer to that question. The U.S.
Census Bureau reports that, counting only U.S.-born individuals, there are 101,000
with an engineering degree who are unemployed, another 244,000 who are not
working or not looking for work and therefore not counted in unemployment
statistics, and an additional 1.47 million who have an engineering degree but are
not working as an engineer. Obama's answer to Wedel sounded like he had been
well briefed by the big corporation lobbyists. He even expressed bewilderment that
any U.S. high-tech engineer could be out of work because industry executives tell
him there is an unfilled "huge demand" for engineers. Obama said, "H-1Bs should
be reserved only for those companies who say they cannot find somebody in that
particular field." Yes, indeed, they should. But in fact, they are not. Created in
1990, the H-1B program was designed for employers to import foreign H-1B workers
to fill various high-tech jobs only when Americans could not be found, and the law
was supposed to make it illegal for an employer to replace an American with an H1B worker. However, the big corporation lobbyists succeeded in fuzzying up the law
so there is now no effective rule to prevent employers from firing American
jobholders and replacing them with H-1B aliens. Big companies prefer H-1B
workers because they can pay them significantly less than Americans, never have
to give them a raise or promotion, and have the unilateral power to deport them. H1B workers don't dare to complain about working conditions or unpaid long hours,
and they can't quit to take a better job. Most H-1B workers are imported for entrylevel jobs and trained by experienced U.S. workers who are then laid off. This
process has introduced a new expression and acronym into the English language -DYOG: Dig Your Own Grave. One senator understands this problem: Sen. Chuck
Grassley, R-Iowa. In a letter to the president last month, he pointed out how
Obama's response to Jennifer Wedel shows he is only regurgitating the corporation
lobbyists' sales talk with their phony mantra that "there are better and brighter
people abroad."
Links to Agenda Politics

Congress hates the CP dont want to do immigration policy in
an election year
Patrick Thibodeau 6/12/12, ComputerWorld Reporter, With H-1B cap reached,
Congress has three options. Here's how Congress may deal with tech industry
proposals after the H-1B cap is reached quickly this year . June 12, 2012
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9228021/With_H_1B_cap_reached_Congres
s_has_three_options_
Computerworld - The H-1B cap for next year was reached this week, completing the
annual petition process at the fastest pace since the start of the 'great recession.
The quick pace may prompt Congress to act on new legislation to appease the tech
industry and its demands for access to foreign workers. It has several options,
including some that do not include a controversial direct cap increase. The U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Service announced Monday that the cap of 85,000 H-1B
visas was met on Monday, just two months after the start of petition submissions on
April 1. The federal government's fiscal year begins Oct. 1. The list below shows
how quickly the cap was reached in recent years. The government starts accepting
petitions each year on April 1.FY 2013, cap reached: June 11, 2012. FY 2012, cap
reached: Nov. 22, 2011. FY 2011, cap reached: Jan. 26, 2011. FY 2010, cap
reached: Dec. 21, 2009. FY 2009, cap reached: April 7, 2008. (One week after the
U.S. started accepting petitions.) The fast pace of reaching the cap this year will
likely trigger some calls for an increase in H-1B visas, though Congress is
unlikely to act in an election year.
EB Visas CP 1NC
Text: The United States Federal Government should exempt
certain highly skilled workers from employment-based visa
limits, reform the per-country quota system for immigrant
visas, and recapture unused immigrant visas to ease the
burden on oversubscribed categories.
1. Expanding employment based visas is the vital internal
link to economic growth no other policy measure comes
close
Tim Kane, senior fellow at Heritage and Robert Litan, VP for research at the
Kauffman Foundation, 4-30-2010, knowledge economy immigration: a priority for
u.s. growth policy,
http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/Knowledge_Economy_Immigration_Policy_430-09.pdf
There are countless policy improvements that can enhance economic growth in the
United Statespolicies that will create jobs in the private sector, enhance wages, and fundamentally improve the health and
welfare of the people. In this year when an economic recession is a pressing concern for a new Congress and Administration,
Of
all the policies that could be changed, probably none would have a greater
positive impact on long-term economic growth than removing barriers to the
immigration of highly skilled and highly educated individuals . Nearly all reform proposals have
attention is focused on fiscal and monetary policies, but the environment for legal and institutional policy reform is ripe as well.
natural advocates who are active in lobbying the Congress. In contrast, knowledge economy immigration reform does not have a
natural advocacy group to petition the government. Past immigrants who are now citizens have no personal stake in such reform
and foreign interests (including immigrants) are unable to press their case with U.S. government leaders for legal reform.
Furthermore, the benefits of high-skill immigration are predominantly widespread positive externalities, so no single constituency
benefits enough to advocate on behalf of immigrants. Making the situation more difficult, legal knowledge economy migration is
easily confused with illegal immigration and the larger issue of immigration reform in the United States, which is dominated by
concerns over low-skill migrants from Latin America. This predicament is unfortunate, and in these times when the economy is
contracting rather than growing, something that must change. While debate, even among the experts, continues about the net
the case for expanded immigration of highly skilled

immigrants, or those seeking higher skills, is overwhelming . In this essay we outline both the
economic and social impact of low-skill immigrants,
economics and politics supporting the expanded immigration of skilled foreign immigrants, as well as those seeking skills. In so
doing, we offer some concrete, common sense recommendations for welcoming more immigrants who are waiting to contribute to
the growth of our increasingly knowledge-based economy. The Benefits of Knowledge Economy Immigration For the past two
the U.S. has been home to about half of all immigrants in developed countries
who have more than a high-school education, maintaining a lead in the global
competition for talent. However, in the wake of tougher scrutiny of immigrants in our post-9/11 world, the U.S.
faces increasing competition for human talent from other countries. America still has two
key advantages in this race for talent: its universities, which continue to rank
among the worlds best, and the worlds largest, most technologically advanced
economy, which still is hospitable to entrepreneurial activity. Immigrants have taken advantage of these opportunities to an
decades,
unusual degree. According to research from Arlene Holen, "Over the five years 20032007, 143,391 bachelors degrees were granted
in STEM fields in the United States to non-resident aliens, 255,267 masters degrees, and 49,532 doctoral degrees." She further
nearly 200,000 of these science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM)

graduates would have stayed and worked in the U.S. but for constraints by the
federal government that required them to leave . And so the American economy has lost out on the
multiple benefits generated by knowledge economy immigrants, five of which are described here: First, immigrants are
estimated that
responsible for a disproportionate number of successful high-growth companies.

Among technology and engineering companies started in the U.S. during the 1995-2005 period, 25 percent had at least one
immigrant key founder according to a 2007 study by Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University and his co-authors. In Silicon Valley, over 50
immigrant-founded
companies generate jobs for native Americans. Amar Bhids 2008 study (described in his book The
percent of the startups in that period had at least one immigrant key founder.1 Second,
Venturesome Economy) of 106 U.S. venture-backed businesses found that some 60 percent of the founding teams included
immigrants.2 Bhid notes that the ratio of immigrants to natives declines as companies mature, indicating immigrants are creating
opportunities for U.S. workers born here. The evidence bears this out. In 2006, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA)
estimated that since 1990 venture-backed firms owned by immigrants have created more than 400,000 jobs and collectively
immigrants to the United States are

responsible for a disproportionate number of inventions . Foreign nationals account for 25 percent of
international patent applications filed from the U.S.4 Fourth, contrary to the perception among some,
skilled immigrants are not displacing native Americans in the U.S. market. Entrepreneurs
represented a market capitalization of roughly $500 billion.3 Third,
widely report that perhaps the most significant constraint on their ventures growth is the difficulty finding and attracting highly
by failing to attract and retain skilled knowledge workers from

abroad, we will reduce jobs available for native Americans. If we cant be successful
in attracting foreign workers here, U.S.-based firms will have stronger incentives to
locate new facilities or move existing ones off-shore in order to employ foreign, high-skill workers in their home
countries.6 Better to bring those workers here, and thus keep U.S.-based facilities and the jobs they create at home. Fifth, highskilled immigrants have a positive impact on the federal budget . Preliminary analysis by Arlene
skilled workers.5 Indeed,
Holen of the Technology Policy Institute7 finds that the gross loss of federal revenues from two groupsforeign graduates and H1-B
workerswho were required to leave the U.S. during 2003-2007 was $2.7 to $3.6 billion and $4.5 to $6.2 billion respectively. These
estimates are only for the losses that have already occurred. The lost opportunity representing migrants who have never been able
to enter the U.S. may be several multiples higher. Moreover, Holens estimates do not take account of the long-term boost to our
GDP and the growth in federal revenues from encouraging the permanent migration of skilled foreign residents or foreign residents
who come to this country to obtain those skills and use them to start and grow new enterprises. Legal Barriers to Knowledge
Economy Immigration Immigration into the U.S. adds significantly to the size of the U.S. labor force and is one of the signature
differences between the relatively high rates of economic growth and demographic health of the United States relative to other
advanced economies, notably those in Europe. In testimony before Congress in May 2007, Peter Orszag, then director of the
Congressional Budget Office (and now Director of the Office of Management and Budget) said, In 2006, 23 million workersone in
seven workers in the United Stateswere foreign born, and half had arrived since 1990. During the past decade, foreign-born
workers accounted for half of the growth of the U.S. labor force.
2. And its key to competitiveness
Jonathan G. Goodrich, March 2008, Immigration in the Twenty-First Century,

42 U. Rich. L. Rev. 975, ln
In multiple ways, immigration, whether temporary or permanent, provides for
economic growth. Economists estimate that at a minimum America's foreign-born
population adds $ 12 billion to the economy by working, consuming, investing, and
paying taxes. n97 Despite claims to the contrary, the costs associated with
immigration do not outweigh these economic benefits. n98 Moreover, [*987]
immigration enhances the competitiveness of the United States in today's global
economy by allowing multinational corporations to integrate their operations and
recruit skills from a global labor force. n99 At both ends of the occupational
spectrum, however, family-focused, security-centric immigration laws prevent U.S.
businesses from hiring necessary workers. n100 For cashiers and computer
scientists, for those that build homes and for those that build robots, U.S
immigration policies are an impediment to, rather than a facilitator of, economic
progress. Several factors influence economic growth, including labor force
expansion, technology, education, entrepreneurship, and research. n101 Two closely
watched factors are a country's productivity rate and its labor growth. n102 Due to
a baby-boomer generation on the verge of mass retirement, n103 a declining U.S.
fertility rate, n104 and a country at near full employment, economists predict that
satisfactory economic expansion will not come from increased productivity. n105
Thus, continued economic success must rely upon a growing labor force. n106 The
immigration polices that are now in place, however, prevent that growth from
occurring. In addition to immigration's economic implications, living in a post-9/11
world means that security concerns are now also intertwined with immigration
policy. But overly broad security measures disregard important economic
considerations and result in [*988] unintended and negative consequences on
actual security. Millions of low-skilled workers illegally come to the United States and
live in near anonymity in order to fill available jobs - many of which are both vital to
the economy and the country's infrastructure. Millions of high-skilled workers cannot
come to the United States; yet, as President Bush explained, "science and
technology [are] essential to the defense of the Nation and the health of our
economy." n107 Increasingly, American companies have to rely on foreign
businesses in key technological areas. n108 Moreover, the remittances that
noncitizens send back to their native countries create strategic ties for the United
States and provide an indirect form of international aid. n109 This benefits American
security by reducing the lack of education and poverty that often breeds terrorism.
n110 Full of rhetoric, however, Congress's current black and white approach to
immigration fails to promote either the economy or security of the United States.
3. Prerequisite to the aff The high-skilled worker shortage

undercuts infrastructure projects
Ratzenberger 7-31-10 [John, inventor, entrepreneur and board member of the
Foundation for Fair Civil Justice, Skilled workers key to state, national economies,
http://newsok.com/skilled-workers-key-to-state-national-economies/article/3480964]
A cultural shift has taken place in America that's tragically made the skilled worker a thing of the past.
Our media has glorified celebrity at the expense of our nation's basic needs, and America will reap the whirlwind within the next two
At stake is nothing less than our long-term economic vitality and national security. Let's start with
infrastructure - bridges, roads, water and sewer systems . America is dangerously close to failures
that will result in loss of life and are already resulting in loss of economic competitiveness . In many cases, currently
funded infrastructure projects cannot move forward due to lack of skilled workers . For
decades.
example, a national shortage of 500,000 welders has resulted in delays or cancellations of many key projects. Expand that out over
By 2012, there will be a 3 million skilled

worker shortfall in our nation, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In Oklahoma, which has had solid energy
and manufacturing industries, top companies have difficulty finding adequate skilled workers to fill positions. The average
age of American skilled workers is 55, which means the bulk of our skilled worker base will retire in the next decade. There are
the entire economy and we have a massive crisis on our hands.
not enough skilled workers to replace them and maintain the nation's competitive global position. In my interviews with employers
across the nation, I hear the same story: Business owners are desperate for skilled workers. Many are reaching out to local schools
to attract young people into the trades. Despite the offer of good pay and benefits, the noble skills that involve working with your
hands and mind don't hold the same appeal as they did in decades past. Some businesses are considering moving their operations
We're experiencing the loss of the once-vaunted edge that America enjoyed.
From aviation to energy, our national security is at risk . In order to maintain the world's most sophisticated military,
we must produce systems, parts and hardware in America. Without domestic manufacturing operations,
critical component work has been moved offshore as a stop-gap measure . The lens
(and jobs) overseas.
through which I view the world is simple: The manual arts always take precedence over the fine arts. Remember, someone had to
build the ceiling before Michelangelo could go to work. Negative images of skilled workers - what I call "essential workers" - pervade
our culture. The truth is, high-profile athletes and entertainers are non-essential. If all the celebrities like me disappeared overnight,
it would be sad, but the world would continue with little disruption. But if plumbers, electricians, welders, carpenters, lathe
operators, truck drivers and other "essentials" disappeared, our country would grind to a halt.
2NC Solvency General

EB Visa solvency
Demetrious G. Papademetriou et al, PhD Political Science, July 2009, Aligning Temporary
Immigration Visas with US Labor Market Needs: The Case for a New System of Provisional Visas, Migration Policy
Institute, http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/Provisional_visas.pdf
Provisional
visas offer several clear advantages over the existing system of

employment- based immigration. They would: Protect the rights and working
conditions of both immigrant and US workers. Provisional visas would give immigrants clear
ownership of their visas within a reasonable time frame, and would decouple long-term immigration status (the
path to permanent residence) from a particular employer relationship. Visa portability would permit immigrants to
Protect the
interests of employers. Provisional visas would require less bureaucracy, since
employers would not be required to sponsor multiple visas for the same worker .
leave a bad job, allowing more room for market forces to set wages and working conditions.
Employers would also gain greater certainty about their immigrant employees future immigration status.
Promote immigrant integration and long-term investment in human capital. The

provisional visas increased predictability would encourage immigrant workers to
make investments that pay off over many years, including learning new skills or
improving English language ability. This would improve long-term integration. Indeed, by establishing
clear criteria which provisional visa holders must meet to renew their visas, the system would create positive
incentives for immigrants to adopt the behaviors Americans value. Provisional visas provide an organic mechanism
for the United States to prioritize over-arching criteria such as immigrants English acquisition, constructive
engagement with their new communities, paying taxes, or any other reasonable goals that Congress may
Improve economic efficiency. Provisional immigrants would be better able

to respond to market demand by moving to where demand is greatest, rather than
being tied to one employer or even one sector . Immigrants as a group are already thought to
determine.
boost the economy because they are more sensitive to wage differentials across the country when they first
arrive;31 provisional visas would allow them to remain flexible in this manner even as they wait for their permanent
Sharpen immigrant selection while preserving the market-driven

system. In recent years, governments across the world have grappled with immigrant selection systems in
resident status.
search 31 George Borjas, Does Immigration Grease the Wheels of the Labor Market? (Brookings papers on
economic activity, 1:2001, Brookings Institution, March 2001). 16 of a more effective way to recruit immigrant
workers who can make the greatest contribution and thrive in their country. Provisional visas retain the crucial
selection device that allows this to happen employer screening while creating a mechanism to base
Attract top talent from

around the world. The most talented immigrant workers including young
individuals with high potential may have a choice of destination .32 World-class firms
permanent status decisions on a six-year track record in the United States.
and universities still allow the United States to have something akin to a right of first refusal when it comes to the
most talented.33 This advantage must be safeguarded and strengthened as other countries (many of whom
also offer good economic opportunities) provide a much more competitive immigration package, both to
employment-based immigrants and to international students who represent one of the most important sources of
foreign-born talent. The provisional visa would attract talented workers who are willing to work on time-limited
visas, but want the option of permanent residence in the future, and allow the United States to continue to enjoy its
Facilitate
enforcement where immigrants are not a good long-term fit. The provisional visa
would include requirements during the period of residence to be in touch with the
immigration information systems (for example, providing updated employer and address information).
overwhelming advantage in choosing the most qualified foreign workers for some time to come.
Such requirements and records also would facilitate enforcement for workers who fail to meet the criteria for visa
renewal or transition to permanent status. Provisional visa holders who leave as required at the end of their visa
period could be first in line for a future provisional visa, while overstaying a provisional visa could bring
disqualification from future legal admission.
The CP boosts high-skilled immigration

The simplest solution would be to eliminate the quota requirement and allow the
government to issue immigrant visas to individuals regardless of their country of
origin. This would be a more efficient method for awarding immigrant visas and
would allow employers to retain their highly skilled employees without the fear of
losing them to immigration backlogs. In fact, such a proposal was made in the High
Skilled Per Country Level Elimination Act of 2008, which sought to eliminate
immigrant visa quotas.85 However, the quota system has been a part of our
immigration scheme for some time now and Congress may be reluctant to eliminate
it. As an alternative to eliminating the per-country quota, a staggered quota system
could be used where quotas for immigrants from countries that possess a larger
number of individuals seeking admission are higher than those for immigrants from
countries where demand for immigrant visas is relatively low. Based on the State
Departments monthly Visa Bulletin, it is apparent that the demand for immigrant
visas is higher for individuals from China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines than
from other countries.86 Congress should enact a higher quota for immigrants from
these oversubscribed countries to eliminate backlogs and retrogressions. For
countries with a low volume of individuals seeking immigrant visas to the United
States, the quota can be lowered. Quotas can be adjusted on a yearly basis by the
State Department, based on its projections of how many visas are being sought
from each country. This approach is preferable to that taken in the CIR Bill of 2006,
which sought to simply increase the quota across the board)87 A staggered system
will be more attuned with U.S. economic needs and will maximize the efficiency of
the immigrant visa scheme.

Raising the cap on EB visas solves the economy1) Innovation
Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, 10-21- 2010, How to Restore

the American Dream, TIME,
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2026776-3,00.html
Shift from consumption to investment. Fundamentally, America needs to move from
consumption to investment. Everyone agrees that the best way to create good jobs
in the U.S. is to create new industries and companies and to innovate within old
ones. This means large investments in research, technology and development. As a
society, this needs to become our strongest focus. (See how the future of work is
changing.) Despite substantial increases and important new projects under the
Obama Administration, the federal government is still not spending as much on R&D
as a percentage of GDP as it did in the 1950s. I would argue that it should be
spending twice that level, which would be 6% of GDP. In the 1950s, the U.S. had a
huge manufacturing base that could absorb millions of semiskilled workers. Today,
manufacturing is a small part of the economy and faces intense global competition.
The only good jobs that will stay in the U.S. are jobs related to knowledge and
innovation. Additionally, in the 1950s, America was the only research lab in town,
accounting for the vast majority of global scientific spending. Today, countries
around the world are entering the arena. Two weeks ago, South Korea a country
of just 50 million people! announced plans to invest $35 billion in renewableenergy projects. We should pay for this with a 5% national sales tax call it an
American innovation tax which would be partly offset by a small reduction in
income taxes. This would have the twin benefits of tamping down consumption and
yielding some additional funds. All the proceeds from the tax should be focused on
future generations, because we need to invest massively in growth. (Comment on
this story.) The often overlooked aspect of investment is investment in people.
America has been able to create the future in large measure because it has tapped
into the energies and work of immigrants. It has managed to invest in human
capital by taking smart, motivated people from around the globe, educating them in
the planet's best higher-education system and then unleashing them in a dynamic
economy. In this crucial realm, the U.S. is now disinvesting. After training the world's
best and brightest often at public expense we don't find ways to make sure
they stay here by giving them a green card but rather insist that they leave and
take their knowledge to another country, where they will invent, inspire, build and
pay taxes. Every year, we send tens of thousands of the smartest Indians and
Chinese back home, which is a great investment in the future of those countries.
2) Skilled labor
Comprehensive reform of the immigration scheme must also tackle the problems of
the employment-based immigrant visa system. Backlogs and quotas are a huge
burden on the United States ability to attract highly qualified foreign workers and
keep them here. This article proposes three substantive changes to the
employment-based scheme: (1) exempt certain highly skilled workers from
employment-based visa limits; (2) reform the per- country quota system for
immigrant visas; and (3) recapture unused immigrant visas to ease the burden on
oversubscribed categories. To revitalize and strengthen the U.S. economy, it is
necessary to recruit the best and brightest foreign workers. These are the
immigrants who will complement the native labor force, stimulate innovation and
production, and create jobs for Americans. While these workers typically arrive in
the United States through the H-1B visa program, the majority of them will attempt
to obtain permanent residency while they are here. To end the current recession and
strengthen the U.S. economy, Congress must begin by simplifying the process for
immigrant workers. This is why Congress should exempt certain high- priority
workers in fields of great importance from the employment-visa quota and
preference category system. The employment-visa exemption would apply primarily
to immigrants with advanced degrees in STEM fields that are crucial to this
countrys attempt at economic recovery. The CIR Bill of 2006 also suggested this
mechanism, exempting from the immigrant visa scheme aliens with certain
advanced degrees in the STEM fields that had been working the previous three
years in the United States as nonimmigrants.79 When necessary, the Department
of Labor can also exempt immigrants that work in fields of critical shortage. The
Department of Labor should have little difficulty identifying fields of critical shortage
through employment surveys and monitoring fields that traditionally suffer from
shortages of native labor. However, critical shortages vary from time to time and
should not be part of the permanent cap-exempt structure) Other bills have
suggested creating a new category of immigrant visas for STEM professionals rather
than an exemption. An exemption, however, is preferable. A new visa category
would not go far enough to revitalize the economyit would still be subject to the
quota system, resulting in oversubscription. Highly skilled workers who are already
working in the United States should be encouraged to make a commitment to the
United States by becoming permanent residents and eventually citizens.
Immigration policy must prioritize long-term interests, which means attracting and
retaining highly skilled workers so that they can continue to contribute to the
economy. The per-country quota system that prevents the government from
effectively issuing immigrant visas to those who want them must be reformed. The
quota system has always been the subject of much contention, even dating back to
the enactment of the original immigration & Nationality Act in i9S2) The current law
allows only approximately 9,800 individuals from any country to obtain an
employment-based immigrant visa each year. This creates a remarkably inefficient

immigration scheme that profoundly inhibits the nations ability to retain the
immigrants it needs to compete in the global economy. The simplest solution would
be to eliminate the quota requirement and allow the government to issue immigrant
visas to individuals regardless of their country of origin. This would be a more
efficient method for awarding immigrant visas and would allow employers to retain
their highly skilled employees without the fear of losing them to immigration
backlogs. In fact, such a proposal was made in the High Skilled Per Country Level
Elimination Act of 2008, which sought to eliminate immigrant visa quotas.85
However, the quota system has been a part of our immigration scheme for some
time now and Congress may be reluctant to eliminate it.
3. Entrepreneurship
Daily Telegraph Reporter, 25 August 2008, Immigratin is big boost for economy,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2621595/Immigration-is-big-boost-for-economy.html
Immigrant workers fill skill gaps and do jobs
workers do not want, says a report by

employers and local economies were
not reaping the full benefits because many migrants were staying for short periods
instead of settling in Britain. The IPPR said local economies benefited because migrants
might have different skills that could lead to the establishment of new types of
businesses and they tended to be more entrepreneurial . Immigrants could also expand the
British
the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). But it found that
market for local businesses by establishing links to their countries of origin. IPPR analysis of statistics showed that
more than a million immigrants came to Britain from the eight countries that joined the EU in May 2004 but about
half of those had now returned home. The report recommends that local councils and the Government ensure they
are doing enough to attract and retain immigrants. At the same time, the IPPR says the Government should ensure
that British-born workers receive adequate training and career development opportunities. Local authorities and
employers need to ensure that British workers' wages and job opportunities are not damaged and that firms do not
"Migrant workers
can bring enormous benefits. However, many of these contributions such as new
ideas and ways of working, and an entrepreneurial spirit may have been
neglected. "Local communities, alongside local leaders, businesses, universities,
and central government, need to recognise the variety of benefits that migrants can
bring, and plan accordingly."
become overly reliant on immigrant workers. Laura Chappell, an IPPR research fellow, said:
4. Reverse brain drain
Case et all, 11,Steve Case-Revolution CEO, John Doerr-Partner of Kleiner Perkins

Caufield & Byers ; Paul Otellini- Intel Corporation CEO, and Sheryl Sandberg,
Facebook COO, all members of the Presidents Council on Jobs and Competitiveness;
America needs a 21st century immigration policy; May 19, 2011; Reuters,
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2011/05/19/america-needs-a-21st-centuryimmigration-policy/)
President Obamas recent focus on immigration highlights Americas broken

system and its impact on our economy. Fixing it requires Republicans and
Democrats to show political courage and implement reforms to expand and
strengthen the American economy. As members of the Presidents Council on Jobs
and Competitiveness, we share his deep concern that our nations ability to
compete economically is being damaged by the two parties battling over

immigration laws and policies. To some, the link between immigration reform
and economic growth may be surprising. To Americas most innovative
industries, it is a link we know is fundamental. The global economy means
companies that drive U.S. job creation and economic growth are in a worldwide
competition for talent. While other countries are aggressively creating policies and
incentives to attract a highly educated workforce, America has stagnated. Once a
magnet for the worlds top minds, America now faces a reverse brain drain and is
no longer the first choice for many entrepreneurs creating new companies and jobs.
America needs a pro-growth immigration system that works for U.S. workers and
employers in todays global economy. And we need it now.

We control uniqueness Economic crisis is looming due to
workforce deficiencies
a. Babyboomer retirement
77, Lexis
The landscape of the U.S. labor market is set to change dramatically in the next
several decades. The largest generation in the history of our nation is preparing to
retire. The Baby Boomer generation will exit the workforce in significant numbers
over the next twenty to thirty years. n1 Behind them, the Baby Boomers leave
arguably the greatest period of workforce productivity ever accomplished.
Unfortunately, the achievements may be second thoughts to the pending crises that
the retiring generation will also leave behind them. In the next couple years, the
oldest of that generation will reach the age of sixty-five and begin thinking about
retirement. The oldest of the Baby Boomer generation has already filed for Social
Security benefits. n2 Over the next twenty years, more than seventy million
Americans will follow. Subsequent generations have not sustained the growth of the
Baby Boomers and will not have the capacity to fill the workforce void or pay for
their parents' retirement. n3 The current financial crisis only darkens the forecast.
The Baby Boomer retirement could potentially cause two major economic crises:
an "entitlement crisis" and a "workforce crisis." n4 The entitlement crisis involves
the growing discrepancy between revenue from payroll taxes and the federal
expenditures on Social Security, Medicare, and other social aid, particularly for
retirees who have paid their dues. A potentially debilitating workforce crisis would
also ensue when millions set to retire from a labor force that is already seeing
declines in growth. n5 Dowell Myers and other social scientists have sought to turn
this awful predicament into opportunity, by throwing open the doors to immigration.
n6 [*78] They suggest that by liberalizing immigration policies, the influx of
immigrants would "significantly mitigate" the entitlement and workforce crises , and
the "illegal" stigma attached to millions of unauthorized immigrants would be
removed. n7 These immigrants could legally join the American workforce, filling the
void left by Baby Boomers and contributing to the Social Security coffers through
taxes. n8 The economic benefits of immigration, and even "permitting"
undocumented workers, are clear. n9 Expanding the workforce, and subsequently
the economy, helps promote GDP growth and provides an answer to the Baby
Boomer crises.
b. STEM worker shortage

Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International
Economics, 7-1-2008, US High-Skilled Immigration Policy: A Self-Inflicted Wound,
Peterson Institute for International Economics,
http://www.iie.com/publications/papers/paper.cfm?ResearchID=972
America rose to global economic prominence, superpower status, and victory in the
Cold War on the shoulders of the most highly skilled workforce in the world. However,
America's global "skills leadership" is now under challenge . An increasingly vicious
combination of long-term trends in the form of retiring baby boomers and stagnating US
educational attainment, combined with increasingly restrictive laws on high-skilled
immigration increasingly undermines the US position. This will seriously jeopardize
long-term economic growth opportunities, especially for US high-tech sectors. Aging US baby boomers
were the best-educated workers in the world when they entered the workforce 30-some years ago. Building on
visionary policies like the GI Bill of 1944, college-level graduation rates for US baby boomers reached almost 40
percent during this period, far exceeding graduation rates of 20 to 25 percent enjoyed by contemporary British,
French, German, or Japanese baby boom generations in the late 1960s and 1970s. The year 2008 is the first in
which Americans born after World War II can retire with public pensionshence, the loss of large numbers of welleducated baby boomers will be more severely felt in the United States than among other major industrialized
economies. Another long-term worry is the stagnation seen in the average educational attainment of Americans in
recent decades. Almost unique in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the
tertiary-level graduation rates among present-day US labor market entrants, aged 25 to 34, is the same as that of
there's a risk in coming years

that as many high-skilled Americans will retire as will enter the workforce . The centurylong continuous compositional skills improvement of America's workforce may soon end. Moreover, while
America failed to continue to improve broad educational standards during the last 30
years, the rest of the world has not stood still . Today, over 50 percent of young Canadians, Japanese,
their baby boomer parents, aged 55 to 64stuck below 40 percent. Hence,
and Koreans obtain tertiary education representing a vast educational advancement relative to their parents'
generation. American labor market entrants today barely make the global skills top-10 list. As a direct result,
for
the first time in generations, the US risks becoming less skill-abundant than an
increasing number of its global economic competitors (see figure 11). US and Canadian baby
boomers, aged 55 to 64, were indeed the "brightest kids on the global trading block," when they entered the
workforce and rapidly globalizing marketplace. Thus baby boomers were ready to take advantage of trade
liberalization and the opening of global markets during the last part of the 20th century, far less true for today's
American youth. Policymakers cannot stop the graying of the US population or the imminent retirement of baby
boomers. Similarly, successful overhaul of the US education sector could only begin to reverse more than 30 years
of educational stagnation over the long term. Improving the education system is hardly a realistic or quick solution
US policymakers can only

hope to counter these long-term phenomena in a timely manner by reforming high-skilled
immigration policies and facilitating the continued and increasingly economically necessary inflow
of high-skilled workers from abroad. Instead, US high-skilled immigration policies have in recent years
to forestalling broad skill shortages in the US economy over the next decade.
become tangibly more restrictivewaylaid by wider congressional gridlock on immigration and political emphasis
on indiscriminate enforcement. This restrictiveness is relative to earlier periods in US history and, more importantly,
other industrialized countries today. In April 2008, for instance, about half of 163,000 US businesses wishing to hire
a foreign high-skilled worker on H-1B visas were denied this opportunity by the annual quota of 85,000 available
visas2 (65,000 plus 20,000 available to foreign graduates with advanced degrees from US universities). The
immigration policy undermines the economic characteristicsentrepreneurial vitality and mastery of new advanced
technologiesthat make the United States the envy of the world. Just like Google, eBay, and Yahoo, more than half
of engineering and technology companies founded in Silicon Valley from 1995 to 2005 had at least one foreign-born
founder.3 More than a third of US venture capitalbacked technology firms report shifting investments and jobs
outside the country due to restrictive regulation,4 and America's largest, most competitive companies cannot get
visas for foreign high-skilled workers they want to hire. Meanwhile, contours of the global battlefield for talent are
rapidly changing. The recent proposal for an EU "Blue Card" would allow high-skilled workers from outside the
European Union to work in multiple EU countries, just one example of a new trend across the OECD. Affected by
more rapid population aging than the United States, other OECD countries aggressively work to liberalize their high-
skilled immigration laws, while simultaneously tightening regulation of low-skilled and humanitarian-based
immigration. Ironically, the other nations frequently copy US policies, particularly those that attract and retain
foreign students. Equally worrisome for the United States, the top countries of origin for high-skilled migrantsfastgrowing China and Indiaoffer incentives for skilled workers to return home. In 2007, China launched its "green
passage" initiative, aimed at luring back tens of thousands of acclaimed overseas Chinese scientists, engineers, and
executives with promises of guaranteed university places for their children, exemption from household-residence
registrationor hokourequirements, and tax benefits.5 The United Stateshistorically the world's country of
choice for foreign high-skilled workershas the most to lose from any change in these human-capital flows. While
the rest of the rich world has caught up in welcoming high-skilled foreigners, the United States could soon struggle
With the skill-base of the US workforce declining at an

accelerating pace relative to the rest of the world, America in the 21st century will need foreign
high-skilled workers more than ever. At stake is the ability of the US economy to thrive in the
to attract global talent.
global marketplace.
2NC Econ Other

Employment Visas economic impacts
Demetrious G. Papademetriou et al, PhD Political Science, May 2009, Harnessing the Advantages
of Immigration for a 21st-Century Economy: A Standing Commission on Labor Markets, Economic Competitiveness,
and Immigration, Migration Policy Institute, http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=harnessing%20the
%20advantages%20of%20immigration&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F
%2Fwww.migrationpolicy.org%2Fpubs
%2FStandingCommission_May09.pdf&ei=tiHuT_vENaue6wG7o_SbCg&usg=AFQjCNEdm1VvtTCqiJeSJhiJ822pa0O2A&sig2=2caZD_6YlxkASLvyNNTxEg
the effects of immigration on US

labor markets and economic growth and on the subset of immigration streams
that are most directly tied to these economic outcomes: employment- based/labor
market immigration, in both permanent and temporary variants. And while permanent employment-based
Rather, our focus is on one set of policy priorities and outcomes
visas account for just 15 percent of the permanent visas the United States issues each year,7 they are the
immigration stream dedicated to the nations economic and labor market interests and thus should be driven by a
labor market
immigration makes an immediate contribution to the US economy by allowing US
firms to hire immigrant workers across the skills continuum . At the high-skilled end, foreigncalculus of economic costs and benefits. These economic effects are complex. On the one hand,
born students, researchers, workers across many disciplines (but primarily in the sciences, technology, and the
entrepreneurs have been at the heart of American innovation and

productivity for decades. About a third of Americas 20th-century Nobel Prize winners, for example, were
professions), and
immigrants.8 Immigrants also founded or cofounded a quarter of all new engineering and technology companies
formed in the United States between 1995 and 2005, were responsible for a quarter of Americas patents in 2006
(up from 7 percent in 1998)9 and made up seven out of 16 inductees into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in
2009.10 What is significant about the latter set of numbers is that they can be attributed to changes to US
immigration law in 1990 that substantially expanded the number of visas available to better-skilled and educated
immigrants. This lesson animates the proposal being made here.
Boosting immigration solves the economy

As the economy has risen to the top of the national agenda, immigration has
dropped as a voter concern. However, these two issues are not mutually exclusive
and should not be treated as such. While the present economic crisis requires
immediate attention and action, an even greater economic challenge, posed by
the aging of our society, lies directly ahead. As we seek to recover from the current
recession, the onset of the aging effect may hold back our recovery, due to a
mounting fiscal deficit, workforce shortages, and weakened housing demand. This
paper from eminent demographer Dowell Myers explores how the aging of the
population, epitomized by the impending retirement of the baby boom generation,
will be a watershed event with severe ramifications for our economy and the
standard of living of all Americans. Dr. Myers observes how immigration can
mitigate the adverse effects of this monumental demographic shift and make
America more resilient in the face of this colossal challenge. The current housing
crisis precipitated a major economic downturn that has roiled markets around the
globe and caused much anxiety among Americans regarding their financial security.
Likewise, aging boomers placing their homes on the market en masse could
unhinge the housing market anew, with significant consequences for the
economy. However, new arrivals from abroad eager and able to purchase homes
could moderate the effects of such a circumstance. The U.S. has benefited
immensely from its ability to confront massive challenges and emerge a stronger
nation. As this paper illustrates, reforming our broken immigration system will be
crucial to enhancing our resilience in the face of the demographic and economic
challenges ahead.
Decline in skilled foreign immigrants seriously threatens the

future of the US economy
Peter J. Landis, employment and business related immigration attorney, 7-102009, Commentary: How U.S. Immigration Policy Hurts the U.S. Economy,
LawFirms.com News, http://www.lawfirms.com/news/immigration-law/immigrationpolicy-hurts-us-economoy.htm
A growing number of recent studies document what I have long suspected; rather
than protecting U.S. workers, increasing restrictions on the legal immigration of
foreign workers actually undermines the U.S. economy by hindering efforts to spur
technological innovation and impairing Americas ability to compete in the global
marketplace. Studies by the Harvard Business School, the National Foundation for
American Policy, Peterson Institute of International Economics and the National
Science Board demonstrate that highly skilled foreign workers actually create new
employment opportunities for U.S. workers. A March 2009 Kaufman Foundation
Study, on the other hand, shows that in recent years increasing numbers of highly
skilled foreign workers in the U.S., often discouraged by the protracted process and
long delays in obtaining lawful permanent resident status here, have been choosing
to return to their home countries; an indication the U.S. is losing the worlds best
and brightest to countries that compete with us in the global marketplace. When
combined with clear and unambiguous census trends showing the aging of the U.S.
population and a projected shortage of workers to replace the baby boomers who
are beginning to retire, it is evident that our increasingly restrictive immigration
policies seriously jeopardize our economy and put the U.S. at a significant
competitive disadvantage.

Solves econ and competitiveness
Stuart Anderson, former staff director of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee,
is executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, 12- 2008,
Creating Staying Power for U.S.-Educated Internationals, International Educator,
https://www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1285
A recent report from the National Science Foundation provides confirmation: The
rate of growth of the S&E [science and engineering] labor force may decline rapidly
over the next decade because of the aging of individuals with S&E educations, as
the number of individuals with S&E degrees reaching traditional retirement ages is
expected to triple. If this slowdown occurs, the rapid growth in R&D employment
and spending that the United States has experienced since World War II may not be
sustainable. The growth rate of the S&E labor force would also be significantly
reduced if the United States becomes less successful in the increasing international
competition for immigrant and temporary nonimmigrant scientists and engineers.
Many countries are actively reducing barriers to high-skilled immigrants entering
their labor markets at the same time that entry into the United States is becoming
somewhat more difficult. Despite this, many recent statistics suggest that the
United States is still an attractive destination for many foreign scientists and
engineers. Slowing of the S&E labor force growth would be a fundamental change
for the U.S. economy, possibly affecting both technological change and economic
growth.5 Countries with a larger share of the population with at least a college
degree include Russia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Ireland, Belgium,
Spain, Denmark, and France.6 America will feel the full impact of the 30-year
stagnation in skill levels in the U.S. workforce when many baby boomers begin
retiring, which makes expeditious reform of U.S. high-skilled immigration policies
imperative, writes Kirkegaard. Urgent reforms of the broader U.S. education
systemeven if immediately and successfully implementedwill produce more
young American graduates only in the long term. However, in the short termsay
at least over the next decade only high-skilled immigration can provide
American employers with the skilled workforce they need to continue to compete
and expand in a global skills-biased economy.7
Boosting high-skilled immigration is key to competitiveness

Seth Hoy, Research and Communications Associate at the Immigration Policy
Center, 3-31-2010, Immigration and the Future of American Innovation: Does
America Need to Pump Up the Volume?, Immigration Policy Center,
http://immigrationimpact.com/2010/03/31/immigration-and-the-future-of-americaninnovation-does-america-need-to-pump-up-the-volume/
It should come as no surprise to anyone following the global economy that when it
comes to innovation and competition, America has lost that loving feeling. Numbers
in key areas of innovationpercentage of patents issued, government funded
research and venture capitalists investmentsare all down. While some point a
finger at a weaker economy, others look to poor domestic policy and increased
global competition. Either way, American innovation is slowly fading on the global
stage. In the Huffington Post this week, Arianna Huffington examined where the
United States ranks in terms of global innovation and competitiondead last,
according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. The percentage
of patents issued to Americans dropped (down 2.3% in 2009), government funded
research is down (now 27% from 50% in 1979), and venture capitalists arent
investing as much in the U.S. (down $12 billion in 2009 from $22 billion in 2008).
Why? According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, America is falling
behind in several areas key to supporting innovationwork force quality and
economic, immigration and infrastructure policies. The recent economic recession
and the loss of our educational edge are also cited as reasons for Americas
innovative decline. So how does America pump up the innovative volume?
Huffington suggests that America needs to kick internet technology plans into high
gear, invest in the green economy and revamp our broken immigration policy to
allow more foreign-born entrepreneurs to start businesses in the U.S. and create
American jobs. Huffington writes:
Great ideas come from all over the world, and
if we dont welcome the people with those great ideas and make it easy for them to
come here, they will go elsewhere. Indeed, they already are going elsewhere. Right
now the U.S. has an immigration limit for skilled workers of 65,000, and an
additional 20,000 slots for those with advanced degrees from U.S. universities. This
kind of rigid cap doesnt make sense in todays world. The visa process has been
plagued with backlogs resulting from this quota, says Jonathan Ortmans, a senior
fellow at the Kauffman Foundation. As a result, high-skilled immigrants are looking
for opportunities elsewhere in an increasingly competitive global labor market,
[and] taking their innovative ideas with them. While the Start-Up Visa Acta
recent bipartisan bill proposed by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN)
to drive job creation and increase Americas global competiveness by helping
immigrant entrepreneurs secure visas to the United Statesis a good start, it only
goes so far in attracting the best and brightest talent from around the world.
Immigrant entrepreneurship is key to sustaining a growth

differential tech is key
David Hart, director of the center for science and technology policy at George
mason university, Zoltan Acs, director of the center for entrepreneurship and
public policy at George Mason University, and Spencer Tracy, head of the
national policy research council, 7-2009, High-tech Immigrant Entrepreneurship in
the United States, Small Business Administration
A vigorous high-technology sector is vital to sustain U.S. prosperity in the 21st
century. The new products, services, and business models that the high-tech sector
generates differentiate this nations output from that of the rest of the world and
enable capital accumulation, wage gains, and productivity growth. A high level of
entrepreneurship, by which we mean the founding of new businesses, makes the
high-tech sector vigorous. High-tech entrepreneurs, by which we mean the founders
of new high-tech businesses, take risks that managers of existing high-tech
businesses choose not to take and recognize opportunities that they fail to spot.
High-tech entrepreneurship requires a rare combination of inclinations, capabilities,

and resources. Half of new businesses fail within five years (Shane 2008), so
founders must be optimistic, but also capable of weathering severe challenges.
Because the opportunities in high-tech sectors blend together technological and
market factors, individual entrepreneurs and founding teams in these sectors
typically combine technical expertise rooted in formal education with market savvy
that flows from extensive business experience. They must also be able to tap
quickly and effectively into networks of customers, suppliers, expertise, finance, and
talent as business opportunities ripen. Foreign-born individuals play an important
role in U.S. high-tech entrepreneurship. By virtue of having left their native land,
they may have entrepreneurial inclinations. Their 7 large presence in American
higher education and the U.S. labor force, especially science and engineering
disciplines and occupations, equips them with valuable knowledge that bears on
high-tech innovation. Their outsider status may allow them, in some cases, to
recognize out-of-the box opportunities that native-born individuals with similar
knowledge and skills do not perceive. These capabilities may be linked to unique
entrepreneurial resources, such as access to partners, customers, and suppliers in
their countries of origin. In this study, we quantify the role of immigrants2 in hightech entrepreneurship in a nationally representative sample of rapidly growing
high-impact companies (HICs). This class of companies drives job creation and
aggregate growth in the United States. We find that, while most previous studies
have overstated the role of immigrants in high-tech entrepreneurship, it is
nonetheless very important. For instance, about 16% of the companies in our
sample had at least one foreign-born entrepreneur among their founding teams,
and these high-tech companies display better performance in some respects than
high-tech companies in our sample whose founders were all native-born. We also
provide a profile of high-tech immigrant entrepreneurs. The vast majority are
strongly rooted in the United States. Most of them received their highest
educational degree here and have become citizens.
We control uniqueness Theres massive workforce shortage

looming visa change is key to restoring US competitiveness
America is facing a demographic tsunami. The aging of the population will have a
profound impact on the federal budget, the workforce, and the housing market. The
response to these perils will determine if the United States continues to be a global
leader in the 21st century capable of supporting high economic growth and a rising
standard of living. Immigration will play a vital role in confronting the challenges
posed by an aging society and keeping three promises at the heart of our economic
success: a secure retirement for seniors; an ample and competent workforce for
employers; and a healthy housing market for families. Policy makers cannot afford
to view immigration and the retirement of baby boomers as two separate

phenomena. We must evaluate our immigration needs in light of the pending
massive movement of a significant portion of the population out of the labor pool
and housing market and into government funded entitlement programs. Keeping
our bedrock promises will require new blood from beyond our borders. Immigrants
can significantly mitigate the three crises. By firmly grasping the implications of
the graying of America we can develop a practical immigration policy that meets
the nations future needs and enhances our resilience against powerful
demographic and economic forces that threaten our global standing and
competitiveness.

Admitting highly skilled workers boosts US competitiveness
Marshall Fitz, Director of Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress
12-2009, Prosperous immigrants, Prosperous Americans, Center for American
Progress,
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/12/pdf/highskilled_immigrants.pdf
Reforming our high-skilled immigration system will stimulate innovation, enhance
competitiveness, and help cultivate a flexible, highly-skilled U.S. workforce while
protecting U.S. workers from globalizations destabilizing effects. Our economy has
benefitted enormously from being able to tap the international pool of human
capital.5 Arbitrary limitations on our ability to continue doing so are ultimately selfdefeating: Companies will lose out to their competitors making them less profitable,
less productive, and less able to grow; or they will move their operations abroad
with all the attendant negative economic consequences. And the federal treasury
loses tens of billions of dollars in tax revenues by restricting the opportunities for
high-skilled foreign workers to remain in the United States.6
Boosting high-skilled immigration restores US competitiveness

Darrel M. West, vice president and director of Governance Studies and founding
director of the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings Institute, 2010, Brain
Gain: Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy
The most important challenge is to develop a new narrative that defines
immigration as a brain gain that improves economic competitiveness and national
innovation. A focus on brains and competitiveness would help America overcome
past deficiencies in immigration policy and help the country meet the economic and
innovation challenges of the twenty-first century. There is considerable evidence
that the United States is falling behind on innovation. An analysis of patents granted
shows that the long-term U.S. dominance has come to an end. In 1999 American
scientists were granted 90,000 patents, compared with 70,000 for those from all
other countries. In 2009, for the first time in recent years, non-U.S. innovators
earned more patents (around 96,000) than did Americans (93,000). one-third of the
American workforce holds science or technology positions. That is slightly less than
the 34 percent figure for Germany and the Netherlands hut is higher than the 28
percent in Canada and France. Looking at another measure, the U.S. government
spends only 2.8 percent of its GDP on public research and development. That is less
than the 4.3 percent spent by Sweden, 3.1 percent by Japan, and 3.0 percent by
South Korea hut is more than is spent by Germany (2.5 percent), France (2.2 per
cent), Canada (1 .9 percent), or England (1 .9 percent). Europe as a whole devotes
1.9 percent of its total GDP to research and development, while industrialized
nations spend around 2.3 percent.
Solv Economic Leadership

Only the plan signals commitment to economic leadership -key to visa demand
John Pearson, director of the Bechtel International Center at Stanford University,
6-12-2008, Need for Green Cards for Skilled Workers, CQ Congressional
Testimony
Other countries are recognizing the value of educating the next generation of world
leaders and attracting the worlds scientific, technological, and intellectual elite.
U.S. immigration law and policy have not yet effectively been adapted to the era of
globalization. My own institution is witness to this, but it is not alone. Even so, the
best and the brightest still want to come here. We should welcome them by creating
a clearer path to green card status for them that is not tied to unnecessarily low
caps on the green cards available annually. In a global job market, employers look
for the talent they need wherever they can find it, and students and highly talented
workers look for the places to study and work that offer them the most opportunity.
This means that options for employment after graduation are integral to attracting
bright and talented international students. Employment prospects are now a part of
their calculus in deciding of where to study, work, and live. Not all students who
arrive to study in the U.S. wish to remain; some have commitments to their home
country. But others discover their potential in the environment of U.S. higher
education and their career and life goals are changed. It is no secret that U.S.
immigration law makes it difficult for international students to work after
graduating, even from the most prestigious U.S. higher education institutions. The
annual H-1B cap lottery is reported internationally, highlighting that the entire
annual allotment is depleted in a day or two. But the truth behind the overwhelming
demand for H-1Bs is that many if not most of the applicants would rather be
applying for a green card, but are unable to do so because of backlogs and delays.
It is fair to say that many employers would also like to be able to make some of
these students permanent employees sooner, rather than later. It does not make
sense that in a global competition for highly educated and talented workers, we turn
away the graduates from our colleges and universities. This is doubly true for those
graduating with Masters degrees and Ph.Ds. When they leave the United States,
they go to work in other countries for companies that often directly compete with
American companies. What better way to capture the worlds best and brightest
who want to become part of our nation than to make it easier for them to remain to
contribute to American economic and scientific leadership after they graduate from
U.S. universities? Our ability to remain competitive and build our innovation- and
knowledge-based economy requires that our laws reflect the reality of the global
market for talent for international students and highly educated workers. Creating a
clearer path to green card status for graduates from U.S. colleges and universities,
in STEM subjects, would be a serious step in showing that we have a commitment to
continuing to be the leader in international education and in industry. Madam
Chairman, appended to my testimony is NAFSAs 2006 report, Restoring U.S.
Competitiveness for International Students and Scholars, which I ask to be included

in the record.
Solv Hegemony
Highly skilled immigration makes heg sustainable and effective
Joseph Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Sultan of
Oman Professor of International Relations at Harvard Kennedy School, Nov. 2010,
The Future of American Power: Dominance and Decline in Perspective, Foreign
Affiars, Nov/Dec
Some argue that the United States suffers from "imperial overstretch," but so far,
the facts do not fit that theory. On the contrary, defense and foreign affairs
expenditures have declined as a share of GDP over the past several decades.
Nonetheless, the United States could decline not because of imperial overstretch
but because of domestic underreach. Rome rotted from within, and some observers,
noting the sourness of current U.S. politics, project that the United States will lose
its ability to influence world events because of domestic battles over culture, the
collapse of its political institutions, and economic stagnation. This possibility cannot
be ruled out, but the trends are not as clear as the current gloomy mood suggests.
Although the United States has many social problems--and always has--they do not
seem to be getting worse in any linear manner. Some of these problems are even
improving, such as rates of crime, divorce, and teenage pregnancy. Although there
are culture wars over issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion, polls show an
overall increase in tolerance. Civil society is robust, and church attendance is high,
at 42 percent. The country's past cultural battles, over immigration, slavery,
evolution, temperance, McCarthyism, and civil rights, were arguably more serious
than any of today's. A graver concern would be if the country turned inward and
seriously curtailed immigration. With its current levels of immigration, the United
States is one of the few developed countries that may avoid demographic decline
and keep its share of world population, but this could change if xenophobia or
reactions to terrorism closed its borders. The percentage of foreign-born residents in
the United States reached its twentieth-century peak, 14.7 percent, in 1910. Today,
11.7 percent of U.S. residents are foreign born, but in 2009, 50 percent of
Americans favored decreasing immigration, up from 39 percent in 2008. The
economic recession has only aggravated the problem. Although too rapid a rate of
immigration can cause social problems, over the long term, immigration
strengthens U.S. power. Today, the United States is the world's third most populous
country; 50 years from now, it is likely to still be third (after India and China). Not
only is this relevant to economic power, but given that nearly all developed
countries are aging and face the burden of providing for the older generation,
immigration could help reduce the sharpness of the resulting policy problem. In
addition, there is a strong correlation between the number of H-1B visas and the
number of patents filed in the United States. In 1998, Chinese- and Indian-born
engineers were running one-quarter of Silicon Valley's high-tech businesses, and in
2005, immigrants were found to have helped start one of every four American
technology start-ups over the previous decade. Equally important are the benefits of
immigration for the United States' soft power. Attracted by the upward mobility of
American immigrants, people want to come to the United States. The United States
is a magnet, and many people can envisage themselves as Americans. Many
successful Americans look like people in other countries. Rather than diluting hard
and soft power, immigration enhances both. When Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew
concludes that China will not surpass the United States as the leading power of the
twenty-first century, he cites the ability of the United States to attract the best and
brightest from the rest of the world and meld them into a diverse culture of
creativity. China has a larger population to recruit from domestically, but in his view,
its Sinocentric culture will make it less creative than the United States, which can
draw on the whole world.
The employment based visa process deters highly skilled

applicants compromising US leadership
NAFSA, Association of International Educators, 6-2006, Restoring US
Competitiveness, http://www.nafsa.org/resourcelibrary/default.aspx?id=9169
What is most alarming is that, for the first time, the United States seems to be
losing its status as the destination of choice for international students. For a
variety of reasons that go beyond education and recruitment policy, the United
States has lost the allure it once had. It is no longer seen as being as attractive a
country to the rest of the world, and that has profound implications not only for
international students, but for U.S. leadership and security. The picture for
international scholars and researchers is not much better. Although the number of
international scholars at U.S. doctoral degree-granting institutions increased in the
academic year 200405 after two years of decline, according to the Institute of
International Education, the near-universal perception of the nations leading
scientific associations is that their international members increasingly feel that the
process of gaining entry to the United States is not worth the trouble.
Highly skilled immigrants are vital to US leadership

Ed Hooper, staff writer, 4-28-2010, Politics Trumping Visa Reform, Huffington
Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-hooper/politics-trumping-visare_b_555596.html
National organizations estimate more than 37 percent of PhDs in science and
engineering awarded by colleges and universities each year go to foreign-born
students. While most are reportedly staying according to a 2007 study, experts say
those numbers are likely to nosedive in the next report. Undoubtedly the U.S.
produces great home-grown engineers and scientists, but a formidable number of
immigrants have brought revolutionary advances in sciences and technologies to
American shores. Croatian immigrant Nikola Tesla made the national electrical grid
possible with his invention of a coil. Russian immigrant and aviation pioneer Igor
Sikorsky invented the helicopter. German immigrant Albert Einstein and Italian
immigrant Enrico Fermi helped usher in the atomic sciences. Hungarian immigrant
John von Neumann pioneered the digital age that made computers possible. And, if
Werner von Braun hadn't surrendered to the 44th Infantry Division in World War II
Berlin, Americans wouldn't have had a space program. These immigrants helped
form the backbone of U.S. leadership in science and technology that sustained this
nation on the world's stage for the last 100 years. This is one case where the U.S.
needs history to repeat itself. The unique business model that drives
competitiveness between private and government laboratories in a capitalist
system has been the propellant that maintains the U.S. as the world's leader in
science and technology. From Silicon Valley to Oak Ridge, the greatest tool
American-based companies have is their historical ability to bring in talented foreign
minds without hassle to research, start new businesses and teach at colleges or
universities. And it must be preserved.
Highly skilled immigrants are key to US leadership and military

superiority
Doris Meissner, former Commissioner of the US Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) and Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, Deborah w. Meyers,
Demetrios g. Papademetriou and Michael Fix, Summer 2007, Immigration and
America's Future: A New Chapter, 5 Geo. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 473, Lexis
Immigration helps the United States maintain its leadership in science and
technological innovation, which has traditionally been a foundation of American
economic power and performance. Some of the world's most talented people are
attracted to the United States for schooling, work, and freedom. The attraction often
springs from the American higher education system, which [*477] provides an
unrivalled teaching and research infrastructure. Seventeen of the top twenty
universities considered to be the best in the world are located in the United States.
n22 This higher education system sustains U.S. leadership in the global
marketplace and undergirds U.S. superiority in critical national security sectors such
as defense and intelligence. Science and engineering specialties are particularly
essential to national security and economic success, and here immigrants play a
substantial role. While 12% of the population and 14% of the workforce were
foreign-born in 2003, a quarter of all college-educated workers in science and
engineering occupations were foreign-born; 40% of scientists and engineers holding
doctoral degrees were foreign-born; and a majority of doctorate holders in computer
science, electrical engineering, civil engineering, and mechanical engineering were
foreign-born. n23 In 2005, graduate enrollments in engineering were 48% foreignborn temporary residents; in the physical sciences, they were 40%. n24 In contrast,
the two largest graduate fields chosen by native-born students are education and
public administration. n25 In the 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush
announced the American Competitiveness Initiative, an ambitious math and science
education program that funds increased training to maintain American leadership in
innovation. n26 At the same time, foreign students and professionals will continue
to play a key role in maintaining the country's edge in the global economy. And,
given the global nature of science and technology research and development,
workers in these careers will likely always be mobile and international. Effective,
predictable, and welcoming immigration regimes are becoming important factors in
a newly competitive global environment. The United States thus has a strong
interest in building an immigration system that provides opportunities for the highly
skilled and their families to travel, work, and live here.
Solv- Green Tech

Highly skilled immigrants are key to developing the US
alternative energy industry
Jeff Joseph, A Senior Partner at the Joseph Law Firm, Immigration: They Key to a
Booming, Green Economy, 6-25-2010,
http://josephlawfirm.blogspot.com/2010/06/immigration-key-to-booming-green.html
If there is one thing on which economists, analysts, and researchers seem to agree,
it is this: Immigration is essential to keeping American business at the top of the
international business market, especially in the energy and engineering sectors.
Indeed, even some politicians, such as New Yorks Mayor Michael Bloomberg and
Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), have recognized the important
role immigration has to play in American business. According to Mayor Bloomberg,
Our immigration policy is national suicide. I cant think of any ways to destroy this
country quite as direct and impactful as our immigration policy. We educate the best
and the brightest and then we dont give them a green card. We want to create jobs
and we wont let entrepreneurs from around the world come here. It is for that
reason that Senators Kerry and Lugar have introduced the Startup Visa Act. The
Startup Visa Act proposes legislation that would modify the EB-5 Visa to increase job
creation and Americas international business competitive edge. Immigrant
entrepreneurs who are creating new businesses would be able to obtain visas, so
long as there is investment capital from within the U.S. of at least $100,000 and
equity financing of at least $250,000. A new Migrant Policy Institute Report, The
Impact of Immigrants in Recession and Economic Expansion, found that
immigration unambiguously improves employment, productivity and income,
although it does require some short-term adjustments, such as job training or new
technology. Despite common conceptions among Americans, immigration does not
reduce Americans employment rates over the long-term (ten years). But it does
increase Americans productivity and the average income over the same period. In
fact, immigration between 1990 and 2006 is credited with a 2.9% wage increase
among American workers. Still, immigration during a recession can have short-term,
negative effects, but those effects dissipate fairly quickly, within seven years at
most. In contrast, immigration during economic growth periods has an immediate,
positive effect, creating enough jobs to leave Americans jobs completely
untouched. Darrell M. West, author of a new book, Brain Gain: Rethinking U.S.
Immigration Policy (Brookings Institution Press, 2010), points out that many of
Americas greatest scientists, inventors, educators, and entrepreneurs came to the
United States as immigrants. He asserts that the U.S. must establish an increased
open-door policy to attract unique foreign talent in the fields of energy, information
technology, and international commerce. In a review of the book, Mayor Bloomberg
recognizes that the most important step we can take to strengthen Americas longterm economic health is passing comprehensive immigration reform. For America to
compete in the 21st Century, we need to be able to attractand keepthe worlds
best, brightest, and hardest working. And this seems to be particularly important
in the green energy field. A recent report published by the Immigration Policy
Center of the American Immigraiton Council, authored by Richard T. Herman and

Robert L. Smith, Why Immigration Can Drive the Green Economy, discusses how the
connection between immigration and the development and commercialization of
alternative fuel sources is rarely discussed among policymakers. Yet it is this very
connection that will help the United States lead the way towards cleaner, less
expensive energy. Although policymakers imagine that the development of
renewable energy will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, most fail to understand
that much of the clean-energy talent remains abroad. Thus, experts urge that
expanding our own clean-energy industry will require working with people overseas,
in countries that have been pursuing alternative fuel sources for several decades
already. Unfortunately, tough immigration restrictions make this type of foreign
collaboration difficult, if not impossible.
Even without foreign founders there arent enough workers

to sustain domestic clean tech companies
Norman C. Plotkin, immigration attorney and partner at Jackson & Hertogs LLP, 316-2009, Time to plan for the H-1B visa filing deadline,
http://cleantech.com/news/4270/time-plan-h-1b-visa-filing-deadline
Clean technology companies in the U.S. may find themselves in the unusual position
of receiving federal stimulus funding while at the same time not being able to hire
and retain key employees. The economic downturn has stopped many employers
across all industries from making new hires, but cleantech companies are gearing
up for even greater hiring to meet the challenges of our changing economy.
However, many of the best potential hires will be foreign nationals who require
employment authorization issued by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services
(USCIS) to legally work in the U.S. Many times the most appropriate visa for these
workers is the H-1B visa. The H-1B nonimmigrant visa is for highly skilled workers
and is one of the few visas available to foreign scientists and engineers to work for
U.S. companies. The predicament is that H-1B visas are not always available. Strict
annual quotas have meant that many more H-1B visas have been requested in each
of the last few years than available numbers. What this means for cleantech
companies is that they in particular may be barred from hiring key personnel
because of strict reductions in visa numbers. Since most cleantech companies are
startups, they may not be prepared to deal with this hiring issue because they do
not have the infrastructure in human resources to make them aware of the
restrictions. For individuals who have not already been counted against the annual
H-1B cap, there is only a short window in which to file H-1B visa petitions: between
April 1 and 7, 2009. Given the relative youth of cleantech, cleantech companies are
particularly vulnerable to being shut out by the H-1B cap. How many F-1 students
(recent Masters and PhD candidates) has your company hired in the past year? If
you even have one, you should be looking at a long term solution to keeping the F-1
student on board. What are your hiring needs going into the balance of the calendar
year?
EB Visas start the tip off for global economic prosperity.

(green energy)
Audrey Singer, Senior Fellow, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, and Devashree Saha, senior
policy analyst Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, 4/4/ 2012, Eb-5 Visas: A Smarter, Cleaner Plan, The New
Republic, http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-avenue/102368/eb-5-visas-smarter-cleaner-plan
in the last few years that state

and local economic development officials have begun to look toward using EB-5 for
development in target sectors. Austin, Tex. has recently proposed creating the states first regional
Even though the EB-5 program has been around since 1990, it is only
center that will focus specifically on green tech and renewable energy projects. It would be one among eight other
in Arizona, California, Michigan, and Nevada that are geared toward

renewable energy development. Other regional centers have focused on other
industry sectors with considerable success, such as the redevelopment of former military bases
regional centers
into mixed-use projects. The Immigrant Investor Program has had its share of problems, which accounts for its low
the
EB-5 program has so far created 43,300 full-time jobs and attracted more than $2.2
billion, with half of this happening just since 2008. While the $2.2 billion number is
small (annualized that is just over $100 million a year, a fraction of $236 billion the U.S. brings in foreign direct
investment), in the current economic context this source of international financing can
make a difference for local projects and the communities that host them . The complexity
use since being introduced more than two decades ago. The latest data reveals that since being established,
of the application process, the uncertainty of meeting the requirements and the long adjudication process to move
from conditional to permanent residency have been cited as stumbling blocks for potential investors in a study by
the GAO. Add to those a complex international set of intermediaries, little oversight of the marketing of EB-5 visas,
and unclear guidelines regarding the measurement of job creation, and the proposition weakens for many potential
local leaders like Mayor Leffingwell of Austin may be onto something by

focusing on green energy, a sector that Austin has in its DNA, which might be very attractive to foreign
investors. Nonetheless,
investorsespecially those from China, which has aggressively set its sights on leading the global clean energy
race. While the immigrant investor program should not be viewed as a magic bullet, it is more likely that carefully
vetted projects that fit into local development plans can have success. Indeed, as noted in Brookings recent report
outlining an economic development agenda for Nevada, one of Nevadas most promising routes to attracting
Other regions
can similarly make use of the so far underutilized EB-5 program to attract much needed
inward investment into their target sectors. EB-5 investment financing should be viewed as one
piece of funding within a broader global engagement strategy
investment in its identified target sectors is by strategically making use of the EB-5 program.
Solv STEM Shortage XT

US economic leadership is collapsing now because of the STEM
gap
Marvin Cetron, president of forecasing international Ltd and Oven Davies,
science analyst and former senior editor of Omni magazine, 8- 2010, Trends
Shaping Tomorrow's World forces in the natural and Institutional environment, The
Futurist, Vol. 44, No. 4
The United States is losing its scientific and technical leadership to other countries.
* "The scientific and technical building blocks of our economic leadership are
eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength," the National
Academy of Sciences warns. "Although many people assume that the United States
will always be a world leader in science and technology, this may not continue to be
the case inasmuch as great minds and ideas exist throughout the world. We fear the
abruptness with which a lead in science and technology can be lost--and the
difficulty of recovering a lead once lost, if indeed it can be regained at all." *
According to the National Science Board, R&D spending grows by 6% per year in the
United States, on average. China spends 20% more on R&D each year. * China is
now second to the United States in the number of research articles its scientists
publish each year and gaining rapidly. * In patents earned each year, Americans are
now in sixth place and falling. * Military research now absorbs much of the money
that once supported basic science. Since 2000, U.S. federal spending on defense
research has risen an average of 7.4% per year, compared with only 4.5% for
civilian research. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been
legendary for its support of "blue sky" research that led to dramatic technical
advances, including the creation of the Internet. Today it focuses increasingly on
immediate military needs and low-risk development efforts. * More than half of
American scientists and engineers are nearing retirement. At the rate American
students are entering these fields, the retirees cannot be replaced except by
recruiting foreign scientists. According to the National Academy of Engineering, the
United States produces only about 7% of the world's engineers. Only 6% of
American undergraduates are engineering majors, compared with 12% in Europe
and 40% in China. Of the doctoral degrees in science awarded by American
universities, about 30% go to foreign students. In engineering, it is 60%. * By
inhibiting stem-cell research, cloning, and other specialties, the United States has
made itself less attractive to cutting-edge biomedical scientists. The United
Kingdom is capitalizing on this to become the world's leader in stem-cell research.
In the process, it is reversing the brain drain that once brought top British scientists
to the United States. More than 70 leading American biomedical researchers have
moved to the U.K. along with many less noted colleagues. Latin America also has
been receiving scientific emigres from the United States. * About 25% of America's
science and engineering workforce are immigrants, including nearly half of those
with doctoral degrees. During the 15 years ending in 2007, one-third of the
American scientists receiving Nobel Prizes were foreign-born. * According to Purdue
University President Martin Jischke, more than 90% of all scientists and engineers in
the world live in Asia. Assessment and Implications: If this trend is not reversed, it
will begin to undermine the U.S. economy and shift both economic and political
power to other lands. According to some estimates, about half of the improvement
in the American standard of living is directly attributable to research and
development carried out by scientists and engineers. Demand to import foreign
scientists and engineers on H-1b visas also will continue to grow. Publicity about the
H-1b program, and about the offshoring of R&D to company divisions and consulting
labs in Asia, in turn will discourage American students from entering technical fields.
This has already been blamed for shrinking student rolls in computer science. In
2005, China for the first time exported more IT and communications goods ($180
million) than the United States ($145 million). Its lead has grown each year since
then.
Solv Boomer Retirement XT

Highly skilled labor shortage coming baby boomer retirement
Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, Edward Alden, Bernard L. Schwartz senior
fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, specializing in U.S. competitiveness, and
Thomas F. McLarty III, former White House Chief of Staff for US President Bill
Clinton, 2009, U.S. Immigration Policy, Council on Foreign Relations,
www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/Immigration_TFR63.pdf
The Task Force believes that the costs of losing preeminence in attracting talented
immigrants would be very high. The United States has hit a plateau in the numbers
of American students graduating with advanced degrees, particularly in scientific
and technical fields. Indeed, the number of science and engineering PhDs earned by
U.S. citizens has fallen by more than 20 percent in the past decade. 23 The United
States will face an accelerating shortage of highly skilled workers as the bulk of the
baby boom generation starts heading into retirement. In 2006, there were more
holders of masters, professional, and doctoral degrees among the age fifty-five to
fifty-nine cohort, which is nearing retirement, than among the thirty to thirty-four
cohort. More worrisome, this stagnation in the educational achievement levels of
Americans has come at a time when many other countries South Korea, Canada,
Japan, France, Spain, and othershave continued to expand the share of their
populations receiving higher education.
Immigration key to mitigate the coming baby boomer

retirement
What would these same citizens say about the three perils of our aging society?
Many may not be thinking about it or considering what lies ahead. Given the
substantial ways in which immigrants can help us meet our coming challenges, it is
time to rethink whether immigrants are a burden or whether they might be a
benefit. There are times when new blood could be much desired. The United States
is currently facing a painful, yet short-term economic downturn. The aging of our
society, as expressed by the ballooning senior ratio and the impending retirement of
the baby boomers, represents a singular event with severe implications for
longterm economic growth and prosperity. Immigration will play a critical role as we
seek to confront this epic challenge. The next president and congress will have to
deal with immigration reform and the retirement of the baby boomers. In order to
deal effectively with both they must not be viewed separately. As policy makers
address fixing our broken immigration system, they must be cognizant of the perils
presented by the retirement of the boomers and the vital role of a rational and
forward-looking immigration policy for mitigating these threats and making America
more resilient.

No backlash to permanent legal immigration increases dems
and reps dont care.
Washington Watcher, 4-20-2010, Legal Immigration Increased (YES
INCREASED!) During The Recession,
http://www.vdare.com/washington_watcher/100420_legal_immigration.htm
DHS has not yet released its figures for temporary workers or illegal aliens. The
few Democrats and left wing groups who make any opposition to immigration
usually focus their attention to temporary workers, while conservatives limit their
opposition to illegal immigration. But the fact is that legal permanent immigration
is by far the most important category of immigration to reduce. While illegal aliens
can get amnesty, and "temporary" workers often end up staying here
permanentlywith anchor babies exacerbating both problemsboth groups in
theory will eventually be out of the country. Legal Permanent Residents, in contrast,
are here, displacing American workers and using taxpayer-funded services, for
good.
Permanent immigration increases popular

Stuart Anderson, former staff director of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee,
is executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, 12- 2008,
Creating Staying Power for U.S.-Educated Internationals, International Educator,
https://www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1285
Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Judd
Gregg (R-NH) have expressed interest in putting off a legislative fight on H-1B visas
and instead first achieving consensus on raising the quotas for employment-based
green cards. Even though H-1B visa holders are not the indentured servants alleged
by critics, everyone agrees that green card holders eventually enjoy the exact
same labor mobility as U.S. professionals, so cries of unfair competition ring more
hollowly.
Green cards are bipart

Huma Khan, staff writer, 4-21-2010, 'Shooting Itself in the Foot': Is U.S. Turning
Away Entrepreneurs?, ABC
News,http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Business/economic-job-growth-driven-foreignenterpreneurs-argue/story?id=10428413&page=2
foreign-enterpreneurs-argue/story?id=10428413&page=2
The bipartisan framework for immigration reform drafted by Sens. Chuck Schumer,
D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., proposes that certain immigrants who are
receiving degrees in fields like math, science, engineering and technology receive a
green card immediately upon their graduation, instead of having to get an H1B visa
through an employer. A comprehensive immigration bill drafted by Rep. Luis
Gutierrez, D-Ill., expands green cards for skilled immigrants and seeks to cut the
backlog that goes into processing these visas. In February, Sens. John Kerry, D-
Mass., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., introduced the Start Up Visa Act of 2010. The bill
would allow immigrant entrepreneurs to receive a two-year visa if he or she can
show that a qualified U.S. investor is willing to dedicate a minimum of $250,000 to
their start-up venture.
The CP has critical bipartisan support prefer our evidence, it

assumes changed republican motivations
Stewart J. Lawrence, immigration policy specialist, 1-14-2011, Is a Deal on
Immigration Possible Before 2012?,
http://www.counterpunch.org/lawrence01142011.html
A second option is to punt on legalization and expanded enforcement altogether
and to focus for now on visa reform - an issue on which there is already much
greater bipartisan agreement. The two sides could agree to work on a bill that made
it easier for foreign scientists and engineers to get work visas and to transition to
legal residency. That would mean raising or even eliminating the current visa "cap"
for high-skill workers (from its current, widely acknowledged to be inadequate level
of 65,000) and changing the rules so that foreign-born students in US schools could
become legal residents more quickly. The virtue of this approach is that it can be
sold as a contribution to US global competitiveness - and a blow to China - and
a step toward in reviving the depressed economy. While it means importing workers
at a time of high joblessness, the workers are widely viewed as ones the country
should have. That probably wouldnt be the case if the visa reform debate were
extended to unskilled workers, reviving the age-old polemics over the pros and cons
of an economy-wide "guest worker program" which have torpedoed bipartisan
initiatives on immigration reform in the past. The GOP far-right has long attacked a
guest worker program as a spur to illegal immigration, while the left has viewed it
as a system for indentured labor and super-exploitation, much like the infamous
Bracero program of the 1950s and 1960s. The Washington Post recently
editorialized in favor of focusing on a high-skill visa program, but significantly, said
nothing about a guest worker program. The Post was merely reflecting the views of
the US business community, especially the high-tech sector, as well as Senate
moderates in both parties, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) whose support
would be critical to initiating such an effort. In short, the vaunted "deadlock" on
immigration that many predicted would last through 2012 may not, in fact, last that
long. Neither party can afford to be viewed as "obstructionist" on an issue that has
proven to be the nation's thorniest and most volatile -but on which the public is
demanding real action. In some ways, the tables have now turned: with the GOP
running the House, it's finally in a position to set the agenda and to compel the
Democrats to respond. And having made clear last week that the agenda is no
longer one immediately guaranteed to inflame Latinos, and much of the nation birthright citizenship - the Democrats must now prepare to parry with the GOP on
workplace enforcement - and beyond. Of course, there's always the chance that the
two parties may get distracted by other issues, and simply try to punt for two more
years. But as the mid-term elections revealed, the do-nothing strategy carries real
risks for both parties -- the Democrats especially. Republicans successfully exploited
immigration as a wedge issue with white voters in key congressional districts,
which helped them win the House. But they alienated some Latinos in California and
the Southwest, and that clearly helped cost them the Senate. With 23 Senate
Democrats up for re-election in 2012, compared to just 10 Republicans, senior
Republican strategists have no intention of making that mistake again. Therefore,
the best option for Democrats is for the President to get out in front on immigration
as quickly as possible and to forge a modest deal that can steal the GOP's thunder.
It won't be the whole enchildada - not even close. But by demonstrating that he's
prepared to embrace the concerns of both parties, and indeed, stand up to his own
base, in the short term, Obama may finally "win" with immigration - ensuring his
own re-election, averting a further rightward slide, while setting the stage for an
expanded legalization program after 2012. Given the current electoral math, that's
probably the best the Democrats can hope for.
The CP has bipartisan support

Cyrus Mehta, graduate of Cambridge University and Columbia Law School, is the
Managing Member of Cyrus D. Mehta & Associates, PLLC, 11-10- 2010, Silver
Lining on Immigration After the November 2010 Mid-Term Elections,
http://www.ilw.com/articles/2010,1110-mehta.shtm
Let's hope that our pessimism is off the mark, although I admit that I might be
dreaming given that Rep. King's anti-immiration rhetoric is shriller than most even
among other enforcement oriented Republicans, http://bit.ly/a6S0ac. There might be
common ground between the President, Democrats and Republicans to pass
incremental measures, which is now the new mantra if anything can ever be
achieved. The Economist also feels that it might be premature to write off any
prospect for immigration reform, http://www.economist.com/node/17366155.
Indeed, there is precedent for this. Some of the most innovative ameliorative
immigration legislation such as the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century
Act and the Child Status Protection Act got passed in a Republican controlled
Congress. One common ground between the Administration and the new Congress,
at least in the short term, is to work together to pass more business friendly
immigration measures, such as more H-1B visas for skilled workers and an
expansion in the employment-based preferences, with perhaps adding new
categories for business entrepreneurs and those with advanced skills in the sciences
and technology. Even Rep. King in the BusinessWeek article seems to be inclined to
pass measures "for higher-skilled workers only if the potential employees meet
criteria to boost the U.S. economy." All these proposals should be appealing to the
new Republican leadership at the helm in the House who believe in the spirit of
personal responsibility, hard work and enterprise , without relying on the
government for a handout. Immigrants best exemplify this ideal. Finally, even
though Republicans gained a lot in the mid-term elections, beware that an overtly
anti-immigration agenda will see you go down in flames like Sharon Angle in Nevada
who demonized immigrants in her election campaign commercials or Meg Whitman
whose hypocritical attitude towards her immigrant nanny was telling on the voters,
http://bit.ly/cZX2Zo . Indeed, it is likely that the reason why the Democrats still
control the Senate is because of Latino voters who either rewarded or punished
candidates based on their attitude towards immigrants. Barbara Boxer, as an
example, was the recipient of this reward. In the past, one of the reasons for lack of
support from Republican leaders, who traditionally supported immigration, was that
the Democrats would take credit. This is no longer true after the recent Republican
election gains. Now is the time for both the Democrats and the Republicans to work
together in Congress, along with the President's support, to pass immigration
friendly measures so that both parties can claim credit among voters in future
election cycles.
EB Visa doesnt link to politics

Adam Green, Two Bills. Two Choices: EB-5 and Startup Bills Now Before Congress, 6/18/2012 EB-5info.com,
http://info.eb5info.com/bid/144537/Two-Bills-Two-Choices-EB-5-and-Startup-Bills-Now-Before-Congress
Two new bills now sit before Congress, and both of them could impact the effect of
foreign capital and foreign-born entrepreneurs on US job creation . The first is Senator
Patrick Leahys (D-VT) EB-5 bill, which would make the EB-5 visa program permanent. Cosponsored by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), this bill would do precisely what its proponents
have been pushing for over the last several years: end periodic Congressional reauthorization of the program and turn EB-5 into an enduring national fixture . Bipartisan
support? Its an ambitious effort, and Senator Leahy has made no bones about his support for it since well before
last Decembers Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the EB-5 program. In that meeting, immigration attorney
Robert Divine spoke on behalf of IIUSA and suggested that Congress make the program permanent sooner rather
If we let EB-5 sunset and face re-authorization in perpetuity, he argued,

many investors will be afraid to invest in new projects lest the program expire as
they make their long-term plans. A compelling argument, indeed, but the question is, will the
bill actually pass? 2012 is an election year, of course. And were faced with a
heavily divided legislature that cant seem to agree very often . Lets just hope that our
elected representatives can find common ground on job creation this is a bipartisan bill and make
than later.
something happen. This is the legislation that IIUSA, numerous regional centers, civic-minded immigration
the larger EB-5 community have worked hard to put into place. Its
passage would lead to more investment in this country, which means more new jobs
for US citizens. And those things are hard for any politician to oppose, regardless of
party affiliation.
attorneys, and
D-VT bill, EB-5 is on the chopping block

Capitol Quotes, 5/30/12, Leahy introduces bill to permanently authorize job-creating EB-5 foreign
investment program, The Mountain Times, http://mountaintimes.info/news/breaking-news/2012/05/leahyintroduces-bill-to-permanently-authorize-job-creating-eb-5-foreign-investment-program/
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced legislation Thursday, May 24 to make permanent the charter for a
successful, job-creating immigrant visa program that has brought economic development and job growth to
the legislation introduced Thursday by Leahy will

grant a permanent authorization to the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center
program. Vermont's Regional Center has been a successful private-public partnership between the State of
Vermont since 1997. After months of negotiation,
Vermont and several Vermont businesses. The bill introduced Thursday will also extend the voluntary E-Verify
program, as well as two visa programs for religious workers and the so-called "Conrad 30," or rural doctors, visa.
The bill is co-sponsored by the Senate Judiciary Committee's Ranking Member Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
"Vermont has been a model for the success of the EB-5 Regional Center Program, and I want to see that great
success continue for Vermonters, and those who wish to pursue business opportunities in our great state" said
I am optimistic
its introduction marks the beginning of a strong bipartisan effort to make these
Leahy. "I am grateful that Senator Grassley has worked with me to craft this legislation, and
long-standing programs permanent. When enacted, the measure we introduce

today will also pave the way for my efforts to improve and build upon the EB-5
Regional Center Program to ensure stability for investors and entrepreneurs, and to
ensure that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has the tools it needs to keep
this program a strong, secure, and vital part of our economy. " Leahy has successfully steered
short-term extensions of the pilot program through Congress. The current authorization will expire in
September 2012. Earlier this week, Leahy secured a three year extension of the programs during the
Appropriations Committee's consideration of the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. Vermont's
Regional Center was re-chartered in 2007. Two Vermont ski resorts, Jay Peak and Sugarbush, are active participants
in the Regional Center pilot program and have been engaged in ambitious development projects. Other capital
investment projects are in the works around the state. Vermont's Regional Center projects have drawn business and
tourism to the state, fueling local economies and creating jobs. Since it was created in 1993, the regional center
program has attracted more than a billion dollars in foreign investment to the United States, and created thousands
of new domestic jobs - hundreds, in Vermont. There are now over 220 Regional Centers across the country, with
new applications pending. The Regional Center program attracts foreign investors seeking legal permanent
residency and a chance to invest in the American economy. Investors must pledge a minimum of $500,000 to a
project within an approved regional center and independently apply for an EB-5 visa. If approved by U.S. Citizenship
(USCIS), foreign investors are granted a conditional two-year

green card. After two years, the investor must provide proof that they have created
at least ten jobs as a result of the investment and have met additional investment
requirements set by USCIS. As a result of the program's popularity, additional
applications are pending with USCIS to establish new Regional Centers in several
states.
and Immigration Services
Cuban Embargo CP
Text: The United States Federal Government should repeal its trade
embargo on the Republic of Cuba.
The embargo on Cuba is a cold war relic that is only hurting the economyKT global trade
Johnson et. Al 10 (Andy, director of the national security program, Kyle Spector, policy advisor for the
National Security Program, Kristina Lilac, works for the national security program, Third Way Publications,
September 16, 2010, http://content.thirdway.org/publications/326/Third_Way_Memo__End_the_Embargo_of_Cuba.pdf, ADP)
The US has had normal trade relations with many countries just as problematic, if not more so,
than Cuba, including China, Vietnam (President Clinton lifted the 1975 trade embargo in 1994), and even
the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War.8 In an era of global economic integration, maintaining
strong economic relations with other countries is vital to growing the economy . The rest of the world
has recognized that Cuba does not pose a threat and has normalized trade relations, leaving the US
alone in its imposition of the embargo. As long as other countries are willing to supply Cuba with
all of its needs, the US embargo will never be effective and will only hurt the US economy.
Furthermore, by blaming the US for Cubas lack of economic prosperity and using the embargo as a scapegoat,
Cubas leadership has eluded responsibility for the poor standard of living on the island and routinely portrays the
Cuba has the potential to be a sizeable market for US goods

should the embargo come to an end. Despite all of the trade restrictions, the US exported $710 million worth
US as an oppressor of the Cuban people.
of food to Cuba in 2008, making the US Cubas largest food supplier.9 A March 2010 Texas A&M University study
found that expanding
agricultural trade and travel between the US and Cuba could result in $365
million in increased sales of US goods in Cuba and create 6,000 new jobs in the U S.10
Global trade is key to the economyempirics and GDP analysis
Griswold, 11
Daniel Griswold is director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute and author
of Mad about Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization. Beneficiaries of Trade: You and Me,
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/beneficiaries-trade-you-me Accessed 7/1/12 BJM
Whenever the U.S. Commerce Department reports rising imports and an expanding trade deficit, the economic
"Rising trade deficit could drag down

economy," is a typical newspaper headline. As the Associated Press summarized conventional thinking a few
months ago, "Growth slows when imports outpace exports, because more jobs go to foreign workers." This is
wrong in theory and in practice. The stakes are high. Misguided worries about imports and
trade deficits feed public anxieties, and can lead policy makers to reach for
protectionist measures that do more harm than good. They can cause investors to misread the
fundamental forces driving growth. Contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy, the U.S. economy shows no
sign of suffering during periods when the trade deficit is expanding. The mistaken
priesthood pronounces it bad news for the economy.
assumption that imports and trade deficits are a drag on growth depends on the seemingly plausible idea that
anything we import is one less thing we make ourselves. The Bureau of Economic Analysis supports this error in its
quarterly estimates of gross domestic product by reporting that a rise in imports always represents a "subtraction in
the calculation of GDP." Don't believe it. Much of
what we import doesn't displace domestic
production so much as complement it. Imports fuel American industry by providing the raw materials,
intermediate inputs and capital machinery our producers need to compete. Competition from imports
spurs innovation, cost containment, and productivity gains. Lower prices for
imported consumer goods allow households to spend more on home-grown
services. The dollars we spend on imports quickly return to buy U.S. assets . In 2010, our
trade deficit in goods of $647 billion was exactly offset by our trade surplus in services and investment income and
our large capital surplus the amount of U.S. assets, including Treasury bonds, purchased by foreigners, minus the
foreign assets purchased by Americans. The grand balance of U.S. international transactions last year, as in every
year, was zero. Contrary to the BEA's unhelpful wording, a rising level of imports doesn't "subtract" from gross
domestic product. The problem is the way by which the government calculates GDP. It doesn't actually count what
we produce, but rather what we spend adding up what the government spends, what households spend, what we
invest, and what we export. Imports are already counted in domestic expenditures in a way that makes them
indistinguishable from domestic goods and services. If the BEA didn't subtract imports from total domestic
expenditures, GDP would be overstated. So, when the BEA reports that imports "subtracted" two percentage points
from economic growth in the past quarter, that doesn't mean that GDP would have grown that much faster without
those pesky imports. It only means that other components private and government expenditures, investment,
and exports were overstated by that amount. The subtraction reduces the overstatement, not real gross
domestic product. In a recent study for the Cato Institute, I tested the conventional wisdom on imports and the
economy. Since 1980, the trade deficit has grown as a share of GDP during five sustained periods: 1982-84, 199295, 1997-2000, 2001-06 and 2009-10. It has shrunk during three sustained periods: 1987-92, 2000-01 and 2006-09.
I then examined how the U.S. economy performed during each of these periods in terms of real gross-domesticproduct growth, equity prices (as measured by the Standard & Poor's 500 Index), manufacturing output, total
civilian employment and the unemployment rate. Contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy, the U.S. economy shows no
sign of suffering during periods when the trade deficit is expanding. To the contrary, real GDP grew more than three
times faster at an annualized rate 3.6%, versus 1% during periods when the trade deficit was expanding,
A rising trade deficit was good news for investors,

as well. The S&P 500 climbed an annualized average of 11% during periods when the deficit
compared to those in which it was shrinking.
was "worsening" compared with less than 1% during periods when it was "improving." Despite worries that trade is
causing the de-industrialization of America, manufacturing output expanded at a robust 5.2% a year during periods
of rising deficits, and shrank by 2% a year when the trade gap was contracting. People who blame job losses on
trade deficits should consider this: Civilian employment expanded at a healthy 1.4% a year during periods of rising
trade deficits, while job growth was virtually zero during stretches when the deficit was shrinking. The jobless rate
declined an average of 0.4 percentage points per year when the trade gap was on an upward trend, and jumped a
the only thing worse for the

U.S. economy than a rising trade deficit is a falling one. Politicians obsessed with the trade
balance should give up the goal of promoting exports over imports. The aim of U.S. trade policy should
be to maximize the freedom of Americans to buy and sell in global markets for
mutual gain, whatever the mix of goods, services and assets we freely choose to
trade.
painful one point per year when the deficit was trending down. Apparently,
Extensions under 2nc econ extensions
2NC Embargo Bad General
Embargo bad, laundry list

Mario A Arezeno, 2003 MBA of Military Art and Science, University of Miami, FL, The US Embargo on Cuba:
A time for change?, https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:8anMK_WN3TEJ:www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc
%3FAD%3DADA416135+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShrnFtmtDsDZt47cdsnJW075RlUHmposSy1Qyq0rBf71lxkX5R0xl41XNUGvYZFj7Z3ykxwHcqfdRA9f5nFE0EGrmu4YAQfEoT
zLUn9g7Q9K3J6sWV1KhiNeGPMzQuxWeVnl9R&sig=AHIEtbRhAS3WSWEWJ7i7mCD642K4BbuBTQ
The counter argument is that it is not about the economics, it is about the advancement of the Cuban society and
Cuba has
suffered from food shortages and a deterioration of the health care
system. The embargo itself is a form of repression of the Cuban people by
isolating them from the basic human needs of food and medicine and the
benefits of economic prosperity. Anti-embargo supporters argue trade is essential for
the spread of democracy and human rights. Advocates argue the embargo is a
human rights violation in itself. Anti-embargo supporters use the Helms-Burton Act as an example
the proliferation of humanitarian resources for the Cuban people. Over the past decade,
to demonstrate yet another inconsistency with the Cuban American lobby argument, by pointing out that the act
they so passionately fight for is about overthrowing Castro, secondly economics, and a distant third the
advancement of the Cuban people. The act primarily focuses on the unconditional removal of Castro and the
compensation for the expropriation of property and not the influx of resources to the island.
2NR
Extend the Arezeno 03 ev, the embargo creates a shortage of wealth in cuba which
has several effects. First it creates food shortages which kills many people in Cuba
and creates a low quality of life. Second it destroys the health care system, which
also prevents treating simple ailments and creates a lower quality of life. Third trade
is the only mechanism that solves for the structural problems of economic poverty.
Fourth only trade solves for the spread of demo and human rights; by opening up
trade we can have leverage over cuba and begin to reform their policies like we did
with all the other former soviet bloc countries. Fifth, the embargo is a violation of
human rights itself. Thats an independent reason to vote neg and also a link to how
the embargo isolate the US from the international community.
2NC Econ Extensions
Extend the Johnson 10 ev, the embargo hurts the US in many ways. First
there are 6 thousand jobs and 365 million in annual sales that were
missing, which is a substantial drain on the economy. Second the US is
isolated by being the only country unwilling to trade with cuba. That
isolates us from the global economy and hurts us even more. Third trade
opens up more econ in the future and brings more freedom to countries in
the future.
Extend the Griswold 11 ev, trade deficits create protectionism that harms
trade even further. Second trade deficits have literally no effect,
statistically a rising deficit correlates with expanding economy. Third
competition spurs the economy through innovation and lower prices.
Embargo destroys global integration and

cooperation
Joy Gordon, Winter 2012, Prof of Philosophy at Fairfield Univ, Senior fellow at Global Justice Program at
Yale, Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Volume 36:1, 63-79
because of the extraordinary power held by the United States

in many domains, the U.S. unilateral embargo functions as a global
embargo. The HelmsBurton Act effectively blocks Cubas access to global financial
institutions-including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, and the InterAmerican Development Bank-by requiring the U.S. representatives
In some regards,
on their boards to vote against granting Cuba membership or access to loans or development by the United States
nearly impossible for any of these organizations to admit Cuba or

provide US' unilateral loans or development aid . In the IMF, the United States holds
almost 17 percent of the votes; only three other countries-France, Germany, and the United
Kingdom-hold more than 4 percent of the Votes. By contrast, over 90 Countries hold 0.1 percent of
the vote or less.26 The World Bank has roughly the same structure. In the
unlikely event that the U.S. vote is not sufficient to deny Cuba access to
financing from the organization, the Helms-Burton Act would then imposes punitive measures: if
the institution were to somehow extend loans or aid to Cuba, the United
States Will reduce its contribution to that institution by the same amount .
in many
2nr extension
Extend the Gorder 12 card, this cards analysis is both broad and deep on the embargo topic. First since the US
holds disproportionate power in all international institutions which prevents any countries from trading with cuba
and stops them from joining international institutions. Second, since the US blocks all trade w Cuba it jams up the
international trade community, that destroys global integration and trade. Third any humanitarian aid given to Cuba
is cut by the same amount by the US. That disincentivizes anyone working with cuba and destroys global
cooperation.
CP solves better for jobs and exports

National Security Program, September 16, 2010, End the Cuba Embargo,
http://content.thirdway.org/publications/326/Third_Way_Memo_-_End_the_Embargo_of_Cuba.pdf
Cuba has the potential to be a sizeable market for US goods should the
embargo come to an end. Despite all of the trade restrictions, the US exported $710 million worth of
food to Cuba in 2008, making the US Cubas largest food supplier. A March 2010 Texas A&M University study found
expanding agricultural trade and travel between the US and Cuba could
result in $365 million in increased sales of US goods in Cuba and create
6,000 new jobs in the US.
that
2nr extension
Extend the NSP 10 ev, the US is missing out on 365 million in trade and 6 thousand jobs. Thats a substantial
portion of the agriculture trade that the US is missing out on and would be greater than and more structurally
solvent than the aff.
Good for econ, politically overwhelmingly popular

Every sector of American society is challenging the Cuban American lobby

that so vehemently fights to maintain the embargo. The International Trade Commission
estimates that the U.S. loses over $4 billion per year in lost trade with Cuba .
The U.S. agriculture sector, led by the American Farm bureau, is becoming one of the
loudest voices lobbying against the embargo, because it is one of the sectors most likely to
benefit from trade with Cuba. Estimated annual losses to the farming community total $1 billion. Cuba currently
imports between $700 million and $1 billion in food products primarily from Argentina, France and Vietnam (Miami
Herald, 2001) at a greater cost and distance, for lesser quality products.
2nr extension
Extend the arezeno 03 ev, the US ag industry loses over 4 billion a year, thats way more substantial than anything
the aff claims to solve
2NC Soft Power DA

Soft power
Center for Democracy in the Americas, Nov 16, 2012, The Paralysis of Analysis and the
Politics of Denial, http://cubacentral.wordpress.com/tag/united-nations/
Carlos Iglesias, a U.S. Navy Commander and a candidate for a Masters Degree at the Army War College, believes
the longstanding
blowback against the policy globally and concludes it isnt worth the
cost: decades-long sanctions against the island have netted few if any
national objectives, all the while depleting substantial national soft
power.The cost-benefit analysis to U.S. national foreign policy will remain
exceedingly unfavorable, if not outright counter-productive .
that the time has arrived. Histhesis, submitted last month, said this about
2nr extensions
Our Center for Democracy in the Americas cards is super hot on the soft-power point; not only does trying to justify
a crippling embargo against a small island country drain substantial international support, but it diverts
international focus from good uses to this blatantly awful use. Our card is from November and interacts with the
current political climate, prefer it on this point
The Embargo kills our soft power- the US just looks like a bully
Rumbaut 11
(Rubn G., ENCASA/US-CUBAUniversity of California, Irvine, The UN, the US Embargo, and the
20 year rout; 10 Reasons to Oppose the Embargo, CubaCentral, October 21, 2011,
http://cubacentral.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/the-un-the-us-embargo-and-the-20-year-rout-10-reasons-to-opposethe-embargo/, ADP)
The
U.S. trade and travel embargo against Cuba is the longest in history,
and the most senseless and irredeemable. It is the act of a bully, based on
pique. It is an abysmal moral and political failure, diminishing not Cuba but
the U.S. in world opinion and respect. It has achieved the opposite of what it has sought,
hurting both the Cuban people as well as U.S. interests. The embargo is
opposed by virtually the entire world as well as large domestic majorities ,
even Cuban exiles and dissidents; yet, the U.S. government persists with its petty punitive policy, not out of
reasoned principle but for internal political posturing. The
spectacle of the worlds largest

economy and sole superpower, seeking in vain for half a century to
strangle a baseball-loving small developing nation that dared to defy it, is a
modern David and Goliath story and no one loves Goliath.
2nr extension
Extend the rumbaut 11 card, the embargo undercuts all of our softpower claims. Cuba is literally one of the weakest
countries in the world militarily and economically. The embargo not only appears imperialistic by coercing the rest
of the world not to trade with cuba, but also creates a david and goliath mentality that rallies the world against the
US.
The world is on cubas side
Benjamin Willis, November 14, 2012, A Glimmer of Hope; Obama, Cuba and United States, founding
member of CAFE (Cuban Americans for Engagement), http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/14/obama-cuba-andunited-states/
Yesterday marked the 21st annual vote by the United Nations to condemn
the U.S. embargo against Cuba. What started out as an attempt to rebuke the U.S. for its policy of
economic strangulation of the island has turned into an yearly denouncement by the entire
planet. The final vote was an almost universal drubbing of the United
States embarrassing policy: 188-3 with the Marshall Islands and
Micronesia abstaining.
2nr extensions
Extend the willis ev from November 14. The world has publically declared for 21 years in a row that the US is wrong
on the embargo. And not just by a small margin, every country except 2 small pacific island countries voted in favor
of cuba. Not only is this the most recent card on the subject but its obviously overwhelming
Embargo discredits Obama

Bradley A Smith, Join the Debate, April 14, 2009, politico, Professor, election law and campaign finance,
http://www.politico.com/arena/archive/newsstoriesobamacuba.html
the consensus among economists in favor of free

trade is roughly as great as the consensus among scientists in favor of
evolution. It's just a question of whether you will roll over and put the self-interest of the unions ahead of the
good of the country. This is a no brainer and your hesitancy on trade calls into
question your commitment to economic growth and to the reduction of
poverty in the developing world, your political toughness, and frankly,
your intelligence. Your commitment to free trade will reaffirm your rapidly
tattering centrist credentials at home, too.
You like to talk about science. Well,
2nr extension
Extend Smith 09, the vast majority of economists agree that free trade is the best way to solve poverty and its
attendant effects. Furthermore, obamas nominal support of free trade and open relations is severely undercut by
his refusal to move at all on the cuba embargo. It signals that Obama is hypocritical and the US is not committed to
its humanitarian aid goals
Repeal improves soft and hard power

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Join the Debate, April 14, 2009, politico, Professor, Harvard Business School,
hard power and soft

power at almost the same time use of force without hesitation in the piracy episode, use of
persuasion and engagement with Cuba. This augurs well for U.S. leadership
at the Summit of the Americas and beyond. Obama has made it clear that
he will be tough on thugs (and drugs), while willing to invest in relationships of peaceful
exchange. And both are good moves for the U.S. economy, in the first instance showing
that we will protect the instruments of world trade, including shipping, and in the case of Cuba,
President Obama just gave the world an astonishing, powerful demonstration of both
opening up a wide range of investment possibilities close to home and

access to a highly educated work force. Brilliant moves.
2nr extension
Extend the Kanter 09 card, this card is fantastic on the points of both soft and hard power. Kanter argues that
dedicated relations and economic openness are key to soft power, and the only major stumbling block left in the US
soft power strategy is the cuba embargo. Second opening the embargo allows for immigration of talented
individuals and a re-appropriation of US forces in a more useful way.
2NC Heg Generals

Repeal improves soft and hard power
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Join the Debate, April 14, 2009, politico, Professor, Harvard Business School,
hard power and soft

power at almost the same time use of force without hesitation in the piracy episode, use of
persuasion and engagement with Cuba. This augurs well for U.S. leadership
at the Summit of the Americas and beyond. Obama has made it clear that
he will be tough on thugs (and drugs), while willing to invest in relationships of peaceful
exchange. And both are good moves for the U.S. economy, in the first instance showing
that we will protect the instruments of world trade, including shipping, and in the case of Cuba,
opening up a wide range of investment possibilities close to home and
access to a highly educated work force. Brilliant moves.
President Obama just gave the world an astonishing, powerful demonstration of both
2nr extension
Extend the Kanter 09 card, this card is fantastic on the points of both soft and hard power. Kanter argues that
dedicated relations and economic openness are key to soft power, and the only major stumbling block left in the US
soft power strategy is the cuba embargo. Second opening the embargo allows for immigration of talented
individuals and a re-appropriation of US forces in a more useful way.
Embargo shows weakness of US heg

MRC May 2003, Asner Defends Castro: We didnt have a free election in 2002, http://209.157.64.200/focus/fnews/908078/posts
when Castro first took

over, we all celebrated enormously. Cuba, which was never supposed to be
under the hegemony of the United States had finally found its freedom .
Within a year, because of pressure by the United States, Fidel demonstrated his
independence of the United States. The United States could not tolerate a
little country, a little Hispanic country 90 miles off the United States declaring its
independence of the United States so immediately embargoes, everything
began to take place, forcing him into the sphere of Soviet influence .
Asner blamed the U.S. for driving Castro to communism: What is the, because
2nr extensions
Our MRC card gives a pretty substantial historical analysis about how the embargo actually weakened US projection
in Cuba by forcing the Cuban governments to turn to Anti-US sources for funding and development, which is still
happening. If the US were to lift the embargo then the Cubans could take the easy route and just trade with the US,
converting cuba and hurting Anti-US entities
2NC Prolif internal

Prolif
A 1998 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Threat Assessment refers to Cubas possibility of developing Weapons of
Cuba possesses the scientific

facilities and expertise to develop Weapons of Mass Destruction and if
misguided or supported by outside terrorist resources it could result in
grave consequences to U.S. national security. These are very real issues
Americans have ignored for over ten years that deserve our attention
before we wake up one day and the media is reporting Fidel Castros
death, and we find ourselves unprepared to handle the situation in Cuba . A
post-Castro regime may result in Cuba becoming a rogue state vulnerable
to terrorist cells, drug cartels, and an economic crisis like the 1991 crisis, another
mass exodus of Cuban refugees to the United States and worst of all
another Cuban Missile Crisis. The U.S. government is aware of these issues and the
consequences of the embargo, but because of political reasons and a small percentage of Cuban
Mass Destruction, at least in the research and development phase.
Americans influencing our politicians and the lack of interest in general by our nation, our leadership has chosen
not to act on the embargo and develop a strategy for improving conditions in Cuba.
Our goal for Cuba
should be to develop a sincere strategy for a peaceful transition to ensure Cuba does not become a rogue
state or the source of illegal migration to the United States by helping improve conditions on the
island through economic growth and prosperity.
2nr extensions
The arezeno 03 card is going to win us this prolif arg. Not only does cuba have the tech to build nuclear weapons,
but they also have the facilities. The most likely source of prolif is going to be from Cuba. Not only can we not know
whether they are developing or not, because of the embargo, but if they were and Castro were to die those nukes
could fall into the hands of a failed state or terrorists. This is an immediate impact that the aff simply cant access.
2NC Environmental Leadership DA

Repealing the embargo solves US-Cuba relations, solves environmental
diplomacy
Whittle 11
(Daniel, Senior Attorney and Cuba Program Director Environmental Defense Fund, The UN, the US
Embargo, and the 20 year rout; 10 Reasons to Oppose the Embargo, CubaCentral, October 21, 2011,
http://cubacentral.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/the-un-the-us-embargo-and-the-20-year-rout-10-reasons-to-opposethe-embargo/, ADP)
Oil
drilling in Cuban waters creates an unprecedented urgency to rethink U.S. policy

toward Cuba. An oil spill in Cuba could be disastrous to shorelines, marine life,
coastal communities and livelihoods in both countries. The U.S. should eliminate
political and legal obstacles that hinder its ability to share expertise if an emergency
occurs in shared waters. The Obama Administration has taken some positive steps
to promote scientific exchange and dialogue on environmental protection with
Cuba. Environmental diplomacydone right and carried out in good faithcan lay
a foundation for real and lasting improvement in Cuba-U.S. relations.
<<Insert impact card>> (there should be some in the CCS aff file)
2NC Deforestation Add-on

Poverty in Cuba leads to deforestation
Reuters, October 21, 2011, http://hpub.org/cuba-embargo-loses-187-to-2-at-united-nations/
Leaders reared in failed states and societies are often backward, gimpy and corrupt.
If enough individuals develop
Cuba, like Haiti,

suffers a permanent economic dislocation, but on a higher plane of poverty
a personality disorder, the national traits of an entire nation begin to change for the worse.
under the direction of a disciplined, well organized group less chaotic than its surroundings. Regardless, the
The ennui of
poverty is standard. The stellar Cuban-American entrepreneur has his
diametric opposite in the feckless nincompoop running Cubas state
enterprises at a loss. He doesnt care, its no ones property. The successful
bonhomie of cheery islanders born in paradise is reduced to levity in both nations.
Haitian businessman is outnumbered 100 to one by Haitians living on less than two dollars a day. He doesnt care
Fallow fields in Cuba at an opportunity cost and deforestation

in Haiti at a profit. In the Third World, churlishness in thought and deed, at work and at play; stupidity and
mediocrity, like a slow-motion earthquake, rumble underfoot for years until all their latent chaos is released in
the avalanche of a natural disaster. Thus, the jerry-built housing stock of Haiti, its concrete
either he got his.
mix watered-down with too much sand and supporting beams lacking Rebar , its housing inspectors bought off for a
song, collapse on the wicked and the innocent alike, and presently the mighty cavalry of the North swoop down on
the Apocalypse, nor will they soon depart.
Defo leads to water corruption, which kills marine

life reforest happening now but only moderate
success
Office of Global Analysis, March 2008, Cubas Food & Agriculture Situation Report,
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_9urCJmM8sJ:www.fas.usda.gov/itp/cuba/cubasituation0308.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShaLq5RsMp7D56eBmSI
y0v1J3MAmVPBNCTpyTOolMbvm-SQxoBCqE1R-bVqGEtAgiXBVlznPsopxYDq6FGohLQAYQoXfo12Et-g5KsZK-wz7CKq3Th_trEAVuiZ0Miyt2G1Z04&sig=AHIEtbTWfLzztlfrMcwVtKPeutAx8NoE6Q
water problems are further exacerbated by Cubas long history of

deforestation. In 1812, Cuba was 90 percent covered with forest, but by 1975, coverage had shrunk to 18
percent. Most of the remaining forests are in inaccessible mountainous and swampy coastal areas. In recent
years, the government has instituted a series of reforestation programs
that have been only moderately successful. One of Cubas best waterbased natural resources is its numerous beaches, reputed to be some of the best in the
Caribbean. The island is narrow and 1,200 kilometers long, with an irregular coastline of 5,746 kilometers . It has
more than 200 bays and more than 300 natural beaches, plus numerous
port cities. Another Cuban water-based resource is the abundance of fish
and other marine species found in its coastal waters. Cubas near-shore
waters also contain many pristine coral reefs.
These
2nr extensions
Our Reuters 11 card is excellent on this point. Cubas poverty means that
non-state individuals have no opportunity to make inroutes to wealth, and
state employed individuals can use public land for personal wealth. That
means the forests of Cuba suddenly become potential wealth sources for
the political elite and the deforestation becomes unchecked and rampant.
Only repealing the embargo can solve for the internals and thus solve
deforestation
Our Office of Global Analysis 08 ev is excellent on the defo impacts. Not
only does defo have the obvious impact of clearing the forests of Cuba,
but it also destroys the shallow water resources which destroys the
beaches, port economy and marine species (including fish and coral reef).
Those internals to bio-d and and econ are way better than the affs. Add on
top of that that our ev talks about the structural nature of deforestation in
Cuba and this becomes the round winning card
2NC Popular
Bipartisan support for repeal
Litvinsky 09 (Marina, reporter for The Global Information Network, Penny Worthy Being Saved, Global Information
Network, April 1, 2009, Proquest, ADP)
bipartisan group of U.S. senators and interest groups

is backing a bill that would end the long economic embargo against Cuba, including
travel restrictions to the island. The 'Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act' was introduced Tuesday
by Senators Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat and Senate Democratic Policy
Committee chair, and Michael Enzi, a Republican from Wyoming. They were joined
by 20 cosponsors, including influential Senators Christopher Dodd and Richard
Lugar, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and
Human Rights Watch (HRW). "The people of Cuba ought to be free," said Senator
Dorgan, pointing to the U.S.'s failed Cuba policy in achieving this. The nearly 50year-old embargo on Cuba is only "punishing American people," he said. If passed, the
WASHINGTON, Mar. 31, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - A
bill would prohibit the president from regulating or prohibiting travel to or from Cuba by U.S. citizens or legal
residents or any of the transactions ordinarily incident to such travel, except in time of war or armed hostilities
between the United States and Cuba, or of imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety of U.S.
travellers. The Cuban embargo, introduced in 1961 and subsequently tightened further, prohibits travel to and
business dealings with Cuba for all U.S. citizens. Many have argued that this policy actually thwarts U.S. interests
and further strengthens the government there. "The
U.S. embargo on Cuba is a 50-year failure,

and lifting the ban on travel is a good first step toward a more rational policy ," said
Myron Brilliant, senior vice president for International Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "The embargo was
implemented to try to bring freedom to Cuba, but it made a martyr out of a tyrant and actually has helped prop up
the regime." Sponsors of the bill include agricultural associations who believe the lifting of travel
restrictions to Cuba will increase U.S. agricultural sales of such commodities as poultry, wheat and soybeans.
Agricultural sales to Cuba have averaged 400 million dollars annually since 2000. " In
the long term we

need to do more to open up channels of trade (in Cuba), like we do in other countries," said
Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Proponents of the legislation point out that the
47-year-old embargo has done nothing to promote democracy or force the Cuban
government to obey human rights standards. "Human Rights Watch has been monitoring human
rights in Cuba for nearly two decades and the dismal state of human rights has not improved," said Jose Miguel
Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division at HRW
Congress wants to repeal the embargo

Congress Daily 09
(GAO Report Gives Road Map for Lifting Cuban Embargo, Congress Daily/ A.M.,
October 2, 2009, Proquest, ADP)
House lawmakers led by Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel offered a plan Thursday for
ending the Cuban trade embargo that has been in effect since 1962. Rangel and Reps. Barbara Lee ,
D-Calif., and Jeff Flake , R-Ariz., released a GAO report outlining steps that could be taken to
end the embargo, which Rangel called "a failed and outdated policy that has not resulted
in any advances for the Cuban or American people."
Three
Cubans key to electoral vote
Although most progressives would agree that last Tuesdays elections did little to resolve the overwhelming list of
there is a glimmer of hope that the United States is

inevitably moving towards a policy of engagement and normalization with
Cuba. Barack Obama and the Democratic party showed that they were able to
listen to voices within the Cuban American community crying out for a new
stance towards the island of their families and their heritage over the din of the distorted hysteria
projected by the historical Cuban exile community of southern Florida. As a result, Obama took a
record amount of the Cuban American votes in Miami-Dade County and
challenges that faces our nation
Democrat Joe Garcia easily beat the hapless Republican incumbent David Rivera for Floridas 26th congressional
victories for candidates who have demonstrated a clear intention

to work towards a more normal policy with Cuba reflect the desire for
both political parties to acknowledge the raw statistics of public opinion polls in
both Florida and across the United States concerning current policy
towards Cuba. After decades of voting for Republican politicians who were willing to cozy up to criminals
district. These
such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles in order to project a hard-line approach the Cuban Americans of
Miami are abandoning their blind support for the policy of economic strangulation that is the United States embargo
Outside of Florida, gains in the senate by Democrats in races

that were all but gift-wrapped for the Republicans just three months ago bode well for
what will eventually be a long slog through both houses in order to finally dismantle the Helms-Burton
Act, the codification of the odious embargo that will be universally denounced in the UN this Tuesday,
towards Cuba.
November 13th.
No link to politics, completely non-unique

Hilary Moise, July 20, 2006, US Embargo against Cuba under Growing Siege,
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/u-s-embargo-against-cuba-under-growing-siege/
the
emergence of economic opportunities in the Cuban market has prompted a
possible thaw in the historic hostilities. Although ideological skirmishes over politics and trade
continue between the United States and Cuba, recent legislative activity in Congress has
broken with the White Houses longstanding tradition of harsh invectives and
vengeful, punitive foreign policy toward the island nation. For example, recent votes in the
House of Representatives on amendments intended to roll back recent
restrictions on travel, trade deals and the embargo itself, reflect the
growing shift in U.S. opinion concerning Cuba.
Washingtons embargo against Cuba has been a longstanding obstacle to U.S.-Cuban relations of any kind, but
Politics turn: energy special interest

The chorus of critics demanding a reform of the embargo policy has

swelled as major U.S. energy companies join the ranks, pushing the State Department
and Congress for a legislative exemption to the trade embargo that would allow them to join the heated
international competition for access to Cuban oil reserves. The longstanding U.S. ideology of
transformational diplomacy has dominated as justification for the strict enforcement of the embargo, yet
economic interests are gathering momentum and influencing the current

intensified lobbying effort to thwart the decidedly unprofitable embargo .
The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates U.S. exporters lose $1.2 billion annually as a result of their
inability to access Cuban markets. The only embargo-weakening legislation to attract any significant support in
Congress this year have been bills concerning the negative economic impact of the embargo on U.S. industry, a
profits are outweighing ancient prejudices in American

political culture, Congress and the Fortune 500.
likely indication that future
2nr extensions
Extend our Moise 06 evidence, it makes the specific claim that congress
and industry are both against the embargo, with powerful lobbies on the
side of repeal. There is literally zero risk that we link to politics here and
only a probably chance we turn it.
Extend Moise 06, There have been 3 different updates to US-Cuba
relations during Obamas term and none of them have sparked the link or
anything near it. There is absolutely no brink here and our evidence is
specific on this point
2NC Ableism internals

Embargo causes more ableism and restricts tools
to solve ableism
Joy Gordon, Winter 2012, Prof of Philosophy at Fairfield Univ, Senior fellow at Global Justice Program at
Yale, Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Volume 36:1, 63-79
Conventional Wisdom holds that multilateral embargoes are more effective than unilateral embargoes. But while
U.S. unilateral measures have not been effective at ending the Castro regime, they have had a
far greater impact on Cubas economy and society than would ordinarily
be expected of a unilateral trade embargo. This is partly because the United States would be
Cubas largest and closest trading partner, and the lack of access to U.S. markets means
that Cuba is excluded from buying a broad range of U.S.goods that cost
less to buy and transport than comparable goods produced elsewhere in the World.
According to a study by the Congressional Research Service, imports to Cuba were 50 percent
higher overall as a result of the embargo.2 For example, Braille machines
produced in the United States, used for teaching blind and partially
sighted children, are significantly less expensive than those produced
elsewhere. Consequently, Cubas costs when it buys Braille machines for
schools are $1100 per machine, rather than $700 for the machines produced in the
United States.3 Likewise, because cytostatic serums, used to treat certain types of
malignant tumors, cannot be purchased from U.S. companies, Cuba buys
them from Europe or Asia, or through third countries, which significantly
increases their costs. Additionally, according to the UN Human Settlements Program, Cubas
inability to purchase construction materials from U.S. sources adversely
affects cost and logistics to such a degree that it undermines the
availability of adequate housing in Cuba. On one occasion, this lack of access to
cheap U.S. materials compromised Cubas Kresponse to housing
reconstruction needs resulting from destructive hurricanes in 2001 and
2002, in both cases primarily affecting the most vulnerable sectors of the population. Thus, even as a unilateral
measure, the fact that the embargo denies Cuba access to U,S. markets is itself costly and damaging to the Cuban
economy.
Lifting embargo key to diabetes and cancer

medicine, a better internal than case
Patricia Grogg, October 4, 2006, Cuba Embargos Boomerang Effect, Common Dreams,
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1004-07.htm
Washington's embargo against Cuba also has an impact on the United States economy and
prevents millions of U.S. citizens from benefiting from Cuban medical
progress, according to a report released by the Cuban foreign ministry. The text of the report will be presented
at the United Nations General Assembly, which on Nov. 8 will be examining for the fifteenth consecutive year the
need to end the embargo imposed by Washington on Havana more than four decades ago. The document states
that "because
of the blockade regulations" it has been impossible to begin

clinical trials in the U.S. with TheraCIM, a Cuban pharmaceutical product for
treating brain tumours in children.TheraCIM is produced by the Molecular Immunology Centre,

which in 2004 made a deal with U.S. company CancerVax to develop and produce therapeutic vaccines against
cancer.This
medication is registered in Cuba and other countries for treating

cancer of the head and neck, and has been proved to reduce tumour mass.
It could benefit children in the United States and other countries with this
type of cancer, the report points out.It also adds that were it not for the embargo,
millions of people in the United States suffering from diabetes could
benefit from Citoprot P, a unique product and treatment method that accelerates healing
of diabetic foot ulcers, reducing the risk of lower extremity
amputations.Citoprot P was developed by the Cuban Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
According to the foreign ministry report, about 20.8 million people in the United States
suffer from diabetes, a chronic incurable disease.
2nr extensions
Extend the Gordon 12 card, not only was it released in the last few weeks
but it makes two excellent claims about ableism in the Cuban Embargo
context. First there are products that would help prevent and cure
diseases that cause detrimental effects. If we were to lift the embargo we
could trade products not only to help individuals in the US but also in
Cuba. That would significantly decrease the impetus against differently
abled people and solve some of the main reasons it is caused. Second the
tools that help people in differently abled positions are significantly more
expensive, both on the Cuban and American side. For example braille
machines cost about 150% more than they normally would, meaning that
tools of solvency are taken away by maintaining the embargo.
Our Grogg ev is pretty good here. The embargo prevents US citizens from
using Cuban based medical advances, including diabetes and cancer
treatments that are significantly better than our medical technologies.
That means about 21 million people suffering from diabetes cant be
helped and many more children and adults will get cancer that could be
easily prevented. Those are structural and ongoing ableist problems that
only the CP can interact with.
2NC Will say Yes
Cuba says yes

Jennifer Gerz-Escandon, October 9, 2008, End the US-Cuba embargo: Its a Win-Win, Christian science
monitor, Professor of Political Science, http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2008/1009/p09s02coop.html
as Cubans recover from hurricanes Gustav andIke, their desire to end the
embargo remains strong. In rejecting a modest initial offer of US aid on
Sept. 4,Cuban President Ral Castro called instead for the whole enchilada
of normalized economic relations. The United States is equally resolute in its nearly 50-year-old
Even
opposition to the socialist dictatorship. As simply put by the CATO Institute, Washington's chief rationale for the
embargo has been to "compel a democratic transformation" in Cuba.
Obama softening the ground for last 4 years, Cuba

will reciprocate trade
Obama could have run on his record of pursuing a different policy with
Cuba he might have been able to carry even more states in the election. In contrast
If
to the empty promises he gave his supporters concerning tackling global-warming, pursuing peace, and rebuilding
his success at re-drawing the line in the

sand between the U.S. and Cuba has been a positive step towards
redefining Americas policy towards the communist nation . Obamas
decision to scrap George W. Bushs policies of allowing Cuban Americans to
travel to the island only once every three years was an easy, yet necessary
step. He changed regulations in favor for open travel to the island by Cuban
Americans in 2009. Remittances were also allowed to be sent and have helped family
members on the island to set up private businesses in Cubas nascent mixed
economy that has resulted from the economic reforms that the Cuban government has implemented in the
Americas manufacturing base with green jobs,
past few years. All of these decisions have been applauded throughout the Cuban American community.
Unfortunately, Cuban Americans have had to defend these rights, not privileges, because elected politicians from
their own community like David Rivera, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Marco Rubio have attacked such simple
conveniences as appeasement.
2NC Agriculture internal link
We access their market internals better

For years, US farmers have lobbied Congress only somewhat successfully to open
Cuban markets, which are lucrative and feature low transportation costs.
Both sides could realize benefits from greater liberalization: relaxed payment options for cash-strapped Cuba and
the end of licenses and quotas for US farmers. Despite the embargo , the
US is Cuba's largest supplier of food and its sixth-largest trading partner.
Repeal would be great for ag sector

U.S. agriculture and other industries stand to increase their profits

considerably, if the Moran amendment succeeds. Combined, exporters sell an average of
$800 million worth of agricultural commodities, food and medicine to Cuba
annually . The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service reports that although in 2004, Cuba became the
21st largest market for U.S. agricultural exports , the new 2005 Treasury regulation
made sales to Cuba more difficult and led to a 22 percent decline in the sale of agricultural products in the Cuban
market the following year .
2nr extensions
Oh my god this Moise 06 ag card is the end of the aff, not only is it specific
it in the amount the repeal would increase the ag exports (800 mil), but it
predicts that the market would be even better in the long term. This card
is better than anything in their 1ac and disgustingly specific. You should
be giving it full weight right now
2NC grain internal

Repeal key to US grain market (and politically
popular)
Greg Dworkin Join the Debate, April 14, 2009, politico, Contributing Editor, Daily Kos,
Current American policy towards Cuba is just stupid . Theres no other single word that
better describes it (well, maybe anachronistic, but stupid is a better fit.) Its ineffective, it hurts midwestern farmers who want to sell grain, its pandering to a no-longermonolithic voting block in a single state (Florida) whose younger members arent obsessed
with it, it criminalizes families, and it desperately needs updating.
2NC Rice internal

Rice Internal
One of the key agricultural sectors that stand to profit from expedited
sales to Cuba is the rice industry. Cuba is the largest single grain market in
the Caribbean, with 40 percent of the regions annual imports. For U.S. rice
producers, Cuba is an almost captive market, as the United States is a
much closer and more convenient source for Cuba than Asia , the next nearest rice
exporter. A 2005 USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report on the potential of the Cuban rice market states that
U.S.
rice probably stands to benefit the most from greater market

access. Furthermore, if trade were not restricted, Cuba could replace Mexico
and Japan as the top market for U.S. rice in quantity and value . The huge
potential of this untapped agricultural market in Cuba could have a
dramatically positive impact on U.S. exports, and private businesses and
trade organizations have begun to fight for access to this market in
earnest. The Moran amendments success thus far demonstrates that when the interests of the domestic
industry stand to benefit, the ideological zealotry that keeps the Cuba embargo afloat can be conveniently
redefined.
2nr extensions
Extend the Moise 06 card, it literally says that if there were no embargo
Cuba would be our number 1 export market for rice. Period. Thats by far
the best internal there could possibly be to the rice advantage and is the
best evidence on this point. Their case has absolutely no way of capturing
this evidence and you should be giving us full weight on it
2NC Dairy Internal

Lifting embargo would triple dairy sales, at a
minimum
Delia Lloyd, correspondent, Politics Daily, 2010, Ten Reasons to Lift the Cuba Embargo,
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/24/ten-reasons-to-lift-the-cuba-embargo/
It's good economics. It's long been recognized that opening up Cuba to American investment would be
a huge boon to the tourism industry in both countries. According to the Cuban government, 250,000 CubanAmericans visited from the United States in 2009, up from roughly 170,000 the year before, suggesting a pent-up
Lifting the embargo would also be an enormous boon the U.S.

agricultural sector. One 2009 study estimated that doing away with all financing and travel restrictions
on U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba would have boosted 2008 dairy sales to that country
from $13 million to between $39 million and $87 million , increasing U.S. market
demand.
share from 6 percent to between 18 and 42 percent.
2nr extensions
Extend the Lloyd card, the aff simply doenst have an answer here. Our
card says that lifting the embargo would increase dairy sales by at least
300% but up to 700%. That means that the Cuban market share would be
about 42% of what the US produces; thats almost half. The economics
here are just too much to ignore. And that change in the economy
happens immediately post Counterplan. The only way you dont vote on
this card is if you let them somehow perm, which is pretty much a nonstarter, but well get to that later on the flow.
2NC renewable energy internal link

Embargo Repeal best internal to renewable energy
By gaining the freedom and cooperative assistance to make this

transition, Cuba could address its own energy dependence while leapfrogging years ahead on modernization. For starters, Cuba could explore the
sugar-bioenergy market and the energy-related uses of nickel . Given the
abundance of well-trained but under-employed Cuban engineers, the
ingredients for a perfect storm of innovation are already present . For its part,
by ending the embargo, the US simultaneously gains security through
stability in Cuba. More important, by investing in the future prototype for
emerging markets a 42,803-square-mile green energy and technology lab called
Cuba America gains a dedicated partner in the search for energy
independence.
2NC Ethanol internal

Embargo repeal means sugarcane, which means
cheap ethanol
Neocon News, Feb 15, 2008, Obama Position Change on Cuban Embargo,
http://www.neoconnews.com/2008/02/15/obama-position-change-on-cuban-embargo/
Cubas main business is growing sugarcane. Using sugar is the cheapest and
most practical way to produce ethanol. Every year from an acre of sugarcane you can produce
750 gallons of ready-to-use ethanol. (And it can be done organically.) If Cuba was allowed to trade
freely with the US it could supply ethanol to US motorists at half the price
you now pay for gasoline. When you look at the figures for Cuba you find that 75% of Cuba is sugar
cane country. Thats like a paddock one hundred and seventy miles square. It would produce enough
to continuously run 30 million cars on straight ethanol . Or 35 million cars
on E85, which a lot of modern American cars are designed for. It is thus very
logical for the oil conglomerates and the Middle East oil states to insist, and demand, and to connive, to insure that
the Cuban Embargo continues indefinitely.
2nr extensions
The Neocon News card is so good on the renewables point, Cuba grows
loads of Sugarcane which could be easily turned into ethanol and sold at
half the price of gas. That means we solve immediately post plan and can
spur a sustainable transition into renewables. Plan simply can not
compete here
2NC illegal immigration internal

Solves illegal immigration and spending problems
Finally,
a key component of renewing relations is ending illicit emigration . At
issue is the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, amended in 1995. It encourages disaffected Cubans to risk their lives for
the reward of an expedited path to US citizenship upon reaching American soil. They also receive immediate access
to a work permit and the ability to acquire residency in one year. A 2002 article from The Miami Herald reported
that
1 in 20 Cubans being smuggled to the shores of the United States dies
in the attempt. Meanwhile, smugglers collect up to $10,000 a person. Retiring the

"wet-foot, dry-foot" policy and normalizing immigration laws could stop the Cuban brain
drain, end charges of a US immigration double standard, and save
hundreds of millions of dollars for the US taxpayers who must fund four
different agencies to implement this policy.
2NC spending internal

See illegal immigration internal link
2NC Oil Spill Add on

Repeal key to oil spill response
William E Gibson, May 10, 2012, Cuba embargo threatens spill response plans, ex US official says,
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-05-10/news/fl-cuba-drilling-panel-20120510_1_deepwater-horizon-cubaembargo-oil-spill
A Spanish energy company is poised to strike oil off the shores of Cuba within a
week, but a former U.S. environmental official warned on Thursday that the
U.S. embargo has hampered plans to protect South Florida from a
potential spill.
Embargo prevents oil spill response, would effect

whole gulf
William E Gibson, May 10, 2012, Cuba embargo threatens spill response plans, ex US official says,
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-05-10/news/fl-cuba-drilling-panel-20120510_1_deepwater-horizon-cubaembargo-oil-spill
Repsol is moving slowly in drilling an exploratory oil well in waters

north of Cuba and the island nation is monitoring the work carefully, the U.S. hasn't done
enough to help prevent an accident there, experts warned Thursday. The U.S.
embargo against Cuba would impede a response, saidWilliamReilly, a former head of the
Although the Spanish company
Environmental Protection Agency who led a probe of the 2010 Gulf oil spill. While the Cubans have been attentive to
the risks, "the
United States government has not interpreted its sanctions

policy in a way that would clearly make available in advance the kind of
technology that would be required" in case of an emergency , Reilly said at aCenter
forInternationalPolicyforum on the drilling. The kind of equipment used in the 2010 spill
could be ensnared by the embargo, Reilly said. Repsol began drilling in February 16 miles from
the Cuban coast. An accident there could send oil into coral reefs along the Cuban
and Florida coasts, saidDanWhittle, a senior attorney with theEnvironmentalDefenseFund. The embargo
generally bars U.S. commerce with Cuba and caps the amount of U.S.-made components in offshore equipment at
allows companies to ask theTreasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets

Controlfor licenses to do business with Cuba. But in an offshore emergency,
that could take too long, said lawyerRobertMuse, an international trade specialist. He said the
10 percent. It
government should create a general license allowing anyone connected with spill response or offshore drilling to
travel freely to Cuba in an emergency. Federal officials say they are making plans for companies to move quickly in
the event of a spill in Cuban waters, including licenses for U.S. firms to deploy equipment.
Cuban waters key to bio-d

Rob
Almeida, May 18, 2012, Drilling off cuba and how the embargo could be very costly for the US,
http://gcaptain.com/drilling-cuba-embargo-badly/
If disaster strikes offshore Cuba, US citizens will have nobody else to blame
except the US Government because outdated policies are impacting the
ability to prepare sufficiently for real-life environmental threats. Considering Cuba
waters are home to the highest concentration of biodiversity in the region
and is a spawning ground for fish populations that migrate north into US
waters, a Cuban oil spill could inflict unprecedented environmental
devastation if not planned for in advance.
2NC Oil Dependence

Cuba oil key to energy stability and international
competitiveness
Steadily increasing competition for limited oil reserves, combined with

escalating fears of rising oil prices among the American public, have
driven U.S. oil companies to seek out new sources of energy . Moreover, in recent
years, suspected Cuban oil reserves in the North Cuban Basin have become much more
attractive. Karen Matusic, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, a Washington lobbying group
representing several companies including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp, has stated that her clients support
the exemption legislation in
the context of increasing access to oil and gas

reserves as a way to ensure U.S. companies competitiveness globally.
Furthermore, Cubas auctioning of access to oil reserves no more than 50
miles off the U.S. shore, is giving foreign oil companies the advantage on
resources in Americas backyard. Recently, oil companies from Norway, India,
Spain and China signed drilling deals that grant access to Cubas offshore
reserves. Demands for an exemption to the trade restrictions being enforced by the Cuba embargo have
grown increasingly more forceful among U.S. oil companies, and their support will improve the chances of the
Western Hemisphere Energy Security Act of 2006 succeeding in the current session of Congress.
2nr extensions
Extend the Moise 06 ev on oil drilling, not only does it set out a pretty
specific timeline brink of right now, because theres fierce competition to
get contracts on Cubas oil reserves immediately, but it also makes the
predictive claims that if we lift the embargo and drill in cuba we could pay
less and have a more secure oil resource. Global context is the issue and
the repeal is the only way to solve
2NC Oil/Venezuela internal

Opening oil trade solves for Venezuelan influence
Office of Global Analysis, March 2008, Cubas Food & Agriculture Situation Report,
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_9urCJmM8sJ:www.fas.usda.gov/itp/cuba/cubasituation0308.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShaLq5RsMp7D56eBmSI
y0v1J3MAmVPBNCTpyTOolMbvm-SQxoBCqE1R-bVqGEtAgiXBVlznPsopxYDq6FGohLQAYQoXfo12Et-g5KsZK-wz7CKq3Th_trEAVuiZ0Miyt2G1Z04&sig=AHIEtbTWfLzztlfrMcwVtKPeutAx8NoE6Q
in recent years, economic assistance and subsidized oil exports from

Venezuela have provided a new engine for economic growth for Cuba . These
But
imported energy inputs have allowed commercial production to increase in some sectors, including some
The magnitude of this support

from Venezuela and expanding trade credits and investment from China have somewhat
mitigated the adverse impact of the U.S. embargo .
commercial agricultural production on the larger scale farms.
2nr extensions
Extend the Office of Global Analysis 08 ev, we turn the South America
power projection by re-engaging with the economies of south America by
the most important focal point, Cubas oil resources. If we lift the embargo
it completely takes out the Venezuelan impetus to help Cuba
2NC European Allies

European Allies detest Embargo
Rory Carroll, October 2009, UN Condemns American Embargo on Cuba,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/28/cuba-embargo-un-vote
US allies such as Britain, Australia and Colombia side against the

superpower, saying its Cuba policy is a cold war anachronism given US trade with
undemocratic states such as China and Vietnam. One European ambassador called the
embargo "demented".
Even
2nr extensions
Extend our Carroll 09 card, the Europeans are literally calling the
embargo demented, there is no evidence better on the attitudinal
orientation between the US and its European allies than our card. Not only
should you prefer our ev, but you should prefer the ev thats specific to
the current situation, and it doenst get any more specific that this.
2NC Russia Relations Internals

The Russian Congress wants repeal lifted
Hispanic Business, Nov 20, 2012, Russias State Duma Calls on US to Lift Cuba Embargo,
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?idx=301282
Members of Russia's State Duma have appealed to parliaments of UN

members states to call for the USA to end its economic embargo of Cuba, Russian
Interfax news agency reported on 20 November. "The unilateral embargo of the Republic of Cuba established by the
United States of America in circumvention of the United Nations will not only restrain the development of the Cuban
economy, but also undermine the rights and lawful interests of Cuban citizens living in other states and also third
states," a statement passed by the Duma on 20 November said. Cuban experts estimate the economic damage to
Cuba since the beginning of the blockade to be more than 108bn dollars as of December 2011, the document says.
The Duma members welcome the initiative of Cuba's leaders which aims to
modernize the national economy and increase the population's standard of
living. They think that lifting the economic sanctions and normalizing
Cuban-American relations will help the implementation of this initiative, the document said. The
State Duma appealed to parliaments of UN members states "to call on the
USA to end its economic, trade and financial blockade of the Republic of
Cuba", the document said.
Repeal Embargo key to Russia relations now key

Russia Times, nov 14, 2012, Moscow Votes to end Washington 52 year Cuban Embargo,
http://rt.com/politics/moscow-cuba-washington-embargo-churkin-669/
Russia threw its support behind a UN resolution that calls on

Washington to end the trade embargo, Russian Permanent Representative to the United
On Tuesday,
Nations Vitaly Churkin said at a meeting of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. "We hope that after the US
government eases its embargo in certain areas in particular, on US citizens' visiting relatives in Cuba, as well as
on making money transfers and postal orders. Other steps for the final lifting of the embargo will follow," the
from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly. He stressed that

has consistently called for the termination of the embargo, in addition to
halting political and military pressure that aggravates confrontational
tendencies in international relations." The UN General Assembly on Tuesday voted
overwhelmingly to condemn the US commercial, economic and financial embargo against Cuba. Russia was
among 188 UN member states that voted in favor of the resolution, which calls on
Washington to lift the embargo against Cuba "as soon as possible."
Russian ambassador said
Russia
Russia wants repeal

Voice of Russia, November 16, 2012, Russia Hopes that the USA may Eventually Lift Cuban
Embargo https://02varvara.wordpress.com/tag/united-states-embargo-against-cuba/
According to Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin , Russia hopes

that the Americans will follow their decision to ease their blockade of Cuba with other moves thatd
fully lift the blockade. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution urging Washington to give up its
trade embargo , which is now in its 51st year. Recently, the USA somewhat eased the blockade. Specifically, its
removed the restrictions concerning visits by US citizens to their relatives in Cuba, as well as allowing cash
Churkin feels that the unilateral US sanctions have proved

incapable of affecting the Cuban people s choice of the model of social
development, but have only served to lower the island countrys living
standards.
remittances.
Cuba is extremely important to Russia

Russia Times, nov 14, 2012, Moscow Votes to end Washington 52 year Cuban Embargo,
http://rt.com/politics/moscow-cuba-washington-embargo-churkin-669/
Between 1959 and 1991, the Soviet Union delivered 170 million tons of oil, 13 million tons of grain, and 300,000
Despite the collapse

of the Soviet Union, Russia remains Cuba's leading creditor and the two
countries maintain close economic ties with each other.
trucks, cars and tractors to Cuba, according to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.
2nr extensions
Theres no way they compete with the Hispanic Business Nov 20 card. Our
ev is recent and specific on Russias feelings towards the embargo. More
than that, its not just some random person talking about it, its the
Russian Congress giving a statement directed towards the US. Its rare
that you come across and honest and excellent card in debate but this is
just one of those.
The rest of our evidence reflects this, not only as diplomats in the UN from
Russia coordinate their calls to the US, but also from economic and human
rights stances. All of our ev is from Mid November up to the present.
There is simply no way that their evidence competes with us on this point.
2NC Russia/Venezuela/Brazil/China internals
Cuba key to Russia, Venezuela, Brazil and China

One News, December 23, 2008, Cuba Projects 2009 economic Growth,
http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2428217/4042040/article.html
Cuba's economy will grow more than 4% in 2009 as new accords with
foreign countries and economic reforms compensate for negative international factors, the
country's economy minister said. Economy and Planning Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez said hurricanes and other
factors would restrict 2008 economic growth to 4%, compared with the planned 7%. " We
are going to
grow more next year than this year," Rodriguez said in an interview broadcast on Monday by
state-run Radio Rebelde."The country has important cooperation agreements . Those
signed with Venezuela, with Brazil and with Russia . Relations with China
will continue and broaden," he said. Communist Cuba's economy, which grew 7.3% in 2007, is more
than 90% controlled by the state. Cuba and Venezuela this month announced more than
150 cooperation agreements for 2009 valued at $2 billion, including continued expansion of
a joint venture oil refinery and petrochemical complex in central Cienfuegos province.
2NC International Law Internal

Embargo is against international law
Russia Times, nov 14, 2012, Russia hopes US may eventually lift cuba embargo,
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_11_14/Russia-hopes-US-may-eventually-lift-the-blockade-of-Cuba/
The UN General Assembly has once again demanded that the United
States "in the shortest possible time" lift the commercial and financial
embargo against Cuba. The blockade was introduced 51 years ago and seriously undermines the
economy of the island. 186 UN member states have spoken out in support of the resolution; three countries have
voted against (including the U.S.), and two abstained. The resolution calls on the international community to refrain
As emphasized in
the document, these actions are contrary to countries obligations under
the UN Charter, and international law.
in future from destructive actions such as those taken by Washington against Cuba.
2NC drugs, terror, trafficking

Cuba will work with US on drugs, terror and human
trafficking
Russia Times, November 14, 2012, Condemned again: Genocidal US embargo on cuba slammed by
UN for 21st year, http://rt.com/news/cuba-embargo-un-vote-635/
Cuba has offered to work in tandem with the US in areas such as the fight
against drug trafficking, terrorism and human trafficking. However,
Washington has affirmed that its policy towards Cuba will remain intact for
the time being.
Lift embargo key to terror and drug trafficking

proximity
threats like terrorist cells operating and

planning attacks from Cuba against the United States, relatively unnoticed
by U.S. intelligence agencies because of our inability to enter the island .
Another ever-present threat is the possibility of the drug cartels using the
island as a staging base or drug transit zone between South America and
the U.S. Illegal migration is another major transnational threat affecting
our nation and the Western Hemisphere in general. With the increasing number of
Present day menaces include transnational
Cuban Americans among our society, it is only natural that these Americans have the well-being of their families
left in Cuba on their minds. If conditions do not improve on the island, Cuban Americans may feel that their only
recourse for the well-being of their families is to continue bringing them to the U.S. by any means possible to
include illegal means.
2nr extensions
Our Arezeno 03 ev makes three claims you need to take down. First the
embargo restricts US intelligence from knowing if any drug or terrorist
related activities are going on. Second the anti-american stance of Cuba
could produce terrorists by normal means of poverty and imperialism.
Third illegal immigration would make it much easier for terrorists to get
into the US by predetermined routes from other Cubans. Only lifting the
embargo solves these causes and it solves them immediately.
2NC Terrorism
Repeal embargo key to relations, terrorism,
sustainable 3rd world dev
Democracy Now, Feb 7, 2012, US Maintains Embargo of Cuba after 50 Years Despite International
Condemnation, http://www.democracynow.org/2012/2/7/us_maintains_embargo_of_cuba_after
its time for us to end the embargo on Cuba. And I think that we have to end it
our planet is shrinking. And our
biggest foreign policy challengeand it feeds intodirectly into the battle on
terrorism and feeds into issues of trade and our economyis how we make
sure that other countries, in developing nations, are providing sustenance
for their people, human rights for their people, a basic structure of
government to their people that is stable and secure , so that they can be partners in a
brighter future for the entire planet. And the Cuban embargo has failed to provide the
sorts of rising standards of living and has squeezed the innocents in Cuba
I think
because, if you think about whats happening internationally,
and utterly failed in the effort to overthrow Castro, who has now been there since I was born. So, its time for us to
acknowledge that that particular policy has failed.
Significant Trade off w terrorism

Keeping the embargo in place requires that the US government devote

time and resources to fighting a Cold War-era threat. Senator Chris Dodd argued in a
2005 oped that the US spends extraordinary resources each year to enforce
the sanctions instead of devoting such resources to the fight against
terrorism. While the financial resources dedicated to enforcing the embargo may be limited compared to
resources dedicated to other causes, lifting the Cuban embargo could put the US in a
better position to fight terrorist organizations by freeing up resources
currently enforcing the embargo. For example, the Treasury Departments Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which governs travel and trade between the US and
Cuba, is also responsible for maintaining sanctions against truly
problematic countries, including Iran and North Korea. OFAC also is responsible
for responding to economic threats posed by terrorist organizations and
narcotics traffickers. By ending OFACs need to regulate the Cuban embargo,
OFAC could instead devote those resources to respond to the current
threats posed by rogue states and terrorist networks.
Lift embargo key to prevent terrorism and

encourage econ & demo
The President of the United States in his 2002 National Security Strategy states Free
trade and free

markets have proven their ability to lift whole societies out of poverty The
events of September 11, 2001, taught us that weak states, like Afghanistan, can pose as great a
danger to our national interests as strong states. Cuba should not be
allowed to become a weak state. Encouraging market reform and
economic trade with Cuba will eventually promote the change both anti-embargo
and pro-embargo supporters want in Cuba.
2nr extensions
The democracy now card is pretty hot; poor relations and lack of growth
are the production factors for terrorism. Only by having development and
a commitment to relations can we reverse that causality. Lifting the
embargo would lead to normalized relations and sustainable growth,
which would solve terrorism.
The National Security Program ev is also excellent on this point, not only
does it cite senator Chris Dodd, who is on the military committee and
would know best, but it also gives a departmental and budget based
analysis of how funding for the embargo (which is generally ineffective)
saps money from real threats of terrorism. Those resources could be
reallocated to more effectively solve terrorism before it happens, which is
a great internal to the terrorism impacts
2NC Genocide
Embargo is tantamount to genocide
RT, November 14, 2012, Condemned again: Genocidal US embargo on cuba slammed by UN for 21 st year,
http://rt.com/news/cuba-embargo-un-vote-635/
The UN has urged the US to lift the 52-year trade embargo with Cuba in an
almost-unanimous vote. Cuba likened the blockade to genocide and said it was disappointed
that Obama had not taken measures to lift the disputed embargo. Of the 193 members of the UN assembly, 188
voted to abolish what is widely perceived as an illegal blockade. The only two nations that got behind the US were
This is the 21st year

running that the UN has decried the American economic sanctions against
the island nation. Cubas Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez addressed the assembly, voicing Cuban
Israel and the Pacific nation of Palau, while two countries abstained from the vote.
disappointment that despite Obamas pledge to open a new chapter in Cuban-American relations on assuming
office four years ago, no steps had been taken the lift the crippling embargo. "The
reality is that the

last four years have been characterized by the persistent tightening of
the embargo,"he said. The Cuban government has calculated that since the blockade was enforced in 1960
the total financial damage to Cubas economy is around US$3 trillion. Rodriguez qualified the maintenance
of the embargo as tantamount togenocideand amassive, flagrant and
systematic violation of the human rightsof the people of Cuba.
2NC Demo Promo

Trade in cuba key to demo
Delia Lloyd, correspondent, Politics Daily, 2010, Ten Reasons to Lift the Cuba Embargo,
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/24/ten-reasons-to-lift-the-cuba-embargo/
It's good politics. Supporters of the trade embargo -- like Cuban-American Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) -- have
long argued that easing the restrictions would only reward Castro for the regime's ongoing repression of political
dissidents. We need to keep up the economic pressure on Cuba, so this logic goes, in order to keep pressure on the
there's a long-standing empirical

relationship between trade and democracy . The usual logic put forth to explain this
relationship is that trade creates an economically independent and politically
aware middle class, which, in turn, presses for political reform. It's not clear that this
regime to do something about human rights. But
argument actually holds up when subjected to close causal scrutiny (although the reverse does seem to be true -i.e., democratic reform creates pressure for trade liberalization ). Still, it's difficult to
disagree with the proposition that by enabling visiting scholars and religious groups to stay in Cuba for up to two
years (as the presidential order would allow) rather than a matter of weeks (as is currently the case) we'd be
easing the current travel restrictions would

allow for far deeper linkages between non-governmental organizations from
both countries, which some see as a powerful mechanism for democratic
reform. Second, because American visitors would be staying on the island
longer, scholars and activists alike would gain much better insight into
where the pressure points for democracy actually exist.
helping, not hurting, democracy in Cuba. First,
Repeal key to demo and econ dev in cuba

Peter Hakim, President of the Inter-American Dialogue, has rightly argued that a democratic
society in
Cuba should be the objective of U.S. engagement, not a precondition.
Vietnam and China both fall under the rule of communist leadership, yet
the US has taken steps to establish formal diplomatic relations and open
trade with both countries. Cuba should not continue to be the exception. Others
have argued that US-Cuba cooperation on issues such as counter-narcotics
efforts could benefit both countries and initiate trust-building among the
two countries. Policymakers on both sides of the aisle can agree that the embargo has failed to
meet its stated purpose of bringing change to Cubas communist
government, making a change in course a necessary next step. Lifting the
antiquated embargo would help to move Cuba into the 21 st century,
removing the barriers currently preventing the US from engaging Cuba
and presenting the US with an opportunity to bring about change in Cuba
through economic and diplomatic channels. By opening Cuba, the US could finally achieve
the change it has been seeking for nearly fifty years.
Repeal key to demo, trade, rights, communication,

anti-authoritarianism
Daniel Griswold, October 12, 2005, Four Decades of Failure: The US Embargo against
Cuba,http://www.cato.org/publications/speeches/four-decades-failure-us-embargo-against-cuba
Economic sanctions rarely work. Trade and investment sanctions against

Burma, Iran, and North Korea have failed to change the behavior of any of
those oppressive regimes; sanctions have only deepened the deprivation
of the very people we are trying to help. Our research at the Cato Institute confirms that
trade and globalization till the soil for democracy. Nations open to trade
are more likely to be democracies where human rights are respected .
Trade and the development it creates give people tools of communication cell phones, satellite TV, fax machines, the Internet- that tend to undermine oppressive
authority. Trade not only increases the flow of goods and services but also
of people and ideas. Development also creates a larger middle class that
is usually the backbone of democracy.
Solves poverty and demo promo

free trade and open markets do

promote open economies and societies with greater freedom for their
people, with better opportunities and less poverty. Less poverty equals stability. Charles
Critics argue free markets do not promote democracy. However,
William Maynes, President of the Eurasia Foundation and a leading political scientist in the United States calls this
idea of free markets promoting democracy Liberal Internationalism. He argues o pen
markets lead to
the formation of a middle class; the middle class then brings pressure on
non-democratic governments to open the political process; once that
opening occurs, democracy develops.
Repeal key to demo in Cuba

Scholastic, Should the US end its cuba embargo?, Sept 6, 2012,
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/should-us-end-its-cuba-embargo
It's time for a fundamental change in our Cuba policy . We can start by ending
the trade embargo and by lifting the ban on travel to Cuba by American citizens. Only by
engaging the Cuban people, and by building bridges between our citizens
and theirs, will we succeed in bringing freedom and democracy to our
neighbor.
2nr extensions
Extend the Lloyd ev here, theres a cycle of demo-trade that can only be
brought about by lifting the embargo. Open trade produces democratic
results by allowing more ideas and interactions, that in turn leads to more
trade by increasing standards of living and economic prosperity, which
leads to more democratization, etc. The first step is to lift the embargo,
the aff has no routes into this ev.
The National Security Program is great on the point of development, it
gives an historical analysis of how the embargo has hurt democratic and
economic development in Cuba by restricting outside dialogue and making
Cuban people reliant on the Castros. If the embargo were to be lifted new
ideas and money would flood in to the people and release them from the
grip of the Castros, thus making the foundation for democratic and
economic growth.
Extend the Griswold 05 ev, Not only does it give a pretty good historical
analysis of how sanctions dont work, it specifically relates how the Cuban
embargo has been particularly counter-effective. He goes on to explain
that globalization opens space for democracy and economic development.
That means a more stable, upwardsly mobile citizenry which would
challenge authoritarianism. Also open trade makes more open liberalized
societies, contributing to an antiauthoritarian global system.
Extend the Scholastic article, the embargo has failed to produce
democratic results, only be allowing cultural exchange and economic
interaction can we hope to foster democracy in Cuba.
2NC Poverty Internal

Poverty
Pat Flanagan, et al, No date, Allan Bellanger, Shaun Hughes, Luke Filipos, The US/Cuba Embargo,
http://www.angelfire.com/empire2/nwh0/
The United States should lift the embargo on Cuba sooner rather than
later to help the Cuban people. The embargo has lasted forty years and it has not worked.
According to U.S. Representative Mike Ross "The US embargo was put in place some forty
years ago, yet it has failed to open the doors of democracy to the Cuban
people." If this embargo is lifted there is a good chance that the people of
Cuba will be brought out of poverty and the standard of living will
improve. The embargo has been more of a detriment to the people than to Castro.
It has destroyed jobs and opportunities for the people . Castro is the culprit and the
people should not be put at fault for his wrongdoings. He earned his wealth by taking advantage of the people of
Cuba and
the people must have a way to escape poverty.
2nr extensions
Extend the Flanagan ev, its pretty good on the point that the embargo
actually makes it harder to interact with Cubans which is a detrement to
both economic and democratic reform. Without lifting the embargo
Cubans are indefinitely relegated to poverty, thats a systemic impact that
the aff simply cant access
2NC Internet access Internal

Embargo prohibits internet access
Katie Dodge, No Date Given, The United States Embargo on Cuba,
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/infosurgentscuba/u.s._embargo_
The embargo completely hinders Cubans from accessing the technology

that would allow a free-flow of information with the rest of the world.
Citizens are cut off from the world around them, and even when they are able to access
Internet cafs, the Internet is so slow and heavily monitored that it is
virtually impossible to do more that send an email or two. Dissidents are
heavily persecuted, and it is common for journalists to be imprisoned for subverting the Cuban law.
Because of the embargo imposed by the United States, the Cuban government is given more power over its
citizens and their abilities to communicate with the rest of the world. In addition, the restrictions on traveling into
and out of the country make it difficult for information to spread in the absence of Internet access.
2nr extensions
Our Dodge ev is really good here, there are 3 issues preventing Cuban
internet access. First the embargo makes it so that the internet is
extremely slow. Second the internet is monitored heavily, and third
dissidents are persecuted for even small slights. The only way to solve
that problem is to open the embargo and allow free flow of goods and
services.
2NC UN/Intl Law Legitimacy

UN-US relations/ UN legitimacy
Pat Flanagan, et al, No date, Allan Bellanger, Shaun Hughes, Luke Filipos, The US/Cuba Embargo,
http://www.angelfire.com/empire2/nwh0/
The trade embargo by the United States on Cuba is unfair on account of

the fact that it is not sanctioned by international law ; it is an abuse of the U.S. power;
and the UN is against it, which could prove detrimental to the integrity of the U.S.
and UN. The United Nations and the Customary International Law do not sanction this embargo because the UN
only approves the embargo under certain circumstances, which the current embargo on Cuba has not met. By
continuing this cessation of trade the U.S. is violating many of the statements made by the UN to help promote
trade; most notably statement seven which states "Maintaining liaison with other United Nations organs and
specialized agencies concerned with international trade. It is also an abuse of the U.S. power. The United States
this could
hurt the already shaky relations between the U.S. and the rest of the U.N.,
and could even put them on bitter terms if the embargo is kept up .
does not have the authority to do what it wants, whether or not it may have the power. And lastly,
2nr extensions
Extend the Flanagan ev, not only is the embargo illegal under
international law but it continues to be a detriment to US-UN relations and
may even become a major point of souring if it continues. On top of that, it
hurts the integrity of the US and UN as international sources.
2NC South America internal

Embargo epitomizes the anti-heg narrative of latin
America
Delia Lloyd, Feb 7, 2012, On Marco Rubio, Repealing the Embargo and Reading Castros Memoirs,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/post/on-rubio-repealing-the-embargo-and-reading-castrosmemoirs/2012/02/06/gIQAwFCHwQ_blog.html
Understanding Castros life is also key to understanding Latin American

ideas about sovereignty. To this day, Castros Cuba retains a sort of hallowed
place in Latin Americas David vs. Goliath mentality the tiny island that
stood up to its hegemonic neighbor. I recently took a tour of the presidential palace in
Argentina, which holds, on its first floor, a gallery of portraits of influential Latin American heroes.
Cuba relations key to reverse historic heg slippage

in Latin America
William M LeoGrande, 2010, Latin American Research Review, Vol 45, No. 2, pp 217-227, Cranky
Neighbors: 150 Years of US-Cuban Relations,
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/latin_american_research_review/summary/v045/45.2.leogrande.html
January 2, 2009, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the triumph of the

Cuban Revolutionhalf a century in which the third world was decolonized; the cold war
came to an end; and globalization put health, environment, crime, and terrorism on the transnational agenda. In
the hegemony of the United States dissipated, fundamentally

transforming ties with the hemisphere. Yet relations between Washington
and Havana remained frozen in time, hardly changed from the earliest
months of Fidel Castro's rule. No other aspect of U.S. diplomacy around
the globe was so unaffected by the momentous changes that swept through and transformed the
Latin America,
international system. Like Dorian Gray, U.S. policy has stayed unnaturally ageless while all about it changes. What
is it about this "infernal island," as Teddy Roosevelt called it,that gives rise to such singular obsession on the part of
the United States? The revolution's fiftieth anniversary has brought forth a spate of new books on U.S.-Cuban
relations that, either explicitly or implicitly, offer answers to that question.
2nr extensions
This LeoGrande 10 card is disgustingly good, it gives historical analysis as
to why the US has lost hegemonic power projection in South and Central
America because its been seen as too forceful and harsh, specifically in
the case of Cuba. If we lift the embargo and reverse the trend we can start
re-projecting heg into the Americas and repair our global diplomacy
Extend the Lloyd 12 ev, it makes a pretty specific claim that the embargo
props up the South American Anti-US narrative. If we removed the
embargo it would remove that narrative and open space to begin working
better relations with other South American countries
2NC Imperialism
Embargo is imperialism
UN General Assembly, October 25, 2011, UN Plenary 41st and 42nd meetings,
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2011/ga11162.doc.htm
the resolution reflected the

common understanding and will of the international community
concerning the inhumane and illegitimate embargo imposed by the
United States against the Cuban Government and people. Depriving civilian
populations of their economic and social rights infringed upon their basic
human rights and was therefore illegal. Indeed, this was the main feature of
the sanctions as known today. Such measures were illegal largely because
economic sanctions were a tool to impose hegemonic intentions of big
powers; sanctions always ended in targeting daily lives of civilians;
sanctions had proven to be futile and there was no strong proof that
independent nations compromised their revered national interests to
hegemonic powers due to sanctions.
The representative of Iran said that the overwhelming support for
Imperialism
the United States has lost

international credibility, by passing a law criticized as imperialistic in
nature by the U.S. imposing its power, authority and influence over a
sovereign nation, with unconditional and inflexible terms for change before it will
The flaw with this idea and the Helms-Burton Act is that
entertain the idea of lifting the embargo. This is not the intent of an embargo. An embargo is not designed to
mandate how a country should run its internal affairs.
2nr extensions
We have a much better link into imperialism in our UN ev, the
international community literally calls the embargo inhumane and
illegitimate while also illegally ignoring human rights. Not only is it
hegemonic, its completely imperialistic. If you have any doubt who
opposes imperialism this card should wipe that doubt away
2NC Nickel/Cobalt internal

Cuba key to Nickel and Cobalt resources
Patricia Grogg, October 4, 2006, Cuba Embargos Boomerang Effect, Common Dreams,
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1004-07.htm
the U.S. imports about 148,000 tons of primary nickel and some
10,000 tons of cobalt annually "from distant markets."But "If the blockade
did not exist," it could purchase these raw materials from Cuba, only 200
kilometres away, the report notes.At present Cuba produces about 77,000 tons of
nickel a year, and output is set to increase through an investment programme agreed with Canada in March
2005 for the expansion and modernisation of a joint venture company to exploit the mineral.Cuba has
proven nickel reserves of 800 million tons, and potential reserves are
estimated at two billion tons. The country's cobalt reserves amount to
approximately 26 percent of total world reserves, according to official
sources.
In addition,
2nr extensions
Our Grogg ev is pretty hot here. It specifically says that Cuba has about
26% percent of the worlds Cobalt and Nickel reserves. If the embargo
were lifted that resource would be immediately open to us and solve all
their internal links
2NC hardpower defense

Their hardpower internals dont mean anything in
the Cuba context, softpower is key
phasing out the Cuban embargo won't render a quick solution to fractured US-Cuba relations
or end the evaporation of esteem the US is suffering throughout Latin America, it would mark a
significant achievement of hemispheric leadership on a divisive issue . By
ending the embargo, the US may learn that under the right circumstances, the soft power of
diplomacy proves more effective in reshaping America's perception in
Latin America than the hard power of economic isolation ever did .
While
2NC realism
Embargo is anti-realist
Stephen M. Walt Join the Debate, April 14, 2009, politico, Professor of International
Affairs, Harvard, http://www.politico.com/arena/archive/newsstoriesobamacuba.html
The shift is long overdue. Our long-standing embargo of Cuba (and the
related travel restrictions) has been a failure for over four decades. It didnt make
much sense during the Cold War and makes even less sense now, and has been
kept in place solely to appease a narrow interest group that was
motivated more by spite than by a sense of realism. We could have done a
lot more to undermine Castro by opening up to Cuba and showing his
countrymen what they were missing, instead of giving him a bogeyman to
rail against and to use to justify his own oppressive rule. Obamas initiative
is but a first step, but its the right one. And better late than never.
2NC solves communism

CP solves Cuban communism through trade
Michael K. Fauntroy Join the Debate, April 14, 2009, politico, Asst. Professor of Public Policy, George Mason
University, http://www.politico.com/arena/archive/newsstoriesobamacuba.html
Cuban communism will fall of its own weight once their people see the
impact of U.S. economic interaction with the island nation . It may not happen soon,
but it will happen faster than if the status quo continued. T he Castro regime may well prove to
be a paper tiger and ending the embargo will get us closer to an answer . I
am among those who believe that the U.S. embargo has delayed the inevitable in
Cuba. Those arguing against this change and defending a failed status quo are locked into a failed ideological
view of U.S.-Cuba relations and will be proven wrong. In some ways, its not their fault. Many were born into a
fiercely divided community on this issue and went with the prevailing sentiment. The results of the 2008 Florida
general election revealed a generational divide that helps to make this policy all the more sensible.
A2 Cuba heg counter

Cuba doesnt counter US power in latin America
post CP
Peter Brookes, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense under George W. Bush, said that
lifting the embargo could lead to Cuba becoming a regional power, arguing that
the US [doesnt] need a pumped-up Cuba that could become a serious menace to US interests in Latin America,
While Venezuela, for example, has challenged the US on

some interests, its anti-American leadership has not been able to present
a serious counterweight to the US or have a significant impact on US
security. Given that Venezuela is a much bigger economic player than
Cuba due to its oil revenues, it is highly unlikely that Cuba would pose a significant
geopolitical challenge to the US, even if significant sums of money enter
Cubas economy.
the Caribbeanor beyond.
2nr extensions
Our ev is pretty good, it makes comparative claims about Venezuela not
being able to challenge the US on heg, and compares Cuba to a miniature
version of Venezuela. If Chavez cant challenge, then Castro definitely cant
A2 Repeal helps Castro

Embargo enhances Castros power
Daniel Griswold, October 12, 2005, Four Decades of Failure: The US Embargo against
Cuba,http://www.cato.org/publications/speeches/four-decades-failure-us-embargo-against-cuba
embargo actually enhances Castros standing by giving

him a handy excuse for the failures of his homegrown Caribbean socialism .
He can rail for hours about the suffering the embargo inflicts on Cubans,
even though the damage done by his domestic policies is far worse . If the
As a foreign policy tool, the
embargo were lifted, the Cuban people would be a bit less deprived and Castro would have no one else to blame for
If the goal of U.S. policy

toward Cuba is to help its people achieve freedom and a better life, the
economic embargo has completely failed. Its economic effect is to make the people of Cuba
the shortages and stagnation that will persist without real market reforms.
worse off by depriving them of lower-cost food and other goods that could be bought from the United States. It
means less independence for Cuban workers and entrepreneurs, who could be earning dollars from American
Meanwhile, Castro and his ruling elite enjoy a

comfortable, insulated lifestyle by extracting any meager surplus
produced by their captive subjects.
tourists and fueling private-sector growth.
No embargo, no Castro
Castro has successfully charmed the United Nations and the world into
believing the root of his economic and social failures are the sanctions
imposed by the United States. He has manipulated public opinion, the
media and his people into convincing them the root of all evil is the United
States. He has transformed the embargo into the evil instrument of the
bully America, on the poor and defenseless island who poses no threat to the free world. It appears the
sanctions are helping Castro personally maintain power by rallying
support against the embargo from the international community and his
country. Has the time come to lift the embargo on Cuba? If not for the sake of the Cuban people, then for the
sake of no longer being Castros scapegoat.
No Vindication of Castro
lift the embargo now, does not mean we have to like Fidel Castro
or agree with his politics. The idea is to get involved while things are
Because we
relatively stable and influence the situation under peaceful conditions

rather than the alternative of crisis action and possible military
intervention.
2nr extensions
Extend Griswold 05, not only has the embargo failed, but it is actually
counterproductive. By cutting off the Cubans from the US, Castro can
blame the US for any inequities or structural deficiencies on the US and
strengthen his power for nothing. The embargo not only removes Castros
excuses, but it also challenges his totalitarian claims by allowing more
exposure from outside sources
A2 Cant solve right now
Companies ready now, only thing in way is

embargo
Jennifer
Dlouhy, May 10, 2012, Experts say Cuba embargo could worsen a spill,
http://www.chron.com/business/article/Experts-say-Cuba-embargo-could-worsen-a-spill-3550198.php
Houston-basedHelix Energy Solutions Grouphas a license to deploy a device to cap a

gushing subsea well, designed for Repsol's drilling. The device is in Houston. Helix has staged chemical
dispersants, remotely operated vehicles and other equipment near Tampa, Fla., but it could be on
the scene faster if it were in Cuba, said Lee Hunt, former head of theInternationalAssociationof
Drilling Contractors.
A2 aff solves CP general

No risk of aff solvency, 6 cuba embargo specific
reasons
Rob
Almeida, May 18, 2012, Drilling off cuba and how the embargo could be very costly for the US,
http://gcaptain.com/drilling-cuba-embargo-badly/
Its a great start, and Helix certainly proved their capabilities during the 2010 Macondo well blowout and oil spill,
Cuba is under a full economic and diplomatic embargo with massive

implications. This means:1) The Scarabeo 9s blowout preventer, the most crucial piece of well
control equipment on board the rig was made by a US company. The trade embargo prohibits OEM
spare parts or repair items to be sold to Repsol. Also, technical expertise
from the OEM cannot be provided. 2) The capping stacks which have been created by
Helix ESG, BP, the MWCC and others, are not authorized for use in Cuban waters. This
means, if an uncontrolled blowout does occur, these essential piece of
equipment will not be available until authorization is given and a delivery
method determined. This is a significant issue considering the BP capping
stack weighs somewhere around a half million pounds . Reports indicate
there are no cranes in Cuba capable of lifting such a piece of gear that
massive on to a ship. 3) The deepwater drilling experts in the US are not
authorized to provide assistance to Cuba in case of a disaster. 4) All the training
programs that have been developed post-Macondo are not available for Cuban
nationals. In fact, any training that will result in a professional license or
certification is off limits to Cubans. 5) Tyvek suits, the essential work-wear for HAZMAT
cleanup, are not authorized to be brought into Cuba due to supposed military
applications. In addition the Scarabeo 9 was classed by DNV on 19 August 2011 in Singapore,
and she is due for her 1-year checkup on 19 August 2012, with a 3 month window on either side
of that date. As expected, DNV has told us that there will be no US-based employees
involved.
however
A2 Perm (Prez only Plans)

Prez cant do alone, needs congress (no perm)
Congress stipulated a requirement that only Congress may amend

the act, removing any policy authority from the President and his ability to
modify the embargo in response to reforms that may take place in Cuba.
In addition,
Prior to Helms-Burton, the embargo had to be renewed annually and its authority rested with the President, but
under Helms-Burton, the authority over the sanctions was transferred to

Congress, investing only the legislature with the power to permanently
reduce or eliminate the embargo altogether (Schwab 1999, 184).
Aff Links to Politics

Embargo popular- too risky to pass during an election year
Hall and Ordonez 12
(Kevin and Franco, reporters for McClatchy Newspapers, Cuba Embargo Costly to
U.S. Business, Herald Net, April 15, 2012, http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20120415/NEWS02/704159928, ADP)
But the embargo is popular in Florida, a battleground state in the upcoming

presidential election, where Cuban exile voters in Miami will no doubt prove a major
influence. Ninoska Perez, a commentator on Miami's Spanish-language Radio Mambi, said nothing has
happened in Cuba that merits lifting the embargo. The Castro regime continues to repress its
people, she said, adding that during Pope Benedict's recent visit, dissidents were prevented from attending events
Rep. David Rivera, R-Fla., also defended the embargo, saying

it's the only foreign policy tool the United States has to ensure that the next
government doesn't follow the Castro regime's leadership path.
and had their phone lines cut.
Restoring Americas Future CP
Note - What the CP does

FYI - What the CP does
Minarik et al 10 - Senior VP and Director of Research, Comm. for Economic
Development Former Associate Director for Economic Policy, OMB Former Chief
Economist, House Budget Committee <Dr. Joseph Minarik. Restoring Americas
Future Executive Summary Debt Reduction. November 2010.
1. Revive the Economy and Create Jobs Enact a payroll tax holiday for one year (2011) excusing
employers and employees from paying the 12.4 percent tax into the Social Security Trust Funds. Under Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) assumptions, this will create between 2.5 and 7 million new jobs. The tax
holiday will not impact the solvency of the Trust Funds, which will be reimbursed in full from
general revenues at the same time that they would have received payments in the absence of the holiday. 2. Reduce and
Stabilize the Debt By 2020, reduce and stabilize the federal debt below 60 percent of GDP , an
internationally recognized standard for fiscal stability, and reduce annual budget deficits to manageable levels. The plan will
balance the primary budget (the budget other than interest) by 2014. On a unified budget
basis, which includes interest, the plan will ensure that future budget deficits are small and
manageable. But, above all, it will ensure a strong economy for future generations of Americans. Reduce federal
spending from a projected 26 percent of GDP to 23 percent by 2020,

with revenues at 21.4 percent. These fiscal changes will enable the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates
down longer in order to strengthen the economic recovery. 3.
Create a Simple, Pro-growth Tax System Cut tax

rates; broaden the tax base; boost incentives to work, save, and invest; and ensure, by 2018, that
nearly 90 million households (about half of potential tax filers) no longer have to file tax returns. Cut individual
income tax rates and establish just two rates 15 and 27 percent replacing the current six rates that go up to 35 percent. 16 |
P a g e Cut the top corporate tax rate to 27 percent from its current 35 percent, making the United States a more attractive place
to invest. Eliminate most deductions and credits and simplify those that remain while making them better targeted and more
effective. Replace
the deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions with 15

percent refundable credits that anyone who owns a home or gives to charity can claim. Restructure provisions that
benefit low-income taxpayers and families with children by making them simpler, more progressive, and enabling most recipients to
receive them without filing tax returns. Establish a new 6.5 percent national Debt Reduction Sales Tax (DRST) that along with
the spending cuts outlined in this plan will reduce the debt and secure Americas economic future.
These reforms, taken

together, will make the tax system more progressive. 4. Restrain Rising Healthcare Costs (Savings
through 2020: $756 billion, excluding interest) Incentivize employers and employees to select more costeffective health plans: Cap the exclusion of employer-provided health benefits in 2018, and then
phase it out over ten years. Control Medicare costs in the short term: Gradually raise Medicare Part B
premiums from 25 to 35 percent of total program costs (over five years). Use Medicares buying power to
increase rebates from pharmaceutical companies. Modernize Medicares benefits package, including the copayment
structure. Bundle Medicares payments for post-acute care to reduce costs.
Restoring Americas Future
1NC Shell
CP Text: The United States federal government should implement the

Restoring Americas Future plan.
OR
CP Text: The United States federal government should

-
Suspend Social Security payroll taxes for one year,

Extend efforts to balance the primary budget by 2014,
Freeze domestic and defense discretionary spending,
Cut spending in farm and government retirement programs, and
Create a simple, pro-growth tax system that broadens the base and
reduces rates.
The Restoring Americas Future plan is bipartisan and solves the economy
We offer this plan as proof that a group of Republicans, Democrats, and
Independents can work together to create a balanced package of spending cuts and
revenue increases that solves the debt crisis. Other groups might prefer other
combinations of policies to reach the same ends. We created this plan to show that
it can be done and thereby encourage others from both political parties to bring their ideas to a constructive,
respectful, and ultimately successful dialogue. Overview America is the strongest, most prosperous, and most
Americas leadership and greatness, our strength and

prosperity, are not guaranteed. We face two huge challenges simultaneously. First, we must recover
resilient nation in history. However,
from the deep recession that has thrown millions out of work, slashed home values and closed businesses across
the country. Second, we must take immediate steps to reduce the unsustainable debt that will be driven by the
aging of the population, the rapid growth of healthcare costs, exploding interest costs, and the failure of
policymakers to limit and prioritize spending. These two challenges must be addressed at the same time, not
sequentially. We need immediate action to sustain the recovery and create jobs, but we cannot delay putting in
place measures that will restrain the buildup of debt. If we do not control the debt, the recovery will not be
With current policies in place, even when we recover from the recession,
the debt will grow far larger than the economy itself , forcing the nation to borrow enormous and
sustainable.
unprecedented sums of money, increasing our dependence on China and other foreign lenders, diminishing our
At stake are
both our economic security and our national security. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke warns that threats to our economy are real and growing and that our
path is unsustainable because, at some point, our creditors will refuse to lend to
us. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen calls the debt the single biggest threat to our national security.
living standards, raising risks of an economic crisis, and reducing America to a second-rate power.
Thats why we face a fundamental choice: We can close our eyes, keep avoiding the problem, and generate more
debt that will threaten our economy, mortgage our childrens future, and diminish our leadership around the world.
To arrive at consensus on a plan of this size and complexity, each of the Task Force
members made significant compromises. Not every member agrees with every
element of this plan. But, each member agrees on the urgency of economic
recovery and stabilizing the debt and believes that, as a whole, this plan offers a
balanced, effective, and reasonable approach to the twin challenges at hand . Perhaps
most importantly, the plan demonstrates that at this time of political uncertainty, a
bipartisan group can craft a comprehensive and viable blueprint to tackle the
nations most serious economic challenges. 8 | P a g e Or, we can choose a new course one that
can revive our economy, create new and better jobs, restore our financial independence, and ensure that America
remains the worlds preeminent economic, military, and political power. This report, Restoring
Americas
Future, is a plan for that new course that we believe will meet both the short- and
the longer-run challenges simultaneously. It was developed by the Bipartisan Policy Centers Debt
Reduction Task Force, which is chaired by former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici and former
The Task
Force members are former White House and Cabinet officials, former Members of
Congress, former governors and mayors, business and labor leaders, economists
and budget experts. They are Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. They are
Americans from across the country, with widely diverse views about public policy and the role of government. By
2020, the plan will reduce and stabilize the national debt below 60 percent of the
gross domestic product (GDP) an internationally recognized standard and ensure that
the debt stops growing faster than our economy. The plan will balance the primary budget, the
budget other than interest payments, by 2014. On a unified budget basis, i.e., including interest,
White House Budget Director Alice M. Rivlin and includes 19 leading citizens from across America.
the plan will ensure that future budget deficits are small and manageable. But, above all, it will ensure a strong
economy for future generations of Americans. The Task Force approached its task as both a challenge and an
On the
spending side, this plan fixes Social Security, which is on an unsustainable path,
reins in rising healthcare costs, and freezes both defense and domestic
discretionary spending. On the tax side, this plan dramatically simplifies taxes by
eliminating years of tax breaks allowing major tax rate reductions, while raising
additional revenues to reduce the debt. Lower corporate rates will make America
more competitive, and lower individual rates with a simplified tax system will give
taxpayers renewed confidence that our system is fair and understandable . A Debt
Reduction Sales Tax (DRST), along with the plans spending cuts, will reduce our debt. Reviving the
economy and creating up to 7 million new jobs Currently, millions of Americans cannot find jobs or
opportunity, and recommends significant and sorely needed changes to both taxes and spending.
are underemployed. At the same time, we face the long-term problem of soaring deficits and debt. Some politicians
and economists present a false choice: reduce unemployment or stabilize the debt. Restoring Americas future,
however, requires that we do both and begin now. The key to both reducing unemployment and stabilizing the
debt begins with a strong economy that reignites demand for goods and services and encourages businesses to
This bipartisan plan calls for (in 2011) called a payroll tax holiday
which will immediately add money to employee paychecks while incentivizing
companies to hire new workers. This tax cut of nearly $650 billion will provide a big
shot in the arm to revive our economy and create jobs. Restoring Americas Future
will: Revive the economy and create 2.5 to 7 million new jobs over two years with
a payroll tax holiday. Balance the primary budget in 2014, reduce deficits
including interest to small and manageable levels, and stabilize the debt below 60
percent of GDP by 2020. Create a simple, pro-growth tax system that broadens
the base, reduces rates, makes America more competitive, and raises revenue to
reduce the debt. Reduce the unsustainable rate of growth in healthcare costs.
Strengthen Social Security to ensure that it will pay benefits for 75 years and
invest and create jobs.
beyond, while not increasing the retirement age and protecting the most vulnerable
elderly. Freeze domestic and defense discretionary spending. Cut other
spending, including farm and government retirement programs.
2NC Solvency - Econ

Current federal budgeting is insufficient CP key to solve
we must restore optimism about the
economys future in order to boost investment. A comprehensive debt-reduction
package will assure investors worldwide that America is back on track, with a solid
plan and a stable economic future. Without action, growing deficits and debt will create serious
Our growing debt and the risks of inaction At the same time,
problems for our economy, our prosperity, and our leadership role in the world. First, the higher the debt, the more
interest we have to pay. At the moment, interest rates are at historically low levels because of our weak economy
and because the fiscal problems of other countries leave investors around te world few attractive alternatives to
U.S. Treasury securities. But as our economy recovers and other nations address their problems, interest rates will
return to higher levels, which will increase interest costs on our debt significantly. In 2020, the federal government
Viewed another way,

the federal government will have to allocate about half of all income tax receipts to
pay interest, and interest payments will exceed the size of the defense budget.
will pay $1 trillion 17 percent of all federal spending just for interest payments.
Moreover, by 2025, federal revenues will be completely consumed by the combination of interest payments,
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The Treasury will have to borrow money to finance all of its other
obligations including defense, homeland security, law enforcement, food and drug inspection and other vital
operations. These projections are based on fairly moderate assumptions about future interest rates. The nations
outlook will grow far more ominous if Americas creditors lose confidence in the federal governments commitment
to address its debt problem which will increase interest rates. A loss of confidence in the markets
could also send the value of the dollar plunging overseas, which could trigger runaway inflation and still higher
interest rates. Rising debt and rising interest costs could evolve into a death spiral, with the two feeding off one
another in an ever-more vicious cycle. No one knows when such a catastrophe might occur, but no prudent nation
would put itself at such risk. Even without a crisis, rising debt will increase our reliance on foreign lenders, raising a
host of other economic and national security issues. Already, more than half of U.S. federal debt is foreign-owned
and China is the largest foreign holder. Rising deficits and debt will weaken the nation in other serious ways as well.
Federal deficits soak up private savings that would otherwise be available for investment in factories, equipment,
without a change in policy, the federal governments out-ofcontrol borrowing will have to stop. The only question is whether policymakers address the debt
and jobs. At some point,
problem now in a deliberative and thoughtful manner or whether they will be forced to do so by a sudden
economic crisis. No easy answers Most Americans would be reluctant to cut several key categories of federal
spending. In fiscal year (FY) 2010: Medicare and Medicaid consumed 21 percent of federal spending; Social
Security consumed 20 percent; Defense consumed 20 percent; Other mandatory spending (for example,
veterans compensation, unemployment insurance, and food stamps) consumed 17 percent; and 13 | P a g e
Interest on the debt consumed 6 percent. That leaves only 16 percent for everything else veterans health care,
homeland security and law enforcement, education and student aid, roads and bridges, food and drug inspection,
Policymakers
cannot solve the debt crisis simply by eliminating congressional earmarks (less than one
energy and the environment, and so on. Clearly, there are no easy answers to the debt crisis.
percent of the discretionary budget) or foreign aid, which is less than one percent of the total budget. Nor can
policymakers significantly reduce the debt by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, although they surely should
undertake efforts to eliminate as much waste, fraud, and abuse as possible. Nor can policymakers realistically solve
the problem simply by cutting domestic discretionary spending. Stabilizing the debt by 2020 through domestic
discretionary cuts alone would require eliminating nearly all such spending everything from law enforcement and
border security to education and food and drug inspection. Nor can policymakers rely on hopes of a strong economy
to grow our way out of the deficit. Just to stabilize the debt at 60 percent of GDP, the economy would have to
grow at a sustained rate of more than 6 percent per year for at least the next ten years. The economy has never
grown by more than 4.4 percent in any decade since World War II. Nor can policymakers solve the problem simply
by raising taxes on wealthy Americans. Reducing deficits to manageable levels by the end of the decade though tax
increases on the most well-to-do Medicare & Medicaid21% Social Security20% Defense Spending20% Other
Mandatory Spending17% Interest on the Debt6% Everything Else16% 14 | P a g e Americans would require raising
the top two bracket rates to 86 percent and 91 percent (from the current 33- and 35-percent rates).
There are
no easy answers, no quick fixes. Following is a bipartisan, fair and reasonable plan
that calls for reforms to every part of the budget and the participation of all
Americans to restore Americas future for our children and grandchildren.
2NC CP Popular (Politics NB)

CP is bipartisan
America is facing two huge challenges that can only be surmounted if
both political parties work together: recovery from the recession and restraining the
soaring federal debt. We also believe that these two challenges must be addressed simultaneously. Strong
action to curb the mounting debt will reinforce the recovery, not impede it. The federal budget is on a
dangerous, unsustainable path . Even after the economy recovers from this deep recession, federal
We believe that
spending is projected to rise substantially faster than revenues and the government will be forced to borrow ever-
Federal debt will rise to unmanageable levels, which will push

interest rates up, endanger our prosperity, and make us increasingly vulnerable to
the dictates of our creditors, including nations whose interests may differ from ours.
increasing amounts.
This alarming prospect was created by the actions of both political parties over many years, with strong public
approval. Promises to provide benefits and services through Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and many other
spending programs, as well as reductions in taxes, were extremely popular and both parties took credit for them.
But now, with an aging population and increasingly expensive health care, federal spending will rise much faster
than revenues if those popular policies are not changed. However, the actions needed to reduce the growth of
Neither party can take the

required actions alone without suffering adverse political consequences. The only
hope is for the two parties to come together around a bipartisan plan which liberals,
moderates, and conservatives alike see as fair and work together to make it a reality. On January 25,
2010, the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) founded by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker (RTN), Tom Daschle (D-SD), Bob Dole (R-KS), and George Mitchell (D-ME) launched a Debt Reduction
Task Force to develop a long-term plan to reduce the debt and place our nation on a
sustainable fiscal path. The BPC asked us to co-chair the Task Force and we were honored to accept. The
national debt and bring deficits back to manageable levels are all unpopular.
two of us share strong beliefs that America must learn to live within its means, that the current budget path
endangers the future of our country, and that bipartisan action is urgently needed. Each of us played a significant
role in the successful bipartisan efforts that brought the federal budget into surplus for four years in a row starting
Senator Domenici was a leader in

bipartisan negotiations that crafted the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 and the
Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Alice Rivlin was part of the Clinton Administrations effort, working first
with a Democrat-led and then a Republican-led Congress that achieved those surpluses. We know from
personal experience that bipartisan budget agreements are extremely difficult to
create neither side gets what it wants but they are possible . The budget outlook is even
in the late 1990s and reduced the debt held by the public.
more threatening today than it was then, but we have faith that our political leaders will see the urgency of working
together to take the difficult actions that will restore America to economic health and constructive world leadership.
Our Task Force 19 Americans from across the country, with diverse backgrounds and views has
examined a broad range of spending and revenue options for the federal
government. Today we are releasing our plan, Restoring Americas Future. We
believe that it provides a comprehensive, viable path to restore our economy and
build a stronger America for future generations and for those around the world who
look to the United States for leadership and hope.
Penny/Nickel CP
Inflation based advantage
1NC Shell
Text: The United States Treasury should eliminate production of both the
one cent and five cent valued coin from the United States Mint.
Solves the Economy- Pennies and Nickels cause unsustainable

inflation- they cost more to produce than their actual value
and theyre considered useless
CBS News 09 (February 11, 2009, cbsnews.com/, Should We Make Cents?, http://www.cbsnews.com/210018560_162-3801455.html?pageNum=2&tag=contentMain;contentBody, ADP)
Should we make cents? We're talking about those insignificant one cent pieces in your pocket or purse. It may or
that it now costs the U.S. Mint almost two cents to make a
penny and almost a dime to make a nickel. If the economy of that eludes you, join the club. As
may not come as a surprise
correspondent Morley Safer first reported in February, even in Washington, where they literally have the right to
print money and where anything under a billion is chump change, there is an ongoing debate over whether it's
worth the trouble to keep making cents. Every year, the U.S. Mint turns out eight billion shiny new pennies, using hitech presses that operate faster than the eye can see, stamping out Abe Lincoln on blank pieces of metal. And, says
U.S. Mint Director Edmund Moy, despite inflation, despite their lowly status, eight billion pennies still add up to $80
to get $80 million in pennies, the government spends $134 million; to

produce 1.3 billion nickels, as the Mint did last year, costs $124 million, even though
the coins are worth about only half that much. "It's weird economics, when you really come down
to it, isn't it?" Safer asks. "Well, from our perspective at the United States Mint it's
unsustainable. You can't sustain losses on pennies and nickels and expect to be a
viable organization that benefits the American people," Moy says. How did we get in this fix?
"You know, coins are made out of metal. And worldwide demand for copper, nickel
and zinc have dramatically increased over the last three years. That's what's
primarily driving up the cost of making the penny and nickel ," Moy explains. Nickels are
made mainly of copper; pennies are 98 percent zinc. On the frenzied commodity exchange,
the price of copper has tripled in the last five years; zinc has doubled. Both are in
heavy demand, used in everything from electrical wiring to suntan lotion, so both
coins are worth less than the metals they contain . But if you're thinking of putting in a backyard
million. Trouble is,
smelter and melting down your spare change to make a profit, forgeSmit it. The Treasury Department has declared
that illegal. Asked if there was a fear that people would melt their pennies and sell them by the pound, Moy tells
Safer, "Well, you know, other countries that have been in the same situation have ended up having shortages
because people melt them. My colleagues in India at the Indian mint have noted that once the rupee became more
valuable melted down as razor blades they disappeared overnight. And there was a shortage of rupees that India is
still recovering from." In the five o'clock shadow of the rupee's close shave, Washington is considering ways to
reduce the cost of making pennies and nickels. Among them, giving the mint authority to use cheaper metals, like
steel. And though efforts in Congress to retire the penny altogether have failed in past years, its detractors say the
time has come. "Inflation
has rendered the penny nearly valueless, right? If you can't

buy anything with a penny, if it takes at least a nickel or a dime to buy anything,
then that individual unit just doesn't serve much good," argues Stephen Dubner, the co-author
of the bestseller "Freakonomics," a zany look at money and American culture. He puts the penny in the same
"It's like having a fifth and a half finger on

your hand," Dubner says, laughing. "I have to trim the nail, I gotta buy five and a half
fingered gloves. But wouldn't it be easier just to have the five? And that really is
what the penny is about. It's just not useful ."
category as your pesky appendix and other useless relics.
Solving inflation is key to an economic recovery

CBS 11
(June 14, 2011, losangeles.cbslocal.com, Survey: Inflation, Shaky Jobs Outlook May Kill
Economic Recovery, http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/06/14/survey-inflation-shaky-jobs-outlook-may-killeconomic-recovery/, ADP)
Americans are losing confidence in the U.S.

economy, which could spell trouble for the sputtering recovery. Consumer sentiment is
LOS ANGELES (CBS) For the second straight month,
essentially unchanged from April to May, according to The Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index, which measures
the amount of financial difficulties consumers face. Ed Farrell, the director at Consumer Reports National Survey
Research Center told KNX 1070 that a slowdown in the jobs market could be behind the recent slowdown. The
problem is that people still have this overwhelming burden of the employment situation, which is riding them very
shows the U.S. is losing nearly as many

jobs are being created every month. Farrells survey which measures consumer sentiment and
heavily, said Farrell. He noted that a recent jobs report
consumer troubles shows that nearly one-third of Americans faced one or more financial difficulties, nearly a 5
The threat of looming inflation on consumer staples like food

and energy is also weighing down expectations for the economy. The recovery at
this point is really in danger of stalling , said Farrell. Theres nothing in the data that
suggests that a robust recovery is likely in the next one month, two months, three months or even six
percent increase from April.
months.
2NC Solvency
Eliminating the penny solves inflation
The Register 12 (Penny Wise, The Register-Guard, April 9, 2012, Proquest, ADP)
Eliminating the penny would be a reminder of how deeply the value of American money has eroded over time. Fifty
Eliminating the penny (or for that matter the

nickel, which costs 11.2 cents to produce) would be an admission of defeat by the force of
inflation. No president or Congress would want to raise that white flag, unless one of
them could blame it on the other. Eliminating the penny could, in fact, compound
inflationary effects. A Penn State economist estimated in 2001 that if prices were rounded to the
nearest nickel, between 60 percent and 93 percent of the rounding would go in one
direction - up. The conclusion makes intuitive sense, because so many items, from gasoline to bananas, have
years ago, a penny was worth eight times what it is today.
prices that end in 9. Advocates of an end to the penny say that rounding would go in both directions because most
transactions involve more than one item, and the addition of a sales tax pushes the cost of a 99-cent item above a
dollar. The argument is unpersuasive to Oregonians, who pay no sales tax.
2NC Avoids Politics

Both republicans and democrats hate the penny
Whaples 12
(Robert, reporter for CNN, Its Time to Eliminate the Penny, CNN , February 17, 2012,
http://articles.cnn.com/2012-02-17/opinion/opinion_whalpes-pennies-economics_1_nearest-nickel-penny-red-cent?
_s=PM:OPINION, ADP)
People from across the political spectrum should unite to retire the penny .
Conservatives care about the color red -- they hate the red ink that losses by the U.S. Mint
impose on taxpayers. Conservatives also loathe inflation, but unfortunately, the penny's
value has been slowly eroded by inflation over the years, so the penny isn't worth a red
cent any more. Liberals love the color green. A penny will turn a sour shade of green
if you leave it out in the elements long enough, but it's environmentally un-green.
Using pennies means an increase in zinc and copper mining, an increase in energy
use and pollution at these mines and an increase in energy use and pollution as the
government, banks and businesses put rolls of pennies into sacks and lug them
from place to place.
CP avoids politics- republicans hate the penny

Cocco 06 (Marie, reporter for the Washington Post and Newsday, Penny Worthy Being Saved, The Times Union, July 7,
2006, LexisNexis, ADP)
The soaring cost of metals - a penny is mostly zinc, encased in a thin copper coating - is the culprit. Though the
there are a few members of Congress (notably Rep. Jim Kolbe of

who has pushed an anti-penny agenda for year s) who think penny production
is wasteful and should be abandoned. Proposals to eliminate the penny would have
the coins phased out gradually, perhaps by re-pricing everything to make pennies obsolete. Thus would
mint still makes a profit overall,
Arizona,
a $2.99 fast-food meal become $3 and so on.
Aff Links to Politics

Public hates the penny and congress will side by them,
especially in an election year
Standard Examiner 12 (66% of Americans Favor Keeping the Penny, The Standard Examiner, March 30, 2012,
http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/03/30/66-americans-favor-keeping-penny, ADP)
A poll released today by Americans for Common Cents shows overwhelming support
for the penny by the American public. Over two-thirds (67%) of those surveyed favored
keeping the penny in circulation ."These results confirm the strong and unwavering
support the penny continues to receive from America ," said Mark Weller, Executive Director of
WASHINGTON --
ACC. Weller's group includes more than 50 organizations that support continued production of the penny.
"Americans understand that eliminating the penny would lead to a rounding process and cost them hundreds of
millions of dollars in higher prices." In an Economic Action Plan, Canada recently announced it will eliminate the
Canadian penny from their coinage system. According to Weller, Canada's decision to remove its lowest
denomination coin will have little impact on the US penny. Congress has already asked the US Mint to make
Congress and the

Administration will likely wait for the Mint recommendations, especially in an
election year when the public is sensitive to price issues. "Suggesting that
eliminating the penny saves money is wrong ," Weller said. The Mint has stated publicly that it
takes almost a dime - 11 cents - to make every nickel. " From a budget standpoint, it's hard to see
how you save money by eliminating the penny and making more costly nickels ,"
Weller added. The Opinion Research poll found that over three-quarters of those surveyed (77
percent) were opposed to rounding cash transactions fearing merchants will raise
prices rather than lose pennies and round down. "The alternative to the penny is
rounding - something that Americans abhor," Weller said.
recommendations later this year on how to make US coins less expensively.
Sunshades CP 1nc
The United States federal government should develop and
deploy sunshades beyond the Earths mesosphere.
Solves warming
Victor et al 2009 a Professor at Stanford Law School, Director of Stanford's
Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at
the Council on Foreign Relations. M. Granger Morgan is Head of Carnegie Mellon
University's Department of Engineering and Public Policy and Director of the Climate
Decision Making Center. Jay Apt is Professor of Engineering and Public Policy at
Carnegie Mellon University. John Steinbruner is Professor of Public Policy and
Director of the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of
Maryland. Katharine Ricke is a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University (David
G., March/April 2009 The geoengineering option http://iisdb.stanford.edu/pubs/22456/The_Geoengineering_Option.pdf )
Each year, the effects of climate change are coming into sharper focus. Barely a month goes by without some fresh
bad news: ice sheets and glaciers are melting faster than expected, sea levels are rising more rapidly than ever in
recorded history, plants are blooming earlier in the spring, water supplies and habitats are in danger, birds are
being forced to find new migratory patterns. The odds that the global climate will reach a dangerous tipping point
are increasing. Over the course of the twenty-first century, key ocean currents, such as the Gulf Stream, could shift
radically, and thawing permafrost could release huge amounts of additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Such scenarios, although still remote, would dramatically accelerate and compound the consequences of global
warming. Scientists are taking these doomsday scenarios seriously because the steady accumulation of warming
gases in the atmosphere is forcing change in the climate system at rates so rapid that the outcomes are extremely
difficult to predict. Eliminating all the risks of climate change is impossible because carbon dioxide emissions , the
chief human contribution to global warming, are unlike conventional air pollutants, which stay in the atmosphere for
Once carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere, much of it remains for

over a hundred years. Emissions from anywhere on the planet contribute to the global problem, and once
headed in the wrong direction, the climate system is slow to respond to attempts at reversal.
As with a bathtub that has a large faucet and a small drain, the only practical way to lower the level
is by dramatically cutting the inflow. Holding global warming steady at its current rate would require a
only hours or days.
worldwide 60-80 percent cut in emissions, and it would still take decades for the atmospheric concentration of
carbon dioxide to stabilize. Most human emissions of carbon dioxide come from burning fossil fuels, and most
governments have been reluctant to force the radical changes necessary to reduce those emissions. Economic
growth tends to trump vague and elusive global aspirations. The United States has yet to impose even a cap on its
emissions, let alone a reduction. The European Union has adopted an emissions-trading scheme that, although
promising in theory, has not yet had much real effect because carbon prices are still too low to cause any significant
change in behavior. Even Norway, which in 1991 became one of the first nations to impose a stiff tax on emissions,
has seen a net increase in its carbon dioxide emissions. Japan, too, has professed its commitment to taming global
warming. Nevertheless, Tokyo is struggling to square the need for economic growth with continued dependence on
an energy system powered mainly by conventional fossil fuels. And China's emissions recently surpassed those of
the United States, thanks to coal-fueled industrialization and a staggering pace of economic growth. The global
The world's
slow progress in cutting carbon dioxide emissions and the looming danger that the
climate could take a sudden turn for the worse require policymakers to take a closer
look at emergency strategies for curbing the effects of global warming. These
strategies, often called "geoengineering," envision deploying systems on a
planetary scale, such as launching reflective particles into the atmosphere or positioning
economic crisis is stanching emissions a bit, but it will not come close to shutting off the faucet.
sunshades to cool the earth . These strategies could cool the planet, but they would not
stop the buildup of carbon dioxide or lessen all its harmful impacts. For this reason, geoengineering has been widely
shunned by those committed to reducing emissions. Serious research on geoengineering is still in its infancy, and it
has not received the attention it deserves from politicians. The time has come to take it seriously.
Geoengineering could provide a useful defense for the planet -- an emergency
shield that could be deployed if surprisingly nasty climatic shifts put vital
ecosystems and billions of people at risk. Actually raising the shield, however, would be a political
choice. One nation's emergency can be another's opportunity, and it is unlikely that all countries will have similar
assessments of how to balance the ills of unchecked climate change with the risk that geoengineering could do
more harm than good. Governments should immediately begin to undertake serious research on geoengineering
and help create international norms governing its use. THE RAINMAKERS
Geoengineering is not a new
idea. In 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson received the first-ever U.S. presidential briefing on the dangers of
climate change, the only remedy prescribed to counter the effects of global warming was geoengineering. That
advice reflected the scientific culture of the time, which imagined that engineering could fix almost any problem. By
the late 1940s, both the United States and the Soviet Union had begun exploring strategies for modifying the
weather to gain battlefield advantage. Many schemes focused on "seeding" clouds with substances that would coax
them to drop more rain. Despite offering no clear advantage to the military, "weather makers" were routinely
employed (rarely with much effect) to squeeze more rain from clouds for thirsty crops. Starting in 1962, U.S.
government researchers for Project Stormfury tried to make tropical hurricanes less intense through cloud seeding,
but with no clear success. Military experts also dreamed of using nuclear explosions and other interventions to
create a more advantageous climate. These applications were frightening enough that in 1976 the United Nations
adopted the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification
Techniques to bar such projects. By the 1970s, after a string of failures, the idea of weather modification for war and
Today's proposals for geoengineering are more likely to have

an impact because the interventions needed for global-scale geoengineering are
much less subtle than those that sought to influence local weather patterns . The
earth's climate is largely driven by the fine balance between the light energy with
which the sun bathes the earth and the heat that the earth radiates back to space.
On average, about 70 percent of the earth's incoming sunlight is absorbed by the
atmosphere and the planet's surface; the remainder is reflected back into space.
Increasing the reflectivity of the planet (known as the albedo) by about one
percentage point could have an effect on the climate system large enough to offset
the gross increase in warming that is likely over the next century as a result of a
doubling of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Making such tweaks is much
farming had largely faded away.
more straightforward than causing rain or fog at a particular location in the ways that the weather makers of the
late 1940s and 1950s dreamed of doing.
2NC Solvency Generic

Only the cp solves warming
ANI 3/20/2010 (IPCC has underestimated climate-change impacts, say
scientists http://news.oneindia.in/2010/03/20/ipcchas-underestimated-climatechange-impacts-sayscientis.html)
According to Charles H. Greene, Cornell professor of Earth and atmospheric science, " Even
if all man-made
greenhouse gas emissions were stopped tomorrow and carbon-dioxide levels
stabilized at today's concentration, by the end of this century, the global average
temperature would increase by about 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 2.4 degrees
centigrade above pre-industrial levels, which is significantly above the level which
scientists and policy makers agree is a threshold for dangerous climate change ." "Of
course, greenhouse gas emissions will not stop tomorrow, so the actual temperature
increase will likely be significantly larger, resulting in potentially catastrophic impacts to society
unless other steps are taken to reduce the Earth's temperature," he added. "Furthermore, while the oceans have
slowed the amount of warming we would otherwise have seen for the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
the ocean's thermal inertia will also slow the cooling we experience once we finally reduce our greenhouse gas
the temperature rise we see this century will be largely

irreversible for the next thousand years. "Reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone
is unlikely to mitigate the risks of dangerous climate change ," said Green. "Society
should significantly expand research into geoengineering solutions that remove and
sequester greenhouse gases already in the atmospher e," he said. "Geoengineering solutions
emissions," he said. This means that
must be in addition to, not replace, dramatic emission reductions if society is to avoid the most dangerous impacts
from climate change," he added. (ANI)
Reversing the impact to the CO2 solves their offense

Angel 2006 - an astronomer and optics expert at the University of Arizona (Roger,
Feasibility of cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near the inner
Lagrange point (L1) http://www.pnas.org/content/103/46/17184.full.pdf)
Projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are for global temperature to rise between 1.5 and
4.5C by 2100 (1), but recent studies suggest a larger range of uncertainty. Increases as high as 11C might be
possible given CO2 stabilizing at twice preindustrial content (2). Holding to even this level of CO2 will require major
use of alternative energy sources and improvements in efficiency (3). Unfortunately, global warming reasonably
could be expected to take the form of abrupt and unpredictable changes, rather than a gradual increase (4). If it
were to become apparent over the next decade or two that disastrous climate change driven by warming was in
a method to reduce the suns heat input would become an

emergency priority. A 1.8% reduction is projected to fully reverse the warming effect
of a doubling of CO2 (5), although not the chemical effects. One way known to reduce heat input, observed
fact likely or even in progress, then
after volcanic eruptions, is to increase aerosol scattering in the stratosphere (6). Deployment of 3 to 5 million
tonsyear of sulfur would be needed to mitigate a doubling of CO2. This amount is not incompatible with a major
reduction in the current atmospheric sulfur pollution of 55 million tonsyear that goes mostly into the troposphere.
The approach we examine here to reduce solar warming is to scatter away sunlight
in space before it enters the Earths atmosphere. The preferred location is near the
Earthsun inner Lagrange point (L1) in an orbit with the same 1-year period as the
Earth, in-line with the sun at a distance 1.5 million km (Gm) (Fig. 1). From this distance, the penumbra
shadow covers and thus cools the entire planet.
2NC Solvency Plant Growth
Sunshades is the best of both worlds solves the impact to

warming while gaining the benefits of CO2
Knovel 1/27/12 (Scientists Studying Whether Geoengineering Could Offset Global
Climate Change http://why.knovel.com/all-engineering-news/1232-scientistsstudying-whether-geoengineering-could-offset-global-climate-change.html)
With global temperatures and population rising, scientists are increasingly studying how geoengineering could
potentially allay food shortages, among other concerns. A shifting global climate is worrying lawmakers throughout
the world, as higher temperatures and a dearth of precipitation in many regions have eroded crop yields. With total
global population projected to continue to climb at a rapid clip over the next century, scientists are working to
develop geoengineering schemes that could combat such negative effects. Some parts of the world are already
feeling the effects of a simultaneous uptick in temperatures and drop in precipitation. Farmers in areas in the Middle
East and Africa, among other locations, are struggling to cultivate crops amid current environmental conditions. If
the problems are left untreated, they could wreak havoc on future food supplies, sending prices soaring. Over the
past few years, the prices of many commodities have surged. Inclement weather in Australia, Russia, China and
North America hurt grain production, for example. For nations that rely on others for such critical food staples, the
geoengineering technologies could

be used to fight global climate change. Stanford Universityenvironmental scientist Ken Caldeira
noted that governments could decide to employ geoengineering as they "do something
desperate to protect our food and our people." China has famously employed
geoengineering technology for the better part of the past decade . Prior to the start of the
jump in prices was particularly worrying. Researchers contend that
2008 Olympics, officials said they were working to prevent rain from affecting opening ceremonies through a
geoengineering scheme. Scientists have posited a slew of geoengineering theories, with some more plausible than
others, NPR reports. One such scheme involves the blasting of tiny particles into the upper atmosphere that could
disperse sunlight before it reaches Earth's surface. Geoengineering enthusiasts assert that such a system would
mimic the effects of volcanic ash clouds, whose sulfate droplets naturally do so. The Carnegie Institution for Science
high-flying
airplanes to constantly replenish a layer of small particles in the stratosphere,
governments could cultivate food growth. Pongratz and her colleagues argued in their findings,
published online in Nature Climate Change, that so-called "sunshade geoengineering" could spur
the growth of crops in many regions of the world. The team of scientists concluded, moreover,
that sunshade geoengineering was beneficial when compared both with current
atmospheric conditions and with the future projection of doubled carbon dioxide.
This, according to the researchers, is because deflecting sunlight lowers global
temperatures but does not affect carbon dioxide concentrations. "In many regions, future
recently championed such an approach. Carnegie researcher Julia Pongratz said that by using
climate change is predicted to put crops under temperature stress, reducing yields," Pongratz said. "At the same
the beneficial effects that a higher CO2 concentration has on plant productivity
remain active."
time,
Sunshades solve plant growth

Parker 1/24/12 economist (Randall, High CO2 Sunshade Geoengeneering would
Increase crops http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/008489.html)
Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide might cause so much heating that some countries will respond by releasing
sulfate aerosols to reflect sunlight and cool the planet. If that happens the question arises: Will the net effect of less
sunlight (which would reduce energy flowing to plants) be outweighed by the plant-boosting effects of lower
temperatures and higher CO2? Some climate scientists did modeling that suggests globally crop yields would rise
overall but fall in some areas. Although scientists know that climate change in recent decades has negatively
impacted crop yields in many regions, the study by Pongratz and colleagues is the first to examine the potential
effect of geoengineering on food security. Pongratz's team, which included Carnegie's Ken Caldeira and Long Cao,
as well as Stanford University's David Lobell, used models to assess the impact of sunshade geoengineering on crop
yields. Using two different climate models, they simulated climates with carbon dioxide levels similar to what exists
today. A second set of simulations doubled carbon-dioxide levels levels that could be reached in several decades if
current trends in fossil-fuel burning continue unabated. A third set of simulations posited doubled carbon dioxide,
but with a layer of sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere deflecting about 2% of incoming sunlight away from the
Earth. The simulated climate changes were then applied to crop models that are commonly used to project future
yields. The team found that, in the model ,
sunshade geoengineering leads to increased crop

yields in most regions, both compared with current conditions and with the future
projection of doubled carbon dioxide on its own. This is because deflecting sunlight
back to space reduces temperatures, but not CO2. "In many regions, future climate
change is predicted to put crops under temperature stress, reducing yields. This
stress is alleviated by geoengineering," Pongratz said. "At the same time, the beneficial
effects that a higher CO2 concentration has on plant productivity remain active."
2NC Solvency Feasibility

no tech barriers
Astrobiology Magazine 2007 (David Tenebaum, Pies in the Sky: A solution to
global warming http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/2309/pies-in-the-sky-a-solutionto-global-warming)
Much more speculative are some ambitious plans for high-tech parasols to block sunlight before it reaches this
Roger Angel, an astronomer

and optics expert at the University of Arizona, produced a highly detailed and
highly futuristic -- proposal for a sunshade huge enough to cut incoming sunlight by
1.8 percent. That, he says, should counteract the warming expected from a
doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Angels plan builds on an early design by
James Early of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, but it slims the mass down from 100
million tons to 20 million tons something that, he says, conceivably could be
launched from Earth. Angel does not consider solar sunblock the optimum choice in the struggle against
planet. At the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) meeting last fall,
global warming, but rather a fallback position if things get seriously bad. If, for example, ice starts sliding faster
sun shields may be a useful idea to prevent vast coastal

flooding. The Early concept calls for a giant sun-shield near the L1 Lagrange point ,
about 1.8 million kilometers (about 1.2 million miles) above Earth. Here, the gravity of Earth and sun
balance, enabling a shield to remain stationary for years . A collection of observations by the
from Greenland than expected,
Earth Observing System flagship Terra were stitched together into a seamless true-color mosaic of every square
kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet. Angel suggests that
the shield, covering an area of 4.7
million square kilometers (slightly smaller than the area of the continental United States west of the
Mississippi River), would be best made as a cloud of 16 trillion free-flying circular
refractors, each 0.6 meter (2 feet) in diameter. . Each refractor would be about 5 microns thick
and weigh 1.2 grams. The refractors would be launched in stacks and then deployed
upon reaching the target zone. At every stage, Angel has proposed high-technology
solutions to staggering challenges. He would launch the refractors to escape
velocity with an electromagnetic coil gun, which propels a missile based on
electromagnetic repulsion, then propel them to L1 with ion thrusters using argon as
fuel. Once in place, each disk would sense its position using hyper-miniature cameras
that detect sun and Earth. Adjustable trim tabs (tiny mirrors) catch solar radiation
pressure as needed to maintain the disks correct orientation and position in space . If
the disks had reflective mirror surfaces, they would quickly be pushed toward Earth by solar radiation pressure, so
they will be designed to refract (bend) sunlight, not reflect it. Since they would
make only a small deflection, the disks would evade most of the radiation pressure,
Angel says. He estimates the disks could remain in orbit for at least 50 years , until
their solar cells degraded and they could no longer position themselves. With money from NIAC, Angel says, we
have built a prototype optical element, a micron-thick [refractive] hologram on
glass.. When you hold it up and look directly at the moon, the moonlight disappears
off the axis and is spread away into radial spectra.
Sunshades are a feasible alternative that solves warming

Stiles 06 - Professor at the University of Arizona (Lori, Back to Eurek Alert, "Space
Sunshade might be feasible in global warming emergency",
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/uoa-ssm110306.php)
The possibility that global warming will trigger abrupt climate change is something people might not want to think
about. But University of Arizona astronomer Roger Angel thinks about it. Angel, a University of Arizona Regents'
Professor and one of the world's foremost minds in modern optics, directs the Steward Observatory Mirror
Laboratory and the Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics. He has won top honors for his many extraordinary
conceptual ideas that have become practical engineering solutions for astronomy. For the past year, Angel has been
He's been studying the practicality of

deploying a space sunshade in a global warming crisis, a crisis where it becomes
clear that Earth is unmistakably headed for disastrous climate change within a
decade or two. Angel presented the idea at the National Academy of Sciences in
April and won a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts grant for further research in
July. His collaborators on the grant are David Miller of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nick Woolf of
looking at ways to cool the Earth in an emergency.
UA's Steward Observatory, and NASA Ames Research Center Director S. Pete Worden. Angel is now publishing a first
detailed, scholarly paper, "Feasibility
of cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft

near L1," in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The plan would be to launch a
constellation of trillions of small free-flying spacecraft a million miles above Earth
into an orbit aligned with the sun, called the L-1 orbit. The spacecraft would form a long,
cylindrical cloud with a diameter about half that of Earth, and about 10 times longer. About 10 percent of
the sunlight passing through the 60,000-mile length of the cloud, pointing
lengthwise between the Earth and the sun would be diverted away from our planet.
The effect would be to uniformly reduce sunlight by about 2 percent over the entire
planet, enough to balance the heating of a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide
in Earth's atmosphere. Researchers have proposed various alternatives for cooling the planet, including
aerosol scatterers in the Earth's atmosphere. The idea for a space shade at L1 to deflect sunlight from Earth was
first proposed by James Early of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1989. "The earlier ideas were for
bigger, heavier structures that would have needed manufacture and launch from the moon, which is pretty
"I wanted to make the sunshade from small 'flyers,' small, light and
extremely thin spacecraft that could be completely assembled and launched from
Earth, in stacks of a million at a time. When they reached L1, they would be dealt off the stack into a
futuristic," Angel said.
cloud. There's nothing to assemble in space." The lightweight flyers designed by Angel would be made of a
Each flyer would be two feet in diameter, 1/5000 of

an inch thick and weigh about a gram, the same as a large butterfly. It would use "MEMS"
technology mirrors as tiny sails that tilt to hold the flyers position in the orbiting constellation . The flyer's
transparency and steering mechanism prevent it from being blown away by
radiation pressure. Radiation pressure is the pressure from the sun's light itself. The total mass of all the fliers
transparent film pierced with small holes.
making up the space sunshade structure would be 20 million tons. At $10,000 a pound, conventional chemical
rocket launch is prohibitively expensive. Angel proposes using a cheaper way developed by Sandia National
Laboratories for electromagnetic space launches, which could bring cost down to as little as $20 a pound. A total 20
electromagnetic launchers launching a stack of flyers every 5 minutes for 10 years could deploy the sunshade.
The electromagnetic launchers would ideally run on hydroelectric power, but even
in the worst-case environmental scenario with coal-generated electricity, each ton
of carbon used to make electricity would mitigate the effect of 1000 tons of
atmospheric carbon. Once propelled beyond Earth's atmosphere and gravity with electromagnetic
launchers, the flyer stacks would be steered to L-1 orbit by solar-powered ion propulsion, a new method proven in
space by the European Space Agency's SMART-1 moon orbiter and NASA's Deep Space 1 probe. " The
concept
builds on existing technologies ," Angel said. "It seems feasible that it could be
developed and deployed in about 25 years at a cost of a few trillion dollars. With care, the solar
shade should last about 50 years. So the average cost is about $100 billion a year, or about two-tenths
of one percent of the global domestic product." He added, "The sunshade is no substitute for developing renewable
energy, the only permanent solution. A similar massive level of technological innovation and financial investment
"But if the planet gets into an abrupt climate crisis that can only be
fixed by cooling, it would be good to be ready with some shading solutions that
have been worked out."
could ensure that.
2NC CO2 DA NB
(this is kind of obvious but just in case)
Sunshades wont reduce CO2

Quick 1/26/12 (Darren, Study finds sunshade engineering could improve crop
yields http://www.gizmag.com/sunshade-geoengineering-study/21225/)
In the face of potentially catastrophic effects on global food production, some have
proposed drastic solutions to counteract climate change such as reflecting sunlight
away from the Earth. A new study from the Carnegie Institution for Science
examining the effects of sunshade geoengineering has concluded that such an
approach would be more likely to improve food security than threaten it. Just as large
volcanoes cool the planet by ejecting massive amounts of small particles into the stratosphere, one sunshade
geoengineering proposal would involve using high-flying airplanes to release small
particles in the stratosphere that would scatter sunlight back into space. Just like the
volcanic particles, these would fall back to Earth within a year so they would have to be
constantly replenished to stop the planet heating back up . The fear is that such an approach
could have unintended consequences for the climate, particularly in terms of its effect of precipitation. While
climate change in recent decades has been found to negatively affect crop yields in many regions, a new study led
by Carnegie's Julia Pongratz is the first to examine the potential effect of geoengineering on food security. To assess
the impact of sunshade geoengineering on crop yields, Pongratz's team, which included Carnegie's Ken Caldeira
and Long Cao, as well as Stanford University's David Lobell, used two different climate models. The team first
simulated climates with CO2 levels similar to what exists today. A second set doubled CO2 levels to simulate levels
that could be reached in several decades if current trends in fossil-fuel burning continued unabated. A third set
doubled the levels of CO2, but with a layer of sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere deflecting about two percent on
incoming sunlight away from Earth. The team then applied the simulated changes to crop models that are
both current and doubled CO2 levels,

sunshade geoengineering would lead to increased crop yields in most regions. This
because while such an approach would reduce temperatures by deflecting sunlight
back into space, it wouldn't affect the levels of CO2 . "In many regions, future climate
change is predicted to put crops under temperature stress, reducing yields. This
stress is alleviated by geoengineering," Pongratz said. "At the same time, the beneficial
effects that a higher CO2 concentration has on plant productivity remain active."
commonly used to project future yields. They found that for
cp backed by geo-engineering lobby doesnt drain capital

Phantom Report 2/6/12 (Bill Gates backs climate scientists lobbying for large
scale geoengineering http://www.phantomreport.com/bill-gates-backs-climatescientists-lobbying-for-large-scale-geoengineering)
A small group of leading climate scientists, financially supported by billionaires
including Bill Gates, are lobbying governments and international bodies to back
experiments into manipulating the climate on a global scale to avoid catastrophic climate
change. The scientists, who advocate geoengineering methods such as spraying millions of tonnes of reflective
particles of sulphur dioxide 30 miles above earth, argue that a plan B for climate change will be needed if the UN
and politicians cannot agree to making the necessary cuts in greenhouse gases, and say the US government and
Concern is now growing that the

small but influential group of scientists, and their backers, may have a
disproportionate effect on major decisions about geoengineering research and
policy We will need to protect ourselves from vested interests [and] be sure that choices are not influenced by
others should pay for a major programme of international research.
parties who might make significant amounts of money through a choice to modify climate, especially using
proprietary intellectual property, said Jane Long, director at large for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
in the US, in a paper delivered to a recent geoengineering conference on ethics. The
eco-clique are
lobbying for a huge injection of public funds into geoengineering research. They
dominate virtually every inquiry into geoengineering. Every scientist has some conflict of
interest, because we would all like to see more resources going to study things that we find interesting, said
Caldeira. Do I have too much influence? I feel like I have too little. I have been calling for making CO2 emissions
illegal for many years, but no one is listening to me. People who disagree with me might feel I have too much
influence. The best way to reduce my influence is to have more public research funds available, so that our funds
are in the noise. If the federal government played the role it should in this area, there would be no need for money
from Gates.
Aff Cant Solve Warming

Doesnt solve for ocean acidification or other effects of
warming
Nicholson 1/23/12 - has spoken at MIT/Stanford VLAB, SXSW Interactive, the
National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, the Space Studies
Board and Brookhaven National Laboratory (Christie, Blocking the sun to save the
planet http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/thinking-tech/blocking-the-sun-to-savethe-planet/10004)
To be sure, however, the models also predict that some areas might be harmed by the slightly darker days. Some
drastic measure doesnt solve the issue of ocean acidification,

which is causing massive deterioration of coral reefs and basically impacting every
corner of sea life. Plus there are plenty of political issues regarding high-flying planes traversing the Earth
spewing aerosols. The climate system is not well enough understood to exclude the
risks of severe unanticipated climate changes , whether due to our fossil-fuel emissions or due to
experts also worry that such a
intentional intervention in the climate system, said Julie Pongratz of Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie
Institution, in a press release. Reducing
greenhouse gas emissions is therefore likely a safer

option than geoengineering to avert risks to global food security.
Aff Warming Turns

Cp cant solve warming and it will cause food crisis and ozone
destruction
Ovitz 1/29/12 - is a Collegian columnist (Kimberly, Sci-Fi Fix for carbon emissions
http://dailycollegian.com/2012/01/29/sci-fi-fix-for-carbon-emissions/)
Though sunshade and other geo-engineering processes attempt to alleviate anthropogenic effects on the
Reducing the sunlight that reaches the earths

surface could impact agricultural yields and reduce precipitation rates, threatening
food security and causing hunger and famine. Another likely consequence is ozone
destruction. This would result in an increase in ultraviolet radiation into the
atmosphere; a phenomenon which occurs via large volcanic eruptions, on occasion, yet not constantly over a
span of 20 years by which this programs proposes. Simultaneously, sunshade geo-engineering doesnt
account for the non atmospheric impacts of carbon emissions, like that of ocean
acidification. A program such as this which masks takes the impacts of human error into account would
environment, they also pose serious consequences.
likely avert political and scientific focus on reducing the entirety of carbon impacts in favor of a low cost, high risk,
quick fix of geo-engineering. By attempting to regulate one aspect of carbon emissions through geo-engineering,
the uncertainty of the process creates many more uncertainties. Balancing budgets on a variety of scales is part of
our daily lives, and carbon emission is one of them. Further carbon emissions with initiatives to dissipate increasing
amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, appears counterintuitive to the matter of reducing an abundance of
The geo-engineering process provides a cover up of carbon emissions issue

without actually reducing the amount carbon in the atmosphere.
emissions.
Sunshades wont solve warming and will actually hurt the

environment
Vergano 2/25/11 science reporter (Dan, Can Geo-engineering put the freeze on
global warming http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2011-02-25geoengineering25_CV_N.htm)
Space
mirrors. Hundreds of thousands of thin reflective yard-long disks fired into a gravitational balance point
between the sun and Earth could dim sunlight. Cost aside, rocket failures or collisions might lead to
a tremendous orbital debris cloud circling the Earth . And a recent Geophysical
Research Letters space tourism report suggests the rocket fuel burned to launch the
needed number of shades would dump enough black soot which absorbs sunlight
and heats the atmosphere to increase average global temperatures about 1.4
degrees. Leaving aside the environmental risks each one carries, the estimated costs tend to increase with how
quickly each method removes carbon or deflects sunlight. The space reflectors would top the bill at
a cost of several trillion dollars over 25 years. "Geoengineering technologies, once
developed, may enable short-sighted and unwise deployment, with potentially
serious unforeseen consequences," said a 2009 American Meteorological Society statement. Turning
over weather management to human beings raises, "legal, ethical, diplomatic, and even national security
concerns," the statement added. Deflected storm tracks could result in floods such as the ones hitting Australia last
month or Pakistan last year.
And simply cutting temperatures won't stop the rise in ocean
acidification arising from increased carbon dioxide levels in the air, which may affect
marine life underlying the ocean food web .
Economy - CP #1
1NC Hydrogen Economy CP

commercialize its hydrogen fuel cell economy.
Hydrogen economy solves creates jobs in multiple industries
Sustainable Business, 08 [Hydrogen Fuel Cells Would Create Green Jobs - DOE
Report, 10-08-8,
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/16899]
Commercializing fuel cells and shifting from gasoline to hydrogen could generate
675,000 new jobs over the next 25 years, according to a Department of Energy (DOE) study sent to
Congress last week. Commercialization would create jobs in manufacturing, assembly,
fuel production, repair, recycling, construction, and at auto shops and dealerships
nationwide. "This analysis confirms the economic potential of fuel cells for our nation," said Robert Rose,
Executive Director of the US Fuel Cell Council, the industry trade association. "It also confirms the stimulus effect--
the faster the transition, the faster jobs are created . Government support really does translate
into American jobs." The study evaluated a scenario in which 89% of new vehicle sales are fuel cell vehicles and 5%
of US power is fuel cell generated by 2035, and a scenario in which fuel cells account for 20% of vehicle sales and
2% of power generation. More than three times as many jobs are created in the more aggressive scenario. The
study evaluated transportation, stationary and portable power sectors. "This is an opportunity for the U.S., not a
Countries that commercialize first will win many of these jobs, and
other countries are investing accordingly. The U.S. must keep pace ," Rose said. "If U.S.
companies are able to forge a lead in hydrogen technologies, U.S. global
competitiveness will be fostered," the report concluded. "The movement to hydrogen in
particular could well be an opportunity for U.S. automotive firms to recapture
market share lost to foreign multinationals in recent years ." The report suggests
commercialization could produce more than 100,000 new jobs in 41 industries in the
five Upper Midwest States, the traditional center of auto manufacturing .
foregone conclusion.
Fuel cell industry will spark significant job growth

Fuel Cell Today, 10 [Fuel Cell Industry Could Create 700,000 Green
Manufacturing Jobs by 2020, 01-14-10, http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/newsarchive/2010/january/fuel-cell-industry-could-create-700,000-green-manufacturingjobs-by-2020]
The global fuel cell industry could create 700,000 green manufacturing jobs over
the next decade, according to the latest Industry Review, Fuel Cells: Sustainability from the analysts at Fuel
Cell Today (FCT). The Review will be launched at the World Future Energy Summit Expert Showcase Seminar in Abu
the manufacturing of
fuel cells will see the most growth in jobs in the next 10 years, with almost 700,000
cumulative jobs created in this time. In line with Fuel Cell Todays projections of unit shipments over
this period, over a million total new jobs could be created when fuel cell installation,
servicing and maintenance is considered . In a continuingly uncertain economic
climate, fuel cells may offer aid the stimulus to the economies of various countries,
Dhabi on 19th January at 11.20am. The 2010 Review conservatively estimates that
and the potential for significant job creation . A potential green route out of recession. FCTs
proprietary job creation forecasts are presented in the Review broken down by application and by region together
with a discussion and summary of the forecast trends. Job creation forecasts in the fuel cell industry are also
compared against those in other sectors, such as wind and solar energy. The Review, launched this week at the
the
geographical variations in job creation . FCTs projections show that over the next decade Asia
dominates in terms of manufacturing and the key adopter regions, including Europe
and North America, will be the locations for installation and maintenance jobs . Fuel
World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi in front of global business and political leaders, emphasises
Cells: Sustainability represents the first systematic attempt to quantify the job creation potential of the fuel cell
industry globally over the next decade. It highlights a number of implications for businesses and policymakers
concerning wealth and job creation. It also raises a number of issues for the fuel cell industry itself which, if not
addressed, could be a barrier to fuel cell adoption, including education, skills and training and supply chain
development. Principal Analyst Dr. Kerry-Ann Adamson commented: In
Europe and North America,

there has been a great deal of political focus in recent years on job creation to
stimulate economic growth and also to compensate for those being lost in declining
industries. Jobs in the fuel cell industry are genuine green collar jobs manufacturing jobs focused on new, clean technologies. Our analysis shows that as the
fuel cell industry expands, many hundreds of thousands of new jobs will be created .
Solvency General
Hydrogen economy could change societies globally first truly
democratic energy market
Rifkin, 02 [Jeremy, advisor to the EU, President of the TIR Consulting Group LLC,
senior lecturer at the Wharton Schools Executive Education Program at the
University of Pennsylvania, founder and president of The Foundation on Economic
Trends, The Hydrogen Economy, http://www.foet.org/books/hydrogeneconomy.html]
In The Hydrogen Economy, best-selling author Jeremy Rifkin takes us on an eye-opening journey into the next great
the dawn of a new economy powered by hydrogen that

will fundamentally change the nature of our market, political and social institutions ,
just as coal and steam power did at the beginning of the industrial age. Rifkin observes that we are fast
approaching a critical watershed for the fossil-fuel era, with potentially dire
consequences for industrial civilization. While experts had been saying that we had another forty or
commercial era in history. He envisions
so years of cheap available crude oil left, some of the world's leading petroleum geologists are now suggesting that
global oil production could peak and begin a steep decline much sooner, as early as the end of this decade. NonOPEC oil producing countries are already nearing their peak production, leaving most of the remaining reserves in
the politically unstable Middle East. Increasing tensions between Islam and the West are likely to further threaten
our access to affordable oil. In desperation, the U.S. and other nations could turn to dirtier fossil-fuels - coal, tar
sand, and heavy oil - which will only worsen global warming and imperil the earth's already beleaguered
ecosystems. Looming oil shortages make industrial life vulnerable to massive disruptions and possibly even
a new energy regime is being born that

has the potential to remake civilization along radical new lines , according to Rifkin.
Hydrogen is the most basic and ubiquitous element in the universe. It is the stuff of
the stars and of our sun and, when properly harnessed, it is the "forever fuel." It
never runs out and produces no harmful CO2 emissions. Commercial fuel-cells powered by
collapse. While the fossil-fuel era is entering its sunset years,
hydrogen are just now being introduced into the market for home, office and industrial use. The major automakers
have spent more than two billion dollars developing hydrogen cars, buses, and trucks, and the first mass-produced
The hydrogen economy makes possible

a vast redistribution of power, with far-reaching consequences for society. Today's
centralized, top-down flow of energy, controlled by global oil companies and
utilities, becomes obsolete. In the new era, says Rifkin, every human being could become
the producer as well as the consumer of his or her own energy - so called
"distributed generation." When millions of end-users connect their fuel-cells into local, regional, and
vehicles are expected to be on the road in just a few years.
national hydrogen energy webs (HEWs), using the same design principles and smart technologies that made
possible the World Wide Web, they can begin to share energy - peer-to-peer - creating a new decentralized form of
Hydrogen has the potential to end the world's reliance on imported oil and
help diffuse the dangerous geopolitical game being played out between Muslim
militants and Western nations. It will dramatically cut down on carbon dioxide
emissions and mitigate the effects of global warming. And because hydrogen is so
plentiful and exists everywhere on earth, every human being could be
"empowered," making it the first truly democratic energy regime in history .
energy use.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles help economy

US department of Energy no date (a source of US department of energy s clean
cities program, http://www.afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/fuel_cell.html)
vehicles, powered by hydrogen, have the potential to revolutionize our
transportation system. They are more efficient than conventional internal combustion engine vehicles and
Fuel cell electric
produce no harmful tailpipe exhausttheir only emission is water. Fuel cell vehicles and the hydrogen infrastructure
to fuel them are in an early stage of deployment. The U.S. Department of Energy is leading government and
industry efforts to make hydrogen-powered vehicles an affordable, environmentally friendly, and safe transportation
Hydrogen is considered an alternative fuel under the Energy Policy Act of 1992
and qualifies for alternative fuel vehicle tax credits . What is a fuel cell electric vehicle? Fuel cell
option.
electric vehicles use a completely different propulsion system than conventional vehicles, which can be two to three
times more efficient. Unlike conventional vehicles, they produce no harmful exhaust emissions. Other benefits
increasing U.S. energy security and strengthening the economy . Fuel cell
electric vehicles are fueled with pure hydrogen gas stored directly on the vehicle. Fuel cell electric vehicles fueled
with pure hydrogen emit no pollutants, only water and heat . These vehicles have the
include
capability to refuel in as little as three minutes and can achieve a range of more than 300 miles on a single tank.
Fuel cell vehicles can be equipped with other advanced technologies to increase efficiency, such as regenerative
These vehicles are

nearing commercial readiness and many major auto original equipment
manufacturers have announced plans to begin selling and leasing vehicles to the
public starting in 2014.
braking systems, which capture the energy lost during braking and store it in a battery.
Solvency Costs
Benefits outweigh costs
Koronowski, 04-05-14 [Ryan, Co-Editor of Climate Progress at Think Progress,
previously Research Director and Rapid Response Manager at the Climate Reality
Project, Solar, Hydrogen, And Aluminum: A Guide to the Latest in Advanced Vehicle
Technology, http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/05/3422885/cars-of-thefuture-solar-hydrogen-aluminum/]
Hydrogen cars vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells that emit nothing but water vapor as exhaust have
been a pipe dream for decades. The recurring joke is that hydrogen is the fuel of the future and always will be.
The cost of creating an infrastructure from scratch to fuel a fleet of hydrogen cars
has long been an issue. But there is a reason people keep trying, primarily because powering a
vehicle with hydrogen has undeniable advantages . The car does not need a heavy battery pack,
so it functions as a light, spry electric car that carries only compressed hydrogen.
The fuel cell converts the hydrogen into electric power to drive the motor by
chemically oxidizing it, yielding only hydrogen and oxygen water. Nothing is
burned, and it does not require a charge from the grid. It therefore emits no
greenhouse gases. Topping off the fuel cell every 300 or so miles is an issue, though, especially when this
can only happen in a few places in the United States. Honda has been leasing the FCX Clarity to brave souls in
Southern California since 2008, and unveiled the FCEV concept car last year, upping the range from 230 to 300
miles. This still means that even getting to San Francisco from Los Angeles is a dicey affair because there are only
nine public hydrogen fuel stations. In fact, there are only ten in the entire country, with the last being in Columbia,
South Carolina. The California Air Resources Board aims to have 70 fueling stations up and running in the state by
2016. Hyundai has offered the Tucson ix35 Hydrogen Fuel-Cell vehicle for lease in Europe for years, and in 2015 it
will start leasing the American version. Toyota plans to offer its Fuel Cell Vehicle for sale in 2015, as well, and given
the companys ability to sell a lot of hybrid electric Prius models to the American market, it could be the company to
make hydrogen a normal way to power thousands of commutes and road trips. The car would have a range of 300
miles and would be refueled in about as much time as it takes to pump gas around three minutes. Toyota points
to a study with the University of California at Irvine showing that only 68 refueling stations would be needed
between San Francisco and San Diego to support 10,000 vehicles. Bob Carter, a Toyota senior vice president for U.S.
automotive operations, said in January to stay tuned, because this infrastructure thing is going to happen.
Toyota expects to price the car at a bit less than $100,000, meaning they would be
more expensive than Teslas electric cars. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in January that
there is still the need for substantial cost reduction with regard to fuel cell
technology. After a modest roll-out in Japan, Europe, and California, the idea goes,
the price would drop to between $30-50,000 by the end of the decade.
Solvency Jobs
Hydrogen and fuel cell industry in Connecticut supports job
market and leads the world advanced research, development,
manufacture
Connecticut Technology Council, NO DATE [The Future Growth of the
Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Industry in Connecticut, http://www.ct.org/ct-tech-industrynews/the-future-growth-of-the-hydrogen-fuel-cell-industry-in-connecticut]
In Wednesday, July 27, 2011, the Connecticut Hydrogen Fuel Cell Coalition (CHFCC) held a
round table meeting to discuss the status of hydrogen and fuel cell expansion in Connecticut with state officials.
enhance
economic growth through the development, manufacture, and deployment of fuel
cell and hydrogen technologies and associated fueling systems in Connecticut .
The CHFCC, administered by Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), works to
Members of the CHFCC, including UTC Power, FuelCell Energy, Avalence, Precision Combustion, Treadwell
Corporation, and Proton OnSite, traveled across Connecticut to attend the meeting and discuss the future expansion
of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. As a part of his jobs tour, Governor Dannel P. Malloy addressed
representatives from the hydrogen and fuel cell industry, labor, academia, government and other stakeholders at
the significance of new energy policy , and stressed the importance of

alternative energy resources, such as hydrogen and fuel cell technology, in meeting
state goals to increase job production, growth and retention throughout the state .
"Connecticut is home to renewable energy technology and innovation that will
create state jobs and put the nation on track to reduce the consumption of energy
derived from fossil fuels," said Governor Malloy. "I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet with
the meeting. He noted
industry leaders and discuss how to improve the partnership between government and the state's hydrogen and
clean energy sector advances will help reduce overall energy

costs while building high-tech capacity in Connecticutgood jobs that will grow our
economy." Other members of the tour who participated in the roundtable discussion included Connecticut
fuel cell manufacturers. These
Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Commissioner Catherine Smith, Connecticut
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Commissioner Daniel Esty, and DECD Deputy
Commissioner Ronald Angelo. "Connecticut
companies continue to lead the world with the

research, development and manufacture of hydrogen and fuel cell technology ," stated
Joel Rinebold, Director of Energy Initiatives at CCAT. " It is of high value that our state government
is investing in Connecticut's hydrogen and fuel cell industry to meet pressing needs
for job creation, energy management, and environmental protection ."
Hydrogen power stimulates economy job creation and global

market growth
U.S. Department of Energy, 01-28-14 [Careers In Fuel Cell Technologies,
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/green_jobs_factsheet.pdf]
Fuel cells are among the promising technologies that are expected to transform our
energy sector. They represent highly efficient and fuel- flexible technologies that
offer diverse benefits. For example, fuel cells can be used in a wide range of applications from portable
electronics, to combined heat and power (CHP) units used for distributed electricity generation, to passenger
vehicles. Today's Technology and Its Growth Potential Today's fuel cell technology offers cost-competitive solutions
for material handling equipment (such as forklifts) and emergency backup power units. In 2012, the fuel cell market
Some of the largest

potential markets for the technology include stationary power generation, portable
power, and transportation, such as passenger cars and buses. Independent analyses show
global markets could mature over the next 10-20 years, producing revenues of $14
to S31 billion from stationary power, $ 11 billion per year from portable power, and
SIS- $97 billion per year from transportation applications . DOE Supports Fuel Cell Development
DOE-funded efforts have led to significant progress in hydrogen and fuel cells .
grew more than 35% over 2010, with more than 30,000 fuel cell shipments worldwide.'
Activities have reduced the amount of platinum needed by more than a factor of five, doubled fuel cell durability,
and reduced the cost of automotive fuel cells by more than 50% since 2006 and more than 30% since 2008. Fuel
have already achieved market competitiveness in near-term power generation

applications, and many OEMs have stated they will have fuel cell electric vehicles on
the road in the 2015-2017 timeframe. The DOE's Fuel Cell Technologies Office pursues a broad
cells
portfolio of applied research, demonstration, and deployment activities for applications across multiple sectors,
using a variety of technical approaches and diverse sources of fuel. These efforts span the full spectrum of
technology readiness from early market applications that are already viable or are expected to become viable in the
next few years to midterm markets and longer-term markets. Codes and standards, in parallel with public
education activities, will address economic and institutional challenges to widespread market acceptance. Outlook
As various fuel cell applications gain market share, the

industry is expected to undergo significant growth . Employment opportunities will
open up in businesses that develop, manufacture, operate, and maintain the fuel
cell systems. Jobs will also become available in businesses that produce and deliver
the hydrogen and other fuels used by these systems . Many of these jobs require engineering
and science backgrounds related to product and technology development. Analyses show that widespread
market penetration could create 180,000 new jobs in the United States by 2020,
and 675,000 jobs by 2035. As market demand for hydrogen and fuel cell
technologies increases across sectors of our economy, there will be an increasing
need for trained and experienced personnel and accompanying services such as
for Fuel Cell Technology Careers
qualified maintenance technicians, installers, manufacturing professionals, trainers, insurers, and educators. The
DOE has implemented a "train the trainer" approach to education that includes job certifications and curriculum
required to support this growing workforce. In- person training, online training courses, webcasts and webinars are
all tools that should be used to reach people in sectors who could benefit from learning about hydrogen and fuel
cells. These sectors can include energy service companies, utilities, venture capital firms, insurance and
underwriter industries, state government workforce development agencies, government code officials, first
rcsponders, and local public and community outreach.
Solvency Efficiency
Hydrogen is becoming more efficient Europe proves
European Commission, 14 [Fuel Cells & Hydrogen 2: Developing clean
solutions
for energy transport and storage,
http://ec.europa.eu/research/press/jti/factsheet_fch2-web.pdf]
In addition, this public private partnership will leverage private investments of at least the same amount as the EU
European high-tech industries developing and producing FCH

technologies, as well as those that incorporate them in their products (e.g. combined heat
funding. As a result,
Fuel Cells & Hydrogen 2: developing clean solutions for energy transport and storage Helping to decrease EUs
energy dependence; Reducing the European CO2 footprint; Boosting the European fuel cell and hydrogen
sector; Creating more growth and jobs in downstream industries; Developing long-term strategic research and
innovation agenda. Studiotouch, # 7300063, 2013. Source: Fotolia.com. Research and Innovationand power
will become more competitive, conquer new markets

and create quality jobs. Specific objectives include: reducing the cost of fuel cell
systems for transport applications by a factor of 10; increasing the electrical efficiency
of fuel cells for power production by 10%; demonstrating the viability of large scale
hydrogen production with electricity generated from renewable energy sources How
(CHP) units, backup power units, vehicles),
much will it cost? The total scope of activities covered by the FCH 2 JU is worth 1.3 billion, including an expected
EU contribution of up to 665 million. The private contributions of at least 665 million will consist of both in-kind
contributions in projects and complementary additional activities that promote the objectives of the initiative. How
will it be managed? JUs are partnerships between the EU and industry. They establish their own strategic research
agendas. The projects will be selected through open and competitive calls for project proposals. The selection of the
best proposals will be based on independent peer review and concluded by formal funding agreements. A small
number of activities are implemented through calls for tender (i.e. public procurement). The Governing Board of the
new FCH 2 JU - comprising representatives of the European Commission, the Industry Grouping and the Research
Grouping - will take funding decisions. What has the current JTI achieved so far? The first phase (budget of 940
million) has already brought together over 500 participants: 342 enterprises, 73 research organisations, 94
universities and other organisations. The initiative has also been successful in attracting SME participation, which
accounts for 27% compared to 18% across FP7. Some early applications, such as forklifts and small back-up power
For both energy and transport applications,

progress has been achieved notably as regards improving materials performance
and durability, as well as reducing costs of both components and systems .
units, have already been introduced to the market.
Hydrogen economy key and achievable in near future

significant progress already
Brown et al., 12 [Jerry B., Trustee and Fellow of the World Business Academy,
Founding Professor at Florida International University in Miami, writer, awardwinning teacher, outstanding public speaker, president of Jerald Brown &
Associates, Inc., a business consulting company, Hydrogen Revolution: Growth,
Jobs, Security & Sustainability, 12-21-12, http://worldbusiness.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/12/Freedom_Chapter12.pdf]
In a paper on "Hydrogen and the New Energy Economy," Julian Gresser and James A. Cusumano {one of this book's
co-authors) contend that many environmental and national security arguments on behalf of hydrogen miss what is
perhaps its most beneficial impact: "Hydrogen
could become a strategic business sector and

an engine of global economic growth within the decade and for the remainder of
the 21st century. "JT It is well known that at critical times in a nation's development,
certain industries have made key technological breakthroughs and have provided
dynamic engines of broader economic growth. This growth occurs when competitive
advantages won through productivity gains in a strategic business sector are
transferred to other industries. Famous examples of the convergence of key technologies and rapid
economic growth include: the canals and railroads of 18th and 19th century Europe and the United States; the New
England machine tool factories of the early 19th century; the German chemical dye industry of the late 19th
century; and most recently, the U.S. convergence of computer hardware, software, and Inter- net technology of the
late 20th century. Japan's post-World War II industries (steel, auto, electronics, semiconductors, computers and
telecommunications) show how economic innovation can trigger rapid economic growth. Due to the tremendous
public benefits realized through the success of strategic technologies and industries, governments have usually
played a critical catalytic role in accelerating their development. Notable historical examples are President Franklin
D. Roosevelt's Rural Electrification Administration, President Eisenhower's interstate highway system, and President
California has taken the national lead in implementing a

"Hydrogen Highway Network Action Plan" that will build 150 to 200 hydrogen
refueling stations, approximately one every 20 miles on California's major highways.
Similarly, Florida has launched an innovative program to promote hydrogen as a
strategic growth sector. Crafting a broad alliance among private companies, state
and local government, universities, and environmental groups, the Florida Hydrogen
Strategy initially focuses on fuels cells, hydrogen storage, and power-grid
optimization. The strategy offers tax refunds, investment tax credits, performance
incentives, and enterprise bond financing. Japan, Germany, Canada and Iceland
have major hydrogen programs underway. All of these nations understand that, in
addition to laying the foundation for independence from oil and creating a key
industrial sector, the rapid development of hydrogen will accelerate innovation in
related sectors, such as nano-materials, biotechnology, solar photovoltaics, ultra-light materials, and even the
Internet, through distributed power generation and grid interface .
Kennedy's Apollo Project.
Hydrogen economy better than existing BEVs cost, efficiency

Smith, 13 [Martin, senior researcher at the University of St. Andrews, project
manager of Delivery of Sustainable H2, Clearing the air about the hydrogen
economy, 09-26-13, http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/09/hydrogeneconomy-fuel-cell-energy]
Mark Peplows recent piece on the False economy of hydrogen as an energy vector illustrates the dangers of
opinion based on limited and selective information sources. There is relatively little public knowledge in the UK of
what is being done globally with hydrogen and fuel cell (HFC) technologies leading to an abundance of
funding for the

US HFC programme was slashed in 2009. However, the US Department of Energy (DOE) had
been led to believe that battery technology was on the verge of offering the vehicle
ranges and recharging times needed for mass market sales. When this proved to be
wrong, funding was returned to the DOE HFC programme , albeit quietly to conceal the
politically embarrassing volte-face. Existing battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are ideal for
short-range, predictable city-type usage. No vehicle will offer a better running cost
per mile, but they are still far from being a direct replacement for conventional
vehicles. Betting on when they will be is a gamble with the US DOE having already lost a large stake. The UK
misinformation and those opining on it. Batteries are better for transport? As Peplow notes,
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology estimates that BEVs can realistically account for 110% of the UK
vehicle market (assuming no step-change in battery technology), but what becomes of the other 9099%? Brown,
Producing H2 from natural gas (brown-H2) unavoidably emits

carbon. However, compared to petrol and diesel, the intrinsic efficiency of fuel cell
transport even using brown-H2 still represents a net carbon reduction per mile of
around 30%. Green-H2, made from genuinely renewable electricity or bio-sources, is
a true emissions-free transport fuel. The best use of green electricity is to satisfy
demand in the electricity grid, but when supply outstrips demand what happens to
the potential surplus? If there is no market for it, that potential is currently wasted .
green and blowing away
This is particularly poignant in the case of wind energy, which has an almost negligible marginal cost. No sane
person would make hydrogen from 20p per unit electricity, but making it from energy that would otherwise be lost
As UK renewables capacity increases, so do the opportunities to divert

excess generation into producing and selling green road fuel . Decoupling energy
production from its eventual use also helps in grid balancing increasing the
efficiency (including cost) of the overall energy system . Bottled up as a gas,
hydrogen can be stored on almost any conceivable scale , from bottles to geological
formations. In the US, depleted natural gas fields are already being used to store bulk
hydrogen while the Germans and Danes are developing underground salt cavern storage . Surely this is
better than storing CO2 why produce and pay for storing something we dont
want, when we could store a fuel until we need it? And thus also enhance our
energy security? For vehicles, dense solid hydrogen storage would be ideal and there is much research into
is a different game.
this, however perfect is not necessary. Carbon-composite high pressure tanks worth up to 500 miles of travel are
quite sufficient and are already being used in HFC buses and pre-production cars. The economics of making those
A BEV charging station costs

10003000, whereas a green-H2 production and filling station would cost 13
million (scale dependant). However, each BEV will require several charging points:
one at home and more around likely destinations. The main cost of each BEV point
is labour (very few economies of scale) making the infrastructure cost almost
directly proportional to the number of BEVs. Worse, extensive use of BEVs would
require costly grid upgrades particularly in low-grid strength residential areas. In
contrast, one large HFC facility is capable of servicing a great many vehicles the
same cost-effective fuelling model we employ today. Any rational plan would see
HFC facilities built on sites with existing high-strength grid connections . Most estimates
of infrastructure costs suggest that HFC will be around 800 less per vehicle than for BEVs,
even in early roll-out. Concrete and steel Having heard but seen little of H2 transport it may seem a fantasy,
yet London has been running H2 buses for several years and has recently acquired
more. Next year, Aberdeen will see Europes largest single deployment of green-H2 buses and work is underway
tanks are well understood and the costs are acceptable. Crossed wires
in Scotland to develop the worlds first H2-propelled ferry. By 2015 the German state is on track to have 50 H2
The EU has recently announced that the followon to its first HFC programme will be funded at 1.5 billion . Thats rather a lot of concrete and
filling stations, Japan 100 and the US even more.
steel. Its a curious thought that multi-billion dollar investment from the likes of Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Ford,
Hyundai, Shell, Total, BOC, the EU, state governments and others is ill-considered. Is not the real false economy
forming opinion based on outdated news, selective facts and little understanding of the wider energy system?
Solvency Democracy
Hydrogen is democratic allows both homeowners and
companies to earn from power production
Brown et al., 12 [Jerry B., Trustee and Fellow of the World Business Academy,
Founding Professor at Florida International University in Miami, writer, awardwinning teacher, outstanding public speaker, president of Jerald Brown &
Associates, Inc., a business consulting company, Hydrogen Revolution: Growth,
Jobs, Security & Sustainability, 12-21-12, http://worldbusiness.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/12/Freedom_Chapter12.pdf]
the current rapid pace of invention, testing, and commercialization of fuel
cell technologies is a sign of the early stages of the hydrogen revolution . By starting
We believe
today, instead of waiting half a century as critics suggest, the large-scale commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell
cars can begin very soon. Hydrogen: The Next Energy Economy We have come to a crossroads where a single,
courageous decision by a few world leaders can fundamentally alter the course of history. That decision is to shift
from our dependence on rapidly depleting, increasingly costly, and environmentally challenging fossil fuels to a
Hydrogen is by far the most abundant

energy molecule in the universe. Perhaps that fact can serve as a reminder to us of
the energy source we should be tapping . Hydrogen can be thought of as a gaseous form of
plentiful, renewable, and clean-burning hydrogen economy.
electricity. Anything that electricity can do, a hydrogen fuel cell with a hydrogen supply can do as well. However,
while electricity can be stored only in batteries and capacitors that have a very low energy density (energy per unit
hydrogen can be stored in any container from an industrial tanker to an automobile gas
With advanced hydrogen storage technologies, plus water, an electrolyzer, and
a renewable source of energy, in the near future cars, homes, and businesses will
become independent power producers that can generate electricity and sell it to the
grid. The grid will increasingly become a distribution system for many producers of
electrical power. It will serve the homeowner who produces excess power just as
effectively as it does a large utility plant dedicated to power production .
of weight),
tank.
Aff Answers
Switch to AFV is difficult but necessary; hydrogen would be the
most difficult alternative
Romm, 05 [Joseph, Senior Fellow at American Progress, overseer of Climate
Progress, The car and fuel of the future, 08-08-05,
http://www.academia.edu/2971098/The_car_and_fuel_of_the_future]
Using fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen from zero-carbon sources such as renewable power or nuclear energy has a
cost of avoided carbon dioxide of more than $600 a metric ton, which is more than a factor of ten higher than most
other strategies being considered today. So I wrote in a 2005 journal article, The car and fuel of the future,
which was the hottest article in Energy Policy from July 2006 through March 2007 (and still #8 as recently as
September 2008). This paper is based on a review of the technical literature on alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and
discussions with experts in vehicle technology and energy analysis. It is derived from analysis provided to the
The urgent need to reverse the business-asusual growth path in global warming pollution in the next two decades to avoid
serious if not catastrophic climate change necessitates action to make our vehicles
far less polluting. In the near-term, by far the most cost-effective strategy for reducing emissions and fuel use
bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy.
is efficiency. The car of the near future is the hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle, because it can reduce gasoline
consumption and greenhouse gas emissions 30 to 50% with no change in vehicle class and hence no loss of jobs or
compromise on safety or performance. It will likely become the dominant vehicle platform by the year 2020.
Ultimately, we will need to replace gasoline with a zero-carbon fuel . All AFV pathways
require technology advances and strong government action to succeed. Hydrogen is the most
challenging of all alternative fuels, particularly because of the enormous effort
needed to change our existing gasoline infrastructure. The most promising AFV pathway is a
hybrid that can be connected to the electric grid. These so-called plug-in hybrids will likely travel three to four times
as far on a kilowatt-hour of renewable electricity as fuel cell vehicles. 1. Introduction Any energy and
environmental policy effort must come to grips with transportation. Roughly 97% of all energy consumed by our
cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, trucks, and airplanes is still petroleum-based. In the 1990s, the transportation
sector saw the fastest growth in carbon dioxide emissions of any major sector of the US economy. And the
transportation sector is projected to generate nearly half of the 40% rise in US carbon dioxide emissions forecast for
2025 (EIA, 2005). Internationally, the situation is equally problematic. As Claude Mandil, Executive Director of the
International Energy Agency (IEA), said in May 2004, In the absence of strong government policies, we project that
the worldwide use of oil in transport will nearly double between 2000 and 2030, leading to a similar increase in
greenhouse gas emissions (IEA, 2004). Significantly, between 2003 and 2030, over 1400GW of new coal capacity
will be built. These plants would commit the planet to total carbon dioxide emissions of some 500 billion metric tons
over their lifetime, unless they are backfit with carbon capture equipment at some time during their life, as David
Hawkins, Director of Natural Resources Defense Councils Climate Center told the US House Committee on Energy
and Commerce in June 2003. Hawkins continued: To put this number in context, it amounts to half the estimated
total cumulative carbon emissions from all fossil fuel use globally over the past 250 years! (Hawkins, 2003) It is
critical that whatever strategy the world adopts to reduce GHG emissions in the vehicle sector does not undermine
our efforts to reduce GHG emissions in the electricity sector. With this caveat in mind, I explore some of the
pathways most widely discussed for reducing or replacing oil while significantly reducing transportation greenhouse
gas emissions: efficiency, electricity (particularly plug-in hybridgasoline vehicles); ethanol from cellulosic biomass;
Alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and

their fuels face two central problems . First, they typically suffer from several marketplace
disadvantages compared to conventional vehicles running on conventional fuels. Hence, they inevitably
require government incentives or mandates to succeed. Second, they typically do
not provide cost-effective solutions to major energy and environmental problems,
which undermines the policy case for having the government intervene in the
marketplace to support them. On the second point, in September 2003, the US Department of
and hydrogen. 2. Alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles.
Transportation Center for Climate Change and Environmental Forecasting released its analysis, Fuel Options for
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Motor Vehicles. The report assesses the potential for gasoline substitutes
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next 25 years. It concludes that the
reduction in GHG
emissions from most gasoline substitutes would be modest and that promoting
alternative fuels would be a costly strategy for reducing emissions (DOT, 2003). The US
government and others (such as of California and Canada) have tried to promote AFVs for a long time. The 1992
Energy Policy Act established the goal of having alternative fuels replace at least 10% of petroleum fuels in 2000,
and at least 30% in 2010. Currently, alternate fuels consumed in AFVs substitute for under 1% of total consumption
of gasoline. A significant literature has emerged explaining this failure (GAO, 2000, Flynn, 2002). Besides the
there have historically been six

major barriers to AFV success: 1. high first cost for vehicle 2. on-board fuel storage issues (i.e.
limited range) 3. safety and liability concerns 4. high fueling cost (compared to gasoline) 5.
limited fuel stations: chicken and egg problem 6. improvements in the competition (better,
question of whether AFVs deliver cost-effective emissions reductions,
cleaner gasoline vehicles). All AFVs that have so far been promoted with limited success: electric vehicles, natural
Any
one of these barriers can be a showstopper for an AFV or an alternative fuel, even
where other clear benefits are delivered . MTBE, for instance, has had its biggest difficulty with the
gas vehicles, methanol vehicles, and ethanol vehicles have each suffered from several of these barriers.
safety and liability issue, even though it has minimal problems in the other areas because it can be blended directly
with gasoline. Electric vehicles deliver the clear benefit of zero tailpipe emissions, and can even have lower per mile
costs than gasoline cars, but range, refueling, and firstcost issues have limited their success and caused most major
auto companies to withdraw their electric vehicles from the marketplace. The chicken and egg problem: who
will build and buy the AFVs if a fueling infrastructure is not in place and who will
build the fueling infrastructure before the AFVs are built remains the most
intractable barrier. Consider that there are millions of flexible fuel vehicles already on the road capable of
running on E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline), 100% gasoline, or just about any blend, for about the same price as
gasoline-powered vehicles, and yet the vast majority of them run on gasoline and there are have been very few E85
stations built.
Hydrogen economy wasteful higher cost of delivery, lower

output-input efficiency
Zyga, 06 [Lisa, freelance science writer, Why a hydrogen economy doesnt
make sense, 12-11-06, http://phys.org/news85074285.html]
In his study, Bossel analyzes a variety of methods for synthesizing, storing and delivering hydrogen, since no single
hydrogen is not naturally occurring, but must be

synthesized. Ultimately, hydrogen has to be made from renewable electricity by
electrolysis of water in the beginning, Bossel explains, and then its energy content is
converted back to electricity with fuel cells when its recombined with oxygen to
water. Separating hydrogen from water by electrolysis requires massive amounts of
electrical energy and substantial amounts of water . Also, hydrogen is not a source of
energy, but only a carrier of energy. As a carrier, it plays a role similar to that of water in a hydraulic
heating system or electrons in a copper wire. When delivering hydrogen, whether by truck or
pipeline, the energy costs are several times that for established energy
carriers like natural gas or gasoline. Even the most efficient fuel cells cannot recover these losses,
method has yet proven superior. To start,
Bossel found. For comparison, the "wind-to-wheel" efficiency is at least three times greater for electric cars than for
When storing liquid hydrogen, some gas

must be allowed to evaporate for safety reasonsmeaning that after two weeks, a
car would lose half of its fuel, even when not being driven . Also, Bossel found that the
output-input efficiency cannot be much above 30%, while advanced batteries have
a cycle efficiency of above 80%. In every situation, Bossel found, the energy input outweighs
the energy delivered by a factor of three to four . About four renewable power plants
hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Another headache is storage.
have to be erected to deliver the output of one plant to stationary or mobile

consumers via hydrogen and fuel cells, he writes. Three of these plants generate energy to cover
the parasitic losses of the hydrogen economy while only one of them is producing useful energy. This fact, he
one-quarter efficiency is based

on necessary processes of a hydrogen economy and the properties of hydrogen
itself, e.g. its low density and extremely low boiling point, which increase the energy cost of
compression or liquefaction and the investment costs of storage .
shows, cannot be changed with improvements in technology. Rather, the
Hydrogen economy will never make sense inefficient energy

production
Zyga, 06 [Lisa, freelance science writer, Why a hydrogen economy doesnt make
sense, 12-11-06, http://phys.org/news85074285.html]
a hydrogen economy is a wasteful
economy. The large amount of energy required to isolate hydrogen from natural
compounds (water, natural gas, biomass), package the light gas by compression or
liquefaction, transfer the energy carrier to the user, plus the energy lost when it is
converted to useful electricity with fuel cells, leaves around 25% for practical use
an unacceptable value to run an economy in a sustainable future. Only niche
applications like submarines and spacecraft might use hydrogen. More energy is
needed to isolate hydrogen from natural compounds than can ever be recovered
from its use, Bossel explains to PhysOrg.com. Therefore, making the new chemical energy carrier form
natural gas would not make sense, as it would increase the gas consumption and the emission
of CO2. Instead, the dwindling fossil fuel reserves must be replaced by energy from
renewable sources. While scientists from around the world have been piecing together the technology,
In a recent study, fuel cell expert Ulf Bossel explains that
Bossel has taken a broader look at how realistic the use of hydrogen for carrying energy would be. His overall
high energy losses inevitably resulting

from the laws of physics mean that a hydrogen economy will never make sense . The
energy analysis of a hydrogen economy demonstrates that
advantages of hydrogen praised by journalists (non-toxic, burns to water, abundance of hydrogen in the Universe,
the production of hydrogen depends on the availability of

energy and water, both of which are increasingly rare and may become political
issues, as much as oil and natural gas are today , says Bossel. There is a lot of money in the
etc.) are misleading, because
field now, he continues. I think that it was a mistake to start with a Presidential Initiative rather with a thorough
analysis like this one. Huge sums of money were committed too soon, and now even good scientists prostitute
the
laws of physics are eternal and cannot be changed with additional research, venture
capital or majority votes. Even though many scientists, including Bossel, predict that the
technology to establish a hydrogen economy is within reach, its implementation will
never make economic sense, Bossel argues. In the market place, hydrogen would have
to compete with its own source of energy, i.e. with ("green") electricity from the
grid, he says. For this reason, creating a new energy carrier is a no-win solution. We have
to solve an energy problem not an energy carrier problem ."
themselves to obtain research money for their students or laboratoriesotherwise, they risk being fired. But
Hydrogen energy expensive and inefficient transport and

processing
Conserve Energy Future, NO DATE [What is Hydrogen Energy?
http://www.conserve-energyfuture.com/Advantages_Disadvantages_HydrogenEnergy.php]
hydrogen energy is not quite the perfect, super clean and cheap energy source
that so many companies and governments would love to get their hands on . Its
volatile in gas form, and while that makes it able to accomplish huge tasks, it also makes it sometimes
hazardous to work around and use. Hydrogen Energy Disadvantages 1. Expensive : Hydrogen
gas also requires a lot of work to free if from other elements. If it were simple and
easy to isolate everyone would be using it. Its already being used to power some hybrid cars, but at
the moment it is not a viable source of fuel for everyone . Thats simply because its
expensive and time-consuming to produce. That means until technology advances
enough to simplify and ease the process; hydrogen energy will continue to be too
expensive for most people. 2. Storage : Hydrogen is also hard to move around. Whereas oil can be sent
And yet,
through pipelines, and coal can be carried in the back of dump trucks, super-light hydrogen is hard to transport in a
It is very expensive to move anything more than small amounts of it,

making it impractical for most functions . 3. Not Easy to Replace Existing Infrastructure : As
expensive as hydrogen is to produce and transport, it becomes even more
expensive when you consider trying to use it to replace gasoline. There is no
existing infrastructure in place to accommodate hydrogen as a fuel source for the
average motorist. Gas stations and cars themselves would all have to be refitted at an astronomical cost to
reasonable fashion.
taxpayers and governments. It seems insane to even suggest that current fuel sources be replaced when what is
already in place is working so well. 4. Highly Flammable : Hydrogen in itself is a very powerful source of fuel. We all
know the effects of hydrogen bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Its highly inflammable
and always in news for the potential risks associated with it. 5. Dependency on Fossil Fuels : Though hydrogen
energy is renewable and its environmental impacts are minimal, we still need other non-renewable sources like
We may reduce our dependency on fossil

fuels by using hydrogen but in turn we are actually using them to produce hydrogen
fuel.
coal, oil and natural gas to separate it from oxygen.
Developing alternative fuel is bad (historically) ineffective

Decicco, 13 [John, research professor at the University of Michigan Energy
Institute, professor of practice at the School of Natural Resources and Environment,
Why Pushing Alternate Fuels
Makes for Bad Public Policy, 08-22-13,
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/why_pushing_alternate_fuels__makes_for_bad_public_p
olicy/2682/]
Despite this bipartisan support stretching back almost 40 years , the fact is that using
government mandates and subsidies to promote politically favored fuels du jour is a
waste of taxpayers money. It's also a diversion from what really needs to be done
to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions . Examining alternative fuels as
they are produced today, as opposed to how some people wish they'll be produced in a hoped-for renewable energy
future, reveals no environmentally persuasive reason to rush alternative fuel vehicles onto the road. To be sure,
fundamental science and engineering research are important for creating new options for the future, and so a wellhedged set of alternative fuel vehicle options has a place in the federal research and development portfolio. But as
for going beyond laboratory research and development, a rigorous analysis shows that
subsidizing
deployment of alternative fuels and vehicles totaling billions of dollars over the last 40 years
is a misplaced priority. The Renewable Fuel Standard, the $7,500 tax credit for electric cars, the alternative
fuel promotions of the Clean Cities program these and decades of other programs go well beyond research and
to reduce
transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, action is needed on three fronts:
continuing to raise fuel efficiency standards, pursuing policies to reduce driving,
and, most importantly, controlling carbon upstream in the energy and resource
systems that supply the fuels used downstream in our everyday lives . In the case of
development by trying to push alternative fuels and vehicles into the marketplace. Instead, in order
electric vehicles, an upstream focus means cutting CO2 emissions from power plants, as Obama has proposed in his
new climate plan. Without low-carbon power generation, EVs will have little lasting value. Similarly, for biofuels such
as ethanol, any potential climate benefit is entirely upstream on land where feedstocks are grown. Biofuels have no
benefit downstream, where used as motor fuels, because their tailpipe CO2 emissions differ only trivially from those
of gasoline. Given how difficult the climate policy debate has been,
it's crucial to prioritize where our
money, time, and attention are focused. Even if certain alternative fuel vehicle technologies (say
EVs) may play an important role in the decades ahead, these technologies are unlikely to take the form being
prematurely subsidized today. Whats at issue is not just the waste of tax dollars, but the squandering of public
Whether what propels a car is electricity, liquid fuels,

natural gas, or hydrogen, the critical impacts all occur far from the car itself at
locations where fuels originate and natural resources are exploited. Today, none of
the relevant sectors electric power generation, oil and gas supply, agriculture and
land are close to having their carbon impacts adequately managed . Take electricity, for
goodwill due to the hyping of alternatives.
example. In the United States, most of it still comes from fossil fuels 37 percent coal and 30 percent natural gas,
as of last year. Recent shifts to natural gas have had only a modest effect; CO2 from electricity generation is
declining, but slowly, at a projected rate of less than one percent per year. But thanks to stronger fuel economy
standards pushed by the Obama administration, the CO2 emissions rate of U.S. automobiles is on track to decline
by 2.1 percent a year, more than double the rate of reduction in the power sector. Given the gains in gasoline
vehicle efficiency, the climate benefits of electric vehicles will shrink unless more is done to reduce emissions when
generating electricity. Because power plants are retired much more slowly than cars are scrapped, government
spending to rush EVs onto the road and underwrite their infrastructure is not money well spent. By the time the
power sector is clean enough and battery costs fall enough for EVs to cut carbon at a significant scale, self-driving
cars and wireless charging will probably render today's electric vehicle technologies obsolete. Accelerating power
sector cleanup is far more important than plugging in the car fleet. As for ethanol and other biofuels, a National
Academy of Sciences report concluded that their climate benefits are highly uncertain. The study found that the
Renewable Fuel Standard now at 16 billion gallons and climbing may not reduce greenhouse gas emissions at
all once global impacts are counted. A pioneer in fuel cycle studies Mark A. Delucchi of the University of
California, Davis, Institute for Transportation Studies now questions the accuracy of any of the greenhouse gas
analyses used to promote biofuels. In fact, biofuels have no climate benefit on the road, which is where they are
burned. If there is a benefit, it happens on land and occurs only if harvesting biofuel feedstocks causes a net
additional removal of carbon dioxide from the air. Take corn, which is the main feedstock for making ethanol.
Growing the corn that becomes ethanol absorbs no more carbon from the air than the corn that goes into cattle
feed or corn flakes. Burning the ethanol releases essentially the same amount of CO2 as burning gasoline. No less
CO2 went into the air from the tailpipe; no more CO2 was removed from the air at the cornfield. So where's the
climate benefit? Until that question can be carefully answered for fuel produced on a large, commercial scale as
opposed to limited and costly experimental methods it is not possible to scientifically determine the extent to
which biofuels actually benefit the climate. The implication? We need to ensure that biomass feedstocks really do
absorb more CO2 than whatever else might be growing on the land. For now, it makes more sense to soak up CO2
through reforestation and redouble efforts to protect forests rather than producing biofuels, which puts carbon-rich
As for hydrogen fuel cell cars, the benefits depend on low

greenhouse gas hydrogen production. Today, hydrogen is produced from natural gas
or during petroleum refining, and commercially available hydrogen involves about
35 percent more greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy than gasoline.
Hydrogen fuel cell cars are more efficient than today's gasoline cars, but their ultimate value
depends on extensive changes upstream in the industrial sectors where hydrogen is
generated. Similarly, the climate benefits of natural gas vehicles depend on the control of upstream emissions,
natural lands at risk.
particularly methane. Because natural gas combustion emits only 22 percent less carbon dioxide than gasoline per
unit of energy, and any methane leaks undermine that modest benefit, the climate benefits of natural gas vehicles
Whatever fuel is considered, the real need is to limit the greenhouse

gas emissions that now remain largely uncontrolled in the sectors from which fuels
are sourced. This conclusion is based on a detailed analysis that works forward from present realities rather
are marginal at best.
than backward from one imaginary future or another. Although one or more alternative fuels might have a role to
play someday, which alternatives will be needed, and when, cannot be determined on the basis of current data. It's
also quite possible that none will be relevant in the forms that alternative fuel vehicles are being promoted today.
given the poor track record of alternative fuels to date, there's no need to
saddle climate policy with this legacy of disco-era, anything but oil energy policy.
Moreover,
Hydrogen economy bad inefficient and costly

Ruppert, 013 [Michael C., former Los Angeles Police Department officer,
investigative journalist, political activist and peak oil awareness advocate, Why
Hydrogen is No Solution - Scientific Answers to Marketing Hype, Deception and
Wishful Thinking,
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/081803_hydrogen_answers.html]
Pierre-Rene Bauquis, Vice President of the French Energy Institute, associate IFP professor and former special
advisor to the president of TotalFinaElf, confirmed prior research by FTW citing hard scientific data showing that
hydrogen is not a practical solution. As a member of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy he made no
secret of his advocacy of nuclear power. And it is quite probable that if Total or any other oil company could make a
profit from hydrogen they would rush to do it, especially since they know that they are running out of their current
one half of all oil is used for transportation , Bauquis insisted that
renewable energy sources would not solve the problem and stated flatly that "Hydrogen is
not the fuel of tomorrow." He noted that the first internal combustion engine, built in
1805, was a hydrogen engine and that it was quickly discarded because of the
problems hydrogen poses with transportation, storage and efficiency . Bauquis observed
that, "Commercial production of hydrogen is two to five times the cost of the fossil
fuels used to make it. Transportation is impossible. It is two times as costly to
transport hydrogen as it is to transport electricity. The storage costs for hydrogen
are one hundred times the cost of liquid petroleum products. " He was equally unforgiving
product. Noting that
when it came to ethanol. "To replace forty per cent of the oil in use you would need three times the currently
available farmland just for feedstock." Bauquis drew some groans from the audience when he insisted that the
"Chernobyl" disaster was a hoax perpetrated by Green Peace which had grossly exaggerated the number of deaths
observations about hydrogen are consistent with

a wide number of scientific studies from a number of differing political and
economic interests. He did acknowledge that perhaps in several decades, so-called green
or white hydrogen (produced by electrolysis rather than from methane) might become feasible but
only as a result of nuclear energy to power the conversion process . One audience member
resulting from the 1986 nuclear accident but his
elicited boisterous audience laughter by asking another presenter, "Now we have one situation in the market in
which we get conventional fuel, namely oil, we burn it in a combustion engine, and we do work. Now what I
hydrogen defendants are promoting, led by Mr. Jeremy Rifkin, is a hydrogen

economy consisting basically in getting the conventional fuels again and producing
alternative/solar energies or clean energy or a wind generator to produce
electricity to then split the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen and then
compressing the liquefied hydrogen for transportation and storage and then
injecting the hydrogen into the fuel cell to produce electricity to do work in the
machine. Do you really believe that this is efficiency?"
understand the
Hydrogen economy money and energy sink costs of

transportation, production, delivery; inefficiency
Friedemann, 04 [Alice, member of the Northern California Science Writers
Association, specializes in energy, The Hydrogen Economy Energy and Economic
Black Hole, September 2004, http://www.culturechange.org/alt_energy.htm#H]
Canister trucks ($250,000 each) can carry enough fuel for 60 cars (3, 13). These trucks weight 40,000 kg but
For a delivery distance of 150 miles, the delivery energy

used is nearly 20% of the usable energy in the hydrogen delivered. At 300 miles
40%. The same size truck carrying gasoline delivers 10,000 gallons of fuel, enough
to fill about 800 cars (3). Another alternative is pipelines. The average cost of a
natural gas pipeline is one million per mile, and we have 200,000 miles of natural
gas pipeline, which we cant re-use because they are composed of metal that would
become brittle and leak, as well as the incorrect diameter to maximize hydrogen
throughput. If we were to build a similar infrastructure to deliver hydrogen it would
cost $200 trillion. The major operating cost of hydrogen pipelines is compressor power and maintenance
deliver only 400 kg of hydrogen.
(3). Compressors in the pipeline keep the gas moving, using hydrogen energy to push the gas forward. After 620
At some point along the

chain of making, putting energy in, storing, and delivering the hydrogen, youve
used more energy than you get back, and this doesnt count the energy used to
make fuel cells, storage tanks, delivery systems, and vehicles (17). When fusion can make
miles, 8% of the hydrogen has been used to move it through the pipeline (17).
cheap hydrogen, reliable long-lasting nanotube fuel cells exist, and light-weight leak-proof carbon-fiber polymerlined storage tanks / pipelines can be made inexpensively, then lets consider building the hydrogen economy
infrastructure. Until then, its vaporware.
All of the technical obstacles must be overcome for
any of this to happen (18). Meanwhile, we should stop the FreedomCAR and start setting higher CAFE
standards (19). Some time in the future, the price of oil and natural gas will go up relentlessly due to geological
Since the hydrogen infrastructure will be built

using the existing oil-based infrastructure (i.e. internal combustion engine vehicles, power plants
and factories, plastics, etc), the price of hydrogen will go up as well -- it will never be
cheaper than fossil fuels. As depletion continues, factories will be driven out of
business by high fuel costs (20, 21, 22) and the parts necessary to build the extremely
complex storage tanks and fuel cells might become unavailable . In a society thats looking
more and more like Terry Gilliams Brazil, hydrogen will be too leaky and explosive to handle.
The laws of physics mean the hydrogen economy will always be an energy sink .
depletion and political crises in extracting countries.
Hydrogens properties require energy to overcome waters hydrogen-oxygen bond, to move heavy cars, to prevent
leaks and brittle metals, to transport to the destination.
Hydrogen economy doesnt solve production costs too high

Peplow, 04 [Mark, science journalist, previously chief news editor at Nature
magazine, Hydrogen economy looks out of reach, 10-07-04,
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041004/full/news041004-13.html]
Converting every vehicle in the United States to hydrogen power would demand so
much electricity that the country would need enough wind turbines to cover half of
California or 1,000 extra nuclear power stations. So concludes a British economist, whose
calculation is intended to highlight the difficulties of achieving a truly green hydrogen economy. "This calculation is
useful to make people realize what an enormous problem we face," says Andrew Oswald, an economist from the
University of Warwick. The hydrogen economy has been touted as a replacement for fossil fuels, which release
carbon dioxide when burnt, thus contributing to global warming. Burning hydrogen produces only water. Most
hydrogen is currently made from methane, in a process that releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Splitting water molecules with electricity generates hydrogen - but the electricity is likely to have been generated
may shift urban pollution to out-of-town electricity plants, it

makes little difference to greenhouse-gas output . "Today, hydrogen is not a clean, green fuel,"
from fossil fuels. Although this
says Oswald's brother Jim, an energy consultant who assisted with the calculation. "You've got to ask: where did the
hydrogen come from?" The only technology that can currently make large amounts of hydrogen without using fossil
fuels relies on renewable power sources or nuclear energy, the Oswalds argue. Hydrogen will only mitigate global
warming when a clean source of the gas becomes available, they say. Unpopular options The duo considered the
Transport accounts for about one third of each

country's energy consumption. UK transport uses only a tenth as much energy as
the United States, but there is less land available: the hydrogen switch would
require 100,000 wind turbines, enough to occupy an area greater than Wales. It
unlikely that enough turbines could ever be built , says Jim Oswald. On the other hand,
public opposition to nuclear energy deters many politicians . "I suspect we will do nothing,
because all the options are so unpopular." "I don't think we'll ever have a true hydrogen
economy. The outlook is extremely bleak," he adds. The brothers outline their calculation in the
current issue of Accountancy magazine. "Hydrogen is not a near-term prospect ," agrees Paul Ekins, an
United Kingdom and the United States.
energy economist at the Policy Studies Institute, London. "There will have to be a few fundamental breakthroughs in
Politicians eager to promote their green credentials, yet unaware of the realities,
have oversold the hydrogen dream, says Ekins. "I'm amazed by the number of politicians who think
technology first," he says.
you can dig hydrogen out of the ground," he says.
Economy - CP #2
1NC Comprehensive Immigration Reform CP Text

Counterplan text: The United States federal government
should pass the Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Counterplan Solves the economy --- better labor force, increase in capital
investment and better productivity.
Council of Economic Advisers and the Office of Management and Budget
2013 (The Economic Benefits of Fixing Our Broken Immigration System,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/report.pdf) yousuf
Commonsense immigration reform will lead to greater economic growth by adding
more high- demand workers to the labor force, increasing capital investment and
overall productivity, and leading to more entrepreneurs starting companies in the
U.S. The bipartisan Senate bill will boost real GDP by 3.3 percent ($700 billion) in 2023 and by 5.4
percent ($1.4 trillion) in 2033, according to CBO. This is enough to boost average annual GDP growth by
a projected 0.3 percentage points over the next twenty years. immigration reform
will improve U.S. worker and capital productivity, thereby increasing wages for U.S.
workers, leading to higher real wages in the long term. Technological advancements brought
by immigrants, such as new inventions and improvements in production processes,
also will boost U.S. GDP for years to come. Immigration reform provides a boost to sagging labor force participation. New immigrants of
working age are projected to participate in the labor force at a higher rate than native workers, increasing labor force participation rates. The bipartisan
Senate bill will increase the labor force by 3.5 percent in 2023 and 5 percent in
2033, according to CBO. Reforming our broken immigration system will help to grow the
economy. According to CBO, commonsense immigration reform will lead to greater economic
growth because it will add more high-demand workers to the labor force, increase
capital investment and overall productivity, and lead to greater numbers of
entrepreneurs starting companies in the U.S. CBO estimates that enacting the bipartisan Senate immigration bill, S. 744, will boost
real GDP by 3.3 percent in 2023 and by 5.4 percent in 2033 an increase of roughly $700 billion in 2023 and $1.4 trillion in 2033 in todays dollars.1 This is enough
to boost average annual projected GDP growth by 0.3 percentage points over the
next twenty years.
Solvency - Wages & Education

CIR solves economy---- increased wages and better education
CSII 10 (Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, The Economic Benefits of
Immigrant Authorization in California,
http://csii.usc.edu/documents/chirla_v10_small.pdf) Yousuf
A study of undocumented immigrants who gained legal status under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act
the United States last legalization program, found that 58% of IRCA
immigrants in 2006 had attained a high school degree or better, compared to 30%
in 1990.10 We estimate that if the average level of educational attainment for undocumented workers increased
to that of a GED, the result would be an additional $4 billion increase in wage income
each year. Furthermore, legalization opens up the possibility for English language
acquisition. Under IRCA, applicants were required to complete an English course and
a civics course. Those who participated were able to build their human capital, and as a result, increased
access to job opportunities with greater mobility and higher wages. 11 Our estimates
suggest that the ability to speak English fluently would increase an unauthorized
workers earnings Legalization would provide opportunities for workers to build their human
capital. California would benefit from an additional $384.4 million in income and
sales tax revenue. on average by 18 percent, resulting in an aggregate of $4.6
billion each year. All together, gains from increased levels of educational attainment to a GED and
English fluency would result in an additional $8.6 billion in wage income. The multiplied
(IRCA),
impact of this on the California economy in direct and indirect spending would be about $12.7 billion. Combined
with the immediate effects, this would be a $16 billion boost to California annually.
(S) Taxes
CIR solves economy--- government would gain $1.4 billion
more per year
CSII 10 (Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, The Economic Benefits of
Immigrant Authorization in California,
http://csii.usc.edu/documents/chirla_v10_small.pdf) Yousuf
if unauthorized Latino workers were granted legal status, the state
government would benefit from a gross increase of $310 million in income taxes
and the federal government would gain $1.4 billion in paid income taxes each year.
In the short term,
This is not to say that they dont pay already: our estimates suggest that $280 million in state and $1.4 billion in
local
and state governments would stand to benefit from gains in sales tax revenue. Not
taking into account the potential multiplier effects, an increase in wages for unauthorized workers
would generate at least an additional $74.4 million in annual sales tax revenue. A full
federal income taxes are already being paid each year by Californias unauthorized Latinos. Furthermore,
fiscal accounting would depend on the provisions of reform. Insuring successful integration and enhancing
immigrant productivity could involve higher expenses for English classes and adult education. On the other hand, it
seems likely that access to benefits for the newly authorized would be delayed, and many of the services currently
received by families with unauthorized household heads education, police protection, and emergency health
services would not change substantially. If
California were, as projected, able to collect $310

million in income taxes and $74.4 million in sales tax revenue, the state could use
the combined $384.4 million towards closing the state and local budget gaps. For
example, $384.4 million could have prevented cuts from several of the states
important social safety net programs: Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health
(program cut by $7 million) Community Clinic Programs (program cut by $35
million) Healthy Families (program cut by $179 million) Mental Health-Community
Mental Services (program cut by $164 million)
CIR increases wages and includes a legalization program ---solves for the economy
American Immigration council (the economic benefits of comprehensive
immigration reform, http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wpcontent/uploads/issues/2010/01/pdf/cir_factsheet.pdf) yousuf
Immigration reform would increase U.S. GDP by at least 0.84 percent. This would translate into at least a $1.5 trillion cumulative increase in GDP over 10 years, which includes approximately
$1.2 trillion in consumption and $256 billion in investment . The benefits of
additional GDP growth would be spread broadly throughout the U.S. economy, but
immigrant-heavy sectors such as textiles, electronic equipment, and construction would see
particularly large increases. The higher earning power of newly legalized workers would mean
increased tax revenues of $4.5 billion to $5.4 billion in the first three years. Higher
personal income would also generate increased consumer spendingenough to
support 750,000 to 900,000 jobs in the United States. Experience shows that legalized
workers open bank accounts, buy homes, and start businesses, further stimulating
the U.S. economy. The real wages of less-skilled newly legalized workers would increase by roughly $4,405
per year, while higher-skilled workers would see their income increase $6,185 per year. The wages of
native-born high-skill and low-skill U.S. workers also increase modestly under
comprehensive immigration reform because the wage floor rises for all workers. Legalized
workers invest more in their human capital, including education, job training, and
English-language skills, making them even more productive workers and higher
earners.
(S) Competitiveness
Skilled immigrants solve us competiveness and global
economy
Council of Economic Advisers and the Office of Management and Budget 13
(The Economic Benefits of Fixing Our Broken Immigration System,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/report.pdf) yousuf
recent studies have shown that immigrants
promote productivity and innovation, both directly and indirectly through positive
spillover effects on native workers. 7 Researchers have found that immigrants establish patents
at twice the rate of U.S.-born citizens.8 While this largely reflects immigrants being more heavily represented
As described in the 2013 Economic Report of the President,
in science, engineering, and other technical occupations, immigrants in those fields patent at an above average rate even when
compared to other non-immigrant scientists and engineers.9 Additionally, immigrant college graduates are more likely than nonimmigrants to have published a scholarly work, and those who had published were more likely to have published six or more
scholarly works (6.8 percent of published immigrants compared to 3.6 percent of published native-born graduates).10
Increases in high-skilled immigration also have spillover effects that increase the number of patent applications
filed by non-immigrants. Jennifer Hunt and Marjolaine Gauthier-Loiselle used a 1940- 2000 state panel dataset to
show an increase in patents per capita from 9 percent to 18 percent in response to a 1 percentage point increase in
High-skilled immigrant students and workers exert a strong,

positive impactboth directly and indirectly through spillover effectson U.S.
competitiveness in the global economy.
immigrant college graduates.11
CBO conducted its own literature review to evaluate the economic impact of the bipartisan Senate bill. Its report
concluded, empirical
research broadly suggests that an influx of immigrants,

particularly highly skilled immigrants, would lead to increased innovation and task
specialization. And those improvements in turn would increase economic output for
any given supply of labor and capital stock . From this, CBO determined that the bipartisan Senate
bill would boost overall productivity by 0.7 percent in 2023 and by 1 percent in 2033, which would in turn boost GDP
per capita, increase wages at all skill levels, and raise the return on investmentimprovements that benefit all U.S.
workers.12
(S) Unemployment
CP Solves Economy--Immigration Reforms reduces US
unemployment
Looney and Greenstone 12 (Adam Looney and Michael Greenstone, Adam Looney is a Senior Fellow
for the Brookings Institution, Michael Greenstone is the Former Director of The Hamilton Project; 3M Professor of
Environmental Economics in MIT, The Hamilton Project, What Immigration Means For U.S. Employment and
Wages, http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/what_immigration_means_for_u.s._employment_and_wages/) Patel
While employment continued to rise, todays employment report suggests that the pace of job growth slowed. Employer payrolls
increased only by 115,000 jobs, following a gain of 154,000 last month and average increases of 252,000 per month in the three
increases in employment are roughly keeping up

with increases in new labor market entrants and the unemployment rate was little
changed at 8.1 percent. U.S. immigration policy continues to be a key issue of debate among federal and state
prior months. At last months pace of job growth,
policymakers alike. In that debate, one area of disagreement has been the impact of immigration on the U.S. labor force and the
because of the weak labor

market immigration flows have changed dramatically since the start of the Great
Recessionthe undocumented population has declined (Passel and Cohn 2010; DHS 2012), and the
wages of American workersparticularly during todays difficult economic times. In fact,
number of high-skilled H-1B visas being issued was down by over 25 percent in 2010 from a 2001 peak (US State Department). As
demand for immigrant labor by American

businesses and the desire of immigrants to work in the United States will continue
to rise. The ability of our immigration system to respond to these demands remains
an important economic policy issue, both in the short term and for our countrys long-term growth strategy. In
the economy continues to recover, however, it is likely that
this months employment analysis, we discuss the economic evidence on what immigration means for U.S. jobs and the economy in
advance of The Hamilton Projects May 15th immigration forum in Washington, DC. We also continue to update our analysis of the
the number of jobs that the U.S. economy needs to create in order to
return to pre-recession employment levels, releasing an exciting new interactive
feature that allows readers to calculate when the country will close the jobs gap at
different rates of job creation.
jobs gap, or
CP Solves jobs--Immigration Reforms reduces US

unemployment
While employment continued to rise, todays employment report suggests that the pace of job growth slowed. Employer payrolls
increased only by 115,000 jobs, following a gain of 154,000 last month and average increases of 252,000 per month in the three
increases in employment are roughly keeping up

with increases in new labor market entrants and the unemployment rate was little
changed at 8.1 percent. U.S. immigration policy continues to be a key issue of debate among federal and state
prior months. At last months pace of job growth,
policymakers alike. In that debate, one area of disagreement has been the impact of immigration on the U.S. labor force and the
because of the weak labor

market immigration flows have changed dramatically since the start of the Great
Recessionthe undocumented population has declined (Passel and Cohn 2010; DHS 2012), and the
wages of American workersparticularly during todays difficult economic times. In fact,
number of high-skilled H-1B visas being issued was down by over 25 percent in 2010 from a 2001 peak (US State Department). As
demand for immigrant labor by American

businesses and the desire of immigrants to work in the United States will continue
to rise. The ability of our immigration system to respond to these demands remains
an important economic policy issue, both in the short term and for our countrys long-term growth strategy. In
the economy continues to recover, however, it is likely that
this months employment analysis, we discuss the economic evidence on what immigration means for U.S. jobs and the economy in
advance of The Hamilton Projects May 15th immigration forum in Washington, DC. We also continue to update our analysis of the
the number of jobs that the U.S. economy needs to create in order to
return to pre-recession employment levels, releasing an exciting new interactive
feature that allows readers to calculate when the country will close the jobs gap at
different rates of job creation.
jobs gap, or
Immigrant workers spur job opportunities and increase overall

businesses
Although many are concerned that immigrants compete against Americans for jobs, the most recent economic evidence suggests
immigrant workers increase the opportunities and incomes of Americans.

immigrants cause any sizeable decrease in
wages and employment of U.S.-born citizens (Card 2005), and instead may raise wages and lower prices in
the aggregate (Ottaviano and Peri 2008; Ottaviano and Peri 2010; Cortes 2008). One reason for this effect is that
immigrants and U.S.-born workers generally do not compete for the same jobs ; instead,
many immigrants complement the work of U.S. employees and increase their
productivity. For example, low-skilled immigrant laborers allow U.S.-born farmers, contractors, and craftsmen to expand
that, on average,
Based on a survey of the academic literature, economists do not tend to find that
agricultural production or to build more homesthereby expanding employment possibilities and incomes for U.S. workers. Another
businesses adjust to new immigrants by opening

stores, restaurants, or production facilities to take advantage of the added supply of
workers; more workers translate into more business . Because of these factors, economists have found
way in which immigrants help U.S. workers is that
that immigrants slightly raise the average wages of all U.S.-born workers. As illustrated by the right-most set of bars in the chart
below, estimates from opposite ends of the academic literature arrive at this same conclusion, and point to small but
wage gains of between 0.1 and 0.6 percent for American workers .
positive
(S) Science Diplomacy

CIR solves for science diplomacy--- foreign doctors, scientists,
and engineers
Pickering 10 (Thomas, united states ambassador to the united nations, Science
diplomacy aids conflict reduction,
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2010/Feb/20/science-diplomacy-aids-conflictreduction/2/?#article-copy) yousuf
The White House and Congress have made welcome moves to embrace the
potential of science diplomacy, but in the months and years ahead, they will need to exert still more
leadership and make sure the effort has the resources needed to succeed. Science diplomacy is hardly a new idea.
A 1979 agreement between the United States and China paved the way for bilateral scientific cooperation that has
generated vast benefits for both nations, including reduced tensions and billions of dollars in economic activity. U.S.
and Soviet nongovernmental organizations contributed to a Cold War thaw through scientific exchanges, with little
government support other than travel visas. Now, science diplomacy may help America open a door toward
improved relations with Pyongyang, too. Last December, six Americans representing leading scientific organizations
sat down with their North Korean counterparts. High-level science delegations from the United States in recent
months also have visited Syria, Cuba and Rwanda, not to mention Asian and European nations. Americas scientific
and technological accomplishments are admired worldwide, suggesting a valuable way to promote dialogue. A June
2004 Zogby International poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute found that a deeply unfavorable view of
the U.S. in many Muslim nations, but a profoundly favorable view of U.S. science and technology. Similarly, Pew
polling data from 43 countries shows that favorable views of U.S. science and technology exceed overall views of
the United States by an average of 23 points. Within the scientific community, journals routinely publish articles
cowritten by scientists from different nations, and scholars convene frequent conferences to extend those ties.
Science demands an intellectually honest atmosphere, peer review and a common language for the professional
exchange of ideas. Basic values of transparency, vigorous inquiry and respectful debate are all essential. The North
Korea visit, organized by the U.S.-Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Science Engagement Consortium,
exemplifies the vast potential of science for diplomacy. The U.S. government already has 43 bilateral umbrella
science and technology agreements with nations worldwide, and the administration of President Barack Obama is
elevating the profile of science engagement. In June, in Cairo, he promised a range of joint science and technology
initiatives with Muslim-majority countries. In November, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed three science
envoys to foster new partnerships and address common challenges, especially within Muslim-majority countries. In
the government should quickly and significantly increase the

number of H1-B visas being approved for foreign doctors, scientists and engineers.
Foreign scientists working or studying in U.S. universities make critical contributions
to human welfare and to our economy, and they often become informal goodwill ambassadors for
addition to providing resources,
America overseas. Science is a wide-ranging effort that naturally crosses borders, and so scientist-to-scientist
collaboration can promote goodwill at the grass roots. San Diego boasts a remarkable initiative at High Tech High
charter school. Twice in recent years, biology teacher Jay Vavra has led student teams to Africa to study the illegal
trade in meat from wild and endangered animals. Working with game wardens and tribal leaders, they use
sophisticated DNA bar coding techniques to analyze the meat and track down poachers. Such efforts advance
science while supporting peace and the health of the planet.
In an era of complex global challenges,

science diplomacy can be crucial to finding solutions both to global problems and to
global conflict.
Science diplomacy key to solving conflicts

USC center on public diplomacy 10 (SCIENCE DIPLOMACY AND THE PREVENTION
OF CONFLICT,
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/uscpublicdiplomacy.org/files/useruploads/u22281
/Science%20Diplomacy%20Proceedings.pdf) yousuf
Rarely
have we seen such high profile expressions of hope and support for science
diplomacy as a tool of conflict management as we have lately . President Barack Obama,
with his remarks in Cairo in 2009, not only tried to change the tone of our relationship with
the Middle East and the Muslim world at large, but he gave science a prominent role
in defining that new relationship. And last fall, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed three
These are exciting times for those of us working at the nexus of science diplomacy and peacebuilding.
scientific luminaries as science envoys to engage more extensively with the Muslim world in scientific and
technical collaborations. Finally, in its recent budget the Administration followed through by requesting new funding
for global engagement programs of this nature.
science diplomacy will help to ease tensions

between the Western and Muslim worlds. And we see similar expressions of hope in
other areas such as climate change and nuclear non-proliferation where science
diplomacy can play a vital role in mitigating conflict.
Clearly, our political leaders have great hopes that
We at USIP share this optimism. Working with partners like the National Academy of Engineers and the USC Center
we are seeking to create a framework for a more systematic use of

science diplomacy in conflict management. How can we leverage these scientific and technical
on Public Diplomacy
collaborations before conflict has become intractable? Why do some technical collaborations morph into powerful
peacebuilding initiatives? These are just some of the many questions we are excited to be working on as we seek to
make science diplomacy a more powerful tool in our foreign policy toolkit .
(S) Cyber Security

CIR key to solve cyber security--- skilled workers that can operate systems, prevent
and mitigate damage
Homeland security news wire 10 (the homeland security industrys largest
online daily news publication, Shortage of cyber workers in the U.S.,
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/shortage-cyber-workers-us) yousuf
The United States is lacking an adequate number of individuals within the federal
government and private sector with the technical skills necessary to secure
cyberspace, concludes a report released last week by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
There is a significant skills gap issue, and we need to address it, Karen Evans, partner at
information technology advisory KE&T Partners and co-author of the report, told SCMagazineUS.coms Angela
There is a shortage of individuals with the necessary security skills to

operate and support systems that already are deployed, according to the report, released by
Moscaritolo.
the Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, established in 2007 by the CSIS to provide findings and
there is an even greater

shortage of cybersecurity experts that can design secure systems and networks,
write nonvulnerable computer code and create the tools needed to prevent, detect
and mitigate damage due to malicious acts. Jim Gosler, fellow at the Sandia National Laboratory
make recommendations concerning cybersecurity. The report also found that
and visiting scientist at the National Security Agency (NSA), said in the report that there are only about 1,000
individuals in the United States with the specialized security skills to defend cyberspace. There needs to be around
10,000 to 30,000, he said. Additionally, Lt. Gen. Charles Croom, commander of the Joint Task Force for global
the most critical problem in meeting the

growing cyber challenge is finding the technical security people to handle the task.
network operations in the U.S. Air Force, stated that
A critical element of a robust cybersecurity strategy is having the right people at every level to identify, build and
staff the defenses and responses, the report states. And that is, by many accounts, the area where we are the
weakest. Additionally, existing professional certification programs are inadequate and create a dangerously
false sense of security because these programs do not always improve an individuals ability to address security
risks, the report states. Moscaritolo writes that while many defend certifications as a way to prove that someone
has practical knowledge in a given field, the credentials currently available, according to the report, are too focused
on documenting compliance rather than actually reducing risks. Theres a lot of money put forth in scholarships
for service, but when you look to see what they actually get trained on is not necessarily what they need to apply
on the job, Evans said. Its time to raise the bar and go a little higher because you could get a whole staff full of
people with cybersecurity certification, but that doesnt mean they can actually handle an incident. The report
the federal government must take steps to

expand cyber education and build a rigorous cybersecurity certification system.
recommends that to address workforce problems,
Moscaritolo notes that there already are a number efforts underway within and outside of the federal government to
develop a skilled workforce. For example, DHS announced last year that it had secured funding to hire up to 1,000
cybersecurity experts. One of the primary recommendations in the report is that these efforts be leveraged in a
comprehensive manner and the presidents cybersecurity coordinator, Howard Schmidt, sponsor an effort to create
and publish a classification of core cybersecurity roles and skills, Evans said. This standard would serve as the
basis of education and training curricula and professional certifications, the report recommends. Theres good work
happening in pockets, Evans said. There are things that are working well and can be leveraged across the board
to help everyone.
Aff - (T) Bad for Econ

Turnthe passage of immigration reforms causes economic
decline
Vlahos 11 (Kelley Beaucar, Kelley is a reporter for Fox News, Fox News, Report Warns Easing Immigrants'
Path to Citizenship Will Further Harm Economy, 5/31/11, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/31/report-warnseasing-immigrants-path-citizenship-harm-economy/) Patel
EXCLUSIVE: President Obama says reforming immigration policy will help the nations economy, especially in the form of job
creation. Research cited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says there is no correlation between immigration and high
says that illegal immigrants are already competing

with native-born Americans for jobs, particularly low-wage, unskilled service jobs . In a
unemployment. But one major critic disagrees and
new report released today, Immigration, Poverty and Low-Wage Earners: The Harmful Effect of Unskilled Immigrants on American
comprehensive immigration reform would

add thousands, if not millions, more unskilled workers to the labor force, which is still struggling under
Workers, FAIR (Federation for Immigration Reform) says the presidents vision for
the recession. FAIR finds that out of 1.1 million new legal immigrants accepted annually, less than 6 percent were admitted
because they possessed skills deemed essential to the U.S. economy. Making illegal workers legal , and opening up
the process to let more immigrants into the country, would only make that worse, said Ira Mehlman, FAIRs media director. Here we
have a policy that actually increases poverty, Mehlman tells FoxNews.com, noting that 7.1 million Americans with a
high school diploma or less are already unemployed. Some family-based immigrants may be highly educated or skilled, but the
vast majority of admissions are made without regard for those criteria, charges the FAIR report. The immigrant population reflects
Nearly 31 percent of foreign-born residents over the age of

25 are without a high school diploma, compared to just 10 percent of native-born
citizens. High school dropouts and those with only a high school diploma native or immigrant are having the hardest time
the systems lack of emphasis on skill.
finding a job in todays labor market, which is still suffering from an 8 percent national unemployment rate and has yet to recover
the 7.2 million jobs it lost after the recession hit in 2007, according to reports.
Illegal immigrants, according to the FAIR
are the least educated group, with 75 percent having a high school education or less. They are also more
illegal immigrants
were allowed a path to citizenship, said Mehlman, they will still be unskilled and poorly educated . The
only difference is they will be legally able to stay here . They will file a tax return and
will be able to claim all sorts of benefits . Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for
report,
likely to be living in poverty and lack health insurance. If the president had his way and some of those
Immigration Studies, agrees, noting that, according to the U.S. government, there are about 10.8 million illegal immigrants in the
U.S. today. Unskilled legal immigrants are eligible for a host of programs that unskilled illegal immigrants are not, including the
Earned Income Tax Credit, he told Foxnews.com. The question here is, does allowing millions of people who havent graduated high
school into the modern American economy with the modern American welfare state a good deal for us? Probably not, said
Camarota. Dan Griswold, who heads the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the CATO Institute, says FAIR has a narrow view of the
world and is ignoring long-standing evidence including the amnesty granted to 1.7 million undocumented workers in the 1980s
under the Reagan administration that legalization helped immigrants become more productive and more skilled. FAIR missed
that. He said legalizing immigrants allows them to invest more into the marketplace, which grows jobs a point that Mehlman and
Camarota dispute. In a January 2010 report, Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive
Immigration Reform," the Center for American Progress declared that comprehensive immigration reform creating a pathway to
legalization and establishing new, flexible legal limits to permanent and temporary immigration-- could add as much as $1.5
trillion to the countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while increasing wages for all American workers. Immigrants do not steal
jobs from American workers. Immigrants come to the United States to fill jobs that are available, or to establish their own
businesses, said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which just put out its own report, entitled Immigration Myths and Facts.
Immigrants go where the jobs are, or they create jobs of their own, reads the report. But FAIR insists there is no such thing as an
immigrant job. The reality is that immigrants and natives compete for the same jobs and native workers are increasingly at a
Obama
raised the issue of comprehensive immigration reform to renew his ties to the more
Democratic-leaning immigrant population for his 2012 re-election bid (Latino voters now
disadvantage because employers have access to a steady supply of low-wage foreign workers. While critics say
make up 7 percent of the electorate and play a huge role in swing states like New Mexico, Colorado, Florida and Nevada), others say
it will be much more difficult to pass anything that remotely spells amnesty in todays divided Congress especially before a
heated presidential contest. Its amnesty for 2 million people, said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee. I just dont see it when you are still talking about amnesty. Griswold warned, however, against maintaining the status
quo. Both parties are going to make political hay out of it and were not going to be any closer to fixing the problem.
Aff - (NS) Visa Delay

Solvency deficit---- Visas take too long, cant solve for the
economy in time
Sensenbrenner 13 (jim, R-Wis., has served in Congress since 1979 He represents
a district covering Milwaukee suburbs, "Currently, it takes up to 25 years to obtain
U.S. citizenship legally" but the Senate bill "would allow immigrants who came to
the United States illegally to obtain citizenship in just 13 years.",
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/jul/07/jim-sensenbrenner/repjim-sensenbrenner-says-it-takes-25-years-obtai/) yousuf
Dont count U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin among Republicans supporting the kind of immigration
reform endorsed with bipartisan backing by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate on June 27, 2013. The Senates approach,
Sensenbrenner argues, would crowd out legal immigration by boosting incentives to enter America illegally through
a head start on citizenship. How? "Currently, it takes up to 25 years to obtain U.S. citizenship legally,"
Sensenbrenner wrote in The Washington Times on July 1, 2013. "The Senate proposal, however, would allow
immigrants who came to the United States illegally to obtain citizenship in just 13 years." His conclusion: "Thats a
12-year head start granted as a reward for illegally entering the country." Weve heard senators state repeatedly
that illegal immigrants would have to "get in the back of the line" to obtain legal status on the road to citizenship.
So lets examine Sensenbrenners claim as the spotlight moves to the Republican-held House, where the GOP may
take a more piecemeal reform strategy featuring tougher enforcement on the Mexico-U.S. border. The current
To obtain citizenship, an immigrant needs to first obtain a green card and

then wait either 3 or 5 years before applying for citizenship, said Madeleine Sumption of the
system
Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization. The length of the "pathway to citizenship" is the
sum of the waiting time for whatever type of green card the person is eligible for, plus 3 to 5 years, she explained.
The current immigration process is first-come, first-served and limits the total number
of people admitted each year on family or employment visas granting permanent
residency, noted another Migration Policy Institute researcher, Claire Bergeron. Long waiting lists have
resulted. Overall, demand has exceeded supply since 1965, especially from Mexico, whose 1.3 million
applicants on the waiting list made up 30 percent of the list as of November 2012.
All told, more than 4.4 million people are "in line" for immigrant visas, though an
unknown number of those people may already be here without authorization. There are also per-country caps in
That has meant especially long waiting times not only in Mexico, but in China,
India and the Philippines. Sensenbrenners claim It is the case, for some categories of aspiring Americans
place.
from a few countries where hundreds of thousands want to settle here, that wait times just to get in are 20 years or
Then its another 3 to 5 years to obtain citizenship. Mexican nationals who are
the adult children of U.S. citizens experience waits of 20 years before they can file
for permanent-residence visas commonly known as green cards, Bergeron wrote in a March
more.
2013 immigration primer for the institute. The same waits apply to Mexicans who are the adult unmarried children
U.S. citizens
coming from the Philippines -- is currently about 24 years ," Sumption told us. "That means
that people currently getting these green cards have waited 24 years for them. " So for
of lawful permanent residents of the United States. "The longest backlog -- for siblings of
a large number of people from countries where interest in living in the United States is high, Sensenbrenner is right
that waits of "up to" 25 years are a reality. When we asked Sensenbrenners office for backup, spokesman
Ben Miller said Sensenbrenner had Mexican immigrants in mind when citing the 25-year figure, because they are
the focus of much of the current debate. But backlogs for many other immigrants -- and some from Mexico -- are
much shorter, the Migration Policy Institute study noted. Spouses of U.S. citizens, for example, get their green
cards within about a year after applying, Sumption told us. And the spouses and children of lawful permanent
residents from all countries typically wait 2 years before they can file for a green card. In countries other than
Mexico and the Philippines, applicants for family-based immigrant visas typically wait 2 to 12 years before they can
get a green-card application started. "Wait times vary dramatically depending on the applicants visa category and
country of nationality," the MPI study found. In another part of the system -- employer-based immigration -applicants with no more than a bachelors degree commonly see waiting times of 4 years or more for green cards.
"When you add to that the fact that many have been in the country for 6 years on a temporary work visa before
applying for green cards, plus a 5-year wait for citizenship, the total waiting time for these people before obtaining
citizenship can be around 15 years," Sumption said in an email. Looking at the comparison Sensenbrenner says
the Senate bill would allow the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States to obtain citizenship in 13
years. Thats accurate, based on multiple news accounts of the bill. Finally, Sensenbrenner does the math. He
concludes that 25 minus 13 means a "12-year head start granted as a reward for illegally entering the country." In
citizenship takes "up

to" 25 years. Overall his math is on target for many applicants from Mexico and the Philippines, countries that
doing so, he takes the high end of the range, leaving out his previous qualifier that
make up 40 percent of the waiting list. But it misfires for many others. Notably, in addition, Sensenbrenner leaves
out the fact that the Senate bill aims to bring down the waiting times. That is, he uses the bills 13-year citizenship
path for illegal immigrants as part of his equation, but does not take into account the bills intent to drive down the
long waits. The bill, Sumption said, provides a backlog clearance program that would issue visas to people
currently waiting in line over a 7 to 9 year period. (It should be noted that one way the bill would prevent new
backlogs from developing is to end future immigration visas for siblings of U.S. citizens.) So Sensenbrenners 25year figure is weakened by his omission, at least in part. But, there is still a group of people who already have
waited decades to get here who would see that undocumented residents are on a 13-year path, albeit one that has
many hurdles. Our rating Sensenbrenner said
citizenship
it currently takes up to 25 years to obtain U.S.
legally, but the Senate bill "would allow immigrants who came to the United States illegally to obtain
a large group of would-be Americans who wait for 20

or more years to get in and then become citizens. But many others experience much shorter
citizenship in just 13 years." Hes right for
waits, and Sensenbrenner muddies the comparison by omitting the fact that, going forward if the Senate bill
became law, wait times are expected to drop. We rate his claim Half True.
Aff - (NS) Job Displacement

Doesnt solve the economy Immigrants displace US jobs
Sessions 13 (Jeff Sessions, Jeff Sessions is a Senator of Alabama is the ranking Republican on the Senate
Budget Committee, USA Today, Sessions: Immigration plan bad for U.S. workers, 9/4/13,
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/09/04/jeff-session-immigration-reform/2759519/) Patel
There is an unspoken question at the heart of the immigration debate: What is the loyalty a nation owes to its own citizens?
Business groups financing the push for comprehensive immigration reform believe they have the right to demand from Congress as
many workers as they want from abroad at the wages they prefer. How this affects the struggling U.S. citizen is not their concern.
the costs -- human and financial -- would be enormous. Drafters of the Senate immigration plan
delivered spectacularly for these business groups' priorities: the Senate bill adds four times more guest
workers than the rejected 2007 immigration proposal and, based on Congressional
Budget Office data, adds 46 million mostly lower-skill legal immigrants and their
relatives to the country by 2033. The result? CBO says average wages would fall for a dozen
years, unemployment would rise, and the nation's per-person wealth would sink for
the next quarter century. Cheering its Senate passage, the White House released a new report declaring that the
But
Senate bill's large proposed expansion of our already very generous immigration programs -- including a further surge in "low-skill
visa programs" -- is exactly what our country needs. Here is one gem from the White house paper: "The broader leisure and
hospitality industry -- one of the fastest-growing sectors of the United States economy -- also stands to benefit significantly from
commonsense immigration reform like agriculture, a portion of their current workforce is undocumented. Leaders of these
industries have been longtime proponents of legislation that would legalize workers in the U.S. and facilitate the lawful employment
of future foreign-born workers. The head of the American Hotel and Lodging Association this year applauded the Senate on behalf of
the lodging industry for its bipartisan commitment to immigration reform." Are we really to believe that the leisure and hospitality
industry cannot get by unless (as the Senate bill does) we both pardon them for the large-scale hiring of illegal workers and then
provide them with a substantially expanded flow of low-skill workers from other countries? In a free-market society, wages for
workers are set by supply and demand. If a business is unable to attract the number of workers it needs, it must raise wages.
Businesses no more have the right to demand central planners in Washington

provide them with workers from around the world at desired wages than they have
the right to demand a taxpayer bailout . Would it not better serve the national interest to get our citizens off of
welfare and into good jobs with rising pay? Labor force participation is at a 30-year low, welfare spending has eclipsed $1 trillion
annually, and wages are now lower than they were in 1999. Research from Harvard's George Borjas demonstrated that high levels of
low-skill immigration from 19802000 resulted in a 7.4% wage drop for U.S. workers without a high school diploma. Today,
one in
three such Americans can't find a job. But rather than face the reality that more than 40% of U.S. adults are not
working, the president and many congressional lawmakers are determined to provide businesses with an easy avenue to avoid
The costs are not only economic

-- including lower wages and higher unemployment -- but social . Consider a city such as Detroit.
One in three Detroit households is on food stamps. The education system is failing,
families are breaking apart and millions have been trapped in poverty for
generations. Unemployment has crushing human consequences . Yet this is happening
is cities and towns all across America . We have a national obligation to help
struggling Americans get back to work, earning incomes that can support a family,
and ultimately rescue them from reliance on welfare. Currently, our federal
government spends 100 times more on welfare than job training. Those job training programs
we do have are duplicative and inefficient. If businesses think there are no available workers to fill job openings, shouldn't we
be more focused on helping our own citizens get the skills they need to re-enter the
workforce? Would that not help to improve community conditions and social stability? Yet, on the heels of the disastrous
hiring these citizens -- especially those who have been chronically unemployed.
Senate bill, two key House Republicans are now floating an immigration proposal that would double the already huge increase in
low-skill guest workers offered by the Senate. The House needs to repudiate the Senate's destructive proposal, not make it even
Congress must address the large and growing share of the U.S. population that
struggles with long-term welfare reliance and unemployment. Rushing in more
workers from abroad to fill limited job openings is not the answer. A nation does owe
its fundamental loyalty to its own citizens, and that should be the guiding force in crafting a generous but
worse.
responsible immigration plan. Businesses are free to ask for special treatment. But elected officials have an obligation to say no.
Illegal immigrants dont solve the economy Causes U.S.

citizens to lose jobs for cheaper labor
FAIR 13 (Fair, Fair is a national, nonprofit, public-interest, membership organization of concerned citizens who
share a common belief that our nation's immigration policies must be reformed to serve the national interest.
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Illegal Aliens Taking U.S. Jobs (2013), Federation for American
Immigration Reform, 2013, http://www.fairus.org/issue/illegal-aliens-taking-u-s-jobs) Patel
Illegal aliens come to the United States to take jobs that offer them greater
opportunity, and they are often welcomed by U.S. employers who are able to hire them for
wages lower than they would have to pay to hire U.S. workers. This employment is illegal
under a law enacted in 1986, but some employers ignore the law and hire illegal workers in the underground
economy. Others simply accept fake employment documents and hire the illegal workers as if they were legal.
Because there is no requirement to verify documents presented by workers, employers can easily evade
compliance. The illegal alien workers are mostly persons who sneaked into the country
nearly all Mexicans or Central Americans who enter from Mexico. There is also, however, illegal entry across the
border with Canada, with apprehensions by the Border Patrol of more than 6,000 aliens in 2010. There is also a
significant portion of the illegal alien population that arrives with visas and stays illegally. These overstayers' are
estimated variously to between one- third and 40 percent of the illegal alien population. The defenders of illegal
illegal aliens
only take jobs unwanted by U.S. workers. This is patently false because they are working in jobs in
aliens ethnic advocacy groups, employer groups, and church-based groups often assert that
which U.S. workers are also employed whether in construction, agricultural harvesting or service professions. If
the hiring of illegal alien workers is prevalent in a sector of the economy, as it has become the case in seasonal crop
agriculture, the willingness of foreign workers to accept lower wages because of their illegal status acts to depress
This in turn makes employment in that

sector less attractive to U.S. workers who have other options . The result is a form of circular
logic, i.e., the more that illegal aliens are able to take jobs in a sector of the economy,
the less attractive the sector becomes to U.S. workers, and the greater appearance of validity
to the lie that only illegal aliens are willing to take jobs in the sector. Only by enforcing the immigration
law against employment of illegal alien workers can this spiral to the bottom be
broken and employers forced to restore wages and working conditions to levels that
will attract U.S. workers and legal foreign workers.
wages and working conditions for all workers in that occupation.
Economy - CP #3
1NC Public Infrastructure CP Text

The United States Department of Commerce should implement
funding into the Economic Development Administration to
increase public infrastructure projects.
Public infrastructure programs solve the economy and spur
jobs, also they boost the market system
Fishback, 7 [ Price Van, Professor of Economics and economic historian and the
University of Arizona, Measuring the Success of the Programs, The Impact of
Relief and Public Works Programs on Socioeconomic Welfare During the 1930s,
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~fishback/The%20Impact%20of%20Relief%20and
%20Public%20Works%20Programs%20on%20Socioeconomic%20Welfare%20During
%20the%201930s.html]
How successful were the public works and relief programs at achieving their goals ?
Millions of unemployed people were put to work.
Large numbers of roads, buildings, post offices, and public works built in the 1930s
can be found in every county in America. There is another counterfactual standard against which
On their face they were wildly successful.
these projects should be measured. How much better did the local economies perform in response to work relief
The impact of
public works and relief programs extended well beyond the labor market. An added
dollar of public works and relief spending in a U.S. county was associated with an
increase in retail sales of roughly 40 to 50 cents. Given typical ratios of retail sales
to income, this suggests that incomes in the county grew roughly 85 cents at the
mean when a dollar was added to public works and relief spending. Counties with greater
and public works projects than they would have had the projects not been established?
great public works and relief spending appeared to be more attractive to workers, as these counties experienced
Recent studies of the relief programs in the largest cities

suggest that spending an additional $2.5 million in year 2008 dollars (about
$200,000 in 1935) on relief was associated with a reduction of one infant death, a
suicide, 2.5 deaths from infectious and parasitic diseases, one death from diarrhea,
and 21 property crimes. In all cases these are point estimates and the range of the true estimates is large
more in-migration during the 1930s.
although it does not include an effect of zero. For more details on the programs and the way these estimates were
created, see the papers below. In each case I provide the citation to the definitive published version of the article
and a link that will take you to the journal cite. People with access through a library with the appropriate
subscriptions should be able to go through their library to obtain the published version for free. On this website I
have provide the working paper versions of the papers before they went through the revisions and edits for final
publication. Some of the working paper versions have extra material not in the published version.
EDA solves- administration already developed and funds only

need to be implemented
DOC 13 (US department of commerce, Department of Commerce Grants and
Cooperative Agreements Manual Grants and Cooperative Agreements Manual, 3/1,
http://www.osec.doc.gov/oam/grants_ management/policy/documents/FINAL
%20Master%20DOC%20Grants%20Manual%202013%20(03.01.13)_b.pdf)
B. There is no general Department-wide financial assistance authority . Such authority must be
provided by specific statute. The Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977 (31 U.S.C. 6301-6308), in
and of itself, does not provide such authority. The operating unit's basic legislation must be analyzed to determine
whether an assistance relationship is authorized, and if so, under what circumstances and conditions.
The
following operating units are authorized to provide financial assistance: 1. Economic

Development Administration (EDA). The Economic Development Administration
(EDA) was established under the Public Works and Economic Development Act of
1965 (42 U.S.C. 3121 et seq.), as amended by the Economic Development Administration Reauthorization Act of
2004 (Pub. L. No. 108-373,118 Stat. 1756 (2004)) (PWEDA). As set forth in EDA's regulations at 13 C.F.R. Chapter III,
EDA's mission is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting

innovation and competitiveness, preparing American regions for growth and success
in the worldwide economy. EDA investment assistance is available to rural and
urban areas of the Nation experiencing or threatened with substantial economic
distress, including high levels of unemployment, low income levels, significant
declines in per-capita income, sudden major lay-offs or plant closures, or natural or
other major disasters. In fulfilling its mission pursuant to PWEDA, EDA advances
economic growth by assisting regions experiencing chronic high unemployment and
low per-capita income to create an environment that fosters innovation, promotes
entrepreneurship, and attracts increased private capital investment. Additionally, EDA
helps communities experiencing adverse economic changes due to base realignment and closures, defense
contractor reductions in force, U.S. Department of Energy defense-'elated funding reductions, and Federallydeclared disasters. EDA works in partnership with eligible applicants, including State and local governments, district
organizations, public or private non-profit organizations, Indian tribes, and institutions of higher education. Under
the Trade Act of 1974, (19 U.S.C. 2341 et seq.), as amended, EDA also provides technical assistance to firms that
have been adversely affected by increased import competition (see 13 C.F.R. Part 315).
Solvency Exts.
Public works projects are good for jobs and spur the economy-empirics
Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia 14 (US history online textbook
authors, Putting People Back to Work, http://www.ushistory.org/us/49b.asp)
The first major help to large numbers of jobless Americans was the FEDERAL EMERGENCY RELIEF ACT. This law gave
$3 billion to state and local governments for direct relief payments. Under the direction of HARRY HOPKINS, FERA
assisted millions of Americans in need. While Hopkins and Roosevelt believed this was necessary, they were
reticent to continue this type of aid. Direct payments might be "narcotic," stifling the initiative of Americans seeking
paying jobs. Although FERA lasted two years, efforts were soon shifted to "work-relief" programs .
These agencies would pay individuals to perform jobs, rather than provide handouts. The first such initiative began
in March 1933. Called the CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS , this program was aimed at over two million
unemployed unmarried men between the ages of 17 and 25. CCC participants left their homes and lived in camps in
built reservoirs and bridges, and cut fire

lanes through forests. They planted trees, dug ponds, and cleared lands for camping.
the countryside. Subject to military-style discipline, the men
They earned $30 dollars per month, most of which was sent directly to their families. The CCC was extremely
Listless youths were removed from the streets and given paying jobs and
provided with room and shelter. There were plenty of other opportunities for the
unemployed in the New Deal. In the fall of 1933, Roosevelt authorized the CIVIL WORKS
ADMINISTRATION. Also headed by Hopkins, this program employed 2.5 million in a month's
time, and eventually grew to a multitudinous 4 million at its peak. Earning $15 per week, CWA workers
tutored the illiterate, built parks, repaired schools, and constructed athletic fields
and swimming pools. Some were even paid to rake leaves. Hopkins put about three thousand
popular.
writers and artists on the payroll as well. There were plenty of jobs to be done, and while many scoffed at the makework nature of the tasks assigned, it provided vital relief during trying times.
The largest relief program
of all was the WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION. When the CWA expired, Roosevelt appointed
Hopkins to head the WPA, which employed nearly 9 million Americans before its expiration .
Americans of all skill levels were given jobs to match their talents . Most of the resources were spent
on public works programs such as roads and bridges, but WPA projects spread to
artistic projects too. The FEDERAL THEATER PROJECT hired actors to perform plays
across the land. Artists such as BEN SHAHN beautified cities by painting larger-than-life murals. Even such
noteworthy authors as JOHN STEINBECK and RICHARD WRIGHT were hired to write regional histories. WPA
workers took traveling libraries to rural areas. Some were assigned the task of
transcribing documents from colonial history; others were assigned to assist the
blind. Critics called the WPA "We Piddle Around" or "We Poke Along," labeling it the worst waste of taxpayer
money in American history. But most every county in America received some service by the newly employed, and
although the average monthly salary was barely above subsistence level, millions of Americans earned desperately
needed cash, skills, and self-respect.
Public works projects can save 3.5 million jobs and spur the
economy
Goldman , Chipman, 2009[Julianna, chief White House correspondent for
Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek, and Kim, reporter for Bloomberg
news, Obama Releases Billions for Public Works Projects (Update1), Bloomberg,
3/3/2009 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
pid=newsarchive&refer=worldwide&sid=a7PZO..IJU.s]
Obama released billions of dollars today for public

works projects to spur job growth and revive the economy. Fourteen days after I
signed our recovery act into law, we are seeing shovels hit the ground, Obama said
today while visiting the Transportation Department in Washington. Of the 3.5 million jobs saved or
created, about 400,000 will be rebuilding crumbling roads, bridges and schools, he
said, with $28 billion devoted to highway construction. Obamas administration is working to
March 3 Bloomberg -- President Barack
direct funds from the $787 billion economic recovery package signed into law last month. The measure seeks to
spending almost $200 billion to rebuild the nations crumbling

infrastructure. Obama used the Transportation Department as a platform to illustrate the government is
create jobs by
spending the stimulus money quickly as the economy continues to erode. He will highlight the stimulus bill again
March 6 in a speech in Columbus, Ohio. Transportation projects that were once on hold are starting up again, he
More than 100 projects were funded today, with more than 200 construction projects
to get under way in the next few weeks. Highway projects will save or create about
150,000 jobs by the end of 2010, he said, more than the number of jobs lost over the last
three years at Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC combined.
Biggest Investment Vice President Joe Biden called it the biggest investment on our nations
roads, bridges, highways and tunnels since we built the interstate highway
system. The stimulus plan includes $27.6 billion for highways, $8.4 billion to improve
bus, rail and other forms of public transportation and $8 billion for high-speed rail
and intercity passenger lines. The work begins today, resurfacing a highway in Montgomery County,
Maryland, yielding 60 good jobs, and thats how were going to get the country back on its
feet, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said before Obama spoke. Obama, who on the campaign trail talked
said.
about the need for a more modern nationwide train system, also has proposed devoting an additional $5 billion to
fast-rail development over the next five years, according to the Democratic presidents budget plan submitted last
week to Congress. His proposed transportation budget for fiscal 2010 is $72.5 billion, an increase of 2.8 percent
from the $70.5 billion proposed for the agency for this year. High-Speed Rail The extra funds for high-speed rail
development would be seed money for swifter train service in the U.S., though it wont produce a super-fast system
such as those in Europe and Japan, Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad
Passengers, said last week. LaHood, 63, served in the House of Representatives for seven terms as an Illinois
Republican before retiring. He represented a district that includes the headquarters of Peoria, Illinois-based
Caterpillar Inc., the worlds largest maker of construction equipment. Later in the day at the Interior Department,
Obama announced more than $3 billion in stimulus money is earmarked for Interior Department projects. They
range from improvements of tourist facilities at Yellowstone National Park in the mountain West to refurbishing the
Statute of Liberty in New York to rebuilding schools on Indian reservations.
Infrastructure jobs spur economic growth and are key to

jumpstart the economy
Kane 6-9 (Joseph, Senior Policy/Research Assistant, Metropolitan Policy Program at
the Brookings Institute, Infrastructures Long-Term Role in the Jobs Recovery,
2014, http://www.brookings.edu /blogs/the-avenue/posts/2014/06/09-infrastructurejobs-recovery-kane-puentes)
To drive sustained employment growth, policymakers need to prioritize jobs that pay
well, appeal to a large pool of potential job seekers, and promote long-lasting
economic opportunities. Infrastructure jobs are well positioned to do just that. While
infrastructure jobs tend to offer more equitable wages and have lower barriers of entry, their economic
diversity is especially important to consider in the ongoing recovery . Construction, of
course, supports many of these jobsand is beginning to see an upswing in demandbut most of the 14.2
million workers employed in infrastructure are involved in operating these systems across a variety of
industries and occupations, serving as a foundation for broader economic growth . From
transportation and telecommunications to water and energy, infrastructure helps facilitate some of
our nations most vital economic activities over many decades, which we can see by
comparing how many workers are employed across different infrastructure sectors .
For example, the majority of workers employed in infrastructure occupations support our
nations trade and logistics facilities, representing 6.6 million jobs in total and reaffirming
freights enormous economic importance throughout the country. Material movers
and truck drivers are among the largest of these occupations, but logisticians, cargo
agents, and dispatchers also play a key role at our major ports, highways, and
warehouses. The second largest share of workers in infrastructure occupations are involved in inter- and intrametro transportation (2.1 million), followed by energy (1 million) and water (710,000). While bus drivers,
electricians, and plumbers are the most significant occupations in these sectors, there are a wide range of other
occupations essential to managing these infrastructure networks, including railroad conductors, nuclear technicians,
and water treatment plant operators. Infrastructure workers involved in telecommunications (360,000) and public
works (170,000) are similar in this respect, with telecommunication line installers and recyclable material collectors
more than
500,000 workers, including civil engineers and urban planners, provide critical
design and technical support across multiple infrastructure sectors. In this way,
whether we invest in water projects to promote sustainability, form new partnerships
to move more passengers, or develop innovative plans to address our energy
future, infrastructure jobs offer the kind of long-term certainty we need to put
people back to work during the economic recovery .
among the occupations providing indispensable services to metropolitan economies. In addition,
Infrastructure is good for the economy- every dollar spend

doubles
Kawa 2012[ Lucas, graduated from St. John's University with a B.S. in Economics.
STUDY: Every $1 Of Infrastructure Spending Boosts The Economy By $2,
11/30/2012 http://www.businessinsider.com/infrastructure-economic-multiplier2012-11]
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/author/lucas-kawa#ixzz39CfGGBndA
recently published working paper from the San Francisco Fed shows that the fiscal
multiplier of infrastructure spending is much larger than the typical government
spending multiplier.
Sylvain Leduc and Daniel Wilson studied the effect of unexpected infrastructure
grants on state GDPs (GSPs) since 1990 and found that, on average, each dollar of
infrastructure spending increases the GSP by at least two dollars. Valerie Ramey,
Professor of Economics at UC San Diego and member of the National Bureau of
Economic Research, reports that the typical fiscal multiplier is between 0.5 and
1.5. Leduc and Wilson note that their results serve as a validation of Keynesian
economics: We find that unanticipated increases in highway spending have
positive but temporary effects on GSP, both in the short and medium run. The shortrun effect is consistent with a traditional Keynesian channel in which output
increases because of a rise in aggregate demand, combined with slow-to-adjust
prices. In contrast, the positive response of GSP over the medium run is in line with
a supply-side effect due to an increase in the economys productive capacity.
Whats more, their study showed that the multiplier increases during a downturn.
Leduc and Wilson found that the multiplier in the wake of the 2009 stimulus was
roughly four times more than average. That means infrastructure investments
offer more value during busts than booms, which should encourage policymakers
attempting to counteract high unemployment in the construction sector by
increasing spending on highways, roads, and bridges.
Improving Americas infrastructure would create countless jobs

and spur the economy
Mills 2014[Karen Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School, Former Administrator
of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Investment in Infrastructure Will Help
Small Businesses Drive Economic Growth, huffington post, 4/30/14
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-mills/investment-ininfrastruct_b_4868530.html]
This week I had the pleasure of participating in Harvard Business School's "America on the Move Summit" alongside
business leaders like Jeff Immelt from GE and Mary Barra from GM. Our event came right on the heels of the
$302 billion of
investment in our transportation infrastructure with corporate tax reform. And, I
spoke about why investing in America's infrastructure is important to small
businesses. It's no secret that America's 28 million small businesses were hit hard
President's announcement that he will push for a "grand bargain on jobs" to pair
during the financial crisis with a perfect storm of declining sales and frozen credit markets. Since then, we've turned
a corner. Small businesses have created jobs in every quarter since 2010. But, are we doing everything that we can
to put the wind at the backs of our small business owners? I think that we can do more, and making critical
investments in our infrastructure is a good start. When we think about infrastructure spending, we think about its
immediate effect on aggregate demand. If you repair a bridge you're employing people right away, and they're
immediately earning income and spending that income throughout the economy. That creates demand across the
small business economy, and nowhere is that more evident than in construction. About 80 percent of jobs in
construction are at small businesses. That's the largest small business concentration of any industry. There's no
investment in infrastructure would be an immediate stimulus to small

construction companies -- and at a time when they desperately need it. The President's Council
of Economic Advisers has shown that 61 percent of the jobs directly created by
investing in infrastructure would be in the construction sector. That's important because
doubt that
small construction companies lost 2 million jobs during the recession. And, while we've made some progress, the
sector has not fully recovered, with an unemployment rate that's over 12 percent. In fact, Goldman Sachs has
America's missing small business jobs are because of weakness in

construction. So, that's the short-term effect, and it's pretty powerful. But, there's
also a longer-term effect. Small suppliers and exporters are key end-users of our
infrastructure, so when we invest in our infrastructure, we're investing in them too.
To be sure, without modern infrastructure, products can't move quickly. Supply
chains become more vulnerable. And businesses are more reluctant to invest .
estimated that all of
Broadband is a key example of the potential opportunities in our reach if we invest in our infrastructure. We've
made major strides in improving broadband and wireless access in America. In 2000, just 4 percent of American
households had a home connection to broadband -- now it's 70 percent. Average speeds have doubled in the past
five years. These investments in our broadband infrastructure have created jobs across our economy, and perhaps
the greatest example of that is the burgeoning app economy, which has created almost 800,000 jobs in the last five
years. Many of these app entrepreneurs are even transforming how we use our infrastructure. For example, apps
like Uber are changing how we use taxis. But, gaps remain. When I started working with the Maine boatbuilders in
2005, one of their big issues was the lack of broadband access in the rural coastline because they needed to
transmit large blueprint files back to the navy or private owners. So, we need to do more to broaden access to
affordable, reliable and faster Internet connections across the country. Investing in our infrastructure isn't
something that small businesses can do on their own. So, who's going to do it? Well-executed public investment
has got to be part of the solution here. But, the taxpayers shouldn't have to shoulder this burden alone. That's why
we've got to add public-private partnerships to mix. I know from my experience as SBA Administrator that publicprivate partnerships can be pretty powerful. At SBA, we operated a public-private partnership with 5,000 lenders
across the U.S., guaranteeing their small business loans and taking some of their risk off the table. We were able to
deploy a record $30 billion in capital a year for less than a billion dollars. And all this money helped small business
that the market wasn't reaching access the capital they needed to grow. A second model is the Small Business
Investment Company (SBIC) partnerships. We used this to get equity capital into small businesses that venture
capital was not reaching, and it may be a useful model for infrastructure investments that have some cash flow. In
this structure private investors make the decisions on which projects or companies will get the investments, which
helps ensure that the projects have a good economic rational. The SBIC model last year deployed over three billion
dollars to America's most promising entrepreneurs, at zero cost to taxpayers. There's an important lesson here: a
little government money can go a long way by incentivizing private capital where risk may otherwise be too great
to justify the return. Over the past few years, Washington has been consumed by a rancorous debate about the
deficit and the proper size of the federal government. It's an important debate. But,
we can't just cut our

way to growth. We've got to make game-changing investments in our future. I think
it starts with infrastructure, and now is the time to act.
Federal involvement in creating infrastructure is key to the

economy
Anderson and Tollison 1991 (Gary, California state university, Robert, George
Mason University, CONGRESSIONAL INFLUENCE AND PATTERNS OF NEW DEAL
SPENDING, 1933-1939, Journal of Law and Economics,
http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?
handle=hein.journals/jlecono34&div=11&g_sent=1& collection=journals#167)
the New Deal, the period of rapid
expansion in federal transfer programs associated with the Roosevelt
administration's measures aimed at relieving the worst economic problems facing
America during the Great Depression. Before this period, the federal government had remained
The modern federal transfer slate first emerged from its "egg" during
relatively small in size and limited in the scope of its activities. The federal role in the economy in 1928 was not far
removed from the idealized minimal state of most of the Founding Fathers and modern libertarians: a government
federal
government expenditures (minus military spending) in 1927 were only 3 percent of
gross national product (GNP); this compares with 1.7 percent in 1902. By 1936,
however, federal nonmilitary expenditures had grown to 10 percent of GNP.1 The
New Deal was a major transition period in that the activities of the federal
government became both more extensive and much more oriented toward wealth
redistribution. Social Security, which has become the single largest domestic spending program, began in
1935. Federal assistance to unemployed workers, including those in the labor force
and those excluded from the labor force (that is. those on welfare) first emerged in
this period. The present massive, expensive, and complex system of farm price
supports and other agricultural subsidies began , and the stage was set for Ihc massive increase in
that provided national defense, a system of courts, and relatively little else. According to John Wallis,
the regulatory activities of the federal government that has occurred since World War II. It has often been noted
that in a sense all government programs are transfer programs because any government spending necessarily
involves a coercive transfer from taxpayers to beneficiaries (even in cases where public goods are thereby provided
to the community). Bui programs explicitly designed to transfer wealth to individuals as their primary purpose were
basically a New Deal innovation.
AT: perm do both

Good infrastructure is prerequisite to solving for economic
problemsgrowth is impossible without advancing
infrastructure
Shilling et al. 2007[John, Lead author of the Independent Evaluation Group of the
World Bank, The Nexus Between Infrastructure and Environment 2007
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTOED/Resources/infrastructure_environment.pd
f]
Roads, electricity, clean water, and irrigation are integral parts of development and
poverty reduction. Some infrastructure investments are directly linked to the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Provision of clean water, for instance, is an integral part of
target 10 (in the environmental goal) and is critical to achieving target 5 (reduction of child mortality). The African
Development Bank (AfDB) estimates that less than two-thirds of Africas urban population has access to safe water
and barely one half to sanitationif all the systems work as designed. Access in rural areas is much lower.1 Other
linkages are likely to be strong but indirectfor instance, the role of rural roads in boosting farm incomes and
Good infrastructure is part of the enabling

conditions for sustained economic growth which, in turn, is a prerequisite to
reducing poverty. For instance, Fan and Chan-Kang (2004) report excellent returns
to rural road investments in India.2 They estimate a reduction in the poverty headcount of 10 people per 1 kilometer of road extension in low-potential rain-fed areas
and economic rates of return in the hundreds or even thousands of percent.
Similarly, for China, they estimate high economic returns to road investments,
concluding that among infrastructure investments, roads had the greatest impact
on reducing poverty. The International Energy Agency estimates that energy, as a factor of production,
improving access to schools and health facilities.
accounted for 13 percent of Chinas GDP growth over 19802001, 15 percent of Indias, 30 percent of Mexicos, 50
percent of Koreas, and 77 percent of Brazils.3
AT: environment
Infrastructure projects often dont take the environment into
account and end up threatening it
Shilling et al. 2007[ John, Lead author of the Independent Evaluation Group of the
World Bank, The Nexus Between Infrastructure and Environment 2007
f]
Infrastructure services are vital for supporting economic
growth and improving the quality of life by improving transport and
communications, sanitation and home heating, access to education, health services ,
etc. However, providing these services can have environmental impacts that also have
important implications for quality of life, including both biophysical and social
aspects. The former affect geological and biological conditions such as land quality,
water management, biodiversity, etc.; the latter affect health and other social
conditions due to air and water quality, resettlement, etc. Well-designed
infrastructure projects can produce positive environmental impacts, e.g., by
reducing water pollution, or mitigate negative environmental impacts, e.g., through
emissions controls. However, when environmental consequences are not taken into account, infrastructure
Infrastructure and Environment,
projects can pose serious threats to the environment and resultant quality of life. Land degradation, flooding, water
and air pollution, and acid rain that result from poorly designed projects seriously degrade living conditions,
The nexus focuses

attention precisely on this intersection between environment and infrastructure.
especially for the poor who lack the resources to compensate for the impacts.
Environmental delays are unnecessary and slow growth

Snyder,2011 [ Tanya Snyder has been the editor of Streetsblog USA (and before
that, Streetsblog Capitol Hill, re Environmental Reviews to Blame for Infrastructure
Project Delays? Streets blog USA, 2/15/2011
http://usa.streetsblog.org/2011/02/15/are-environmental-reviews-to-blame-forinfrastructure-project-delays/]
Highway projects can take 10 to 15 years from planning through construction. The
length of the process leads to cost overruns, some due to inflation, some from
having to pay engineers and contractors for years on end. No matter how you feel about the
worthiness of road capacity expansion, if a project gets built it doesnt do anybody any good to
have that project cost twice what it ought to because of delays. Plus, reducing
delays is going to be a key element in upcoming debates over cost-effectiveness in
the transportation sector. Road-builder Thomas Margro told Congress that the completion of SR 241 has
been held up for 15 years due to environmental reviews. Photo: craiginvegas/flickr House Transportation
Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) has pressed the issue, insisting that the industry,
together with government, must find ways to streamline to process to save money.
Hes hinted that environmental reviews might, at times, be too burdensome. Rep. John
Duncan (R-TN) says U.S. projects take two to three times longer to get off the ground
than other developed countries, and he chaired a Transportation Committee hearing today on project
delivery delays. Lawmakers and witnesses from transportation companies focused on
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as a cause of the delays . NEPA was enacted
in 1970 and in many ways still serves as the foundation for environmental review policies throughout the nation.
Thomas Margro, CEO of Transportation Corridor Agencies, which builds toll roads in California, testified, Our
agency completed the first 51 miles of our planned 67 [mile] toll road system in 12
years. However, we have spent the last 15 years trying to accomplish and finish the
last 16 miles, as it has been mired in the federal environmental review process . The
first stage, to develop a Purpose and Need statement and the Alternatives for initial evaluation, took four years to
accomplish, according to Margro. (Note: his written testimony says it took 28 months.) The second stage, preparing
technical studies and environmental measures, he says, took six years. In the end, the National Marine Fisheries
SR 241 project would not likely adversely affect endangered or

threatened fish species but at the first hint of controversy, they backtracked. Margro says the process has
Service agreed that the
failed them. One alternative is to allow states, rather than federal officials, to do the environmental oversight, as
California now does, saving 10 to 17 months in project time. In order to be allowed to do this, states must have
environmental protection laws that are at least as stringent as federal ones. One deterrent to states wanting to do
their own environmental oversight is that they would lose their sovereign immunity and take on the liability the
feds would normally have. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) insisted that sometimes project delays are just due to
inefficiency, like one particular case where a project got held up because someone went on vacation. It wasnt a
question of waiving environmental laws, but the bureaucracy was going to grind on for four or six weeks till this guy
came back from vacation, went through his inbox and then decided to check the box and send it back to Portland
and then it got to the top of the file there and someone decided to check the box and send it on to the Department
of Transportation. And by then it might be too late. FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez says the agency has been
able to shorten some project delivery times, partly due to his initiative called Every Day Counts, which helps
planners and contractors adopt innovative technologies and practices to reduce delivery time. Changes to
environmental reviews play a very small role in the long list of tools in his delay-mitigation toolkit. Indeed, only
three percent of federal highway projects actually undergo an environmental impact

statement process, according to Michael Replogle of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. He
says efforts to reduce delays should focus on diminishing unnecessary and redundant bureaucracy and improving
cost-effectiveness. Delays dont just dog highway projects. They can also slow down transit work. Kathryn Phillips
of the Environmental Defense Fund says environmentalists want to see good transit projects go forward without
delay. Thats probably one reason youll find folks in the environmental community more willing than weve been in
the past to even talk about NEPA changes through the transportation bill. Our concern, though, is that the
conversation not get out of hand and that some people dont use it as opportunity to just strip away environmental
protections. Environmental protections are there for two critical reasons. One, to protect public health and the
environment; and two, in this realm, to get to a place where youre not spending all your time in court. She says
that if those who want to see fewer and weaker environmental reviews get their way, they could see even longer
project delays because agencies and contractors will be busy fighting community lawsuits
Federal infrastructure never gets implemented without

environmental cautions
Shilling et al. 2007[Lead author of the Independent Evaluation Group of the World
Bank, The Nexus Between Infrastructure and Environment 2007
f]
The Evaluation Coordination Group (ECG) recognizes the importance of this linkage, which we call the
infrastructure-environment nexus. It represents a large and growing challenge for the countries and the
international financial institutions (IFIs) in their development goals. Meeting the Millennium Development Goals
adequate infrastructure, such as providing clean water and

sanitation, as well as on reducing adverse environmental impacts, such as reducing
the impacts of air pollution on health and agricultural production ( e.g., acid rain). The
ECG commissioned this initial review of members experiences to learn what can be
done both to minimize the detrimental impacts of infrastructure on the environment and
to enhance infrastructures positive contribution to the environment beyond the role
of existing safeguards. The evidence points to the need for the nexus issues to be addressed both
depends on the provision of
at the project level relating to selection, design, implementation, and supervision,

as well as at the sectoral and national level relating to policies, regulations, and
environmental capacity. Most attention to vii EVALUATION BRIEF 5 viii environmental impacts is currently
focused at the project levelwhether safeguard criteria are met and efficiency improved within
the project fence. This is important, and there are areas in this respect that need greater attention. Importantly,
once projects are implemented, effective operation and maintenance of

infrastructure is needed over the full life of the project to assure that environmental safeguard
measures are implemented. Evaluations by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Develop- ment (EBRD) demonstrate that projects which successfully take
account of the environmental do as well financially and economically as projects which do
not.
Aff - Permutation - Dual Action Key

Federal infrastructure isnt enough, need other forms of
income and employment
Christmas 06 (Shannon Stewart, A.B. in Government from Harvard, Cultural
Policy, State Politics, and Rural Economic Development: Lessons from Maine,
October 26, http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream /handle/ 1721.1/
37665/124055420.pdf)
Such language has been particularly persuasive tor urban political leaders given relatively recent shifts in America's
waves of political, economic, and social

change have washed over America's industrial cities, situating the American
metropolis in the center of a seemingly intransigent conundrum. Beset by the
symptoms of globalization and the retrenchment of the federal government from
urban policy (declining industrial employment bases, tax revenue, residential
abandonment, costly infrastructure failure, social disorder, and diminishing fiscal
resources) the post-industrial American city is overwhelmed with rising expenses
while hemorrhaging investment and population at an alarming rate . In result, fiscally
political and economic environments. Since the 1970's,
strapped municipalities are in dogged competition for private investment to fill the void in their heavily depleted
Such cities seek to rebuild their

employment base, stem depopulation, and to ultimately generate tax revenue
(Peterson). Struggling mightily to grapple with the result of these macro-structural
changes, America's core cities have equated economic development with
repositioning or redefining themselves to gain a unique competitive advantage
within their respective regions and even the larger national context.
coffers and the decrepit empty spaces that dot their physical landscape.
Aff - Environment Turns

Public works projects have historically harmed the
environment
Edwards 2011[Chirs, Director of tax policy studies at CATO, Infrastructure Projects
to Fix the Economy? Dont Bank on It., CATO institute 10/21/2011
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/infrastructure-projects-fix-economydont-bank-it]
In a recent television ad for her network, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow stands below the Hoover Dam and asks
The commercial is built on

the assumption that American greatness is advanced by federal spending on major
infrastructure projects. If I had my own television commercial, Id stand in front of the wreckage of
Idahos Teton Dam,which, like the Hoover Dam, was built by the federal Bureau of
Reclamation. The Teton Dam was based on shoddy engineering and a flawed
economic analysis. It collapsed catastrophically in 1976, just a year after it was
built. Increased infrastructure spending has bipartisan support in Washington these
days. President Obama wants a new federal infrastructure bank, and members of
both parties want to pass big highway and air-traffic-control funding bills. The
politicians think these bills will create desperately needed jobs, but the cost of that
perceived benefit is too high: Federal infrastructure spending has a long and painful
history of pork-barrel politics and bureaucratic bungling, with money often going to
wasteful and environmentally damaging projects. When the federal government thinks big, it
whether we are still a country that can think this big Hoover Dam big.
often makes big mistakes. For plenty of examples of the downside of federal infrastructure, look at the two oldest
infrastructure agencies the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. Their histories show that the
federal government shouldnt be in the infrastructure business. Rather, state governments and the private sector
are best equipped to provide it. The Corps of Engineers has been building levees, canals and other civilian water
infrastructure for more than 200 years and it has made missteps the entire time. In the post-Civil War era, for
example, there were widespread complaints about the Corps wastefulness and mismanagement. A 1971 book by
Arthur Morgan, a distinguished engineer and former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, concluded:
There
have been over the past 100 years consistent and disastrous failures by the
Corps in public works areas resulting in enormous and unnecessary costs to
ecology [and] the taxpayer. Some of the highest-profile failures include the Great Mississippi Flood of
1927. That disaster dramatically proved the shortcomings of the Corps approach to flood control, which it had
stubbornly defended despite outside criticism. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was like a dreadful repeat. The flooding
was in large part a man-made disaster stemming from poor engineering by the Corps and misdirected funding by
Congress. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Reclamation has been building economically dubious and environmentally
harmful dams since 1902. Right from the start, every Senator wanted a project in his state; every Congressman
wanted one in his district; they didnt care whether they made economic sense or not, concluded Marc Reisner in
his classic history of the agency, Cadillac Desert. The dam-building pork barrel went on for decades, until the
agency ran out of rivers into which it could pour concrete. Looking at the Corps and Reclamation, the first lesson
about federal infrastructure projects is that you cant trust the cost-benefit analyses. Both agencies have a history
of fudging their studies to make proposed projects look better, understating the costs and overstating the benefits.
And weve known it, too. In the 1950s, Sen. Paul Douglas (D-Ill.), lambasted the distorted analyses of the Corps and
Reclamation. According to Reisner, Reclamations chief analyst admitted that in the 1960s he had to jerk around
the numbers to make one major project look sound and that others were pure trash from an economics
perspective. In the 1970s, Jimmy Carter ripped into the computational manipulation of the Corps. And in 2006, the
Government Accountability Office found that the Corps analyses were fraught with errors, mistakes, and
Even if federal agencies calculate

the numbers properly, members of Congress often push ahead with trash projects
anyway. Then-senator Christopher Bond of Missouri vowed to make sure that the
Corps projects in his state were funded, no matter what the economic studies
concluded, according to extensive Washington Post reporting on the Corps in 2000.
miscalculations, and used invalid assumptions and outdated data.
And the onetime head of the Senate committee overseeing the Corps, George Voinovich of Ohio, blurted out at a
hearing: We dont care what the Corps cost-benefit is. Were going to build it anyhow because Congress says its
these big projects have often damaged both

taxpayers and ecology. The Corps, Reisner argues, has ruined more wetlands than
anyone in history with its infrastructure. Meanwhile, Reclamation killed wetlands
and salmon fisheries as it built dams to provide high-cost irrigation water to farmers
in the West so they could grow crops that often compete with more efficiently grown crops in the East.
Taxpayers are double losers from all this infrastructure. They paid to build it, and now they are
paying to clean up the environmental damage . In Florida, for example, the Corps projects, along
going to be built. As Morgan noted in his 1971 book,
with federal sugar subsidies, have damaged the Everglades. So the government is helping to fund a multibilliondollar restoration plan. In the West, federal irrigation has increased salinity levels in rivers, necessitating
desalination efforts such as a $245 millionplant in Yuma, Ariz. And in a large area of Californias San Joaquin Valley,
federal irrigation has created such toxic runoff that the government is considering spending up to $2 billion to fix
the damage, according to some estimates. When the federal government thinks big, it often makes big mistakes.
Washington follows bad policies, such as destroying wetlands or

overbuilding dams, it replicates the mistakes across the nation. Today, for instance,
Reclamations huge underpricing of irrigation water is contributing to a water crisis
across much of the West. Similar distortions occur in other areas of infrastructure, such as transportation.
And when
The federal government subsidizes the construction of urban light-rail systems, for example, which has caused
these systems to spring up across the country. But urban rail systems are generally less efficient and flexible than
bus systems, and they saddle cities with higher operating and maintenance costs down the road. Similar
misallocation of investment occurs with Amtrak; lawmakers make demands for their districts, and funding is
sprinkled across the country, even to rural areas where passenger rail makes no economic sense because of low
population densities. When the federal government is paying for infrastructure, state officials and members of
Congress fight for their shares of the funding, without worrying too much about efficiency, environmental issues or
other longer-term factors. The solution is to move as much infrastructure funding as we can to the state, local and
private levels. That would limit the misallocation of projects by Congress, while encouraging states to experiment
with lower-cost solutions. Its true that the states make infrastructure mistakes as well, as California appears to be
doing by subsidizing high-speed rail. But at least state-level mistakes arent automatically repeated across the
country. The states should be the laboratories for infrastructure. We should further encourage their experiments by
bringing in private-sector financing. If we need more highway investment, we should take notes from Virginia, which
raised a significant amount of private money to widen the Beltway. If we need to upgrade our air-traffic-control
system, we should copy the Canadian approach and privatize it so that upgrades are paid for by fees on aviation
users. If Amtrak were privatized, it would focus its investment where it is most needed the densely populated
Northeast. As for Reclamation and the Corps, many of their infrastructure projects would be better managed if they
were handed over to the states. Reclamations massive Central Valley irrigation project, for example, should be
transferred to the state of California, which is better positioned to make cost and environmental trade-offs regarding
contentious state water issues. Other activities of these two agencies could be privatized, such as hydropower
generation and the dredging of seaports. The recent infrastructure debate has focused on job creation, and
whether projects are shovel ready. The more important question is who is holding the shovel. When its the
federal government, weve found that it digs in the wrong places and leaves taxpayers with big holes in their
pockets. So lets give the shovels to state governments and private companies. They will create just as many jobs
while providing more innovative and less costly infrastructure to the public. Theyre ready.
Infastructure has multiple negative impacts on the enviorment

WWF 2014[world wildlife foundation, the worlds leading conservation
organization Overview Infrasructure threats 2014,
http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/infrastruc ture]
A road cuts through pristine rainforest to give a community access to the city. A
dam creates a reservoir to provide freshwater to a growing town. A platform that is
miles from the shoreline gives access to oil reserves deep below the ocean floor.
These are all examples of infrastructurephysical structures that provide the
underpinnings for modern society. Infrastructure is a necessary part of the
development associated with a growing human population, but it can also have
devastating impacts on the environment. The road through the rainforest may
fragment habitat or cut off the migration route for an endangered species. The dam
may have diverted water from freshwater habitats already struggling through a
drought. A spill from the oil platform may have killed marine organisms and left the
shoreline polluted. Environmental concerns are not always considered during the
design, planning and construction of infrastructure projects. WWF works with
governments, industry and other leaders to encourage the consideration of
sustainability in these efforts, including examining innovative ways reduce
environmental impact and protecting sensitive habitat that may be irrevocably
damaged by these projects.
Dams kill biodiversity

WWF 2014[world wildlife foundation, the worlds leading conservation
organization Overview Infrastructure threats 2014,
http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/infrastruc ture]
There are more than 45,000 large dams around the world, storing three to six times
the amount of water that is naturally contained in rivers. Most have a relatively
benign impact on their local environment, due to their design, location, or mitigation
efforts. However, some dams have far-reaching environmental impacts, contributing
to the ongoing loss in biodiversity both in the rivers themselves and in the local
ecosystems. Impacts could include reducing or blocking sediment flow, hampering
fish migration, flooding habitat, or increasing water pollution.
Aff - No Solvency - Empirically Fails

Public works projects were not the reason for economic
recovery after the great depression, it was WWII
Krugman 8 (Paul, professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton
University, Franklin Delano Obama?, New York Times, November 10,
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/opinion/ 10krugman.html?_r=0)
F.D.R. did not, in fact, manage to engineer a full economic recovery during
his first two terms. This failure is often cited as evidence against Keynesian
economics, which says that increased public spending can get a stalled economy
moving. But the definitive study of fiscal policy in the 30s, by the M.I.T. economist E. Cary Brown, reached a very
That said,
different conclusion: fiscal stimulus was unsuccessful not because it does not work, but because it was not tried.
The New Deal famously placed millions of Americans on the

public payroll via the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation
Corps. To this day we drive on W.P.A.-built roads and send our children to W.P.A.-built schools. Didnt all these
public works amount to a major fiscal stimulus? Well , it wasnt as major as you might think. The
effects of federal public works spending were largely offset by other factors, notably
a large tax increase, enacted by Herbert Hoover, whose full effects werent felt until
his successor took office. Also, expansionary policy at the federal level was undercut
by spending cuts and tax increases at the state and local level . And F.D.R. wasnt just
This may seem hard to believe.
reluctant to pursue an all-out fiscal expansion he was eager to return to conservative budget principles. That
After winning a smashing election victory in 1936, the

Roosevelt administration cut spending and raised taxes, precipitating an economic
relapse that drove the unemployment rate back into double digits and led to a
major defeat in the 1938 midterm elections. What saved the economy, and the New
Deal, was the enormous public works project known as World War II, which finally
provided a fiscal stimulus adequate to the economys needs . This history offers important
eagerness almost destroyed his legacy.
lessons for the incoming administration.
The world is different than it was in the 30swe need

different practices to pull us out of the recession this time
around
Etzkowitz and Ranga 9 (Henry, Professor at the University of Edinburgh
Business School, Marina, Professor at Stony Brook University, Department of
Technology and Society, A trans-Keynesian vision of innovation for the
contemporary economic crisis: picking winners revisited, http://spp.oxfordjourn
als.org/content/36/10/799.short)
The causes of economic crisis that emerged in 2007-2008 have been subject to a wide
international debate but have oft been misunderstood. Triggered by the collapse of the real estate
market as a result of reckless and unsustainable lending practices in the US, and facilitated by the failure of
regulators and supervisors to spot and correct the emerging weaknesses, the crisis spread fast to the global
Comparisons with previous crises have been

often made, arguing that this recession is likely to be 'unusually long and severe,
and the recovery sluggish...[and] could spiral down into a lull-blown slump unless
further action is taken to stop feedback effects gathering force' (IMF, 2009). Recovery may
be slower than after the Great Depression of the 1930s, due to the global
financial system and then into the world economy.
integration of markets that synchronized the recession (IMF, 2009). Such comparisons,
however, fail to acknowledge a fundamental difference from other crises: the fact that
it occurred in the transition from an industrial to a knowledge-based society and is
thus potentially subject to a different set of dynamics than those manifested for
instance in the Great Depression, which occurred within an existing mode of
production. An industrial mode of production has now run out of steam in many countries, making it more urgent to foster the generation of knowledge-based growth firms, products, technologies, services and an innovation
Therefore, a qualitatively different response is needed to address the

current downturn: one that ensures that the recovery is durable and sustainable,
and does not damage the drivers of long-term growth, but rather uses them as a
springboard to accelerate structural shifts towards a stronger economic future. In
contrast to the 1930s when Keynesian measures to stimulate use of existing
productive capacities might have sufficed to end the depression, the current
downturn requires new productive capacities . Beyond putting people to work as an end in itself, we
culture altogether.
now face the need to create new forms of work to compensate for job loss in shrinking industries. Policymakers
faced with the continuing dilemma of putting resources into saving the old or building the new should
simultaneously pursue a dual strategy, balancing Keynesian stimulation of the old economy and infusing
salvageable old firms with new technologies and advanced research and technology to create new industries.
Projects empirically failTVA pushed economy down further

and created a monopoly
Powell 2009[Jim, Senior fellow at CATO and expert on the history of liberty, How
Big Government Infrastructure Projects Go Wrong, CATO 3/2/09
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/how-big-government-infrastructureprojects-go-wrong]
The recently enacted $787 billion stimulus program appears to be the down payment on a sweeping new New
Deal that will include many other ambitious government programsincluding the possible nationalization of health
care.
Given the size and scope of such interventions into the economy, its important
to remember that big government programs often have results that are very
different than what was intended. We can gain particular perspective by reflecting on the
experience of President Franklin D. Roosevelts most ambitious infrastructure
program, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). It was heralded as a program to
build dams that would control floods, facilitate navigation, lift people out of poverty,
and help America recover from the Great Depression. Yet the reality is that the TVA
probably flooded more land than it protected; much of the navigation it has
facilitated involves barges of coal for coal-fired power plants; people receiving TVAsubsidized electricity have increasingly lagged behind neighbors who did not; and
the TVAs impact on the Great Depression was negligible . The TVA morphed into
Americas biggest monopoly, dominating an 80,000 square mile region with 8.8
million peoplefor all practical purposes, it is a bureaucratic kingdom subject to neither public nor private
controls. Back in 1933, David Lilienthal, one of the founding directors of the TVA, vowed, The Tennessee Valley
Authority power program is not a taxpayers subsidy. It is a business undertaking. In fact, for more than 60 years,
Congress appropriated funds to cover the TVAs losses. Although the TVA no longer receives congressional
appropriations, it continues to receive large subsidies. The TVA pays none of the federal, state, and local taxes that
private businesses pay. A 1993 study by Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett, a consulting firm retained by investor-owned
utilities, estimated that annual cost-of-capital subsidies exceeded $1.2 billion, including the taxes that the TVA
avoided. As a government-backed entity similar to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the TVA can borrow money cheaper
than private businesses. Currently, the TVA has about $26 billion of debt. [I]ts important to remember that big
government programs often have results that are very different than what was intended. Moreover, the TVA
doesnt have to incur the costs of complying with myriad federal, state, and local laws. Energy consultant Dick
Munson reported that the TVA is exempt from 137 federal laws, such as workplace safety and hydroelectric
licensing. The TVA can set electricity rates without oversight by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which
has jurisdiction over private utilities. The Securities & Exchange Commission has only limited jurisdiction to oversee
the TVA. On top of that, the TVA is exempt from federal antitrust laws and many federal environmental regulations.
Its also exempt from some 165 laws and regulations in Alabama and hundreds more laws and regulations in other
states in which it operates. When the TVA wants to acquire more assets, it doesnt have to haggle, because unlike
More than 15,000 people were expelled

from their property to make way for the TVA. Established by President Roosevelt in May 1933 as
private businesses, it has the power of eminent domain.
part of his first 100 Days, the TVAs roots actually go back to 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson decided that the
federal government should get into the gunpowder business after German submarines sank several ships bringing
nitrates from Chile. At the same time, E.I. du Pont de Nemours, the worlds most experienced gunpowder
manufacturer, wanted to build a gunpowder manufacturing facility at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, on the banks of the
Tennessee River, and his company proposed building a hydroelectric plant to provide the power that was needed.
Progressive politicians were wary that du Pont might make money on the deal, so the decision was to have two
gunpowder manufacturing facilities: one built by du Pont and the other by the federal government. The du Pont
facility was finished for $129.5 million and produced 35 million pounds of canon powder before the Armistice
(November 1918), while the governments facility produced nothing at all. Wilsons Muscle Shoals project became
the starting point for the TVA. Its run by three directors, each appointed by the president to staggered nine-year
terms. Although the directors are sure to be political supporters, the unusual length of their terms gives them
considerable independence, and theyre not subject to constraints by investors, customers, or voters. As a remedy
the TVA didnt work. It created no new wealth and, through

taxation, transferred resources from the 98 percent of Americans who didnt live in
the Tennessee Valley to the two percent who did. Any spending that happened in
the Tennessee Valley therefore was offset by the spending that didnt happen
elsewhere. Those taxes reduced net incomes. Much like any other complex public works project,
it took an inordinate amount of time to build the TVA. Only three TVA dams were completed
for the Great Depression,
during the 1930s. The dams themselves were smallwith less than one-twentieth the power-generating capacity of
big western dams like Grand Coulee. Although the building process provided work for engineers and skilled
construction workerswho earned above-average incomesthe dams simply came too late to have much impact
on most people in the Tennessee Valley during the Great Depression. To the degree that the TVA had any impact, it
appears to be negative. The most important study of the effects of the TVA, conducted by energy economist William
half-century after the TVA was launched, economic growth in

the Tennessee Valley increasingly lagged behind non-TVA southern markets . Chandler
Chandler, estimated that in the
concluded, Among the nine states of the southeastern U.S., there has been an inverse relationship between
income per capita and the extent to which the state was served by the TVAWatershed counties in the seven TVA
In the non-TVA southern

markets, there was a greater exodus of people out of subsistence farming into
manufacturing and services, which offered higher incomes . Ironically, electricity consumption
states, moreover, are poorer than the non-TVA counties in these states.
has grown faster in the non-TVA southern markets, because it tends to correlate with income. Subsistence farmers
might be able to afford light bulbs, but they could not afford the electrical appliances that people in non-TVA
southern markets were buying. Furthermore, despite the vast sums spent building TVA dams, water usage grew
faster in the non-TVA southern markets. In any case, it was a delusion to believe that there was one key (such as
TVA-subsidized electricity) to eradicating poverty. Subsistence farmers needed equipment such as tractors, trucks,
and hay bailers (which are powered by diesel fuel, not electricity). They needed to develop more skills, more
sophisticated farming practices, and so on. Backed by the power of the federal government, the TVA promoted
electricity for home heatingeven when oil and natural gas were cheaper. To the extent the TVAs home heating
campaign was successful, it still squandered resources. As for flood control, the TVA has flooded an estimated
730,000 acresmore land than the entire state of Rhode Island. Most directly affected by TVA flooding were the
thousands of people forced out of their homes. And while farm owners received cash settlements for their
condemned property, black tenant farmers received nothing. As one might expect with a government monopoly
that can ignore so many laws, there have been frequent reports of waste and possible corruption. According to
TVAs own inspector general, these include lucrative executive perks, cozy consulting contracts, costly building
leases, and much more. The TVA spent $15 billion building nine nuclear power plantsand none of them worked.
The TVA hired a former Navy admiral to fix them, but he was charged with cronyism and bad judgment.
Congressional investigations followed. Although the TVA was established to build dams, it has expanded
relentlessly (as bureaucracies do) to include 11 coal-fired power plants and three nuclear power plants as well as 49
damsapparently with ambitions to expand the TVAs power-generating monopoly beyond the Tennessee Valley.
Among other things,
this has raised environmental concerns. Ralph Nader charged that
the TVA has the poorest safety record with [nuclear] reactors . On December 22, 2008, at
the TVAs Kingston, Tennessee coal-fired plant, the dike of a 40-acre holding pond broke, spilling as much as a billion
gallons of coal sludge with elevated levels of arsenic. The sludge covered some 300 acres up to six feet deep,
damaging homes and wrecking a train. This spill reportedly was much bigger than the oil spill from the Exxon
voters rarely receive what

they signed-off on when it comes to massive government programs. Despite all of the
Valdez tanker that went aground in Alaska. As the TVAs long record illustrates,
harm it has done, the TVA has grown into a powerful and politically unstoppable special interest that has done a
Too bad todays advocates of a new New Deal seem

determined not to learn from their predecessors mistakes.
grave disservice to the Tennessee Valley.
Manufacturing
-1NC Fracking CP
Counterplan-text: The United States federal government
should substantially increase its domestic hydraulic fracturing
of natural gas.
Shale gas is sustainable and is capable of supplying for more
than 100 years of consumption at current rates
Hays 10 [Kristen Hays is Correspondent at Reuters in oil and energy, Energy,
exploration and production reporter at Houston Chronicle
Business Writer at Associated Press, University of Kansas; Shale gas could supply
100 years of consumption Published March 10, 2010
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/10/us-ceraweek-shale-gasidUSTRE62940520100310] Ogryzek
The natural gas shale boom in North America has more than doubled
discovered gas resources and can supply more than a century of consumption
at current rates, an IHS CERA study released Wednesday said. "As recently at 2007 it was widely
thought that natural gas was in tight supply and the U.S. was going to become an
importer of gas," said Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS CERA. "But this outlook has been turned on
its head by the shale gale." Shale gas is not new, but tech nology like hydraulic
fracturing to release it from thick rock far underground has vastly improved producers'
ability to tap it. Production involves injecting water and sand under high pressure
into the rock to fracture it to release the gas. The IHS CERA study said growth in
power demand in the next 20 years will likely cause natural gas demand to double
(Reuters) -
its current level of 19 billion cubic feet per day by 2030. Gas-fired power generation produces half the carbon
emissions of coal-fired generation, which makes gas a more attractive environmental choice as well, the study
said. But a limited pool of spare gas-fired capacity would prevent wholesale fuel switching, the study said. Also,
such switching won't reach targets of reducing emissions by 80 percent by 2050,

the study said. That would require more non-carbon emitting sources, such as nuclear and renewables, as well
as carbon capture and storage, or injecting and storing carbon emissions underground. The study said
uncertainties about shale gas include stringency of future carbon legislation and viability of carbon capture and
storage technology. Tom Walters, president of Exxon Mobil Corp's gas and power marketing company, said during a
shale gas's future success depends on policies that promote and

support its development. Concerns about how hydraulic fracturing might affect underground water tables
panel discussion that
has prompted Congress to consider increased regulation.
Manufacturing NB 1NC Shell

Increasing natural gas exports raises domestic prices;
undermining U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and jobs
Harder 3/24/14 [Amy is an Energy Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, attended
Western Washington University, studies energy policy, congressional legislation,
executive-branch rulemakings, lobbying, and international policy actions affecting
the United States Approval of Natural-Gas Export Project Gets Mixed Reaction From
Lawmakers Published March 24, 2014
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014240527023037254045794593138062
09976] Ogryzek
The department last approved a natural-gas export project in Louisiana a little over a month agoa shorter period
than the previous six approvals, which took up to two to three months to be approved. The timing signals that the
Energy Department may be giving more consideration to geopolitical factors in its approval process. Energy
Secretary Ernest Moniz indicated as much at a Bloomberg Government event last week. "Maybe we will give some
The Federal Energy Regulatory

Commissionthe next step in the approval processis coming under intense scrutiny from
environmentalists opposed to using natural gas and from U.S. industries that rely on[natural gas] it
and predict its price will rise as exports increase . Some Democratic lawmakers, wary of price
increases, said Monday that the Jordan Cove approval is a step too far, putting American jobs at risk.
"There can be no doubt that we have crossed a line into an era when we could be
massively exporting America's natural gas, sending the jobs and consumer benefits
abroad along with the fuel," said Sen. Edward Markey, (D., Mass.), who sits on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. A coalition of major companies , including Dow Chemical Co. and
Alcoa Inc., that use natural gas in production processes issued a statement Monday
criticizing the administration's move. "This is a grievous error that puts billions of
dollars of investment and millions of jobs at risk ," the group America's Energy
Advantage wrote in a statement. "This latest export approval will raise domestic
natural gas, electricity, home-heating and propane prices for every American,
undermine our manufacturing competitiveness and cost the nation goodpaying jobs."Both Mr. Markey and the coalition are calling on the administration to halt further approvals until
additional weight to the geopolitical criterion going forward," he said.
it conducts a study reviewing current market conditions.
Manufacturing ensures good jobs and causes economic growth

Hart et. al. 12 [David M. Hart is a Professor; Director, Center for Science and Technology
Policy; Stephen J. Ezell is the Senior Analyst Information Technology and Innovation
Foundation, studies
Competitiveness E-Government Internet Economic Theory Manufacturing Productivity
Science and R&D Trade Transportation; Robert D. Atkinson Ph.D, an economist and is
president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a public policy
think tank based in Washington, D.C, B.A. from New College of Florida Why America Needs
A National Network for Manufacturing Innovation Published December 2012 in the
Information Technology & Innovation Foundation pg. 4-7] Ogryzek
The United States must make and export more manufactured goods if it is to fix its trade deficit. America benefits
enormously from international trade. We buy basic commodities like petroleum, unique high-value products like
wine, and everything in between on the world market. In fact, Americans like foreign-made products so much that
the United
States has run trade deficits of more than a half-trillion dollars per year over the past
decade.10
Each years deficit adds to the nations cumulative foreign debt, which will at some
unknown point trigger a crisis if it continues to grow unchecked. Manufacturing is
such a dominant component of U.S. trade (accounting for 65 percent of U.S. exports) that
service exports simply cannot grow fast enough to offset the deficit in
manufacturing trade. U.S. service exports grew by about 8 percent per year over the last decade, a pace
that was dependent in large part on unsustainable, bubble-driven financial services exports. Yet, as Howard Wial
of the University of Illinois has shown, this rate would have to accelerate by about 70 percent, to 13.5 percent per
year over the coming decade, for the United States to balance its trade by relying on services alone.
Manufacturing creates a lot of additional activity in other parts of the economy . As

economists say, it has a big multiplier effect, both in terms of economic output and
employment. Every dollar of manufacturing output supports $1.34 in output from
other sectorsthe largest multiplier of any sector.11 The average new manufacturing
job leads to the creation of from two to five additional jobs in other sectors; for hightech manufacturing, the employment multiplier may be even greater . 12 That is
substantially higher than the average multiplier effect for jobs created in the service sector. As Gene Sperling,
Director of the National Economic Council (NEC), explains the impact of manufacturing on driving economic and
employment growth, If an auto plant opens up, a Walmart can be expected to follow. But the converse does not
Walmart opening does not definitely bring an auto plant with it.13 Manufacturing
jobs pay better than comparable jobs in other sectors . A May 2012 U.S. Department of
Commerce report found that the total hourly compensation (which includes employerprovided benefits) for workers in manufacturing jobs was 17 percent higher than for
workers in other kinds of jobs. 14 Likewise, a 2011 Brookings report found that the average weekly
earnings in manufacturing are 19.3 percent higher than the national private sector
average, even though manufacturing employs a greater than average share of workers without a college
degree.15 Growing good-paying, medium-skill jobs in manufacturing is an essential
element of any national strategy that seeks to address economic inequality in the
United States.
necessarily holdthat a
Slow econ growth causes warstatistics

Royal 10
Jedediah Royal, Director of Cooperative Threat Reduction at the U.S. Department of Defense, 2010,
Economic Integration, Economic Signaling and the Problem of Economic Crises, in Economics of War and Peace:
Economic, Legal and Political Perspectives, ed. Goldsmith and Brauer, p. 213-214
economic decline may increase the likelihood of external

conflict. Political science literature has contributed a moderate degree of attention to the impact of economic decline and the
Less intuitive is how periods of
security and defence behaviour of interdependent states. Research in this vein has been considered at systemic, dyadic and
national levels. Several notable contributions follow. First, on the systemic level, Pollins (2008) advances Modelski and Thompson's
rhythms in the global economy are associated with

the rise and fall of a pre-eminent power and the often bloody transition from one
pre-eminent leader to the next. As such, exogenous shocks such as economic crises
could usher in a redistribution of relative power (see also Gilpin. 1981) that leads to uncertainty
about power balances, increasing the risk of miscalculation (Feaver, 1995). Alternatively, even a
relatively certain redistribution of power could lead to a permissive environment for
conflict as a rising power may seek to challenge a declining power (Werner. 1999). Separately,
(1996) work on leadership cycle theory, finding that
Pollins (1996) also shows that global economic cycles combined with parallel leadership cycles impact the likelihood of conflict
among major, medium and small powers, although he suggests that the causes and connections between global economic
conditions and security conditions remain unknown. Second, on a dyadic level, Copeland's (1996, 2000) theory of trade expectations
'future expectation of trade' is a significant variable in understanding

economic conditions and security behaviour of states. He argues that interdependent states are likely
suggests that
to gain pacific benefits from trade so long as they have an optimistic view of future trade relations. However,
if the
expectations of future trade decline, particularly for difficult to replace items such as energy resources, the
likelihood for conflict increases, as states will be inclined to use force to gain access
to those resources. Crises could potentially be the trigger for decreased trade expectations either
others have considered the link
between economic decline and external armed conflict at a national level. Blomberg and
Hess (2002) find a strong correlation between internal conflict and external conflict,
on its own or because it triggers protectionist moves by interdependent states.4 Third,
particularly during periods of economic downturn. They write: The linkages between internal and
external conflict and prosperity are strong and mutually reinforcing. Economic conflict tends to spawn internal conflict, which in turn
presence of a recession tends to amplify the extent to which

international and external conflicts self-reinforce each other. (Blomberg & Hess, 2002. p. 89) Economic
decline has also been linked with an increase in the likelihood of terrorism (Blomberg, Hess, &
returns the favour. Moreover, the
Weerapana, 2004), which has the capacity to spill across borders and lead to external tensions. Furthermore, crises generally reduce
"Diversionary theory" suggests that, when facing

unpopularity arising from economic decline, sitting governments have increased
incentives to fabricate external military conflicts to create a 'rally around the flag'
effect. Wang (1996), DeRouen (1995). and Blomberg, Hess, and Thacker (2006) find supporting evidence showing that economic
the popularity of a sitting government.
decline and use of force are at least indirectly correlated. Gelpi (1997), Miller (1999), and Kisangani and Pickering (2009) suggest
that the tendency towards diversionary tactics are greater for democratic states than autocratic
states, due to the fact that democratic leaders are generally more susceptible to being removed from office due to lack of domestic
periods of weak economic performance in

the United States, and thus weak Presidential popularity, are statistically linked to
an increase in the use of force. In summary, recent economic scholarship positively correlates economic integration
with an increase in the frequency of economic crises, whereas political science scholarship links economic
decline with external conflict at systemic, dyadic and national levels.5 This implied connection
support. DeRouen (2000) has provided evidence showing that
between integration, crises and armed conflict has not featured prominently in the economic-security debate and deserves more
attention.
That causes competition for resources and instability that

escalates and goes nuclear
Harris and Burrows, 9 *counselor in the National Intelligence Council, the principal drafter of
Global Trends 2025, **member of the NICs Long Range Analysis Unit Revisiting the Future: Geopolitical Effects of
the Financial Crisis, Washington Quarterly, http://www.twq.com/09april/docs/09apr_burrows.pdf)
Increased Potential for Global Conflict Of course, the report encompasses more than economics and indeed believes the future is
likely to be the result of a number of intersecting and interlocking forces. With so many possible permutations of outcomes, each
with ample opportunity for unintended consequences, there is a growing sense of insecurity. Even so, history may be more
While we continue to believe that the Great Depression is not likely to

be repeated, the lessons to be drawn from that period include the harmful effects on
fledgling democracies and multiethnic societies (think Central Europe in 1920s and 1930s) and on the
sustainability of multilateral institutions (think League of Nations in the same period). There is no reason to think that
this would not be true in the twenty-first as much as in the twentieth century. For that
reason, the ways in which the potential for greater conflict could grow would seem to be even more apt in
a constantly volatile economic environment as they would be if change would be steadier. In surveying
instructive than ever.
those risks, the report stressed the likelihood that terrorism and nonproliferation will remain priorities even as resource issues move
up on the international agenda. Terrorisms appeal will decline if economic growth continues in the Middle East and youth
unemployment is reduced. For those terrorist groups that remain active in 2025, however, the diffusion of technologies and scientific
knowledge will place some of the worlds most dangerous capabilities within their reach.
Terrorist groups in 2025 will
likely be a combination of descendants of long established groups inheriting organizational structures, command and control
processes, and training procedures necessary to conduct sophisticated attacks and newly emergent collections of the angry and
self-radicalized, particularly in the absence of economic outlets that would become narrower
in an economic downturn. The most dangerous casualty of any economicallyinduced drawdown of U.S. military presence would almost certainly be the Middle
East. Although Irans acquisition of nuclear weapons is not inevitable, worries about a nuclear-armed Iran
disenfranchised that become
could lead states in the region to develop new security arrangements with external
powers, acquire additional weapons, and consider pursuing their own nuclear ambitions. It
is not clear that the type of stable deterrent relationship that existed between the great powers for
most of the Cold War would emerge naturally in the Middle East with a nuclear Iran. Episodes of low intensity
conflict and terrorism taking place under a nuclear umbrella could lead to an unintended escalation and broader conflict if clear red
lines between those states involved are not well established. The close proximity of potential nuclear rivals combined with
underdeveloped surveillance capabilities and mobile dual-capable Iranian missile systems also will produce inherent difficulties in
The lack of strategic depth in neighboring

states like Israel, short warning and missile flight times, and uncertainty of Iranian intentions
may place more focus on preemption rather than defense, potentially leading to
escalating crises. Types of conflict that the world continues to experience, such as
over resources, could reemerge, particularly if protectionism grows and there is a
resort to neo-mercantilist practices. Perceptions of renewed energy scarcity will
drive countries to take actions to assure their future access to energy supplies . In the
worst case, this could result in interstate conflicts if government leaders deem assured access to energy
achieving reliable indications and warning of an impending nuclear attack.
resources, for example, to be essential for maintaining domestic stability and the survival of their regime. Even actions short of war,
however, will have important geopolitical implications.
Maritime security concerns are providing a rationale for naval
buildups and modernization efforts, such as Chinas and Indias development of blue water naval capabilities. If the
fiscal stimulus focus for these countries indeed turns inward, one of the most obvious funding targets may be military. Buildup of
regional naval capabilities could lead to increased tensions, rivalries, and counterbalancing moves, but it also will
create opportunities for multinational cooperation in protecting critical sea lanes. With water also becoming scarcer in Asia and the
Middle East, cooperation to manage changing water resources is likely to be increasingly difficult both within and between states in
a more dog-eat-dog world.
Solvency Exts
Fracking solves for natural gas consumption, and exports,
without having hazardous potentials like offshore drilling.
Loris-11 (Nicholas, Natural Gas Policy: Access, not Over-Regulation and Subsidies,
The Heritage Foundation, 9-21-2011,
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/09/natural-gas-policy-access-notover-regulation-and-subsidies) Bhaktaram
The need for plentiful, affordable energy, as well as a political interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and
Natural gas is a
plentiful domestic resource that has tremendous potential to increase energy supply
and help grow the economy. Tapping this resource will create jobs, directly, in the
energy sector, and indirectly, through support activities, such as hotels, restaurants,
and local suppliers. Even more broadly, more affordable energy supports further business formation and
dependence on foreign oil has pushed natural gas to the forefront of U.S. energy policy.
growth, since energy costs are a critical input cost for most businesses. Unfortunately, some policymakers are
trying to promote natural gas with subsidies for natural-gas-powered vehicles and infrastructure. Others are
pushing for more regulation due to environmental concerns over a critical part of the gas-extraction process,
hydraulic fracturing. The reality, however, is that hydraulic fracturing is a proven process that should not be subject
to overly burdensome regulations. All energy policies, including those for natural gas, should focus on increasing
access, opening markets, and ensuring safe operationsnot unreasonably increasing regulations or subsidizing
technologies to force them into the marketplace prematurely. Natural Gas: An Abundant and Diverse Resource.
Natural gas has many important applications; it accounts for approximately 25 percent of the total energy
consumed in the United States.[1] It is a major source of Americas electricity generation, providing 23 percent
today. Natural gas is not only important for electricity generation for heating and cooling homes, but also for stoves,
furnaces, and water heaters. Furthermore, natural gas has a number of industrial applications. Natural gas and
other gases extracted from natural gas provide a feedstock for fertilizers, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, waste
treatment, food processing, fueling industrial boilers, and much more. More and more cars and buses are running
on natural gas. The United States has 110,000 natural gas vehicles (NGVs), and more than 12 million NGVs are on
the roads worldwide. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States consumed 24.1
trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2010.[2] A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimates
U.S. has 92 years worth of natural gas.[3] Improved

exploration and production technologies, such as the use of hydraulic fracturing for
shale gas extraction, have increased proven reserves in states like Pennsylvania,
New York, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, also increasing regional
interest in natural gas. There have been some differences in estimates of recoverable gas. The EIA and
the Department of the Interiors United States Geological Survey (USGS) differ
widely on their gas estimates of the Marcellus shale gas formation in New York,
Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, but both agencies estimate a significant amount of natural gas.[4]
that, at current consumption rates, the
Fracking solves manufacturing and boosts the economy

Farrell 13 [Chris Farrell is an economics editor of Marketplace Money, graduate of
the London School of Economics and Stanford University Is fracking creating a
'manufacturing renaissance' in the U.S.? Published October 24, 2013
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/fracking-creating-manufacturingrenaissance-us] Ogryzek
But is it possible that America's new energy boom could bring factory jobs back from
overseas? Chris Farrell, Marketplace's economics commentator, has been considering what some see as a new
when it comes to companies deciding to move

more production to the U.S., "there's definitely a trend in the making ." "I think
something new is going on. It's a sticker shock," Farrell says, on why the U.S. suddenly looks
manufacturing boom in this country. He says that
more appealing to manufacturers. "The price of natural gas has gone down -- it's
the fracking boom. And an unexpected side effect of the fracking boom is a
manufacturing renaissance." Farrell says the U.S. has the potential to recapture
significant production that has been farmed out to other countries in a globalized
economy. "The Boston Consulting Group -- they've done a bunch of research in this area -- and they're arguing
that if you take the U.S. cost advantage in labor and energy, that the U.S. could end up
capturing $70 billion, $115 billion in annual exports from major manufacturing
nations that are our competitors," Farrell says. "What is underpinning it is cheap energy
and stable energy supplies and an uncertain global economy."
Economy Exts
Offshore drilling makes domestic prices more expensive-hurts
economy
Levi12 (Michael, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment, Director of the
Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council on Foreign Relations, A strategy for U.S Natural Gas
Exports, Brookings Institute, September 2012) Bhaktaram
But there is also great wariness in many quarters about the prospect of allowing exports of natural gas. Americans
usually support exports, but natural gas, along with other energy commodities, has recently received special
Some fear that allowing exports would dangerously drive up domestic natural
gas prices while making the U.S. gas market more volatile. Others would prefer that
domestic gas be directed toward boosting manufacturing at home, replacing coalfired power plants, or taking the place of oil as the ultimate fuel for American cars
and trucks. Still more oppose natural gas exports because those exports would
result in greater U.S. natural gas production, potentially leading to social and
environmental disruption. All of these parties oppose natural gas exports, or at least seek significant
scrutiny.
constraints. Some are driven by broad visions of the national interest to conclude that natural gas exports would
have negative consequences that are not captured by simple economic logic. Others are motivated by more selfinterested concerns, particularly the desire to secure cheap energy inputs for their industries. There is also
skepticism in some quarters over whether LNG exports, even if allowed, will ever
get off the ground. Yet with a large docket of export applications pending,
policymakers will have no choice but to step into this controversy . In this paper, I elaborate
a framework for policymakers to use in deciding whether to allow LNG exports (a decision for regulators) or whether
to take steps to constrain them (a decision for both regulators and lawmakers). This framework should focus on
evaluating six questions: . What broad economic gains and losses might allowing LNG exports deliver?2. How might
exports affect energy bills for people of limited economic means? 3. Would LNG exports undermine U.S. energy
security by preventing the United States from using more natural gas in its cars and trucks? 4. Would exports help
or hurt the fight against climate change? 5. How would different U.S. decisions on exports affect U.S. foreign policy,
including broad U.S. access to global markets in particular? 6. Would allowing exports lead to more U.S. natural gas
productionand if production increases, what would the consequences be for the local environment? This paper
addresses these questions and argues that the benefits from allowing natural gas exports outweigh the commonly
The potential direct

economic gains from LNG exports are significant but they are also smaller than
many assume. Export terminal construction might employ as many as 8,000 people
at different points over the next several years, but these jobs will be temporary.
Expanding natural gas production in order to supply export markets could
potentially support roughly 25,000 jobs in the natural gas industry, and perhaps
40,000 along the supply chain, but most of these positions would not materialize for
at least five more years, and can thus be reasonably expected to be mostly offset by lower employment
cited risks and costs, assuming that proper steps are taken to protect the environment.
elsewhere. Profits from greater gas production and export activities could reach several billion dollars each year,
while losses to other gas dependent industries would likely be at least an order of magnitude smaller. Indeed, the
resurgent petrochemicals industry, which many have assumed would suffer from gas exports, would be more likely
to benefit instead from modest export volumes. Moreover, allowing LNG exports would have benefits for U.S.
LNG
exports could undermine U.S. access to exports from other markets (including to
Chinese rare earth metals, which are essential to many segments of the U.S. clean
energy industry), and could potentially result in broader trade conflicts, leading to
wider U.S. economic harm.
leverage in trade diplomacy, potentially delivering wider economic benefits. Conversely, placing curbs on U.S.
State economies greatly depend on manufacturing; Indiana

proves
Nam-14 (The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states which are not
formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012 [update], the
movement has 120 members and 17 observer countries. Indiana manufacturing
Report 2014, June 14, 2014.
http://www.nam.org/~/media/FD0F10B760964819BAA06428AA7217EA.ashx)
Bhaktaram
Manufacturers in Indiana account for 28.2 percent of the total output in the state,
employing 16.8 percent of the workforce. Total output from manufacturing was
$84.2 billion in 2012. In addition, manufacturing compensation is over $30,000 higher than other private
employers in the state. Manufacturing Output and Exports Indiana Total Manufacturing Output $84.2 ($billions,
2012) Manufacturings Share of Total Gross State Product 28.2% (2012) Manufacturing Establishments in Indiana
8,084 (2011) Manufacturings Share of Indianas Exports 98.6% (2013)Exports Share of Manufacturing Jobs 24.7%
(2011)
Employment and Compensation Manufacturing Employment 491,900

(2013) Manufacturing Employment (% of Overall Non-Farm) 16.8% (2013) Average
Annual Compensation in Manufacturing $71,268 (2012) Average Annual Compensation in Private Non-Farm
$40,820 Sectors (2012) Manufacturing Pay Premium $30,448 (2012) Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis,
U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade Administration Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Bureau of
Manufacturers help to drive Indianas economy, with $33.7 billion in

manufactured goods exports in 2013. Last year, $18.1 billion in exports was with
our free trade agreement (FTA) partners. This helps create jobs in the state, and in
2011, nearly 25 percent of its employment stemmed from exports. Americas
exports and related jobs could double if Congress passes strong pro-export
legislation.
Labor Statistics.
The US manufacturing sector is 21 times more productive than the agricultural

sector.
IMA-14 (Indiana Manufacturing Association, Indiana leads the US in production,
Manufacturing, and Employment, 3-3-2014, http://imaweb.com/indiana-leads-u-smanufacturing-production-employment/) Bhaktaram
Obama mentioned manufacturing 5 times in each of his 2013 and 2014 State of the Union addresses.
in his 2013 speech he said [o]ur first priority is making America a magnet for
new jobs and manufacturing. In Indiana, manufacturing accounts for more than 28
percent of the states GDP number one in the U.S. According to the U.S. Bureau of
Economic Analysis, the Hoosier manufacturing sector generates $84.2 billion
in economic output, which is more than 21 times more productive than the
agricultural sector ($3.9 billion in GDP) an industry most often identified as the leading
driver of Indianas economy 3 times more productive than real estate ($27.7 B)
and 3.6 times more than health care ($23.4 B). Without manufacturing , Indianas
economy would collapse. In fact, since 2009, Indianas total economic output grew
18 percent. Manufacturing GDP increased 41 percent during that period, or over 2
times faster than the entire Indiana economy. This clearly indicates that Hoosier manufacturers
President
In fact,
spurred Indiana out of the Great Recession. In addition to economic output, the number of Hoosiers employed by
manufacturers is impressive. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in December 2013 that 491,200 Hoosiers
were employed by manufacturers, or nearly 17 percent of the 2.9 million Hoosier workforce. Indianas share of the
Indiana is
the most manufacturing-intensive state in the country. In terms of job creation in
the manufacturing sector, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development
reported in December 2013 that Indiana ranks second in the U.S. in the number of
manufacturing jobs added (63,300) and third in the percentage of growth (14.8%)
since July 2009. The manufacturing revival in job growth is not only good news for
job seekers, but also good news for family income because manufacturing jobs pay
very well. In February 2014, the U.S. Commerce Departments Economics and Statistics Administration found
that new hires in U.S. manufacturing continue to earn an average of 38 percent more than
their counterparts in non-manufacturing jobs.
workforce employed in manufacturing also ranks number one among all states in the U.S. Altogether,
National Security/ Heg Impact

Manufacturing is vital to ensuring national security, deterring
threats, and maintaining global competitiveness
Baumann 11 [Dr. Hans D. Baumann, Ph.D. is an inventor and engineer, has
registered over 200 patents and produced 105 publications, studies mechanical
engineering How Lack of U.S. Manufacturing Capacity Can Threaten our National
Security Published May 15, 2011 http://economyincrisis.org/content/how-lack-usmanufacturing-capacity-can-threaten-our-national-security] Ogryzek
perceived lack of U.S. manufacturing capability manifests itself in key areas:
First, the potential inability to procure vital parts in time of national emergencies
from abroad; Second, its effect on our trade balance and the resulting indebtedness
to foreign countries. The first could lead to shortages of vital parts in the production
of ammunition and avionics, to mention two areas, especially since normal suppliers may
be allied to a potential adversary, or if an adversary blocks vital shipping lanes in
time of war. Secondly, the lack of exports due to insufficient manufacturing capacity in turn
can and has a profound influence on our foreign policy , since countries such as China, having U.S.
The
dollar deposits in form of bonds and other forms in excess of $1.2 trillion can and will exert pressure to influence our
This causes an overhanging threat to U.S. interest rates, inflation, and a

general detriment to our economy and trade policy that cannot be ignored. There is
a substantial decrease in R&D activity in the machinery sector of our economy,
which bodes ill to our future competitiveness, as we already see in the automobile and aircraft
sectors. Also, a lack of sufficient manufacturing capacity will make it impossible to
ramp up production of airplanes, ships, tanks and other war material in
case of a major conflict. Of significance is also the fact, that due to outsourcing of manufacturing to
foreign policy.
foreign countries, we transfer vital production know-how to our potential competitors or adversaries.
Manufacturing industry is weakening-any more decline

threatens U.S. hegemony and national security
Tencer 10 [Daniel Tencer is a business analyzer, Business Editor, AOL/HuffPost
Canada at The Huffington Post Manufacturings decline threatens national security,
House panel hears Published September 22, 2010
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/22/manufacturing-decline-threatens-nationalsecurity/] Ogryzek
The hollowing-out of the USs industrial base means the country is risking its
national security by being dependent on foreign contractors , experts told a congressional
panel Wednesday. The House National Security Oversight Subcommittee heard from a
number of economists and labor leaders who argued that the long, slow erosion of
American manufacturing has led to the US losing its edge in numerous
industries that are vital to national security. We have allowed our industrial
base to deteriorate for the last two to three decades. As a result, just in national defense terms,
our supply lines for strategic parts and materials have been stretched around the
world, said Jeff Faux of the Economic Policy Institute, as quoted at CNN. Bob Baugh, the executive director of the
AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, told the panel the US has already lost its leading positions in
such defense-related industries as semiconductors , advanced materials and

aerospace. As you watch globalization move the manufacturing base offshore, in
essence you are moving the defense base offshore , Baugh said. He also said the closure of US
shipyards would cripple the countrys ability to produce ships. Michael Wessel, a member of the US-China
the situation is so bad that we no longer

have the domestic capacity to produce enough ammunition to supply our troops
and law enforcement. There are waiting lists to fill the police departments here at home, he said. Baugh
and Jeff Faux said the United States government must craft an industrial policy to rebuild our
manufacturing. Its key elements should include taking away incentives for
companies to move jobs overseas, reducing the huge U.S. trade deficit , pushing harder to
Economic and Security Review Commission, told the panel
force China to end its currency manipulation and using government procurement to encourage domestic
production. In recent months much of the debate about the USs uncompetitive manufacturing sector has focused
on China and its trade policies. The AFL-CIOs Baugh, who appeared in front of the national security panel, is also
active in the effort to pressure China into ending its currency peg to the US dollar. Many economists and policy
makers say Chinas peg to the dollar amounts to currency manipulation. They argue the policy keeps labor costs
in China artificially low and gives manufacturers there an unfair advantage.
US primacy prevents global conflict

Brooks et al 13 [Stephen G. Brooks is Associate Professor of Government at
Dartmouth College.G. John Ikenberry is the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics
and International Affairs at Princeton University in the Department of Politics and
the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is also a Global
Eminence Scholar at Kyung Hee University.William C. Wohlforth is the Daniel
Webster Professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. Don't
Come Home, America: The Case against Retrenchment, Winter 2013, Vol. 37, No.
3, Pages 7-51,http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/ISEC_a_00107, GDI
File]
engagement is that it prevents the emergence of a far more dangerous global
security environment. For one thing, as noted above, the United States overseas presence
gives it the leverage to restrain partners from taking provocative action. Perhaps more
A core premise of deep
important, its core alliance commitments also deter states with aspirations to regional hegemony from contemplating expansion and
make its partners more secure, reducing their incentive to adopt solutions to their security problems that threaten others and thus
stoke security dilemmas. The contention that engaged U.S. power dampens the baleful effects of anarchy is consistent with
influential variants of realist theory. Indeed, arguably the scariest portrayal of the war-prone world that would emerge absent the
American Pacifier is provided in the works of John Mearsheimer, who forecasts dangerous multipolar regions replete with security
competition, arms races, nuclear proliferation and associated preventive wartemptations, regional rivalries, and even runs at
regional hegemony and full-scale great power war. 72 How do retrenchment advocates, the bulk of whom are realists, discount this
benefit? Their arguments are complicated, but two capture most of the variation: (1) U.S. security guarantees are not necessary to
prevent dangerous rivalries and conflict in Eurasia; or (2) prevention of rivalry and conflict in Eurasia is not a U.S. interest. Each
response is connected to a different theory or set of theories, which makes sense given that the whole debate hinges on a complex
future counterfactual (what would happen to Eurasias security setting if the United States truly disengaged?). Although a certain
answer is impossible, each of these responses is nonetheless a weaker argument for retrenchment than advocates acknowledge.
The first response flows from defensive realism as well as other international relations theories that discount the conflict-generating
potential of anarchy under contemporary conditions. 73 Defensive realists maintain that the high expected costs of territorial
conquest, defense dominance, and an array of policies and practices that can be used credibly to signal benign intent, mean that
Eurasias major states could manage regional multipolarity peacefully without theAmerican pacifier. Retrenchment would be a bet
on this scholarship, particularly in regions where the kinds of stabilizers that nonrealist theories point tosuch as democratic
governance or dense institutional linkagesare either absent or weakly present. There are three other major bodies of scholarship,
however, that might give decisionmakers pause before making this bet. First is regional expertise. Needless to say, there is no
consensus on the net security effects of U.S. withdrawal. Regarding each region, there are optimists and pessimists. Few experts
expect a return of intense great power competition in a post-American Europe, but many doubt European governments will pay the
political costs of increased EU defense cooperation and the budgetary costs of increasing military outlays. 74 The result might be a
Europe that is incapable of securing itself from various threats that could be
destabilizing within the region and beyond (e.g., a regional conflict akin to the 1990s Balkan wars), lacks
capacity for global security missions in which U.S. leaders might want European participation, and is vulnerable to the influence of
outside rising powers.
What about the other parts of Eurasia where the United States has a
substantial military presence? Regarding the Middle East, the balance begins toswing
toward pessimists concerned that states currently backed by Washington notably
Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabiamight take actions upon U.S. retrenchment that
would intensify security dilemmas. And concerning East Asia, pessimismregarding the
regions prospects without the American pacifier is pronounced. Arguably the principal concern
expressed by area experts is that Japan and South Korea are likely to obtain a nuclear
capacity and increase their military commitments, which could stoke a destabilizing reaction from
China. It is notable that during the Cold War, both South Korea and Taiwan moved to obtain a nuclear weapons capacity and
were only constrained from doing so by astill-engaged United States. 75 The second body of scholarship casting doubt on the bet on
defensive realisms sanguine portrayal is all of the research that undermines its conception of state preferences. Defensive realisms
optimism about what would happen if the United States retrenched is very much dependent on itsparticularand highly restrictive
assumption about state preferences; once we relax this assumption, then much of its basis for optimism vanishes. Specifically, the
prediction of post-American tranquility throughout Eurasia rests on the assumption that security is the only relevant state
preference, with security defined narrowly in terms of protection from violent external attacks on the homeland. Under that
assumption, the security problem is largely solved as soon as offense and defense are clearly distinguishable, and offense is
research across the social and other sciences,

however,undermines that core assumption: states have preferences not only for security but also for
prestige, status, and other aims, and theyengage in trade-offs among the various objectives. 76 In addition,
they define security not just in terms of territorial protection but in view of many and varied milieu
goals. It follows that even states that are relatively secure may nevertheless engage in highly
competitive behavior. Empirical studies show that this is indeed sometimes the case. 77 In sum,
extremely expensive relative to defense. Burgeoning
a bet on a benign postretrenchment Eurasia is a bet that leaders of major countries will never allow these nonsecurity preferences
U.S.
retrenchment would result in a significant deterioration in the security environment in at
least some of the worlds key regions. We have already mentioned the third, even more alarming body of scholarship.
Offensive realism predicts thatthe withdrawal of the American pacifier will yield either a
competitive regional multipolarity complete with associated insecurity, arms racing,
crisis instability, nuclear proliferation, and the like, or bids for regional hegemony, which may be
beyond the capacity of local great powers to contain (and which in any case would generate intensely
competitive behavior, possibly including regional great power war).
to influence their strategic choices. To the degree that these bodies of scholarly knowledge have predictive leverage,
Ecosystem NB
Shale gas has lowered US carbon levels by 800 million tons,
and is predictive to continue lowering the rates.
Hanger-13(John, Former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection. If you care about the environment you should welcome
natural gas fracking, The Guardian, July 8, 2013,
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/08/shale-gas-fracking-goodfor-environment) Bhaktaram
The massive supply of shale gas crashed the price of gas from $13 for a thousand cubic feet in July 2008 to below
$4, delivering heating and electricity savings of $1,000 per year to many US consumers and helping to fend off
further recession in 2011 and 2012. These large price reductions in heat and power necessities of life are
especially vital for those living in poverty, and a welcome turn of luck for median-income households. As a result of
shale gas, fortune has smiled as well on millions of Americans who have lease their land to the drilling industry.
They receive payments and royalty checks that total tens of billions of dollars. Hundreds of thousands more get a
paycheck from jobs created directly or indirectly by the shale gas boom and chemical manufacturing associated
with it. Shale gas in the US is no Ponzi scheme, resting on sketchy reserves, as some have recklessly asserted, but
a durable economic bonanza that could return energy intensive manufacturing jobs to many communities. In fact,
the new gas volumes are so real and enormous that they threaten coal, oil, nuclear and renewable energy. So far,
shale gas is co-existing with solar and wind, whose capacity skyrocketed
respectively 14 and 2 times since 2008, but is in mortal combat with coal. Cheap
natural gas is coal's market nemesis, plunging coal electricity to only 37% of the market in
2012 from 48% in 2008 and causing investors to pull the plug on 150 planned coal-fired power plants.
Though Republicans reflexively charge President Obama with a war on coal, Adam Smith's market forces caused
burning gas emits no lethal soot or

sickening toxic metals and about 50% less carbon dioxide than coal, the
displacement of coal generation by natural gas slashes the amounts of major air
pollutants like mercury, lead, arsenic, soot, and carbon dioxide . America's carbon
emissions have dropped 800 million tons since 2007 and are back to 1995
levels, with gas displacing coal and some oil responsible for about half of the total
reduction. The carbon benefits of gas will increase as methane rates are cut by
increasing green completions and other practices reducing leakage that the US Environmental Protection
coal to lose market share at a rapid pace. Since
Agency has mandated in rules taking effect in 2014.
Plan calls for offshore LNG Facilities to refine the natural gas,
polluting the ocean and devastating oceanic ecosystems
Press release for Governor Christie-11 (Governor Christie, Governor of New Jersey,
Press release Veto Port Ambrose, 6-14-2011,
http://www.cleanoceanaction.org/index.php/index.php?id=636) Bhaktaram
Why is LNG the wrong choice? Liquefied Natural Gas: is grossly more
polluting than domestic natural gas, resulting in up to 40% more greenhouse
gas emissions (due to LNG lifecycle of extraction, cooling to liquid form at -259F,
transport from overseas, and heating to gas form) increases our use and
dependence on foreign fossil fuels port facilities and supplies that exist are under-utilized and can
more than meet our regions energy needs, steers us in the wrong direction away from existing conservation,
efficiency, and renewable energy technologies & options, is unnecessary. We are currently energy independent in
natural gas in the U.S. and there is no demand for imported foreign sources. Opens the door to offshore oil & gas
Why is LNG a bad choice for the ocean? The LNG facilities will: devastate
important fish habitat, and impact endangered and threatened species, damage
seafloor habitat, destroy vast quantities of marine life by refilling huge emptied
tankers with billions of gallons of seawater to replace LNG cargos, create
navigational hazards, leading to accidents & spills, be exposed to stronger and more
frequent hurricanes, noreasters, and wind & wave risks.
drilling.
Increase in CO2 levels leads to ocean stratification and

acidification, killing ocean ecosystems.
Gruber11 (Nicholas, Professor of Environmental Physics at ETH Zurich, Warming Up,
turning sour, losing breath: Ocean biogeochemistry under global change, The Royal
Society, April 18, 2011,
http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1943/1980.full#corresp-1) Bhaktaram
The three stressors are the flip-side of the invaluable services that the ocean has provided to mankind since the
onset of the industrial revolution. Ocean warming is the consequence of the ocean having taken up much of the
Between 1955
and 1998 alone, the ocean was responsible for more than 80 per cent of the total
increase in the heat content of the Earth system (e.g. [3,4]). Most of this extra heat has
extra heat accumulating in the Earth system as a result of the enhanced greenhouse effect.
accumulated in the near-surface ocean, causing a surface ocean warming of about 0.7C over the last 100 years
[5]. In contrast, the deep ocean changes are minuscule so far, so that the global mean ocean temperature has
increased by less than 0.04C between 1955 and 1998. This differential heating of the water column has increased
the density gradient between the near-surface waters and the deep ocean, increasing the upper ocean stratification
Upper ocean stratification may be further modified by the expected

acceleration of the hydrological cycle in response to global warming. Particularly in
the high latitudes, the expected decrease in salinity in response to enhanced
rainfall, melting of sea ice and river run-off may substantially enhance the warminginduced stratification (e.g. [8]). Stronger stratification tends to decrease upper ocean
mixing and transport, thereby more strongly separating the upper ocean , which is in
(figure 1a).
ready exchange with the atmosphere from the intermediate and deep ocean that contains the nutrients required for
rising temperatures of the ocean will lead to at least two types

of effects with regard to ocean biogeochemistry and ocean ecosystems . First, there will
be direct effects as a result of most rates of biogeochemical and biological processes
being temperature dependent. Second, ocean warming-induced stratification and
other changes in upper ocean mixing and transport will cause a range of indirect
effects. Among those, one can expect a more favourable light regime for phytoplankton in the high latitudes,
ocean productivity. Thus, the
more nutrient stress for phytoplankton in the low latitudes (e.g. [9,10]) and a generally reduced transport of gases
(anthropogenic CO2, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and dissolved oxygen) from the near surface into the oceans
interior [11].Ocean
acidification is a direct consequence of the ocean absorbing large

amounts of the anthropogenic CO2 emitted into the atmosphere as a result of human activities
[12,13]. Over the last 250 years, the ocean has removed about 30 per cent of the total
anthropogenic emissions of CO2 [14], thereby slowing down the increase in
atmospheric CO2 considerably. Without this sink, atmospheric CO2 would have
already surpassed 450ppm, a level above which the chances to exceed the 2C
warming target are very substantial [15]. This uptake increases the concentration of
dissolved CO2 in sea water, but, because CO2 is also a (weak) acid, a fraction of it
dissociates and releases protons, which reduces the pH of seawater . The anthropogenic
CO2 that the ocean has taken up so far has led to a drop of about 0.1pH units since pre-industrial times, but much
larger changes are likely to loom in the future. Most of the CO2 taken up reacts with the carbonate ion (CO23) in
seawater to form two bicarbonate ions (HCO3) [16]. This decreases the concentration of CO23 and thus lowers
the saturation state with regard to the mineral phases of CaCO3. Of particular relevance is the saturation
concentration itself, i.e. the critical concentration of CO23, above which seawater is supersaturated with regard to
mineral phases of CaCO3, and below which seawater is undersaturated. In the present ocean, nearly all surface
waters are substantially supersaturated, although to strongly varying degrees (figure 1b). In contrast, most of the
deep ocean is undersaturated, creating conditions under which mineral forms of CaCO3 are chemically dissolved.
While the chemical changes resulting from the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the ocean are well understood, the
impact of these changes on marine biology, ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles are largely unclear. The third
and most recently recognized stressor, i.e. ocean deoxygenation, is primarily a consequence of the oceans heat
uptake [2,17,18], with the total effect being the sum of two generally reinforcing, but independent, processes. The
first process is associated with the oceans capacity to hold dissolved oxygen, i.e. O2, which decreases with
increasing temperatures as a result of the reduced O2 solubility. The second process is associated with the kinetics
of the resupply of O2 to the oceans interior. Given the demand for O2 in the ocean interior away from the lightilluminated near-surface ocean owing to the oxidation of reduced organic matter, the O2 concentration of the
oceans interior is determined by the balance between this demand and the supply of oxygen from the surface
ocean. Many thermocline regions of the low latitudes have relatively high O2 demands and low supply rates,
Since the ocean

warming-induced increased stratification tends to reduce mixing and transport, the
supply of oxygen will tend to go down, causing interior O2 levels to drop. Particular
leading to extended zones with low and even near-zero O2 concentrations (figure 1c).
regions of the ocean have indeed been subject to substantial long-term loss trends [19], but current observations
are insufficient to determine with great confidence whether the oceans oxygen levels have indeed gone down on a
global basis and by how much [2]. However, atmospheric O2 measurements, when interpreted together with
independent estimates of the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO2 (e.g. [20]), suggest the presence of a
considerable amount of excess O2 in the atmosphere that most likely stems from ocean outgassing (see also
[21]). In addition to this primarily climate change-driven deoxygenation in the open ocean, oxygen levels are also
declining in many near-shore coastal regions and enclosed bays [22]. The primary driver for these near-shore
changes is coastal eutrophication, however, caused by the increasing levels of nutrients added to the ocean from
loss of oxygen from the ocean will cause a

myriad of effects, including a reduction in the habitable range for higher organisms
that require a certain minimum level of oxygen for survival, and possibly major
biogeochemical shifts.
run-off and atmospheric deposition (see [23]). The
Ocean collapse causes mass extinction- dead zones, toxic

blooms, disease outbreaks, hypoxia
Jackson 08( Jeremy B. C. Jackson Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology , McGill
University, Ph.D. in Medical Genetics (2005), University of British Columbia, Marine
ecologist, paleontologist and a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
in La Jolla, Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
in the Republic of Panama. Ecological extinction and evolution in the brave new
ocean Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) vol. 105
Supplement 1, 8/12/08, http://www.pnas.org/content/105/Supplement_1/11458.full?
tab=author-info)//BLOV
The Future Ocean The overall status of the four major categories of ocean ecosystems and the principal drivers of
Coastal ecosystems are endangered to critically

endangered on a global scale. The lesser endangerment of pelagic ecosystems
reflects their remoteness from all factors except fishing and climate change , although
there are no real baselines for comparison to critically evaluate changes in
their degradation are summarized in Table 3.
plankton communities. This grim assessment begs the question, What are the projected
long-term consequences for the ecological condition of the ocean if we continue
with business as usual? Predicting the future is, at best, a highly uncertain enterprise. Nevertheless, I
believe we have a sufficient basic understanding of the ecological processes involved to make meaningful
qualitative predictions about what will happen in the oceans if humans fail to restrain their style of exploitation and
Failure to stop overfishing will push increasing numbers of species to the

brink of extinctionperhaps irreversibly as for Newfoundland codexcept for small, opportunistic species.
Unrestrained runoff of nutrients and toxins, coupled with rising temperatures, will
increase the size and abundance of dead zones and toxic blooms that may merge
all along the continents. Even farmed seafood will be increasingly toxic and
unfit for human consumption unless grown in isolation from the ocean .
Outbreaks of disease will increase. Failure to cap and reduce emissions of CO2
and other greenhouse gases will increase ocean temperatures and intensify
acidification. Warmer and lighter surface waters will inhibit vertical mixing of the ocean, eventually
leading to hypoxia or anoxia below the thermocline as in the Black Sea.
Biogeochemical cycles will be perturbed in uncertain ways as they have been in the past (94).
Mass extinction of multicellular life will result in profound loss of animal
and plant biodiversity, and microbes will reign supreme . These predictions will
consumption.
undoubtedly appear extreme, but it is difficult to imagine how such changes will not come to pass without
all of these trends have

actually been measured to a limited degree in the past few decades . The
fundamental changes in human behavior. Moreover, as we have seen,
oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic; eutrophication, hypoxia, and the numbers and sizes of dead zones
are increasing in quantity and size; vertical mixing of the open ocean is measurably decreasing; and
many of
our most valuable fisheries have collapsed and failed to recover . Some may say that it is
irresponsible to make such predictions pending further detailed study to be sure of every point. However, we will
it would be irresponsible to remain silent in the

face of what we already know.
never be certain about every detail, and
A2: Unsustainable
Our evidence assumes skeptics - there are still many shale gas
prospects that havent been drilled
Kemp 13 (John, is a Senior Market Analyst at Reuters, Skeptics are wrong to bet
against shale expansion, Reuters, Oct 17, 2013,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/17/shale-idUSL6N0I72FD20131017?
feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11563, Accessed: 7/8,
SD)
Skeptics are too quick to dismiss the potential expansion of horizontal
drilling and hydraulic fracturing to other shale areas in the United States and around
the world. Based on early setbacks and the slow rate of progress outside Bakken and Eagle Ford, they
doubt whether the revolution can be replicated . But shale entrepreneurs are
investing heavily to prove them wrong. So far, the North American shale
revolution has been confined to two states, Texas and North Dakota, at least as far as oil
Oct 17 (Reuters) -
is concerned. U.S. crude output has jumped by 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) since 2008, the biggest five-year
increase since 1970 and the fastest two-year increase in history (Chart 1). But Texas, where production is up 1.469
million bpd, and North Dakota, where production has risen 671,000 bpd, account for virtually all the increase (Chart
2). Other states including Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Kansas have achieved marginal
production increases totalling 400,000 bpd, but the rise has been offset by falling output from California, Alaska and
offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico (Chart 3). The U.S. Energy Information Administration ( EIA)
has
identified 22 potential shale oil and gas prospects, known as plays, across the
continental United States, but so far all the increase in oil production has come from just three: the
Bakken in North Dakota, and the Permian and Eagle Ford in Texas . Substantial amounts of gas are
being produced from a number of other formations , including the Barnett in Texas
and the Marcellus in the U.S. Northeast, but oil production remains confined to fairly small areas of
south and west Texas as well as North Dakota. No significant quantities of either oil or gas have
been produced from shale anywhere outside the U nited States. Small-scale drilling programmes
in Poland and China have proved disappointing. Only a handful of exploratory wells have been
drilled in the UK, Argentina and other countries identified as having potentially
substantial shale resources by the EIA . Shale sceptics question whether the regulatory and
geological conditions which underpinned successful production in the Bakken, Permian and Eagle Ford areas are
replicated elsewhere. If those conditions are unusual, they say it may be hard to transfer the revolution to other
parts of the United States, let alone internationally. Drilling in other parts of the United States has yielded very low
flow rates for crude and liquids, adding to the pessimism, and causing major companies like Shell as well as niche
shale specialists like Chesapeake and SandRidge to scale back their drilling programmes in more speculative
frontier areas. Despite the disappointing results outside Texas and North Dakota, sceptics may be being too quick
to write off the potential for new Bakken, Permian and Eagle Ford-sized plays elsewhere in the United States and
internationally. Shale plays are enormously variable. The term "shale" is applied to a wide range of different rock
types that differ in terms of porosity, organic content, thermal maturity, formation thickness, buried depth, the
pressure on them, and susceptibility to fracturing .
Fracturing operations must be tailored to the

specific play to optimise flow rates . The length of the horizontal wells, the number of fracturing stages,
the amount of pressure applied, the chemicals used in the fracking fluid, and the spacing of the wells must all be
customised. Some lessons learned in one shale play can be applied in others. But in practice much of the knowhow can only be achieved through experience operating in the specific play, "learning by doing ".
In most
instances, dozens or even hundreds of wells need to be drilled to acquire the
necessary experience and prove the potential of the play.
A2: Water contamination

Fracking does not contaminate water, but boosts the economy
Feulner 13 [Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D., member of the Advisory Board of the Public Diplomacy
Collaborative at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government, attended Georgetown
University and the London School of Economicspresident of The Heritage Foundation, The
Energy Potential of Fracking Published February 19, 2013;
http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2013/2/the-energy-potential-of-fracking]
Ogryzek
Say you were a politician and there was a clean and abundant domestic energy source one that has the potential
to create jobs and revitalize local economies. Would you do more to encourage it? Silly question, you may be
thinking. Why wouldnt you do more to encourage it? Well, this scenario is more than hypothetical. Im talking
The United
States has plenty of [natural gas] it, and thanks to technological advancements in
directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, its more accessible than
ever. Fracking involves shooting a mixture of water and chemicals deep
underground to release the trapped natural gas . Certain states have been using this technique
for years, and very successfully. They have sensible rules in place to ensure that companies
obtain the gas in an environmentally responsible manner . Yet the Department of
Energy has been delaying decisions to allow companies to export natural gas. Moreover, anti-fracking
governors such as Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Democrat, have been doing their best to oppose
it. The Empire State has held up new permits for the past four years. Now state officials, citing environmental
about natural gas, which is proving in these energy-hungry times to be more of a boon every day.
concerns, have called for yet another round of public health analysis, which likely will bring more public comments,
although they already have nearly 80,000. The delay supposedly will keep the state from being sued by antifracking activists. By taking more time, Mr. Cuomo claims, the state has a better chance of avoiding lawsuits. More
likely, its a matter of stonewalling by opponents who hope the issue goes away. Whatever the reason, there is a
Natural gas, because it

burns more cleanly than coal, reduces carbon emissions by a significant amount.
There are other upsides as well. Consider Pennsylvania and Ohio, which are reaping the benefits of fracking. In
Pennsylvania, this type of gas extraction has been under way since the 1960s , with
nearly 100,000 oil and gas wells fracked and no instances of contamination of
groundwater. The same clean record is true for Ohio, where more than 70,000 oil and gas wells have
been fracked since the 1960s. All this activity helps the state economies , of course. The Associated
certain irony to hearing the environment used as an excuse to oppose fracking.
Press recently reported that energy companies paid private landowners in Pennsylvania more than $1.2 billion in
That has made a big difference in the lives of farmers such

as Shawn Georgetti, who used to live paycheck to paycheck , putting necessary expenses on credit
royalty payments last year alone.
cards. The royalty payments have eased things considerably. You dont have that problem anymore, he said. Its
a lot more fun to farm. Our national supply of natural gas is not about to run out anytime soon .
The United
States has more than a centurys worth (at current consumption rates) underground, waiting
to be extracted, according to Heritage Foundation energy analyst Nicolas Loris. This is very good
news. If youve ever seen a bus or truck roll by with a sign reading, Powered by natural gas, you can see the
potential. Natural gas is critical for generating electricity, providing about 30 percent of
Americas power. Its also necessary for heating and cooling homes, stoves,
furnaces and water heaters. Natural gas also has several industrial applications .
Natural gas and hydrocarbons removed from it provide feedstock for fertilizers, chemicals and
pharmaceuticals, waste treatment, food processing, fueling industrial boilers and
much more. More vehicles of all sizes are running on natural gas as well. The natural gas boom has led to
cleaner power and greater energy independence, President Obama pointed out in his recent State of the Union
address. Thats why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. The
sooner, the better. Deliberately locking away such a promising energy source is a pointless waste.
There is little to no evidence on fracking and polluted

groundwater; multiple studies prove
Everley 13 [Steve Everley is Manager of Policy Research at American Solutions,
Public Relations and Communications; How Anti-Fracking Activists Deny Science:
Water Contamination Published August 13, 2013
http://energyindepth.org/national/how-anti-fracking-activists-deny-science-watercontamination/] Ogryzek
No single source of criticism of hydraulic fracturing is more pronounced than the
claim that it pollutes groundwater. Fracking, according to the Sierra Club, is known to contaminate
drinking water. Food & Water Watch says hydraulic fracturing threatens the air we breathe, the water we drink,
the communities we love and the climate on which we all depend. The Center for Biological Diversity begins its
litany of criticisms of hydraulic fracturing with: Contaminated water. In his FAQ page, Gasland director Josh Fox
But when these same critics are asked to

prove the claim, the evidence is far more elusive than their statements would
suggest. At a major Senate hearing earlier this year, representatives from both the Sierra Club and the
Natural Resources Defense Council, when pressed by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), could not name a single
confirmed case of hydraulic fracturing contaminating groundwater. Experts and regulators,
meanwhile, have stated time and again that there is little to no evidence of fracking ever
contaminating groundwater: Ernest Moniz, Secretary of U.S. Dept. of Energy: To my
knowledge, I still have not seen any evidence of fracking per se contaminating
groundwater. (Aug. 2013) U.S. Geological Survey: This new study is important in
terms of finding no significant effects on groundwater quality from shale gas
development within the area of sampling. (January 2013) U.S. Govt. Accountability Office (GAO):
says water contamination from fracking is very serious.
[R]egulatory officials we met with from eight states Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas told us that, based on state investigations, the hydraulic fracturing process
has not been identified as a cause of groundwater contamination within their states. (September 2012) Lisa
Jackson, former EPA Administrator: In no case have we made a definitive determination that [hydraulic fracturing]
has caused chemicals to enter groundwater. (April 2012) Jackson: Im not aware of any proven case where
[hydraulic fracturing] itself has affected water. (May 2011)
Dr. Stephen Holditch, Dept. of
Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University; member of DOEs SEAB Shale Gas Production Subcommittee:
I have been working in hydraulic fracturing for 40+ years and there is absolutely no
evidence hydraulic fractures can grow from miles below the surface to the fresh
water aquifers. (October 2011) Center for Rural Pennsylvania: In this study, statistical analyses of postdrilling versus pre-drilling water chemistry did not suggest major influences from gas well drilling or hydrofracturing
(fracking) on nearby water wells, when considering changes in potential pollutants that are most prominent in
drilling waste fluids. (October 2011) Dr. Mark Zoback, Professor of Geophysics, Stanford University; member of
DOEs SEAB Shale Gas Production Subcommittee: Fracturing fluids have not contaminated any water supply and
with that much distance to an aquifer, it is very unlikely they could. (August 2011) State Review of Oil and Natural
Gas Environmental Regulations, Inc. (STRONGER): Although an estimated 80,000 wells have been fractured in
Ohio, state agencies have not identified a single instance where groundwater has been contaminated by hydraulic
fracturing operations. (January 2011) N.Y. Revised Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement
(dSGEIS): A
supporting study for this dSGEIS concludes that it is highly unlikely that
groundwater contamination would occur by fluids escaping from the wellbore for
hydraulic fracturing. The 2009 dSGEIS further observes that regulatory officials from 15 states recently
testified that groundwater contamination as a result of the hydraulic fracturing process in the tight formation itself
has not occurred. (2011) Massachusetts Institute of Technology: In the studies surveyed, no incidents are
reported which conclusively demonstrate contamination of shallow water zones with fracture fluids. (2010) U.S.
Dept. of Energy and Ground Water Protection Council: [B]ased on over sixty years of practical application and a
lack of evidence to the contrary, there is nothing to indicate that when coupled with appropriate well construction;
the practice of hydraulic fracturing in deep formations endangers ground water. There is also a lack of
demonstrated evidence that hydraulic fracturing conducted in many shallower formations presents a substantial
risk of endangerment to ground water. (May 2009) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Although thousands of
CBM wells are fractured annually, EPA did not find confirmed evidence that drinking water wells have been
contaminated by hydraulic fracturing fluid injection into CBM wells. (2004) Additionally, two recent peer-reviewed
studies confirmed that water contamination from hydraulic fracturing is not physically plausible. State regulatory
officials from across the country have similarly stated that there is no evidence to support the claim that hydraulic
fracturing contaminates groundwater. Critics have claimed, however, that fracking is not just the process of
hydraulic fracturing, but rather the entire shale development process. The Sierra Club has even expanded
fracking beyond development to include downstream processes such as exports. Hydraulic fracturing is one step
As the Environmental Protection

Agency explains, Hydraulic fracturing is a well stimulation process used to
maximize the extraction of underground resources; including oil, natural gas,
geothermal energy, and even water. While an important step indeed, fracking is one small part of the
in the process of developing many wells, but certainly not all wells.
process a well stimulation process. It is not the entire process of drilling, casing a well, and producing oil and
natural gas. It is one step. It is dishonest to suggest that it is anything else.
Offshore drilling is increasingly hazardous to both humans and

the environment-empirics prove
Mclendon 13 (Russell, Science editor for Mother Nature Network, Mother Nature Network is the world's most
visited environmental and social responsibility online network, launched in 2009 by Joel Babbit, MNNs CEO, and
Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for The Rolling Stones, equity partners include CNN and Discovery Communications,
Latest Blowout Highlights Gulf Drilling Dangers, Mother Nature Network, 7-25-2013, http://www.mnn.com/earthmatters/energy/blogs/latest-blowout-highlights-gulf-drilling-dangers) Bhaktaram
Flames erupted from an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday night, torching a
natural gas plume that had been leaking since a blowout earlier in the day . All 44 rig
workers were evacuated before the fire began, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental
Enforcement, but the rig continued spewing gas until Thursday morning, when its scorched frame finally collapsed
enough to cut off the leak. In addition to the cloud of natural gas rising from the rig, the BSEE had observed a light
sheen on the water's surface measuring half a mile by 50 feet. The well's owner, Walter Oil & Gas, was reportedly
making preparations to drill a relief well before the rig "bridged over," clogging the well with sand and sediment.
The Associated Press reported Thursday afternoon that the fire is out, the rig appears stable and no sheen is visible.
Located 55 miles off the Louisiana coast, the well's unmanned platform wasn't producing gas when the blowout
occured. The 44 workers were on an adjacent, portable rig that was drilling a "sidetrack well" into the original well
bore. It's unclear what ignited the gas, the BSEE says, and a diagnosis will likely be delayed by response and
cleanup efforts. "BSEE's efforts today are focused on bringing this loss of well control event to a safe resolution,"
says Lars Herbst, BSEE Gulf of Mexico regional director, in a statement issued Tuesday. "Offshore oil and gas
operators need to re-affirm their aggressive approach to the safety of well operations in light of this event and other
recent well control events. "The most salient such event in recent memory is the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster,
which killed 11 people and released 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf. Officials say there's little chance
this week's blowout will come anywhere close to matching that level of devastation, but it does cast a new spotlight
Earlier this month, for example, another

inactive gas well ruptured off the Louisiana coast, leaking a small amount of gas
and liquid before it was plugged. The Gulf of Mexico is dotted with nearly 4,000
active oil and gas platforms (pictured above), plus a sprawling array of drilling rigs,
supply ships and pipelines. This seafaring infrastructure is key to a bustling energy sector across the Gulf
on a long-running risk looming off the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Coast, especially in Louisiana and Texas, but it also poses a grave danger to nearby people and wildlife. According
U.S. oil and gas extraction industry had a

death rate of 27.1 per 100,000 workers between 2003 and 2010. That's seven times
higher than the 3.8 deaths per 100,000 workers across all U.S. industries. "The 11
lives lost in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion provide a reminder of the
hazards involved in offshore drilling," the CDC report stated.Beyond the threat from active wells and
drilling, the Gulf is also haunted by more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells,
most of which undergo no monitoring for leaks. Some of the region's oldest wells
were abandoned in the 1940s, and many others are only considered "temporarily
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the
abandoned," thus facing less strict sealing requirements. These wells could be
seeping oil, methane or other toxic substances for years, potentially sickening
already-threatened wildlife like sea turtles or cetaceans. And as researchers have
learned since 2010, large amounts of oil and gas can wreak havoc with
microbial life and coral colonies, both of which are key to the Gulf's food
web including its lucrative seafood industry. Although the Gulf is home to microbes that
evolved to feed on natural oil and gas seeps, too much unnatural leaking and spilling can smother them. "It's
important to keep in mind that if you keep pumping hydrocarbons into the system, you'll eventually overwhelm it,"
University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye told MNN earlier this year, referring to the 2010 spill on its
Closer to shore, oil and gas development has already transformed

many Gulf Coast wetlands, as manmade canals and other extraction-related projects have disrupted the
flow of water and sediments that gradually build coastal bayous. The region has lost about 1,900
square miles of land in the past 80 years, and Louisiana alone is projected to lose
another 1,750 square miles by 2060. Not only do these marshes house important
wildlife, but they also serve as a protective buffer against hurricanes. Recognizing
this risk, Louisiana officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday against dozens of energy companies, seeking damages for
three-year anniversary.
decades of harm to coastal wetlands. Filed coincidentally as a leaking gas rig burned offshore, the suit cites "a
mercilessly efficient, continuously expanding system of ecological destruction," according to the New York Times,
and hints at evolving attitudes in a region that has prospered from drilling but also suffered from lost tourism and
"Coastal economies, which depend on

healthy oceans, simply cannot afford more offshore drilling disasters ," says
seafood income after the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Jacqueline Savitz, deputy vice president for the environmental group Oceana, in a statement released Wednesday
about the latest gas blowout. "This is yet another reminder that
and dangerous."
offshore drilling remains dirty
A2: Earthquake Turn

Fracking would never cause a significant earthquake;
industries can avoid faults
Bakhsh 13 [Nidaa Bakhsh is the Energy Industry Reporter at Bloomberg LP, Rhodes
University Fracking Doesnt Cause Significant Earthquakes, Study Says Published
April 10, 2013 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-09/fracking-doesn-t-causesignificant-quakes-university-study-says.html] Ogryzek
Hydraulic fracturing used to access oil and gas from rock and shale hasnt caused
significant earthquakes, according to a study by Durham University . Hydraulic
fracturing is not a significant mechanism for inducing felt earthquakes , Richard Davies,
director of the U.K. universitys energy institute, said today in a statement. The size and number of felt
earthquakes caused by fracking is low compared to other manmade triggers such as
mining, geothermal activity or reservoir water storage . Tremors arent the only concern about
the method, known as fracking, according to a Greenpeace statement. Communities have also expressed concern
about noise, disruption, traffic, falling house prices and a general industrialization of the English countryside,
Lawrence Carter, an energy campaigner for the environmental group, said in the statement. Cuadrilla Resources
Ltd. drilling caused two tremors in 2011 in northwest England, leading to an 18-month moratorium on fracking,
which uses water, chemicals and sand to blast underground rock and release trapped fuel. The government lifted
the ban in December and is preparing tax breaks to encourage drillers as it seeks to expand domestic energy
sources amid declining North Sea fossil fuel production. The Durham study of hundreds of thousands of fracking
operations since 1929 found the process has the potential to reactivate dormant faults, the university said. Avoid
Faults We cannot see every fault underground and therefore cannot completely discount the possibility of the
there are ways to further mitigate

against the possibility; the oil and gas industry can avoid faults that are critically
stressed and already near breaking point. Earthquakes caused by mining can
range from 1.6 to 5.6 in magnitude and reservoir-filling can trigger tremors of as
high as 7.9, according to the study. In comparison, fracking can cause movements
of 1 to 3.8 magnitude, it said. In the Netherlands, two quakes measuring 3.2 and 2.7 struck the gas-rich
process causing a small felt earthquake, Davies said. But
Groningen area in early February. The tremors near Blackpool in the U.K. two years ago were 2.3 and 1.5.
Aff - Fracking CP - Unsustainable

Shale gas is unsustainable - most recent and predicative
evidence
Stafford 14 (James, is the Editor of Oilprice.com, Shale, the Last Oil and Gas
Train: Interview with Arthur Berman, Oil Price, http://oilprice.com/Interviews/Shalethe-Last-Oil-and-Gas-Train-Interview-with-Arthur-Berman.html, Accessed: 7/7, SD)
Almost on a daily basis we have figures thrown at us to demonstrate how the shale boom is only getting started.
Mostly recently, there are statements to the effect that Texas shale formations will produce up to one-third of the
global oil supply over the next 10 years. Is there another story behind these figures? Arthur Berman: First, we have
shale gas plays except the

Marcellus are in decline or flat. The growth of US supply rests solely on the
Marcellus and it is unlikely that its growth can continue at present rate s. On the oil side,
to distinguish between shale gas and liquids plays. On the gas side, all
the Bakken has a considerable commercial area that is perhaps only one-third developed so we see Bakken
The Eagle Ford also has significant

commercial area but is showing signs that production may be flattening. Nevertheless,
we see 5 or so more years of continuing Eagle Ford production activity before peaking. The EIA has is about
right for the liquids plays--slower increases until later in the decade, and then
decline. The idea that Texas shales will produce one-third of global oil supply is preposterous. The Eagle Ford
production continuing for several years before peaking.
and the Bakken comprise 80% of all the US liquids growth. The Permian basin has notable oil reserves left but
mostly from very small accumulations and low-rate wells. EOG CEO Bill Thomas said the same thing about 10 days
ago on EOG's earnings call. There have been some truly outrageous claims made by some executives about the
Permian basin in recent months that I suspect have their general counsels looking for a defibrillator. Recently, the
CEO of a major oil company told The Houston Chronicle that the shale revolution is only in the "first inning of a nineinning game. I guess he must have lost track of the score while waiting in line for hot dogs because production
growth in U.S. shale gas plays excluding the Marcellus is approaching zero; growth in the Bakken and Eagle Ford has
fallen from 33% in mid-2011 to 7% in late 2013. Oil companies have to make a big deal about shale plays because
that is all that is left in the world. Let's face it: these are truly awful reservoir rocks and that is why we waited until
It is completely unreasonable
to expect better performance from bad reservoirs than from better reservoir s. The
all more attractive opportunities were exhausted before developing them.
majors have shown that they cannot replace reserves. They talk about return on capital employed (ROCE) these
days instead of reserve replacement and production growth because there is nothing to talk about there. Shale
plays are part of the ROCE story-- shale
wells can be drilled and brought on production fairly

quickly and this masks or smoothes out the non-productive capital languishing in
big projects around the world like Kashagan and Gorgon, which are going sideways
whilst eating up billions of dollar s. None of this is meant to be negative. I'm all for shale plays but let's
be honest about things, after all! Production from shale is not a revolution; its a retirement party. OP: Is the shale
The shale gas boom is not sustainable except at higher

gas prices in the US. There is lots of gas--just not that much that is commercial at current prices . Analysts that
say there are trillions of cubic feet of commercial gas at $4 need their cost
assumptions audited. If they are not counting overhead (G&A) and many operating costs, then of course
boom sustainable? Arthur Berman:
things look good. If Walmart were evaluated solely on the difference between wholesale and retail prices, they
would look fantastic. But they need stores, employees, gas and electricity, advertising and distribution. So do gas
producers. I don't know where these guys get their reserves either, but that needs to be audited as well. There was
a report recently that said large areas of the Barnett Shale are commercial at $4 gas prices and that the play will
Some people get so intrigued with how much gas

has been produced and could be in the future, that they don't seem to understand
that this is a business. A business must be commercial to be successful over the
long term, although many public companies in the US seem to challenge that
concept. Investors have tolerated a lot of cheerleading about shale gas over the
years, but I don't think this is going to last . Investors are starting to ask
continue to produce lots of gas for decades.
questions, such as: Where are the earnings and the free cash flow. Shale
companies are spending a lot more than they are earning, and that has not changed. They are claiming all
sorts of efficiency gains on the drilling side that has distracted inquiring investors
for awhile. I was looking through some investor presentations from 2007 and 2008 and the same companies
were making the same efficiency claims then as they are now. The problem is that these impressive
gains never show up in the balance sheets, so I guess they must not be very
important after all. The reason that the shale gas boom is not sustainable at current
prices is that shale gas is not the whole story. Conventional gas accounts for
almost 60% of US gas and it is declining at about 20% per year and no one
is drilling more wells in these plays. The unconventional gas plays decline at more than 30%
each year. Taken together, the US needs to replace 19 billion cubic feet per day each year
to maintain production at flat levels. That's almost four Barnett shale plays at full production each
year! So you can see how hard it will be to sustain gas production. Then there are all the efforts to use it up faster-natural gas vehicles, exports to Mexico, LNG exports, closing coal and nuclear plants--so it only gets harder. This
Comparative gas storage inventories are near their 2003

low. Sure, weather is the main factor but that's always the case. The simple truth is that supply has not
been able to adequately meet winter demand this year, period. Say what you will about
winter, things have begun to unravel.
why but it's a fact that is inconsistent with the fairy tales we continue to hear about cheap, abundant gas forever. I
sat across the table from industry experts just a year ago or so who were adamant that natural gas prices would
never get above $4 again. Prices have been above $4 for almost three months. Maybe "never" has a different
meaning for those people that doesn't include when they are wrong.
Shale gas boom unsustainable - production peaked

PO 7-1 (Ailing Shale Gas Returns Force a Drilling Treadmill, July 1, 2014,
http://peakoil.com/production/ailing-shale-gas-returns-force-a-drilling-treadmill,
Accessed: 7/7, SD)
Berman, a Houston-based geologist in an interview for
OilPrice.com. The respected analyst noted that shale production had peaked in most fields
(the formations were supposed to gush for decades), and that companies were
spending more money than they were earning because overproduction had killed
gas prices. Without higher prices for natural gas, he warned that the shale gas boom is not
sustainable. He said companies and governments had overhyped the potential of
shales because that is all that is left in the world. Lets face it: these are truly awful
reservoir rocks and that is why we waited until all the more attractive opportunities
were exhausted before developing them. He also thought the liquefied natural gas craze was not
Peak production Next came comments from Arthur
founded on real reserve estimates or real dollars. It amazes me that the geniuses behind gas export assume that
the business conditions that resulted in a price benefit overseas will remain static until they finish building export
facilities, he said. Lagging returns Bermans comments were followed by a pointed analysis by Ruud Weijermars,
a Dutch energy consultant, in the Oil and Gas Journal. Weijermars offered a sobering and critical look at the financial
fate of shale gas projects at U.S. airports. At the beginning of the shale boom in 2006, Chesapeake Energy
approached the Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFWA). It wanted to drill 330 wells and frack the Barnett shales
underneath. The DFWA negotiated a signing bonus for 18,543 acres and a 25 per cent royalty on gross revenues
Chesapeake overestimated the amount of gas in the ground and

underestimated the cost of extracting it. The company reportedly not only set off earthquakes
from sales. But
with its injection wells, but had to retrofit its equipment with electric engines so as not to cause any safety hazards
at the airport. In the end, Chesapeake drilled only half its projected wells at a cost of $7.21 per thousand cubic feet
(Mcf) in a market that offered a price of $4.23 Mcf. The airport made money, but Chesapeake lost $316 million.
project performance of the DFWA shale gas development project is exemplary

for the lagging returns on investment from U.S. shale gas fields , concluded the Dutch
The
analyst. All in all, the permissive attitude of regulators and financiers and their neglect of the flagging signs of
weak fundamentals are all typical for investment bubble hypes, as seen recently in the dot-com bubble and housing
scandal.
The shale gas bubble is likely the next one to burst.
Productivity has rapidly declined - data from hundreds of

thousands of wells prove
Kelly 13 (Sharon, is a blog writer at the Post Carbon Institute, Faster Drilling,
Diminishing Returns in Shale Plays Nationwide?, PCI, Apr 30, 2013
http://www.postcarbon.org/article/1627120-faster-drilling-diminishing-returns-inshale, Accessed: 7/6, SD)
Today's shale gas boom has brought a surge of drilling across the US , driving natural gas
prices to historic lows over the past couple of years. But, according to David Hughes, geoscientist and fellow at the
we can expect at least the same frenzied rate of drilling

but less and less oil and gas from each well on average. Its been a game changer, Mr.
Post Carbon Institute, in the future,
Hughes said of the shale gas boom at a talk last week in Maryland, but I would say a temporary game changer.
After crunching data from hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells across the
U.S., Mr. Hughes found that just five of the country's 30 best shale plays have been
responsible for 80 percent of domestic shale gas production : the Haynesville shale in
Louisiana; the Barnett shale in Texas's Fort Worth region; the Marcellus shale, which underlies New York,
Pennsylvania, and parts of Maryland and West Virginia; the Fayetteville shale in Arkansas; and Oklahoma's
Woodford shale. When it comes to natural gas, all of the other plays pale in comparison to these five regions. But
data reveals that in four of these top five shale-gas plays, drillers have been less
and less successful in hitting the next big strike-it-rich well. Average well
productivity in four of the five best American shale plays has been falling since
2010, Hughes found. The exception, at least for now, is the Marcellus. Everywhere else, the regional
drop-offs are steep. In the Haynesville play, which quite recently was the nation's top shale play, wells
delivered roughly one third less gas on average in 2012 than in 2010 , Hughes found. In
other words, shale gas regions start to lose their luster fast . Mr. Hughes pointed out that the
the
Haynesville was hardly even targeted by shale gas drillers until 2008 and now the best areas, the sweet spots that
produced the gushers the Haynesville became famous for, seem to have been found. So how long do these plays
last? Mr Hughes asked at his Maryland talk. Looking at the Haynesville, probably about 8 to 10 years before were
on the other side of that production curve. It's not just the Haynesville. In shale plays across the U.S., the sweet
sweet spots, drillers can make

are rapidly becoming dotted
with gas well after gas well and as the sweet spots fill up, drillers must turn to less
promising areas. That's when average well productivity begins to fall across the play .
Drillers have known for a long time that individual shale gas wells tend to decline at a
startling rate. Within three years, the amount of gas flowing from a single shale well
can drop 95 percent, Mr. Hughes found turning what used to be a gusher into a garden hose. Some
experts believe that shale gas wells will tend to dry up within 8 to 10 years unless
they are re-fracked. Of course, re-fracking not only costs drillers money, making
the gas more expensive for consumers, it also has major environmental
impacts. In the Haynesville, for instance, production falls 52% in a wells first year, Mr. Hughes said. This holds
spots may have already been identified, Mr. Hughes cautioned. In these
attractive profits even when natural gas prices plunge. But these areas
true for shale gas wells nationwide, though the rates vary from play to play. After reviewing drilling logs from
Hughes confirmed that individual well production shows

similar steep declines to those in other plays. This undermines the claims from
drillers that wells in the state can continue producing for the next 30 to 40 years .
But these fast declines don't mean that drilling will stop. Quite the opposite. It means that in order to keep
thousands of Pennsylvania wells,
the same amount of domestic natural gas flowing, drillers will need to drill faster
and faster in part to keep up with the declines from each well, and in part because
on average, the new wells they drill will perform worse and worse. If Mr. Hughes'
research is correct, each year, it will be an increasingly massive endeavor just to keep
producing the same amount of shale gas that was produced the year before . And for
consumers, this means rising natural gas prices. Hughes, who recently published his
findings alongside an analysis by the Energy Policy Forum's Deborah Rogers of Wall Street's role, calculated that
nationwide,
7,200 wells will need to be drilled annually, at a cost of more than $42
billion each year, simply to keep shale gas production from falling. But last year, drillers didn't even make
enough money to cover that $42 billion, Hughes discovered. In 2012, US shale gas generated just
$33 billion (although some wells also produced substantial liquid hydrocarbons, which improved economics),
Hughes wrote in a February 21 article in the journal Nature.
A2: Manufac NB
Natural gas exports increase value of domestic oil, spurs job
growth, and are key to the economy
Thorning 13 [Margo, Ph.D. in economics, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist
American council for capital formation, served at the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S.
Department of Commerce, and the Federal Trade Commission ACCF CENTER FOR POLICY
RESEARCH SPECIAL REPORT Published November 20130 http://accf.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/11/ACCF_LNG_Price_Impact_11.06.13_d3.pdf] Ogryzek
U.S. economic welfare consistently increases as the volume of

natural gas exports increased. This includes scenarios in which there are unlimited exports. The reason
for this is that even though domestic natural gas prices are pulled up by LNG
exports, the value of those exports also rises so that there is a net gain
for the U.S. economy measured by a broad metric of economic welfare or by more common
measures such as real household income or real GDP." Another macroeconomic analysis by ICF
International finds that expanded LNG exports would spur significant gains in nationwide
employment, GDP and federal tax receipts. The net effects on U.S. employment are
anticipated to be positive with net job growth of between 73,100 to 452,300 jobs on average
"Across the scenarios,
between 2016 and 2035, including all economic multiplier effects.0 Manufacturing job gains average between
net job gains in the specific

manufacturing sectors that include refining, petrochemicals, and chemicals. The net
7,800 and 76,800 net jobs between 2016 and 2035, including 1,700-11,400
effect on U.S. GDP is expected to be positive at about $15.6 to $73.6 billion per year on average between 2016
including the impacts of associated liquids production, increases in the

petrochemical manufacturing of olefins, and all economic multiplier effects.7
Conclusions As mentioned above, the preponderance of the economic analyses of the impact
exports of LNG from the U.S. show positive overall benefits in terms of jobs,
investment and GDP growth. In addition, the impact on U.S. domestic natural gas
prices rises will be relatively small, thus allowing U.S. customers to maintain a
strong competitive advantage over our trading partners.
and 2035,
Increasing offshore drilling benefits outweigh the

manufacturing NB by generating $23.5 billion per year and an
additional $51 billion into government revenue.
API & NOIA-13 (American Petroleum Institute in collaboration with National Ocean
Industries Association, The Economic Benefits of Increasing U.S access to Offshore
Oil and Natural Gas Resources in the Atlantic, December, 2013,
http://www.api.org/~/media/Files/Oil-and-Natural-Gas/Exploration/Offshore/AtlanticOCS/Executive-Summary-Economic-Benefits-of-Increasing-US-Access-to-AtlanticOffshore-Resources.pdf) Bhaktaram
2035, offshore oil and natural gas development could produce an incremental 1.3
million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMboe/d), generate nearly
280,000 jobs, contribute up to $23.5 billion per year to the U.S. economy,
and generate $51 billion in cumulative government revenue (Table 1), Most of the
By
benefits would be accrued to states along the east coast (Table 2) but the economic impacts would be felt
throughout the U.S. The amount of revenue accrued to state governments would be dependent on legislated
federal/state sharing agreements.1 The offshore oil and natural gas industry within the United States is a
significant contributor to employment, the national economy, government revenues, and domestic energy
production. Current offshore oil and gas production in the U.S. is essentially limited to the Central, Western and a
small amount of the eastern Gulf of Mexico with limited additional legacy production off Alaska and California.
Total offshore oil and natural gas production in federal waters was a combined 1.87
million barrels of oil equivalent per day as of June of 2013 or 9 percent of U.S.
production. Approximately 85 percent of acreage in federal offshore waters is
inaccessible to offshore oil and natural gas development, either through lack of federal lease
sales or outright moratoriums. Oil and gas development off the Atlantic coast has been restricted since the
1980s. Only 51 exploratory wells were drilled in the 1970s and 1980s, mainly in shallow water. A lease sale off
the coast of Virginia was planned for 2011, but was subsequently canceled. No lease sales in the Atlantic Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS) are currently scheduled. The next five-year plan of OCS lease sales, yet to be released,
would start in 2017. While there have been no recent seismic surveys or exploratory wells in the Atlantic OCS, an
updated reserve analysis based on historic information was released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management (BOEM) in 2011. The BOEM report identified and estimated resources in ten unique geologic plays.
The BOEM resource estimates served as the foundation for the reserve and production models of this report. This
report constructs a scenario of oil and natural gas development in the Atlantic OCS, based on the resource
potential of the area, geologic analogs, and the full value chain of oil and natural gas development and
production. It quantifies the capital and other investments projected to be undertaken by the oil and natural gas
identifies linkages to the oil and gas supply chain and supporting industries
at both the state and national levels, estimates both job creation and contributions
to economies associated with oil and natural gas development, as well as
government revenues due to lease bids, rents and production royalties. The report
industry,
relies on Quest Offshore

chain.
Resources, Inc. (Quest) proprietary database3 on the offshore oil and natural gas supply
A2: Ecosystem NB
Fracking exposes environment to pollutants causing birth
defects, disorders, and other harms
Hoffman 12 [Joe Hoffman-Geology and Human Health course in the Department of
Earth Sciences, Montana State University Potential Health and Environmental
Effects of Hydrofracking in the Williston Basin, Montana Published 2012
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/hydrofracking_w.html]
Ogryzek
Methane is a main component of natural gas and is 25 times more potent in trapping heat in the atmosphere than
A recent study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

monitoring gas wells in Weld County, Colorado, estimated that 4 percent of the methane
produced by these wells is escaping into the atmosphere. NOAA scientists found the
Weld County gas wells to be equal to the carbon emissions of 1-3 million cars . A
carbon dioxide.
number of other air contaminants are released through the various drilling procedures, including construction and
Some of the
pollutants released by drilling include: benzene, toluene, xylene and ethyl benzene
(BTEX), particulate matter and dust, ground level ozone , or smog, nitrogen oxides, carbon
monoxide, formaldehyde and metals contained in diesel fuel combustionwith exposure to these
pollutants known to cause short-term illness, cancer, organ damage, nervous
system disorders and birth defects or even death . The Associated press recently
reported that Wyoming's air quality near rural drilling sites is worse than Los
Angeles'with Wyoming ozone levels recorded at 124 parts per billion compared to
the worst air day of the year for Los Angeles, at 114 parts per billion. The
Environmental Protection Agency's maximum healthy limit is 75 parts per billion. A 2007 report
operation of the well site, transport of the materials and equipment, and disposal of the waste.
prepared for the Western Governor's Association, that inventoried present and future nitrogen oxide and sulfur
dioxide emissions from oil and gas drilling in the west, projects Montana to experience a 310% increase in nitrogen
Crystalline silica, in the form of sand, can cause silicosis (an

incurable but preventable lung disease ) when inhaled by workers. Sand is a main ingredient
used in the fracking process. The National Institute for Occupational Safety (NIOSH) collected
air samples from 11 fracking sites around the country. All 11 sites exceeded relevant
occupational health criteria for exposure to respirable crystalline silica. In 31% of
the samples, silica concentrations exceeded the NIOSH exposure limit by a factor of
10, which means that even if workers were wearing proper respiratory equipment, they would not be adequately
oxide pollution (smog).
protected.
Fracking risks polluting environment much more than LNG

exports; chemical reports arent disclosed
Vancouver Sun 8/1/14 [Vancouver Sun; Breaking news Fracking may be a threat to B.C.
ecosystems: SFU study Published August 1, 2014
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Fracking+threat+ecosystems+study/10081289/st
ory.html] Ogryzek
environmental impacts of intensive hydraulic fracturing for natural gas extraction

are not well understood and could pose a threat to B.C.s ecosystems, according to a
scientific review led by Simon Fraser University researchers. Poor regulation and a lack of disclosure
of methods and the chemicals injected into the ground in jurisdictions where
hydraulic fracturing is widely practised have left huge knowledge gaps about the
The
consequences of the process popularly known as fracking, said SFU conservation biologist Viorel
Popescu. Fracking involves the injection of a cocktail of water, chemicals and sand
into shale formations under high pressure, which fractures the rock deep underground and releases
otherwise inaccessible gas. The aqueous mixture may include methanol, xylene, naphthalene, hydrochloric acid,
toluene, benzene, and formaldehyde, as well as proprietary chemicals, some of which remains in the ground after
the process is complete, according to the article published on Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in
Ecology. Thousands of wells may be required to extract gas from a large shale formation. Little research has been
done on the impacts of fracking on groundwater and ecosystems, meaning B.C. is about to embark on a massive
expansion of the gas industry with unknown consequences, Popescu said. Premier Christy Clark has made
expanded natural gas extraction central to her governments economic plan, promising thousands of jobs and
billions of dollars in revenue. The ambitious plan includes the construction of up to five LNG plants in northern B.C.
Fracking for shale gas has been practiced in the U nited States
but states
vary widely in their regulation of the process, disclosure of the chemicals used and
environmental impact reporting. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers supports disclosure
of fracking fluid additives required by law in B.C. but the industry is relatively new here, so the
effects of additives are not well-understood. In the 24 states with active shale gas
reservoirs, each has its own mandate and regulations and may not require
proprietary chemicals to be disclosed, Popescu said. In Canada, there appears to be more
to process gas for export to Asia.
for more than 60 years at least a million times, according to the Society of Petroleum Engineers
transparency. Only five of those states maintain public records of accidents and regulatory violations, so the
frequency and severity of contamination events associated with fracking is not known. In B.C., fracking water that
returns to the surface is recovered for reuse or injected into exhausted gas wells for disposal. Surface disposal is
prohibited. We
need more than just disclosure of the chemicals , he said. We need to

know what we are putting in the ground, how much stays there and how it migrates,
which is one of the big research unknowns . B.C. requires steel and casing and cement to a depth
of 600 metres in natural gas wells to provide isolation from groundwater, and so far has never had a reported
incident of water contamination due to fracking, according to the ministry of natural gas development.
Earthquake Turn
Fracking leads to an increased number of earthquakes, that
can increase severity of earthquakes.
Kernanen-14
(Katie, PhD in Geology from the University of Oklahoma, and an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Oklahoma has had more earthquakes over
magnitude 3 in 2014 than California, Cornell University Press, July 3, 2014,
http://www.katiekeranen.com/2014/07/03/research-sharp-increase-central-oklahoma-seismicity/) AB
Seismic swarms of earthquake activity have been recorded in Oklahoma ,
according to just-released research led by Dr. Katie Keranen at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Dr. Katie Keranen, Cornell University. Oklahoma
earthquakes in
areas of high-rate water disposal constitute nearly half of all central and eastern US
seismicity from 2008 to 2013. Unconventional oil and gas production provides a
rapidly growing energy source; however high production states in the United States,
such as Oklahoma, face sharply rising numbers of earthquakes .In the research findings,
reported in SCIENCE, Dr. Keranen writes, Subsurface pressure data required to unequivocally
link earthquakes to injection are rarely accessible. Here we use seismicity and
hydrogeological models to show that distant fluid migration from high-rate disposal
wells in Oklahoma is likely responsible for the largest swarm. Earthquake hypocenters occur
within disposal formations and upper-basement, between 2-5 km depth . Seismicity in the United
States midcontinent surged beginning in 2008, predominantly within regions of active
unconventional hydrocarbon production. In Arkansas, Texas, Ohio, and near Prague, Oklahoma, recent
earthquakes have been linked to wastewater injection although alternative interpretations have
been proposed, writes Dr. Keranen. Conclusively distinguishing human-induced earthquakes based solely on
seismological data remains challenging.
Seismic swarms within Oklahoma dominate the recent

seismicity in the central and eastern United States, contributing 45% of M3 and
larger earthquakes between 2008-2013. No other state contributed more than
11%. Our work demonstrates that a very small number of wastewater disposal wells, operating at exceedingly
high volumes, create substantial anthropogenic seismic hazard, Dr. Keranen writes. Four of the highestvolume disposal wells in Oklahoma (~0.04% of wells) are capable of triggering
~20% of recent central US earthquakes in a swarm covering nearly 2000
square kilometers, as shown by our analysis of modeled pore pressure increase at relocated earthquake
hypocenters. This massive Jones seismic swarm is in sharp contrast to the oft-cited aseismic behavior of the
majority of active disposal wells. The area of increased pressure related to these wells continually expands,
increasing the probability of encountering a larger fault and thus increasing the risk of triggering a higher-
These results from Oklahoma, where the rate of M3+

earthquakes is now double that of California, are broadly relevant for
understanding fluid-related earthquake triggering and rapid fluid transmission in the
shallow crust to great distances. Our results illuminate the sharp response of faults in critical
magnitude earthquake.
equilibrium to the strong forcing mechanism of massive subsurface fluid injection.With growing development of
unconventional reservoirs, the number of new disposal wells drilled and the volume of water disposed at individual
burgeoning hydrocarbon production from unconventional

reservoirs has sharply changed energy and energy politics, and states from
California to New York are currently debating permitting and regulation of hydraulic
fracturing and wastewater disposal.
wells have abruptly increased. The
Increased amounts of seismic activity leads to massive

amounts of damage that kill the economy.
Earth Sky-12 (Earth Sky premier blog created by contributions by accomplished Scientists, Economic
losses from earthquakes and natural disasters peaked in 2011, May 11, 2011 http://earthsky.org/earth/economiclosses-from-earthquakes-and-natural-disasters-peaked-in-2011) Bhaktaram
The earthquake analysis released in January 2012 came from the Center for
Disaster Management and Risk Reduction (CEDIM) in Germany. According to their
report, earthquakes and their consequences, including tsunamis and landslides,
caused damages of $365 billion U.S. dollars. More than half of that was from the March
2011 Tohuku earthquake and tsunami. According to the CEDIM report , in 2011, over 20,000 people
died and about a million people lost their homes globally, due to earthquakes and
their effects. The two countries hit hardest by earthquakes were New Zealand, with a large earthquake near
Christchurch in February, 2011 and Japan. In 2011, the earthquakes and their aftereffects destroyed or
damaged more than 1.7 million buildings globally. Of these, Japan had more than one million
damaged buildings. Richard Gross: Japan earthquake shortened Earths day 1.8 millionths of
a second. The Insurance Information Institute (III), a U.S. industry organization, and the global reinsurance firm
Munich Re in Germany both issued reports calling the Japan earthquake the most costly natural disaster of any kind
(not just earthquakes) in history. These organizations said that the March 2011 Japan earthquake pushed the toll for
losses from natural disasters up for the entire world so that, globally, 2011 was the costliest year ever for natural
disasters. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan is said to have accounted for more than half of the damage, overall.
Going back to the CEDIM repot, in 2011 earthquakes alone and their consequences, such as tsunamis, landslides,
and ground settlements, caused a damage of $365 billion U.S. dollars. According to the CEDIM analysis, 20,500
The earthquake near Christchurch, New

Zealand, in February 2011 caused $20 billion in losses , said the CEDIM. Large
people died, about a million people lost their homes.
economic losses also resulted from the earthquakes in the Turkish region of Van, in the region of India-Nepal-Tibet,
in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Xinjiang, and in the U.S. state of Virginia. Worldwide, at least 133
earthquakes occurred in 2011, during which people died, were injured or lost their homes or which caused immense
damage to property. Most often, i.e. 27 times, earthquakes took place in Japan. These were mostly aftershocks of
the Tohoku earthquake. China was affected 20 times, Turkey 18 times. Including the aftershock near Christchurch,
New Zealand was hit by 17 earthquakes, the CEDIM said. In 2011, 20,500 people died as a result of earthquakes,
tsunamis, or other consequences. Statistically speaking, this is below the average of the past years. More than 1
million people lost their homes. For comparison: The devastating earthquake on Haiti in 2010 caused about 137,000
casualties, between one and two million people lost their homes. In 2011, the earthquakes and their side effects
destroyed or damaged more than 1.7 million buildings, of these, more than one million in Japan alone.
America is at the brink of economic collapse.

DeMint-12 (The Honorable Jim DeMint, United States Senator (R-SC), Now or Never: Saving America from
Economic Collapse, The Heritage Foundation, 1-31-2012, http://www.heritage.org/events/2012/01/demint-now-ornever?ac=1) Bhaktaram
America is at the brink not just a crossroads. A future of freedom and prosperity
can still be had should Americans show the will to chart such a path. But simply
continuing with business as usual has literally brought us to the edge of destruction .
In Now or Never, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) stresses that the current political moment of widespread concern about
massive debt and reckless spending is our last chance to rescue America from economic armageddon. Continuing
the momentum of the Tea Parties and rallies that demanded a new breed of representatives in the 2010 elections,
he reminds each of us of the importance of citizen activism, and its power to change Washington in this critical
moment in our nation's history.
Additional contributors to Now or Never include Senators Tom Coburn, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Pat
Toomey, Congressman Steve King, pollster Frank Lutz, former Congressman Dick Armey, and others who also make
the case for political reform and renewal.
Economic collapse causes global nuclear war.

Auslin 9 [Michael, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, and Desmond
Lachman, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, The Global Economy
Unravels, Forbes, http://www.aei.org/article/100187] JB
global
chaos followed hard on economic collapse. The mere fact that parliaments
across the globe, from America to Japan, are unable to make responsible,
economically sound recovery plans suggests that they do not know what
to do and are simply hoping for the least disruption. Equally worrisome is
the adoption of more statist economic programs around the globe, and the
concurrent decline of trust in free-market systems. The threat of
instability is a pressing concern. China, until last year the world's fastest growing economy, just
reported that 20 million migrant laborers lost their jobs. Even in the flush times of recent years, China faced
upward of 70,000 labor uprisings a year. A sustained downturn poses grave
and possibly immediate threats to Chinese internal stability . The regime in Beijing
What do these trends mean in the short and medium term? The Great Depression showed how social and
may be faced with a choice of repressing its own people or diverting their energies outward, leading to conflict with
Russia, an oil state completely dependent on energy sales, has had to put down
riots in its Far East as well as in downtown Moscow . Vladimir Putin's rule has been
China's neighbors.
predicated on squeezing civil liberties while providing economic largesse. If that devil's bargain falls apart, then
wide-scale repression inside Russia, along with a continuing threatening

posture toward Russia's neighbors, is likely. Even apparently stable
societies face increasing risk and the threat of internal or possibly
external conflict. As Japan's exports have plummeted by nearly 50%, one-third of the country's prefectures
have passed emergency economic stabilization plans. Hundreds of thousands of temporary employees hired during
the first part of this decade are being laid off. Spain's unemployment rate is expected to climb to nearly 20% by the
end of 2010; Spanish unions are already protesting the lack of jobs, and the specter of violence, as occurred in the
Europe as a
whole will face dangerously increasing tensions between native citizens and immigrants,
1980s, is haunting the country. Meanwhile, in Greece, workers have already taken to the streets.
largely from poorer Muslim nations, who have increased the labor pool in the past several decades. Spain has
absorbed five million immigrants since 1999, while nearly 9% of Germany's residents have foreign citizenship,
including almost 2 million Turks. The xenophobic labor strikes in the U.K. do not bode well for the rest of Europe .
A
prolonged global downturn, let alone a collapse, would dramatically raise
tensions inside these countries. Couple that with possible protectionist legislation in the
United States, unresolved ethnic and territorial disputes in all regions of the
globe and a loss of confidence that world leaders actually know what they
are doing. The result may be a series of small explosions that coalesce into
a big bang.
Climate Advantage - CP #1
1NC Carbon Tax CP

Text: The United States federal government should implement a carbon
tax at no less than $5.00 a ton of carbon dioxide emitted.
The carbon tax solves warming - it is the easiest and cheapest

way to reduce carbon emissions - it avoids politics
Reynolds and Means- 14[ Mark Reynolds and Eric Means Mark Reynolds is executive
director of Citizen's Climate Lobby, and Eric Means is a member of the Portland
chapter of Citizen's Climate, they are writes for the Oregonian
Lobby,7/20/14,Combat global warming by taxing carbon: Guest opinion, The
Oregonian, http://www. oregonlive.com /opinion/index.ssf /2014/07/combat_
global_warming_by _taxin.html] Thomas.
energy experts from the United States, China, and 13 other nations
released a report to the United Nations called "Pathways to Deep Decarbonization"
offering practical paths for transitioning their countries away from fossil fuels . This is
a response to the message relentlessly championed by the world's climate
scientists: Stop burning things that release greenhouse gases by transitioning
quickly to clean energy and low-carbon modes of transportation . If you have to burn stuff, capture
This month,
and store the carbon. Left unspecified is how to pay for this transition, but we have a suggestion. We'll get to that
shortly, but first let's recap the reasons we need to change the "business as usual" scenario. Earlier this spring, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report detailing the impact of climate change both
now and in the future. The phrase "wake-up call" has been used so often with regard to climate change that it has
lost all meaning. Nevertheless, the IPCC's previous report about impact was sobering: * Farmers may not be able
to grow enough food to feed a growing population. * Climate change will continue to increase the severity of
storms, droughts, floods and wildfires. * By century's end, sea-level rise could displace hundreds of millions of
people. * Reducing poverty will be much more difficult. * Food and water shortages, along with migrating
populations, will destabilize many nations. To avoid worst-case scenarios, the world's leading scientists tell us we
must contain the increase in warming to 2 degrees Celsius. The IPCC warns that on our current trajectory, we're
Staying under 2C
requires the world to remain within a "carbon budget" of one trillion tons of carbon
dioxide emitted since the Industrial Revolution began. More than half that budget has been spent,
looking at 4-5C warming, way beyond any ability our civilization has to manage or adapt.
and corporations and nations control reserves of fossil fuels amounting to five times the amount of CO2 we can
This is one budget we cannot afford to bust, yet we're on track to do just
that within two or three decades. Which brings us back to the report to the UN on how to do this. The
safely burn.
authors pull no punches, acknowledging each country's challenges to staying below 2C. But miracle technologies
None of this will
happen quickly enough, however, so long as fossil fuels remain the cheaper option.
Simple economics dictates that the market will gravitate toward the lowest cost. To
fix this problem, there's a simple solution: Tax carbon. If you're like most Americans, you're
are not required, and they emphasize that no nation's economy is torpedoed by their plans.
immediate reaction is to say "No way!" to any new tax. Suppress that impulse for a moment while we give you the
other part of the equation: Take the revenue from that carbon tax and refund it equally to all households. By giving
carbon tax revenue back to the public, individuals will have the extra income to offset additional energy costs
arising from the tax. Done this way, a carbon tax isn't about creating economic hardship, but instead correcting the
gives fossil fuels a competitive advantage. A number of

conservatives Mitt Romney economic adviser Greg Mankiw, Ronald Reagan Secretary of State George Shultz
embrace the revenue-neutral carbon tax as the best solution on climate change.
distortion in the marketplace that
Republicans in Congress currently balk at President Obama's efforts to cut carbon through new regulations. They
see it as an expansion of government, which they philosophically oppose, and are doing what they can to thwart
the president's initiative.
Chances of avoiding new regulations would improve, though, if
Congress presented Obama with the market-based solution of a carbon tax that
recycles revenue back into the economy. The new UN report tells us technology can bail us out of
certain climate catastrophe. To give it a fighting chance, let's tax carbon and refund all revenue to
households.
Politics Shield
Carbon tax would not be opposed by the GOP like a lot of other
warming initiatives - it generates too much money for the
economy
Matthews 2012 [Richard - consultant, green investor, and environmental
blogger, "A carbon tax is more viable than cap and trade", July 25,
http://globalwarmingisreal.com/2012/07/25/a-carbon-tax-is-more-viable-than-capand-trade/] ttate
The Breakthrough Institute estimates that a carbon tax of as little as $5 per ton
could result in $30 billion a year in the U.S. This could be used for R&D funding,
project development, and other clean-tech supports, including a potential rebate for
consumers initially hit with higher energy costs in some regions.
Business leaders like Microsoft founder Bill Gates is among those who support a carbon
tax. In 2010, Gates expressed his support for a tax over cap-and-trade, stating its ideal to have a carbon tax, not
just a price on carbon
It is clear that Republican opposition makes cap and trade a dead issue in the U.S.
for the foreseeable future. However, one prominent Republican claims that it is still
possible to introduce a carbon tax.
Shultz said that his party could eventually support a carbon tax . The
former Secretary of State for the Regan administration has called for a carbon tax to
reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and oil consumption . Shultz is the head of the Hoover
In July, George
Institutions Task Force on Energy Policy, which calls for boosting energy efficiency, reducing dependence on oil
exports to improve national security, and putting a price on carbon.
2NC Solvency Exts

A carbon tax is the most effective solution to decreasing
carbon emissions - it motivates the private sector
A solid rational for a carbon tax in the US comes from a recent book titled, The Case for a Carbon Tax, written by
a carbon tax is the most

effective mechanism to combat climate change and motivate the private sector
while raising much-needed revenue for governments. As reviewed by the Energy Collective,
Shi-Ling Hsu, a professor at the University of British Columbia. According to Hsu,
here are 10 reasons to support a U.S. carbon tax from Hsus book.
It is economically efficient. An accurate disincentive for using carbon-based fuels

could mimic the increment of damage the marginal damage caused by each
ton of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. The simple genius of a carbon
tax is that it aggregates disparate pieces of information, transmitting a price signal
at every stage in which there is fossil fuel usage . . . no data collection is required
and no model is required.
It avoids creating physical capital that could actually harm the environment e.g.
coal-fired power plants. The problem with capital is that once we have it, its high
cost makes it difficult to dispose of.
It doesnt interfere with other regulatory instruments or jurisdictions. A carbon tax
would have the advantage, because of its simplicity, of forming the strongest
foundation upon which other policies can stand.
Government is better at reducing bad actions than increasing good actions. Taxes
work better than subsidies.
Incentives for innovation price effects. It would impact emissions not only from
the largest carbon sources such as power plants and industrial facilities but all
carbon sources.
Incentives for innovation price breadth. It focuses new products and services no
matter how much money can be saved by using less electricity or electricity from a
different source, e.g. renewables.
It is easy to administer. There are no offsets as would be needed with a cap-andtrade program. Awarding an offset for a project that purports to avoid emissions increases rather than
actually reducing them is a tricky proposition.
International coordination is doable. An international accord based on a carbon tax scheme would avoid the
unfortunate appearance of China being allocated some cap amount by an external bureaucracy. It would not
represent . . . a binding limit to economic growth.
It raises badly needed revenue. There is a lot of money that could be raised from discouraging carbon emissions.
However, the less carbon emitted, the lower revenues would be.
It avoids the risk of catastrophe. In the long-run, this is the ultimate measure of
efficiency from a public welfare perspective.
A carbon tax may succeed where emissions trading schemes have failed because a
tax sends a clear and consistent message to the markets with little opportunity for
speculative manipulation.
Implementing a carbon tax is an effective way to combat global

warming - benefits the economy
Bailey- 13 [Ronald - award-winning science correspondent for Reason magazine and Reason.com,
He is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and the American Society for Bioethics and
Humanities., 1/16/2013, Can a Carbon Tax Solve Man-Made Global Warming?, reasons.com,
http://reason.com/archives/2013/01/16/should-the-us-adopt-a-carbon-tax-to-cont] Thomas.
Last week, the U.S. National Climate Data Center declared that
2012 was the warmest year on record for the lower 48
by a healthy margin
states
. In fact, 2012 was more than 3 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th century average and 1 degree
warmer than the previous record year of 1998. In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration flatly declared, in the draft version of its
National Climate Assessment report, Climate change is already affecting the American people and it is primarily driven by human activity. The
balance of the scientific evidence currently bears this out. So if it's true that man-made global warming will cause significant problems for humanity, what
should be done about it? Back in 1992, the Rio Earth Summit launched an international negotiation process under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) with the aim of preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. In 1998, that process
produced the Kyoto Protocol under which developed nations committed to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions (chiefly carbon dioxide) by an average
of 5 percent below the levels they emitted in 1990. The goal was to ration carbon dioxide emissions through an international cap-and-trade carbon
market. The United States subsequently refused to join the Kyoto Protocol and only the European Union set up a carbon-trading market. As the recent
The nations of the world are now

supposed to reach some kind of binding agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions by 2015 that
U.N. climate change conference in Doha made clear, the Kyoto Protocol has failed.
would go into effect by 2020. Since Kyoto Protocol-style cap-and-trade schemes have failed, what other policies might gain international acceptance? One
of the chief contenders is a system of carbon taxes. Before weighing the merits of the carbon tax idea, it's worth considering whether limits on
greenhouse gases (chiefly carbon dioxide) may be justified in the first place. In a persuasive 2009 article, Taking Property Rights Seriously: The Case of
Climate Change, Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan Adler argues that carbon dioxide emissions may be likened to common law
nuisances. Under common law, property owners are not permitted to use their property in ways that damage their neighbors property, e.g., you may not
the people who benefit from producing, selling,

and buying products and services that emit carbon dioxide should similarly be held
liable for the damages caused to their neighbors as a consequence of emissions-induced temperature increases. Such
build a pond that floods your neighbor's field. In Adler's view,
damages might include flooding from rising sea levels and more intense rain events or crop losses due to changes
in rain and temperature regimes. In other words, carbon
dioxide emissions generated

likely impose costs on people
in the production of
certain goods and services

, but those costs are not borne by the producers and consumers of those
goods and services and are thus not reflected in their prices. Such costs are often called externalities because they are outside the market processes that
would otherwise oblige producers and consumers to pay for them. Ideally, people could seek restitution in court for damages caused by emissions and the
damages paid would be reflected in the price consumers are charged. The trick is identifying those who are actually causing climate damage and those
who are being harmed by it. As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase argued in his seminal 1960 article, The Problem of Social Cost,[PDF]
assigning property rights solves this sort of puzzle by enabling people to settle the issue of liability and payment for damages. Notionally, in the case of
global warming, people would be assigned property rights to the atmosphere, leaving would-be polluters to negotiate payments with these owners for the
right to emit carbon dioxide. But as Coase acknowledged, sometimes the transactions costsmeaning the costs of identifying whos harmed, the amount
of the damages, and the costs of adjudicationwould simply to be too great to be practical. In the eyes of many people, it appears quite impractical to
assign property rights to the global atmosphere, even though externalities are clearly being imposed upon third parties. In such cases, the conventional
argument holds that government intervention is necessary to force market participants to take account of the damagesthe externalitiesthat they
getting the attention of both the

public and policymakers is a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. In his 1988 introduction to The Firm, the
impose on third parties. After the failure of the Kyoto Protocol, one such intervention
Market, and the Law, however, Coase countered this line of thinking. The ubiquitous nature of externalities suggests to me that there is a prima facie
case against intervention," he wrote, "and the studies on the effects of regulation which have been made in recent years in the United States, ranging
from agriculture to zoning, which indicate that regulation has commonly made matters worse, lend support to this view. So the question is: Would a
carbon tax make matters worse? Lets take a look. Most economists prefer a revenue-neutral carbon tax that would be imposed at the mine-head for
coal, the wellhead for natural gas, and at the refinery-gate for petroleum products. Revenue neutral means the tax would not increase government
revenues, but would replace other taxes. One often-heard proposal is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in taxes on labor (the payroll tax) and on capital (the
reducing taxes on labor and capital boosts economic

growth by encouraging people to work harder and invest more. Another plus is that carbon taxes would ideally displace top-down command-andcorporate income tax). One significant upside is that
control regulations such as the Environmental Protection Agencys new rules on electric power plant emissions and subsidies to wind, solar, and bioethanol
energy production. One big distributional concern, however, is that a carbon tax falls more heavily on the poor since they spend a higher proportion of
their incomes on energy-intensive goods and services than do the better off. One way to address the regressive distributional consequences is a tax-and-
American receives an equal share of the carbon taxes collected

that is deposited each month in their bank accounts. While this idea addresses the concern about the
dividend proposal in which every
regressive nature of carbon taxes, it lessens the incentives that offset taxes would provide for increased work and investment. In terms of mitigating
future climate change, a revenue neutral carbon tax would encourage producers and consumers to economize on energy produced by burning coal,
Boosting the price of fossil fuels aims to

enable actors in markets, not politicians and bureaucrats, to pick the least costly ways to cut emissions .
natural gas, and oil that produce climate-damaging carbon dioxide emissions.
Taxing carbon is also supposed to call forth innovation that would eventually create low-cost no-carbon sources of energy. This is precisely what the
European cap-and-trade carbon market was supposed to achieve. However, a 2011 report by the Swiss bank UBS found that the European Trading Scheme
had cost European consumers $277 billion for almost zero impact. This waste of money occurred because European countries issued far too many
carbon dioxide emissions permits so that their prices were too low to encourage investment in energy innovation. In order to avoid the European mess, the
folks over at Carbon Tax Center argue that a much higher carbon tax is needed. As an example, they point to a 2009 bill sponsored by Rep. John Larson (DConn.) which would impose an initial carbon tax of $15 per ton and then increase it every year by $10 t0 $15 per ton for the next 10 years. A carbon price
of $120 per ton would add about $1 to the price of a gallon of gasoline and 5 cents per kilowatt-hour to the retail price of electricity. It is likely that such a
high tax would result in significant carbon dioxide emissions reductions. But what might a U.S. carbon tax by itself achieve with regard to altering the
course of future man-made climate change? Not all that much, argues Chip Knappenberger, the assistant director of the Center for the Study of Science at
the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute. Knappenberger points out that the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects an
increase in global average temperature of about 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Assuming the projected trajectory of overall global emissions
by all countries, if the U.S. were somehow to completely eliminate all of its greenhouse gas emissions now that would reduce future warming by only 0.2
degree Celsius by 2100. In other words, the globe would warm by 2.8 degrees Celsius instead of by 3.0 degrees Celsius. So clearly if the projected
damages caused by future man-made warming are to be mitigated, most countries in the world would have to adopt a carbon tax. A globally harmonized
carbon tax would be collected and spent by each countrythere would be no international tax financing any international agency. An advantage of carbon
taxes is that they function much like tariffs, which are much more transparent than cap-and-trade schemes. In addition, countries that do tax carbon could
impose tariffs on goods imported from countries that dont so that their home producers are not disadvantaged by high energy prices. But is it really
feasible that most countries in the world would adopt a carbon tax?
Taxing carbon is one of the most simple and effective ways at

reducing carbon emissions
Kestenbaum-13 [David, Correspondent for NPR, NPR, Economists Have A OnePage Solution To Climate Change, 6/28/13,
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/06/28/196355493/economists-have-a-onepage-solution-to-climate-change]MP
Climate change seems like this complicated problem with a million pieces. But
Henry Jacoby, an economist at MIT's business school, says there's really just one
thing you need to do to solve the problem: Tax carbon emissions. "If you let the
economists write the legislation," Jacoby says, "it could be quite simple." He says he
could fit the whole bill on one page . Basically, Jacoby would tax fossil fuels in proportion to
the amount of carbon they release. That would make coal, oil and natural gas more
expensive. That's it; that's the whole plan. Jacoby's colleague John Reilly told me the price of gasoline might rise by 25
cents a gallon in the first year. Over time, that would increase. By 2050, Reilly figures the carbon tax would add about $1 to the
This would
encourage people and businesses to be more efficient. This is why economists love
a carbon tax: One change to the tax code and the entire economy shifts to reduce
carbon emissions. No complicated regulations. No rules for what kind of gas mileage
cars have to get or what specific fraction of electricity has to come from wind or
solar or renewables. That's by and large the way we do it now . Reilly says the current web of
price of every gallon. Across the economy, prices of energy-intensive goods and services would rise.
rules is a more complicated and more expensive way of getting the same outcome as a carbon tax. The current system "pretty
much is one of the worst ways we could do it," he says. As with any fix for climate change, a carbon tax would hit some people
harder than others. People with long commutes would pay more. People who work in coal mines could lose their jobs. But here is
If you do it right, he says,

carbon tax can be nearly painless for the economy as a whole . Besides reducing carbon
where Reilly brings up what is perhaps the most surprising thing about a carbon tax:
emissions, a carbon tax brings in a bunch of money it's a tax after all. So, Reilly says, you can reduce, say, income tax to balance
out the new taxes people are paying for carbon emissions. People pay more for gas, but they get to keep more of their income. I
a bunch of economists about this, and they said the basic idea was sound:
If you give the carbon-tax money back by cutting income taxes, you can probably
offset a lot of the pain. President Obama has indicated he would support a marketbased solution to climate change. But a carbon tax would, of course, require an act of Congress. And right now,
called around and talked to
that seems unlikely.
Carbon Taxes is a simple system that solves warming and helps economy.
Blum- 14[Jordan Blum covers energy for the Houston Business Journal. writer for
Houston Business Journal, 2/20/14, The conservative case for a carbon tax, Houston
Business Journal, http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2014/02/theconservative-case-for-a-carbon-tax.html] Thomas
Congressman
Bob Inglis is on a crusade to prove that an environmentally friendly and revenueneutral cost on emissions is grounded in "bedrock conservative values." Inglis, a 12-year South Carolina
congressman, is calling for an "income tax-cutting, EPA-shrinking, China-in carbon tax" that he
contends would be offset with payroll or income tax cuts and lead to the elimination of some
The phrase "carbon tax" is considered a dirty word in most GOP circles. But former Republican
Environmental Protection Agency regulations. Taxing imports from nations without similar carbon taxes would
make it in the best interest of major polluters such as China to follow the lead as well, Inglis said. Inglis founded
the Energy and Enterprise Initiative, based at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., in 2012. He is speaking
Thursday at the University of Houston's on-campus Hilton in an ongoing effort to reach out to young conservatives.
A carbon tax
would impose fees on emissions of carbon dioxide, which is the most common
manmade greenhouse gas. "It's the creation of an environmental right," Inglis said, adding that it is
"biblically accountable." . The lower 70 percent of income earners will financially benefit
from the plan, Inglis said, because of the tax cuts involved in the proposal. The tax cuts will more than offset
He also has events this week at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University.
for most the estimated 25 cents per gallon increases on gasoline and some small hikes on utility costs, he said.
"Conservatives need to lead this," Inglis said, and move away from "science denial." If not, some Democrats will
continue to push for the "grow-the-government kind of carbon tax," he said, which is "regressive" and punishes
consumers with added costs passed onto them. "What we have here is a challenge getting through the heart and
into the head," Inglis said of his plan. "If we get into the head, it makes sense." But Inglis failed to get "into the
head" of enough South Carolina Republicans in 2010 after the tea party movement turned against him and he was
defeated in the GOP primary by now-Congressman Trey Gowdy. While there were other issues on which Inglis was
attacked, he said the carbon tax was his perceived "biggest heresy" with the tea party. But he argued that
the
plan is gaining steam. He cited tentative support for a general carbon tax from Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:
XOM) Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson, who has said a carbon tax is preferred as a more simple
and transparent system instead of the cap-and-trade approach. A cap-and-trade system would set up
limits on emissions for individual companies. Cap-and-trade involves a market for firms to buy and sell pollution
allowances based on whether they were above or below their caps. While imposing a revenue-neutral carbon tax is
not politically feasible in Congress right now, Inglis said, he expressed optimism that it could happen within three
years with enough Wall Street market pressures to reach some kind of grand bargain on the issue. "When New York
is calling Washington, things happen," he said. A carbon tax would eliminate existing "market distortions," Inglis
said, and lead to energy advances through innovation instead of subsidies. He compared the tax to companies
being charged to dump waste in landfills. "That should be the case with the air as well," he said. Inglis is speaking
at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Hilton's University of Houston Waldorf-Astoria Ballroom. The talk, co-sponsored by the UH
Energy and the Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Center at UH Law Center, will be followed by a questionand-answer session. The event is free and open to the public.
2NC Solvency Exts - Canada proves

Canada proves that carbon taxes can successfully reduce
carbon emissions
According to a new report released in June, the Canadian province of British Columbia
introduced a carbon tax that has successfully reduced fossil fuel consumption to the
lowest in Canada with little economic damage . The study titled British Columbias Carbon Tax
Shift, produced by the Ottawa-based think-tank Sustainable Prosperity, offers clear evidence that the
tax has helped reduce emissions while producing tangible economic benefits .
Economist and Sustainable Prosperity senior director Alex Wood said as a
consequence of the carbon tax, youre starting to see in B.C. a separation between
economic growth and fossil fuel use. That decoupling, he added, would lead to a
more resilient economy insulated from oil price shocks.
The B.C. model is simple, its elegant; its a lot of different things, said Wood. You
reduce taxes on income, on corporate income, and you promise to be revenue
neutral and you make sure that happens.
Aff Answers - Carbon Tax

Unilateral carbon tax will not solve warming - it only solves a
small fraction of US carbon emission, which is only a small
fraction of global emissions
Knappenberger 2012 [Chip - assistant director for the Study of Science @ Cato,
"A U.S. Carbon Tax Wouldn't Slow Down Climate Change", Cato Institute
Commentary, December 10, http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/uscarbon-tax-wouldnt-slow-down-global-climate-change] ttate
A carbon tax will not achieve the goal of substantially mitigating global climate
change.
There is one, and only one, reason for instituting a carbon tax: to attempt to mitigate the impacts of climate change
about the only thing that a

carbon tax in the United States will not do is mitigate global climate change in any
meaningfulscientifically, or otherwisemanner.
induced by humankinds use of fossil fuels for the production of energy. And
Why? Because, based on mainstream estimates, of the approximately 3C of global warming that is being projected
the
U.S. contribution will only be about 0.2C, or about 7 percent of the total warming. And this
is assuming that no carbon tax is put in place. Carbon dioxide emissions from the rest of the
worldprimarily driven by rapid emissions growth in developing countries like China and India will be
responsible for the other 93 percent of temperature rise.
to occur between now and the end of the century as a result of anthropogenic carbon (dioxide) emissions,
The best that any carbon tax in the United States could ever hope to achieve would
be to reduce the amount of global warming across the 21st century from about
3.0C down to about 2.8C. And that tiny, inconsequential reduction would only
occur if all greenhouse gas emissions from the United States were halted forever,
starting tomorrow, which isnt the plan.
The emissions reductions under any sort of carbon tax will be realized slowly,
reducing the magnitude of the global temperature rise that the tax would avert . For
example, a carbon tax designed to smoothly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from their current level to zero
by the year 2100 would result in only about 0.1C of global temperature savingsan amount, on its own, not
worth pursuing.
Any perceived utility of a carbon tax does not lie in domestic reductions, but in the
hope that it will spur technological innovations for cheap, reliable, nondangerous, environmentally
friendly, zero-emissions energy production which would then be freely shared with, and quickly adopted by, the rest
of the world.
That seems wishful thinking on the time scales that matter.
Carbon Tax Empirically Fails-Australias Attempt Proves

Knox 13 [Robin, Heartland's Administrator of Foundation Support, The Heartland
Institute, Australia May End Its Failed Carbon Tax, 9/12/13,
http://heartland.org/policy-documents/leaflet-australia-may-end-its-failed-carbontax] MP
Australian electorate replaced its labor party with a conservative coalition vowing
to end the nations unpopular carbon tax, which has burdened the economy for
more than a year. The Institute for Energy Research reports the tax has increased electricity
On September 8, the
prices by 15 percent, raised taxes on 2.2 million Australians, and even exacerbated
the countrys budget problem by slowing economic growth. The carbon tax also
has failed to accomplish its stated goal of reducing carbon emissions. Although the
Australians may be moving toward abandoning their carbon tax, Americans could
soon face their own $100 billion national version. The state of Massachusetts is also considering
becoming the first state to implement a carbon tax. A poll by the Tarrance Group found that 50 percent of voters
are less likely to re-elect their member of Congress if they support a carbon tax, while only 33 percent of voters are
more likely to vote for them again. Last year, Heartlands Taylor Smith warned of the dangers of potential carbon
if the federal government wants to

reduce carbon emissions, it should allow the private sector to develop the countrys
abundant natural gas reserves. Doing so also would produce tremendous economic
benefits for the economy, as opposed to the economic regression that would follow
a carbon tax. Even if a carbon tax were to succeed in its goal of reducing carbon
dioxide emissions, the tax would not be beneficial . Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland
Institute, explains, Carbon dioxide is not a negative externality , it is a measure of energy use, and
tax implementation in the United States. He pointed out that
energy as Julian Simon and others have pointed out is the master resource, the single most important input
into our economy, the source of prosperity, innovation, and opportunity. Consumers and workers would bear the
carbon tax, as it would drive up the cost of energy and other necessary
goods and push manufacturing jobs overseas. The focus should be on encouraging more energy
brunt of a
development by opening more federal lands to development, opposing moratoria and other regulations on hydraulic
fracturing, and eliminating costly renewable portfolio standards. This weeks edition of The Leaflet features research
and commentary addressing the social cost of carbon dioxide, banning Internet access taxes, financial transaction
taxes, food stamps, higher education, and Obamacares effect on the workforce.
Carbon taxes devastate the economy

IER- no date [ nstitute for Energy Research (IER) is a not-for-profit organization that
conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations, and
government regulation of global energy markets. ,IER has earned a solid reputation
for its scholarly approach to energy analysis and free-market energy and
environmental policy. , no date,Carbon Taxes: Reducing Economic Growth
Achieving No Environmental Improvement, STUDIES AND DATA, http:// institute for
energy research .org/studies/carbon-tax-primer/] Thomas
Energy makes modern society possible. It lights the night, heats our homes, powers our
Energy
amplifies our ability to do work. Machines help autoworkers assemble cars, power tools help
entertainment, and most importantly, it helps us conserve the ultimate non-renewable resourcetime.
construction workers build our homes, gasoline-powered automobiles help us take care of our families, diesel-power
trucks distribute fresh produce across the country, and electricity-powered computers give us unprecedented
But the energy that supplies 85 percent of our needs coal, oil, and
under attack. Politicians and special interest groups are proposing various
methods to tax these abundant and reliable sources of energy. The newest attack
on oil, natural gas, and coal are proposals to tax carbon dioxide emission s. Noted economist Art
access to information.
natural gasare
Laffer and current U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) argued in favor of a carbon tax in a New York Times[1] op-ed. Author,
commentator, and syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer made his case for a large increase in the gas tax in
the Weekly Standard .[2] And Fred Smith, the CEO of FedEx, has publicly declared his support for a tax on carbon
dioxide emissions. The arguments boil down to the assertion that carbon taxes are favorable because they are
better than cap and trade schemes. This is correct, but it does not mean that we should implement carbon taxes.
Carbon tax implementation would run into many of the same problems that have
plagued cap and trade. Politicians cannot resist new opportunities to raise tax
revenues and dole out our dollars to favored constituencies , especially when the revenues
Carbon taxes might hold some allure, but ultimately they

are economically destructive. Neither carbon tax nor cap and trade is good for American
consumers.
range from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars.
(GOOD)Climate Advantage CP
#2
1NC - Nuclear Energy CP Text

Counterplan: The United States federal government should
increase its development of offshore nuclear energy plants.
Offshore nuclear power plants are way safer and can avoid
disasters that terrestrial power plants cant
Kastrenakes14 [Jacob Kastrenakes-Staff writer for The Verge and has been working there for almost over 2
years. 4/16/14. The Verge. Floating nuclear power plants could avoid disasters like Fukushima.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/16/5620916/mit-floating-power-plant-concept-could-avoid-disasters
Accesed 6/4/14]
Researchers have an idea for how future nuclear reactors can avoid the trauma
that led to the 2011 disaster at Fukushima: by building new plants five to seven
miles out into the ocean. "This affords some absolutely crucial advantages," Jacopo Buongiorno, a
professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, which led the research, explains in a video presenting
the idea. In particular, Buongiorno says that this distance into the ocean will remove
the risk of tsunamis, which won't throw big waves in such deep water, and of
earthquakes, the seismic waves of which will be damped by the ocean.
Those advantages would theoretically allow nuclear plants to avoid what
happened at Fukushima, which was unable to cool its reactors after being struck
by an earthquake and tsunami. MIT believes that the design could be expanded to
any size of nuclear plant, and that it's a logical location since these plants are
frequently placed beside large bodies of water anyway. These plants would be constructed
at a shipyard and then towed to their location offshore. They would be moored to the seafloor, and an
underwater cable would transmit electricity back to land. A living quarters for employees would even be
placed on the top floor of the plant.
Nuclear power key lowers risk of nuclear war and solves

climate change
Biello 13 [David Biello, covering energy and the environment for nearly a decade,
the last four years as an associate editor at Scientific American; How Nuclear
Power Can Stop Global Warming, Scientific American; Published 12 December 2013
@ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-nuclear-power-can-stop-globalwarming/] Tusnial
When the Atlantic Navigator docked in Baltimore harbor earlier this month, the freighter carried the last remnants of
some of the nuclear weapons that the Soviet Union had brandished in the cold war. During the past 20 years more
19,000 Russian warheads have been dismantled and processed to make fuel for
U.S. nuclear reactors. In fact, during that period more than half the uranium fuel that
powered the more than 100 reactors in the U.S. came from such reprocessed nuclear
weapons. In addition to reducing the risk of nuclear war, U.S. reactors have also
been staving off another global challenge: climate change. The low-carbon electricity produced
by such reactors provides 20 percent of the nation's power and, by the estimates of climate scientist
James Hansen of Columbia University, avoided 64 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution. They also
avoided spewing soot and other air pollution like coal-fired power plants do and thus have saved
some 1.8 million lives. And that's why Hansen, among others, such as former Secretary of Energy
Steven Chu, thinks that nuclear power is a key energy technology to fend off
than
catastrophic climate change. "We can't burn all these fossil fuels," Hansen told a group of reporters on
December 3, noting that as long as fossil fuels are the cheapest energy source they will
continue to be burned. "Coal is almost half the [global] emissions . If you replace
these power plants with modern, safe nuclear reactors you could do a lot of [pollution
reduction] quickly." Indeed, he has evidence: the speediest drop in greenhouse gas
pollution on record occurred in France in the 1970s and 80s , when that country
transitioned from burning fossil fuels to nuclear fission for electricity , lowering its
greenhouse emissions by roughly 2 percent per year. The world needs to drop its global warming
pollution by 6 percent annually to avoid "dangerous" climate change in the estimation of
Hansen and his co-authors in a recent paper in PLoS One. " On a global scale, it's hard to see how we
could conceivably accomplish this without nuclear," added economist and co-author Jeffrey Sachs,
director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, where Hansen works.
2NC Uniqueness
Lack of Nuclear Power Plants now
EIA 13
[US Energy Information Administration- Official energy data system of the United States Federal
Government. No date. EIA. How many nuclear power plants are in the U.S. and where are they located?
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=207&t=3 Accessed 5/28/14]
There are currently 62 commercially operating nuclear power plants with 100
nuclear reactors in 31 states in the United States. Thirty-five of these plants have two or more reactors. The
Palo Verde plant in Arizona has 3 reactors and had the largest combined net summer generating capacity of
3,937 megawatts (MW) in 2012. Fort Calhoun in Nebraska with a single reactor had the smallest net summer
capacity at 479 megawatts (MW) in 2012.
Four reactors were taken out of service in 2013: the Crystal River plant in Florida with
one reactor in February, the Kewaunee plant in Wisconsin with one reactor in April, and the San Onofre plant
in Californiawith two reactors in June.
Lack of investment in the nuclear power industry

Wingfield et al 13 [Brian Winfield-Staff writer for Bloomberg News, Mark Chediak-Staff writer for
Bloomberg News, Julie Johnsson-Staff writer for Bloomberg News. 7/10/13. Bloomberg News. San Onofre
Seen as Latest Setback for US Nuclear Power. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-10/san-onofreseen-as-latest-setback-for-u-s-nuclear-power.html Accesed: 5/21/14]]
Edison, based in Rosemead, California, announced June 7 it will permanently shut the plants two reactors,
total U.S. operating units to 100 from 104 at the beginning of the
year and 110 at the peak in 1996. The announcement brings to four the
number of units permanently removed from service this year, the most in
any year since the nation embraced nuclear power.
trimming
Nationwide, nuclear power reached a peak in 2001 when it generated 20.6 percent of all U.S. electricity.
Last year, its share fell to 19 percent, the lowest since 1998, according to
the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
2NC Solvency Sustainable

Nuclear power good sustainable and acceptable
Fiore 6 [Karine Fiore, European Expert at SEAC (Socio-Economic Analysis
Committee) chez ECHA, Economist - REACH Regulation - Projects Manager chez
ANSES; Nuclear energy and sustainability: Understanding ITER; ELSEVIER;
Published November 2006 @
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421505001916] Tusnial
environmental requirements combined with the growing scarcity of
fossil resources and the increasing world energy demand lead to a renewal of the
debate on tomorrow's energies. Specifically, nuclear energy, which has undeniable assets, faces
new constraints. On the one hand, nuclear energy is very competitive and harmless to greenhouse
effect. From this point, it seems to be an ideal candidate to reach future objectives of
sustainability, availability and acceptability.
Deregulation and new
2NC Solvency Warming

Nuclear power solves warming reduces greenhouse gases
NET 4 [Nuclear Energy for Texans, a coalition supporting clean, safe, reliable
electricity production; How Does Nuclear Energy Help Slow Global Warming?;
Published 1 January 2004 @
http://www.nuclearenergyfortexans.org/global_warming.php] Tusnial
Nuclear energy is a key tool in reducing greenhouse gases . Nuclear power plants
generate electricity for one in five homes and businesses in the United States
without producing or emitting any greenhouse gases , including carbon dioxide. Nuclear power
plants generate 73 percent of all carbon-free electricity in America. Life-cycle emissions from nuclear energy are
Carbon dioxide
is widely believed to be one of the main causes of global warming . Carbon dioxide is a
greenhouse gas that is emitted by human activity, including the use of fossil fuels . The
Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 85 percent of U .S. greenhouse gas
emissions are carbon dioxide. The volume of greenhouse gas emissions prevented
at the nations 104 nuclear units is equivalent to taking 96 percent of all passenger
cars off Americas highways for one year. By using nuclear power instead of fossil fuel-based plants,
the U.S. nuclear energy industry prevented 681.99 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2005.
comparable to other non-emitting sources of electricity, such as solar, wind and hydropower.
Voluntary efforts by U.S. industry and international emission reduction efforts such as the Kyoto Protocol would be
hampered significantly if nuclear power production did not increase. These efforts would be nearly impossible if
nuclear power were eliminated. For example, building renewable energy sourceswind, solar and hydroelectric to
replace the 20 percent of U.S. energy produced by nuclear power plants would have
no impact on the nations greenhouse gas emissions . With the escalating demand
for electricity, it is estimated that just to maintain the current electrical supply mix, an additional 50 new
nuclear reactors will have to be constructed to meet future electricity demands.
Nuclear power uniquely key to solve climate change

renewable tech doesnt solve
Menyah and Wolde-Rufael 10 [Kojo Menyah, Co-Founder and Director, Jamen
Consultancy Limited; CO2 emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy and
economic growth in the US; Energy Policy @ ELSEVIER; Accepted 14 January 2010
@ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421510000303] Tusnial
This study explores the relationship between
CO2) emissions, renewable and
nuclear energy consumption and real GDP for the US
we found
causality running from nuclear energy consumption to CO2
emissions
but no causality running from renewable energy to CO2 emissions.
The
evidence seems to suggest that nuclear energy consumption can help to
mitigate CO2 emissions, but renewable energy consumption has not reached a
level where it can make a significant contribution to emissions reduction
causal
carbon dioxide (
for the period 19602007. Using a modified version of the Granger causality test,
a unidirectional
without feedback
econometric
so far,
.supplies. improving energy
security. and as a means of providing a low-carbon energy alternative to fossil fuels (International Energy Agency, IEA. 2008; Mamantiades and Kessides, 2009: Walde- Rufael. 20l0). Unlike in the past. there are now some concrete
proposals within the US to build new nuclear energy plants. and the prospects of expanding renewable energy are also looking more viable than assumed earlier (Paltsev et al., 2009). It is daimed that the operation of nuclear plants
worldwide makes a significant contribution to the mitigation of GHC emissions where currently nuclear plants save some 102 of CO2 emissions from world energy use (Adamantiades and Kessides. 2(X)9). According to the Nuclear
Energy Agency (2002). over the past 40 years nuclear power plants have already played a major role in lowering the amount of yeenhouse gases produced by the electricity sector in OECD countries. It is further claimed that without
nuclear power. the OECD power plant emissions of carbon dioxide would have been about one-third higher than they are at present. Fstimates made by the Nuclear Energy Agency (2002) also suggest that nuclear plants save
annually some 1200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. or about 10% of total CO2 emissions from energy use in OECD countries. Moreover. the European Union (2006) also believes that firrope would not have been able to make any
significant impact on reducing CO2 emissions without relying on nuclear energy. However. sceptics warn that while the combination of several factors mentioned above makes nuclear energy a creditable altemative source of energy
and one of the potential panaceas for greenhouse gas reduction. its enormous risks are also equally substantial (Toth and Rogner, 2006: Elliot. 2007. Ferguson. 2007: World Energy Council. 2007: Squassoni. 2009: Adarnantiades and
Kessides. 2009: Wolde-Rufael. 2010). While there have been numerous studies that have investigated the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. and between energy consumption and pollutant
emissions |(see. Dinda. 2004: Chontanawat et al.. 2008: Payne. 20l0a.b: Ozturk. 2010: Aslanidis and lranzo. 2009)]. to the knowledge of the present authors. there seems to be no empirical research that has attempted to test the
causal relationship between nuclear energy consumption. renewable energy and CO2 emissions using modern advances in time series econometrics of integration and causality. Thus. the importance of nuclear and renewable
energy supplies as potential sources of mitigating greenhouse gases emission necessitates a research that investigates the causal link between these two energy sources and C0-. emissions. The aim of this paper is to investigate the
causal link between nuclear energy consumption. renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions for the US for the period 1960-2007. The US is chosen for the following few reasons. In the first place. both renewable and nuclear
energies consumption account for a significant portion of the overall primary energy consumption in the US accounting for almost 162 of the overall energy consumption in 2M8. with nuclear energy consumption accounting for
8.5% and renewable energy consumption accounting for 7.3% in 2(K)8. Secondly. the US is the single largest emitter of C02 (soon China will overtake) and the chances for achieving any meaningful global agreement on climate
changes critically depends on the US (Decanio. 2009). 'l1rirdly. the dependence of the US on fuel consumption and its contribution to climate change due to emissions of greenhouse gases has been an important energy and
environmental issue confronting the country (Payne. 2009). The alleged cost to the economy has been preventing the US from ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and also has made her hesitant from making economic sacrifices to combat
CO, emissions. Fourthly. the US has developed a nuclear regulation and supervision system believed to be the most elaborate and demanding. which can set an example for the rest of the world to follow (Adamantiades and Kessides.
2009). The rest of the paper is organised as follows: in Section 2 we present the data and methodology followed in Section 3 by the empirical evidence. Summary and concluding remarks are presented in Section 4. 2. Dan and
methodology The empirical evidence presented in this paper is carried out using the Toda and Yamamoto (1995. here after TY) version of the Granger non-causality test. This approach fits a standard vector auto-regression model on
levels of the variables (not on their first differences) that give allowances for the long-mn infonnation often ignored in systems that require first differencing and pre- whitening (Clarke and Mirza. 2006: Rambaldi and Doran. 2006).
The TY procedure employs a modified Wald test (MWALD) for restriction on the parameters of the VAR (k) where k is the lag length of the system. The basic idea of the 'D! approach is to artificially augment the correct order. k. by the
maximal order of integration. say dam. Once this is done. a (k +d,,,.,.)th order of VAR is estimated and the coefficients of the last lagged dm, vectors are ignored (see Caporale and Pittis (1999)). As we are more interested in the
relationship between CO1 emissions. nuclear energy consumption and renewable energy consumption. the equations conesponding to each of these dependent variables are presented below. Where In C, is the log of CO2 emissions
(measured in kt of oil equivalent). In R, is the log renewable energy consumption (measured in billion Btu): In N, is the log nuclear energy consumption (measured in billion of Btu) and In Y, is the log of real GDP (proxy for economic
growth). All data are annual for 1960-2007. Real GDP at 2000 constant prices and CO2 emissions are taken from the World Bank. World Development Indicators. 2008. Nuclear energy consumption and renewable energy consumption are from the online database of the US Energy Information Administration. Following Apergis and Payne (2010) and Sadorsky (2009). renewable energy consumption includes net geothemial. solar. wind. and wood and
waste electric power consumption (Energy Information Administration. 2009a. 2009b). We include real GDP because both real GDP and CO2 emissions are found to be important drivers of renewable energy consumption (Sadorsky.
2009: Apergis and Payne. 2010). Per-capita income is also the most important detenninant of C0, emissions. There is also evidence of a bi-directional causality between nuclear energy consumption and economic growth (Apergis and
Payne. in press). From (1). nuclear energy consumption (In N!) Granger causes CO2 emissions (In C.) if [In a6 Ova while Granger causality l'rom renewable energy consumption (In R:) to CO2 emissions (ln G) implies vu vE0V.'.
Similarly. in (2) C0; emissions (In C.) Granger causes nuclear energy consumption (In N,) if 6..-16 (N. while renewable energy consumption (In R.) Granger causes nuclear energy consumption (In N.) implies 11.; as 0v.~. In (3) CO1
emissions (In C.) Granger causes renewable energy consumption (In R.) if 0.; ;e 0\!.- while nuclear energy consumption (In N.) Granger causes renewable energy consumption (In R,) implies cpu ae 0V~.-. 3. Empirical evidence Before
conducting any causality testing it is important to detennine the order of integration of the series (dmax) and the optimal lag length It |in Eqs. (I)-(3)|. in order to avoid any spurious causality or spurious absence of causality (Clarke
and Mirza. 2006). Using several unit root tests. we found that all series were I(l)|results available from the authors]. In selecting the optimal lag length. we followed Llltkepohl's (l993:306) procedure where he suggests linking the lag
length (mlqg) and number of endogenous variables in the system (In) to the sample size (1') according to the fonnula mtmlqg-1"" (Konya, 2004). Following Hatemi-J and lrandoust (2000) a combination of AIC. Schwar2's Bayesian
criterion (SBC). likelihood ratio (LR) test. and diagnostic testing are used to select the number of lags required in each case. If two different orders of lags are obtained by the AIC and the SBC criteria. we applied the LR test to choose
one of these two orders of lags (Pesaran and Pesaran. I997). We then checked to see whether the chosen lag order passes some diagnostic tests. If not. we increased the order of lag successively until the diagnostic tests showed
better results when we tested the reliability of our models by applying a number of diagnostic tests. including tests of autocorrelation. normality and hetroscedasticity. In general. we found no evidence of serious violation of all the
above tests. Table I nresents results of selecting the optimal lag length. Results of Granger causality test are presented in Table 2. The table shows that there was a unidirectional Granger causality running from nuclear energy
consumption to C0, emissions without feedbadc. The coelficients of the lagged nuclear energy consumption variable were negative implying that nuclear energy consumption helps to reduce C0; emission. In contrast. we found no
causality nmning from renewable energy consumption to CO1 emissions but we found the opposite unidirectional causality running from CO2 emissions to renewable energy consumption. Unlike nuclear energy consumption. the
evidence seems to indicate that renewable energy consumption did not help in mitigating CO2 emissions. Whilst it is beyond the scope of this paper to fully explore the possible causes for the lack of causality between renewable
energy consumption and C0; emissions. it is possible to suggest a number of factors that may have contributed to this. In the first place. the share of renewable energy consumption in total energy consumption has not increased
much: it only increased marginally from 6.5% in I960 to 7.3% in 2008 (see Energy Information Administration. 2009a. 2009b. p. 37). In contrast. the share of nuclear energy in total energy consumption increased from 0.012 in 1960
to 8.32 in 21118. Several factors caused renewable energy markets to stagnate. including a long period of electric power sector restructuring. repeal of federal and state incentives (Martinot et al.. 2005). In addition. large nuclear
plants that had experienced long delays finally came into operation. At the same time. natural gas prices dropped dramatically. making renewable energy less attractive when compared to natural gas-fueled generation (Martinot et
al.. 2005). These factors contributed to public concern over the availability and price of fossil fuels to wane. as did many of the policies that historically advanced renewable energy technologies (Wiser et al.. 2000). To aggravate the
problem further. in the 1990s most of the favorable state and federal tax incentives were rescinded while at the same time government funding for renewable energy R&D. which peaked in 1981 began to decline significantly (Dooley.
2008). The US invested less on renewable energy R&D compared to other advanced countries such as japan. As a result. the United States. once the world leader in renewable energy technologies and generation. now lags behind
Europe and japan in many respects (Martino: et al.. 2005: Nemet and Kammen. 2007: The Times. 2009). As a result. US renewable energy development came to a standstill in the early 1990s. Furthermore. th pace and the form of
the national electricity industry refonn also contributed to the stagnating domestic renewable market. At the national level. the fate of national renewable energy policy was uncertain. Primarily. domestic renewable energy
development has been motivated in part by state renewable energy policies (Sovacool and Cooper. 2008). State policies have become all the more important for renewable energy but as many have argued. without a strong and
dedicated national renewable energy policy the domestic renewable energy market may not flourish. There were no national policies towards renewable energy that were suicient to produce meaningful long-tenn results. The
lack of action by the federal government has led some state and local governments to fill this void with a variety of policy approaches (Engle and Orbach. 2008: Sovacool and Cooper. 2008). Unlike its European counterparts. where.
feed-in tariff policies have driven rapid renewable energy growth for electricity. such a policy has not been widely adopted in North America in the past and many critics point out that Congress did not have the foresight to implement
aggressive There is also evidence to suggest that the US has not reached the threshold point where renewable energy supply starts to mitigate CO2 emissions. According to Chiu and Chang (2009). renewable energy supply has to
account for 8.392 of the total energy supply before it starts to make any impact on mitigating CO2 emissions. Estimates made by the Energy lnfomiation Administra- tion (2009a. 2009b. p. 37) shows tlut renewable energy accounted
for only 73% of the total primary energy consumption in 2008. This may suggest that the threshold required for renewable energy to make an impact on C0, emissions reduction has not been reached. Table 2 also indicates that there
was also a bi-directional causality ntnning between GDP and CO2 emissions. This implies that it may not be possible to reduce CO2 emissions without sacrificing economic growth. This result may give credence to those who support
the view that combating global warming would be a burden for the US national economy. Our finding contrasts with the no causality found by Soytas et al.. (2007) between CO2 emissions and GDP in the US. In relation to nuclear
energy consumption and economic growth. we found no causality running in any direction between nuclear energy consumption and GDP. This is consistent with the findings of Payne and Taylor (in press) but contrary to Apergis and
Payne (in press) and Wolde-Rufael and Menyah (forthcoming) who found a bi-directional causality between nuclear energy consumption and economic growth for a panel of sixteen countries. However. unlike the no causality found
by Bowden and Payne (forthcoming) between GDP and renewable energy consumption. we found a unidirectional causality running from GDP to renewable energy consumption. Our results are however in line with Sadorsky (2009)
who found real income to be an important driver of renewable energy consumption in G-7 countries. Our results are. however. not in line with Aperys and Payne (in press) who found a bi-directional causality between renewable
energy constunption and economic growth in a panel of OECD countries. We also found a unidirectional causality mnning from renewable energy consumption to nuclear energy consumption. The causality test presented above
indicates only Granger causality within the sample period and does not allow us to gauge the relative strength of the Granger causality among the series beyond the sample period (Payne. 2002: Shan. 2005). Thus. to complement
the above causality test. we applied the generalized impulse response approach proposed by Pesaran and Shin (1998) that does not require orthogonalization of shocks and is invariant to the ordering of the variables in the VAR
(Payne. 2002). Hence. we decomposed the forecast error variance of CO2 emissions into proportions attributed to shocks in all variables in the system including itself by estimating the non-augmented VAR (k lags only). By doing so.
we can provide an indication of the Granger causality test beyond the sample period. As can be seen from Table 3. the forecast error variance of nuclear energy consumption explains more than 18% of the forecast error variance of
CO2 emissions. Similarly. the forecast error variance of renewable energy consumption explains more than 19% of the forecast error variance of CO2 emissions. In contrast. the forecast error variance of GDP explains not more than
7% of the forecast error variance of CO; emissions. As can be seen from Table 3. renewable energy consumption explains around 'I9! of the forecast error variance of nuclear energy consumption. On the other hand. nuclear energy
consumption explains around 25% of the forecast error variance of renewable energy consumption. This may suggest that there is a bi- directional causality between nuclear energy consumption and renewable energy consumption.
What does this mean in policy tenns? As can be seen from Table 3. GDP does not seem to contribute much either to the forecast error variance of nuclear energy consumption or to renewable energy consumption. 4. Concluding
The environmental challenge facing many countries

is how to balance
energy supplies in order to produce more secure and cheap energy and at the same.
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
The empirical evidence indicates a unidirectional
causality running from nuclear energy consumption to CO2 emission without
feedback implying that nuclear energy consumption can help to reduce CO2
emissions. In contrast. we found no causality running from renewable energy
consumption to emissions but we found a unidirectional causality running from
CO2 emissions to renewable energy consumption. The evidence seems to indicate
that the US can reduce its CO2 emissions by increasing nuclear energy
consumption. The concrete proposals to build more nuclear plants may be justified
not only to increase energy supply and energy security. but also to increase the
capacity of the US to reduce CO2 emissions.
remarks
including the US
sectoral
(CHG). By applying Granger causality test for the US for the period 1960-2007. this paper tested the hypothesis that nuclear
energy consumption and renewable energy consumption help to reduce CO2 emissions.
negative
CO1
Future research should investigate the experience of other countries individually and collectivelv through
panel cointezration analvsis.
Nuclear power key to solve carbon emissions alternative

energy cant solve in the near future
Ardon 2 [Michael Ardon, professor emeritus of inorganic chemistry @ Hebrew
University, Jerusalem; Nuclear Energy, The Only Practical Response; Science;
Published in response to paper by Oppenheimer and ONeill 29 July 2002 @
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/296/5575/1971/reply] Tusnial
O'Neill and Oppenheimer's excellent review of the dangers of global warming and the
need to reduce burning of fossil fuels does not recommend practical ways to achieve short
and intermediate reduction in fossil fuel burning . I believe that the only practical means
to achieve this goal is by nuclear energy. Most of the polution by carbon dioxide
emission takes place in the industrial countries, with the United States heading the list.
With the industrialization of developing nations, the pollution by greenhouse gases
is going up not down. This development cannot be stopped by energy saving

campaigns in the industrialized nations. If fossil fuel burning is not replaced, in the near
future, by alternative energy sources, in both the industrial and developing nations, the disasterous
consequences pointed out by O'Neill and Oppenheimer are unavoidable . Alternative
energy sources, such as wind power, solar energy, biomass, etc., can only be of
marginal value in the next two decades and cannot replace a major portion of fossil fuel energy. The only
present and near future alternative is nuclear energy. France's success in conversion
to nuclear power shows that this can be done successfully within a short period. The
three main energy consumers of fossil fuels are electric power production, motor
vehicle traffic, and residential space heating. By converting motor vehicles to
electric or hydrogen powered motors and space heating to air conditioning, most energy
requirements could be met by increased electric power production. Thus, by
conversion to nuclear power, fossil fuel burning could be drastically reduced within
a few decades. The safety of modern nuclear power plants has been demonstrated
in France for several decades. Safety and other important aspects of nuclear energy are documented in
(1). The criminal negligence that caused the Chernobyl disaster should not continue
to haunt civilization as a 20th century ghost. It is avoidable and the cumulative damage of fossil
fuel burning exceeds by far even the damage of the avoidable Chernobyl disaster.
Nuclear power key to reduce emissions

Sailor et al. 5 [William C. Sailor, staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory,
PhD in nuclear engineering; A Nuclear Solution to Climate Change?; Science;
Published 9 September 2005 @
http://faculty.publicpolicy.umd.edu/sites/default/files/fetter/files/2000-ScienceNE.pdf] Tusnial
The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change calls for the stabilization of greenhouse gas
concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous changes in climate. An ambitious target would be
stabilization at an equivalent doubling of the preindustrial CO2 concentration . To
achieve this, fossil-fuel carbon emissions in 2050 should not exceed their current
level, despite an expected doubling or tripling in world demand for energy (1). Lacking a
crystal ball that tells us the future, we simply select one possible scenario that achieves the emissions target (see the table on the
by 2050, world population and average per- capita energy

consumption each rise by 50%, with annual world primary energy consumption reaching 900 . EJ (exajoules, l0'8
right) (2). We assume that
joules). A roughly equal contribution of 300 E] each is assumed for conventional fossil ' fuels, for renewable and "decarbonized"
fossil fuel sources, and for nuclear fission (3). This is a challenging scenario, especially because
restraining the
increase in average per-capita energy consumption in the face of the economic aspirations of
developing countries will require substantial improvements in energy efficiency. Obtaining
300 E] from renewable energy sources and "decarbonized" fossil fuels will also be difficult. A
major expansion of hydropower is precluded by environmental considerations. A
major expansion in the use of biomass fuels would require vast land areas, in competition with
increasing food production and the preservation of natural ecosystems. It is unclear whether solar photovoltaics
can be made economically competitive, even with subsidies, and supplying a substantial
fraction of electricity demand with either solar- or wind-based power would require
massive and inexpensive energy storage or very-long-distance transmission. Fossil fuels
can be "decarbonized" by removing and sequestering carbon dioxide, but this approach is still in an
early stage of development. Thus, the 300 E] target requires success with technologies that are in early
stages of development, with highly uncertain costs and environmental impacts (4_l). The indicated 300 EJ nuclear
contribution corresponds to roughly 3300 gigawatt-years (GW-year, the output from a large electric plant) per year. World
per-capita nuclear output would then be half the current rate in France, where most
of the growth in nuclear output took place in the 20 years following 1977. Reaching
half of France's present per-capita output by the midpoint of the century should be possible in principle, but
only if there is strong government and popular support in many countries and a major
commitment of industrial resources. Nuclear Reactor Safety The present generation of nuclear reactors has had a
good safety record, with the major exception of the Chernobyl-type reactors. Outside the
former Soviet Union, about 8500 reactor-years of commercial nuclear power-plant operation
have been realized until now, with no accident involving a large external release of
radioactivity and only one accident with fuel melting : the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island (TMI).
These numbers suggest that the risk of an accident with fuel damage has averaged
approximately 10-4 per reactor-year, corresponding under common assumptions to a large external release of
radioactivity at a rate of 10-5 per reactor-year. But this performance would not suffice for a world with ~4000 reactors, because the
expectation would then be for a TMI-scale nuclear accident every several years. However, changes in equipment and operating
procedures since TMI suggest considerably improved safety. The likelihood of an accident that proceeds all the way to core damage
can be estimated by analyzing data on the occurrence of individual system malfunctions (precursor events). Such analyses of actual
U.S. reactor performance show a drop of roughly a factor of 100 in the inferred core damage probability, when comparing the 1994-
There are also well-developed designs for

a next generation of reactors, which promise still greater safety. Of these, the advanced boiling
1998 record with that for the pre-TMI period of 1974-1978 (5, 6).
water reactor (ABWR) is the first to have been ordered, with two now operating in Japan. The probability of core damage is
estimated by the ABWR designers to be 2 x 10-7 per reactor-year and by the staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to be
"on the order of 10-6 or less" if the plant is built and operated as specified (7,8.)
Nuclear Energy key to stop warming

NEFT, 06[Nuclear Energy for Texans, How does Nuclear Energy slow warming?,
http://www.nuclearenergyfortexans.org/global_warming.php]
Nuclear energy is a key tool in reducing greenhouse gases. Nuclear power plants
generate electricity for one in five homes and businesses in the United States
without producing or emitting any greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide.
Nuclear power plants generate 73 percent of all carbon-free electricity in America.
Life-cycle emissions from nuclear energy are comparable to other non-emitting
sources of electricity, such as solar, wind and hydropower.
Carbon dioxide is widely believed to be one of the main causes of global
warming. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is emitted by human activity,
including the use of fossil fuels. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates
that 85 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are carbon dioxide.
The volume of greenhouse gas emissions prevented at the nations 104 nuclear
units is equivalent to taking 96 percent of all passenger cars off Americas highways
for one year. By using nuclear power instead of fossil fuel-based plants, the U.S.
nuclear energy industry prevented 681.99 million metric tons of carbon dioxide
emissions in 2005.
Voluntary efforts by U.S. industry and international emission reduction efforts such
as the Kyoto Protocol would be hampered significantly if nuclear power production
did not increase. These efforts would be nearly impossible if nuclear power were
eliminated. For example, building renewable energy sourceswind, solar and
hydroelectricto replace the 20 percent of U.S. energy produced by nuclear power
plants would have no impact on the nations greenhouse gas emissions. With the
escalating demand for electricity, it is estimated that just to maintain the current
electrical supply mix, an additional 50 new nuclear reactors will have to be
constructed to meet future electricity demands.
No Life Cycle Impact to Nuclear energy No emissions from

Nuclear Energy
NEFT, 06 [Nuclear Energy for Texans, How does Nuclear Energy slow warming?,
http://www.nuclearenergyfortexans.org/global_warming.php]
Opponents to nuclear power cite life-cycle impacts. Some critics claim that
nuclear energys air emissions are comparable to those of fossil-fuel sources of
electricity generation when the life-cycle impacts of nuclear power are considered.
Although nuclear power plants do not emit greenhouse gases when generating
electricity, certain processes used to build and fuel the plants do, such as hauling the fuel to the plants in
trucks. This is true of all energy facilities. However , numerous studies show that nuclears lifecycle impacts are actually more comparable to renewable forms of generation, like
wind and solar, and far less than those of coal- or natural gas-fired power plants .
nuclear energy may just be the energy
source that can save our planet from catastrophic climate change. Moore, writing in The
As the co-founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, has said,
Washington Post in 2006, goes on to add ...nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that
can reduce [carbon dioxide] emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power. Moore is the cochair, with Christine Todd Whitman, of Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a new nonprofit group promoting the
benefits of nuclear energy for the United States.
Nuclear energy is the true green energy source

Washington Times 09
[The Washington Times- News Source that operates out of Washinngton DC,
the capital of the United States of America. 1/29/09. Washington Post. Nuclear power is true green energy.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/29/nuclear-power-is-true-green-energy/?page=all Accessed
5/23/14]
From an environmental perspective, nuclear energy cant be beaten. No

belching smokestacks or polluting gases. It releases nothing into the
atmosphere - no carbon dioxide, no sulfur, no mercury.
modern techniques, spent nuclear fuel is safely removed and reprocessed to yield new reactor
fuel, drastically reducing the amount of waste needing disposal. In fact, if
you used nuclear power for your entire lifetime needs, the resulting waste
With
would only be enough fill a Coke can. And this can be safely deposited in deep repositories.
Compare that with the tons of plastic, batteries, tires and motor oil well
throw out to be buried in landfills.
Nuclear power plants are key to stopping climate change

Schiffman 1/10/14
[Richard Schiffman- Richard Schiffman is the author of two biographies and a

journalist specializing in the environment whose work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington
Post, National Public Radio and elsewhere. 1/10/14. Reuters. Is nuclear power the answer on climate
change? http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/01/10/is-nuclear-power-the-answer-on-climate-change/
Acesseced 5/28/14]
environmentalists acknowledge the atmospheric benefits of nuclear

power, but still remain wary. Ralph Cavanagh, co-director of the Natural Resources Defense Councils
Other
Energy Program, says, safety concerns aside, nuclear power plants are just not cost-effective. With the
prohibitively high price of new plants, none has been built in the United States since the Three Mile Island
reactors were completed in 1974. Indeed, several aging plants have been closed recently, and more are
slated to be shut down soon.
Were prepared to see the competitive process work its will, Cavanagh told me. We are convinced that
energy efficiency and renewable energy will decisively defeat nuclear, as indeed they have for the past 40
years in the United States.
Cavanagh says we need to focus on getting to a low-carbon energy future , and
not try to guess what precise mix of approaches will get us there. It will take a mix, he insists. No single
technology can do the trick. While the NRDC and other environmental groups do
not completely
rule out a role for nuclear, they consider wind and solar as better options and more likely to
succeed.
Nuclear power generation is now flourishing in only three countries,
France,
Russia and China all nations where the state has aggressively subsidized its development. In France, the
huge government-owned utility lectricit de France now has 70 percent of its electricity generated by
nuclear power, up from only 8 percent a decade ago.
Electricity is much cheaper in France than in Germany, Hansen told me,

because the French have mostly nuclear power while Germany has
renewables. He says that we should follow Frances lead.
But it is hard to see how the French model could fly in the United States, where energy decisions are made
not by central planning, but by marketplace compensation. Hansen and environmental groups agree that
mechanisms like a carbon tax will be necessary to spur the growth of clean technologies. It is questionable,
however, whether even this powerful goad would be enough to revive a nuclear industry now languishing on
life support.
Hansen is looking to the Integral Fast Reactor, a design that has been on the drawing boards for decades. But
it has yet to be built largely because it is viewed as being too expensive. This fourth generation nuclear
would be fueled entirely from

the byproducts of current nuclear plants. Fast Reactors would potentially
burn 99 percent of their fuel and produce little toxic waste .
plant, he says, would be far safer than what we have now, and
But this technology will require far more research and development before construction costs fall enough to
tempt utilities. Where that R and D money will come from in an era of diminishing government spending
on science, as well as declining industry research budgets is the question. The electric power industry has
little incentive to develop tricky new technologies with cheap natural gas now pushing their production costs
to new lows.
Hansen remains hopeful, however. Perhaps irrationally so, given the notoriously long lead times, cost
overruns and the legal as well as technological problems that often bedevil new nuclear plants. He is urging
Washington to cooperate with China to build reactors with good designs.
If we dont help China by cooperating in nuclear power technology

development and deployment, Hansen predicts, they will do it themselves. That will be
unfortunate, for two reasons. It will be slower and thus it will include a lot
of coal use, such as building of many syngas plants [production of gas from coal,
which has a bigger carbon footprint than burning coal directly]. And it will make them the leaders in nuclear
technology. Too bad, it should have been the U.S.
Hansen may convince some environmentalists that green nukes could help to save the planet. But barring a
major technological breakthrough he wont be able to convince electric utilities that nuclear plants could
save them money. And, for the time being, they are the people whose opinions matter.
2NC Solvency Offshore Key

Only offshore nuclear power plants can solve, they dont
meltdown
TheEconomist4/26 [The Economist- Reliable news source first published in September 1843
to take part in 'a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an
unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress. 4/26/14. The Economist. Nuclear
power: All at sea: Researchers find advantages in floating nuclear power stations.
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21601231-researchers-findadvantages-floating-nuclear-power-stations-all-sea Accesed: 6/4/14]
Another benefit of being offshore is that the reactor could use the sea as
an infinite heat sink, says Dr Buongiorno. The core of the reactor, lying
below the surface, could be cooled passively without relying on pumps
driven by electricity, which could fail. In the nuclear disaster in Japan in
2011 a powerful earthquake off the coast created a tsunami that
inundated the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, wrecking the
backup power generators used to keep the cooling pumps going. This set
off a meltdown in three of the plants reactors.
A floating nuclear power station would be protected against earthquakes
and tsunamis. The expanse of the ocean would shield the structure from
seismic waves in the seabed, says Dr Buongiorno, and, provided the power station
was moored in about 100 metres of water, the swell from a tsunami should not be
large enough to cause any serious damage.
2NC Solvency Other

Nuclear power good safe, solves emissions, wont cause
prolif, and radiation is good
Cuttler and Pollycove 9 [Jerry M. Cuttler, Cuttler & Associates Inc.; Myron
Pollycove, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco; NUCLEAR
ENERGY AND HEALTH And the Benefits of Low-Dose Radiation Hormesis; Published
2009 @ http://doseresponse.metapress.com/media/34uulb8yqg0jtvc4gp81/contributions/7/7/7/u/777u4
1h174507mu8.pdf] Tusnial
About 89% of the enormous global demand for energy is provided by burning coal
and hydrocarbon fuels, and demand is growing rapidly . Society has valid concerns
about the impact of the emissions on the environment and human health.
Furthermore, current sources of petroleum products are not sustainable in the long
term. Coal mining, oil and gas drilling, and transporting these fuels to consumers all
have significant adverse effects on the environment and worker health and safety.
There are also suategic considerations about the long-term sustainability of energy
dependence upon and funding of hostile countries that supply these fuels. Energy
from nuclear fission of uranium (and thorium) could sustain humanity indefinitely;
however the application of this technology is constrained by health myths and antinuclear political activity. Present-day nuclear power plants and the methods of
designing, constructing, operating and maintaining them are very well understood.
These facilities provide a very high level of nuclear and industrial safety so long as
the people who design, build, operate and maintain them are properly trained and
imbued with a strong safety culture. The designs of modern plants have many
layers of defence-in-depth, which afford considerable tolerance of human error. The result of all
these efforts is that most failures do not result in any release of radioactivity, and the
worst realistic case, including fuel melting and containment compromise, is expected to
cause few, if any, fatalities to the public. The industry is well aware of the immense
public fear of radiation and the media's strong desire to publicize and exaggerate
the significance of any nuclear incident. Scientists and engineers have developed
technologies for many different types of nuclear power plants, including breeder
reactors that can convert uranium-238 and thorium-232 into readily fissionable
fuels. With breeder reactors, it would be feasible to extract uranium from the oceans
and still keep the fuel cost below one percent of the cost of electricity . Rivers are
carrying uranium into the seas at a rate that would allow at least 6,500 tons of it to
be withdrawn each year. This amount would be adequate to generate approximately
ten times the world's present electricity usage, year after year. Fission of uranium in
breeder reactors is consistent with the definition of a "renewable" energy source in
the sense in which that term is generally used. Techniques have been developed and
tested to recycle used nuclear fuel in a manner that does not yield materials and
pathways for diversion to the manufacture of nuclear weapons ; however, these
innovations are not widely known. The volume of used fuel and the amount of
radioactive waste from recycling is relatively small. Compared to fission, roughly
100 million times more coal, oil or gas material is burned to produce the same
amount of energy, and the ratio of the waste is therefore similar. The half lives of
the major radionuclides from completely recycled nuclear fuel (cesium-137 and
strontium-90) are relatively short, about 30 years. Surface storage of used fuel and
waste in robust containers presents no hazard to the environment because there
are no exposures. Geological disposal of waste has been shown to be technically
feasible. Demonstrating social acceptance of this solution has been challenging
because of the fears that have been created regarding adverse health effects of low
doses of (human-made) radiation. The number of severe nuclear power plant
accidents and the number of fatalities are quite low. Because reactors have a very
high power output and hold very large amounts of radioactivity, considerable care
has been taken to control the reaction, cool the fuel and contain the radioactivity.
Nuclear safety is the number one priority. Accidents are very expensive because of
the loss of electricity supply to many consumers who depend on reliable power,
the very high cost to repair the damage, and the loss in revenue. Injuries would
result if plant employees receive high radiation doses. Even though low radiation
doses are beneficial, nuclear plant owners will continue to maintain a very high
degree of nuclear safety. Any accidents that release radioactivity would result in
loss of social acceptance. It has been claimed that thyroid cancer is the most
common long-term effect of low dose radiation exposure in children). Nuclear safety
regulations are based on tight radioiodine dose limits. A review of many recent
scientific publications does not support this concern. Thyroid cancer is not an
uncommon occurrence in most populations; it does not appear to be related to
radiation exposure. Radioiodine treatment of hyperthyroidism does not appear to
cause a detectable increase in cancer. On the contrary, decreases in overall cancer
incidence and mortality are reported.
Nuclear power good clean, little waste, and available

BNP 99 [Benefits of Nuclear Power; Nuclear Power Benefits; Published 1999 @
http://www.benefitsofnuclearpower.com/] Tusnial
Green Nuclear Energy Picture What are the Benefits of Nuclear Power, in the Nuclear energy debate? In this site, we
discuss all the arguments - from the advantages of nuclear power to the disadvantages of nuclear power, the pros
& cons and advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power and benefits of nuclear power plant electricity
Nuclear power is the usable energy which is extracted from

the atomic nuclei through controlled nuclear reactions with the help of nuclear
technology. The nuclear power is used to generate heat - nuclear energy, which in
turn is used to generate nuclear electricity - one of the main advantages of nuclear power.
Typically nuclear power plants are found in electric generators, on board nuclear ships and
nuclear submarines. In the present times, the only method of acquiring nuclear power is
through nuclear fission although other options like nuclear fusion and radioactive decay are also being
generation. First, what it is ...
explored by scientists as alternative sources to generate nuclear power. There are many well known benefits of
nuclear power and these are listed as follows: Among the many benefits of nuclear power, the main advantage
this type of power has over other methods is that it is a clean way to produce energy as it
does not result in the emission of any of the poisonous gases like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide
or nitrogen dioxide. In todays world when pollution of the atmosphere is one of our main
worries, an option such as this is definitely preferable compared to burning of fossil
fuels which causes so much of pollution. For more on the benefits of clean energy see Benefits of
Solar Power at BenefitsOf.com. When compared to the fossil fuel waste, the nuclear waste which occurs
due to the production of nuclear power is not only small in quantity but also remains
confined so as not to affect anyone in its surroundings. It has been proved that if a typical
family of four uses nuclear power for all its needs then the waste produced over a
period of a lifetime would be as small as a golf ball. The disposal of nuclear waste
which results during the generation of nuclear power is much easier because it is just dumped in
to a geological site where it decays over a period of time and has no negative
impact on the ecosystem. This turns out to be one of the main benefits of nuclear power as compared
to the chemical waste like arsenic or mercury which refuse to decompose or
poisonous gases which cause global warming, acid rain and smog. Nuclear power is safe and even
though there have been two serious accidents in Pennsylvania and Chernobyl, these are but sporadic
incidents when compared to the rate of accidents which occur in fossil fuel
industries, coal mines and gas pipelines which have a history of eruption. One of the main benefits of
nuclear power is that it is an extremely reliable source of power because most nuclear reactors have
a life cycle of 40 years which can be easily extended further for 20 more years. Th e availability of nuclear
power is competitive compared to other sources of power like oil and gas since the cost of the
nuclear fuel is a small part of the total reaction and therefore even if there is a slight fluctuation in
the market the entire reaction need not be affected. The source of nuclear power is uranium and this is
available in abundance in the crust of the Earth with major deposits being uncovered in Canada
and Australia. Therefore since the source of nuclear power is readily available now and also for centuries to come,
this form of power is virtually inexhaustible.
2NC NB Politics
CP avoids politics bipartisan support
CASE 12 [Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, news report; Gov Whitman: Nuclear
Power Garners Bipartisan Support; Published 15 August 2012 @
http://casenergy.org/2012/08/gov-whitman-nuclear-power-garners-bipartisansupport/] Tusnial
Gov. Whitman writes: Bipartisan support for nuclear energy is founded in the fact
that nuclear energy, safely managed, provides an efficient, reliable source of
energy. In fact, nuclear power is the only baseload source of carbon-free electricity.
It provides nearly two-thirds of the nations low-carbon electricity, and will continue
to be an important source of energy well into the future given the advent of
innovative large and small reactor designs.
Politics is a net benefit to the CP bipartisan support

NEFT, 06 [Nuclear Energy for Texans, How does Nuclear Energy slow warming?,
http://www.nuclearenergyfortexans.org/global_warming.php] Tusnial
Support for nuclear energy is bipartisan. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has said he
firmly believes that nuclear power is a key technology for addressing climate
change. As we develop strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we simply
cannot ignore this emission-free technology.
Rep. Bob Clement (D-Tenn.) says, "With the implementation of the Clean Air Act and
the administration's increased concern about global climate change and acid rain,
renewed attention has been focused on nuclear energy's significant environmental
benefits. Environmental awareness, coupled with an increased basic need for
electricity, is becoming critical in certain regions of the country. Nuclear energy,
along with a strong conservation program and energy efficiency programs, is a
smart choice.
Aff Answers - A2 Warming

Nuclear Energy emits CO2 Bad for the environment limited
lifetime
NIRS, No Date[Nuclear Information and Research Service, Nuclear Power Cant
Stop Climate Chage, https://www.nirs.org/factsheets/climatenukes.pdf]
Even though the Bush Administration stubbornly refuses to admit that global
climate change is a serious environmental threat, the US nuclear industry is
spending millions of dollars promoting atomic power as the answer to the
greenhouse effect. Their claim is without basis. Nuclear energy is neither efficient
nor effective in cutting CO2 emissions. Moreover, it is not an endless energy source
and carries its own unique and timeless threat to the global environment and
security. Nuclear energy is portrayed as the flagship in the battle against the global
warming. Industry claims that CO2, the most prominent of greenhouse gases, is not
produced using nuclear power. Nuclear-related CO2 emissions will grow with time,
mainly due to the impoverishment of future uranium sources. As limited highgrade uranium ore deposits are exhausted worldwide, the processing of lower grade
ore will emit CO2 at the same or greater rates than coal-fired stations.1 In essence,
obtaining the necessary quality and quantity of uranium to run nuclear reactors will
get more difficult as the uranium ore becomes scarce.
Aff - No Solvency Resources

Uranium is running out Nuclear Energy is going to fail and is
unsustainable
As the uranium supply runs short it will become difficult to accelerate uranium
production because it takes eight years to put a new uranium mine into production.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)2 predicts insufficient production now
and in the future. Pro-nuclear industry sources estimate that the worldwide uranium
supply is 6.4 million tons. If we used nuclear power for 70% of our electricity
generation worldwide starting now, we would exhaust this uranium supply between
2016 and 2018. That is IF we could build enough nuclear reactors to provide 70% of
the worlds electricity, which we cant
Aff - No Solvency Funds

No money to fund the nuclear program will fail from the start
Climate protection will take loads of money. Every dollar has to be spent as
efficiently as possible. In study after study, nuclear power comes out as the most
expensive option for CO2 mitigation. Every dollar spent on energy efficiency is
seven times more beneficial than that same dollar would be spent on nuclear power.
Yearly costs per 1000 kg avoided CO2emissions is 68.9 dollars for wind and 132.5
dollars for nuclear power.
Not enough funds to build that many Nuclear Reactor Power

Plants Impossible for CP to solve
Without massive government investments new nuclear power plants are unlikely to
be constructed in the near future because of high capital costs. Wall Street looks at
short term returns which nuclear plants cannot provide. But suppose we were to
make the political choice to use nuclear power to address climate change; how
many extra nuclear power stations would need to be built? A Massachusetts
Institute of Technology Study on The Future of Nuclear Power projected that a
global growth scenario for as many as 1500 one thousand megawatt-electric new
reactors would be needed to displace a significant amount of carbon-emitting fossil
generation. For the best-case IAEA scenario where 70% of electricity would come
from nuclear power, an increase of an average of 115 power stations of 1000 MW
each would have to be constructed annually. Estimates for the international panel
on climate change suggest that within the European continent, 1000 reactors would
be need to be operational in 2100, six times the current level. The average
construction time of nuclear power reactor is now ten years. Building 115 power
stations per a year would only reduce CO2 use by 16%. This is the high-growth
scenario.
Aff - No Solvency Pollution

Not enough room for this amount of Nuclear Power Plants A
lot of pollution that speeds up climate change
Stop Climate Change, https://www.nirs.org/factsheets/climatenukes.pdf]
If we build 1000 to 1500 new nuclear reactors, a new Yucca Mountain-sized dump
would be needed every 3 to 4 years. The Yucca Mountain process has taken 20
years so far and is still not accepted or operational. Even if it were operational,
science indicates that this dump would leak into the aquifer underneath the site, a
recognized source of future clean water for the Southwestern US (USGS map). The
1986 Chornobyl nuclear power station explosion in Ukraine rendered an area the
size of Switzerland uninhabitable for hundreds of years. Food restrictions are still in
place hundreds and even thousands of miles from the site due to lingering
deposition of radioactive fallout. More reactors mean greater risks of another
accident. How many more Choronobyls can we afford? Nuclear power doesnt just
pollute through an accident. It pollutes as a matter of routine operational necessity.
Nuclear reactors regularly spew out radioactivity, chemicals and heat pollution,
endangering life and environment. As if this isnt enough, nuclear power threatens
our security by producing 200 bombs worth of plutonium every year; and by merely
existing as pre-deployed radiological weapons that can be turned against us as
targets of terrorism as experienced on September 11th.
Oil Dependence - CP #1
1NC Geothermal Energy CP

CP Text: The United States federal government should
increase its production of geothermal energy
Geothermal Energy is key to help solve for the Energy
Crisis, oil dependence just cant cut it
Coyle and Simmons 3/15/14 [Eugene- Professor in electrical engineering and a policy
research at GPRI. Richard- Engineer that served a policy fellowship in the state department. 3/15/14.
Understanding the Global Energy Crisis. Dublin Institute of Technology. http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1012&context=engschelebk] Dressler
Given both the proven market position of fossil fuels in world energy supply and the
difficulties associated with continued or increasing demand and use of coal, petroleum, and natural gas ,
we need to consider the current status and future potential for a range of renewable
technologies: onshore and offshore wind, hydroelectric energy, wave and tidal energy, and geothermal
energy. Chapters five and six will go further, exploring developments in solar energy underpinned by nano
technology and biofuels, respectively. Geothermal mapping has been the key to the development of geothermal
energy generation worldwide. This information has been obtained through mining, oil exploration and geological
surveys. Though deep drill surveys are commonly carried out reaching to a depth of six kilometers, technologies to
drill boreholes to depths of fifteen kilometers or more are currently available, and will likely be exploited going
Energy production on the scale of hundreds of megawatts has been possible

over recent decades and the use of geothermal energy for both the heating of
buildings and for electric power production, is rapidly increasing. Geothermal energy
is safe, reliable and competitive in terms of cost as compared to other conventional
sources. Security of supply is an added value as power can be supplied continuously
at full rating without any intermittency. In addition, Operating and Maintenance (O&M) costs are
forward.
moderate.
EGS can protect US from oil dependence

Tester et al. 07 [Jefferson W, for the last 30 years been involved in chemical engineering process
research, relating to energy extraction and conversion, and environmental control technologies including chemical
processes in hydrothermal and supercritical media, Impact of enhanced geothermal systems on US energy supply in
the twenty-first century, Royal Society, 4/15, http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/365/1853/1057.full] Yi
Geothermal energy from EGS represents a large indigenous resource that can
provide base-load electric power and heat at a level that can have a major impact
on the United States, while incurring minimal environmental impacts . With a reasonable
investment in R&D, EGS could provide 100GWe or more of cost-competitive-generating capacity in the next 50 years. Further,
EGS provides a secure source of power for the long term that would help protect
America against economic instabilities resulting from fuel price
fluctuations or supply disruptions. Most of the key technical requirements to make EGS work economically
over a wide area of the country are in effect, with remaining goals easily within reach. This achievement could provide performance
verification at a commercial scale within a 10- to 15-year period nationwide. In spite of its enormous potential, the geothermal
option for the United States has been largely ignored. In the short term, R&D funding levels and government policies and incentives
have not favoured the growth of US geothermal capacity from conventional high-grade hydrothermal resources. Owing to the limited
R&D support of EGS in the United States, field testing and supporting applied geoscience and engineering research has been lacking
Owing to this lack of support, EGS technology development and

demonstration has recently advanced only outside the United States with
accompanying limited technology transfer. This has led to the perception that
insurmountable technical problems or limitations exist for EGS. However , in our detailed
for more than a decade.
review of international field-testing data so far, the panel did not uncover any major barrier or limitation to the technology. In fact,
we found that significant progress has been achieved in recent tests carried out at
Soultz, France, under European Union sponsorship and in Australia, under largely private sponsorship. For example, at
Soultz, a connected reservoirwell system with an active volume of more than 2km3 at depths from 4 to 5km has been created and
Such progress leads us to be

optimistic about achieving commercial viability in the United States in a next phase
of testing, if a national-scale programme is supported properly . Specific findings include the
tested at fluid production rates within a factor of 23 of initial commercial goals.
following.
Solvency Feasibility
Increased investment into geothermal energy creates
testing necessary for better tech
United States Department of Energy 11 [Governmental department whose
mission is to advance energy technology and promote related innovation in the United States, Geothermal
Technologies Program Blue Ribbon Panel Recommendations, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
6/17, http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f7/brp_draft_report_june_17_2011.pdf] Yi
Panel members agreed that the

successful development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) a potentially
ubiquitous resource - would significantly increase the inventory of viable prospects
available for geothermal development and enable geothermal resources to become
a major contributor to the U.S. energy supply . They recommended that DOE pursue EGS
Secure the Future by Developing Enhanced Geothermal Systems
development in parallel with exploration, and with an emphasis on demonstrating the technical and economic
feasibility of EGS. Panelists noted that the lack of operational data is a major 6 barrier both for setting realistic
goals and milestones and for the development of EGS. The DOE should investigate the need for reservoir
Panel members recommended that DOE:

Determine the optimal conditions for EGS. The parameters analyzed should
include temperature, depth, geology, mineralogy and the characteristics of natural
fractures that are desirable for EGS reservoir creation. The information would then
be used to identify the best prospective sites in the U.S. Study the feasibility of
reservoir creation. The DOE should conduct a geomechanical study of the feasibility of creating a
stimulation as well as well stimulation.
reservoir with conventional technology. This would be an iterative process, using computer simulation to model
reservoir creation and operations. Operational data collected from demonstration efforts can be used to validate
and improve the models. The geomechanical models should be employed to conduct case studies of sites with
conditions for EGS. Develop tools to optimize power production and
reduce cost. These would include tools to improve the predictability of
stimulation, packers and zonal isolation technologies to enable engineering of
reservoirs with more control and precision, and diversion tools to help prevent
reservoir short-circuiting. Panel members also recommended that DOE evaluate stimulation fluids other
promising
than water to maximize stimulation potential. New working fluids, including carbon dioxide, may have significant
efficiency advantages over water. Improving reservoir stimulation and behavior models will help optimize reservoir
performance. Many of these tools could also be used in hydrothermal power production. Some panelists suggested
that investment in supporting technologies (drilling research, generation, alternative fluids, etc.) should be at a
level until reservoir creation demonstrating commercial circulation rates is successful. They
recommended a phased long-term program of tool development and demonstration.
Demonstrate the ability to create and sustain a reservoir. Panel members
low
recommended that DOE conduct a series of EGS demonstrations in different geologic environments and
perform
The DOE could establish one location as a long-term site with a

series of satellite locations to conduct flow tests for two to three years. The overall
purpose of these demonstrations would be to establish technical feasibility, collect
long-term performance data, and make the data publicly available. Milestones needed
long-term flow tests.
for each demonstration would include creating a fracture network, drilling interconnecting wells, conducting a
long-term circulation test, and determining the temperature decline over time. To achieve these milestones, actual
power production might not be necessary. For instance, water could be circulated through a doublet and
monitored for several years. However, it is important to note that an alternative method for cooling the geofluid
would be required, as cooling is usually accomplished through energy extraction. The reservoir size and
performance needed (in terms of flow rate and reservoir life) could be calculated from the economic requirements.
For example, if the desired LCOE is 10 cents/kWh, then it would be possible to calculate the associated reservoir
size and flow rate required to 7 achieve that LCOE. The reservoir size would need to approach one cubic kilometer
to sustain production over 30 years and flow rates would likely need to be 50-100 kilograms/second. These
demonstrations should be government-owned due to the high cost and the need to work closely with scientists
throughout every stage of development. Following a two to three year demonstration phase, ownership could be
transferred to industry or the site could be used for additional research. Ongoing research could include whole
reservoir stimulation, drilling additional wells and expanding the fracture stimulation, and experimenting with
using new geofluids such as carbon dioxide.
Geothermal energy is promising for the future

Lacey 11 [Stephen, is a reporter/blogger for Climate Progress, where he writes on clean energy policy,
technologies, and finance. Before joining CP, he was an editor/producer with RenewableEnergyWorld.com. He
received his B.A. in journalism from Franklin Pierce University, Geothermal energy is a core climate solution, Climate
Progress, 5/23, http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/05/23/208160/five-hot-rockin-geothermal-companies/] Yi
Like the natural gas sector, which has experienced an

incredible boom due to new drilling techniques that allow companies to costeffectively access unconventional gas, the geothermal sector is going through a
renaissance that may open up a vast new set of resources. Traditional utility-scale
geothermal, often called hydrothermal, utilizes hot water or direct steam beneath
the earth to run a turbine and generate electricity. While theres only about 11 GW of capacity
built around the world (the PV industry built 17 GW in 2010 alone), the actual electricity generation
from these baseload plants typically doubles the output from an equivalent wind or
solar project. The U.S. Geological survey estimates that there are about 35 GW of hydrothermal resources left
Five hot, rockin geothermal companies
to harness in America with the potential to provide around 3% of the nations electricity. Last year, two researchers
published a paper in the Journal of Energy Policy suggesting that the world could get about 4 percent of its
when looking at so-called

unconventional resources, the potential is far greater. There are three main kinds
of unconventional resources: Enhanced or Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS);
geothermal co-production; and geo-pressured systems. By collectively harnessing
these resources, we could feasibly get hundreds of GW of projects online, which
some geothermal supporters suggest may supply upwards of 20% of the worlds
electricity. Heres a video overview of EGS from Google: However, unconventional methods of procuring
electricity from traditional geothermal by 2030. However,
geothermal energy are not easy. In fact, theyre not really new some of these techniques were researched in the
But now that we have

better technologies and more pressing environmental and economic factors, theres
a growing list of companies working to address technology barriers. Heres five: Potter
Drilling Unlike traditional hydrothermal where a developer must zero in on good
pockets of hot water, EGS projects can theoretically be developed almost anywhere.
Developers engineer their own wells (hence, the name Engineered Geothermal Systems) by
drilling deep bore holes, pumping cold water through the bedrock and letting it heat
up as it moves through the natural fractures. But drilling bore holes thousands of feet beneath the
70s, but were abandoned when the U.S. shifted its focus away from renewables.
earth is expensive and time consuming; a traditional diamond-tipped drill bit needs to be replaced every hundred
feet or so. Constantly taking the drill in and out of the ground increases the chance that a bore hole will collapse.
California-based Potter Drilling is working on a drilling technique called Hydrothermal Spallation that uses
superheated water to bore holes eliminating the need to use a drill bit. The company raised $4 million from
Google and received $5 million in stimulus funds to develop the drill. GTherm One of the concerns about EGS
is that deep drilling and fracturing will cause seismic activity. A Connecticut-based company, GTherm, says it has an
GTherm has developed a closedloop heat exchanger it calls a heat nest that will be deployed at the bottom of a
well thousands of feet down. Rather than pump water directly in and out of the
ground, it uses a heat transfer fluid that can be used to run a binary-cycle turbine
designed for low-heat applications. Dont assume this is an easy answer to EGS though: GTherm is
EGS solution that takes away the need to fracture the rock entirely.
still in the modeling phase and will be working with the Electric Power Research Institute to deploy a 1-MW
demonstration project in 2012. While an intriguing way to harness deep heat, this concept remains to be proven.
Solvency Efficiency
Efficient -- can turn harmful CO2, wastewater, and existing
structures into energy
Lacey 11 [Stephen, is a reporter/blogger for Climate Progress, where he writes on clean energy policy,
technologies, and finance. Before joining CP, he was an editor/producer with RenewableEnergyWorld.com. He
received his B.A. in journalism from Franklin Pierce University, Geothermal energy is a core climate solution, Climate
Progress, 5/23, http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/05/23/208160/five-hot-rockin-geothermal-companies/] Yi
GreenFireGreenFire Energy Rather than use water as a working fluid, Utahbased GreenFire Energy is using CO2 a great way to save water in arid regions
while also recycling and sequestering carbon . The process is very similar to a traditional
hydrothermal power plant; however, the working fluid is pressurized, supercritical CO2 that may
actually have higher heat recovery rates and lower pumping costs than water. At first,
Greenfire is focusing on naturally-occurring CO2 for its demonstration project in Arizona. But it hopes to site
plants near coal facilities and utilize waste CO2 for geothermal power production . If it
can prove the concept works at its 2-MW facility in the early phases of development, this could expand the number
of sites suitable for geothermal projects. But again, like GTherm, we still havent seen if the concept works in
Universal GeoPower Geothermal co-production and geo-pressured

resources also have the potential to expand production while piggybacking off
existing fossil fuel infrastructure. In co-production, a developer takes warm waste
water from an oil and gas well and uses it to boil a working fluid and power a
generator. The Texas-based company Universal GeoPower is trying to deploy this concept along the Gulf Coast
practice.
where there are more than 37,000 wells that bring up billions of gallons of warm waste water each year. Universal
GeoPower will lease a well or partner with an existing pump operator, deploy 1-MW of off the shelf lowtemperature units and sell the electricity to the local utility. Depending on water-flow rates, these projects could be
used to offset on-site energy use or even be net-positive energy producers.
Louisiana Geothermal Like
co-production, geo-pressured resources are produced in partnership with gas drillers. In

this case, the hot brine is trapped and pressurized under a layer of sediment. But these fluids often contain large
amounts of dissolved natural gas, which makes it economically difficult for a pure-play geothermal developer to
By developing projects with a hybrid approach, the

brine and the methane can be separated; the brine would be used to heat a working
fluid and power a low-temperature generation unit and the methane would be used
in a gas turbine. In partnership with the leading geothermal consultancy GeothermEx, Lousiana State
exploit or for a natural gas driller to access.
University and the Shaw Group, Louisiana Geothermal is working on building a 5 MW project at the Sweet Lake Oil
and Gas Field in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The companies hope to be the first to prove that these two resources
can be used together in an economic way. Given that it takes so long to build a geothermal project (were talking
many years, versus months for a solar project), it may be a while before we see these new technologies come to
fruition if at all. In the meantime, traditional hydrothermal projects will continue to dominate the geothermal
market for the foreseeable future. But there is a lot of innovation happening in this sector. With new approaches to
harnessing the earths abundant heat, its not unrealistic to think that geothermal can move well beyond the
conservative prediction of 4% global electricity production in the coming decades.
Area efficient -- Geothermal occupies less land than fossil

fuel plants and other renewables
Taylor 10 [Phil, E&E REPORTER of Greenwire, Geothermal Advocates Tout Plants' Smaller Environmental
Footprint, New York Times, 1/21, http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/01/21/21greenwire-geothermal-advocatestout-plants-smaller-envir-84426.html?pagewanted=all] Yi
geothermal industry seeks approval for hundreds of new projects in the West, it brings with it a
promise most wind and solar developers have been unable to make: more power
using less land. Geothermal plants use wells to pump searing hot steam and water to the surface in order to
As the
unlike wind and solar farms that threaten to carve

up vast areas of public lands -- potentially compromising sensitive species and
disrupting picturesque landscapes -- most of the geothermal energy footprint is
hidden miles underground. "Out of the renewable technologies, geothermal is a
very compact way to generate energy," said Robert McDonald, a scientist with the Nature
drive turbines that generate electricity. But
Conservancy's Emerging Strategies Division. "But it is one that's often missed in the discussion of renewables." A
McDonald-led study (pdf) released last summer found that future geothermal developments will be less than half as
land-intensive as solar thermal plants and about one-tenth as land-intensive as wind farms. In addition, "binary
cycle" designs used in most new geothermal plants utilize air cooling technologies
to condense and recycle water withdrawn from underground reservoirs, alleviating
fears about depletion of water resources. "Water is always a concern in the West," said Charles
Benjamin, director of the Nevada office for the environmental group Western Resource Advocates. "But the
[geothermal] industry has been successfully developing projects since the 1980s and has been doing it in an
environmentally sensitive way." Striking the right balance Indeed, one of the challenges to implementing a new
energy policy built around renewable resources is that harnessing wind, solar and biomass requires large amounts
Coal-fired and nuclear power, while carrying their own

environmental risks, typically use less land over their lifetimes than renewables,
with the exception of geothermal. Yet even if coal- and gas-fired electricity remain part of the U.S.
of land, according to McDonald's study.
power supply, at least 50 million acres of new land is expected to be consumed to meet rising energy needs by
2030. Meeting that demand without adding significant amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere will take a mix
of aggressive energy efficiency measures and the careful siting of renewable energy, McDonald said. Much of the
responsibility for planning and siting such projects will fall to federal agencies like the Bureau of Land Management
and Forest Service, which together oversee several hundred million acres of public lands. But while BLM works to
clear an ever-expanding number of renewable energy projects, especially in the West, some fear regulators will
overlook threats to sensitive landscapes and species that inhabit them. "There is no dispute that we need to
transition off of fossil fuels," said Ileene Anderson, the public lands desert director for the Center for Biological
Diversity in a recent op-ed in the New York Times. "But renewable energy projects can be even more land-intensive
than the fossil fuel projects they replace." Ace in the hole? In Nevada, land and water conservation was a big
selling point during the fast-track permitting of the Blue Mountain geothermal plant in the northwest part of the
state, said Paul Mitchell, a manager of investor relations at Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. "There's minimal
impact," Mitchell said of the 50-megawatt plant that occupies about 640 acres of BLM land. By contrast, the 150megawatt Spring Valley Wind project under development in eastern Nevada would take up more than 8,000 acres.
And Blue Mountain's environmental credentials helped qualify it for a $57.9 million federal stimulus grant -- the first
geothermal project to receive such an award -- after coming online four months ahead of schedule in October. A
portion of the plant's output is used to recycle the water it pumps out of the ground to be condensed and reinjected
into the reservoir, Mitchell said. "It's a cyclical system," he said of the plant's binary cycle design. "What we bring
up, we put back down." Of all of the fast-tracked renewable projects under review at BLM, Blue Mountain was the
only one that did not require a full environmental impact statement, said Ray Brady, manager of BLM's energy
policy team in Washington, D.C. But while small compared to wind farms and solar arrays, some geothermal
projects beyond the remote Nevada desert have faced opposition from local residents and conservation groups
concerned about the technology's safety record and visual impacts. A geothermal project in central Oregon, for
example, has drawn the ire of some environmentalists because of its proximity to the Newberry National Volcanic
Monument and its potential impacts to area groundwater. The $86 million project by AltaRock Energy Inc., which
includes Davenport Power LLC and several universities as partners, is supported by a $25 million stimulus grant
from the Energy Department and will seek to demonstrate what are known as "enhanced geothermal systems," or
EGS. "There are places in Oregon where that is appropriate," said Asante Riverwind, forest organizer for the Sierra
Club's Eastern Oregon chapter. "But right on the edge of the Newberry Monument is not the right place to try an
experimental technology." Riverwind said he is concerned that successful commercialization of the AltaRock
project could attract several more developers to the Newberry area hoping to tap the volcano's heat. A separate
EGS project by AltaRock in Northern California generated fears among area residents that the technology could
generate small earthquakes, though the DOE-funded project was discontinued before operators could begin
fracturing the rock. Similarities between the AltaRock project and an EGS demonstration in Switzerland that caused
damaging tremors prompted DOE and BLM officials to conduct a separate safety review of its seismic potential.
Attracting investors Long a fledgling industry compared to other renewable sectors like wind and hydropower, the
geothermal industry is poised to expand in 2010, in part because of major new government incentives and growing
interest among investors. "Things have been difficult for many of the renewable technologies, but we're seeing
growth," said Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association, during a presentation to
investors last week in New York City. The industry added 178 megawatts of capacity in 2009, up from just 50
megawatts added the year before, he said. Currently, 144 geothermal plants are under development in the United
States, many of which will utilize part of a $338 million Energy Department stimulus program announced in
October. And while U.S. geothermal plants currently produce just over 3,000 megawatts of electricity -- far less
than the 28,200 megawatts of installed wind capacity and 9,183 megawatts of solar power -- Gawell noted that
geothermal can operate around the clock, generating three times as much energy as its intermittent counterparts.
"I think five years from now, we're going to be in a totally different place," he said. "You're going to see an industry
that reflects the type of sustained, dynamic growth that we see in the wind industry today. You're at the front end of
Obtaining financing for drilling projects, for

example, remains difficult because of the inherent uncertainty surrounding
geothermal finds. Exploration and drilling alone account for about half of a project's capital costs and such
the curve here." But major challenges remain.
activities require their own permits, all of which adds risk for investors. "One of the biggest risks in geothermal is
confirming the resource," said Gawell, "not just whether it's there, but what is its character. If we're not sure
whether we have [a] 10-megawatt or 100-megawatt resource, that sort of uncertainty is a huge problem." A recent
report from the Icelandic bank Islandsbanki estimates it would take $26 billion to fund all of the geothermal projects
in the U.S. permitting pipeline. If built, those projects would represent a doubling of U.S. geothermal capacity over
the next five years. "The wind is at the back of geothermal, so to speak," said Paul Leggett, a
vice president of investment banking at Morgan Stanley, citing both the government stimulus and rising favorability
on Wall Street toward sustainable energy. "We
see more and more of the pieces of this puzzle
coming together."
CPG maximizes potential energy and reuses waste

renewables
Lepisto 13 [Christine, 20 years of industrial experience, founded Chemical Safety Consulting in 2008 to
continue to support clients committed to sustainability, New geothermal technology could produce 10 times the
electricity using CO2 from fossil fuel plants, Tree Hugger, 12/17, http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/newgeothermal-technology-could-produce-10-times-electricity-using-co2-fossil-fuel-plants.html] Yi
Good news on a technology that could revolutionize geothermal energy made waves at the American Geophysical
Union meeting last week. Anyone who understands that the world's hunger for energy will push our planet beyond
the point of no return without technological solutions will welcome the idea of CO2 plume geothermal power or
CPG benefits include sequestering CO2; making geothermal energy accessible

in geographic regions where it has not been economically feasible to use this
natural heat source for generating power; and storing energy from solar or wind
farms. CPG could produce ten times more geothermal energy than traditional
geothermal approaches currently yield, offering an important new source of
renewable energy while simultaneously contributing to the reduction of CO2
entering the atmosphere due to fossil fuel burning. Energy Pathways/Screen capture The idea
CPG.
starts with the liquid carbon dioxide which is increasingly envisioned as a solution to global climate change. The
For efficient storage,

the CO2 is compressed into a liquid, which can be pumped deep into the earth, to
be trapped in the same porous rock beds which once provided oily reservoirs. But
CO2 is captured at the source from fossil fuel burning electrical generation facilities.
instead of just storing the CO2 underground, the COS would feed what is described as a "cross between a typical
Liquid CO2 would be pumped into horizontal wells set up

in concentric rings deep in the earth. Carbon dioxide flows through the porous rock bed deep
in the earth more quickly than water, collecting as much heat more easily. More
importantly, the CO2 expands more than water when heated, so the pressure
differential between the CO2 pumped into the ground and the heated CO2 is much
greater than the pressure differential of the water making the same loop. The amount
geothermal power plant and the Large Hadron Collider."
of energy that can be generated depends on this pressure differential -- and is therefore substantially greater in
CPG than in traditional geothermal plants. The CO2 expands so much that the pressure alone can carry the heated
CO2 back to the surface, an effect referred to as a "thermo-siphon". The thermo-siphon makes the use of pumps for
recovering the hot CO2 unnecessary, reducing the energy costs required to generate the geothermal electricity for
a higher overall efficiency. Energy Pathways/Screen capture Traditional geothermal technology uses warmth from
deep in the earth to generate electricity. Currently, geothermal plants rely on locations where hot water is trapped
under the surface, pumping the hot water out to collect that deep-earth heat. This technology limits the locations
where geothermal energy recovery can occur. In contrast, CPG could be used in many locations that do not have
CPG
offers an interesting bonus as well: electricity generated from the sun or the wind
often gets wasted as demand does not meet the supply . This excess energy from
renewable sources could be used to provide the energy needed to compress the
CO2 sequestered from fossil fuel power plants, storing the waste renewable energy
to be later recovered as geothermal energy. In addition to announcing the new technology, the
the correct underground reservoirs, expanding the geopgraphic range of geothermal power generation.
scientists behind the CPG project have pioneered cooperation with communication experts to "explore new ways for
scientists, engineers, economists and artists to work together." This collaboration resulted in a video explaining the
CPG concept. We wish we could say the video will go viral, setting new standards for communicating science, but
in fact it is rather dry and much too long to keep the ever-shortening attention span of the people who need to
know about these technologies. But it is worth a look, especially starting around 8:40 into the video where the
carbon dioxide plume concept is described.
Solvency Costs
Geothermal cheaper than natural gas in long run
Mims 09 [Christopher, Can Geothermal Power Compete with Coal on Price?, Scientific American, 3/2,
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-geothermal-power-compete-with-coal-on-price/] Yi
An investment bank report says geothermal energy is now cheaper per kilowatthour than coal-derived power. But there are lots of caveats Although the
environmental benefits of burning less fossil fuel by using renewable sources of
energysuch as geothermal, hydropower, solar and windare clear, there's been a serious
roadblock in their adoption: cost per kilowatt-hour. That barrier may be opening, however
at least for one of these sources. Two recent reports, among others, suggest that geothermal may actually be cheaper than
every other source, including coal. Geothermal power plants work by pumping hot water from deep beneath Earth's surface, which can either be
used to turn steam turbines directly or to heat a second, more volatile liquid such as isobutane (which then turns a steam turbine). Combine a new U.S.
president pushing a stimulus package that includes $28 billion in direct subsidies for
renewable energy with another $13 billion for research and development , and the
picture for renewable energygeothermal power among the optionsis brightening. The newest report, from international investment
bank Credit Suisse, says geothermal power costs 3.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, versus
5.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for coal. That does not mean companies are rushing to build geothermal plants: There are a number of
assumptions in the geothermal figure. First, there are the tax incentives, which save about 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour. Those won't necessarily last forever, howeveralthough the
stimulus bill extended them through 2013. Second, the Credit Suisse analysis relied on what is called the "levelized [sic] cost of energy," or the total cost to produce a given unit of
energy. Embedded within this figure is an assumption that the money to build a new geothermal plant is available at reasonable interest rateson the order of 8 percent. In today's
economic climate, that just isn't the case. "In general, there is financing out there for geothermal, but it's difficult to get and it's expensive," Geothermal Energy Association director Karl
Gawell told ScientificAmerican.com recently. "You have to have a really premium project to get even credit card interest rates." That means very high up-front costs. As a result,
companies are more likely to spend money on things with lower front-end costs, like
natural gaspowered plants, which are cheap to build but relatively expensive to
operate because of the cost of the fuel needed to run them. "Natural gas is popular for this reason," says Kevin
Kitz, an engineer at Boise, Idahobased U.S. Geothermal, Inc, which owns and operates three geothermal sites. "It has a low capital cost, and even if you project cost of natural gas to be
high in future, if you use a high [interest rate in your model] that doesn't matter very much." Natural gas, which came in at 5.2 cents per kilowatt-hour in the analysis, is also popular
because it can be deployed anywhere, whereas only 13 U.S. states have identified geothermal resources. Although this limits the scalability of geothermal power, a 2008 survey by the
U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the U.S. possesses 40,000 megawatts of geothermal energy that could be exploited using today's technology. (For comparison, the average coalfired power plant in the U.S. has a capacity of more than 500 MW.)
Good as base load source -- Long-term solutions to add to

economic Benefits
Tester et al. 07 [Jefferson W, for the last 30 years been involved in chemical engineering process
research, relating to energy extraction and conversion, and environmental control technologies including chemical
processes in hydrothermal and supercritical media, Impact of enhanced geothermal systems on US energy supply in
the twenty-first century, Royal Society, 4/15, http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/365/1853/1057.full] Yi
EGS is one of the few renewable energy resources that can provide continuous
base-load power with minimal visual and other environmental impacts . Geothermal
systems have a small footprint and virtually no emissions, including carbon dioxide .
Geothermal energy has significant base-load potential, requires no storage, and thus, it
complements other renewables, solar (CSP and PV), wind and hydropower, in a lower-carbon
energy future. In the shorter term, having a significant portion of the US base load
supplied by geothermal sources would provide a buffer against the
instabilities of gas price fluctuations and supply disruptions, as well as
nuclear plant retirements. The accessible geothermal resource, based on existing extractive technology, is
large and contained in a continuum of grades ranging from today's hydrothermal, convective systems through high- and mid-grade
EGS resources (located primarily in the western United States) to the very large, conduction-dominated contributions in the deep
basement and sedimentary rock formations throughout the country. By evaluating an extensive database of bottom-hole
temperature and regional geologic data (rock types, stress levels, surface temperatures, etc.), we have estimated the total EGS
resource base to be more than 13 million exajoules (EJ). Using reasonable assumptions regarding how heat would be mined from
stimulated EGS reservoirs, we also estimated
the extractable portion to exceed 200000 EJ or about
2000 times the annual consumption of primary energy in the United States in 2005.
With technology improvements, the economically extractable amount of useful
energy could increase by a factor of 10 or more, thus making EGS sustainable for
centuries. Ongoing work on both hydrothermal and EGS resource development complement each other. Improvements to
drilling and power-conversion technologies, as well as better understanding of fractured rock structure and flow properties, benefit
all geothermal energy development scenarios. Geothermal operators now routinely view their projects as heat mining and plan for
managed injection to ensure long reservoir life. While stimulating geothermal wells in hydrothermal developments are now routine,
the understanding of why some techniques work on some wells and not on others can only come from careful research. EGS
technology has advanced since its infancy in the 1970s at Fenton Hill. Field studies conducted worldwide for more than 30 years
have shown that EGS is technically feasible in terms of producing net thermal energy by circulating water through stimulated
regions of rock at depths ranging from 3 to 5km. We can now stimulate large rock volumes (more than 2km3), drill into these
stimulated regions to establish connected reservoirs, generate connectivity in a controlled way if needed, circulate fluid without
large pressure losses at near commercial rates, and generate power using the thermal energy produced at the surface from the
Initial concerns regarding five key issuesflow short circuiting; a need

for high injection pressures; water losses; geochemical impacts; and induced
seismicityappear to be either fully resolved or manageable with proper monitoring
and operational changes. At this point, the main constraint is creating sufficient connectivity within the injection and
created EGS system.
production well system in the stimulated region of the EGS reservoir to allow for high production rates per well without reducing the
reservoir life by rapid cooling. US field demonstrations have been constrained by many external issues, which have limited further
stimulation and development efforts and circulation testing timesand, as a result, risks and uncertainties have not been reduced
to a point where private investments would completely support the commercial deployment of EGS in the United States. In Europe
and Australia, where government policy creates a more favourable climate, the situation is different for EGS. There are now seven
companies in Australia actively pursuing EGS projects and two commercial projects in Europe.
Research, development
and demonstration (RD&D) in certain critical areas could greatly enhance the overall competitiveness of geothermal in
two ways. First, it would lead to generally lower development costs for all grade systems,
which would increase the attractiveness of EGS projects for private investment .
Second, it could substantially lower power plant, drilling and stimulation costs, which
increase accessibility to lower-grade EGS areas at depths of 6 km or more. In a manner
similar to the technologies developed for oil and gas and mineral extraction, the investments made in research to develop extractive
technology for EGS would follow a natural learning curve that lowers development costs and increases reserves along a continuum
of geothermal resource grades.
Economic benefits outweigh initial costs

Geothermal Energy Association 10 (updated 4/3/14) [U.S. trade organization
composed of U.S. companies who support the expanded use of geothermal energy and are developing geothermal
resources worldwide for electrical power generation and direct-heat uses. GEA advocates for public policies that will
promote the development and utilization of geothermal resources, Geothermal Basics - Economic Benefits, GEA,
http://www.geo-energy.org/geo_basics_benefits.aspx] Yi
Geothermal energy provides long-term answers to some of the most pressing issues
in todays economy. Warning signs of climate distress and volatile fuel costs are leading people to question
where their power comes from and how rising energy costs will affect their communities and businesses. Unlike
coal and natural gas, geothermal incurs no hidden costs such as land degradation,
high air emissions, forced extinction and destruction of animals and plants, and
health impacts to humans. Since geothermal energy production is domestic, it helps
offset involvement in foreign energy affairs. A geothermal project will only provide
the highest benefits to developers and customers if the economics have been
thought through in advance. Like any investment, geothermal projects require an understanding of the
risks, costs, and benefits. See section 7 for factors affecting the cost of a geothermal project. 6.1. How does
geothermal energy benefit the U.S. economy? 6.2. Is geothermal market investment growing? 6.3. How does
geothermal energy benefit local economies? 6.4. How does geothermal energy benefit developing countries? 6.1.
Geothermal power is a low cost energy

source that diversifies the fuel supply and benefits the transitioning power grid. It
does not require purchase of fuel, and because it is a baseload resource, geothermal
How does geothermal energy benefit the U.S. economy?
power is reliable, helping to stabilize prices . It is also dispatchable, or able to be ramped up or down
quickly to make up for intermittency caused by wind or solar power. The average cost of geothermal
plant over its lifetime is dramatically lower than that of traditional sources of power.
Geothermal energy is locally produced, reducing foreign oil imports and boosting rural economies through
royalties and tax payments. A geothermal power project development will involve hundreds of individuals,
employing local people full time as well as stimulating induced jobs.
6.2. Is
geothermal market
investment growing? A 2006 GEA estimate showed that for every dollar invested in geothermal energy,
the resulting growth of output to the U.S. economy is $2.50, or, a geothermal investment of $400 million would
result in a growth of output of $1 billion for the entire U.S. economy. Renewable energy technology projects
worldwide saw $70.9 billion of new investments in 2006, and $117.2 billion in 2007, according to a DOE
assessment. This
is no longer just an interesting alternative, but a large scale

transformation in global energy markets, DOE wrote. Since that time, the capital
represented by geothermal projects coming on line has increased substantially. With
roughly 100 MW added annually in the U.S., and projects taking several years to
construct, the capital investment in new U.S. geothermal projects would be in
excess of $10 billion. The geothermal industry is supported by both public and private investments. In
2008, Google.org outspent the government at the time and was the largest private investor in geothermal, injecting
$11 million in advanced geothermal technology research and development. Table 3 summarizes a 2006 WGA
estimate that near-term geothermal development of approximately 5,600 MW would result in nearly $85 billion
dollars to the U.S. economy over 30 years. Potential also exists in Wyoming, Montana, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska,
South Dakota, and North Dakota, but the resource in those states was not studied in the WGA report. Assuming an
average capital cost of a geothermal project corresponding to $4000/kW. U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal
Risk Mitigation The funding facilitated geothermal heat maps that can be accessed at Google Earth,
http://www.google.org/egs/. 6.3. How does geothermal energy benefit local economies?
Rural areas, where many of the geothermal resources that can be produced for energy consumption are located,
Geothermal developers bring

significant economic advantages such as jobs and tax payments. Many geothermal
companies provide additional voluntary contributions to their neighbor
communities. In Imperial County, California, MidAmerican Renewables is the single largest taxpayer. Overall
can suffer from economic depression and high unemployment.
geothermal activities supply a full 25% of the county tax base, and over $12 million in tax revenue. In Nevada,
geothermal power plants pay sales and use tax, property tax, net proceeds of mine tax, modified business tax,
bonus lease payments, royalties to the state and county, salaries and benefits to employees, and a range of local
vendors for products and services. Since enactment of the 2005 Geothermal Steam Act Amendments, 25% of
revenues from geothermal leasing and production are allotted to state and local governments. In 2008, Nevada
received $7.5 million and put all of the money in a state fund that supports K-12 schools throughout the state. The
same year, California received $9.9 million and put 40% to the counties of origin; another 30% to the Renewable
Resources Investment Fund; and 30% to the CEC for grants or loans to local jurisdictions or private entities.
Geothermal power plants can be a tourist draw when students, scientists, or interested individuals visit the site,
thereby bringing business to the local community. Iceland's most popular tourist destination is the Blue Lagoon, a
geothermal spa connected to the Svartsengi power plant in the islands southwest. As of August 2012, the Calpine
Geysers Visitor Center in California had hosted more than 75,000 visitors from all 50 U.S. states and 79 countries
since it opened in 2001. Photo: Blue Lagoon, Iceland, Draws Tourists to its Geothermal Hot Springs GEA A
Handbook, page 16 MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company operates geothermal energy through MidAmerican
Renewables (formerly CalEnergy U.S.). GEA Why Support GEA Geothermal Revenue, page 5 GEA A
Handbook, page 16 MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company operates geothermal energy through MidAmerican
Renewables (formerly CalEnergy U.S.). GEA Why Support GEA Geothermal Revenue, page 5 6.4. How does
geothermal energy benefit developing countries ? Kenya, Indonesia, and many

Caribbean islands are some of the developing countries that stand to directly
benefit from developing their abundant geothermal resources. Geothermal energy
can provide answers to infrastructure needs while preserving the cleanliness of
these regions. Many developing countries are seeking energy and economic
independence while learning from the lessons, both positive and negative, of the
trade and subsidy practices employed by developed nations . Australia, China, Germany,
Iceland, Italy, Japan, and the U.S. are some of the more developed countries that are facilitating geothermal
development projects around the world. This support includes financing as well as technology sharing, training, and
geological surveys. Indonesia holds about 40% of the worlds known geothermal resources, but has developed very
little of this. Since geothermal energy is developed locally rather than extracted and transported around the world,
Indonesia could develop its geothermal resources for local use thereby freeing up its portable energy fuelssuch as
coal and natural gasfor higher mark-up export. The East African Rift System is another of the worlds largest
known geothermal reserves, and energy needs in Africa are a topic of international interest. Biomass production has
led to unwanted deforestation, and droughts have made hydropower plants unreliable. Dependence on expensive,
imported petro-products and diesel supplies has increased in recent years. The Rift Systems geothermal resources
could provide an indigenous generation system with a predictable supply and price for remote locations.
ME case benefits outweigh initial costs

Portland Press Herald 11 [Maine Press Association Better Newspaper Contest General
Excellence award for Daily Papers, New England Associated Press News Executives Association competition, Maine
Voices: Another solution to our oil dependence: geothermal heat, Portland Press Herald, 3/19,
http://www.pressherald.com/2011/03/19/another-solution-to-our-oil-dependence-geothermal-heat_2011-03-19/] Yi
Financing can ease the installation cost, which can be further offset by vastly reduced heating bills. RAYMOND
Les Otten, in his excellent article about pellet heating systems in the March 5 issue of the Portland Press Herald
(Wood pellets can help with oil crunch, says industry entrepreneur), correctly observed that pellets are naturally
available in Maine, and that pellet heating is lower cost than other fossil fuel options. He also claimed that pellet
heating is half the cost of electric heat, which is not necessarily true. Only with electric resistance heaters is that
statement accurate. In fact, when electricity is used in ground source heat pumps, pellet heat is not half the cost of
electric heat, but actually twice the cost of electrical pump heat. Thats because ground source heat pumps
require only 1 unit of electricity to produce about 4 units of heat to the home. Further, most of the heat supplied by
these heat pumps comes for free from a continual supply of clean, renewable solar energy stored in the ground
Sometimes called geothermal heat, this infinite source of thermal energy

stored in the ground is indeed the sleeping giant of low-cost, clean heating
available in Maine. Some detractors claim that although geothermal heat is indeed
the least expensive heat in Maine, it is more expensive to install. However, when
geothermal installations are financed, rather than being paid for as a lump sum up
front, it can be shown that homeowners start saving money the very first day when
they turn on their heat pump. As Mr. Otten points out, northern Europe is way ahead of the United
every day.
States in terms of smart approaches to heating. In addition to pellet stoves and boilers, ground source heat pumps
have been installed in Europe for many years. In fact, currently in Sweden, 85 percent of all new home construction
uses ground source heat pumps for home heating. The remaining 15 percent of new homes are in communities with
centralized district heating, using biofuel. Smart Swedes have no dependence on foreign oil for their domestic
heating, something they started planning for in the 1980s. Geothermal heat pumps low- cost heat is one of the
best-kept secrets in Maine. In fact, installation of these systems started in the Bangor area in the 1970s. Every time
there has been a spike in oil prices, there was a blip in heat pump installations in Maine. This happened in the 70s,
the 80s, the 90s, and again in the early 2000s. In 2008, when oil costs took off, heat pump installations increased
However, the federal 30 percent

tax rebate for geothermal installations from 2009 through 2016 has kept the growth
of heat pump installations alive. Indeed, an exponential growth can be expected this time around,
by some 400 percent, but eased off somewhat as oil prices subsided.
rather than a short-lived blip. The predominant form of ground coupling for geothermal systems in Maine is by
means of a drilled well. Many times the same private well is used by homeowners for their own domestic water.
Maines distributed settlements without town water, its geology, and its overdependence on heating oil make
ground source heat pump heating systems ideally suited to the state. For new residential construction, as in
Sweden, geothermal systems should be the lowest-cost heating technology of choice. Also, for existing dwellings,
the following favorable set of statistics applies: Currently 80 percent of Maine residences heat by oil. This
provides a huge potential geothermal retrofit market. 70 percent of residences are owner-occupied, giving great
incentives to invest in low-cost heat. 50 percent of residences already have their own well for domestic water.
The
average cost of oil in Maine is $3.65 per gallon. Compare this to geothermal heat,
with electricity at 15 cents/kwhr, which would provide the same amount of heat to
the home as would oil at about 93 cents per gallon. As in 2008, there is now clearly a high
Hence, they may have the ground coupling part of their geothermal system already available, and paid for.
motivation to switch from oil to geothermal heat pumps, simultaneously cutting heating bills by about 75 percent
Lets be as smart as the Swedes and use

h3eat pumps to wean ourselves forever from foreign heating oil.
a huge saving by any measure. The message for Mainers is:
Solvency Energy Crisis

Energy Crisis Coming Soon
Coyle and Simmons 3/15/14 [Eugene- Professor in electrical
engineering and a policy research at GPRI. Richard- Engineer
that served a policy fellowship in the state department.
3/15/14. Understanding the Global Energy Crisis. Dublin
Institute of Technology. http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
Energy is everywhere and drives everything . Our modern lives, both individual and societal, have
come to depend on it abundance, convenience, and potential. It is the motive force within our bodies, propelling our
vehicles, lighting our world. Consider a power outage, or a dead cell phone battery; living without energy, for even
ten minutes, demonstrates how indelible its imprint is on daily activities. At the same time, we inhabit an amazing
ecosystem, as resilient as it is fragile. Our energy comes from and returns to a global environment. The world is in a
These tools help us

not only understand the energy and climate context of our world, but allow us to
begin solving its challenges. History has shown that when technology and policy are not aligned or wellpredicament, yet this is no book of gloom and doom, but rather of technology and policy.
proportioned, they fail on their collective promises. But taken together, in an intentional, practical, and coordinated
manner, they can be the stimulus behind a new and far superior energy future. And the world has never needed
Planet Earth is facing an energy crisis owing to an escalation in

global energy demand, continued dependence on fossil-based fuels for energy
generation and transportation, and an increase in world population, exceeding
seven billion people and rising steadily. Excessive burning of fossil fuels is not only depleting natural
that more than it does today.
resources, but is resulting in a steady increase of carbon dioxide emissions, which experts believe is responsible for
increasing average global temperatures. While natural cyclical variations do occur in regional and global climates,
there is now widespread agreement among scientific communities and governments that recent climate change is
accelerating as a result of human intervention and that rapid and profound measures will be required to reduce
harmful impacts. Concentration levels of greenhouse gases are rising steadily and are now greater than at any time
in the past eight hundred thousand years. If concentration levels are not reversed, major changes to the world
climate may result, bringing significant effects on people, industry, and the world economy. The International
Energy Agency (IEA) has outlined critical steps that, if implemented quickly, can help reduce the upward trend in
atmospheric emissions. To reduce traditional fuel use and CO emissions, major countermeasures include increased
energy efficiency and conservation, efforts to advance alternative energy technologies, and efforts to control future
energy demand, The global scope and temporal magnitude of the energy challenge requires that those whose work
and calling is energy-related understand social environments in ways that helps them see beyond their own lived
experiences, customs, and self-interest.
The social environment of today's global energy crisis

is a complex and dynamic environment where the political, economic, and social
systems arc both intra- and interacting; the same issue is different in different places not only because of
geographic differences, but as a consequence of political, economic and social factors constituting the context.
Consider for example nuclear power generation. As described in Case Study 1, nuclear power generation in
Germany, which accounts for just over fifteen percent of that nation's power generation, is being phased out as a
result of public fears over safety. On the other hand, in neighboring France, where nuclear power accounts for over
seventy-five percent of power generation, nuclear power generation is increasing. The drivers for these different
directions in energy policy differ in the two contexts and include social factors such as public opposition in
Germany, economic considerations such as the revenue from energy export in France, and political will. The safety
of nuclear energy is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 7.
Stopping the Energy Crisis is key to prevent economic

collapse
Tverberg 13
[Gail Tverberg- has an M. S. from the University of Illinois, Chicago in

Mathematics, and is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy
of Actuaries. 10/14/13. Our Finite World.Two Views of our Current Economic and Energy Crisis.
http://ourfiniteworld.com/2013/10/14/two-views-of-our-current-economic-and-energy-crisis/] Dressler
Energy is critical to the growth of

human civilization, because all types of goods and services require energy
for their production. Once built infrastructure has been added, energy needs to be of the
specific type used by this infrastructure. Now at a higher cost of extraction, the value
added to economies around the world is lower, leading to lower economic
growth. At some point, not far away, the cost of extraction will exceed the
value that this oil provides to society. At such a point, it will no longer make economic
sense to extract oil. Adding more high-priced oil will lead to economic
contraction, and quite likely, ultimately, collapse. Joseph Tainter in the
Collapse of Complex Societies (1990) tells of many civilizations that
reached declining marginal returns of investment and ultimately
collapsed. The view that the economy is hurtling toward climate change is based on the view that
This story is very different from the Predominant View.
the economy will in fact continue to grow and will continue to extract fossil fuels for the foreseeable
future. If oil and debt are limits that we are hitting right now, we may very well
encounter economic collapse in the near future. Such a collapse will likely cut fossil fuel use
of all kinds very quickly, because of low prices and disruption to systems
Economic collapse causes global nuclear war.

Auslin 9 [Michael, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, and Desmond Lachman, Resident Fellow,
American Enterprise Institute. The Global Economy Unravels. Forbes. http://www.aei.org/article/100187] Dressler
global
chaos followed hard on economic collapse. The mere fact that parliaments
across the globe, from America to Japan, are unable to make responsible,
economically sound recovery plans suggests that they do not know what
to do and are simply hoping for the least disruption. Equally worrisome is
the adoption of more statist economic programs around the globe, and the
concurrent decline of trust in free-market systems. The threat of
instability is a pressing concern. China, until last year the world's fastest growing economy, just
reported that 20 million migrant laborers lost their jobs. Even in the flush times of recent years, China faced
upward of 70,000 labor uprisings a year. A sustained downturn poses grave
and possibly immediate threats to Chinese internal stability . The regime in Beijing
What do these trends mean in the short and medium term? The Great Depression showed how social and
may be faced with a choice of repressing its own people or diverting their energies outward, leading to conflict with
Russia, an oil state completely dependent on energy sales, has had to put down
riots in its Far East as well as in downtown Moscow . Vladimir Putin's rule has been
China's neighbors.
predicated on squeezing civil liberties while providing economic Clargesse. If that devil's bargain falls apart, then
wide-scale repression inside Russia, along with a continuing threatening

posture toward Russia's neighbors, is likely. Even apparently stable
societies face increasing risk and the threat of internal or possibly
external conflict. As Japan's exports have plummeted by nearly 50%, one-third of the country's prefectures
have passed emergency economic stabilization plans. Hundreds of thousands of temporary employees hired during
the first part of this decade are being laid off. Spain's unemployment rate is expected to climb to nearly 20% by the
end of 2010; Spanish unions are already protesting the lack of jobs, and the specter of violence, as occurred in the
Europe as a
whole will face dangerously increasing tensions between native citizens and immigrants,
1980s, is haunting the country. Meanwhile, in Greece, workers have already taken to the streets.
largely from poorer Muslim nations, who have increased the labor pool in the past several decades. Spain has
absorbed five million immigrants since 1999, while nearly 9% of Germany's residents have foreign citizenship,
including almost 2 million Turks. The xenophobic labor strikes in the U.K. do not bode well for the rest of Europe .
A
prolonged global downturn, let alone a collapse, would dramatically raise
tensions inside these countries. Couple that with possible protectionist legislation in the
United States, unresolved ethnic and territorial disputes in all regions of the
globe and a loss of confidence that world leaders actually know what they
are doing. The result may be a series of small explosions that coalesce into
a big bang.
AT: Do Both
Geothermal as baseload energy source should be
independent from fossil fuels lower emissions
Blodgett 4/4 [Leslie, located in Washington DC at the Office of the Geothermal Energy Association and
serves on the Renewable Energy World North America Conference and Expo committee, Geothermal Energy Is a
Superior Solution for Todays Electrical Grids Leslie Blodgett, Renewable Energy World,
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/04/flexibility-benefits-make-geothermal-a-superiorsolution-for-todays-changing-grids?page=all] Yi
In a recent report, the Geothermal Energy Association explored geothermal powers

unique values that make it essential to the U.S. energy mix. These plants have the
same important baseload qualities coal now provides for over two thirds of the
electric power generation in the nation. Geothermal can be a high-value substitute
for baseload fossil fuel or nuclear power plants, providing firm, clean power 24
hours a day regardless of extraneous conditions. As state and national policies
move to significantly reduce climate changing power emissions, geothermal is a
baseload clean energy that can replace baseload fossil fuels at a minimum cost to
the power system, says Karl Gawell, GEAs executive director. Gawell explains that as the grid uses more
variable energy resources, which it most certainly will, the flexibility of geothermal energy is an attribute that
regulators are still learning about. Flexible geothermal can help firm the system, allowing for imbalance, and is
able to provide supplemental reserve, he adds. The U.S. continues to make strides toward a cleaner energy mix
This creates a
geothermal can provide this as well, it
largely through wind and solar contracts to meet goals of state Renewable Portfolio Standards.
greater need for firming power, and although
could get lost in the mix if natural gas becomes a fallback to offset intermittency. In his 2014 State of the Union
address, President Obama called natural gas the bridge fuel that can power our economy with less of the carbon
Geothermal energy, too, provides the same stabilizing

function as natural gas and comes with unique environmental and economic
ancillary benefits. Ancillary services support the transmission of electricity from a supplier to a purchaser and
pollution that causes climate change.
include scheduling and dispatch, reactive power and voltage control, loss compensation, load following, system
A geothermal plant can be engineered to optimize these

services. In most geothermal plants built today, operators can increase or decrease
the amount of power being generated in order to match load requirements such
as making up for gaps caused by intermittency. Geothermal energy and natural gas play a similar
protection, and energy imbalance.
role to the power grid with the capability to dispatch, or to change a facilitys power output by ramping up or down
depending on system needs. Bob Sullivan, VP of Business Development of geothermal company Ormat
Technologies, spoke with GEA staff about geothermal energys ramping capability and how it fits in to broader
energy market discussions. Intermittent technologies have created a significant need for flexible power sources
and other ancillary values such as frequency control and capacity. You dont ramp intermittents but you can
expeditiously ramp geothermal, and of course you can ramp natural gas, he says. Typically
you tend not

be able to ramp nuclear power the little bit we have left or coal, because their efficiencies
go down, their costs go up, and their emissions go up. While both geothermal power and
natural gas are rampable, there are key differences. Geothermal energy dispatchability is
particularly efficient due to: The amortized cost of the fuel source Predictable and
low long-term economics Near-zero emissions Geothermal energys fuel source is the geothermal
fluid. Developers invest upfront when the initial geothermal wells are drilled and then amortized over the life of the
project. Gas, oil, and biomass are all examples of a commodity that must be purchased; the U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA) calculates that geothermal energys fixed fuel cost is a key reason its estimated Levelized Cost
of Electricity, or cost over the lifetime of a plant, is lower than most other forms of energy. An ICF International
report to the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America explains that natural gas has the added complexity of
fuel deliveries at specific times each day, with few modifications allowed. When
a geothermal power
plant ramps or flexes its output, there are no negative impacts on plant operational
costs or negative environmental impacts, Sullivan says. The plants conversion of fuel to electricity
is completely in the control of the plant operator, and changes to electrical output can occur quickly, with up to 30
percent of nominal output per minute. These efficiencies add up to steady geothermal economics, which Heidi
Bethel, Public Relations Manager of Ormat, says represent one of the geothermal industrys little-known benefits.
There seems to be a misconception that natural gas prices are low now and theyre always going to stay low, she
says. If you look at the trends, historically natural gas prices fluctuate greatly. Over the past decade, fuel prices
for natural gas varied from $2.79 per thousand cubic feet to $12.41 per thousand cubic feet, according to EIA.
Winter 2014 saw an increase in demand that resulted in higher prices of around $6.90 per thousand cubic feet and
led California's ISO to issue a state-wide Flex Alert in early February, asking customers to use less energy.
Geothermals dispatching benefits are being used optimally today at Ormats Puna geothermal facility in Hawaii.
The facility was recently expanded with a contract that dedicates eight of its 38 MW to providing flexible capacity
for grid support. To expand our facility, Hawaii Electric Light Company, the utility, needed to be able to dispatch
us to follow electric load, says Sullivan. Though it turns out that were not dispatched down all that much, and
thats because were a low cost provider. This is the only geothermal plant we know of that uses AGC, adds
Sullivan thats Automatic Generation Control. To visualize it, theres a control room at their operation center, so
they basically have control of our 8-MW unit remotely and they can turn it up and turn it down based on the grids
needs, he explains. Its fully completely dispatchable; this is the highest bar when it comes to flexibility values.
Sullivan explains that unexpected changes in the load such as those caused by intermittency can be more dramatic
on an island than on a bigger grid, so the Puna facility can be considered a case study on a micro scale. Puna is
the only plant that has dedicated ancillary services, but the capability exists for most binary geothermal plants built
It may just
take time to see ramping valued, especially in valuing renewable energy
technologies. With most modern gas turbines, there is a marketing push for fast ramping turbines because
in the past decade; sooner or later, developers hope, more markets will catch up to the benefits.
thats what everyone wants; well, geothermal is already there, and we come with the added benefit of being able to
be flexible without the CO2, says Sullivan. Recently a Wisconsin geologist with a career in the oil and gas and
portland cement industries approached the GEA explaining his interest in geothermal energy: Arguing
for
renewables, particularly geothermal, is justifiable in itself when carbon-based fuels
are the primary cause of the Earth's present climatic imbalance. The worsening
consequences of climate change are manifesting in extreme weather events that have devastated communities as
Carbon
reductions will need to reach as much as 80%, leaving little room to spare ; the Union of
diverse as the Eastern Shore of the United States and the Leyte geothermal area of the Philippines.
Concerned Scientists and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that the natural gas share of
So, natural gas is often

viewed as a bridge fuel, but when geothermal is used optimally in the places where
its available now, it provides environmental savings at zero or near-zero emissions
electric sector CO2 emissions grew from 15 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2012.
(see Table 2 below from GEAs report, The Values of Geothermal Energy). In some of those places, the problem
remains that systems arent set up to take advantage of the technology benefits. In
California, for
example, the contracts right now are not set up correctly; thats not to say it wont
be fixed in the future, says Sullivan. Californias system ignores geothermal flexibility as
well as other positive values it can offer to the grid, including its role as a nonintermittent baseload power source and its other significant ancillary benefits including frequency
control. Yet Californias Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area represents one of the greatest opportunities
for new geothermal energy development in the U.S. The states Renewable Energy Credit (REC) program and
geothermal governance will be further explored in an upcoming article in this series on the values of geothermal
energy. See also a new report on the state of geothermal energy in California.
Politics NB Helpers - Popular

Geothermal Popular countries increasing development
Meyers 4/26 [Glenn, Managing Director at FTI Consulting and is based in New
York. He specializes in the application of economic, financial and statistical analysis
to issues arising in commercial disputes, regulatory policy formulation and
enforcement, and corporate strategic planning, received his Ph.D. in economics,
with Honors, at Columbia University, where he was a Herbert H. Lehman Fellow;
received his B.A. degree in economics, cum laude, at Columbia College, Global
Geothermal Market Is Growing, Clean Technica,
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/04/26/global-geothermal-market-growing/] Yi
A new report from the Geothermal
Energy Association (GEA), released [this week] at the organizations International
Geothermal Showcase in Washington, D.C., reveals the international power market
is booming, with a sustained growth rate of 4% to 5%. The 2014 Annual U.S. & Global
New GEA Report Details Trends in Global Geothermal Market
Geothermal Power Production Report finds almost 700 projects currently under development in 76 countries.
Threats caused by climate change and the need for a renewable energy source that can satisfy both firm and
flexible grid needs are among the key factors driving the international community to invest in geothermal power.
International geothermal market growth was up, while stateside growth held steady;
85 MW of the total global 530 MW of new geothermal capacity in 2013 was in the
U.S., according to the new GEA report. U.S. growth was flat because of policy barriers, gridlock at the federal level,
low natural gas prices and inadequate transmission infrastructure. While there was a modest downturn in
the Industry Update also underscores the tremendous untapped

potential for geothermal energy, said GEA Executive Director Karl Gawell. According to the report, the
capacity additions,
geothermal industry was working on 977MW of new capacity (Planned Capacity Additions or PCAs) at sites that
U.S.
additions in Utah, Nevada, California, and New Mexico kept the industry on the map
domestically in 2013, and future growth looks promising . The geothermal resource base is
still largely untapped, noted Ben Matek, GEAs Industry Analyst. With new initiatives in Nevada,
California and Oregon moving to recognize the values of geothermal power, we are
optimistic that state policies could spark another period of growth in geothermal power
over the next decade, he added. In 2013, 25 pieces of legislation in 13 U.S. states were enacted
hold over 3,092MW of power potential in eight western states, the GEA report indicates (see Figure 7).
specifically to address geothermal power and heating systems, creating a foundation for the environment needed to
foster geothermal growth in these states. Past evidence shows successful policy initiatives have translated into
growth; in Nevada, for example, which leads the way as one of the most business-friendly environments, the
number of developing projects (45) more than doubles that of California (25). The Salton Sea Resource Area is a
new initiative of California that could be a significant source of growth for the U.S. geothermal power industry if
several policy barriers are overcome in the near term. The Imperial Irrigation District has pledged to build up to
1,700 MW of geothermal power by the early 2030s at the Salton Sea. If successful, this initiative could increase the
nameplate capacity of the U.S. by 50% over the next 20 years. Elsewhere in the U.S., the Public Utility
Commissions in Nevada and Oregon recently created potentially beneficial opportunities for geothermal power,
while the Washington State Assembly clarified confusing legislation. New Mexico debuted its first geothermal power
plant in 2013, with work by Cyrq Energy, and the state showed legislative support for future projects when it passed
H.B 85. The legislation matches federal royalty rates and requires geothermal resources be managed as renewable
resources. In Alaska, the City of Akutan is supporting a promising project, which may lead to the states first utilityscale geothermal power plant. Some myths have surfaced that geothermal power is reaching its potential capacity
in states like California and Nevada. These states still have a significant amount of known untapped potential that
could be used domestically or exported to surrounding states. Overall, GEA estimates about 50% of Californias
significant geothermal
development growth is expected over the next few years. In East Africa, Kenya and
known resources, 60% of Nevadas, and 60% of Utahs are still untapped. Globally,
Ethiopia are building power plants greater than 100 MW. For comparison the average
size of a geothermal power plant in the U.S. is about 25 MW. South American nations such as
Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Honduras have significant potential, but are in the early stages of identifying their
The GEA estimates that Chile is actively developing 50 projects and

prospects. These are only a sampling of the vast increases globally; looking at the numbers in Figure 2 of the
resources.
new GEA report, there could be a time in the near future when the United States is no longer the world leader in
geothermal energy production. For instance, the U.S. has about 1,000 MW in the pipeline and 3,400 MW nameplate
capacity for a total of 4,400 MW. Meanwhile, Indonesia has 4,400 MW of planned capacity additions announced in
the pipeline alone. In terms of established nameplate capacity, the U.S. (with a total in 2013 of 3,442 MW) still
outpaces the Philippines (1,904 MW in 2013) and Indonesia (1,333 MW), the worlds second and third ranked
Representatives from 34 countries [came] together at the

GEA Geothermal Showcase this week in Washington DC. Showcase participants
represented more than half of all geothermal projects worldwide. Together, these
projects could mean over 10,000 MW of new geothermal power and would represent
around $45 billion in new investment. At the Showcase, GEA will host a media availability with
geothermal energy producers.
geothermal industry leaders at 12:15pm ET to discuss the release of GEAs new, consolidated annual update on the
U.S. and international geothermal industries, as well as geothermal trends and governmental policies in the U.S.
and around the world.
Geothermal Popular safe from storms, widely implemented

Gregor 12 [Alison, Freelance Writer at The New York Times, Barnard College BA,
English, Philosophy, Writing, Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism
MS, Journalism, International Affairs, Geothermal Designs Arise as a Stormproof
Resource, The New York Times, 11/6,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/business/geothermal-energy-advocates-hopesystems-get-a-second-look.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0] Yi
Advocates for geothermal energy say that the path of destruction cut by Hurricane
Sandy, which unearthed fuel tanks, ravaged cooling towers and battered air-conditioners, has already
persuaded some building owners to switch to geothermal systems that use
underground pipes to harness the earths energy for heating and cooling buildings.
Were seeing dozens of these half-empty and empty oil tanks just popping up all
over the place in the flooded areas, said David E. Reardon, the manager of geothermal drilling for the
Miller Environmental Group, an environmental response, remediation and restoration services company based in
Calverton on Long Island that has been involved in poststorm environmental cleanup throughout the region.
since geothermal systems dont use

fossil fuels or mechanical systems that are exposed to the elements , Mr. Reardon said, he
started fielding calls from people asking for estimates on geothermal systems just days
after the storm. Often its a case where they were considering doing it, but were waiting for something to
Those tanks become buoyant in all that water, he said. But
finally no longer be able to be repaired, he said, and the storm has ended that wait. Geothermal energy systems,
common in countries like Iceland and China, use the constant temperature of the earth to heat and cool buildings.
Geothermal wells are dug to a depth where the earth regulates the temperature of water or a liquid circulating
through the system. Geothermal systems may require one well or dozens to regulate a buildings temperature,
depending on the size of a building and type of system installed. While the systems are called wells, they are
actually an underground network of pipes connected to heat pumps to circulate water or some other liquid.
Because digging geothermal wells can be expensive and logistically difficult, the
systems have been slow to catch on in New York City . Yet, according to the Rockefeller
Foundation and DB Climate Change Advisors, buildings consume approximately 40 percent of
the worlds primary energy and are responsible for 40 percent of global carbon
emissions, said Jack DiEnna, the executive director of the Geothermal Heat Pump National and International
Initiative, based in Washington. Installing a geothermal system can significantly reduce a
buildings carbon footprint, and over the last decade, the number of geothermal
heat pump systems in the city has grown steadily. More geothermal systems are
installed in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania than anywhere else in the
United States. Most systems are being installed in institutional buildings, multifamily residential buildings and
relatively small commercial buildings. There have been systems installed by several prominent organizations and
sites in the city, including the American Institute of Architects, the Times Square TKTS Booth, the Brooklyn
Childrens Museum, the Queens Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo Lion House. In some of the outer boroughs and
the suburbs, geothermal systems for single-family homes are also becoming more popular. In all, more than 100
geothermal projects are in operation in the five boroughs, and about 90 percent of those projects are what are
known as closed loop vertical bore systems, Mr. DiEnna said. A closed loop system is sealed from the ground and
liquids are reused within the system, while an open loop system has discharge water it releases into a ground well
or surface water. Because building sites in the city, particularly Manhattan, tend to be small, the wells tend to be
vertical, just like the buildings. Manhattan is not an ideal location for geothermal heat pump systems, because the
wells must go so deep to depths of roughly 1,500 feet to reach the volume of land necessary to provide a
constant temperature. In other areas with more available land, a geothermal heat pump system can be more
larger scale geothermal

projects known as enhanced geothermal systems have raised serious concerns
spread out and much shallower, making it less costly to dig. Elsewhere,
because these larger power-production projects involve drilling wells down to tens of thousands of feet and
fracturing the bedrock so water can be injected to create steam. A few years ago, a project in Switzerland was shut
down after it caused small earthquakes, and another project in Northern California was also stopped because of
similar concerns. But the static, small-scale geothermal heat pump systems installed in the New York area bear little
relation to these projects, said Daniel P. Schrag, a professor of geology and director of the Center for the
Environment at Harvard. These
are a totally different thing, he said. These are very

shallow systems that dont involve pumping huge volumes of water in, creating
steam and fracturing the rock. Even so, to help maintain the geological integrity of the earth, most
municipalities closely regulate well drilling, especially for wells dug below 500 feet, Mr. DiEnna said. Manhattan is
not the most ideal space for geothermal, he said. But the other four boroughs offer many opportunities to install
this renewable technology. In New York, the biggest obstacle currently to geothermal energy is the initial cost,
which can be more significant than a traditional furnace replacement, said Daniel Goodwin, a mechanical engineer
with the Miller Environmental Group. However, Mr. Goodwin pointed out that since geothermal systems both heat
and cool, they can replace not just the heating system but the cooling system as well. It makes the most sense to
install a geothermal system in new construction, especially given state incentives and federal tax credits for
geothermal, he said. If youre retrofitting a building, its going to be an initial cost, Mr. Goodwin said. But from a
new construction standpoint, when you look at the numbers and the tax credits and things out there, it really
becomes a no-brainer. But even a retrofit can quickly make economic sense. At the Brooklyn Childrens Museum,
That initial cost

was hefty, but is being offset by savings on energy costs . The museum was initially
paying $200,000 annually for heating, cooling and electricity in its 50,000-squarefoot building with conventional methods. With the installation of the geothermal
system, it was able to expand to 110,000 square feet and provide energy to the
additional 60,000 square feet for only $50,000 more. Donald Cramer, the museums
chief operating and finance officer, called the geothermal system very successful
and extremely efficient.
an open loop geothermal system with four wells was installed in 2007 at a cost of $675,000.
Aff Answers
Geothermal in NV fails government funding intervention
Markay 11 [Lachlan, DC-based political reporter, primarily covering energy and environmental issues,
cronyism and political corruption, currently a reporter at the Washington Free Beacon, previously worked at the
Heritage Foundation, where he co-founded and reported for the think tanks first newsgathering operation, Is Harry
Reid-Backed Nevada Geothermal the Next Solyndra?, Heritage Foundation, 10/3,
http://dailysignal.com/2011/10/03/is-harry-reid-backed-nevada-geothermal-the-next-solyndra/] Yi
This project is exactly the type of initiative we need to ensure Nevada creates
good-paying jobs, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said of a geothermal plant to be
built in his home state. A year and a half and $145 million in taxpayer financing
later, and the company that built the plant is in dire financial straits. A recent audit by
Deloitte & Touche expressed significant doubt about Nevada Geothermal Powers ability to continue as a going
The companys vital signs are not looking good: it has incurred net losses over the
past several years, has an accumulated deficit of $44.0 million and an anticipated
inability to retire its long-term liabilities , the audit concluded. Nevada Geothermal
enjoyed significant backing from the federal government. It received a $79 million
loan guarantee from the same Energy Department program that helped finance the
failed solar company Solyndra. It also got $66 million in federal grants from the
Treasury Department. Reid was instrumental in securing that financing for Nevada Geothermal, the New
concern.
York Times reported on Monday. Mr. Reid has taken the nascent geothermal industry under his wing, the Times
noted, pressuring the Department of Interior to move more quickly on applications to build clean energy projects
on federally owned land and urging other member of Congress to expand federal tax incentives to help build
geothermal plants, benefits that Nevada Geothermal has taken advantage of. The Times noted some similarities
to Solyndra, which also received financing thorough the Treasury and DOE, but missed the essential political
Nevada Geothermal case speaks less to cronyism or corruption in the federal

more to the inadvisability of government intervention in the market.
The parallels between [Nevada Geothermal and Solyndra] illustrate the risk
inherent in building the clean energy marketplace in the United States , government
takeaway: the
government, and
officials and industry experts say, the Times wrote. Indeed, the loan guarantee program exists precisely because
none of these ventures are a sure bet. That is correct, but the fact underscores a point Heritages Nick Loris has
made: This is precisely why the Department of Energy should not be engaged in loan guarantees or any other sort
of private capital allocation. It is not a financial institution. Its leadership is political, by design, and it has no
experience in assessing financial risk as it relates to commercial projects. As the Times notes, government
financing mechanisms are set up because the ventures they fund are too risky for private investors. As fewer
projects are weeded out by the natural risk-reward calculations, the inevitable result is more Solyndras and more
Nevada Geothermals. A Reid spokesman quoted by the Times made a similar point: If projects like this did not
contain a certain level of risk, alongside their enormous potential for creating jobs and generating clean energy,
there would be no need for the bipartisan loan guarantee program, the spokesman said. Of course if anticipated
Government
intervention in the market, by its nature, distorts the risk-reward calculations that
guide private investors. When taxpayers assume some of the risk for these green energy projects,
returns were high enough to outweigh that risk, there would also be no need for the program.
investors are easier to come by but the risk itself is not diminished, its just shifted onto taxpayers. As for green
energys enormous potential for creating jobs, DOEs latest batch of loan guarantees will create 283 jobs in the
renewable energy sector at $23 million apiece. Hence, it is telling how the administration has chosen to define
success for the Nevada Geothermal plant: The Blue Mountain power plant is up and running, generating clean,
renewable power and has been consistently making its loan payments on time and in full, a DOE spokesperson
said. Theres nothing in there about employment. Success is defined by green energy generation, not job creation.
Cant solve geothermal not completely renewable

Conser 13 [Alexander, Recent graduate of The College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law.
Well experienced in legal research and writing. Experienced in land management work, in addition to legal work,
Double Dipping: Utilizing Oil Wells for Geothermal Energy, William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review,
http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1580&context=wmelpr] Yi
While it is certainly
true that geothermal energy is a clean energy, and at the very least sustainable , it
seems apparent that geothermal energy is not, in fact, entirely renewable . While it
appears that the naturally occurring heat within the Earth is renewable, the natural
fluids used to "transport" that heat are not . Since those fluids are the resource captured to
actually produce geothermal energy, if they run out so does the natural geothermal
energy production capacity. But the important question is how quickly does this depletion occur, and is it
reversible? One major example of the potential for geothermal depletion can be found in the United States. It
appears that the United States first geothermal electric plants in The Geysers are
currently suffering from diminished production capacity . Electricity production at The
Geysers has dropped from 2098 MW in 1989 to 936 MW in 2004; that is a loss of
more than half of The Geysers' peak capacity. This reduction is in part due to the decommissioning
of several of the production units, but "a reduction in steam production due to 'too many
straws sucking from the reservoir' and only about 20% of the produced fluid being
injected back into the reservoir" is the main culprit. However, part of the problem may reveal the
Geothermal energy is often classified and discussed as a renewable energy resource.
solution. Since the depletion of geothermal resources results from the depletion of existing hot fluid reservoirs,
electricity producers have begun pumping their own fluids down into the empty reservoirs to be heated. This
process involves simply injecting water into the natural reservoirs and fractures where the original fluids were
contained and allowing the hot rocks to heat it up. One example of the process is currently being employed at The
Geysers, where owners have created the Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project, which brings in treated wastewater
and pumps it underground to replenish the fluid reserves of the geothermal field. However, while this method may
be used to replenish lost resources, producers may still need to be careful about how often they employ this tactic.
While geothermal heat is nearly infinitely renewable over time, even the hot rock
formations in existence could be depleted if too much cool water is pumped below
the surface to be heated. Additionally, since it is apparent that geothermal heat may be accessed by
pumping fluids artificially into the surface of the Earth, it is also theoretically possible to pump fluids into hot rock
formations where heated fluids previously did not exist. Indeed, this process is exactly what some energy providers
are beginning to employ.
Cant solve dependence on oil need to incentivize

geothermal to complement oil and gas companies
Conser 13 [Alexander, Recent graduate of The College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of
Law. Well experienced in legal research and writing. Experienced in land management work, in addition to legal
work, Double Dipping: Utilizing Oil Wells for Geothermal Energy, William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy
Review, http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1580&context=wmelpr] Yi
In the public sphere there has been much focus on utilizing sustainable energy
resources, and while it will not solve our dependence on fossil fuels, geothermal
energy does present one promising option for lessening society's dependence on oil and natural
gas. The federal government and numerous states, recognizing the promise of geothermal energy, have enacted a
variety of legal systems to regulate geothermal resources. However, while these existing legal systems
might be able to handle geothermal resource production when it is accomplished using existing subterranean fluids,
are ill-equipped to handle production methodologies utilizing fluid injection and

existing oil and gas wells. A few alterations or modifications to existing geothermal resource laws can help
they
solve the problem in these situations. By designing a statutory system which classifies "hot dry rock" geothermal
By
placing oil and gas commissions in charge of the conversion/application process for
producing geothermal energy from oil and gas mineral rights grants, it becomes less
resources as minerals, the controlling regulatory and ownership principles will become more accurate and clear.
of a hassle for oil producers to secure geothermal rights, incentivizing their

utilization of that resource. And finally, by creating statutory mechanisms that
specifically allow for the easy addition of a geothermal production permit to an oil
and gas permit, oil companies will not have to worry (and be dissuaded by) extra hoops
and unclear statutory methods of such conversions . Indeed, by enacting these few simple
changes to the way laws regulate geothermal energy, the U.S. can boost its geothermal energy production by
incentivizing parties who already have the means to produce geothermal energy to begin producing.
Geothermal Energy isnt worth it, too many issues

Coyle and Simmons 3/15/14 [Eugene- Professor in electrical
engineering and a policy research at GPRI. Richard- Engineer
that served a policy fellowship in the state department.
3/15/14. Understanding the Global Energy Crisis. Dublin
Institute of Technology. http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
One of the restrictions of energy produced from geothermal
sources relates to the fact that heat cannot be transported
easily from one point to another. In fact, distribution of heat over
distances greater than about thirty kilometers is difficult . Hence, it is
preferable to consume the energy generated close to the point
of generation. Such concentrated usage is possible; for
example in cold climates, household and business district
heating schemes generate sufficient loads in regions of high
population density. By way of an example, for a region with a
population density greater than 350 people per square
kilometer (equating to more 100 premises per square
kilometer), a 100 MWth geothermal plant might serve a twenty
kilometer square area with energy of approximately two
kilowatts per premise." Such geothermal facilities are
operational in Iceland and on a smaller scale in New Zealand.
Other applications are for glasshouse heating (one example is
an installation in northern Europe at 60 MWth/knr). fish
farming, food drying, and factory processes.5* The primary
cost in a geothermal energy project is capital cost, principally
for drilling of boreholes. Costs of drilling increase exponentially with depth.
Since temperature increases with depth, and the value of the energy increases with
temperature, there exists an economic optimum borehole depth
of approximately 5 km. As a result, the scale of the energy

supply output is usually greater than 100 MW (supply of
electricity and heat for high temperatures; heat only for low
temperatures). Reinjection of the partially cooled water from
the heat exchanger can be used as a mechanism to increase

the total amount of heat extracted from the geothermal
source. This has the added benefit of disposing of water with
increased solutes concentration (of about 25 kg/m') and other
pollutants that may be present. However, there is an extra cost
associated with this process.
Economic collapse doesnt cause war
Bazzi et al., UCSD economics department, 2011
(Samuel, Economic Shocks and Conflict:

The (Absence of?) Evidence from Commodity Prices, November,
http://www.chrisblattman.com/documents/research/2011.EconomicShocksAndConflicl.pdf?9d7bd4, ldg)
VI. Discussion and conclusions A. Implications for our theories of political instability and conflict The state is not a prize?Warlord
politics and the state prize logic lie at the center of the most influential models of conflict, state development, and political
we see no evidence for this idea in economic

shocks, even when looking at the friendliest cases: fragile and unconstrained states
dominated by extractive commodity revenues. Indeed, we see the opposite
correlation: if anything, higher rents from commodity prices weakly 22 lower
the risk and length of conflict. Perhaps shocks are the wrong test. Stocks of resources could matter more
transitions in economics and political science. Yet
than price shocks (especially if shocks are transitory). But combined with emerging evidence that war onset is no more likely even
with rapid increases in known oil reserves (Humphreys 2005; Cotet and Tsui 2010) we regard the state prize logic of war with
skepticism.17 Our main political economy models may need a new engine. Naturally, an absence of evidence cannot be taken for
evidence of absence. Many of our conflict onset and ending results include sizeable positive and negative effects.18 Even so,
commodity price shocks are highly influential in income and should provide a rich source of identifiable variation in instability. It is
difficult to find a better-measured, more abundant, and plausibly exogenous independent variable than price volatility.
Moreover, other time-varying variables, like rainfall and foreign aid, exhibit robust
correlations with conflict in spite of suffering similar empirical drawbacks and
generally smaller sample sizes (Miguel et al. 2004; Nielsen et al. 2011). Thus we take the absence
of evidence seriously. Do resource revenues drive state capacity?State prize models assume that rising revenues raise
the value of the capturing the state, but have ignored or downplayed the effect of revenues on self-defense. We saw that a growing
empirical political science literature takes just such a revenue-centered approach, illustrating that resource boom times permit both
payoffs and repression, and that stocks of lootable or extractive resources can bring political order and stability. This countervailing
effect is most likely with transitory shocks, as current revenues are affected while long term value is not. Our findings are partly
consistent with this state capacity effect. For example, conflict intensity is most sensitive to changes in the extractive commodities
rather than the annual agricultural crops that affect household incomes more directly. The relationship only holds for conflict
intensity, however, and is somewhat fragile. We do not see a large, consistent or robust decline in conflict or coup risk when prices
fall. A reasonable interpretation is that the state prize and state capacity effects are either small or tend to cancel one another out.
Opportunity cost: Victory by default?Finally, the inverse relationship between prices and war intensity is consistent with
opportunity cost accounts, but not exclusively so. As we noted above, the relationship between intensity and extractive commodity
prices is more consistent with the state capacity view. Moreover, we shouldnt mistake an inverse relation between individual
aggression and incomes as evidence for the opportunity cost mechanism. The same correlation is consistent with psychological
theories of stress and aggression (Berkowitz 1993) and sociological and political theories of relative deprivation and anomie (Merton
1938; Gurr 1971). Microempirical work will be needed to distinguish between these mechanisms. Other reasons for a null result.
Ultimately, however, the fact that commodity price shocks have no discernible effect on
new conflict onsets, but some effect on ongoing conflict, suggests that political stability might be
less sensitive to income or temporary shocks than generally believed . One possibility is
that successfully mounting an insurgency is no easy task. It comes with considerable risk, costs, and coordination challenges.
Another possibility is that the counterfactual is still conflict onset. In poor and fragile nations, income shocks of one type or another
If a nation is so fragile that a change in prices could lead to war,

then other shocks may trigger war even in the absence of a price shock. The
are ubiquitous.
same argument has been made in debunking the myth that price shocks led to fiscal collapse and low growth in developing nations
these findings should heighten our

concern with publication bias in the conflict literature. Our results run against a
number of published results on commodity shocks and conflict, mainly because of select
in the 1980s.19 B. A general problem of publication bias? More generally,
samples, misspecification, and sensitivity to model assumptions, and, most

importantly, alternative measures of instability . Across the social and hard sciences, there is a concern
that the majority of published research findings are false (e.g. Gerber et al. 2001). Ioannidis (2005) demonstrates that a
published finding is less likely to be true when there is a greater number and lesser
pre-selection of tested relationships; there is greater flexibility in designs,
definitions, outcomes, and models; and when more teams are involved in the chase
of statistical significance. The cross-national study of conflict is an extreme case of
all these. Most worryingly, almost no paper looks at alternative dependent variables or
publishes systematic robustness checks. Hegre and Sambanis (2006) have shown that the majority of
published conflict results are fragile, though they focus on timeinvariant regressors and not the time-varying shocks that have grown
in popularity. We are also concerned there is a file drawer problem (Rosenthal 1979). Consider this decision rule: scholars that
discover robust results that fit a theoretical intuition pursue the results; but if results are not robust the scholar (or referees) worry
about problems with the data or empirical strategy, and identify additional work to be done. If further analysis produces a robust
the consequences are dire: a lower

threshold of evidence for initially significant results than ambiguous ones.20
result, it is published. If not, back to the file drawer. In the aggregate,
Oil Dependence - CP #2
1NC Biofuels CP
Text: The United States federal government should increase its
subsidization of sustainable biofuels, including cellulosic
ethanol, in order to ensure energy security.
Biofuels solve energy securityincreased federal subsidization
is key to industry growth
Caldwell, 10 [Jake, Director of Policy for Agriculture, Trade and Energy at
American Progress, Taking biofuels to the next level, ThinkProgress, 5/3,
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/04/29/205883/taking-biofuels-to-the-nextlevel/] Sussman
There is no question that the United States must reduce its dependence
on oil. One-fifth of the oil consumed in the United States is imported from nations that are dangerous or unstable for travelers,
according to the State Department. And since surface transportation is responsible for 65 percent of oil use in the United States, this
task will require us to meet the challenge of oil use in the transportation sector head-on. We will need to employ a variety of
important measures to reduce oil use, including significantly more efficient fuel economy standards, investments in public
transportation and high-speed rail, and smart growth development efforts. The production and use of alternative fuels, including
natural gas and advanced biofuels, are also key components of a strategy to diversify our sources of energy for transportation. And
each of these steps, taken together, can increase energy independence by

reducing oil use by millions of barrels. President Obama and his administration, including Secretaries
Thomas Vilsack and Steven Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, have demonstrated great
leadership in promoting the production of advanced biofuels in a more innovative and efficient manner, while ensuring that we
The
current generation of biofuels producers, the advanced biofuels industry,
Congress, and the Obama administration should work together to promote
this important energy sector with the following policy goals and
recommendations: Support sustainable biofuels. Bring advanced,
cellulosic biofuels made from agricultural waste, wood chips, or dedicated
energy crops such as switchgrass produced in rural America to commercial
scale on as rapid a timetable as possible. Ensure a stable long-term market
for advanced biofuels by making investments in the infrastructure needs
of the current generation of biofuels. Push for comprehensive, bipartisan clean energy and climate
legislation in Congress that establishes a price on carbon pollution. The biofuels industry must raise its
visibility and high-level support for federal clean energy and climate
legislation. An economywide price on carbon will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reinforce a predictable price
maintain the existing infrastructure for the current generation of biofuels. Yet there is still much more work to be done.
signal that will drive innovation and investment to produce cleaner fuels, create jobs, and deliver more renewable energy from rural
communities. Increase support for the current national Renewable Fuel Standard. The RFS II will require better funding and
interagency strategic implementation of the program, particularly regarding its emphasis on rewarding biofuels performance
Congress should also ensure that legislative definitions of

renewable biomass adhere to certifiable environmental and land use
safeguards on ecologically valuable and vulnerable public and private
lands and provide a means to measure lifecycle greenhouse gas
reductions. Support loan guarantees for the construction and deployment
of advanced biofuel refineries. The U.S. Department of Agricultures
Biomass Crop Assistance Program has in the recent past been the sole federal source of loan guarantees
characteristics.
to develop, construct, and retrofit commercial-scale advanced biorefineries attempting to produce cellulosic biofuels at commercial
should receive an additional $300 million toward this goal. This

core funding will allow the program to issue loan guarantees for
biorefinery projects established primarily in rural communities. Provide incentives to farmers
to begin growing advanced biofuel crops. The USDAs Biomass Crop
Assistance Program provides funding to producers and farmers of renewable energy crops of up to 75 percent of the
cost of establishing the energy crop and annual payments for up to 15 years for crop production, and should receive
additional support. Encourage farmer-owned and farmer-operated
biorefinery and biofuel plant cooperatives and biomass enterprise zones.
levels, and it
Direct producer payments and other targeted incentives can help farmers engaged in the establishment of farmer and locally owned
biorefineries and biofuel facilities, but should be temporary and phased out over a 10-year period, and should have majority local
Farmers will also need technical and financial assistance to

encourage them to pool resources and enter into larger biomass
enterprise zones that would maximize economies of scale and regional
geographic proximity. Biomass enterprise zones could facilitate the co-location of biomass growing, production, and
ownership.
processing. And marketing alliances could encourage collaboration on facility construction, storage, and transportation
Dedicate $300 million for five

USDA regional feedstock research centers. These research centers will
ensure appropriate biofuel feedstocks and supply chains are available in
different regions of the country, and support other Department of Energy
bioenergy and biomass programs. Biomass growers are primarily located in rural areas, and the costs of
infrastructure to enable biobased products to enter the retail market efficiently.
collecting and transporting biomass means that many production facilities are also in these communities, providing jobs and raising
The United States should gradually begin the

phase down of the current 54 cent-per-gallon tariff on imported biofuels
as Congress and RFS II provide a mandate for the biofuels industry to
reach 36 billion gallons by 2022. All countries must take reciprocal action to remove trade restrictions on
sustainable biofuels. Spur consumer demand and retail infrastructure. The United
States must create requirements and strong incentives to make biofuel
blends reliably available at filling stations by promoting the installation of
new blender fuel pumps and distribution infrastructure that allow drivers
to choose between traditional 100 percent gasoline blends and 85 percent
biofuel blends. It should increase renewable fuel infrastructure grants to $100 million in each fiscal year. Mobilize
regional revenues. Import tariff phase down.
government purchasing power. The federal government spends more than $230 billion annually on products and services and is a
major consumer of transportation fuels. The United States should fully implement the existing Farm Bill biobased purchasing
program to use the governments purchasing power to increase market demand for biobased fuels and products. Biofuels and other
types of biobased energy are not the only solution to all of the worlds energy and transportation challenges. We also need an array
of energy sources from sun, wind, geothermal, and other renewable technologies. Most importantly, we need comprehensive, clean
energy and climate legislation that puts a price on carbon pollution, and will allow sustained private and public investment in
with the right safeguards, biofuels can play a direct

role in diversifying our energy sources and contribute to cutting our oil
dependence, enhancing our national security, and spurring economic
growth and development, particularly in rural communities.
renewable energy and cleaner fuels. But
Solvency Oil Dependence

Biofuels solve oil dependence besta clean domestic energy
portfolio is key
Morby, 9 [Joshua, executive director of the Wisconsin Bio Industry Alliance,
ENERGY PORTFOLIO MUST INCLUDE ETHANOL, The Capital Times, 6/27, L/N]
Sussman
This Fourth of July must represent America's push for a new kind of
independence -- energy independence. We need to break from one of the
greatest oppressive forces facing Americans today and declare next week Energy
Independence Week. Achieving energy independence won't be an easy task, but will
require the same tenacity and strength that Americans have shown in the past. It
will take hard work, innovation, investment, conservation, collaboration and
patience. It will require that we change to a more diversified energy
portfolio of clean, domestically produced alternative fuels that will help
reduce greenhouse gases while lowering our dependence on foreign oil.
Consumers must stand up and unify in demanding that we find clean,
renewable solutions to our dependence on expensive petroleum. High
worldwide demand, political conflicts and the far-reaching economic crisis
are putting pressure on our limited supply of fossil fuels and driving up
prices. Unfortunately, today 40 percent of our energy comes from
petroleum and 22 percent is derived from coal. That adds up to more than
$1 billion a day spent by the U.S. on imported oil. It's an expensive habit, and
our inability to work together to find viable solutions to our dependence on fossil
fuels is adding up quickly. Biofuels remain the only current viable fuel
alternative, despite headlines splashed with anti-ethanol sentiments. To secure a
future of energy independence, we must create a more diversified
portfolio, one that includes ethanol. Wisconsin is on pace to produce 500
million gallons of ethanol a year right here in our own state. We are helping to lead
the way to American independence by producing a clean, renewable fuel
alternative. Ethanol production in Wisconsin is helping to remove our
dependency from foreign oil while providing jobs and strengthening
Wisconsin's economy. The average 40-million-gallon ethanol plant creates 32 fulltime jobs and provides an extra $1.2 million in tax revenue for a community. In
2008, ethanol displaced more than 300 million barrels of imported oil. This
is the equivalent of not importing any oil for 33 days. Developing clean
alternative fuels and renewable energy and improving energy efficiency
must remain at the forefront of our domestic agenda. In 2010, using
domestically produced oil and ethanol only, American consumers could drive for
185 days without using foreign oil or to July 4, 2010 ndsh Energy Independence Day.
But this is far from enough. The situation is too urgent to allow corporate
and political self-interest to prevent us from progress. We must end the
finger pointing and band together in the fight for energy independence. To
do this, we must turn our support to ethanol and biofuels. Together, we
can work to provide a clean, renewable form of energy that will help us to
find our energy independence.
Biofuels are key to energy independencethey allow for a

more diversified energy portfolio
Hoagland, 14 [Kolby, Program & Data Manager for BBI International, Has
Energy Independence Lost its Luster for Biofuels? Biomass Magazine, 4/4,
http://biomassmagazine.com/blog/article/2014/04/has-energy-independence-lost-itsluster-for-biofuels] Sussman
Yes. The U.S. continues to import 150 billion gallons of petroleum products
per year from numerous countries, many of whom remain hostile to the U.S.
and its allies. The amount of petroleum imported is enormous when
compared to the current market penetration of the existing biofuel
industry. For example, the current capacity of the fuel ethanol sector in the U.S.
represents roughly 10% of total imports of oil on a gallon per gallon basis. There
remains a large quantity of petroleum products from foreign origins that biofuels
can and should displace in the domestic market. Yes, we are producing greater
quanties of domestic oil. However, oil from fracking has a shorter well life,
and do we want to invest our energy future in an unproven source in
regards to longevity? A diversified energy portfolio is the wisest decision,
and biofuels have a strong role to play to ensure that our energy future is
secure. I will acknowledge that using the energy independence angle to promote
biofuels has lost its luster, but it has not lost its relevance. We should continue to
cite volumes of imported oil that the U.S. will continue to depend upon
unless we replace those quantities with biofuels, particularly the
advanced biofuels that are now coming online at a commercial scale. We
must argue for a diversified portfolio that includes greater quantities of
biofuels and rids us from an all-our-eggs-in-one-basket scenario with
fracking. Beyond energy independence, domestic biofuels still have rural economic
development, lower carbon rating, less hazardous, and greater economic growth
opportunities as pro-biofuel argument. Society (particularly the media) has a
tendency to follow whats trending and lose sight of the the less dazzling facts.
Fortunately, the data shows that there is still a significant role for biofuels
to play in making the U.S. more energy independent.
Biofuels are the best option for a petroleum substitute

Demirbas, 9 [Ayhan, professor at Sila Science and Energy, Biofuels securing
the planets future energy needs, Energy Conservation and Management,
ScienceDirect] Sussman
Liquid biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel may offer a promising alternative.
Because of increase in petroleum prices especially after petrol crisis in
1973 and then gulf war in 1991, geographically reduced availability of
petroleum and more stringent governmental regulations on exhaust
emissions, researchers have studied on alternative fuels and alternative

solution methods. The use of biofuels decreases the external energy
dependence, promotion of regional engineering, increased R&D, decrease
in impact of electricity production and transformation; increases the level
of services for the rural population, creation of employment, etc. The term
biofuel or biorenewable fuel (refuel) is referred to as solid, liquid or gaseous fuels
that are predominantly produced from biomass. Liquid biofuels being considered
world over fall into the following categories: (a) bioalcohols; (b) vegetable oils and
biodiesels; and (c) biocrude and synthetic oils. Biofuels are important because
they replace petroleum fuels. It is expected that the demand for biofuels
will rise in the future. Biofuels are substitute fuel sources to petroleum;
however, some still include a small amount of petroleum in the mixture. Biofuels
are generally considered as offering many priorities, including
sustainability, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, regional
development, social structure and agriculture, security of supply. Today
bioethanol is the most used non-fossil alternative engine fuel in the world.
The choice of raw material depends on local conditions. Bioethanol is good alternate
fuel that is produced almost entirely from food crops. The primary feedstock of this
fuel is corn. An important advantage of crop-based ethanol is its greenhouse
benefits. Due to the increasing concern on environmental protection, numerous
researches on the usage of biodiesel are carried out in recent years. Biodiesel has
become more attractive recently because of its environmental benefits. The biggest
difference between biofuels and petroleum feedstocks is oxygen content. Biofuels
are non-polluting, locally available, accessible, sustainable and reliable
fuel obtained from renewable sources. Sustainability of renewable energy
systems must support both human and ecosystem health over the long term, goals
on tolerable emissions should look well into the future. Electricity generation
from biofuels has been found to be a promising method in the nearest
future. The future of biomass electricity generation lies in biomass integrated
gasification/gas turbine technology, which offers high-energy conversion
efficiencies. Liquid biofuels for transportation have recently attracted huge
attention in different countries all over the world because of its
renewability, sustainability, common availability, regional development,
rural manufacturing jobs, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and its
biodegradability. Biofuels offer significant benefits for energy security.
Table 1 shows the availability of modern transportation fuels. Policy drivers for
biorenewable liquid biofuels have attracted in rural development and economic
opportunities for developing countries. The European Union is on the third rank of
biofuel production world wide, behind Brazil and the United States. In Europe,
Germany is the largest, and France the second largest producer of biofuels.
Biofuels solvethe US could produce 1.3 billion tons of

emissions-free fuel every year
Wyman, 8 [Charles, Ford Motor Company, Chair and Professor of Chemical &
Environmental Engineering at University of California-Riverside, Cellulosic Ethanol:
A Unique Sustainable Liquid Transportation Fuel, Harnessing Materials for Energy]

Sussman
Petroleum provides more energy internationally than any other source,
accounting for about 35% of total energy produced, and unstable regions
of the world hold the bulk of all known reserves . In addition, because over half of the
petroleum is used for a transportation sector that is almost totally dependent on petroleum, developing
alternative sources of liquid transportation fuels is vital to alleviating this
perilous dependence, with biomass uniquely suited to sustainably meet
this need. As one measure of its abundance, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of
Energy (DOE) recently projected that about 1.3 billion dry tons of cellulosic biomass could
be produced annually in the United States, from which enough ethanol
could potentially be made to replace over half of the gasoline now used in
the country. Thus, cellulosic ethanol production could play a major role in
significantly reducing petroleum imports, improving energy security,
creating rural agricultural and manufacturing jobs, and dramatically
cutting the trade deficit for oil imports. Ethanol has higher octane content than regular or
even premium gasoline; this property, coupled with a higher heat of vaporization, permits operation with a higher
compression ratio when ethanol is used as a pure fuel. The result can be considerably better efficiency compared to
gasoline in terms of miles powered per unit energy content of the fuel, compensating to some degree for the
somewhat lower energy content of ethanol compared to gasoline. Thus, ethanol must sell for about 6780% of the
price of gasoline to provide equivalent cost per distance traveled. However, a larger portion of ethanol is used as
blends with gasoline, and all automobile manufacturers warrant their vehicles for this use and employ appropriate
materials in fuel lines to accommodate the somewhat greater corrosivity of blended ethanol. Although pure ethanol
has low evaporative losses that can cause smog, lowlevel blends with gasoline increase evaporation somewhat,
potentially negating some of the benefits for reducing tailpipe emissions. In addition to the powerful strategic and
the use of lignin to power the cellulosic ethanol

production facility and the low fossil fuel inputs required to plant, grow,
harvest, and transport cellulosic biomass and to transport ethanol to its
destination result in very favorable energy balances for cellulosic ethanol.
As a result, less than 10% of the ethanol energy produced has required fossil
energy inputs. Even more importantly, these low fossil fuel requirements translate
into very low net greenhouse gas emissions of less than 12% of those of gasoline; this ratio
economic attributes of cellulosic ethanol,
could be improved if the electricity exported to the power grid displaced requirements for coal and more renewable
fuels were employed in all operations. In addition, more carbon dioxide could be removed than released in the
process if the virtually pure carbon dioxide produced during fermentation could be sequestered in underground
caverns or through other techniques being developed.
Solvency Military
Biofuels are key to military energy independencethe Navy is
researching in the squo
Shaheen and Collins, 12 [Jeanne, United States Senator for New Hampshire,
Susan, United States Senator for Maine, Pentagon biofuels effort aids energy
independence, Politico, 7/15,
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78517.html] Sussman
Without changes to the new National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate Armed Services Committee just
the Defense Departments ability to buy domestic biofuels will be

curtailed significantly. This would be a setback for achieving energy
independence, strengthening long-term national security and protecting
service members in harms way. We hope to correct that short-sighted mistake when the bill
reaches the Senate floor. The Defense Department, as the federal governments
largest energy consumer, has a clear interest in weaning itself off foreign
oil. Under both Republican and Democratic administrations, the Pentagon has invested
significant time and effort to improve its energy efficiency. This could help
reduce the need for dangerous fuel convoys and help develop homegrown
energy sources. The Arab Spring, Libyan uprising and Irans threat to mine
the Strait of Hormuz illustrated the continuing possibility of major
disruptions in oil supply and the security risks involved in maintaining
access to foreign oil. Our men and women in uniform are regularly called on to protect global waterways,
and U.S. ships have patrolled the Persian Gulf for more than 60 years. Yet, we remain dependent on
oil from this unstable region and continue to pay the costs associated with
protecting those vital supply lines. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus deserves credit for
increasing the use of a promising new energy source advanced biofuels.
Theres a reason he picked biofuels: They offer a long-term reliable energy
source to power a fleet of ships and fuel-thirsty aircraft that has several
military advantages. The algae, switchgrass, wood waste and other
sources are renewable. The resulting biofuel can be produced domestically
and just dropped in to existing aircraft, ships and vehicles without
expensive engine modifications. How well have they worked? The Navy
has successfully tested nearly all of its ships and aircraft on biofuel blends
including an F-18 fighter flying at twice the speed of sound and a ship
moving at 50 knots. It will soon conduct its largest biofuels test ever.
passed,
Solvency Efficiency
Algae biofuels are clean, efficient, and dont trade off with food
production
Spross, 13 [Jeff, reporter and video editor for ThinkProgress.org, How Algae
Could Create Better, More Efficient Gasoline Than Corn, ThinkProgress, 9/23,
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/09/23/2665541/algae-biofuels-study/]
Sussman
like cellulosic biofuels, which use crop waste,
switchgrass, wood chips, and the like, algae-based biofuels feedstocks
dont compete with food supplies. That avoids the worst second-order
effect of traditional corn-based biofuel. Two, algae biofuels EROI may go
higher, while petroleum fuels may go lower. The latter used to be at a
stratospheric 100 or above, but that dropped precipitously as humanity
tapped out the planets easy-to-reach oil reserves. Now were going after
unconventional oils in shale, tar sands, the Arctic, and the like, which
require far larger expenditures of energy and technological prowess to
reach. Meanwhile, the studys projections for full-scale algae biofuel production only covered the next five years.
So its EROI will likely keep going up as technology and processes keep
improving. It may not be long before the two ratios equal out, further
solidifying algae biofuels preferability to traditional gasoline and diesel . (Its
A few other things worth mentioning: One,
also worth mentioning that the EROI for wind and solar already far outstrips both biofuels and petroleum fuels.)
Three, one thing the studys analysis of life cycle GHG emissions didnt account for is land use. That matters for
biofuels, because natural forests and grasslands store more carbon dioxide than cropland. So beyond running the
equipment and generating the power needed for production, making traditional biofuels adds carbon to the
another advantage of algae

biofuels: the algae can be grown on marginal land thats already not doing
anything much to take carbon out of the atmosphere. Sapphire Energys
set up, for instance, is out in the middle of the New Mexico desert . So adding in
the land use factor is unlikely to change algae biofuels advantage in terms of GHG emissions. Finally, the
biocrude produced from algae is similar enough to traditional crude that it
can be dropped into the refining process with few tweaks. So it could be
scaled up into a major American fuel source with little change to our
current infrastructure. Its also cleaner, meaning refineries would be saved
the effort and costs they currently spend getting thing silk sulfur and
heavy metals out of oil.
atmosphere just by converting land. But this also highlights
Biofuels meet US transportation needs, lower emissions, and

boost the economy
Worldwatch Institute, 6 [The Worldwatch Institute is an independent
research organization that focuses on innovative solutions to global environmental,
resource, and economic issues, American Energy The Renewable Path to Energy
Security, Center for American Progress,
http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/AmericanEnergy.pdf] Sussman
Liquid fuels derived from crops and agricultural wastes are poised to play
a large role in meeting U.S. transportation energy needs. In addition to
burning more cleanly than conventional fuels, biofuels are renewable and
can be produced in every U.S. state. And, more than any other renewable
energy source, biofuels can reduce dependence on imported oil, the vast
majority of which is used for transportation. Production of biofuels also
creates jobs and income in rural communities. A typical 40 million gallon
per-year ethanol plant can provide a onetime boost of $140 million to the
local economy. Once built, the plant increases annual direct spending in
the community while providing jobs throughout the economy . Ethanola form of
alcoholis the predominant biofuel in use today. The United States and Brazil together produce about 90 percent of
global fuel ethanol. Sugar cane-based ethanol accounts for approximately 40 percent of Brazils non-diesel
In 2006, the United States passed Brazil to become the worlds

largest producer. Americas reliance on ethanol has grown rapidly in recent years, and in 2005, ethanol
automotive fuel.
provided just over 2 percent of U.S. motor vehicle fuel. While higher shares are used in the Midwestern grain-
ethanol production and use are expanding

across the nation. Currently, most U.S. fuel biofuels ethanol is made from
corn, the countrys largest crop, ensuring a strong basis of support among
U.S. farmers and agricultural processors. Other feedstock include
sorghum, brewery wastes, and cheese whey. Ethanol can be blended at low concentrations
producing states where the industry is centered,
as a fuel oxygenate and has been the principal replacement for MTBE (a fuel additive that is being phased out
because it is a suspected carcinogen). As of early 2006, ethanol was mixed into at least 30 percent of U.S. gasoline.
The most common blend is 10 percent ethanol, known as E10, which can
successfully fuel all types of vehicles and engines that require gasoline.
Ethanol is also used in higher concentrations up to E85 in a new
generation of flexible-fuel vehicles that have slight engine
modifications.
Solvency Energy Security

The move towards cellulosic ethanol is crucial in the fight for
energy security
Griffin and Lave, 6 [Michael Griffin is Executive Director of the Green Design
Institute and Lester Lave is Professor of Economics at the Tepper School of Business,
Carnegie Mellon University, Cellulosic Ethanol in an Oil and Carbon Constrained
World, The Aspen Institute http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/energyenvironment/our-policy-work/ethanol] Sussman
The first step in an orderly transition to a sustainable
ethanol fuel supply is an increase in the production of corn ethanol . Even
How do we get there from here?
given a four-year lead time for development and construction of plants, corn ethanol could increase production
corn ethanol could provide as much as 14

billion gallons of ethanol. Building facilities to transform corn into ethanol
helps develop the use of ethanol, paving the way for cellulosic ethanol in
the future. The corn facilities can be fitted with a new front end at some
future time to handle cellulosics, corn stalks and leaves, and switchgrass.
The resulting ethanol is identical, regardless of the feedstock, so
integrating more corn ethanol into the fuel supply is moving in the right
direction. We envision a policy that could maximize this production. The second step is encouraging imports of
more rapidly than envisioned by EPAct. Potentially,
ethanol from Brazil and other Latin American countries. Although American agriculture will certainly want to protect
its grip on the ethanol market, we need to use more ethanol than can reasonably be produced from corn, and
creative policies can assure that imported ethanol displaces gasoline and not corn ethanol. Imports can help create
an even larger market that American farmers can eventually serve with energy crops and cellulosic ethanol. The US
would get the immediate benefits of using an alternative fuel, as well as shifting payments for imported energy
from oil exporting countries to the less developed countries of our hemisphere, with all of the concomitant foreign
shifting ethanol production from corn to switchgrass.

To realize this potential, we need to reenergize the stalled R&D effort on
cellulosic ethanol. A small pilot plant was built at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory years ago,
with little progress since then. At this point there are no commercial plants producing cellulosic ethanol. An
aggressive plan is needed to move the current best concepts to pilot and
then full-scale production. The near term goal should be set so that we (1)
rapidly reduce our dependence on petroleum and (2) move toward the
development of cellulosic ethanol. The ultimate endpoint in the amount of
ethanol integration into the US fuel supply will simply be determined by
developments in crop yields, cellulosic processing technology, and oil
prices. If switchgrass yields and ethanol production efficiency exceed the modest levels used in this discussion,
choices can be made to increase production or to diminish the ethanol footprint. Oil at $60 per barrel,
climate change and other environmental problems, excessive production
of corn, the need to protect our farmland and strengthen our rural
economy, and a foreign policy constrained by the need to protect our oil
supply all point toward cellulosic ethanol as the principal source of our
motor vehicle fuel in the future. There are many benefits, few costs, and
no need to make expensive, irreversible commitments. This is a policy that
makes sense and should be pursued with vigor.
policy benefits. The third step is
Experts agree US biodiesel production helps alleviate oil

dependence, lower emissions, and support the economy
NBB, 12 [National Biodiesel Board, Biodiesel protects US energy security,
Western Farm Press, 2/9, http://westernfarmpress.com/government/biodieselprotects-us-energy-security] Sussman
biodiesel in North America, saying the
sustainable transportation fuel protects the continents energy security and
augments the food supply of the entire world, while providing a positive
impact on climate change. The scientists, academics and economic analysts gathered in Orlando for
Experts from the U.S. and Canada called for increased usage of
the Sustainability Symposium on Renewable and Transportation Fuels, part of the National Biodiesel Conference
and Expo and organized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy
Central to the discussions at the day-long conference was biodiesels ability to

alleviate dependence on foreign oil, a dependence that threatens national
security and is subject to the uncertainty produced by the worlds most
politically unstable regions. According to the Economist Magazine, the
U.S. paid approximately $125 billion more for oil imports in 2011 than it
did in 2010 because of unrest in the Middle East. The result, argued
Energy Victory author Robert Zubrin, PhD., is that the United States
foreign policy is largely driven by a thirst for oil in countries that are
considered unfriendly to American interests. In the early 1970s, we imported less than a
(DOE).
third of our oil and the total cost was less than five percent of our defense budget, Zubrin said. Today, we are 60
percent dependent on imported oil and spend more on imported oil than we spend on national defense.Its
a
disaster waiting to happen, he said. Other panelists noted that a lack of an effective
energy policy also weakens the nations economic recovery , calling for
increased usage of renewable fuels that provide an important alternative to
petroleum and support tens of thousands of domestic jobs. Biodiesel is one
of the more promising biofuels and the nations only commercially
available advanced biofuel. In 2011, biodiesel production jumped by more
than 300 percent, topping one billion gallons for the first time in the
industrys history. "Biofuels particularly biodiesel are a shining star
within the declining U.S. manufacturing sector and provide significant
economic, environmental, and energy security benefits ," according John Urbanchuk, a
nationally recognized economic analyst. Central to biodiesels appeal is its positive
impact on the environment when compared to other fuels. The fuel reduces lifecycle
greenhouse gases by as much as 89 percent, lowers particulate matter and reduces smog. Experts are
being conservative when they quantify the numerous benefits of biodiesel.
The lifecycle analysis used to quantify biodiesels emissions relative to petroleum, for instance, is very
biofuel critics
speculated that they could depict biofuels to be as bad as fossil fuel by
adding such indirect emissions to biofuel analysis. Today, science is
showing that biodiesel maintains a significant benefit, even when held to a
higher standard than conventional fuels. Biodiesel is the perfect example
of liquid solar energy, said Kansas State Universitys Richard Nelson. Burning these fuels
does not add net carbon to the atmosphere, because we end up burning
biomass that is already part of the biospheres biogenic carbon cycle .
Ultimately, biofuels fit well into a comprehensive energy policy, the experts said. They noted that a
comprehensive. Nothing is left out, and many indirect emissions are included. Years ago,
sustainable and cleaner energy source that boosts American jobs and
displaces billions of gallons of petroleum can help guide the nation toward
a more sensible energy policy and secure energy future . "It is urgent that we reduce
emissions lest we lose our ability to mitigate climate change as feedbacks amplify climate warming, said Steven
Mulkey, Ph.D. When managed sustainably, biofuels can be an important part of our transition to a low-emissions
economy.
AT: Food Prices Turn

Biofuels have a minimal impact on food pricestheir authors
conflate their effects with alt causes like ag subsidies
Madrigal, 8 [Alexis, deputy editor of TheAtlantic.com, where he also oversees
the Technology Channel, Dont Blame Biofuels for Food Crisis, Wired, 10/7,
http://www.wired.com/2008/10/un-report-paint/] Sussman
Biofuels have contributed far less to rising food prices than previously
estimated, a new United Nations reports data suggests. The State of Food and Agriculture 2008 projects that
biofuels production only adds 15 percent to world food prices, and that
despite rising ethanol capacity, overall food prices are headed down . The
slowing world economy combined with increased agricultural production,
are cutting the prices of staples like wheat, sugar and vegetable oil. "Food
prices have dropped significantly and will continue to drop, " said Per PinstrupAndersen, a food economist at Cornell University, who was not an author of the U.N. report. "The reason for that is
farmers respond to these higher prices and youll get more food
produced than ever before." After a period of optimism earlier this decade that biofuels could help
that
the world wean itself off crude oil, scientific and public sentiment have turned against the current generation of
fuels made from crops. First, the carbon dioxide reduction benefits of corn-based ethanol were questioned and then,
with food prices on the rise, food security advocates began to ratchet up the heat. Late last year, one U.N. official
called converting food crop land to biofuel farming use a "crime against humanity." Earlier this summer, the
Guardian reported that a World Bank researcher had found that biofuels had been responsible for 75 percent of the
But all the rhetoric didnt

square with the relative amount of food being diverted to fuel production.
Close to 2,500 million metric tons of grain and oilseeds are produced each
year. U.S. ethanol production, which has received a big chunk of the
blame, uses about 79 million metric tons of corn, according to a USDA report. Food prices
In fact, the food system has been remarkably resistant to the general run-up
in commodity prices that has occurred since about 2000. Commodities
have risen hundreds of percent, largely driven by higher energy prices,
but food prices have risen far less than that, as seen in the USDA chart to
the right. Even the FAO authors themselves admit that "it is important to keep in mind that biofuels are only
one of many drivers of high food prices." In particular, placing the blame on biofuels obscures
the role that long-held European and American agricultural subsidies
played in creating the food crisis. "One of the reasons we had this crisis with the very high food
prices is that very little was invested in developing countries." Pinstrup-Andersen said. " Governments
could import food at prices below the cost of production because of the
heavy subsidies we had in the U.S. and E.U. Surplus production was
dumped on the international market."
rise in food prices and "caused [the] food crisis." Even the new report
Switchgrass resolves the food vs fuel debate

Walsh, 8 [Bryan, senior writer for TIME magazine, covering energy and the
environment, Solving the Biofuels vs. Food Problem, TIME, 1/7,
http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1701221,00.html] Sussman
But what if biofuels could be made without food crops, using an inedible
plant grown on less than optimum farmland? That's exactly the thinking behind the push to
develop cellulosic ethanol from the waste plant switchgrass, which grows throughout the Midwestern prairies, with
little input from farmers. Instead of fuel from food,
switchgrass cellulosic ethanol promises
fuel from virtually nothing and a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS) argues that it's worth making the switch. In the biggest such study to date,
scientists led by Kenneth Vogel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Farmers in 10
fields of 15 to 20 acres each in Nebraska and North and South Dakota
grew switchgrass over five years, and kept track of how much fuel and
fertilizer they used during the trials. Vogel and his colleagues showed that
switchgrass yielded 540% more energy as a biofuel than the amount of
energy used to grow, harvest and process it. (Corn ethanol yields just 25% more energy.)
Greenhouse gas emissions from switchgrass fuel would be 94% lower than
emissions from petroleum fuel almost carbon neutral. Previous studies had come
up with similar numbers in small-scale trials, but this was the first study on the level of a working farm. " The
idea is that we won't be replacing food with fuel on prime land ," says Vogel. "This
study shows you can use switchgrass as an energy crop on marginal land and
get the same environmental benefit."
performed long-term, large-scale field studies on raising switchgrass as an energy crop.
Link turnbiofuel production produces byproducts that can be

used as cheaper substitutes for livestock feed, lowering food
prices
Urbanchuk, 13 [John M. Urbanchuk is a technical director with the natural
resources and environmental consulting firm ENTRIX. He is an agricultural
economist with more than 30 years experience as a consultant to the ethanol,
biodiesel, and corn industries. THE RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD AND CONSUMER
FOOD PRICES, ABF Economics, 6/7,
http://ethanolrfa.3cdn.net/281d77a62939896ba8_8nm6bevpj.pdf] Sussman
level
food prices have increased at a slower rate since the RFS took effect than
during the comparable five years before the RFS. The food processing
industry accounts for a larger share of consumer food costs than does
production agriculture. Moreover, energy prices play a more significant role in
costs for food processors than do the prices for any individual agricultural
commodity. The RFS has contributed to the production of important coproducts of the dry mill corn ethanol industry. Specifically, Distillers dried grains
have positively contributed to reducing net feed costs for livestock, dairy,
and poultry producers. Higher ethanol output resulting from the RFS has
led to increased production of DDGS. Because DDGS has a positive
substitution rate for corn and soybean meal, these higher production
levels have increased the total availability of feed for livestock and poultry
producers by 21 percent compared to feed use of corn alone . The ethanol industry
A careful examination of food price inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index indicates that retail
is a major source of captured carbon dioxide which is used in food processing, refrigeration and packaging to
The RFS has not had

an adverse impact on consumers ability to afford a safe and healthy food
supply. Although food prices have increased modestly faster than overall inflation in the past several years
consumers are not spending a greater share of income on food than was
the case before the RFS was implemented. The severe recession of 20082009 and sluggish recovery in real incomes has played a more significant
role than commodity price increases in the decline in red meat and poultry
consumption that has taken place since before the RFS was implemented .
enhance the quality of processed foods and improve profit margins for processors.
Impact turnhigh food prices as a result of ethanol boost the

US agricultural industry
NPR, 12 [National Public Radio, Record-High Food Prices Boost Farmers' Bottom
Lines, 4/13, http://www.npr.org/2012/03/13/148161727/record-high-food-pricesboost-farmers-bottom-lines] Sussman
Thanks to high commodity prices and surging productivity, U.S. farmers
earned a net income of nearly $98 billion last year a record, according to the
Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute. Those strong earnings are helping boost the
demand for farmland. In the past year, even as most Americans struggled
with falling home prices, farmers saw spikes in the price of land used for
agriculture. As spring now approaches, farmers are gearing up to plant again, and farm stores are humming.
At the Farmers Union co-op in Spring Hill, Kan., men in hard-worn canvas jackets are lining up to buy fertilizer and
other supplies. "They are going ahead and committing to the dollars, committing to the orders, planting, getting it
into the ground," says Rita Cooper, the store's general manager. "And yes, they are going that extra above and
It wasn't always like this. In the 1980s, tens of thousands

of farmers went broke and were forced off of their land. That was the era
of the "Farm Aid" concerts, held to raise money and help some hang on.
The hard times and foreclosures went on for years. But that has all
changed now, says Jason Henderson, who runs the Omaha branch of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.
He says farm income has jumped nearly 30 percent in each of the past two
years. "Over the last two, three years, the U.S. farm sector has been
enjoying banner farm incomes," he says. "It's been a real boom time." Chad Hart, an
economics professor at the University of Iowa, says both prices and production are high. "As we
beyond, to get the crop."
look at the 2011 corn and soybean crops in this country, they're probably the most valuable crops we've ever
produced," he says. For instance, the value of last year's corn crop topped $76 billion on its own. Economists say
two major factors have been driving demand: exports and ethanol . Exports
have been surging to record levels because of China's growing appetite for American farm products. And in the
U.S., there has been a rise in consumption of ethanol, a fuel usually made
from corn. It all adds up to high prices, and happy farmers.
"Oh, yeah! Can't
complain. Prices been real good," farmer Rick Kroll says with a smile. "Crops ain't been bad, either." Kroll was
attending the Western Farm Show in Kansas City, where farmers and their families check out the latest tractors and
modern farmers can work

much more land, and get two or three times more grain out of it than their
fathers did. When farmers have money, they generally buy one of two
things: land or equipment. Prices for both have shot up dramatically. One item that Kroll looked at
farm implements. Thanks in part to these enormous and precise machines,
with his family was a tractor, priced at $200,000. "My birthday is Tuesday," he says with a laugh. "Just go ahead and
buy it for me. Feel free." Kroll was joking but many large-scale farmers, such as Nebraska's Paul Vavre, say that in
recent years they have been feeling free to spend more. "Yeah, I bought a combine and a couple John Deere
tractors," he says. "Gets up there pretty expensive, you know." Two large tractors and a combine could add up to
$1 million and take months to deliver. Ernie Vietze, who, like many men at the farm show, wore a John Deere shirt
and a mustache, says he is selling equipment as fast as he can get it. "The company is making machines practically
Farm equipment factories are producing jobs

twice as fast as the rest of the manufacturing sector. And all that new
equipment flooding into the market presents another opportunity for
resale specialists, such as Manny De La Fuente. "You end up with all these used machines, and you've got
as fast as they can make them," he says.
to have a place to put it. So, overseas is hungry for this equipment," says De La Fuente, the export manager for
Arends Brothers LLC, a John Deere farm equipment and tractor dealer. The company regularly ships trade-in tractors
exports
have jumped 50 percent over the past two years. "Business is up, " he says.
"2011 was good, and 2012 is going to be even better. "
and combines from Illinois to Africa, former Soviet bloc countries and Latin America. He says his
Impact turnhigh food prices alleviate poverty in developing

countries by providing higher wages
Kenny, 4/21/14 [Charles, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and
author of The Upside of Down: Why the Rise of the Rest is Great for the West, Have
Higher Food Prices Actually Helped the World's Poor? Businessweek,
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-21/have-higher-food-prices-helpedthe-worlds-poor] Sussman
many politicians (PDF), global leaders, analysts, and
commentators (including me) have argued that higher food prices would push
people worldwide into hunger and poverty. In 2010 the United Nations Food and Agriculture
For the last six years,
Organization suggested that rising prices had left more than 1 billion of the worlds population without enough food
to meet daily dietary requirements. World Bank researchers estimated that price increases from June to December
2010 alone pushed 44 million people below the global, $1.25-per-day extreme poverty line. Those assumptions
relied on the fact that although most of the worlds poorest people work in agriculture, they buy more than they
Data, however,
pointed in the other direction: The number of people in developing
countries who reported that there had been times in the past 12 months
when they didnt have enough money to buy the food their family needed
fell by hundreds of millions (PDF) from 2005 to 2009. In 2013 improved FAO estimates
backed up the earlier polling reports: The numbers suggested that 842 million people in the 201113 period were unable to meet their dietary energy requirements, down
nearly 6 percent (PDF) from 893 million people in the 2005-07 period . Now a
paper by Derek Heady at the International Food Policy Research Institute credits
the recent increases in food prices with speeding progress against
poverty. Looking at the rate of poverty reduction across countries and its
relationship to changing food prices, Heady finds that rising prices have
been associated with more rapid reductions in poverty both over the past 30 years
and looking at data from the past 10 years. He estimates that higher food prices from the mid2000s onwards may have reduced the number of people living in extreme
poverty by from 87 to 127 million people. Heady suggests the fundamental
assumption of previous poverty prediction modelsthat because poor
people eat more food than they grow, theyre hurt by higher pricesdid
grow on their own plots, so higher food prices surely would mean more hunger and poverty.
not account for the impact of food prices on wages. In a lot of places, as
the prices of food rose, poor people earned more money. Even though they
were paying more for food, their increased incomes more than made up
for that and they got a little richer. In Bangladesh, for example, rural wages adjusted for the
price of food increased by about a third from the middle of 2006 to the end of 2010. (Urban wages remained
essentially unchanged.)
AT: Environment Turn

Analysis of historical data has shown no correlation between
biofuel production and land use change
MIT Technology Review, 11 [MIT Technology Review is a magazine
published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Do Biofuels Reduce
Greenhouse Gases? 5/20, http://www.technologyreview.com/news/424050/dobiofuels-reduce-greenhouse-gases/] Sussman
studies have suggested that the indirect effects of biofuels
production, such as higher food prices, could encourage farmers to clear
forested land to grow more cropsthereby worsening climate change . At
Some recent
least one study suggested that the emissions resulting from such decisions would make biofuelseven advanced
biofuels made from cellulosic materials such as switchgrassworse for the environment than gasoline. These
studies use economic analysis to predict the effect of future biofuels production on land use, while attempting to
control for other factors that influence farmers, such as the amount of grain stocks on hand and changes in food
The new study, to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal

Biomass and Bioenergy, uses analysis of historical data instead of
economic models. It found no statistical correlation between changes in
biofuel production in the U.S. from 2002 to 2007 and recorded changes in
cropland use outside of the country. There is no evidence for indirect
land use change, says Bruce Dale, a professor of chemical engineering at Michigan State University, who
demand.
led the study. Jason Hill, a professor of bioproducts and biosystems engineering at the University of Minnesota, says
its not surprising that the study found no correlation, given that there
are many competing forces that influence crop use. Its difficult to
distinguish the signal from the noise, he says. ]
that
Biofuel sustainable nowreduces emissions and fights climate

change
Wenner 13, (Clare, Staff-Writer, Biofuels are Good for our Economy and Our
Enviroment , Telegraph, 12/23/2013,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/biofuels/10535052/Biofuels-are-good-forour-economy-and-our-environment.html BB)
The real opportunity the EU is missing out on is the potential to expand this new, high-tech, low carbon industry.
The uncertainty created by the EUs "indirect land use change" (ILUC) dossier has brought the European biofuels
industry to a halt, and the Councils inability to produce a workable compromise earlier this month means the
uncertainty will continue well beyond next years European elections. The main reasons that EU lawmakers have
failed to find agreement are the mind-boggling complexity and conceptual incoherence of the Commissions original
People tend to think ILUC is about the greenhouse gas emissions released
by bringing natural land into cultivation to grow biofuel crops (such as wheat for
bioethanol and rape for biodiesel), but it isnt. This is direct land use change, and existing
proposals.
EU policy already takes this into account. Before explaining what ILUC is about, lets look at what the existing policy
completely phase out truly

unsustainable biofuels, like those made from monoculture palm oil, while bringing forward
the really good biofuels, such as wheat bioethanol and biodiesel from used cooking oil (UCO). The
has achieved. In short, it has enabled the UK Government to
Vivergo and Ensus plants in the North East are good examples, producing over 800 million litres of wheat bioethanol
and over 800,000 tonnes of animal feed per year, with greenhouse gas savings equivalent to taking 480,000 cars
off the road. Along with other renewables, biofuels are helping regions like Humberside and the North East become
engines of British industry once again, reawakening the exceptional science and engineering expertise which is part
of the heritage of these regions. The economic cost for these economic benefits is not billions, as alleged by Mr
Lomborg, but just 0.01 per cent of the HMT tax take from motorists (0.3bn/31.4bn). Related Articles So many of
my predictions have been correct 28 Dec 2013 Biofuel targets driving global hunger crisis 23 Jan 2013 The great
biofuels scandal 16 Dec 2013 The food thats going up in smoke 05 Oct 2012 Eco-motoring made easy Volvo
Biofuels are helping our agriculture too. Biofuel production provides new markets for
farmers crops, while the high-protein animal feed co-products from both bioethanol and biodiesel are
actually better suited for consumption by livestock than the input crops themselves. These products help
reduce dependence on animal feed imports from overseas, where environmental regulations are often weaker than
in the UK. The obligation to demonstrate sustainable crop-sourcing for the biofuels market means that farmers
who send crops for both food and fuel production have to raise their environmental standards to
remain competitive. The demand for biofuels also helps drive the investment in R&D that Mr Lomborg is keen to
see, raising arable productivity for both food and fuel crops. What ILUC is really about is the anticipated emissions
of the food industry bringing more land into cultivation as crops from existing farmland are diverted to biofuels.
biofuels is changing the dynamics

of internationally traded commodities, it is unfair to demonise bio-based
energy, which helps fight climate change, while food, cosmetics and textile applications
Unfortunately, its complicated. While it is true that demand for
are somehow considered "natural". The fact is theres much more palm oil in your biscuit tin or make-up bag
than your fuel tank. So it is disingenuous for Mr Lomborg to say that biofuels are directly driving millions into
hunger. Ecofys and the World Bank have both shown that crude oil prices, stock-to-use ratios and exchange rate
movements are the principal causes of higher food prices not demand for biofuels. The question is: how do we use
our natural bio-based resources most efficiently to meet the interlinked challenges of climate change, population
growth and energy and food security? The answer is not to simply force the newest entrant out of the market by
making the biofuels industry pay for the emissions of the food industry, but to ensure that all crop-based industries
from food to textiles to cosmetics are held to the same high environmental standards as the EU biofuels industry.
Sustainable biofuels produce food and fuel while raising environmental

standards and arable productivity in farming around the world. They bring
growth and industry back to the UK and support our agriculture. They reduce the use of
fossil fuels associated with greenhouse gas emissions, and advanced
biofuels from even cleaner feedstocks can offer even greater benefits. In
order to seize the full potential of both existing and advanced biofuels, we cant afford to wait for EU policymakers
to provide clarity. The UK Government itself must now be bold and produce a plan for getting to the 2020 10 per
cent renewable transport target and beyond
Net-Benefit
Biofuels dont link to the natural gas prices DAthe two
energy sources are in competition
Quon, 12 [Kevin, Seeking Alpha Gold Certified Contributor, What Will Replace
Oil? Natural Gas Vs. Biofuels, Seeking Alpha, 4/26,
http://seekingalpha.com/article/530831-what-will-replace-oil-natural-gas-vs-biofuels]
Sussman
The age of abundant oil is rapidly coming to an end. As companies like
Transocean (RIG) and SeaDrill (SDRL) explore the vast oil reserves of the ocean
deep, there are two principles being established: One, we need an alternative to
oil, and two, we haven't found it yet. However, there are options that are
becoming more increasingly viable. Take, for instance, natural gas and
biofuels. Seen as the most practical clean fuel alternatives to oil, the two
fields are often compared against each other in conversation when it
comes to finding the next oil replacement . The natural gas industry has
fundamentally changed in a sustainable way here in America. Through the
introduction of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, an abundance of supply
has allowed for a lasting cheap energy source. Now that we've been given the
ability to tap into shale rock formations, technology has revealed stockpiles of easily
accessible energy reserves right in America's own backyard. So abundant are these
reserves that demand has yet to keep up. In January 2012, natural gas producing
giant Chesapeake Energy (CHK) took the bold step of cutting back its drilling
operations and turning off the free-flowing spigot in light of falling prices that had
become unsustainable. At the same time, biofuels are also becoming more
viable. Although it's still trying to shake off past negative connotations
with regard to raised food prices, the advanced biofuels industry is now
pursuing strategies that bypass the need for a reliance on consumed
feedstocks. Fuels and products can now be made from cellulosic sugars
derived from non-competitive materials such as wood chips, switchgrass,
and even municipal waste. More importantly, the fuels being made are
looking more and more like true oil replacements with regard to energy
content, cloud point, and other important characteristics.
No link to prices
Seely, 10 [Ron, editor and reporter for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative
Journalism and a senior lecturer on journalism and science writing at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison, SUPPORTERS: BIOFUEL AN INVESTMENT; POWER PLANT,
Wisconsin State Journal, 11/12, L/N] Sussman
But both Feyerherm and Gary Werner, with the Madison chapter of the Sierra Club,
said the more expensive investment in biofuel makes more sense when
considering almost certain increases in the cost of natural gas. "Natural
gas is not an infinite resource," said Werner. "There is going to come a day
when natural gas is not as plentiful and is also more expensive. By

building the biofuel boiler, we're positioning ourselves for the future
rather than looking to the past." Werner also said purchasing biofuel from
farmers and foresters in Wisconsin will lead to an increase in jobs and more longterm stability for agriculture in the state. The transportation system put in place to
bring biofuels to Madison will also create jobs, Werner said. "We don't have any
natural gas here in Wisconsin," Werner said. "So every dollar spent on
natural gas is a dollar leaving Wisconsin." In his letter to Schooff, Walker said
media reports indicated "natural gas actually scored the highest overall when
judged on environmental, economic and reliability grounds." Neither Walker nor his
staff responded to a request for clarification on the origin of those reports. But
Werner said the comment may stem from the lack of federal air standards for
biofuel and from the process for buying and transporting biofuel still being in the
planning stage. But Werner said the long-term benefits of biofuel outweigh
natural gas on all three counts. "The basic premise of his campaign was
promising to create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin," said Werner of Walker.
"Everything I've heard from him so far is about cutting new jobs."
Aff - No Solvency
Bio-fuels cant solve not sustainable
WWF 13, (No-Author, an international non-governmental organization and is
working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the
environment, Europes Bio Fuels not Guaranteed Sustainable Finds New Study,
World Wildlife Fund for Nature, 11/28/2013, http://wwf.panda.org/?212777/Europesbiofuels-not-guaranteed-sustainable-finds-new-study BB)
The study, assessing the certification standards for biofuels accepted by the EU against a Certification Assessment
many of the analysed standards had middle to low

level performance. Although EUs biofuel policy aims to protect areas of high
biodiversity and to reduce direct greenhouse gas emissions the new WWF
study reveals the lack of binding requirements in several areas, such as:
for the preservation and improvement of ground, water and air quality,
including the lack of criteria for the use of agrochemicals. Furthermore,
social standards such as a ban on slave or child labour are also left out.
"Poisoned water and polluted soil is too high a price to pay for a full petrol
tank ", said Imke Lbbeke, Senior Renewable Energy Policy Officer at WWF
Tool (CAT) developed by WWF, found
European Policy Office. While biofuels are one way to cut our dependence on fossil fuels, EU regulations
remain too weak to ensure that the biofuels we use in Europe whether imported or domestically
produced - are environmentally and socially sustainable. The WWF CAT study found that while all schemes
met the mandatory EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) requirements ,
these were not enough to

ensure sustainability. A number of the standards, specifically the ones created to comply with
the EU RED, lacked or had inadequate criteria on issues such as waste management, compliance with
labor laws and social legislation and paid insufficient attention to potential biofuel impacts on food
security. Many did not require restoration of the native vegetation of riparian and other important
areas. Many also scored very low on key implementation measures such as transparency, auditor accreditation and
the adequacy and strength of audit checks. The best-performing scheme out of the 13 looked into by the WWF
analysis is the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) standard. The top performing standards tended to be
multi-stakeholder biofuels certification schemes which actively involve businesses, civil society and policy makers in
standard setting and implementation. The upcoming revision of the EU Renewable Energy Directive must now be
used to close unacceptable gaps in the requirements, said Lbbeke. Having talked the talk, the EU must now walk
the walk and ensure that the production of the biofuels we use in Europe is sustainable and free from human rights
abuses and exploitation. In particular, a scheme designed to reduce emissions needs to fully account for all
emissions.The study, assessing the certification standards for biofuels accepted by the EU against a Certification
Assessment Tool (CAT) developed by WWF, found many of the analysed standards had middle to low level
performance.
Bio-fuels cant solve lower energy output, costs a lot,

requires a lot of water
Skye 12, (Jared majored in environmental science and he was involved with
biological field research studies, Advantages and Disadvantages of Biofuels ,
Greenliving Love To Know -- Covers/ raises awareness of current environmental
issues, 4/31/2012,
http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Advantages_and_Disadvantages_of_Biofuels BB)
Biofuels have a lower energy output than traditional fuels and
therefore require greater quantities to be consumed in order to produce
Energy output:
the same energy level. This has led some noted energy analysts to believe
that biofuels are not worth the work. illustration of food shortage Food shortage may become
an issue with biofuel use. Production carbon emissions: Several studies have been conducted to analyze the carbon
footprint of biofuels, and while they may be cleaner to burn, there are strong indications that the process to produce
the fuel - including the machinery necessary to cultivate the crops and the plants to produce the fuel - has hefty
To refine biofuels to more efficient energy outputs, and

to build the necessary manufacturing plants to increase biofuel quantities,
a high initial investment is often required. Food prices: As demand for food crops such as
carbon emissions. High cost:
corn grows for biofuel production, it could also raise prices for necessary staple food crops. Food shortages: There is
concern that using valuable cropland to grow fuel crops could have an impact on the cost of food and could possibly
Massive quantities of water are required for proper

irrigation of biofuel crops as well as to manufacture the fuel, which could
strain local and regional water resources.
lead to food shortages. Water use:
Aff - Biofuels Bad

Bio-fuels raise food prices land vital for growing food is being
turned over for biofuels, 10 international organizations warn of
a food rise if this continues
Rice 11, (Tim, Staff-Writer, Biofuels Driving Food Prices Higher, The Guardian,
6/1/2011, http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/povertymatters/2011/jun/01/biofuels-driving-food-prices-higher BB)
record-breaking food prices that experts warn could lead to
another fully fledged global food crisis. Rising food prices contributed to the uprisings in
This year began with
Tunisia and Egypt and sparked riots in several other countries. A food crisis three years ago also brought
impoverished people on to the streets when they couldn't afford to buy staple foods such as rice,
wheat and corn. Not surprising when poor people spend up to 80% of their income on food. The World
Bank estimates that between June and December 2010 an additional 44 million people fell below the
poverty line due to rises in food prices. The bank's president, Robert Zoellick, called for the world to "put food
There are numerous causes to the recent price rises, but biofuels
remain a significant piece of the puzzle. About 40% of US corn goes into biofuels.
first".
Today, 18% of biofuels now used in the UK are made from wheat and corn that are staple foods in the
This demand can do

nothing but drive food prices higher. And the demand is only set to grow.
developing world. Yet just over a year ago, the UK hardly used either of these.
The EU alone is planning to more than double the amount of biofuels it uses in the next 10 years. It's not just NGOs
such as ActionAid that have raised the alarm. Recently, 10 international organisations
among them five UN agencies, the IMF, the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
warned that biofuels will exert considerable upward

pressure on food prices in the future. This is unacceptable when around 1 billion people go
hungry every day. So land vital for food crops in developing countries is being
turned over to grow biofuels, invariably for export. Less food is planted as
farmers go to work on biofuel plantations in anticipation of jobs and
better incomes, which often do not materialise. ActionAid with other local partners in
Development (OECD)
Kenya has recently highlighted the potential impacts of a proposed 50,000 hectare jatropha plantation in the
country's coastal region. This is just one of at least five massive biofuel plantations that ActionAid is aware of in this
part of the country. The plantation could displace around 20,000 people who have lived in the forest and the
surrounding areas for generations. They grow food on small plots outside the forest to feed their families and sell at
the local market. Gertrude Kadzo, 37, a farmer, said: "If we are evicted to make way for the plantation, my
community will have no place to go. This is land where we grow cassava, corn and pineapples." When global food
prices fell in 2008 and food insecurity was no longer front-page news, political interest faltered. This time world
take their lead from the warnings by the 10

international institutions about the consequences of biofuels on food
prices. They called for biofuel targets and subsidies to be scrapped. This is
leaders must act. They should
what ActionAid has been demanding for many years.
Bio-fuels raise food prices several studies prove

University of Montreal 11, (The Universit de Montral is a public research
university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Global food prices and increased biofuel
production : an overview of the food vs. fuel debateGlobal food prices and increased
biofuel production : an overview of the food vs. fuel debate , Cerium, 4/12/2011,
http://www.cerium.ca/Global-food-prices-and-increased BB)
From 2006 to 2008, the world saw new price highs for a number of food commodities, with prices for grains like
maize rising substantially, despite record crops, and many poor communities no longer able to afford their basic
needs. When an internal World Bank report was leaked to the British newspaper The Guardian, worldwide attention
the role that biofuels might be playing in the crisis. It argued that
increased biofuel production in many countries, driven by generous subsidy programmes
had resulted in food commodities being diverted for use as biofuel
feedstocks, such that food markets were now in direct competition with
energy markets. The heated arguments over its findings have come to be known as the food vs. fuel
debate. The study, written by Dr. Donald Mitchell, Lead Economist at the World
Banks Development Prospects Group, put forward the idea that
expanding biofuel markets had led farmers to produce crops for the
biofuels sector at the expense of local and international food markets. The
study principally identified biofuels as the most important driver of food price
volatility, responsible for 75% of the recent price increases , although recognizing
turned to
that other factors were also important, including weather-related production shortfalls, market speculation and
economic growth in developing countries leading to increased grain consumption. Much debate and analysis
followed, with studies scrutinizing Mitchells methodology and findings. Among the critics who emerged, economist
John M. Urbanchuk, who had previously prepared research papers and position statements for industry associations
representing the biofuels sector, was one of the most vocal. He expressed a number of concerns about the
by which sharp global food price rises had been attributed

principally to biofuel production, arguing that the weak U.S. dollar and the direct and indirect
effect of high petroleum prices had not been sufficiently taken into account.
At the same time, evidence that biofuels were contributing to rising food prices
was emerging from a number of research institutions. The Organisation for Economic
methodology
Co-operation and Development (OECD), whose own research on the issue, published just one month after Mitchells
established the same basic relationship between increased

biofuel production and higher food prices for some grains, such as wheat and maize. From its
paper was leaked,
beginnings, the debate has been strikingly emotive, with many organisations adopting hard-line, polar-opposite
positions, and the media, intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, and politicians all
being drawn in. Even before Mitchells paper drew attention to the issue, Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Special
increasing practice of turning

crops into biofuel as "a crime against humanity", which left millions of
poor people hungry. The debate has also become caught up in the growing movement against the
Rapporteur on the Right to Food, had spoken out against the
continued provision of government subsidies to first-generation biofuels. Just months before the release of Mitchells
paper, Joachim von Braun, Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), had called on
governments to revoke biofuel subsidies and excessive blending quotas, recommending that biofuel production
should be frozen at current levels and a moratorium enacted on the use of grains and oil seeds for biofuels in order
to free up commodities for use as food.
The Global Subsidies Initiative was also

instrumental in drawing attention to the large costs and unintended
impacts of many biofuel subsidies, with a series of reports estimating
their size and effects in various countries around the world. Time has not brought
about a resolution to the dispute, though extensive literature has been written on the subject and is growing rapidly.
In 2010,
a follow-up study by World Bank economist John Baffes and

European Commission economist Tassos Haniotis argued that the role played by
biofuels in the record 2006-2008 commodity-price highs was not as large as originally thought. Their findings
suggested that biofuels had indeed contributed to increasing prices, but only as one
of a number of factors. This was portrayed by industry representatives as a change in the World Banks position,
though both the earlier paper by Mitchell and the subsequent one by Baffes and Haniotis were products of
individual researchers and did not represent any institutional stance.
.
Biofuels raised global food prices 75%, hurting 100 million

people and crashing economies
Chakrabortty 8, (Aditya, Senior economics commentator for the Guardian,
Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis -- Internal World Bank study delivers blow
to plant energy drive The Guardian, 7/3/2008
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy BB)
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy
Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than
previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report
obtained by the Guardian. The damning unpublished assessment is based
on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an
internationally-respected economist at global financial body. The figure
emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived
fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on
governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to
plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce
their dependence on imported oil. Senior development sources believe the report, completed in
April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush. "It would put the World Bank in a
political hot-spot with the White House," said one yesterday. The news comes at a critical point in the world's
negotiations on biofuels policy. Leaders of the G8 industrialised countries meet next week in Hokkaido, Japan, where
they will discuss the food crisis and come under intense lobbying from campaigners calling for a moratorium on the
use of plant-derived fuels. It will also put pressure on the British government, which is due to release its own report
the British
study will state that plant fuels have played a "significant" part in pushing
up food prices to record levels. Although it was expected last week, the report has still not been
on the impact of biofuels, the Gallagher Report. The Guardian has previously reported that
released. "Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major
factor in recent food price rises," said Robert Bailey, policy adviser at Oxfam. "It is imperative that we have the full
picture. While politicians concentrate on keeping industry lobbies happy, people in poor countries cannot afford
Rising food prices have pushed 100m people worldwide below

the poverty line, estimates the World Bank, and have sparked riots from Bangladesh to Egypt.
Government ministers here have described higher food and fuel prices as
"the first real economic crisis of globalisation". President Bush has linked higher food
enough to eat."
prices to higher demand from India and China, but the leaked World Bank study disputes that: "Rapid income
growth in developing countries has not led to large increases in global grain consumption and was not a major
Even successive droughts in Australia,

calculates the report, have had a marginal impact. Instead, it argues that
the EU and US drive for biofuels has had by far the biggest impact on food
supply and prices. Since April, all petrol and diesel in Britain has had to include 2.5% from biofuels. The
EU has been considering raising that target to 10% by 2020, but is faced
with mounting evidence that that will only push food prices higher. "Without
factor responsible for the large price increases."
the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases
due to other factors would have been moderate," says the report. The basket of food prices examined in the study
rose by 140% between 2002 and this February.
The report estimates that higher energy

and fertiliser prices accounted for an increase of only 15%, while biofuels
have been responsible for a 75% jump over that period. It argues that
production of biofuels has distorted food markets in three main ways.
First, it has diverted grain away from food for fuel, with over a third of US
corn now used to produce ethanol and about half of vegetable oils in the
EU going towards the production of biodiesel. Second, farmers have been

encouraged to set land aside for biofuel production. Third, it has sparked
financial speculation in grains, driving prices up higher. Other reviews of the food
crisis looked at it over a much longer period, or have not linked these three factors, and so arrived at smaller
estimates of the impact from biofuels. But the report author, Don Mitchell, is a senior economist at the Bank and
has done a detailed, month-by-month analysis of the surge in food prices, which allows much closer examination of
the link between biofuels and food supply. The report points out biofuels derived from sugarcane, which Brazil
specializes in, have not had such a dramatic impact. Supporters of biofuels argue that they are a greener
alternative to relying on oil and other fossil fuels, but even that claim has been disputed by some experts, who
argue that it does not apply to US production of ethanol from plants. "It is clear that some biofuels have huge
impacts on food prices," said Dr David King, the government's former chief scientific adviser, last night. "All we are
doing by supporting these is subsidising higher food prices, while doing nothing to tackle climate change."
Biofuels are bad for environment, not energy efficient, and

causes food prices to rise
Tillman and Hill 7, (David and Jason, Staff Writers for the Washington Post,
Corn Can't Solve Our Problem , Washington Post, 3/25/2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301625.html BB)
The world has come full circle. A century ago our first transportation biofuels -- the hay and oats fed to our horses -were replaced by gasoline. Today, ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soybeans have begun edging out gasoline
and diesel. This has been hailed as an overwhelmingly positive development that will help us reduce the threat of
climate change and ease our dependence on foreign oil. In political circles, ethanol is the flavor of the day, and
Lost in the ethanolinduced euphoria, however, is the fact that three of our most fundamental
needs -- food, energy, and a livable and sustainable environment -- are
now in direct conflict. Moreover, our recent analyses of the full costs and benefits of various biofuels,
presidential candidates have been cycling through Iowa extolling its benefits.
performed at the University of Minnesota, present a markedly different and more nuanced picture than has been
heard on the campaign trail. Some biofuels, if properly produced, do have the potential to provide climate-friendly
energy, but where and how can we grow them? Our most fertile lands are already dedicated to food production .
As demand for both food and energy increases, competition for fertile
lands could raise food prices enough to drive the poorer third of the globe
into malnourishment. The destruction of rainforests and other ecosystems
to make new farmland would threaten the continued existence of
countless animal and plant species and would increase the amount of
climate-changing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. ad_icon Finding and implementing
solutions to the food, fuel and environment conflict is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. But solutions
will be neither adopted nor sought until we understand the interlinked problems we face. Fossil fuel use has pushed
atmospheric carbon dioxide higher than at any time during the past half-million years. The global population has
increased threefold in the past century and will increase by half again, to 9 billion people, by 2050. Global food and
Biofuels, such as ethanol made

from corn, have the potential to provide us with cleaner energy. But
because of how corn ethanol currently is made, only about 20 percent of
each gallon is "new" energy. That is because it takes a lot of "old" fossil
energy to make it: diesel to run tractors, natural gas to make fertilizer
and, of course, fuel to run the refineries that convert corn to ethanol. If
every one of the 70 million acres on which corn was grown in 2006 was
used for ethanol, the amount produced would displace only 12 percent of
the U.S. gasoline market. Moreover, the "new" (non-fossil) energy gained
fossil energy consumption are on trajectories to double by 2050.
would be very small -- just 2.4 percent of the market. Car tune-ups and
proper tire air pressure would save more energy. There is another problem
with relying on a food-based biofuel, such as corn ethanol, as the poor of
Mexico can attest. In recent months, soaring corn prices, sparked by
demand from ethanol plants, have doubled the price of tortillas, a staple
food. Tens of thousands of Mexico City's poor recently protested this
"ethanol tax" in the streets. In the United States, the protests have also begun -- in Congress.
Representatives of the dairy, poultry and livestock industries, which rely on corn as a principal animal feed, are
seeking an end to subsidies for corn ethanol in the hope of stabilizing corn prices. (It takes about three pounds of
corn to produce a pound of chicken, and seven or eight pounds to grow a pound of beef.) Profit margins are being
squeezed, and meat prices are rising. U.S. soybeans, which are used to make biodiesel, may be about to follow
corn's trajectory, escalating the food vs. fuel conflict. The National Biodiesel Board recently reported that 77
biodiesel production plants are under construction and that eight established plants are expanding capacity. In
terms of environmental impact, all biofuels are not created equal. Ethanol is the same chemical product no matter
what its source. But ethanol made from prairie grasses, from corn grown in Illinois and from sugar cane grown on
newly cleared land in Brazil have radically different impacts on greenhouse gases. Corn, like all plants, is a natural
part of the global carbon cycle. The growing crop absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so burning corn
ethanol does not directly create any additional carbon. But that is only part of the story. All of the fossil fuels used to
The net
effect is that ethanol from corn grown in the Corn Belt does increase
atmospheric greenhouse gases, and this increase is only about 15 percent
less than the increase caused by an equivalent amount of gasoline . Soybean
grow corn and change it into ethanol release new carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
biodiesel does better, causing a greenhouse gas increase that is about 40 percent less than that from petroleum
diesel.
Biofuels increase emissions, kill biodiversity, and raise food

prices
Phalan 13, (Ben, Staff-writer, Biofuel crops: food security must come first The
Guardian, 8/29/2013,
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/29/biofuel-crops-food-securityprices-europe BB)
Biofuel crops increase emissions through land clearance, fertiliser use,
and by displacing other crops. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features Since 2003, the UK and other EU
countries have effectively poured billions of euros into biofuels, on the premise that they reduce emissions from transport. But it has
we now know that many biofuel crops

actually increase overall emissions. At the same time, they damage
biodiversity, hurt some of the world's poorest people by pushing up food
prices, and cost us an estimated 460m each year. Early in September, the European
Parliament will have its first opportunity to put the brakes on. MEPs will vote on whether to amend biofuels policy to
take account of the critical issue of indirect land use change (iLUC) and at
what level to cap biofuels made from food crops. Biofuel crops increase
emissions through land clearance, fertiliser use, and by displacing other
crops. When millions of hectares of land are switched from food to biofuel
crops, food prices rise and food production is displaced, triggering a
domino-like chain of events ending in cropland expansion elsewhere, including into the tropical forests of
been an expensive case of the Emperor's new clothes:
Southeast Asia and the savannas of South America and Africa. This is iLUC.
Biofuels increase warming EU studies prove that

deforestation caused by planting more crops to produce
biofuels indirectly release more CO2
Wynn 3/21/2014(Gerard, Staff-Writer, Biofuel carbon emissions higher than
expected , Responding to Climate Change, 3/21/2014,
http://www.rtcc.org/2014/03/21/eu-warns-biofuel-carbon-emissions-higher-thanexpected/ BB)
The indirect carbon emissions from producing biofuels from food crops are
much higher than previously calculated, a European Union study has
found. The study may be bad news for the European biofuel industry,
already suffering from doubts over continued EU support. Two years ago,
the European Unions executive Commission proposed to halve the original
mandatory biofuel blending target, concerned about the possible impact
on food prices. The European Commission also proposed to include a wider
definition for carbon emissions. That wider definition would include
indirect emissions as a result of land use change, such as deforestation
caused by planting more crops to produce biofuels. That would add to
direct emissions from planting and harvesting crops such as maize and oil
seeds, and refining them into biofuel. Two years on, EU member states are yet to agree on the
Commissions proposals. The EUs research arm, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), this week published new
The new study found ILUC

emissions were 3% to 62% higher, under new assumptions, compared with
a previous study which had informed the original European Commission
proposals. Change The JRC report was carried out in collaboration with the Washington-based International
estimates for indirect land use change (ILUC) emissions.
Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Testing several new assumptions, it found that the original IFPRI study had
assumed higher wheat yields in 2020 than most others. Lower yields led to a 15% hike in calculated ILUC emissions
for wheat-based ethanol, because lower yields implied that more land must be ploughed up to produce biofuels. In
addition, the previous study had assumed that the farmed area for cereals could be expanded by displacing oil
seeds including olives, which are not in fact so flexible, being a perennial rather than an annual crop. Making the
expansion of the farmed area less flexible raised ILUC emissions by 0-29%, depending on the crop. Finally, the new
JRC study removed the assumption that biofuels would cause food consumption to drop, an undesirable outcome for
poor people. The impact on ILUC emissions of fixing consumption varied according to the crop, from a 20%
decrease for sugar beet to a 30% increase for soy beans. The overall, combined effect from the three
In 2012 the European

Commission proposed to amend both the fuel quality and renewable
energy directives which regulate biofuel production. The proposals would
require biofuels to make bigger savings in direct greenhouse gas
emissions than previously, compared with burning conventional crude oilbased fuels. The Commission also proposed to require member states to report the ILUC emissions of cropchanges was a 3% to 62% increase in ILUC emissions. Failed
based biofuels, and said it would decide in 2017 whether the science was sufficiently robust to take ILUC emissions
into account when calculating carbon savings. Those proposals were in addition to halving the 2020 biofuel
blending target, to 5% of all transport fuel from 10%, for crop-based fuels. EU member states have since failed to
agree on whether to adopt the proposals, but the latest study will do nothing to reassure the industry. - See more
at: http://www.rtcc.org/2014/03/21/eu-warns-biofuel-carbon-emissions-higher-than-expected/#sthash.cCs8t8Xb.dpuf
Burning gasoline releases less CO2 than biofuelwhen the

plants are broken down to create fuel they release 3x more
potent CO2 into the atmosphere
Tillman and Hill 7, (David and Jason, Staff Writers for the Washington Post,
Corn Can't Solve Our Problem , Washington Post, 3/25/2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301625.html BB)
But that isn't the case for sugar-cane ethanol or soybean biodiesel from Brazil's newly cleared lands, including
Clearing land releases immense amounts of

greenhouse gases into the air, because much of the material in the plants
and soil is broken down into carbon dioxide. Plants and soil contain three
times more carbon than the atmosphere. The trees and soil of an acre of
rainforest -- which, once cleared, is suitable for growing soybeans -contain about 120 tons of organic carbon. An acre of tropical woodland or
savanna, suitable for sugar cane, contains about half this amount. About a
fourth of the carbon in an ecosystem is released to the atmosphere as
carbon dioxide when trees are clear-cut, brush and branches are burned
or rot, and roots decay. Even more is lost during the first 20 to 50 years of farming, as soil carbon
decomposes into carbon dioxide and as wood products are burned or decay. This means that when
tropical woodland is cleared to produce sugar cane for ethanol, the
greenhouse gas released is about 50 percent greater than what occurs
from the production and use of the same amount of gasoline. And that statistic
holds for at least two decades. Simply being "renewable" does not automatically
make a fuel better for the atmosphere than the fossil fuel it replaces, nor
guarantee that society gains any new energy by its production. The
European Union was recently shocked to learn that some of its imported
biodiesel, derived from palm trees planted on rain-forest lands, was more
than twice as bad for climate warming as petroleum diesel. So much for
the "benefits" of that form of biodiesel. Although current Brazilian ethanol is environmentally
friendly, the long-term environmental implications of buying more ethanol
and biodiesel from Brazil, a possibility raised recently during President
Bush's trip to that country, are cloudy. It could be harmful to both the
climate and the preservation of tropical plant and animal species if it
involved, directly or indirectly, additional clearing of native ecosystems.
tropical forests and savannas.
Concerns about the environmental effects of ethanol production are starting to be felt in the United States as well. It
appears that American farmers may add 10 million acres of corn this year to meet booming demand for ethanol.
Some of this land could come from millions of acres now set aside nationwide for conservation under a government-
Those uncultivated acres absorb atmospheric carbon, so

farming them and converting the corn into ethanol could release more
carbon dioxide into the air than would burning gasoline . There are biofuel
crops that can be grown with much less energy and chemicals than the
food crops we currently use for biofuels. And they can be grown on our
less fertile land, especially land that has been degraded by farming. This
would decrease competition between food and biofuel. The United States has about
subsidized program.
60 million acres of such land -- in the Conservation Reserve Program, road edge rights-of-way and abandoned
farmlands. In a 10-year experiment reported in Science magazine in December, we explored how much
bioenergy could be produced by 18 different native prairie plant species grown on highly degraded
and infertile soil. We planted 172 plots in central Minnesota with various combinations of these
species, randomly chosen. We found, on this highly degraded land, that the plots planted with
mixtures of many native prairie perennial species yielded 238 percent more bioenergy than those
planted with single species. High plant diversity led to high productivity, and little fertilizer or
chemical weed or pest killers was required. The prairie "hay" harvested from these plots can be used to create
high-value energy sources. For instance, it can be mixed with coal and burned for electricity generation. It can be
"gasified," then chemically combined to make ethanol or synthetic gasoline. Or it can be burned in a turbine engine
to make electricity. A technique that is undergoing rapid development involves bioengineering enzymes that digest
parts of plants (the cellulose) into sugars that are then fermented into ethanol. Whether converted into electricity,
ethanol or synthetic gasoline, the high-diversity hay from infertile land produced as much or more new usable
energy per acre as corn for ethanol on fertile land. And it could be harvested year after year.
Port Security
1NC Code of Conduct CP

Text: The United States federal government should hold an
international conference consisting of willing governments and
private entities to propose the creation of an international
Code of Conduct for the purpose of improving shipping
container security.
A conference gets other countries on board
Dahlman et al 5 - Specialist in nuclear-test-ban verification - He chaired the Group of Scientific Experts
before and during the negotiation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (Ola, Container Security: A
Proposal for a Comprehensive Code of Conduct, January 2005, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?
AD=ADA434718)/Megan
The most urgent next step is to explore and mobilize the political will to negotiate a
Code of Conduct on Container Security and identifying a proper forum for such
negotiations. Consideration of container security is taking place in individual states
(in particular the United States), in international fora such as the EU and OSCE, as well as organizations such as the
The negotiations of a Code of Conduct envisioned here

would best be held among States in a worldwide forum with the participation of
international organizations and industry . As there is no natural entity that has the mandate to take
such an initiative, there is a need for an individual actor to initiate the process. Negotiations
IMO and WCO and among industries.
might be conducted within the framework of the IMO or the WCO, for example, though neither has the full
one country could take the initiative to

call for an international conference to develop a Code of Conduct; the creation of
the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines is an example of such a
negotiation among the willing. 26The EU or the OSCE might be able to agree on a regional Code of
responsibility for the entire transport chain. Alternatively,
Conduct that could be expanded globally. Another possibility would be that the G8 plus China initiate the
The expanding
economy of China and the importance of Hong Kong in the world container trade
would be an incentive for China to join such a negotiation as a follow up to the G8 Summit
development of a code during their summit meeting in 2005 by creating a negotiating process.
Agreement in Kananaskis of 2002, where the G8 agreed to develop pilot projects to model an integrated container
security regime.
That solves container security better

Dahlman et al 5 Specialist in nuclear-test-ban verification - He chaired the Group of Scientific Experts
before and during the negotiation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (Ola, Container Security: A
Proposal for a Comprehensive Code of Conduct, January 2005, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?
AD=ADA434718)/Megan
Container security is not just a national issue for a single country, but rather an
international issue and it should be implemented on a global scale for all modes of
transport in order to work satisfactorily. The current initiatives discussed above, while providing a good start
at improving security arrangements for container transport, do not address the end-to-end security problem.
There is no over-arching framework to address the container security problem that

builds on the current bifurcated approaches of treating the customs and
transportation elements separately. A government-sanctioned, multilateral regime is
needed to provide security accountability standards for all elements of container
operations. Such an approach could lead to a harmonization of security
requirements that can be applied to the container transportation operations from
beginning to end: importers/exporters, port authorities, and shipping industry. Within such a framework, it
would be possible to formulate a market-based set of incentives that would be driven by an enhanced security
regulated environment. Realization of a Code of Conduct requires a strong push from governments and the active
A multilateral Code of Conduct should make it possible to obtain

the needed cooperation of all the stakeholders if the enhanced security is seen as leveling the
participation of industry.
playing field and if there were strong economic incentives for industry. Strong continuing oversight of the security
regime is also required. It should be noted that there is currently no forum in which governments, industry and
international organizations can discuss the development of a more encompassing Code of Conduct. Identification of
such a forum should be a priority to develop the details of a Code of Conduct. In the light of its increased
engagement in transport security, the WCO might be the proper forum to bring all the transport stakeholders
together and facilitate an international agreement on Container Security. We have previously identified a number of
Almost 50 million containers

capable of carrying large, heavy loads of materials, including high explosives and
WMD that could be used for terrorist activities, are routinely transported around the
world and a single one could pose a deadly threat; Only two percent of all containers that pass through a harbor
factors that contribute to the risks in container transport, such as:
or any other transport hub are inspected; The basic transport document, the bill of lading, describing the content
The transport chain is not fully transparent and it involves

a number of actors, many of whom are business companies; No authority or
industry is fully responsible for the security of the entire transport chain from sender to
of the container is rarely verified;
receiver, although national customs services are fully involved; Although the transport history of the container
might be known to a large shipping company, there are no established procedures or systems for sharing this
information; 21 During the initial part of transport many containers are for a long time in the custody of a single
An agreement on container security

should significantly reduce the security risks in container traffic while facilitating fair
and efficient global trade. As recognized by another study group that examined the
container security issue, International agreements to coordinate standards and to
develop protocols for authoritative action will be essential. A suitable institution with
membership that includes the majority of trading states should follow the testing
programs and prepare options for such agreements . 15 An agreement on container security
truck driver traveling large distances. Purpose of agreement
could contain the following elements: commit States and transport actors (shipping companies, harbor
commit States and transport

actors to prevent containers from being used for illicit purposes; commit States to
put all international container traffic under effective control; include strong
national implementation measures that provide incentives for the transport industry to comply with
authorities, etc.) to promote fair, efficient and secure global trade;
the Code; establish an international cooperative regime that will support the authorities and industry in
National authorities in States Parties to the

agreement would be responsible for establishing secure container transport in
accordance with this new agreement, with existing international commitments and with national
implementing the agreement. International Measures
legislation. Internationally established norms and procedures and co-operative verification measures would be
The international measures

would: Establish document standards and procedures for transmission and
checking the authenticity of such documents using modern technology; Establish
procedures for verifying declarations at points of origin ; 15 Container Security Report,
designed to support the national authorities and the commercial actors.
Stanford Study Group, CISAC Report, Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, January 2003, 29.
22
Establish standards and procedures for checking containers at harbors and at

similar control posts for trains and trucks. Such standards and procedures would
apply to the use of radiation detectors, thermal or x-ray imaging, swipes, and air
samplers; Establish procedures to monitor container movements in and out of harbors ,
including transport history, and to make this information available to national authorities
along any given transport chain; Establish standards for unique identification of containers;
16 Establish standards for tamper-indicating seals and a transponder system to be
applied to containers; Establish procedures for certifying seals, transponders and
equipment used for container screening and monitoring in harbors and other
checkpoints; Assist in the national establishment of equipment and checking
procedures in harbors and other checkpoints; Assist in the training of personnel in
national authorities.
AFF CP Cant Solve

Perm do both
Perm do the plan and the hold an international conference
consisting of willing governments and private entities to
propose the creation of an international Code of Conduct for
the purpose of improving shipping container security.
Timeframeport attacks are imminentCP is slow
International Fiat
Still cant solve salvagingeven with the codes they still need
a robust salvaging industry to enforce the codes
Obvi doesnt solve FSIA
CP cant solve code of conduct standards wont be
consistently enforced
Port Strategy 14 February 11, Cracking the Code,
http://www.portstrategy.com/news101/port-operations/port-performance/cracking-the-code/Megan
Could such a concept be broadened out to create a regional, national or even

international code of conduct? Robert Kimber, secretary of the General Stevedoring Council, thinks not.
While I could see ports coming closer together if they are in the same geographical
area, because they would have some things in common, I cant imagine the
company stuffing containers on one side of the world having the same code of
conduct stretching all the way to the containers final destination on the other .
Also, I am not sure how many companies have a code of conduct for their own
operations with their customers I think that would be a starting point. If individual links in the chain
havent got their own codes of conduct, how would they set about trying to create
one for the whole chain? A basic code of conduct could be, he suggests, promising to handle everything
with due care and, if there is a problem, rectifying that problem within a given time line. But bearing in mind the
80/20 rule, that 80% of your business probably comes from 20% of your customers, most companies would tend to
prioritise the needs of the customers with the most leverage. Dean Davison, principal consultant at Ocean
Shipping Consultants, says: A code of conduct is defined as an agreement or rules of behaviour for a group or the
way in which an activity is managed. Isnt that what containerisation is in its entirety, in that it is a way of moving
cargo that everyone does the same? Different strokes Broaden the concept out, he says, and while it might
guarantee a consistent level of service, which shipowner actually wants the same level of service as everyone else?
They want a good level of service where loading on to the ship is done in a safe manner and the goods get to
if there was this optimal way of working, how would a terminal

differentiate itself from the competition, and surely such a concept would diminish the
their destination. But
entrepreneurial, thinking-on-your-feet approach which logistics professionals pride themselves in? In fact there
would be no competition! I can understand working together in an optimal way but surely that comes down to
The whole industry and market is based on choice , but this would eat
away at individuality. The various terminal operators have different strategies and
communication anyway.
different ways of standing out from the crowd . A code of conduct at local level
makes sense but at a European or regional level would not be achievable , adds Patrick
Verhoeven, secretary general of the European Community Shipowners Associations (ECSA) and formerly of the
European Ship Ports Organisation (ESPO). He believes the concept put forward by Ron Neale could encourage more
cooperation and avoid waiting times and delays, for example. This has been an issue in inland navigation, where
there is sometimes not enough cooperation between ships sailing schedules and barges arriving randomly, he
says. I do think this is an area where a port authority could play a coordinating role, bring people within the
shipping and maritime community together and show added value by playing the role of match-maker and
facilitator. However, even at local level this is a big step and there would be challenges people have to trust each
other to cooperate.
1NC Port Security Grant Program CP

Text: The United States Federal Government should streamline
and expand its port security grant program.
CP solves port security
GAO 11 -The Government Accountability Office is an independent agency which provides to the United States
Congress audit, evaluation, and investigative services, November 2o11, PORT SECURITY GRANT PROGRAM Risk
Model, Grant Management, and Effectiveness Measures Could Be Strengthened,
http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/587142.pdf//RSoni
PSGP allocations were based largely on port risk and determined

through a combination of a risk analysis model and DHS implementation decisions .
DHS uses a risk analysis model to allocate PSGP funding to port areas that includes all three
elements of riskthreat, vulnerability, and consequence and DHS made modifications
to enhance the models vulnerability element for fiscal year 2011. For example, DHS modified the
vulnerability equation to recognize that different ports can have different vulnerability
levels. However, the vulnerability equation is not responsive to changes in port securitysuch as the
implementation of PSGP-funded security projects. Additionally, the vulnerability equation does
not utilize the most precise data available in all cases . DHS addressed prior GAO
recommendations for strengthening the vulnerability element of grant risk models, but the PSGP models
vulnerability measure could be further strengthened by incorporating the results of
past security investments and by refining other data inputs . FEMA has faced several
challenges in distributing PSGP grant funds, and FEMA has implemented specific steps to
overcome these challenges. Only about one-quarter of awarded grant funding has
been drawn down by grantees, and an additional one- quarter remains unavailable
(see table below). Funding is unavailablemeaning that grantees cannot begin using the
funds to work on projectsfor two main reasons: federal requirements have not been met (such as
environmental reviews), or the port area has not yet identified projects to fund with the grant monies. Several
challenges contributed to funds being unavailable. For example, DHS was slow to
review cost- share waiver requests requests from grantees to forego the cost-share requirement.
Without a more expedited waiver review process, grant applicants that cannot
afford the cost-share may not apply for important security projects . Other challenges
included managing multiple open grant rounds, complying with program
requirements, and using an antiquated grants management system . FEMA has taken steps
In 2010 and 2011,
to address these challenges. For example FEMA and DHS have, among other things, increased staffing levels,
introduced project submission time frames, implemented new procedures for environmental reviews, and
implemented phase one of a new grants management system. However, it is too soon to determine how successful
FEMA is developing performance

measures to assess its administration of the PSGP but it has not implemented
measures to assess PSGP grant effectiveness . Although FEMA has taken initial steps to develop
these efforts will be in improving the distribution of grant funds.
measures to assess the effectiveness of its grant programs, it does not have a plan and related milestones for
Without such a plan, it may be difficult for FEMA

to effectively manage the process of implementing measures to assess whether the
PSGP is achieving its stated purpose of strengthening critical maritime infrastructure
against risks associated with potential terrorist attacks.
implementing measures specifically for the PSGP.
2NC Politics NB
Port security measures have bipartisan support
McCarter 12 -Mickey Communications manager at the Security Industry Association, 07/02/12, Customs &
Immigration Aviation, Port Security Bills Enjoy Bipartisan Support From House Lawmakers,
http://www.hstoday.us/focused-topics/customs-immigration/single-article-page/aviation-port-security-bills-enjoybipartisan-support-from-house-lawmakers/8774d00b80793d7b125324dc9dad3510.html//RSoni
Democrats applauded last week the passage by the House of several homeland
security bills designed to strengthen aviation and port security. The bills, including the
Aviation Security Stakeholder Participation Act (HR 1447), the Securing Maritime Activities through Riskbased
Targeting (SMART) for Port Security Act (HR 4251) and the Gauging American Port Security (GAPS) Act (HR 4005)
enjoyed bipartisan support.
None of the bills has companion legislation in the Senate but all three moved
there for consideration. The Senate could take up the bills or they could become included in a conference for the
homeland security appropriations bill for fiscal year 2013. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the
House Homeland Security Committee, pointed out that Democrats on his committee sponsored to two of the bills
and had significant input on the third. Thompson himself introduced the Aviation Security Stakeholder Participation
Act, which would authorize the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC) to provide feedback on policies and
procedures at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The ASAC would be made up of travel industry
stakeholders that are impacted by TSA regulations. Under the bill, the administrator of TSA would appoint ASAC
The SMART Port

Security Act, introduced by Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), would improv e
coordination between US Customs and Border Protection and the US Coast Guard, as
members and set up working groups for air cargo, general aviation and perimeter security.
previously reported by Homeland Security Today. The bill also would provide relief to port workers who face the
prospect of having to renew their Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) cards in October 2012.
Thompson pressed for that provision, given that the Coast Guard has not yet set up readers for the TWIC cards,
which essentially have been reduced to regular identification cards despite the promise of their biometric
verification capabilities. The cost of a TWIC card, $132.50, for another five-year period would be unreasonably
burdensome on port workers who cannot take advantage of all of its security features, Thompson argued. "Changes
to the TWIC program could affect offsetting receipts and subsequent direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go
procedures apply," the Congressional Budget Office said of Thompson's provision in a report on June 11. Finally,
the GAPS Act would require the Department of Homeland Security to examine gaps
in port security and report to Congress with a plan to address those gaps. Rep.
Janice Hahn (D-Calif.), who sponsored the bill, hailed its passage, 411-9, Thursday. In a statement, Hahn
said, "The loopholes that continue to exist in port security keep me up at night. My first question as a member of
the Homeland Security Committee was to Lee Hamilton, vice chair of the 9/11 Commission, on what Congress
should be doing to protect our ports. Mr. Hamilton's response that Congress wasn't focused enough on our ports
meant we needed to act." US ports receive roughly 50,000 calls from ships annually, with 2 billion tons of freight
and 134 million passengers, Hahn reported. The contribution of this cargo to the US economy is staggeringly
significant, but only 3 percent or less of cargo undergoes scanning. That low amount opens up opportunities for
terrorists to smuggle people or weapons into the United States, she argued. A terrorist attack on the Port of Los
Angeles/Long Beach would cost billions to the economy of California and displace thousands of port workers, Hahn
warned. Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, praised the GAPS Act as an effort to prevent
such a catastrophe. "It's
a tribute to both the importance of the issue and Representative Hahn's

tenacity that Congress passed her legislation a mere four months after she introduced
the bill," Knatz said in a statement. "Trade gateways, like the Port of Los Angeles, are
critical pieces of our nation's economic infrastructure. Keeping these gateways safe
is a national priority." Thompson also welcomed passage of all three bills Thursday. "As all of us have a stake
in securing our nation, my Aviation Security Advisory Committee bill will ensure that the stakeholders who are
expected to comply with the policies and procedures developed by TSA have a seat at the table. Then we can be
confident that TSA policies are both effective from a security standpoint and address the economic and commercial
realities of our nation's airports," Thompson said in a statement. "The SMART Port Act is rooted in not only the
improvements to the TWIC program but also what it seeks to do to improve coordination and cooperation between
DHS' maritime components and strengthen procurement practices. This bill is the result of bipartisan efforts to
strengthen the security of America's ports and waterways and ensure the Department of Homeland Security's
maritime security efforts are as effective and efficient as practicable," Thompson added. "Enactment of the GAPS
Act will help ensure that our limited security resources can be targeted to those threats that put our ports at
greatest risk. Our nation's ports are as diverse as the people they serve and the importance of this infrastructure to
the global supply chain cannot be overstated," he concluded.

CP links to politics sparks spending fights
De Rugy 5 -Veronique, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Is Port
Security Spending Making Us Safer?http://cip.management.dal.ca/publications/Is%20Port%20Security%20Spending
%20Making%20Us%20Safer.pdf//RSoni
The total amount allocated to port security grants over four years is $706 million. In addition, the
Transit Grant Program for ferry security received an additional $5 million in FY2005. 44 Interestingly, the Port
represents a small portion of port security money les than a percent

and is only 0.3 percent of homeland security spending government wide. Yet, each year, the House and
the Senate fight over the amount this program will receive. This year was no
exception. In other words, the Port Security Grant Programs is a very political
program because it is a very visible program that Congressmen like to use to show
their commitment to homeland security and to their constituents.
Security Grant Program
Science Diplomacy
1NC H1-B Visas

Text: The United States federal government should increase
the cap on H1-B visas.
Counterplan solves science diplomacy bolsters scientific
cooperation
Pickering and Agre 2010, ( Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering served as
under secretary of State from 1997 to 2000 and chairs the advisory council of the
Civilian Research and Development Foundation. Dr. Peter Agre, director of the Johns
Hopkins Malaria Research Institute and president of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, won the 2003 Nobel Prize in chemistry. They are
among the signers of a bipartisan statement by the Partnership for a Secure
America on the use of science in American diplomacy, More opportunities needed
for U.S. researchers to work with foreign counterparts, [
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-02-09/news/balop.northkorea0209_1_science-and-technology-north-korea-scientists-andengineers ] , //hss-RJ)
In 1979, a science and technology agreement between the United States and China paved the way for bilateral scientific
cooperation that continues to benefit American science and society more broadly. Now, science diplomacy may help America open a
door toward improved relations with Pyongyang, too. In December, six Americans representing leading scientific organizations sat
down with their North Korean counterparts. The meeting took place on the heels of U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Bosworth's first
Science, an international enterprise that relies on a lively

exchange of ideas and data, can help build trust and expand understanding when
government-to-government contacts may be strained . The North Korea visit, plus the first-ever U.S.
science envoys, represent a fine beginning to a new era of international research cooperation. But the White House,
the State Department and Congress must do far more to bolster science diplomacy.
In particular, the U.S. government should quickly and significantly increase the
number of H1-B visas being approved for specialized foreign workers such
as doctors, scientists and engineers. Their contributions are critical to
improving human welfare as well as our economy . Foreign scientists working or
studying in U.S. universities also become informal goodwill ambassadors
for America globally -- an important benefit in the developing world, where senior
scientists and engineers often enter national politics . More broadly, we urgently
need to expand and deepen links between the U.S. and foreign scientific
communities to advance solutions to common challenges . Climate change, sustainable
official bilateral meeting with North Korea.
development, pandemic disease, malnutrition, protection for oceans and wildlife, national security and innovative energy
technologies all demand solutions that draw on science and technology. Fortunately, U.S. technological leadership is admired
worldwide, suggesting a way to promote dialogue with countries where we otherwise lack access and leverage. A June 2004 Zogby
International poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute found that only 11 percent of Moroccans surveyed had a favorable
overall view of the United States -- but 90 percent had a positive view of U.S. science and technology. Only 15 percent of Jordanians
had a positive overall view, but 83 percent registered admiration for U.S. science and technology. Similarly, Pew polling data from 43
countries show that favorable views of U.S. science and technology exceed overall views of the United States by an average of 23
points. The recent mission to North Korea exemplified the vast potential of science for U.S. diplomacy. Within the scientific
community, after all, journals routinely publish articles co-written by scientists from different nations, and scholars convene frequent
Science demands an intellectually honest atmosphere, peer

review and a common language for professional discourse. Basic values of
transparency, vigorous inquiry and respectful debate are all inherent to science.
conferences to extend those ties.
Nations that cooperate on science strengthen the same values that support peaceful conflict resolution and improved public safety.
U.S. and Soviet nongovernmental organizations contributed to a thaw in the Cold War through scientific exchanges, with little
government support other than travel visas. The U.S. government is off to a good start in leveraging science diplomacy, with 43
bilateral umbrella science and technology agreements now in force. The Obama administration further elevated science
engagement, beginning with the president's June speech in Cairo. Then, in November, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed
three science envoys to foster new partnerships and address common challenges, especially within Muslim-majority countries. She
also announced the Global Technology and Innovation Fund, through which the Overseas Private Investment Corporation will spur
These steps are commendable, but

the White House and the State Department need to exercise even greater
leadership to build government capacity and partnerships that advance U.S. science
diplomacy globally. Congress should lead as well, with greater recognition of science
engagement and increased funding for science capacity-building. Both chambers
must work together to give the executive branch the resources it needs. In an era of
complex global challenges, science diplomacy is a critical tool for U.S. foreign policy.
The opportunity to strengthen that tool and advance our diplomatic goals should
not be missed.
private-sector investments in science and technology industries abroad.
2NC Solvency
Counterplan solves science diplomacy bolsters international
cooperation and capitalizes on global popularity of American
science
Turekein and Lord 2009, (Vaughn Turekian is Chief International Officer and
Director of the Center For Science Diplomacy at the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. Kristin Lord is a Vice President at the Center for a New
American Security and a Nonresident Fellow of the Brookings Institution, The
Science of Diplomacy, [
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/05/04/the_science_of_diplomacy ] , //hssRJ)
Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama announced his 20-person Council of
Advisors on Science and Technology, a group including two Nobel laureates. He also
proclaimed his intention to increase scientific research spending to 3 percent of
GDP, $70 billion more per year. The news prolonged Obama's honeymoon with U.S.
scientists, spurred by his senior-level appointments of highly respected specialists
such as Dr. John Holdren and Dr. Steven Chu as well as his re-legalization of stem
cell research in his first days in office. As he recommits resources to this most
important field, Obama must remember that science and technology have
tremendous applications in and effects on the world of foreign policy as well. Given
the United States' predominance in technology, engineering, health, and innovation,
other countries want to engage with and benefit from the United States' ideas and
products. Still, past U.S. governments have not taken full advantage of the power
and potential of science to improve foreign affairs and make a safer, healthier
world. To engage in science diplomacy -- defined here as scientific cooperation and
engagement with the explicit intent of building positive relationships with foreign
governments and societies -- Obama should do the following. Think strategically.
Scientific cooperation can be a fruitful and apolitical way to engage countries where
diplomatic relations are strained. For example, the U.S. National Academy of
Sciences has sponsored scientific exchanges with Iran for the last several years. As
part of these exchanges, young Iranians enthusiastically welcome visits from U.S.
thinkers like Nobel laureate in physics Joseph Taylor. Scientists work together on
issues of mutual interest such as public health and earthquake preparedness. A
nascent effort at science diplomacy is now underway in Syria, which recently
welcomed a high-level visit of U.S. scientists and educators. The delegation met for
over an hour with President Bashar al-Assad, himself a medical doctor, to discuss
potential areas of cooperation outside the realm of politics. Think offensively as well
as defensively. Current policies regarding international cooperation often restrict
access to U.S. technologies -- keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of
terrorists, for instance. But such defensive policies should be matched with better
offensive policies: bringing the world's best scientists and scientific businesses into
the United States and sending American scientists out to aid the world more often.
To this end, the United States should provide visas and scholarships to usher
talented students into American universities and dramatically increase the number
of H-1B visas, which admit specialized workers such as doctors and physicists . The
United States should also send more professionals to aid in conducting disease
surveillance, developing clean energy technologies, facilitating environmental
adaptation, and providing early warning of impending natural disasters. Think about
people -- not just governments. Foreign publics admire American science and
technology far more than they admire America . Indeed, an analysis of Pew polling
data from 43 countries shows that favorable views of American science and
technology exceed overall views of the United States by an average of 23 points.
This presents the United States with a public diplomacy opportunity: to remind
foreign people of what they like about the United States and to highlight
constructive partnerships between Americans and foreign scientists, engineers,
doctors, and technology business leaders. As a first step, the U.S. government
should publicize successful partnerships with other countries and the relevant
accomplishments of Americans. This means trumpeting Bill Gates as much as
government officials and naming Nobel laureates like Egyptian-American chemist
Ahmed Zewail as goodwill ambassadors. It means exposing the thousands of U.S.government-sponsored scientific visitors to American society and politics, not just
science. Facing a complex set of foreign-policy challenges, the United States can no
longer afford to overlook such a useful instrument of statecraft. Regrettably, the
U.S. government is not well organized to take advantage of science diplomacy. The
National Science Foundation and technical departments (Energy, Agriculture, Health
and Human Services, and Defense) apply their resources to science -- but not to its
diplomatic use. Thus, the Obama administration should appoint a senior-level
ambassador for science and technology cooperation in the State Department. He or
she could convene an interagency group coordinating the strategic use of science
diplomacy. But importantly, the Obama administration must change current
approaches. Foreign-policy leaders -- especially Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -must recognize the power of this means of engagement. The United States has
emphasized in past weeks its commitment to the globally shared goals of healthier
populations, a cleaner environment, safer societies, and a better life for all.
Recognizing the potential of science diplomacy will certainly help maximize the
United States' realization of these goals.
Raising visas solve science diplomacy bolsters innovation and

communication
USHR Hearing 2013, (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Oversight HEARING CHARTER, witnesses
include Dr. Charles M. Vest, President, National Academy of Engineering; Dr. Larry
Wortzel, Commissioner, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission; Hon.
Michelle Van Cleave, Senior Fellow, Homeland Security Policy Institute, George
Washington University; Mr. David G. Major, Founder and President, The Centre for
Counterintelligence and Security Studies, Espionage Threats at Federal
Laboratories: Balancing Scientific Cooperation while Protecting Critical Information,
[ http://docs.house.gov/meetings/SY/SY21/20130516/100836/HHRG-113-SY2120130516-SD002.pdf ] , //hss-RJ)
Science is a worldwide endeavor. In 2008, American Association for the

Advancement of Science (AAAS) Chief Executive Officer Alan I. Leshner testified
before this Committee that, Science is by definition global in scope and application
- it knows no borders, is not constrained by geography, and no one country has a
monopoly on it.4 In March 2011, Bo Cooper, former General Counsel to the thenImmigration and Naturalization Service (INS), testified before the House Judiciary
Committee that, Throughout our history, our country has operated on the principle
that the more brain power we can attract from around the world, the more
creativity, invention, and growth we can achieve here at home. A Harvard Business
School study found that the number of inventions, as measured by patents,
increased when H-1B visa caps were higher due to the direct contributions of
immigrant inventors.6 Though the numbers have declined during the current
economic downturn, immigrants with advanced degrees still comprise a
considerable percentage of U.S. workers in science and engineering occupations. At
the doctoral degree level, about half of U.S. workers in computer and mathematical
sciences and in engineering are foreign-born. 7 Aside from sparking innovation and
entrepreneurship, foreign scholars make significant contributions to the American
economy. The Association of International Educators estimates that international
students and their dependents contributed approximately $21.8 billion to the
American economy during the 2011-2012 academic year. This figure is based on an
analysis of tuition, enrollment figures, living expenses and other associated costs.8
International scientific cooperation and openness to international students also
serves longstanding and important U.S. foreign policy goals by fostering
communication and cooperation among nations to promote greater global peace,
prosperity and stability.
AT: Wage Turn

Their wages arguments are based on poor studies new
evidence proves that increased visas boost the US economy
and dont trade off with American jobs.
Sunil Mithas and Henry C. Lucas, Jr., assistant professor and Department Chair
at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland, May 2010,
Management Science, p.762
Our findings have important policy and managerial implications. From a policy
perspective, this study suggests that, contrary to popular belief, non-U.S. citizen IT
professionals are not paid less compared to American IT professionals. More
broadly, the evidence in this study provides indirect evidence that visa and
immigration policies so far have not had any adverse impact on the wages of
American IT professionals due to any relatively lower compensation of foreign IT
professionals. Comparisons of average salaries or those based on the compensation
information in LCA petitions, which do not adequately adjust for educational
qualifications, work experience, or institutional factors associated with American or
foreign professionals, can lead to wrong conclusions. The current study, using actual
salary data from IT professionals, suggests that calls for making visa policies more
restrictive to protect American professionals and to prevent exploitation of foreign
professionals need to be examined more carefully. Although some instances of
potential abuse can not be ruled out for any policy, an appropriate and prudent
policy response for any allegations of visa abuse should be commensurate with the
seriousness of the actual abuse. Setting visa caps higher is perhaps less
damaging than setting them too low because, if the economy does not need
foreign professionals, then these visa caps will remain underutilized , as happened
from 20012003. On the other hand, policies that restrict the supply of highly skilled
professionals for U.S. firms may force U.S. companies to hire professionals overseas,
thus defeating the very rationale invoked for reactive policy responses (Lewin et al.
2009, Thibodeau 2008). This phenomenon may already be occurring because the
number of IT professionals hired by companies like IBM and Accenture in India in
recent times far exceeds the number of IT professionals with H-1B or other work
visas on their payroll.11 By the end of 2007, IBM had more than 70,000 employees
in India, and Accenture was slated to have more employees in India than in the
United States (Giridhardas 2007). More importantly, restrictive visa policies, to the
extent they lead to reverse migration and thus potential loss of skills, innovation,
and entrepreneurship of foreign-born IT professionals, particularly those who
acquired higher education in U.S. universities (Wadhwa 2009), can also hurt the
long-term competitiveness of U.S. firms and the U.S. economy.
Science Diplomacy
1NC - Fund and Consolidate STEM Education CP

Text: The United States federal government should double the funding of
federal programs that focus Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics education. Computer science should also be included in the
definition of STEM education. The United States federal government
should also consolidate STEM education programs under fewer agencies.
And, the CP solves - massive funding increase as well as

consolidation needs to occur to improve STEM education
Neuhauser 2014 [Alan - energy, environment and STEM reporter, "'Serious
thinking' needed on STEM programs, Congressional Staffers say", US NEWS AND
WORLD REPORT, April 24, http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/04/23/seriousthinking-needed-on-stem-programs-congressional-staffers-say] ttate
Speaking on a panel Wednesday on the first day of the U.S. News STEM Solutions Conference in Washington, D.C.,
Thomas called on the federal government to remain

engaged in supporting STEM education , while also making sure taxpayers are getting true returns on
Cliff Shannon, Dahlia Sokolov and Brad
their investment namely, students, workers and graduates gaining the STEM skills they need to compete in the
global economy.
Were not really on a good trajectory for that right now, said Shannon , majority staff
director for the Subcommittee on Research and Technology, part of the House Committee on Science, Space and
Technology. The
federal government needs to engage itself more intensely on basic

research and how people think and learn, and how people can translate that into
STEM.
He added: We need to do some pretty serious thinking about what measures we want to use to make sure that our
investments are delivering.
Sokolov, minority staff director for the Research and Technology Subcommittee, agreed.
A lot o these programs have been around for a very long time, for a decade in some cases, she said. We need to
make sure we really are getting our biggest bang for the buck.
Thomas, senior education policy advisor for the majority on the House Committee
on Education and the Workforce, highlighted efforts to include computer science in
federal definitions of STEM education, and to consider combining separate programs
that are being run simultaneously by a dozen-odd different federal agencies.
Thirteen agencies have STEM education programs currently, he said. We
certainly do think that wise consolidation of those programs are in order.
Sokolov, the subcommittees minority staff director, pointed out that some of the challenges stem from partisan
budget fights on Capitol Hill.
I wish we could do more now, she said. There likely will not be agreement on the
[budget] numbers for some of the STEM programs.
All agreed, though, that the fruits of federal action or consequences of federal
inaction might only be seen years from now.
My children will decide whether they have realized their dreams or they havent,
Shannon said.
And, STEM solves science leadership

Schaub 14 (Hillary, Asst. to the VP at Brookings & Director of Center for Technology Innovation, The
Importance of the Science and Engineering Workforce for Future Growth 4/23/14,
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/techtank/posts/2014/04/23-stem-workforce)King
Scientists and engineers are critical for technological leadership, and therefore
essential for U.S. economic strength, national defense, and quality of life.
Congressional policy makers are concerned whether the number of science and
engineering (S&E) professionals in the U.S. workforce are sufficient to meet the
demands of the market. In February 2014, the Congressional Research Service
(CRS) published a report, The U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce: Recent,
Current, and Projected Employment, Wages, and Unemployment, which offers
statistics that illustrate the state of the S&E workforce. The CRS uses key indicators like
employment growth, wage growth, and unemployment rates to gauge workforce shortages. The latest Occupational
Employment Statistics available are from 2012. Science and Engineering Workforce in 2012 In 2012, there were
6.2 million scientists and engineers. The two most popular occupations among S&E are computer workers and
engineers. See below for more details. Compilation of S&E Occupational Employment, 2012 As shown below,
those in S&E fields have a higher mean annual wage than those in all other occupations. The median annual wage
for all scientists and engineers was $87,330 and the median income for all other occupations was $45,790. Mean
Annual Wages of S&E Occupational Groups and Other Professional Occupations, 2012 Science and Engineering
Workforce change from 2008-2012 From 2008 to 2012, aggregate S&E employment rose from 5.8 million to 6.2
million. Despite the Great Recession, S&E employment increased while the overall US employment decreased. S&E
Occupations with the Largest Employment Growth, 2008-2012 Historically, the professional workforce (including
S&E occupations) has experienced lower unemployment rates compared to the overall workforce. Below are the
unemployment rates for all workers (16 years and older) in addition to select professional occupations from 20082012. Unemployment Rates for S&E Groups, the Overall Workforce, and Other Selected Professional and Related
Occupations, 2008-2012 Future of Science and Engineering Workforce The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
projects that the number of S&E jobs will grow by 953,200 between 2012 and 2022. Share of Total Projected S&E
Occupational Job Growth, 2012-2022 by S&E Occupational Group There is still debate as to whether there is a
shortage of S&E professionals or if there is inefficiency in job placement- mismatched skills and needs. Regardless
the United States needs to do more to develop the S&E

workforce. CRS proposes several ways Congress can strengthen the S&E
Workplace: increasing the number of students pursing S&E degrees; increasing the
of if there is a shortage or not,
number of foreign scientists and engineers admitted to the U.S. increasing the number of underrepresented
improving K-12 STEM education; and improving career

information and counseling for high school students.
minorities and women in S&E
Solvency Exts - Solves Science Diplomacy

STEM fields are key to US leadership
US department of education, No date
(US dept. of edu.Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math:
Education for Global Leadership date accesed 7/31/ http://www.ed.gov/stem) King
The United States has become a global leader, in large part, through the genius and
hard work of its scientists, engineers and innovators. Yet today, that position is
threatened as comparatively few American students pursue expertise in the fields of
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)and by an inadequate pipeline of teachers
skilled in those subjects. President Obama has set a priority of increasing the number of students and teachers who are proficient in
these vital fields. Projected Percentage Increases In STEM Jobs from 2010 to 2020: 14% for all occupations, 16% for Mathematics, 22% for Computer
Only 16
percent of American high school seniors are proficient in mathematics and
interested in a STEM career. [expand/collapse] The goals President Obama has articulated a
clear priority for STEM education: within a decade, American students must "move
from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math." [expand/collapse] The plan The
Systems Analysts, 32% for Systems Software Developers, 36% for Medical Scientists, 62% for Biomedical Engineers The need
Committee on STEM Education (CoSTEM), comprised of 13 partner agenciesincluding all of the mission science agencies and the Department of
with new and repurposed funds, to reorganize STEM

education programs and increase the impact of federal investments in five areas: P12 STEM instruction; increasing and sustaining public and youth engagement with
STEM; improving the STEM experience of undergraduate students; better serving
groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields; and designing graduate
education for tomorrow's STEM workforce. [expand/collapse] The President's Fiscal Year 2015
Educationwill facilitate a cohesive national strategy ,
Budget Proposal Included in the fiscal year 2015 budget are several investments designed to improve teaching and
learning in STEM subjects for teachers and students in our nation's schools. Key elements of the President's
proposal include: STEM Innovation Proposal: This proposal includes $170 million in new funding that will help to
train the next generation of innovators. Key activities include: STEM Innovation Networks ($110 million): This
program will award grants to school districts in partnership with colleges, and other regional partners to transform
STEM teaching and learning by accelerating the adoption of practices in P-12 education that help to increase the
number students who seek out and are well-prepared for postsecondary education and careers in STEM fields.
STEM Teacher Pathways ($40 million): To support President Obama's goal of preparing 100,000 effective STEM
teachers, this program will provide competitive awards to high-quality programs that recruit and train talented
STEM educators for high-need schools. National STEM Master Teacher Corps ($20 million): This program will identify, refine and share
models to help America's best and brightest math and science teachers to make the transition from excellent teachers to school and community leaders
and advocates for STEM education. The program will enlist, recognize and reward a national corps of outstanding STEM educators to help improve STEM
Together, these programs will identify and

implement effective approaches for improving STEM teaching and learning;
facilitate the dissemination and adoption of effective STEM instructional practices
nationwide; and promote STEM education experiences that prioritize hands-on
learning to increase student engagement, interest, and achievement in the STEM
fields.
teaching and learning in their schools and communities.
STEM education is key to increasing our science leadership and diplomacy

Lempert 8 (Richard, graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Michigan Law School and holds a PhD in
sociology, Maintaining U.S. Scientific Leadership http://scienceprogress.org/2008/03/maintaining-us-scientificleadership/)King
It has been so long since the United States had to look up to any country in science
that we Americans have come to regard science leadership as a birth right. When
children in other countries score better on science tests than American youngsters
or our production of Ph.D.s and engineers or share of patent applications declines

relative to other countries, we act as if the United States is slipping rather than
other countries advancing, and we see a crisis emerging. Perhaps the field we have truly
fallen behind in is history. We forget that in the early 20th century German was the lingua franca of
science. Germany was where young scientists went to study, and where top scientists presented, and often had
done, their cutting edge work. U.S. science leadership is not natural and inevitable, but the loss of that leadership
may be. Far from being natural or inevitable, the United States science leadership is an offshoot of this countrys
preeminence in the system of world governments that emerged after the defeat of Germany in World War II. This
system was built on the rewards to science innovation in a vibrant capitalist economy, and on WWII- and Cold Warimpelled needs to develop our science and engineering capacity. It uniquely benefited from immigration, especially
it could not have happened without

the wealth and vision that allowed the United States to not only generously
subsidize basic science but also to establish an educational system that was broadbased at the bottom and unparalleled in availability and quality at the top. If these
advantages were not enough, the competition for science leadership was weak
thanks to the devastation that Europe suffered in two world wars and the slow
rebuilding of European economies in the post-war era The upshot: U.S. science leadership is not
from Europe in the Nazi era and immediate post-war period. And
natural and inevitable, but the loss of that leadership may be. Countries much larger than the United States, most
notably India and China, are experiencing economic growth that outstrips ours, and as they grow in wealth they are
rapidly improving their educational systems and basic science infrastructures. Moreover, as globalization leads
companies born in the United States to move research and production capacity abroad, market demand for trained
scientists and engineers is increasing elsewhere while it is being dampened here. Even if the United States retains
a per capita education and investment advantage over India and China, population differences alone mean that the
number of trained scientists and engineers in these countries will soon dwarf the number in America, with
differences in the quantity and quality of science innovation likely to follow. Added to the Asian challenge is a
Europe that can no longer be seen as a set of discrete countries when it comes to science. Rather, cross-border
research teams are being encouraged, and European Union-wide funding mechanisms are being established. In
short, several decades from now we may find that we are not the worlds number one country when it comes to
science, however measured, but perhaps no. 4 behind China, India, and the EU. We may also find that being in
fourth place is not altogether bad. When children in China are vaccinated against polio, they are not worse off
because the vaccine was invented in the United States. When an Indian inventor draws on two decades of U.S.
government-funded research to achieve a technological breakthrough, her accomplishment will not be lessened
because it would not have happened had research in the United States not paved the way. As the world no. 1 in
science, U.S. science investments have had substantial spillover effects, improving the quality of life in other
countries and enabling scientific, technological, and medical accomplishments that have benefited people abroad.
As other countries improve their science, the progress of American science and the lives of our people will
increasingly benefit from educational and infrastructure investments made elsewhere and from research supported
by currencies other than the dollar. Thanks to the preeminence of U.S. science for more than half a century,
English is second only to mathematics as the universal language of science. Acknowledging the inevitable and
seeing a bright side does not, however, mean we should regard what is happening as an unalloyed blessing and
passively allow American science to slip. There are substantial costs should U.S. science capacity sink absolutely,
and real costs even if slippage is only relative. Scientific advances create intellectual property, and wealth creation
through intellectual property has become an increasingly important part of the U.S. and world economies. Whats
more, the world remains a dangerous place, and it may become more so should countries like China develop
expansionist ambitions. Science for security must remain a high national priority, and although we may not be able
to keep other nations from catching up, we do not want to be surprised by their achievements or surpassed. In
devising policies to maximize the strength of U.S. science, our nation has two unique resources it must not
squander. The first is English. Thanks to the preeminence of U.S. science for more than half a century, English is
second only to mathematics as the universal language of science. Scientists around the world speak and write
English. This gives American scientists a leg up in communicating with scientists across national boundaries and
makes many of the most important writings of foreign scientists easily and immediately accessible to Americans.
Additionally, American students are not dissuaded from pursuing science careers nor do they have their science
studies delayed because of the need to master a foreign language. Short of eliminating federal science funding,
nothing, I venture to guess, would harm American science as much as a need to read Chinese to keep up with the
latest science developments. One goal of our national science policy should be to maintain English as the global
language of science. This might entail subsidies or other incentives to promote the publication of English-language
online science journals, aid to enable the acquisition of English-language science materials (including print journals)
by universities and libraries abroad, and programs to train foreign scientists in English, either in their own countries,
online, or by bringing them to the United States or Britain for science internships or language instruction. The high
subscription price of leading English-language science journals is a particular threat because it means that for
financial rather than science reasons market forces are likely to promote a proliferation of lower priced foreignbased journals in languages other than English. These journals, started for reasons of cost, may become science
journals of record in their home countries, meaning that cutting-edge overseas research may become less easily or
immediately available here. The short-run solution may be U.S. subscription subsidies for foreign scholars and
institutions, but the only viable long-term solution is to bring costs down, most likely by electronic distribution that
through competition reins in the profit-oriented publishers who now mediate between the creation and distribution
of science knowledge. Students who had planned on doing their advanced science studies in the United States
went instead to Europe, Australia, Japan, or Canada. The United States second great advantage is our system of
higher education. We are still the preeminent nation when it comes to science training, and we benefit from this in
many ways. Foreigners who come to study here learn English, and they build relationships with U.S. scientists that
endure after they return home, if they return home. Study here can also lead to an appreciation for the United
States and its values, including especially the values of democracy and free inquiry. Perhaps most beneficial of all
are the foreign-born scientists who stay to take jobs here or who return periodically to work collaboratively with U.S.
scientists. They add to our science workforce and scientific productivity and go a long way to make up for
inadequacies in the production of U.S. born scientists. Ironically, the threat to U.S. science dominance is in part
due to our willingness to educate the world. Some of the foreign scientists trained here have returned home to
become leading researchers or educators in countries such as India and China, while others have returned to
Western Europe and reinvigorated their graduate science education. Thus, our leadership in science education,
although not as vulnerable as our overall science leadership, is also ripe for challenge. Rather than rise to the
challenge, however, we have aided the challengers. Short-term political and security concerns have trumped
longer-term interests in science strength along with longer-term wealth and security. Responding viscerally to the
attacks of 9/11, we made entering this country more difficult for foreigners whatever the reason. One result was
that students who had planned on doing their advanced science studies in the United States went instead to
Europe, Australia, Japan, or Canada. Or they pursued advanced degrees in their home countries. More recently,
the Iraq war and attitudes toward immigration have made the United States less attractive to educated foreigners.
Difficulties in entering the United States have also affected the location of and attendance at scientific conferences
as well as the ability of universities and companies to employ foreign researchers. Although the U.S. government
has become sensitive to the harms that some of its post 9/11 policies caused and has tried to ameliorate problems,
it could be doing much moreincluding proactively encouraging more foreign students to study science here and
making it easier for them to work here when their studies are concluded. The downside of replenishing our science
workforce with the foreign born is that it diminishes pressure on industry and government to stimulate domestic
science training. Yet few dispute that improving domestic education must remain a high priority, especially as
opportunities for science workers abroad grow sufficiently attractive as to not only lure foreign-born U.S. science
workers back to their home countries, but also to entice native-born American scientists to work abroad. A virtue
of science progress is that it cannot help but create free riders. Essays, and indeed books, can and have been
written on what stimulating domestic science training will take, and I shall not attempt to canvass the suggestions
We cannot afford to
leave undeveloped the talents of minorities and the poor by failing to provide the
nutrition, health care, preschool training, and later education that will allow these
youth to realize their potential. It is no longer just personal accomplishments we are
talking about; it is the national well being. A virtue of science progress is that it
cannot help but create free riders. New discoveries and inventions fuel other new
discoveries and inventions and raise everyones quality of life. Even if intellectual
property laws allow innovators to secure fortunes for themselves, exclusive rights
last only for period of time, and rarely can all profits be captured . We, along with other
that people more knowledgeable than I have made. But I will reiterate one point.
nations, are made better off by new vaccines discovered in Britain, cell phone technologies born in Finland, robotics
breakthroughs from Japan, and the development of disease-resistant plant varieties in the United States.
Americans love to rank things, whether it is football teams, law schools, or most livable cities, and we love to
identify with or be Number One. For many it is a matter of national pride that the United States is acknowledged
as the worlds leader in science. Hence it is a matter of great national concern when it appears other nations are
catching up or that we may be slipping. But the two ways of reducing disparities in the rankings are quite different.
If other nations are doing better in supporting science and producing more scientific breakthroughs, then we are
likely to benefit from their successes. But if our lead is slipping because we are losing capacity and failing to invest
in the physical and human capital that produces outstanding science, then there is substantial cause for concern;
not only the United States but the world will be worse off as a result. In short, we should focus more on how we are
If our youth
are well-educated in science, if our science workforce has the highly trained staff it
needs, if we facilitate the international exchange of scientific knowledge, and if our
educational establishments and industry remain fountains of innovation, then we
doing and spend less time worrying about whether other nations are catching up to us in science.
need not worry whether other nations are doing as well or better than we are. We
will be strong. But if our lead is lost because we squander our advantages and fail to
educate our youth, then slippage in the ranks of nations doing science may indeed
signify crisis.
Solvency Exts - Economy

STEM education is key to jobs - it gives people the skill needed for unfilled jobs
Engler 12 (John, president of Business Roundtable and a former governor of
Michigan, STEM Education Is the Key to the U.S.'s Economic Future, U.S, News and
World Report, June 15,2014,
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2012/06/15/stem-education-is-the-key-tothe-uss-economic-future) Williams
A close look at American unemployment statistics reveals a contradiction: Even with
unemployment at historically high levels, large numbers of jobs are going unfilled.
Many of these jobs have one thing in commonthe need for an educational
background in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Increasingly,
one of our richest sources of employment and economic growth will be jobs that
require skills in these areas, collectively known as STEM . The question is: Will we be able
to educate enough young Americans to fill them? Yes, the unemployment numbers have been
full of bad news for the past few years . But there has been good news too. While the overall
unemployment rate has slowly come down to May's still-high 8.2 percent, for those in STEM
occupations the story is very different. [Check out the U.S. News STEM blog.] According
to a
recently released study from Change the Equation, an organization that supports
STEM education, there are 3.6 unemployed workers for every job in the United
States. That compares with only one unemployed STEM worker for two unfilled
STEM jobs throughout the country. Many jobs are going unfilled simply for lack of
people with the right skill sets. Even with more than 13 million Americans unemployed, the
manufacturing sector cannot find people with the skills to take nearly 600,000 unfilled jobs, according
to a study last fall by the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte. The hardest jobs to fill were skilled
positions, including well-compensated blue collar jobs like machinists, operators, and technicians, as
well as engineering technologists and sciences. As Raytheon Chairman and CEO William Swanson
said at a Massachusetts' STEM Summit last fall, "Too many students and adults are training for jobs in
which labor surpluses exist and demand is low, while high-demand jobs, particularly those in STEM
fields, go unfilled." STEM-related skills are not just a source of jobs, they are a source
of jobs that pay very well. A report last October from the Georgetown University Center on
Education and the Workforce found that 65 percent of those with Bachelors' degrees in
STEM fields earn more than Master's degrees in non-STEM occupations. In fact, 47
percent of Bachelor's degrees in STEM occupations earn more than PhDs in nonSTEM occupations. [Read the U.S. News Debate: Should Foreign STEM Graduates Get Green
Cards?] But despite the lucrative potential, many young people are reluctant to enter into fields that
require a background in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. In a recent study by the
Lemselson-MIT Invention Index, which gauges innovation aptitude among young adults, 60 percent of
young adults (ages 16 to 25) named at least one factor that prevented them from pursuing further
education or work in the STEM fields. Thirty-four percent said they don't know much about the fields, a
third said they were too challenging, and 28 percent said they were not well-prepared at school to seek
further education in these areas. This is a problemfor young people and for our country. We need
STEM-related talent to compete globally, and we will need even more in the future.
It is not a matter of choice: For the United States to remain the global innovation
leader, we must make the most of all of the potential STEM talent this country has
to offer. Government can play a critical part. President Barack Obama's goal of
100,000 additional science, technology, engineering, and math teachers is laudable.
The president's STEM campaign leverages mostly private-sector funding. Called
Educate to Innovate, it has spawned Change the Equation, whose study was cited
above. A nongovernmental organization, Change the Equation was set up by more than 100 CEOs,
with the cooperation of state governments and educational organizations and foundations to align
corporate efforts in STEM education.
Solvency Exts - Hegemony

STEM leaderships key to the sustainability and legitimacy of
hegemony independently solves extinction
Coletta, USAF Professor of Political Science, 09
(Damon, Duke University , Ph.D. in Political Science, December 1999 Harvard
University , Master in Public Policy, 1993 Stanford University , Master in Electrical
Engineering, 1989 Stanford University , B.S.E.E., 1988, Science, Technology, and
the Quest for International Influence, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?
AD=ADA536133&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
scientific progress facilitates diplomatic strategy in the long run, how it
contributes to Joseph Nyes soft power, which translates to staying power in the
international arena. One possible escape from the geopolitical forces depicted in Thucydides history
for all time is for the current hegemon to maintain its lead in science, conceived as a national
Less appreciated is how
program and as an enterprise belonging to all mankind. Beyond the new technologies for projecting military or economic power,
the scientific ethos conditions the hegemons approach to social-political problems . It

effects how the leader organizes itself and other states to address well-springs of
discontentmaterial inequity, religious or ethnic oppression, and environmental
degradation. The scientific mantle attracts others admiration, which softens or at least
complicates other societies resentment of power disparity. Finally, for certain global problems
nuclear proliferation, climate change, and financial crisisthe scientific lead
ensures robust representation in transnational epistemic communities that can
shepherd intergovernmental negotiations onto a conservative, or secular, path in terms of
preserving international order. In todays order, U.S. hegemony is yet in doubt even
though military and economic indicators confirm its status as the worlds lone
superpower. America possesses the material wherewithal to maintain its lead in the
sciences, but it also desires to bear the standard for freedom and democracy . Unfortunately,
patronage of basic science does not automatically flourish with liberal democracy. The free market and the mass public impose
Absent the lead in basic

discovery, no country can hope to pioneer humanitys quest to know Nature. There
is a real danger U.S. state and society could permanently confuse sponsorship of technology with
patronage of science, thereby delivering a self-inflicted blow to U.S. leadership
among nations.
demands on science that tend to move research out of the basic and into applied realms.
Aff Answers
STEM education is bad for the economy- doesnt help students get jobs
Milligan 12 (Susan Milligan is a political and foreign affairs writer, STEM Shouldn't Trump Liberal Arts in
Education, Colleges shouldn't make science and technology majors more attractive to students than the liberal
arts.12/10/12 http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/susan-milligan/2012/12/10/pushing-stem-over-liberal-artseducation-is-just-bad-business King
It's distressing enough that the business model is increasingly dictating the way we
operate schools. But it's getting worse with the push to impose a business model on
education and learning themselves. Educators across the country are being asked
to adhere to the new Common Core Standards for English (adopted by 46 states),
which now recommend having students read dry, informational nonfiction at the
expense of great literature. The idea is that if a student wants to survive in a world
of bureaucratese, he or she must learn how to navigate such compelling tomes as FedViews, by the Federal
Reserve Bank of San Francisco (2009) and "Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy,
and Transportation Management," published by the General Services Administration. Both are recommended texts
under the new core curriculum. [See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.] It's true that some such
the answer is not to teach

youngsters how to figure out what the writers of those items are trying to say. The
answer is to make sure that even people who are not going into non-liberal-arts
fields actually learn how to write. The way to encourage good writing is to
encourage a love of reading. An executive order isn't going to cut it. In Florida, Gov.
Rick Scott is suggesting that universities freeze tuition for majors in "strategic
areas," such as science and engineering. Although classes in such field are more
expensive to teach, they would be cheaper than classes in arts and humanities,
which the policy considers frivolous and not job- or business-friendly. Again, the
idea is not only insulting but misguided as well. Liberal arts majors learn how to
thinka skill that might have come in handy for Wall Street executives before they
risked billions of dollars of other people's money and ran the economy into the
ground. Such an education also encourages students to develop a moral compass (see previous) and understand
documents are hard to understand and not pleasurable to read. But
how things went wrong in history so we don't repeat the same mistakes. [Read the U.S. News Debate: Is a College
Degree Still Worth It?] And what is the point of offering a college education in science at a cheaper price than one
in English literature? It's not a flat-screen TV. It's an education, it's a calling, and it's the student's entire future and
life at stake. If someone hates computer science and isn't very good at math, is it really sensible to force that
person into working for 50 or 60 years at something he or she hates and probably won't do well? Students don't
The incentive is already there. Wall Street

pays a lot more than, say, writing for a newspaper or teaching at a college. But
people become writers and teachers anyway. And if corporate America really does
need more home healthcare workers and nurses, they could pay them more ad treat
them better. Offering a cheaper price to learn to do a job where you'll be underpaid
and disrespected is not a good long-term strategy. In fact, it's just bad business.
need a tuition incentive to study science and finance.
STEM education cant solve- the teachers wont be adequate

Coulson (Andrew, director of Catos Center for Educational Freedom. Previously,
he was senior fellow in Education Policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy,
The Irony of the Presidents STEM Initiatives 2/8/12, http://www.cato.org/blog/ironypresidents-stem-initiatives)King
The media tide of the past two days has carried in a great flood of stories on
science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. ABC, NBC, AP,
Reuters, the Christian Science Monitor, Politico, the Detroit News, and others joined
in. This torrent of attention is due to a White House science fair at which the
president announced several initiatives to boost student achievement in those
fields. Details are scant, but based on the administrations press release it seems
that $100 million or so would go to encourage particular kinds of teachers college
programs. Various extracurricular STEM programs funded by non-profit foundations
were also touted in the release. The obvious irony in the presidents plan to tweak
teachers college programs is that those programs are themselves a key part of the
problem. The nations state school monopolies typically require most or all of their
teachers to either have a degree from a government-approved college of education
or to be pursuing such a degree during evenings and weekends. Few of those
studying or working in STEM fields are willing to sit through a teachers college
programwith good reason. Not only are these programs often pointless according
to their own graduates, they are not associated with improved student performance.
They are a requirement without a functionat least without a function that benefits
students. The one thing they do accomplish is to erect a barrier to entry that
protects incumbent teachers from competition, allows the specter of teacher
shortages to be floated at regular intervals, and thus to justify above market wages
[state school teachers receive compensation that is roughly $17,000 per year
higher than their private sector counterparts]. As a result, many of the most
promising teaching candidates in these fields are weeded out from the start.
President Obamas plans to improve this barrier to entry into the profession
amounts to reupholstering the deck chairs on the sunken Titanic. But how to ensure
that only effective teachers lead the nations classrooms given that the government
certification process is not just useless but counterproductive? Here, again, there is
irony. Somehow, in the thousands of different fields in which scientists and
engineers work every day, the competent are distinguished from the incompetent.
And somehow, those who underperform are either helped to improve or cut loose to
seek work in a field (or with an employer) to which their talents are better suited. It
is ludicrous to suggest that managers can effectively evaluate the work of the
scientists and engineers they employ in every field _except_ education. The media
would do us all a favor if they would look past the Obama administrations
marshmallow launcher for a moment and contemplate the effect that our massive
barrier to entry into the teaching profession has on recruiting scientists and
engineers.
STEM doesnt matter- no shortage of workers in STEM fields

Mccluskey 9
(Neal, he associate director of Catos Center for Educational Freedom and author of the book Feds
in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education, STEM Sky Not
Falling7/9/9, http://www.cato.org/blog/stem-sky-not-falling)King
Education policy is far too rarely driven by facts or logic theyre just too
inconvenient, mucking up both uber-hyped crises and warm-and-fuzzy myths.
Recently, the big scare has been that the United States is on its way to a desperate
shortage of scientists and engineers, a message that has, of course, been heartily
embraced by politicians determined to push more kids into science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields . Well, it seems that once again the
crisis du jour has been well overstated. USA Today has a great new story demonstrating that we
actually have more than enough scientists and engineers. (Not that this hasnt been
pointed out before.) Most telling is the content in the articles sidebar, which includes some real crisisdeflating stuff: Detailed findings issued last year by the federally funded RAND National Defense
Research Institute found no evidence of a current shortage of science and
engineering workers. It said National Science Foundation predictions of shortages so
far have proved inaccurate. RAND recommended a permanent commitment to monitoring the USAs
science and technology performance, but said the slow growth of U.S.-born technical workers will change when the
earnings and attractiveness of S&E (science and engineering) careers improve .
So we actually have
plenty of scientists and engineers, and the market appears to be working just as it
should? I hope someone tells our leaders! Otherwise, theyll almost certainly push
even more kids into jobs that, it turns out, will probably only exist in the land of
imaginary crises.
Reports of STEM workers being low arent accurate

Nowrasteh 5/21/14 (Alex, the immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institutes
Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Is There a STEM Worker Shortage?,
http://www.cato.org/blog/there-stem-worker-shortage)King
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a new report claiming that there
is no STEM worker shortage after looking at the small wage gains in STEM
occupations since 2000. CIS has a history of using poor methodology and data in
their reports (see here, here, here, and here), but assuming that they did everything
correctly this time, their results dont tell us much for two reasons. First, they dont
compare wage changes for STEM occupations with all other occupations. Total real
(2012 dollars) median annual wage growth for each of the three big STEM occupations was higher than for the
median for all occupations from 2001 to 2012. Real wages for computer occupations grew by 2.05 percent, real
wages for architecture and engineering occupations grew by 5.77 percent, and real wages for science occupations
grew by 3.55 percent. Those gains look low until you realize that real wages for all occupations actually decreased
by 0.94 percent. Compared to all occupations, wages for STEM occupations grew while attracting large numbers of
immigrants. Source: Occupational Employment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Second, the CIS study ignores the dynamic economic

effect of halting STEM immigration or what stopping STEM immigration years ago
would have done to the economy. The dynamic (general equilibrium) effects of
kicking out STEM immigrants or halting their flow would be to shrink the economy
and diminish wage, employment, productivity, and economic growth.
http://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.
STEM wont solve- the current curriculum is too rigid, empirics

prove
Williams 11
(Prof. John, professor at MIT, STEM Education: Proceed with caution,

https://jil.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/DATE/article/view/1590)King
The rigidity and resilience of the school curriculum structure should not be
underestimated when proposing reform the unchallengeable high ground
referred to by Goodson (1992) in commenting on the effects (or lack of effect) of
the significant curriculum reform of the 1960s. In fact a comparison between the
early days of institutionalised schooling and current school academics reveals a
remarkably resilient structure of recognised disciplines. Despite authoritative calls
for reform from the likes of Carl Rogers (1969), A. S. Neill (1960), Carl Bereiter (1974), Ivan Illich (1971) and
Paulo Freire (1971), and the research and debate that accompanied these ideas, the
structure of the school curriculum remains largely unchanged. And this is not for
the want of opportunity. Take the current situation in Australia for example, where a
national curriculum is being developed from a history of five independent state
educational systems since Federation in 1901. This ideal opportunity for innovation
and rejuvenation of an educational system is being utilised to entrench a
conservative and traditional system. Despite the hundreds of thousands of well
educated people who spend their lifetimes devising ways (pedagogy) and means
(content) of capturing childrens interest in the things that go on in school, children
steadfastly and consistently are much more interested in what goes on outside
school. Given the internationally common and enduring problem of student alienation, it is surprising that there
are not many alternative approaches to formal education. Venville, Wallace, Rennie and Malone (2002) considered
this issue and concluded that there are many factors mitigating against changes in traditional school discipline
curriculum structures, including assessment, parental pressure for traditional standards and subject-based
qualifications, instructional periods, textbooks, curriculum guides and staff who are trained in their disciplines and
It would require a very radical

curriculum approach to take out all the time in the school day that is occupied by
science, technology and mathematics, and put back a sequence of learning
activities that would represent an integrated approach to achieving the essential
skills and knowledge of these three subjects, plus engineering. Support for a STEM
approach to curriculum design mustproceed with the understanding that school
curriculum structures are very resistant to change.
have developed long standing attachments to them (p. 54).
STEM
Mars CP - Notes
-solves for science diplomacy
-Empirics the Conathan 13 talks about how the Apollo mission literally doubled the
number of STEM graduates
-External net benefits: environment DA, oil DA, politics (ish)
-To avoid the perm: use a spending trade-off card
-Be careful with the CP inexpensive evidence it could take out your perm answers
-You can change the counterplan text to just increasing Mars exploration in general
instead of specifically using Rovers to avoid the STEM solvency deficit, but the aff
could then win a spending solvency deficit
1NC Mars CP Text

Text: The United States federal government should redirect its
ocean funding towards NASAs Mars Exploration Rovers.
Space exploration increases STEM leadership and inspires
youth.
Collins 13 (Eileen, retired NASA astronaut and a retired United States Air Force
colonel. A former military instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first female pilot
and first female commander of a Space Shuttle, Beyond the Politics: Space
Exploration Is Imperative to Innovation and Inspiration, The Huffington Post,
06/13/13, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eileen-m-collins/spaceexploration_b_3436866.html) Chen
Space exploration is remarkably compelling for most Americans, a challenging
pursuit that distinguishes the United States as a global leader, while ensuring a
steady stream of innovative technologies that strengthen the economy and, just as
importantly, inspiring our youth to dream big. Starting with our individual careers as a NASA
astronaut and a member of Congress, we've regularly witnessed the enthusiasm and pride
that accompany our space exploration endeavors. Those observations have not changed with our
more recent professional activities, which often place us before audiences of all ages. Whether it's a gathering of
community leaders, business and professional groups or school children, those we encounter are awed by American
accomplishments in space. They are full of questions about what we intend to do next and what it means for them.
we must put politics aside to ensure that expanding the space frontier occupies
a prominent place on our national agenda. We need strategic, adequately funded
and aggressively paced programs to keep America at the summits of technical
innovation and exploration. Curiosity's touchdown in Gale Crater offers strong
evidence that exploration serves as a catalyst for American ingenuity. Within a few weeks
As a nation,
of landing, the popular rover was furnishing us with evidence that conditions on Mars were once suitable for
public interest in this mission generated was palpable. At the same

time, NASA's search for Earth-like planets around distant stars and the dozens of
experiments and technology demonstrations under way at any one time by the six
astronauts assigned to the International Space Station also serve as valuable
sources of innovation and inspiration. Together, these and the leadership furnished by the U.
S. in other exciting space missions elevate our global standing in science,
technology, engineering and math, the all-important STEM fields. These
disciplines seed our economic well being, contribute substantially to our national
security, nurture advances in energy and health care and further our understanding
of the environment. All the while, more than 6,300 men and women have applied for
up to 20 openings in NASA's astronaut corps, positions the space agency expects to
fill soon. The response to NASA's most recent call for new astronauts, second only to those who submitted
microbial life. And the
applications at the start of the space shuttle era, serve as proof that NASA is vibrant and ready to engage in
compelling new missions.
It offers additional evidence of the grassroots support for space
exploration and the eagerness of our bright young men and women to make the
world a better place.
Solvency STEM
Space exploration key to STEMpercentage of science
graduates peaked and attributed that to the moon landing in
1960.
CFR 13 (Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization,
think tank, and publisher, 11/29/13, Space Exploration and U.S. Competitiveness,
http://www.cfr.org/space/space-exploration-us-competitiveness/p31959) Saro
The space race of the 1960s and 1970s captured the American public's imagination
unlike any other human endeavor, and many space advocates believe such inspiration should be a primary
objective of NASA today. A 2009 study in Nature, the international weekly journal of science,
found that the Apollo program inspired half of scientists surveyed, while almost 90
percent believed that manned space exploration inspired younger generations to
study science. Some evidence seems to support this. According to the National Science Foundation, the percentage
of bachelor's degree graduates in science and engineering fields peaked in the late
1960's, around the time of the moon landing, but has declined slowly since. Space
exploration can also foster innovation in ways unlike other human undertakings,
pushing the limits of technology and requiring the collaboration of some of the
brightest people across multiple disciplines. As Jim Bell, president of the Planetary Society, a nonprofit group dedicated to
space exploration advocacy and education, said in a CFR interview: "When you're embarking on an enterprise that is the hardest
it often attracts the best people who are intrigued by very difficult problems
and want to have a sense in purpose in applying their knowledge to something big. "
thing to do,
NASA's transfer of technology to the private sector is well documented. The space agency catalogues some 1,800 spinoffs from
technologies originally developed for space exploration. Some are obvious and direct such as communications satellites, while
many medical advances have been made as a result of

space technologies, from refinements in the artificial heart to improved
mammograms and laser eye surgery. NASA researchers have also developed new materials and industrial
others are less intuitive. For instance,
techniques, including thermoelectric coolers for microchips, high temperature lubricants, and a means of mass-producing carbon
nanotubes, a material with significant engineering potential. Even household products such as memory foam mattresses,
programmable ovens, vacuums, and ski apparel trace their origins to NASA.
Mars exploration inspires curiosity expands limits of human

travel and provides information about new life forms
NASA 13 (Agency of the United States government that is responsible for the
nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research,
Benefits Stemming from Space Exploration, International Space Exploration
Coordination Group, 09/13, http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/BenefitsStemming-from-Space-Exploration-2013-TAGGED.pdf) Chen
Space exploration missions offer a unique perspective on humanitys place in the
Universe, satisfying our curiosity and inspiring wonder. They provide the best
opportunities for addressing questions such as What is the nature of the Universe, "Is the destiny of humankind
bound to Earth?", Are we and our planet unique?, and "Is there life elsewhere in the Universe?. The first five
decades of human activity in space had a profound impact on the social development of humankind. Yuri Gagarin's
first moments in space and Neil Armstrong's first step on the Moon truly were giant leaps for mankind because
they expanded our views about the limits of human travel and planted seeds for
new thinking about where beyond Earth human existence might be possible. Stephen
Hawking has argued that "to
confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit

the human spirit"24. Understanding whether sustained human activity beyond Earth
orbit is actually feasible will have a profound influence on cultural and intellectual
life around the world and on humanitys views and expectations of itself. There may
soon be news about environments that could have harboured life elsewhere in the solar system. In early 2013 the
Mars Curiosity Rover obtained preliminary evidence that the Martian environment
once had conditions favourable to supporting life. Discovery of signs of past or
present life in the solar system (or beyond25) would affect in unpredictable ways
humanitys appreciation of lifes uniqueness on Earth. The impact on philosophy,
culture, religion, and politics could be comparable to that caused by Copernicus's
heliocentric model of the Universe.
Space exploration inspires STEM leadership new frontiers

motivate engagement and spur jobs.
Coalition for Space Exploration 10 (US space advocacy organization for
space industry businesses and non-profit groups supporting government investment
in space exploration, Benefits of Space, Coalition for Space Exploration,
http://spacecoalition.com/benefits-of-space) Chen
The exploration of space is an engine for
creation. It sparks high-tech and high-paying jobs. It captures the pulse of our
planet and its complicated climate. It spurs technological innovation that enhances
daily life, from advances in aviation to medical devices that help save lives. It is also
a key engine for igniting interest in youth to study science, technology
and math. Dollars spent on space exploration dont get blasted into Earth orbit. Everyone on Earth is a
Why explore space? Well, for one, its about life on Earth.
beneficiary of space exploration robotic and human with a global return on investment that is truly
the exploration of space is inspiring. The thought of

exploring new frontiers has motivated millions of young people to vigorously engage
in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in order to be a part of
something bigger than themselvesfrom building rockets to on-orbit spacewalks.
NASA has launched numerous math and science-based education programs
designed to increase STEM literacy among students at all age levels and from all sorts of backgrounds.
immeasurable. Plain and simple
Such skills help NASA and industry maintain the bold course of innovation and discovery by infusing the workforce
with new young talent from decade to decade. Even better, it makes us a great nation; one whose youth can
compete on a global level. Click here to learn more.
Space exploration is inspiring and brings economic benefits

findings in origins interest the public, creates jobs, and
increases national security.
Casti 13 (Taylor, Master's student in Publishing: Digital and Print Media at New
York University. Pennsylvania native, Ocean vs. Space: Which Is the True Final
Frontier?, Mashable, 09/25/13, http://mashable.com/2013/09/25/ocean-vs-space/)
Chen
the investment isnt as skewed as it seems. The simple fact that getting into space comes
with a very large dollar sign must be taken into account when comparing the budgets. She insists that the reasons to
explore space include economic benefit, national security and something that
cannot be simplified down to a monetary amount: the satisfaction of our own
curiosity. Benefits of space exploration arent just about walking on the moon anymore. Research to put
astronauts into space has resulted in great advancements in technology and
medicine, and has resulted in the creation of jobs and economic benefits. Beyond
that, Hall insists, is the more romantic reason to continue space exploration: Space
is inspiring. Finding out about the origin of our planet Earth and the rest of the solar
system is something that that we have a deep need to know about , she said.
Hall insists that
Mars exploration inspires provides new frontiers and

challenges.
NASA 3 (US space advocacy organization for space industry businesses and nonprofit groups supporting government investment in space exploration,
Marsapalooza and Mars Education Programs: Inspiring the World One Student at a
Time, NASA,
So what's the best reason to learn about Mars? According to Dr. Jim Rice, exploration
assures that humanity will continue to thrive -- even if not on Earth. Dr. Rice is an
astrogeologist (he studies rocks -- on other planets!) and member of the "M-Team", a group of youthful NASA Mars
mission scientists and engineers on the Marsapalooza tour who will visit five cities across the country this week.
"Exploration
is the life blood of a civilization ," said Dr. Rice. "It provides new frontiers and
challenges that stimulate both its people and technology. Exploration is crucial for a
civilization's survival. Civilizations that cease to explore expire. " The "M-Team" That is why
NASA, the National Science Foundation, Passport to Knowledge, and several museums, science centers, and
planetaria nationwide have collaborated to create Marsapalooza, a special initiative designed to reach out to
present the M-Team as role models to inspire the next

generation of explorers, and to raise public literacy about the Mars Exploration
Rover mission.
students in underserved communities, to
Solvency Disease
NASA space exploration is uniquely key to solve for diseases
past explorations resulted in discoveries and major
advancements in science and disease research.
Jones 11 (John, Senior Planetary Scientist with a PhD in Experimental Geochemistry for
NASA, Protein Innovations Advance Drug Treatments, Skin Care
http://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2011/hm_4.html) Saro
The albumin mapping project began to reveal important aspects of how the protein
bound with and transported drugs. After a number of years studying the formerly inscrutable molecule, it
became apparent to Carter and a number of his colleagues that the potential of this knowledge
to impact drug design and development was too great to ignore. In 1997, they founded
New Century Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in Huntsville, Alabama, to launch a large-scale
structural biology program to map at an atomic resolution the structures of drugs bound to albumin, with the
intent to improve drug performance . Over the following years, New Century continued to work
with NASA through a series of grants and contracts in support of the Agencys
protein crystal growth in microgravity program. Several inventions discovered at
NASA were also licensed to New Century so Carter and his team could continue to test and develop its
albumin-based innovations. The company also developed a unique set of technologies based on the original albumin breakthrough.
New Centurys Crystallography and Albumin-based Drug Design and Evaluation platform, or CADEX, is the
worlds most extensive library of atomic structures demonstrating the binding
characteristics of drugs and albumin. Covering over 25 therapeutic categories from
antidepressants to anti-cancer agents to antihistamines , CADEX provides a comprehensive
Today,
knowledge base for the development of drugs tailored to interact effectively with albumin. As an outcome of compiling CADEX,
New Century was able to create a number of other innovations with potential for
medical benefit, including its first commercial product, Albagen recombinant human serum albumin (rHSA). Produced
synthetically in yeast rather than derived from animal sources, the Albagen rHSA is hypoallergenic and
poses no risk of dangerous contaminants like viruses or prions. New Century licensed the
Albagen technology to Albumin Bioscience in 2009, which is expanding the application of Albagen into potential research and
therapeutic markets including drug delivery and in vitro fertilization. Albumin Bioscience has also incorporated Albagen into a line of
unique skin care products designed to improve skin health by replenishing albumin levels in the skin. Meanwhile, New Century
Our goal is that this will be used to

improve the clinical outcome of cancer patients everywhere.
continues to build upon the foundation of its CADEX repository.
Disease leads to extinctionnew viral strains are emerging

without vaccines.
Yu 9 (Victoria, Dartmouth Journal of Science, 5/22/09, "Human Extinction: The Uncertainty of Our Fate",
http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/spring-2009/human-extinction-the-uncertainty-of-our-fate)
In the past, humans have indeed fallen victim to viruses. Perhaps the best-known case was the bubonic
plague that killed up to one third of the European population in the mid-14th century (7). While vaccines have been
developed for the plague and some other infectious diseases, new viral strains are
constantly emerging a process that maintains the possibility of a pandemicfacilitated human extinction. Some surveyed students mentioned AIDS as a potential pandemic-causing virus. It is
true that scientists have been unable thus far to find a sustainable cure for AIDS, mainly due to HIVs rapid and constant evolution.
Specifically, two factors account for the viruss abnormally high mutation rate: 1. HIVs use of reverse transcriptase, which does not
have a proof-reading mechanism, and 2. the lack of an error-correction mechanism in HIV DNA polymerase (8). Luckily, though,
there are certain characteristics of HIV that make it a poor candidate for a large-scale global infection: HIV can lie dormant in the
human body for years without manifesting itself, and AIDS itself does not kill directly, but rather through the weakening of the
the evolution of new strains

could prove far more consequential. The simultaneous occurrence of antigenic drift (point mutations that lead to
new strains) and antigenic shift (the inter-species transfer of disease) in the influenza virus could produce a
new version of influenza for which scientists may not immediately find a cure. Since
influenza can spread quickly, this lag time could potentially lead to a global influenza
pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (9). The most recent scare of this variety came in
immune system. However, for more easily transmitted viruses such as influenza,
1918 when bird flu managed to kill over 50 million people around the world in what is sometimes referred to as the Spanish flu
pandemic. Perhaps even more frightening is the fact that only 25 mutations were required to convert the original viral strain
which could only infect birds into a human-viable strain
Solvency - Hegemony
Space exploration key to hegemony empirics prove that the
space race progressed United States competitiveness.
The launch of Sputnik and subsequent Russian firsts in space convinced many
policymakers in the United States that the country was falling dangerously behind
its Cold War rival in science and technology. Acknowledging the strategic
significance of the "space race," consecutive U.S. administrations made seminal
investments in education and scientific research in an effort to meet the Soviet
challenge. These investments not only propelled the United States to preeminence
in space exploration in the ensuing decades but also planted the seeds for future
innovation and economic competitiveness , experts say. In 2013, a different set of challenges and priorities
drive the debate over the U.S. space program, which many analysts believe is once again at a critical juncture.
Competitiveness is key to hegemony that solves great power

war and extinction.
Khalilzad 11 (Zalmay, the United States ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the
United Nations during the presidency of George W. Bush and the director of policy planning
at the Defense Department, "The Economy and National Security", 2/8/2011
www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/259024) Saro
economic and fiscal trends pose the most severe long-term threat to the
United States position as global leader. While the United States suffers from fiscal
imbalances and low economic growth, the economies of rival powers are developing
rapidly. The continuation of these two trends could lead to a shift from American
primacy toward a multi-polar global system, leading in turn to increased geopolitical
rivalry and even war among the great powers . The current recession is the result of a deep
Today,
financial crisis, not a mere fluctuation in the business cycle. Recovery is likely to be protracted. The crisis was
preceded by the buildup over two decades of enormous amounts of debt throughout the U.S. economy ultimately
totaling almost 350 percent of GDP and the development of credit-fueled asset bubbles, particularly in the
housing sector. When the bubbles burst, huge amounts of wealth were destroyed, and unemployment rose to over
10 percent. The decline of tax revenues and massive countercyclical spending put the U.S. government on an
unsustainable fiscal path. Publicly held national debt rose from 38 to over 60 percent of GDP in three years.
Without faster economic growth and actions to reduce deficits, publicly held
national debt is projected to reach dangerous proportions . If interest rates were to rise
significantly, annual interest payments which already are larger than the defense budget would crowd
out other spending or require substantial tax increases that would undercut economic growth. Even worse, if
unanticipated events trigger what economists call a sudden stop in credit markets for U.S. debt, the United States
would be unable to roll over its outstanding obligations, precipitating a sovereign-debt crisis that would almost
Such scenarios would

reshape the international order. It was the economic devastation of Britain and France during World War
certainly compel a radical retrenchment of the United States internationally.
II, as well as the rise of other powers, that led both countries to relinquish their empires. In the late 1960s, British
leaders concluded that they lacked the economic capacity to maintain a presence east of Suez. Soviet economic
weakness, which crystallized under Gorbachev, contributed to their decisions to withdraw from Afghanistan,
abandon Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and allow the Soviet Union to fragment. If the U.S. debt problem
goes critical, the United States would be compelled to retrench, reducing its military spending and shedding
We face this domestic challenge while other major powers are

experiencing rapid economic growth. Even though countries such as China, India, and
Brazil have profound political, social, demographic, and economic problems, their
economies are growing faster than ours, and this could alter the global distribution
of power. These trends could in the long term produce a multi-polar world. If U.S. policymakers
international commitments.
fail to act and other powers continue to grow, it is not a question of whether but when a new international order will
The closing of the gap between the United States and its rivals could intensify
geopolitical competition among major powers, increase incentives for local powers
to play major powers against one another, and undercut our will to preclude or
respond to international crises because of the higher risk of escalation . The stakes are
high. In modern history, the longest period of peace among the great powers has been the
era of U.S. leadership. By contrast, multi-polar systems have been unstable, with their
competitive dynamics resulting in frequent crises and major wars among the great powers. Failures of multipolar international systems produced both world wars. American retrenchment could have
devastating consequences. Without an American security blanket, regional powers could rearm in
an attempt to balance against emerging threats. Under this scenario, there would be a
heightened possibility of arms races, miscalculation , or other crises spiraling into all-out conflict.
emerge.
Alternatively, in seeking to accommodate the stronger powers, weaker powers may shift their geopolitical posture
away from the United States. Either way, hostile states would be emboldened to make aggressive moves in their
regions.
Solvency - Science Leadership

Space exploration key to science leadership other countries
continue to advance.
The Soviet Union took the world by surprise in October 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, the first
artificial satellite. In a matter of months, President Eisenhower and Congress moved
forward with multiple measures designed to build U.S. scientific and engineering
prowess, including the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian space
exploration agency. Over the years, presidents have largely determined NASA's long-term
missions. In May 1961, a few weeks after the Soviet Union put the first human in space (Yuri Gagarin), President
Kennedy committed the United States to a lunar landing. He stressed the urgency and the value of
this mission in a landmark speech at Rice University in September of that year. "We
choose to go the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are
easy but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and
measure the best of our energies and skills; because that challenge is one that
we're willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to
win." After six successful lunar missions, NASA's manned program pulled back to
Earth. First with the launch of Skylab, the first U.S. space station, in 1973, and then with the Space Shuttle
program in 1981, NASA focused on sending astronauts into low earth orbit, while robotic missions such as Voyager
and Viking continued to explore the Solar System. The Space Shuttle served NASA for thirty years (19812011) and
helped build the International Space Station, an orbiting laboratory that has been continuously occupied by humans
since 2000. The George W. Bush administration pushed for a return to the moon and a trip to Mars, but President
Obama favored an asteroid mission. The project has evolved into a plan to capture an asteroid twenty to thirty feet
The Obama
administration also set a goal of a manned mission to orbit Mars by the mid-2030s,
which would obviously require the commitment of subsequent presidents.
in diameter and redirect it into a lunar orbit for astronauts to visit early in the next decade.
Diplomacy created by science leadership solves for soft power.

The Royal Society 10 (A self-governing Fellowship of many of the worlds
most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering, and
medicine, New frontiers in science diplomacy, AAAS, 01/10,
http://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/New_Frontiers.pdf) Chen
Science is a source of what Joseph Nye terms soft power (Nye 2004). The scientific
community often works beyond national boundaries on problems of common
interest, so is well placed to support emerging forms of diplomacy that require nontraditional alliances of nations, sectors and non-governmental organisations. If aligned with wider
foreign policy goals, these channels of scientific exchange can contribute to
coalition- building and conflict resolution. Cooperation on the scientific aspects of
sensitive issuessuch as nuclear nonproliferationcan sometimes provide an
effective route to other forms of political dialogue. Similarly the potential of science as
an arena for building trust and understanding between countries is gaining traction,
particularly in the Middle East and wider Islamic world (see Case study 1).
Primacy ensures peace relations and soft power are key.

Posen and Ross 1997
(Barry R. Posen, Ford International Professor of Political

Science at MIT and director of MIT's Security Studies Program, Andrew L. Ross, PhD in
political science, International Security, Competing visions for US Grand Strategy,
http://www.comw.org/pda/14dec/fulltext/97posen.pdf) Saro
Primacy, like selective engagement, is motivated by both power and peace. But the
particular configuration of power is key: this strategy holds that only a preponderance of U.S.
power ensures peace.41 The pre-Cold War practice of aggregating power through coalitions and alliances,
which underlies selective engagement, is viewed as insufficient. Peace is the result of an imbalance of
power in which U.S. capabilities are sufficient, operating on their own, to cow all
potential challengers and to comfort all coalition partners. It is not enough, consequently, to
be primus inter pares, a comfortable position for selective engagement. Even the most clever Bismarckian
Therefore, both
world order and national security require that the United States maintain the
primacy with which it emerged from the Cold War. The collapse of bipolarity cannot be permitted to allow the
emergence of multipolarity; unipolarity is best. Primacy would have been the strategy of a Dole
orchestrator of the balance of power will ultimately fall short. One must be primus solus.
administration. Primacy is most concerned with the trajectories of present and possible future great powers. As with
selective engagement, Russia, China, Japan, and the most significant members of the European Union (essentially
War among the great powers poses the greatest

threat to U.S. security for advocates of primacy as well as those of selective
engagement. But primacy goes beyond the logic of selective engagement and its focus on managing
relations among present and potential future great powers. Advocates of primacy view the rise of a
peer competitor from the midst of the great powers to offer the greatest threat to
international order and thus the greatest risk of war. The objective for primacy,
therefore, is not merely to preserve peace among the great powers, but to preserve
U.S. supremacy by politically, economically, and militarily outdistancing any global
challenger.
Germany, France, and Britain), matter most.
AT Perm
NASA and ocean policy zero-sum budget cuts.
Broad 14 (William, Science journalist and senior writer at The New York Times. He
shared two Pulitzer Prizes with his colleagues, as well as an Emmy Award and a
DuPont Award, Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science, New
York Times, 03/15/14, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/science/billionaires-withbig-ideas-are-privatizing-american-science.html) Saro
In Washington,
budget cuts have left the nations research complex reeling. Labs are
closing. Scientists are being laid off. Projects are being put on the shelf, especially in the risky,
freewheeling realm of basic research. Yet from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, science philanthropy is hot, as many of
The
result is a new calculus of influence and priorities that the scientific community
views with a mix of gratitude and trepidation. For better or worse, said Steven A. Edwards, a
the richest Americans seek to reinvent themselves as patrons of social progress through science research.
policy analyst at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the practice of science in the 21st
century is becoming shaped less by national priorities or by peer-review groups and more by the particular
preferences of individuals with huge amounts of money. They have mounted a private war on disease, with new
protocols that break down walls between academia and industry to turn basic discoveries into effective treatments.
They have rekindled traditions of scientific exploration by financing hunts for dinosaur bones and giant sea
They are even beginning to challenge Washington in the costly game of big
science, with innovative ships, undersea craft and giant telescopes as well as the
first private mission to deep space.
creatures.
Funding for ocean exploration would be taken from space

programs the current fiscal climate demands zero-sum
budgeting
Etzioni 14 (Amitai, Professor at George Washington University, Summer 2014,
Final Frontier vs. Fruitful Frontier The Case for Increasing Ocean Exploration,
Issues in Science and Technology, pp. 65-74,
http://etzioni.typepad.com/files/etzioni---final-frontier-vs.-fruitful-frontier-ist-summer2014.pdf) Saro
the federal budget process begins with a White House-issued budget request,
which lays out spending priorities for federal programs. From this moment forward, President
Obama and his successors should use this opportunity to correct a longstanding misalignment of federal
research priorities: excessive spending on space exploration and neglect of ocean studies. The nation
Every year,
should begin transforming the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) into a greatly
the present fiscal climate of zero-sum

budgeting, the additional funding necessary for this agency should be taken from the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
reconstructed, independent, and effective federal agency. In
Funding for space and oceans zero-sum same budget.

Mervis 10 (Jeffrey, deputy news editor, Science Magazine, 2/5/10,
http://www.wbur.org/npr/123410020/president-obamas-science-spending) Chen
Congress, as you'll talk about later with
reallocation and savings. And the reason that's
important to the rest of the science budget is because NASA is funded by the same committee
that funds the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Department of Commerce, which has NOAA and NIST. And so if they have a fixed amount of
money, the more they give to one agency, the less there is for everybody else . So
sometimes Congress makes decisions not because they're opposed to research, but because
they have other higher priorities.
But more broadly, Congress isn't going to go for all of these things.
NASA, is not going to be happy with
that
AT Oceans Key
Planetary exploration better than ocean exploration
increases knowledge, provides challenge, and inspires kids.
Zubrin 12 (Robert, Astronautical engineer and president of the Mars Society,
Why we shouldnt wait to go to Mars, CNN, 04/23/12,
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/23/why-we-shouldnt-wait-to-go-to-mars/)
Chen
The idea that we need to suspend space exploration in order to provide
the necessary resources to probe the oceans is categorically absurd. So lets
call it like it is: The argument that we should explore the oceans instead of space is not
a call to search the seas, but simply a disingenuous way to give up our effort to
reach the Red Planet. But why should we try? There are three reasons. Reason # 1: For the
knowledge. We now know that Mars once possessed oceans in which life could have developed from chemistry.
But did it? If we could discover fossils on the Martian surface, or extant life surviving in
subsurface water today, it would show that the origin of life is not unique to the
Earth, and thus by implication reveal a universe that is filled with life and probably
intelligence as well. From the point of view of humanity learning its true place in the
universe, this would be the most important scientific enlightenment since
Copernicus. Robotic probes can help out in such a search and should be aggressively pursued but by
themselves are completely insufficient. Fossil hunting requires the ability to travel long distances through
unimproved terrain, to climb steep slopes, to do heavy work and delicate work, and to exercise very subtle forms of
perception and on-the-spot intuition. Astrobiological investigations require the ability to drill, sample, culture and
study life drawn from Martian groundwater. All of these skills are far beyond the abilities of robotic rovers. Field
Reason # 2: For
the challenge. Nations, like people, thrive on challenge and decay without it. The
space program itself needs challenge. Consider: Between 1961 and 1973, under the impetus of the
paleontology and astrobiology require human explorers, real live scientists on the scene.
moon race, NASA produced a rate of technological innovation several orders of magnitude greater than that it has
shown since, for an average budget in real dollars only about 10% more than today ($20 billion per year in 2012
dollars then, compared with $18 billion now). Why? Because it had a goal that made its reach exceed its grasp. It is
The Apollo program also

strongly stimulated the economy as a whole to rates of economic growth that have
not been seen since. Far from being a waste of money, forcing NASA to take on the
challenge of Mars is the key to giving the nation a real technological return and
much needed economic stimulus from its space dollar . A humans-to-Mars
program would also be an adventure challenge to every child in the country:
Learn your science, and you can become part of pioneering a new world. In its
day, the Apollo program caused a doubling of the number of American
science and engineering graduates. That intellectual capital continues to
benefit the nation. There will be more than 100 million kids in our nation's schools over the next 10 years. If
a Mars program were to inspire just an extra 1% of them to scientific
educations, the net result would be 1 million more scientists, engineers,
inventors, medical researchers and doctors, making innovations that
create new industries, finding new medical cures, strengthening national
defense and increasing national income for decades to an extent that
not necessary to develop anything new if you are not doing anything new.
utterly dwarfs the expenditures of the Mars program. Reason # 3: For the future:
Mars is not just a scientific curiosity, it is a world with a surface area equal to all the
continents of Earth combined, possessing all the elements that are needed to
support not only life, but technological civilization. As hostile as it may seem, the only thing
standing between Mars and habitability is the need to develop a certain amount of
Red Planet know-how. This can and will be done by those who go there first to
explore. Mars is the New World. Someday, millions of people will live there . What
language will they speak? What values and traditions will they cherish, to spread from there as humanity continues
to move out into the solar system and beyond? When they look back on our time, will any of our other actions
compare in value to what we do today to bring their society into being?
Space exploration inspires people more than ocean exploration

pop culture, empirics, access
Conathan 13 (Michael, Director of Ocean Policy at the Center for American
Progress, Space Exploration Dollars Dwarf Ocean Spending, National Geographic,
06/20/13, http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/20/space-explorationdollars-dwarf-ocean-spending/) Chen
Yet space travel excites Americans imaginations in a way ocean exploration never
has. To put this in terms Cameron may be familiar with, just think of how stories are
told on screens both big and small: Space dominates, with Star Trek, Star Wars,
Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and 2001 A Space
Odyssey. Then there are B-movies such as Plan Nine From Outer Space and
everything ever mocked on Mystery Science Theater 2000. There are even
parodies: Spaceballs, Galaxy Quest, and Mars Attacks! And lets not forget
Camerons own contributions: Aliens and Avatar.
When it comes to the ocean, we have 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,
SpongeBob SquarePants, and Camerons somewhat lesser-known film The
Abyss. And thats about it.
This imbalance in pop culture is illustrative of what plays out in real life. We rejoiced
along with the NASA mission-control room when the Mars rover landed on the red
planet late last year. One particularly exuberant scientist, known as Mohawk Guy
for his audacious hairdo, became a minor celebrity and even fielded his share of
spontaneous marriage proposals. But when Cameron bottomed out in the
Challenger Deep more than 36,000 feet below the surface of the sea, it was met
with resounding indifference from all but the dorkiest of ocean nerds such as myself.
Part of this incongruity comes from access. No matter where we live, we can go
outside on a clear night, look up into the sky, and wonder about whats out there.
Were presented with a spectacular vista of stars, planets, meteorites, and even the
occasional comet or aurora. We have all been wishing on stars since we were
children. Only the lucky few can gaze out at the ocean from their doorstep, and
even those who do cannot see all that lies beneath the waves.
AT Space Expensive
Mars exploration inexpensive the affs statistics are
misleading.
Dreier 09 (Casey, Director of Advocacy, Leads the strategic planning and
implementation of the Society's political advocacy efforts in increasing space
exploration, Curiosity Comes Cheap - Why the latest Mars rover (and all planetary
exploration) is a steal, The Planetary Society, 08/09/12,
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/20120809-curiosity-comes-cheap.html)
Chen
Its not enough that the landing was a complete success. Its not enough that JPL and NASA have gone almost 15
it always comes back to the tired questions of

can we afford this? and why should we pay for it? Here, the media, let me answer these
questions for you. Ill save you the trouble of having to ask them again: 1) Yes. 2) To develop advanced
technology and push the limits of engineering capability, to question our place in
the cosmos, and to pursue the eternal desire of exploration unique to our species.
years without a major robotic mission failure. No,
There. That wasnt too hard, was it? And let me add the additional note, which is something that we all must keep in
The Curiosity mission was cheap. In fact,

our entire planetary exploration program costs almost nothing. Let me explain,
mind. This is the sad irony of this entire narrative:
because Im sure that the number 2.5 billion is popping into your head right now (see how insidious the narrative
Curiosity had a total cost of 2.5 billion dollars , yes, but its not like NASA went over to the
NASA
spread the cost of this mission out over eight years. The money spent went into
salaries of highly-skilled engineers, programmers, managers, and independent
contractors in over twenty states across the country. Things like the cost of rocket to
launch it to Mars are included in that total, too, which accounts for nearly a fifth of
the amount. If you just divide the total cost by the number of years NASA has saved
for it, you come out with about $312 million per year. This works about to
approximately 1.8% of NASAs yearly budget and approximately diddly-squat of the
total federal budget. Thats about $1 per year for every American, aka, nothing. Think
is?).
Rover Depot, plucked the glamor model off the shelf and whipped out Uncle Sams credit card. No,
of it this way: say you lose one dime every month this year. Whoops! Youve lost more money than you spent on
For this tiny amount of money, weve developed some of the most advanced
machinery ever created. We advance our scientific understanding of the universe.
We encourage the development of highly-educated problem solvers and provide
some of them with jobs. Well make discoveries and raise new questions that no one
could have previously dreamed of. A larger topic that Ill discuss in a separate post is our whole
Curiosity.
Planetary Exploration budget, which is a division inside of NASA responsible for every robotic mission to the planets.
And I really mean every mission: New Horizons, Juno, Voyager, Cassini, MER Opportunity, Curiosity, Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and the rest. All of those are funded out of the pool of money reserved for
planetary exploration, which is filled to the tune of about $1.5 billion a year. Thats really it. Americans spend more
on dog toys every year than the cost to run all of these missions. Just think about that the next time someone in the
media asks the question, can we afford this? Thats the crux of this sorry joke. Not only can we afford it, we can
afford to spend a lot more. Instead, we choose not to explore. We choose not to know whats out there. We choose
to pretend that Curiosity is some budget-busting mission when really its one of the best deals we get from our tax
dollars. We need to change the narrative. The next time someone you know comments about the cost of Curiosity
or any other NASA mission, respond with, Yeah, I know! Its so cheap! Its amazing how much they can achieve
despite their funding. Finally, if you are a scientist and you face this type of question, dont answer defensively! A
defensive answer serves only to legitimize the argument. A respectful answer that denies the validity of the
question is the most important way to respond. Slowly, we can
change the question from why so
much? to why so little?
Space exploration inexpensiveonly spends half a percent of

the federal budget.
Space exploration is expensive, but it is a relatively minor line item in the U.S. budget.
NASA's spending peaked at almost 4.5 percent of the federal budget in fiscal year
1966, declined to 1 percent by 1975, and has gradually fallen to about half a
percent in recent years. (In comparison, baseline defense spending has hovered around 20 percent in
recent years.) But the public's perception of NASA's spending is very different. The average
person estimated that NASA's share of the federal budget was 20 percent in 1997, and then 24 percent in 2007,
according to polls. "Turning
around those false perceptions of funding is perhaps the most

serious challenge facing those who wish to gain greater public support for space
exploration," wrote NASA's chief historian Roger Launius. The Obama administration's 2014 budget
proposal for NASA is $17.7 billion, largely keeping with recent spending trends for space. Major expenditures include
science missions ($5.0 billion), space operations such as the International Space Station ($3.9 billion), and new
NASA
will not have the means to send astronauts into space on its own until at least 2021 ,
when the Orion Capsule is expected to be ready for crewed missions. In 2010, former Apollo astronauts
Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan warned the Obama administration that U.S. leadership in
space could suffer if the country went for an extended period without its own launch
vehicle for manned space flight. Current U.S. astronauts must ride Russia's Soyuz capsule to the ISS
commercial and public exploration development ($3.9 billion). After retiring the Space Shuttle in July 2011,
$70 million per seatuntil 2017 when private firms are expected to offer manned access to low earth orbit (LEO).
AT Enough Funding Now

Mars rover funding planning to be cut.
Howell 14 (Elizabeth, Senior writer at Universe Today and regular contributor to
Space.com, Space Exploration Network, the NASA Lunar Science Institute, NASA
Astrobiology Magazine and LiveScience, and receiving a Ph.D in aerospace sciences
at the University of North Dakota,
NASAs preliminary (read: not finalized) budget for 2015 would eliminate funding for the
long-running Opportunity rover mission thats discovered extensive evidence of past
water on Mars in the past decade. While the agencys baseline budget request
shows no funding for the long-running Mars mission past 2015, NASA added that
Opportunity is among several missions that could receive extension money if extra
funds become available. Also, the budget needs to be approved by Congress before anything is set in
stone.
Aff - Already Funded

NASA already receiving enough fundingnew budget measure
recently signed into place by Obama.
Clark 1/17/14
(Stephen, leading journalist for Spaceflight Now, the leading source for
space news, President Obama signs $17.6 billion NASA budget,
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1401/17budget/#.U9z_a-NdUrU) Saro
President Barack Obama signed a budget measure Friday giving NASA more than
$17.6 billion for the year, fully funding the space agency's heavy-lift Space Launch
System and Orion exploration capsule while falling short of NASA's request to pay for commercial space taxis.
The space agency's top line budget is $17.65 billion in the spending bill, which runs until the end of September and was passed by
Congress earlier this week. The $1.1 trillion budget covers the entire federal government. The appropriations bill has its roots in a
framework budget compromise reached by House and Senate leaders in December. Lawmakers ironed out the details of the budget
Congress gave NASA a funding level just

shy of the White House's request of $17.72 billion, but the appropriation pads the space
agency's deep space exploration programs, setting the Orion multipurpose crew
vehicle's budget at $1.2 billion and the Space Launch System's funding line at $1.6
billion, more than $200 million more than NASA said it needed to meet a 2017
launch date for an unmanned test flight. The Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System are the centerpieces of NASA's
over the last month before unveiling the document Monday night.
plans for human missions to an asteroid and eventually Mars. In a legislative report accompanying the budget, Congress refused to
commit to NASA's proposed asteroid redirect mission to retrieve a 500-ton rock from solar orbit, guide it around the moon with a
robotic spacecraft, then send astronauts to visit it aboard Orion crew capsules. Lawmakers wrote that NASA needs to justify the
The extra money for SLS

will "maintain critical forward momentum" on the program, legislators wrote in the
budget report.
asteroid initiative and provide detailed cost estimates before winning congressional support.
Aff - Costs
Money is better prioritized in ocean explorationprovides us
with more tangible goods and knowledge.
Conathan 13 (Michael, the Director of Ocean Policy at the Center for American Progress,
Space Exploration Dollars Dwarf Ocean Spending, 6/20/2013,
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/20/space-exploration-dollars-dwarf-oceanspending/) Saro
In a time of shrinking budgets and increased scrutiny on the return for our
investments, we should be taking a long, hard look at how we are prioritizing our
exploration dollars. If the goal of government spending is to spur growth in the private sector, entrepreneurs
are far more likely to find inspiration down in the depths of the ocean than up in the
heavens. The ocean already provides us with about half the oxygen we breathe, our
single largest source of protein, a wealth of mineral resources, key ingredients for
pharmaceuticals, and marine biotechnology. Of course space exportation does have
benefits beyond the cool factor of putting people on the moon and astronaut-bards playing David Bowie covers
in space. Inventions created to facilitate space travel have become ubiquitous in our livescell-phone cameras, scratch-resistant
lenses, and water-filtration systems, just to name a fewand research conducted in outer space has led to breakthroughs here on
Yet despite far-fetched plans to mine asteroids for rare

metals, the only tangible goods brought back from space to date remain a few piles
of moon rocks. The deep seabed is a much more likely source of so-called rare-earth
metals than distant asteroids. Earlier this year the United Nations published its first plan for management of
earth in the technological and medical fields.
mineral resources beneath the high seas that are outside the jurisdiction of any individual country. The United States has not been
able to participate in negotiations around this policy because we are not among the 185 nations that have ratified the U.N.
the potential for

economic development in the most remote places on the planet is vast and about to
leap to the next level. Earlier this year Japan announced that it has discovered a massive supply of rare earth both
Convention on the Law of the Sea, which governs such activity. With or without the United States on board,
within its exclusive economic zone and in international waters. This follows reports in 2011 that China sent at least one exploratory
There is a real opportunity for our

nation to lead in this area, but we must invest and join the rest of the world in
creating the governance structure for these activities. Toward the end of last weeks hearing, Sen.
mission to the seabed beneath international waters in the Pacific Ocean.
Mark Begich (D-AK), who chairs the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, hypothetically asked where
we would be today if we had spent half as much money exploring the oceans as we have spent exploring space. Given the current
financial climate in Congress, we wont find the answer to his question on Capitol Hill. But there may be another way.
Space exploration is too expensive to continue fundingcosts

billions with very little scientific outcome.
Kaku 09 (Michio, theoretical physicist, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of New
York, a futurist, and a communicator and popularizer of science, 7/16/2009, The Cost of Space
Exploration, http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/16/apollo-moon-landing-anniversary-opinionscontributors-cost-money.html) Saro
We will always remember July 20, 1969, as a glorious moment, when humanity stood on the brink of an exciting new era. For the
first time in human history, humans walked on the surface of another extraterrestrial body. It was a technological tour de force.
Scientists talked knowingly about setting their sights on Mars and beyond. The universe seemed within our grasp. But historians will
Back then,
we had a huge industrial infrastructure designed to send astronauts to the moon. We
also recognize the irony of this magnificent feat. Today, in 2009, we are actually behind where we were back then.
had a fleet of colossal Saturn booster rockets emerging from our factories. We had a cadre of fiercely loyal, dedicated and highly
We had a public mesmerized and unified by the

space age. Today, all of that is gone . Only ghosts of that era remain, mainly in museums and dusty history
skilled engineers intensely focused on one mission.
books. Now, we are haunted by these memories as we painfully try to reach for the moon once againin 2020, 60 years after the
first moon landing. What went wrong? Part of the reason is that
the space race was ill-conceived from the
start. Back in the mid-1950s, President Dwight Eisenhower actually laid down a sober and methodical timetable for space
exploration. He envisioned a fleet of robotic probes that would scout out the moon and beyond. Astronauts would join them later,
launched on small, fast space planes. Like fighter pilots, our astronauts would be able to blast into space at the drop of a hat. But
when Sputniks launch was splashed over every front page in October 1957, all of that changed. Suddenly, the race to the moon was
all about proving the superiority of capitalism over communism. Arthur C. Clarke, the British author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, once
commented that he would have never imagined there would be a push to put men on the moon if it hadnt became the focus of
competition between two nations. At the height of the Cold War,
the superpowers spared no expense in
funding the latest space spectacular. Dazzling stunts in space, not cost-cutting, were the order of the day. No
one bothered to read their price tag. But after 1969, the Soviets dropped out of the race to the moon and, like
a cancer, the land war in Asia began to devour the budget. The wind gradually came out of the sails of the space program; the
Nielsen ratings for each moon landing began to fall. The last manned mission to the moon was Apollo 17, in 1972. As Isaac Asimov
what went
wrong, the bottom line is simple: money. Its about $10,000 to put a pound of anything
into a near-earth orbit. (Imagine John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, made of solid gold, and you can
appreciate the enormous cost of space travel.) It costs $500 to $700 million every time the shuttle
flies. Billionaire space tourists have flown to the space station at a reputed price of $20 million per head. And to put a
pound of anything on the moon costs about 10 times as much. (To reach Mars, imagine your
body made of diamonds.) We are 50 years into the space age, and yet space travel is just as expensive as it
always was. We can debate endlessly over what went wrong; there is probably no one correct answer. But a few observations
once commented, we scored a touchdown, then took our football and went home. After all is said and done about
can be made. The space shuttle, the workhorse of the space program, proved to be somewhat of a disappointment, with large cost
overruns and long delays. It was bloated and probably did not need to have seven astronauts on board. (The Soviet copy of the
space shuttle, a near-clone called the Buran, actually flew into outer space fully automated, without any astronauts whatsoever.) An
alternative to the space shuttle was the original space plane of the Eisenhower era. It was to be small and compact, but provide
easy access to space on a moments notice, instead of the long months to prepare each shuttle launch. It was to take off and land
like a plane, but soar into outer space like a rocket. President Ronald Reagan called one version of it the Orient Express. (Ironically,
now there will be a hiatus as the space shuttle is mothballed next year. Instead of fast and cheap access to space, for five years we
will have no access to space at all. Well have to beg the Europeans and Russians to piggy-back off their rockets.) One of the primary
Instead of spending half a billion

dollars on each shuttle mission, it should have diverted some of the funds to make
research and development a primary focus . New materials, new fuels and innovative concepts, which would
missions of NASA should have been to drive down the cost of space travel.
make space exploration less expensive, should have been prioritized. (Today, some of that entrepreneurial spirit still lives in the
The space station costs upward of

$100 billion, yet its critics call it a station to nowhere. It has no clearly defined
scientific purpose. Once, President George H.W. Bushs science adviser was asked about the benefits of doing experiments
in weightlessness and microgravity. His response was, Microgravity is of microimportance . Its supporters have
commercial sector, as it tries to nourish a fledgling space tourism industry.)
justified the space station as a terminal for the space shuttle. But the space shuttle has been justified as a vehicle to reach the
Now, NASA is painfully reconstructing

the infrastructure that it dismantled back in the 1970s as it prepares to send astronauts to the moon via the
space station, which is a completely circular and illogical argument.
Orion crew vehicle and the Ares launch rocket in 2020. This time, though, there could be a traffic jam on the moon, since China,
India and Japan have all publicly announced that by then they too will have sent astronauts to the moon. (Please see story, A Traffic
Jam On The Moon?) Lets hope someone will map out a methodical plan for space exploration, like the one Eisenhower drew up,
instead of wasting time and money with more fits-and-starts. Then, at the next milestone anniversary, we wont have to ask
ourselves, What if?
Mars exploration expensive known to be over budget.

Brown 12 (Eryn, Science writer for LA Times, AB in History and Literature from
Harvard, Is Exploring Mars Worth the Investment?, Phys.org, 07/31/12,
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-exploring-mars-worth-investment.html) Chen
But even as excitement builds, some wonder:
Is Mars exploration a good investment? It certainly
doesn't come cheap. It's hard to calculate a total price tag, but over the 48 years that NASA has been launching
missions to Mars, Americans have spent a significant sum. The Viking missions alone cost
nearly $1 billion - in 1970s dollars. The twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity cost a
total of about $1 billion to build and operate as well. Curiosity, as the Mars Science
Laboratory rover is known, is over budget at $2.5 billion. Some in the federal
government have suggested it's time to roll back the spending. President Barack
Obama's fiscal plan for 2013 would cut NASA's funds for Mars exploration from $587
million to $360 million.
Aff - Solvency
Using rovers to explore space wont inspire kids are inspired
by human missions and achievements more physical and
tangential.
Wallace 12 (Lane, Pilot and adventure writer. She is the author of Surviving
Uncertainty: Taking a Hero's Journey, All Hail Science! Unless There Is a (Heroic)
Astronaut Involved, The Atlantic, 02/21/12,
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/all-hail-science-unlessthere-is-a-heroic-astronaut-involved/253333/) Chen
discovering water, or traces of microscopic life , on Jupiter's moon,
will not transform our understanding of life or the universe. And that might
very well be true. But if the standard for funding was missions that they offer transformative knowledge of
One could argue, of course, that
Europa,
life or the universe, flying astronauts back to the Moon or to Mars (as opposed to highly capable robots) wouldn't
human missions do provide are athlete-heroes to cheer.

Looking at the news photos of John Glenn, riding in a ticker-tape parade with
President Kennedy after his successful orbital flight, it's easy to see why human
spaceflight gets so much more funding and support. "In the winter of 1962," the opening line in
a New York Times article about the anniversary began, "the nation needed a hero." For as much as we try
to play up the science fair whiz kids who create robots and technology,
we're still very attached to the explorer/athlete/star champion model of
hero. Designing a robot to explore Mars is a kind of "team personality" achievement: an effort by a team player
pass the bar, either. What those
and builder who works in concert with others to put something or someone else forward (in this case, a robot or
we still get much more satisfaction in cheering on the star

who actually does the glorious deed themselves. Especially if the deed involves
physical feats or physical risks to self. We idolize the quarterback, not the lineman who makes it
satellite) to get the glory. And
possible for the quarterback to make that play. The race driver, not the crew. The player who scores the basket, not
The brave astronaut who repairs the Hubble Space

Telescope in space, rather than the guy who designed the fix in the first place.
the guard who makes the assist.
In the
case of robotic or satellite missions in space, the human achievement is primarily mental, and takes place on the
ground, in a lab, with lots of career and project risk, but little physical danger. And the big end prize that comes out
of the process is the esoteric reward of knowledge. That doesn't quite match the thrill of our hero winning an
Olympic Gold Medal or our team winning the Super Bowl or the World Series. In the 1980s, the television show
Cheers, which revolved around a neighborhood bar in Boston, opened with a series of vintage photos from real local
watering holes. The image I remember best shows a beaming bartender holding up a newspaper with a 4-inch
banner headline across the top proclaiming, "WE WIN!!!!!" Imagine a similar headline proclaiming,instead, "WE
Discovery is about expanding our
understanding of something else. Achievement is a much more satisfying ego stroke
about ourselves. Our heroes are the stand-ins for ourselves; for what we get to
see we are capable of doing. And physical achievements--for whatever reasons
we still prize the physical so highly--get us more excited than academic ones.
Perhaps physical achievements are easier to get our hands and minds around. Or perhaps
it's the competitive element that many of those physical achievements contain. We
LEARN!!!!!!" Right. You can't. And that's the point.
beat the Russians, or we bested Nature, or we bested ... well, something. Whatever the reason, the truth
remains ...we may give academic achievers prizes for enabling discoveries, but we don't give them 4-inch banner
headlines or ticker-tape parades.
Aff - Oceans K2 STEM

Ocean exploration inspires more than space exploration
majority of ocean still unexplored.
MCI No Date (Marine Conservation Institute, Nonprofit ocean conservation
organization working to identify and protect vulnerable ocean ecosystems
worldwide, Exploration and Research, http://www.marineconservation.org/media/shining_sea/theme_exploration.htm) Chen
The ocean is the last frontier. We can travel to space, weve placed a man on the
moon, but the deepest depths of the ocean are still largely out of reach. The vast
majority of the ocean is unexplored and holds much to be discovered.
Advancements in underwater vehicles and technology such as submersibles, ROVs (Remotely
operated vehicles), and AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles), have allowed researchers to explore
the depths of the ocean and to bring novel marine species to the surface every
year, and on nearly every deep sea dive. The unique and diverse hydrothemal vent communities
found along deep sea ridges went undiscovered until the 1970s and are still relatively new to science. In fact, we
There are still many amazing secrets the ocean

holds just waiting to be discovered. New exploration and research can lead to a
better understanding of the world around us and the impacts that we have. The
ocean can reveal secrets of the Earths past and lead to novel advances in science
and medicine. If it werent for the discovery of a deep sea creature capable of surviving in extreme heat, most
of the genetic research conducted today wouldnt be possible. We are just starting to penetrate the depths of the
ocean that brings new and fascinating findings each day. Ocean exploration is an
exciting endeavor. It attracts a diversity of scientists including biologists,
archeologists, engineers, ocean educators, and oceanographers. Modern technology
and equipment enables researchers to explore the oceans greatest depths leading
to discoveries of bizarre species and ecosystems many beyond our wildest
imagination. Throughout the history of ocean exploration, key individuals have helped bring the most remote
continue to learn more about them every day.
ocean realms to light. Each of these seafaring explorers have contributed uniquely to the field of oceanography,
making it their lifes mission to unravel the mysteries of the seas. JACQUES COUSTEAU Forever changing the
ocean exploration, Captain Jacques Cousteau, co-inventor of the Aqua-Lung, the first modern
provided an unparalleled inspiration for many of todays greatest marine
scientists. Cousteau revolutionized the way humans view the underwater world. Through countless books, films,
realm of
SCUBA gear,
and TV series he shared his passion for the ocean. Cousteaus adventurous spirit and devotion to the sea continue
to inspire new exploration.
Aff - Private Sector will fund

No increase in funding neededthe private sector funds and
will continue to fund any shortfalls in the governments
budget.
Clark 1/17/14
(Stephen, leading journalist for Spaceflight Now, the leading source for
space news, President Obama signs $17.6 billion NASA budget,
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1401/17budget/#.U9z_a-NdUrU) Saro
A loser in the budget is the commercial crew program, which began funding industrial partners in 2010 and aims to develop a
privately-owned rocket and spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station in low Earth orbit by the
After the space shuttle, NASA is turning to the private sector for crew and
cargo transportation to the space station, while the government focuses on missions beyond Earth orbit.
end of 2017.
NASA asked Congress for $821 million, a figure NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said last year is required to keep the commercial
The fiscal year 2014 budget calls for

$696 million in commercial crew funding, above last year's $525 million budget but
short of what NASA requested. The bill directs NASA to hold $171 million of the $696 million in reserve until
crew program on track to support an operational transport service in 2017.
officials complete an independent cost-benefit analysis of the commercial crew program taking into account the total U.S.
NASA is pursuing the

commercial spaceflight program as a public-private partnership in the mold of the
agency's development of private cargo vehicles to resupply the space station.
Boeing Co., SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. are currently in funded Space Act
Agreements with NASA worth $1.1 billion. Under the cost-sharing arrangement, NASA approves monetary
government investment in the project and the expected operational life of the space station.
awards to each company upon the completion of preset milestones, such as flight tests, engine firings, or design reviews. This
NASA plans to select one or more companies to complete development of

their crew spacecraft and fly demonstration missions to low Earth orbit before the vehicle is
summer,
certified for NASA astronauts. Since its inception, the commercial crew program has received less funding each year than requested
by NASA. The rest of NASA's divisions receive funding near requested levels, except for the agency's space technology directorate,
which gets $576 million. That is $167 million less than NASA wanted. Space operations, which includes the International Space
Station, receives $3.78 billion in fiscal year 2014 and NASA's science programs get $5.15 billion. Both figures are within a few
percent of NASA's request.
Disease - CP #1
1NC - NIH CP - Text

Text: The United States Federal Government should
substantially increase its funding for the National Institutes of
Health.
Solves Science Diplomacy

NIH research funding key to science diplomacyscientists
leaving now
Gellerman 13 [Bruce, Reporter for WBUR newsroom, Bostons NPR station,
http://www.wbur.org/2013/05/28/sequester-nih-research-mass] Schloss
BOSTON In his laboratory at MITs Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Piyush Gupta
is
trying to figure out why cancer cells develop resistance to multiple drugs. The
answer could save millions of lives and billions of dollars. Recent advances in
biomedical research have already reduced the cancer death rate in the U.S. by 1
percent a year saving the nation $500 billion annually. Much of the research happens within walking distance of
Guptas Kendall Square lab at Harvard, MIT and across the Charles River at Bostons teaching hospitals. Its an
amazing place, Gupta said. Within this one-mile radius its probably the highest density, I would say, of individuals
doing the cutting edge biomedical research. More than 30,000 people in Massachusetts work directly in biomedical
research. Gupta says thats due, in large part, to the grants researchers here get from the National Institutes of
The NIH is the source of funding that sustains laboratory research the
primary source of funding throughout the country , he said. For 18 consecutive years, Boston has
Health.
led the nation among all U.S. cities in the amount of funding from the NIH. Money for biomedical research here last
year reached a near record. But the federal sequester calls for cutting the NIH budget by 5
percent, and more over the coming decade. Collaboration Turned Competition Massachusetts got $2.3 billion from
the NIH last year. That works out to $377 per person. California was a distant second, with $90 per person. And if
you look at just Cambridge and Boston, its a whopping $3,000 a person. Gupta says
thats helped create
not only a critical mass of money, but also a community of world class scientific talent. It happens all the
time in science, where youre grappling with a problem and you enter slightly unknown territory that someone else,
down the hall, is an expert in, Gupta said. Its because collaboration is in the DNA of researchers today. But thats
While collaboration is still the cornerstone of biomedical science ,

today competition is the watch word as federal funding shrinks. My fear is that were
putting an entire generation of U.S. scientists at risk , said Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the
National Institutes of Health. If they go away, they wont come back. Today a researchers chance of
getting a NIH grant is the lowest in the agencys history just 1 in 10 will get funded.
Sequestration is compromising the future of biomedical research and slowing the
improvement in the health of all Americans, Collins said. He is worried because while
federal funding is declining in the U.S., in China, Japan and other nations
its increasing by as much as 20 percent a year. And those countries could be an
attractive option for researchers competing for funding here. Pay If At the Whitehead
changing.
Institute, Gupta leads a team of young grad students and post docs. You couldnt have better, more dedicated,
more idealistic, smarter people working in the lab, Gupta said. You can feel the energy, right? These young
scientists arent in career crisis just yet, their pay is relatively low. Its scientists like 35-year-old Gupta who have to
worry. Hes at a critical transition: Hes finished 12 years of post doc research and has his own lab, but now he
needs outside funding to keep it going. The average age when a researcher gets their first NIH grant is about 40.
But with sequestration, federal funding is iffy at best. So these days Gupta spends a third of his time writing grant
applications to nonprofits like the American Cancer Society. But so does everyone else. And even if research
projects are approved, such organizations dont always have the money to fund them so theyve have created a
new category called pay if. And so what that means, if funds magically appear between now and two and a half
years from now, the work will be funded, Gupta explained. Were in limbo and certainly were not unique in being
in that situation. There are many pay if grants in New England, across the country, waiting. Chuck Stiles has been
hes
concerned for the future generation. They are seeing professors like me tearing
their hair out, trying to keep the lights turned down, trying to run a laboratory with
duct tape and baling wire, Stiles said. And good kids are saying, Business school is looking pretty good
to me, maybe law. This science looks like its not a dependable way to settle down and
at Harvards Dana Farber Cancer Institute for nearly 40 years. He feels his funding is relatively safe, but
have a family. In the U.S. Senate, the NIH enjoys strong bipartisan support Democrats and most
Republican senators favor not just rolling back the sequester cuts but increasing NIH funding next year. But not so
Republicans recently voted to cut the NIH budget by another 20

percent next year thats in addition to the cuts already mandated by the
sequester
in the House, where
Counterplan bolsters science diplomacy---cooperation on

health research spills over
Gomez 11 [ Jorge, Office of Latin American Cancer Program Development, NIH's
National Cancer Institute, Health diplomacy: where science meets culture, NIH,
http://www.fic.nih.gov/NEWS/GLOBALHEALTHMATTERS/FEB2011/Pages/cancer-guestjorge-gomez.aspx] Schloss
In addition to forging ahead with partnerships that have data as the chief priority, researchers and organizations should allow time
Representatives
from developed countries who partner with colleagues from less developed nations,
where the burden of cancer is often very high, serve as ambassadors. As ambassadors, we need to recognize that
our collaborators in developing countries may struggle to acquire the technologies,
systems and information that we take for granted. Another important consideration is the protocol for
our collaboration. Many of the policies and safeguards upheld by NIH and other U.S. federal agencies
to plan for other aspects of their projects that can produce surprising, long-lasting and mutual rewards.
for the protection of human subjects participating in clinical research, as well as for data integrity and monitoring, may be difficult to
encourage and promote best practices in research

outside of this country as we do in the United States. Our interactions with foreign collaborators must
enforce beyond our borders. We must
be respectful of their customs, culture and the idiosyncrasies of their nations as a whole - at the local, regional and national levels as well as of their laws and regulations. Every project affords the opportunity to enhance their research infrastructure and research
capacity, such as biospecimen repositories. Moreover, our interactions must be based on our mutual professional respect, where
foreign collaborators are an integral component of the team. This should be evident in the planning, implementation, data analysis
these collaborations should contribute to science, but they should also

strengthen the relationships between countries, increase research capacity
for both nations and serve as a model for others to follow. What does such an international
collaboration look like? The United States-Latin America Cancer Research Network is a great
example. The initiative recently launched a pilot study - which will involve staff at more than 20 hospitals and research facilities
and publications. In short,
in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay - to examine the molecular profiles of breast cancer patients and their response to
treatment. We already know that breast cancer is a collection of many subtypes with different genetic and clinical characteristics.
We also know that breast cancer is less common in Latin American women than in women from developed countries. What we learn
in this study will help us better understand how to categorize breast cancer, as well as how to best treat different breast cancer
health diplomacy of this project lies in the details. The study design, clinical protocol, informed consent
developed in collaboration with international partners
through committees that brought together the disciplines of public health,
international affairs, management, law and economics . The collaborators participated in workshops
subtypes. The
and case report forms were
and webinars and contributed to the development of standardized procedures for biospecimen collection, pathology, biomarker
we are enhancing their research

infrastructure so that they will be able to conduct clinical trials in the future that
incorporate the latest genomic and applied technologies that are becoming
standard in the United States and other developed countries. Improving
infrastructure is just one element of good diplomacy in international research
collaboration. The goal is to treat our collaborators as equal partners and provide resources to enhance the development of
assessment and evaluation of patient response to therapy. In essence,
areas where they may be lacking, such as training or applied technologies.
NIH is specifically key to the world and Science diplomacy

NIH 14 [ National Institute of Health, Scientific leadership,
http://www.nih.gov/about/] Schloss
NIH is the largest source of funding for medical research in the world ,
creating hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs by funding thousands of
scientists in universities and research institutions in every state across America
and around the globe. NIH is made up of 27 Institutes and Centers, each with a specific research
agenda, often focusing on particular diseases or body systems. NIH leadership plays an active role in shaping the
agency's research planning, activities, and outlook. The Office of the Director is the central office at NIH, responsible
for setting policy for NIH and for planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all the NIH
components. The NIH Director, with a unique and critical perspective on the entire agency, is responsible for
providing leadership to the Institutes and for constantly identifying needs and opportunities, especially for efforts
that involve multiple Institutes. The NIH Director is assisted by the NIH Deputy Directors including the Principal
Deputy Director, who shares in the overall direction of the agency's activities. NIH is responsive to Congressional
legislation that adjusts NIH's programs to meet changing research needs. As a result of the NIH reauthorization
process, NIH is able to respond strategically in an era when medical research requires constant innovation and
increased interdisciplinary efforts. More than 80% of the NIH's budget goes to more than 300,000 research
personnel at over 2,500 universities and research institutions. In addition, about 6,000 scientists work in NIHs own
Intramural Research laboratories, most of which are on the NIH main campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The main
campus is also home to the NIH Clinical Center, the largest hospital in the world totally dedicated to clinical
Successful biomedical research depends on the talent and dedication of the

scientific workforce. NIH supports many innovative training programs and funding
mechanisms that foster scientific creativity and exploration. The goal is to
strengthen our nations research capacity, broaden our research base, and inspire a
passion for science in current and future generations of researchers. NIH encourages and
research.
depends on public involvement in federally supported research and activities. NIHs wide-ranging public efforts
include outreach and education, nationwide events, requests for public input on NIH projects, and special programs
designed specifically to involve public representatives in clinical research. International
research
collaborations are critical to our success in fighting cancer - a problem so
immense that we must gather ideas from scientists everywhere so that we can
confront the disease in the most comprehensive way possible.
Medical research leads to science diplomacyspecifically

undeveloped countries
Adams, Lovotny, Leslie 08 [ vincanne, Hannah, Thomas, Hannah Leslie is a
Program Analyst with the University ofCalifornia, Vincanne Adams is Professor of
Anthropology, History andSocial Medicine at the University of California, Thomas E
Novotny is a Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of
California, Global Health Diplomacy,
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01459740802427067#tabModule]
Schloss
the world has witnessed a tremendous growth in the expansion
of biomedical clinical research beyond the borders of the industrialized
centers of science. This expansion has taken place both in the public sector, as
research institutes and universities continue to develop research programs in underresourced countries, and in the private sector , as the pharmaceutical industry seeks new and
nave populations for drug trials (Petryna, Lakoff, and Kleinman 2007). The expansion of
pharmaceutical and biomedical research can play an important role in disease eradication,
Over the past decade,
particularly with the development of new vaccines and treatment programs for multidrug-resistant diseases. It can
in stemming the outflow of local research and clinical expertise

from the poorest countries. Investment in the development of collaborative
research links between poor and wealthy nations can also result in
opportunities for training and resource sharing. However, the uneven
also play a critical role
applications of scientific research resources between developed and developing

nations requires specific attention to the ethical questions of benefit sharing and
resource allocation (Hayden 2007). The growth of pharmaceutical research and industry activities in global
health should signal a need for a cautious embrace. We are already witnessing increasing risk of
disparity in health services, as pharmaceutical interests displace public health programs in the poorest
countries. In some regions, patients are only able to access basic health care by enrolling in clinical trials (Petryna,
Forthcoming). Concerns over the balance between market-driven research and local public health priorities,
although often raised by individuals within these industries, seldom become the focus for more ethical practices.
Establishing bioethical principles for not just benefit sharing but also for research agendas is a first step toward
training health and biomedical professionals and anthropologists in

health diplomacy based on these principles may go further toward implementing
change. There are additional risks that are emerging with the rise of global pharmacogenomics. Whereas
rectifying this, but
research institutions in underserved nations can advance equitable science by ensuring inclusion of diverse
ethnic and racial populations, the research can unintentionally racialize populationstransforming socially
recognized diversity (Creole, mestizo, etc.) into bounded race categories. Pharmacogenetic research also runs the
risk of minimizing the role of other environmental health risks in socially disadvantaged populations by prioritizing
the genetic bases of disease over all other risks (Whitemarsh 2008). The globalization of pharmaceutical industries
raises other concerns over ensuring ethical standards for protecting human subjects in clinical research (Adams et
al. 2005), creating the need for training in ethics, institutional review processes, and human rights assurance. The
questions of what makes an intervention or research project just and fair and how such concern may be learned is
seldom addressed in health sciences training. Further, we might ask what legal and ethical structures are in place to
deliberate these relationships. Is international law the best way to ensure fairness and justice when it comes to
medical research? If so, how can medical anthropologists and other health professionals play an informed role in
Global Health Diplomacy investigations might focus on

such concerns, including on the health benefits that can accrue from research and
health assistance conducted in an ethical and equitable manner.
establishing such legal structures?
18% of young scientists are moving to other countries.

Increasing NIH funding key to solve science leadership
Szabo, 4/23[Liz, USA TODAY medical reporter covering cancer, heart disease,
pediatrics, women's health, public/environmental health and infectious disease,
including AIDS, NIH director: Budget cuts put U.S. science at risk, USA today,
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/23/nih-budgetcuts/8056113/]Zabner
Budget pressures now force the National Institutes of Health to reject half of
worthwhile research proposals, putting scientific progress at risk and leading many of the
USA's brightest minds to consider careers overseas, says NIH director Francis Collins. "While
the scientific opportunities have never been more exciting than right now, the stress
on the biomedical community in the United States has never been more severe," says
Collins, in an exclusive interview with the USA TODAY Editorial Board Wednesday. " Many young
investigators are on the brink of giving up because of the difficulty of getting
support." The NIH once funded one in three research proposals. For the past 10 years, NIH has had enough to
fund only one in six, although the quality of the research is as high as ever, Collins says. "We are throwing
away probably half of the innovative, talented research proposal's that the nation's
finest biomedical community has produced," Collins says. "Particularly for young
scientists, they are now beginning to wonder if they are in the wrong field. We have a
serious risk of losing the most important resource that we have, which is this brain
trust, the talent and the creative energies of this generation of scientists." Studies
show that 18% of young scientists are considering moving to other countries to
continue their research, Collins says, noting that China, India, Singapore and Brazil are all boosting their
investment in science.
Within five years, China will spend more on scientific research than
the USA, he says. The NIH budget peaked in fiscal year 2010 at $31.2 billion, falling to $30.15 billion for fiscal
year 2014. Due to inflation, the NIH budget has lost 25% of its purchasing power over the
last decade, Collins says. Funding research offers short- and long-term benefits, Collins
says, both by developing new treatments for deadly diseases such as cancer and diabetes,
as well as stimulating the economy. Every dollar invested in the NIH returns two
dollars in goods and services to the economy within a year, he says. "How long can we
go on without seeing irreversible damage to this engine of discovery that is so full of potential and yet is being
starved for fuel?" Collins asks. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., questions whether the NIH uses its money wisely. In a
letter to Collins last year, Kingston asked Collins to justify a grant to study voice care for transgendered people,
among other studies. "I support the NIH's core responsibility of basic research, but believe it should stop the
frivolous, politically-motivated, and wasteful grants it has been funding," says Kingston, chairman of the House
Appropriations subcommittee in charge of the NIH's budget. "On behalf of the American taxpayer, my committee
will continue strict oversight of the NIH budget and encourage Dr. Collins to work with us on spending tax dollars
effectively and appropriately."
Increasing NIH funding is key to solve dwindling science

diplomacy
Micheli, 13[Mark, editor of Excellence in Government Online and a specialprojects editor for Government Executive Media Group, The Budget Deal: An Okay
End to a Very Bad Year for Medical Research, December 18, The Atlantic,
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/12/the-budget-deal-an-okay-endto-a-very-bad-year-for-medical-research/282489/]Zabner
what many
fear is Americas dwindling role as the world leader in biomedical research. While
the U.S. continues to debate how much to cut from the NIH and other scientific
institutions like the National Science Foundation and the Centers for Disease
Control, other nations are increasing funding. China, which Collins said is preparing
to increase research spending by 15 to 20 percent per year*, is aiming to outspend
the U.S. in the next five yearsnot as a percentage of GDP but in absolute dollars. Related Story Dark
Days for Medical Research Across the board we need to turn this around, Collins said. You look at what a
country invests in research and development as part of GDP as an indicator of the
health of the [nations seriousness]. Right now we are at 2.6 percent. Many other
countries are at 3 percent or abovetheyre basically out to eat our lunch.
Even if funding were restored to pre-sequester levels, the budget deal does very little to reverse
NIH solves science diplomacyConnections with foreign

embassies
Clinton, 9[Hillary, U.S. secretary of state in 2009, serving until 2013, EMBASSY
SCIENCE FELLOWS PROGRAM 2009,
https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09STATE10843_a.html]
THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH), AN AGENCY WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES, IS THE PRIMARY FEDERAL AGENCY FOR CONDUCTING AND
SUPPORTING BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH. IT IS THE NATION'S MEDICAL RESEARCH
AGENCY, MAKING IMPORTANT MEDICAL DISCOVERIES THAT IMPROVE HEALTH AND
SAVE LIVES. SPECIFICALLY, ITS MISSION IS SCIENCE IN PURSUIT OF FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE
NATURE AND BEHAVIOR OF LIVING SYSTEMS AND THE APPLICATION OF THAT KNOWLEDGE TO EXTEND HEALTHY
LIFE AND REDUCE THE BURDENS OF ILLNESS AND DISABILITY. COMPOSED OF 27 INSTITUTES AND CENTERS
(ICS), NIH PROVIDES LEADERSHIP AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO RESEARCHERS IN EVERY U.S. STATE AND
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. OF IT'S NEARLY $29 BILLION BUDGET, MORE THAN 80% SUPPORTS GRANTS AND
CONTRACTS ON A COMPETITIVE BASIS AT U.S. AND FOREIGN INSTITUTIONS. ABOUT 10% SUPPORTS A VIBRANT
INTRAMURAL PROGRAM WHICH IS COMPRISED OF 6,000 WORKING SCIENTISTS, WITH APPROXIMATELY 2,800 OF
FROM ABROAD. NIH STAFF INCLUDES EXPERTS IN VIRTUALLY ALL TECHNICAL
FIELDS RELATED TO BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH. SINCE 2005, NIH HAS
THEM
PROVIDED 10 ESF FELLOWS WHO ARE EXPERTS IN PREVENTION, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF DISEASE,
DISEASE SURVEILLANCE AND MANAGEMENT, AND STRENGTHENING HEALTH RESEARCH AND HEALTH SYSTEM
SUCCESSFUL ESF PROGRAMS WITH NIH FELLOWS HAVE PROVIDED

ASSISTANCE TO EMBASSIES AND HOST GOVERNMENTS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF
MEDICAL AND EDUCATIONAL CAPABILITIES, REVIEWS OF DISEASE RISKS AND
RESPONSE, AND ADVICE IN CONNECTION WITH GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS. IN THE
MANAGEMENT.
2009 CYCLE, IN ADDITION TO STRONG IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND BASIC IMMUNOLOGY, NIH WOULD WELCOME
PROPOSALS FOR NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES SUCH AS STROKE, DIABETES AND HIGH-BLOOD PRESSURE.
WEBSITE: WWW.NIH.GOV
Solves Disease
NIH solves infectious disease
Boadi, 3/25[Kwame, The Johns Hopkins University - Paul H. Nitze School of
Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Erosion of Funding for the National
Institutes of Health Threatens U.S. Leadership in Biomedical Research, 2014,
Center for American Progress,
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2014/03/25/86369/erosionof-funding-for-the-national-institutes-of-health-threatens-u-s-leadership-inbiomedical-research/]Zabner
The National Institutes of Health, which traces its roots back to 1887, has touched every
aspect of American health and wellness, while simultaneously facilitating
innovation in the private sector. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or
CDC, life expectancy at birth in the United States increased from 57 years in 1929 to 78 years in 2008. NIHs work has
contributed immensely to the increase in life expectancy and overall wellness in
America, partly through research dedicated to preventing and treating illnesses that once
contributed significantly to untimely death among children and working-age adults. Data from The New England Journal of Medicine
on causes of death in America highlight the stark differences in life and death in America over the past 100-plus years. Whereas in
1900 the top three causes of death in America were influenza, tuberculosis, and gastrointestinal infections, the impact of those
The development of a vaccine in the early 1980s

safe enough for infants to combat the flu strain Haemophilus influenzae type b resulted from NIHfunded research. NIH-funded researchers are close to the creation of a universal
flu vaccineone that would provide protection from multiple flu strains, as
opposed to a specified vaccine for each year . As antibiotics proved effective at combating tuberculosis
during the mid-20th century, strains of the disease began developing resistance to the drugs. This development
has led NIH to support research to develop new drugs to counteract antibioticresistant forms of the disease. And while cancer is the second-leading cause of death in America today,
death rates from cancer have fallen significantly, due in part to NIH-supported
efforts. According to the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, NIH-funded research has played a role in
illnesses on mortality in 2010 was almost nonexistent.
every major cancer prevention, detection, and treatment advance over the past several decades. In pursuit of its mission to seek
fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health,
lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability, the agencys mission statement states the following four goals: To foster
fundamental creative discoveries, innovative research strategies, and their applications as a basis for ultimately protecting and
develop, maintain, and renew scientific human and physical

resources that will ensure the Nations capability to prevent disease To
improving health To
expand the knowledge base in medical and associated sciences in order to enhance the Nations economic well-being and ensure a
continued high return on the public investment in research To exemplify and promote the highest level of scientific integrity,
public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science.
Only the cp solvespatient centered efforts key

Bowman, 6/21[Dan, senior editor of all of Fierce's Health IT publications, IT,
patient-centered research key to pushing disease prevention efforts, 2014, Health
IT, http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/it-patient-centered-research-key-pushingdisease-prevention-efforts/2014-07-21]Zabner
Information technology will be crucial to pushing disease prevention efforts in healthcare, according to a recent
viewpoint published in the Journal of the American Medical Association .
A "widespread uptake" of
personalized health technology, the researchers say, is needed to "reduce the
burden" of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer or diabetes . For that to occur,
they say, a framework that encourages basic technology use is necessary. "Investing in prevention should be a
strategic national priority to help improve the lagging population of the United States compared with peer
countries," say authors Derek Yach of the New York-based Vitality Institute and Chris Calitz of the Bloomberg School
"Increasing federal funding for prevention

science and fostering stronger public-private partnerships are important steps
toward providing policy makers with evidence-based tools to use limited resources
effectively and efficiently." White Paper: Redefining Security for the Cloud Fact Sheet Providing highof Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.
quality healthcare is a sciencebut securely managing the expanding amount of highly personal healthcare content
can be an art. As the already-large volumes of healthcare-related data continue to grow, many organizations are
Patient-centered research efforts could be

key for building a case for the cost-effectiveness of prevention interventions , according
turning to the cloud to store, manage and share data.
Yach and Calitz. The Affordable Care Act, they point out, mandated the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
Institute (PCORI). In December, PCORI approved $93.5 million to support 29 clinical data networks it hopes to
integrate to improve comparative effectiveness research. PCORI plans to combine the networks to form PCORnet-the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network--to provide access to a large amount of diverse, nationally
representative health information that can support a range of study designs. Eleven Clinical Data Research
Networks (CDRNs) will be funded, such as the National Pediatric Learning Health System from the Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia. In these, healthcare organizations pool information from various data sources including
electronic health records. In addition, funding will go to 18 Patient-Powered Research Networks (PPRNs) formed by
patient groups to exchange information on a particular condition. The Epilepsy Foundation's Collaborative PatientCentered Rare Epilepsy Network and the American BRCA Outcomes and Utilization of Testing Patient-Powered
Research Network (ABOUT Network) at the University of South Florida are among these. In particular, Kaiser
Permanente plans to use $7 million to build a data network aimed at improving cancer, obesity and heart diseases
outcomes this year, the health system announced in January. That network will be part of PCORnet.
Only the cp solvesresearches diseases with the potential to cause a pandemic

NIH, 4/21[NIH funds influenza research and surveillance network, 2014,
http://www.nih.gov/news/health/apr2014/niaid-10.htm]Zabner
Influenza scientists at five sites in the United States are to receive funding from the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to collaborate with investigators around
the globe in a network designed to advance understanding of influenza viruses and
how they cause disease. In addition to basic research, investigators in the Centers of Excellence for
Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) network also conduct domestic and international
influenza surveillance studies with an emphasis on rapid characterization of
viruses that have the potential to cause pandemics. The first CEIRS network was launched in
2007 by NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health. NIAID today announced awards of the new contracts to
continue the program for seven years. The
CEIRS network exemplifies NIAIDs dual mission of

conducting basic and applied influenza research, while maintaining the
ability to respond rapidly in the event of an emerging public health threat , said
NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. CEIRS investigators have contributed greatly to our understanding of how
influenza viruses emerge from wild and domestic animals, their adaptation to and global circulation throughout the
human population and the interplay between the viruses and human immune responses. Dr. Fauci added that the
CEIRS network also played a critical role in the nations response to the 2009
H1N1 influenza pandemic by, for example, quickly characterizing the virus and
performing pre-clinical testing of candidate vaccines. The geographic range of sample
collection sites will be more tightly focused than previously on those regions where new influenza viruses are likely
to emerge and the network will further integrate basic research with surveillance data gathering, said CEIRS project
officer Diane Post, Ph.D., of NIAIDs Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. A
key mission of the

CEIRS network is to foster innovative and collaborative basic research on influenza
viruses, including how they evolve and adapt to animal and human hosts . The
information we gain could help us understand why influenza pandemics occur and could assist health officials in
Four of the new CEIRS contracts are to

institutions that had received a 2007 award. One institution, Johns Hopkins
University, will establish a new center . All will conduct surveillance and basic research projects. The
taking steps to mitigate outbreaks, Dr. Post said.
network has a global reach, with collaborations established or planned at more than two dozen sites in Asia,
Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America, Europe and Australia. Funding for the first year of the contracts will
total approximately $23 million.
NIH solves disease-- Studies interactions between genetic and

environmental factors
Craig, 8[Johanna, Ph.D. (Write Science Right), Complex Diseases: Research and
Applications, Nature, http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/complex-diseasesresearch-and-applications-748]Zabner
complex diseases are caused by a combination of genetic,
environmental, and lifestyle factors, most of which have not yet been identified. The
vast majority of diseases fall into this category, including several congenital defects
and a number of adult-onset diseases. Some examples include Alzheimer's disease, scleroderma,
For the most part,
asthma, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, connective tissue diseases, kidney diseases,
autoimmune diseases, and many more (Hunter, 2005). Scientists now know that complex diseases do not obey the
Although we inherit genes associated with these

diseases, genetic factors represent only part of the risk associated with complex
disease phenotypes. A genetic predisposition means that an individual has a genetic susceptibility to
standard Mendelian patterns of inheritance.
developing a certain disease, but this does not mean that a person harboring a genetic tendency is destined to
develop the disease. The actual development of the disease phenotype depends in large part on a person's
environment and lifestyle. While we cannot change our genes, we can alter our lifestyle and environment to prevent
the interplay between genetic and environmental

factors in complex disease continues to challenge researchers (Dempfle et al., 2008).
Considering gene-environment interactions can improve our understanding of the
causes of complex disease, and it can also assist researchers in developing targeted therapies. Scientists
or delay the onset of such a disorder. Indeed,
now understand that gene products and the by-products of environmental insult often interact at the molecular
level.
Rather than studying genetic and environmental factors separately,

researchers are now studying how genes and environmental factors interact with
one another. By looking at the whole picture, researchers can identify genetic risk factors, which may in turn be
modified in an environment-specific manner (Dempfle et al., 2008). Because many studies of complex diseases
have not examined the interplay among underlying genetic factors, there are few examples of reproducible data
describing gene-environment interactions that influence disease (Wong et al., 2004). However, one good example
of the interaction between genetic predisposition and environment is the higher susceptibility of fair-skinned people
to the development of skin cancer. In these lighter-skinned individuals, it seems that skin cancer is associated with
mutations in the melanocortin 1 receptor gene (MC1R). Another example of a genetic link to an environmental
factor is seen among people with alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) deficiency when they ingest even small amounts of
alcohol. ADH deficiency is caused by a mutation in the ADH1C gene, which encodes an ADH subunit; mutations in
the ADH1C gene lead to acute sensitivity to alcohol ingestion, common in individuals of Asian descent, and resulting
in flushing of the face (Hunter, 2005). Some additional examples are shown in Table 1. Returning to the jigsaw
puzzle analogy, imagine that each puzzle piece has the ability to fit with more than one other puzzle piece, which
could lead to more than one type of final "picture" when a puzzle is completed. Such is the prospect of
disentangling the systems that regulate complex diseases, because we often do not understand the exact sense in
which a complex disease is "complex." To sort out the causes of these conditions, researchers must dump the
puzzle pieces out of the drawer and begin to assemble the jigsaw puzzle one piece at a time. The trick to solving
the disease puzzle is to understand which factorgenetics or environmentplays a greater role in determining the
course of a disease.
AFF Answers - NIH CP

NIH funding is ineffective
Conger 2[ Krista, writer for Stanford, PHD in medical biology, NIH funding
mechanism totally broken, says Stanford ,
http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2012/12/05/nih-funding-mechanism-totally-brokensays-stanford-researcher/] Schloss
Stanford researcher John Ioannidis, MD, DSci, who is well-known for his critiques of much current scientific
methodology, has now turned his sights on the National Institutes of Health. He and a colleague, Joshua Nicholson
questioning the way

the organization funds research proposals. Ionannidis and Nicholson argue that the peerreview process, in which groups called study sections review and rank research
applications submitted by their colleagues, is inherently flawed and encourages
conformity, if not mediocrity. The result? Only 40 percent of scientists with highly
cited papers are listed as the principal investigators on NIH grants. That is, those
scientists whose peers value their insights and research most highly in
their field are often not receiving federal support for that work. The article is a
pretty rousing condemnation of the status quo. Ioannidis, who is the chief of the Stanford
Prevention Research Center, elaborated to me: Our analysis shows with large-scale evidence that
the system is totally broken. The majority of the US authors of the most
influential papers in medicine and life sciences in the last decade do not have
NIH funding; their funding rate may even be less than the rate of the
average applicant. Conversely, study section members are almost always funded (a corollary of their
selection process by NIH), but their citation impact is typically modest, nothing exceptional . High-impact
innovators and funded study section members are almost completely
mutually exclusive groups. Ioannidis went on to note that the average age of a researcher receiving
from Virginia Tech, have published an analysis (subscription required) in todays Nature
his or her first independent funding award from the NIH is 44 years (47 for MDs): An out-of-the-box innovator who
waits patiently and complies with orthodoxy until age 47 before becoming independent represents an oxymoron. A
truly innovative idea cannot be judged by peers: if it is truly innovative, no peer has any clue about it; if peers
Although the NIH has tried to address concerns about

a lack of support for new ideas with specific award categories such as the Pioneer
and New Innovator Awards, Ioannidis called the outcome of such efforts a drop in
the bucket: We believe that NIH should fund some exceptional scientists based on the objectively measurable
already know about it, it is not innovative.
citation impact of their previous work. Peer review is the way it is applied now encourages conformity and
mediocrity and favors people who know how to network and play the petty games of academia, not those who have
brilliant ideas.
NIH is spending money to solve nothing--- probability of a

breakthrough is extremely low
LaMattina 12 [ John, president of Pfizer Global Research and Development in
2007 where I managed more than 13,000 scientists and professionals, Forbes, The
NIH Is Going to Discover Drugs... Really?,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2012/05/15/the-nih-is-going-to-discoverdrugs-really/] Schloss
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) last year established the National Center for
Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Believing that The process for
translating scientific studies into new tools and treatments is ripe for innovation,
the NIH created NCATS to support rigorous research on the discipline of translation,
overcoming bottlenecks to accelerate the development of diagnostics and
therapeutics. Basically, the NIH believes it can play a role in helping in the drug
discovery development process. This role doesnt come cheaply . In the 2012 fiscal year, the
NCATS budget was $574.7 million and, in 2013, it will be $639 million. The formation of NCATS has not
been without controversy. Earlier this year, a House of Representatives subcommittee reviewed the role of the
NCATS (Meredith Wadman, Nature News, NIH director grilled over translational research center). The
subcommittee raised the concern that the funding for NCATS was taking away much-needed grant money from the
basic research traditionally funded by the NIH, such as starter grants for young investigators. Currently, only 17% of
these grant requests get funded a recipe for disaster for the long-term outlook for breakthrough biological and
medical science in the U.S. Perhaps the most damning criticism of NCATS came from Dr. Roy Vagelos, the legendary
former Merck CEO and now Chairman of the Board of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Testifying before the
subcommittee as an adviser to the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, he made the following
point: Does
anyone in the audience believe that there is something that NCATS is

going to do that the industry thinks is critical and that they are not doing? That is
incredible to think that. If you believe that you believe in fairies. Well, the NIH has
recently expanded the remit of NCATS. NCATS will now be testing drugs that have
been shelved by the pharmaceutical industry for other potential uses. The motivation for
this is simple. They believe that these once promising but failed compounds could have other uses that the inventor
My views on
this sort of initiative, which goes by a variety of names drug repurposing, drug
companies havent yet identified. Id like to reiterate the view of Dr. Vagelos its fairy time again.
repositioning, reusable drugs have been previously discussed in my blog. I do hope that people can have
success in this type of work. But I believe
successes are going to be rare.
Its too late to fund the NIH has already been cut back too
much
Micheli 13 [Mark, editor of Excellence in Government Online and a specialprojects editor for Government Executive Media Group, Dark Days for Medical
Research, http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/dark-days-for-medicalresearch/280205/] Schloss
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health, the federal agency with a $30 billion budget responsible for funding
medical research across the country, probably woke up Tuesday morning with, at best, audible sighs. First, in the
there was sequestrationthe automatic, across the board spending cuts that
lopped off 5.5 percent of their budget. Now, thanks to the government shutdown, 73
percent of NIH staff is sitting at home, furloughedamong them, some of the most brilliant scientists
spring,
and medical researchers in the wordand, thanks to a Congress whose mental health is open to debate, they've
been put in the untenable position of turning away 200 patients to the NIH Clinical Center, including 30 children,
As a result of the budget cuts, the life sciences are projected

to lose 20,500 jobs this year. NIHs fiscal 2013 budget fell by $1.71 billion, or 5.5
percent. The person tasked with leading this besieged organization is Dr. Francis Collins. Before he was director
many of them cancer patients.
of the NIH, Collins made headlines around the world in 2000 for leading the Human Genome Project, the global
effort that unlocked the secrets of human DNAa paradigm-shifting advance that firmly established him as one of
the most significant scientists of our generation. In 2009, President Obama tapped him to become NIH director,
ostensibly becoming dean of the nations health and leading the largest biomedical research agency in the world
all in the midst of a recession. When I started I did not imagine it would get this bad, to be truthful, Collins said. I
don't think anyone imagined when the concept of the sequester was laid on the table that it would happen. It was
supposed to be this poison pill that was so painful, so destructive that it would never come to pass and yet, well,
the Congress swallowed it and we all got poisoned. With the government shutdown, Congress has decided to
Sequestration was painful enough for the medical research

community. As a result of the budget cuts, the life sciences are projected to lose
20,500 jobs this year. NIHs fiscal 2013 budget fell by $1.71 billion, or 5.5 percent.
double the dosage.
Thats the size of my whole budget for a year, said Dr. Story Landis, referring to
the $1.6 billion budget she oversees as Director of the Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. If
sequestration is not reversed, NIH could lose $19 billion over the next decade. And after 10 years of flat budgets
worn away by inflation, the NIHs purchasing power has been cut by almost 25 percent compared to a decade ago
a weakened stature that is a far cry from the period between 1998 and 2003, when the NIH budget was doubled.
the NIH will halt action on grant applications and awards

meaning all new medical research is groundedand the NIH Clinical Center will
not admit new patients. The importance of funding research to cure cancer, prevent heart disease and fight
Now, until the government reopens,
horrible conditions like Alzheimers and Parkinsons is a rare point of agreement among the overwhelming majority
of Americans and, even more rare, Congress. A recent Research America poll showed a majority of Americans, 83
percent, believe that investing in medical research is important for the US economy. That sentiment is echoed on
both sides of the aisle, where there is bi-partisan agreement that Washingtons dysfunction should not harm the
NIH. Last summer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid started lobbying fellow lawmakers to reverse the NIHs budget
cuts and Senator Tom Coburn, no fan of government spendingrecently being ranked the 12th most conservative
senator by National Journalsupports that effort. We shouldn't be cutting back on that at all, Coburn, who is also
a doctor, said in May. Were almost at a new frontier in terms of medical research and scientific discovery We
have so much waste in other areas of the government that we shouldnt have to cut NIH at allas matter of fact,
scientists, who were going to win a Nobel

Prize, basically gave up because of the failure to get support from the current
system." Accounting for the sequester, Collins recently told Congress that NIH intends to award 650 fewer grants,
we should be doubling it again. "We will not know what brilliant
compared with 2012, any number of which he contends could have led to a significant discovery. It is hard to prove
a negative, said Collins. We will not know what grant that was going to lead to the next breakthrough in cancer
research didn't quite make the cut. We will not know what brilliant scientists, who were going to win a Nobel Prize,
basically gave up because of the failure to get support from the current system and decided to do something else or
move to another country. We wont know. That is the sad tale that is wrapped up in all of this. Privately, those in
Congress and at NIH hope the looming debt ceiling debate might present hope for restoring NIHs funding. That a
Washingtons dysfunction at an all time high, as evidenced

by the shutdown, hope is fraying
deal for NIH is possible. But with
Perm solves best --- focus on ocean policies and fund NIH
Lord and Turekian 09 [ Kristin and Vaughn, Project on U.S. Relations with the
Islamic World at Brookings, focusing on public diplomacy, U.S. foreign policy, and
international security., Brookings, The Science of Diplomacy,
http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/2009/05/05-diplomacy-lord] Schloss
remember that science and
technology have tremendous applications in and effects on the world of foreign
policy as well. Given the United States' predominance in technology, engineering,
health, and innovation, other countries want to engage with and benefit from the United
States' ideas and products. Still, past U.S. governments have not taken full
advantage of the power and potential of science to improve foreign affairs and make a
As he recommits resources to this most important field, Obama must
safer, healthier world. To engage in science diplomacy -- defined here as scientific cooperation and engagement
with the explicit intent of building positive relationships with foreign governments and societies -- Obama should do
Think strategically. Scientific cooperation can be a fruitful and apolitical

way to engage countries where diplomatic relations are strained . For example, the U.S.
the following.
National Academy of Sciences has sponsored scientific exchanges with Iran for the last several years. As part of
these exchanges, young Iranians enthusiastically welcome visits from U.S. thinkers like Nobel laureate in physics
Joseph Taylor. Scientists work together on issues of mutual interest such as public health and earthquake
preparedness. A nascent effort at science diplomacy is now underway in Syria, which recently welcomed a highlevel visit of U.S. scientists and educators. The delegation met for over an hour with President Bashar al-Assad,
himself a medical doctor, to discuss potential areas of cooperation outside the realm of politics. Think offensively as
well as defensively.
Current policies regarding international cooperation often restrict

access to U.S. technologies -- keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, for instance. But
such defensive policies should be matched with better offensive policies: bringing the world's best
scientists and scientific businesses into the United States and sending American
scientists out to aid the world more often. To this end, the United States should provide visas and
scholarships to usher talented students into American universities and dramatically increase the number of H-1B
visas, which admit specialized workers such as doctors and physicists. The United States should also send more
professionals to aid in conducting disease surveillance, developing clean energy technologies, facilitating
environmental adaptation, and providing early warning of impending natural disasters. Think about people -- not
just governments. Foreign publics admire American science and technology far more than they admire America.
Indeed, an analysis of Pew polling data from 43 countries shows that favorable views of American science and
technology exceed overall views of the United States by an average of 23 points. This presents the United States
with a public diplomacy opportunity: to remind foreign people of what they like about the United States and to
highlight constructive partnerships between Americans and foreign scientists, engineers, doctors, and technology
the U.S. government should publicize successful

partnerships with other countries and the relevant accomplishments of Americans .
business leaders. As a first step,
This means trumpeting Bill Gates as much as government officials and naming Nobel laureates like EgyptianAmerican chemist Ahmed Zewail as goodwill ambassadors. It means exposing the thousands of U.S.-government-
Facing a complex set of

foreign-policy challenges, the United States can no longer afford to overlook such a
useful instrument of statecraft. Regrettably, the U.S. government is not well organized to take
sponsored scientific visitors to American society and politics, not just science.
advantage of science diplomacy. The National Science Foundation and technical departments (Energy, Agriculture,
Health and Human Services, and Defense) apply their resources to science -- but not to its diplomatic use. Thus, the
Obama administration should appoint a senior-level ambassador for science and technology cooperation in the
State Department. He or she could convene an interagency group coordinating the strategic use of science
the Obama administration must change current approaches.

Foreign-policy leaders -- especially Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- must
recognize the power of this means of engagement . The United States has emphasized in past
diplomacy. But importantly,
weeks its commitment to the globally shared goals of healthier populations, a cleaner environment, safer societies,
Recognizing the potential of science diplomacy will certainly help

maximize the United States' realization of these goals.
and a better life for all.
Disease - CP #2
1nc Amazon R&D CP Text

research and exploration in the Amazon rainforest to find
cures to diseases and create new pharmaceutical innovations.
Amazon research and exploration solves for pharmaceutical
needs and diseases
Foley et al 07 [Jonathan, Amazonia revealed: forest degradation and loss of ecosystem goods and services
in the Amazon Basin, 2/07, http://www.jstor.org.turing.library.northwestern.edu/stable/pdfplus/20440556.pdf?
acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true]
Jia
The rainforests of the Amazon also provide crucial ecosystem goods and services
to humanity, including many that have considerable economic and societal value
(Myers
refers to
1997). The term "ecosystem goods and services" has
become widely used in recent years, and typically
the supply of valuable products and materials (including
and pharmaceutical commodi
agricultural, forest, mineral,

ties), the support and regulation of environmental condi tions
(through processes like pollination, flood control, and water purification), and the provision of cultural and
aesthetic benefits (including ecotourism, heritage, and sense of place) by ecosystems (Daily 1997; Millenium
Many of the ecosystem goods and services

derived from the Amazon Basin (eg from timber, pasture, and soybean
production), are easily recognized and are revealed on local scales - often within
individual land parcels that are specif ically managed for those purposes. Other
Ecosystem Assessment 2003; DeFries et al. 2004).
ecosystem ser vices, such as pollination and flood control, are somewhat less obvious and may appear over
larger spatial scales, extending over complex landscapes and whole watersheds. Tropical rainforests also provide
manifested at the scale of the whole Amazon Basin and, indeed, the planet. For
example, rainforests in the Amazon sequester carbon from the global atmosphere,
regulate the water balance and flow of the entire Amazon River system, influence
the patterns of climate and air chemistry over much of the continent, and may
even ameliorate the spread of vector-borne and water-borne diseases across the
region.
ecosystem services that are
Plants Indigenous to only the Amazon able to cure various

diseases
Sherikar, Landage, Patil, Mahanthesh 10 [A. S. Sherikar, Shrikant Landage, Pradip Patil, M. C.
Mahanthesh, Cardiovascular Activity of aqueous extracts of leaves of Annona squamosal, Deccan Pharma Journal
Series, 4/10, http://www.ijdpls.com/uploaded/journal_files/120402030439.pdf]
Jia
Annona squamosa commonly known as sugar apple is a small tropical tree,

indigenous to Amazon rain forest, growing up to 20m tall, cultivated both in the plains and on the hills
like in tropical South America, Southern Mexico, West Indies, Bahamas, occasionally in Southern Florida and
In Traditional System of Medicine, the leaf is used as an insecticide, in

skin infections, mucosa, laxative, diarrhea, dysentery, pregnancy, antiaborifacients,
for treating cancerous tumorsIII. The phytoconstituents isolated so far from leaves are hydroxyl ketone
throughout India.
10-hydroxy-16 hentriacontanoneIV, squamocenin, annotemoyin-2, reticulatain-2V, benzoquinoline alkaloid

samaquasine AVI and acetogenins viz., annonacin, annonacin A, annonastatinVII, bullatacin, bullatacinon and
It is reported to posses antidiabeticIX, analgesic, anti-inflammatoryX and

larvicidalXI activities. In present study, we are targeting cardiotonic activity of aqueous extracts of leaves of
squamoneVIII.
Annona squamosa on isolated frog heart perfusion (IFHP).
(S) Diseases
Amazon Rainforest holds cures to diseases Already provides
society with maladies for some diseases
Rainforest Action Network 89 [Network for rainforest conservation, Medicinal

Treasures of the Rainforest, Adventure Life, http://www.adventure-life.com/articles/rainforest-medicine-78]
Deo
7,000 medical compounds prescribed by Western doctors are derived from

plants. These drugs had an estimated retail value of US$43 billion in 1985. Seventy
percent of the 3000 plants identified by the United States National Cancer Institute as having
potential anti-cancer properties are endemic to the rainforest . Tropical forest species serve
Western surgery and internal medicine in three ways. First, extracts from organisms can be used
directly as drugs. For maladies ranging from nagging headaches to lethal contagions
such as malaria, rainforest medicines have provided modern society with a variety
of cures and pain relievers. Quinine, an aid in the cure of malaria , is an alkaloid extracted
from the bark of the cinchona tree found in Latin America and Africa. From the deadly poisonous bark of
various curare lianas, used by generations of indigenous peoples in Latin America, has been isolated the
alkaloid d-turbocuarine, which is used to treat such diseases as multiple sclerosis,
Parkinson's disease and other muscular disorders. It also permits tonsillectomies,
eye, abdominal and other kinds of surgery due to its anesthetic qualities . From Africa,
Approximately
Madagascar's rosy periwinkle provides two important anti-tumor agents. One provides for a 99 percent chance of
remission in cases of lymphocytic leukemia. The other offers a life in remission to 58 percent of Hodgkin's Disease
sufferers. In 1960, only 19 percent had a chance for survival. Commercial sales of drugs derived from this one plant
are about US$160 million a year. Without wild yams from Mexico and Guatemala, society would be without
diosgenin and cortisone, the active ingredients in birth control pills. Until recently this plant provided the world with
chemical structures of forest organisms sometimes serve as

templates from which scientists and researchers can chemically synthesize drug
compounds. For example, the blueprint for aspirin is derived from extracts of willow
trees found in the rainforest. Neostigmine, a chemical derived from the Calabar bean and used to treat
glaucoma in West Africa, also provides the blueprint for synthetic insecticides. However, the chemical
structures of most natural drugs are very complex, and simple extraction is usually
less expensive than synthesis. Ninety percent of the prescription drugs that are
based on higher plants include direct extractions from plants.
its entire supply of diosgenin. Secondly,
Amazon Rainforest needs to be further explored Already

holds cures for many diseases
Montana 09 [Sam, expert in Environmental Science for Knoji, Cutting Down the Rainforests: Have We
Lost the Cure for Cancer?, Knoji, http://environment.knoji.com/cutting-down-the-rainforest-have-we-lost-the-curefor-cancer/]
Deo
two drugs have

had a huge impact on people with Hodgkins disease, leukemia and other blood
cancers. With this drug, the survival rate for childhood leukemia alone rose from 10% to
90%. The plant is now extinct in the wild because of deforestation . Quinine comes from
Vincristine and Vinblastine were derived from the rosy periwinkle plant of Madagascar. These
the cinchona tree in the South American rain forest and is used to treat malaria. Neostigmine from the Calabar
Novocain
used as a local anesthetic, cocaine also comes from the cocoa plant of South America. Reserpine
bean of the African rainforest is used to treat myasthenia gravis and certain types of glaucoma.
from the tropical plant Rauwolfia is used as a sedative and hypertension drug .
Currently 121 prescription drugs come from plant-derived sources and 25% of the
active ingredients in cancer fighting drugs come from the rainforests . At this time, the
National Cancer Institute has identified 3,000 plants that are active against cancer cells and 70% of those plants are
Experts now say that if there is a cure for cancer, AIDS, Alzheimers and
other diseases, it will come from the rainforests. In a 2006 report titled Biodiscoveries, Borneo's
Botanical Secret states that an Australian company, Cerylid Biosciences, has found a
compound in the plant, Aglaia leptantha, that effectively kills 20 kinds of human
cancer cells in the laboratory, including brain, breast cancer and melanoma. There is
currently a big interest in the Acai berry as a health supplement . The Acai berry only grows
in Brazils rainforest. There has always been talk of reforesting the rainforest after logging, but that might
from the rainforests.
not work. The same growing conditions and species might not be the same. The rainforest is a great gift to
mankind, and here we are cutting, burning and bulldozing it out of existence. The next time you have that cup of
coffee, remember that most coffee
there wouldnt even be coffee.
beans also come from the rainforest, without the rainforest,
(S) Laundry List
Amazon Rainforest must be explored now Failure to do so will

result in loss of valuable oxygen contributor and cancer/AIDS
cures
Montana 09 [Sam, expert in Environmental Science for Knoji, Cutting Down the Rainforests: Have We
Lost the Cure for Cancer?, Knoji, http://environment.knoji.com/cutting-down-the-rainforest-have-we-lost-the-curefor-cancer/]
Deo
with the continual cutting down of

the rainforests, are we ruining our chances of finding the cure to cancer, AIDS and
many other diseases. There is a chance this has already happened and almost did happen with a possible
cure for AIDS. One and one-half acres are destroyed every second, and experts estimate we lose 137
plants, animal and insect species per day . Three acres of Amazon rainforest contain 750 types of
trees, more than in all of North America. More than 20% of the Earths oxygen supply comes
from the Amazon rainforests alone by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen . One
The rainforest has been called the medicine cabinet of the Earth and
quarter of the Earths fresh water is in the Amazon basin alone. The daily fresh water discharge of the Amazon River
Logging also
accounts for much of the rainforest deforestation. After logging the deforested land
is then turned over to cattle ranching. Tropical hardwoods like mahogany come from places
like Brazils rainforest. Recently Brazil has banned the cutting and exporting altogether of mahogany. Teak also
comes from the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia. There is a story about a couple of scientists who
searched all over the rainforest of Malaysia for a certain gum tree . When they finally found
one they took samples from the entire tree and went back home to study these
samples. They found that the bark could cure AIDS. They instantly flew back to Malaysia
only to find that the tree had been cut down .[1] Other scientists have recently found another tree
into the Atlantic Ocean is enough to supply New York Citys fresh water needs for nine years.
in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Amazon Rainforest key to finding cures to diseases Time

constraint and untapped potential
Polizzi 13 [Nick, contributor to The Mindful Word (personal health magazine), A HEALING QUEST: Cancer
patients travel to the Amazon rainforest on a journey of discovery, The Mindful Word,
http://www.themindfulword.org/2013/healing-quest-cancer-amazon-rainforest/]
Deo
cures to afflictions like

AIDS, cancer, Parkinsons disease, M.S., Alzheimers, diabetes and depression are
still not in sight, and for all we know, could be a hundred years away . Our great
grandchildren may have solutions available to them, but we dont have that kind of time. The clock is ticking
and people are taking matters into their own hands. While vetting potential patients, we sat down with Garry
Thompson, a man from Oregon who was battling neuroendocrine cancer . When asked
Reason 1: People are running out of time. Yes, science is moving forward, but
why he had decided to abandon western medicine in favour of mysterious jungle treatments, Garry responded,
The
doctors told me that if I defeated the cancer using Landostatinand thats a

big ifI would have to take it for the rest of my life. Thats $5,000 per shot . I would
have been living under a bridge like a troll somewhere. Thats what I was offered. There wasnt much of a choice.
Over 30 per cent of

modern day pharmaceuticals come from the worlds rainforests. The vast tropical
expanses of South America are home to over 44,000 species of plants, only five per
Reason 2: The rainforest is a virtually untapped resource for powerful medicine.
cent of which have been thoroughly studied by scientists for their medicinal value .
The obvious question remains: what healing secrets do the other 95 per cent hold? Theres a reason the major
pharmaceutical companies spend mucho dinero to set up research labs on the fringes of
the Amazon junglethis sea of trees is where the medicine is. But conventional research takes
years and millions of dollars, not to mention the decades-long patenting process .
What do we do if we are sick NOW? During production of The Sacred Science, I had the honour of speaking with
legendary ethnobotanist and preservationist Mark Plotkin . I asked him how, with so many
thousands of plants and no official accredited reference guide to their properties, a person can find and use those
needle in the haystack plants with curative potential. His answer has become the linchpin of our message as
filmmakers. Mark said, Nick,
if you look at the Amazon as an encyclopedia of medicinal

plants, then the indigenous medicine men, or shamans, are certainly its index and
table of contents. While certainly remote, these jungles are not empty. The Amazon has been
home to the same indigenous tribes for thousands of years . The elders of these communities
have, through trial and error across generations, catalogued each plant according to its practical applications: these
fruits are good for digestion, those vines are ideal for rope-making, that leaf is effective for repelling mosquitoes
and perhaps most importantly, here are the ones that can heal. This catalogue is not written on paper or stone; it
is passed down via word-of-mouth, from the shaman or medicine man to his young apprentices. Those who know
the true secrets dont share them readily, but with the right intentions, a film crew and eight enthusiastic, openminded patients can catch a glimpse. Reason #3: Were Never Gonna Survive, Unless We Get a Little Crazy. (Big
thanks to Seal for that prophetic song title.) We are living in a culture where children are given mood-altering pills in
kindergarten at the slightest sign of disinterest in the curriculum, 67 per cent of us are either overweight or obese,
and the typical adult is more interested in the inner workings of his favourite reality show than those of his own
household. Every year in the land of the free, we are getting sicker and more detached .
Thankfully, it appears that this way of life may finally be reaching a critical mass. A crucial element that separates
the jungle from a conventional hospital is the idea that one must be of sound mind and spirit before the body can
truly heal. In the film, Habin, one of the local shamans tells Crohns disease patient Jessica Stenis, In order for you
to heal, you must learn to use your heart as your guide. Wisdom does not come from the mind. It comes from the
heart. This principle is not unique to the shamans of the Amazon; it is found in almost every shamanic tradition on
Earth, from the Aborigines in the Australian outback to the Tungus tribes of the distant steppes of Siberia. Although
these groups have had no known contact with each other, they all hold this same fundamental belief. Most of our
applicants were aware of the spiritual aspects of Amazonian healing. They had read firsthand accounts of the vision
a few of our late-stage

cancer patients were focused more on getting their existential affairs in order in
preparation for a worst-case scenario, and viewed any accompanying physical
improvement as the cherry on top. The importance of the plant medicines in this
healing process cannot be overstated. These are powerful, precise remedies that are
quests and sacred ceremonies that are a staple of the curanderos toolkit. In fact,
used with the utmost respect and care. It was the willingness to step outside the conventional comfort zone and
into a completely new concept of what it means to heal that made these patients truly remarkable and their
eight people, most of whom

are already fighting for their lives, into an area of the world where danger is a given, and turning
them into guinea pigs in an experiment designed to prove that some third-world savagery might hold the magic
charm that has escaped Western medicine for centuries . If the tarantulas dont eat you in your
experiences so profound. It sounds like the ultimate contradiction: taking
sleep, trading in your prescriptions for untested and potentially poisonous jungle potions certainly will! We could
Five of these patients came back with

undeniable physical recovery. All of us came back forever changed. It may be time to reevaluate the
never have foreseen how this true-life drama would unfold.
definition of the word crazy.
(S) Research Aid
Amazon Rainforest necessary to cure diseases Plants provide

aid for research

Deo
Certain plant compounds enable scientists to

understand how cancer cells grow, while others serve as testing agents for potentially
harmful food and drug products. Tropical forests offer hope for safer contraceptives
for both women and men. The exponential growth of world population clearly demonstrates the need for
more reliable and effective birth control methods. Worldwide, approximately 4,000 plant species have
been shown to offer contraceptive possibilities. The rainforest also holds secrets for
safer pesticides for farmers. Two species of potatoes have leaves that produce a sticky substance that
Finally, rainforest plants provide aids for research.
traps and kills predatory insects. This natural self-defense mechanism could potentially reduce the need for using
pesticides on potatoes. Who knows what other tricks the rainforest might have up its leaves? Shamans and
The chemical components of plants that medicine men use in healing

rites could conceivably be building blocks for new drugs or even cures for such
scourges as cancer or AIDS.
Indigenous Peoples
(S) Indigenous Knowlege

Amazon Rainforests need to be explored Shamans know lots
about environment and its possibilities

Deo
For thousands of years, indigenous groups have made extensive use of the
materials contained in the rainforest to meet their health needs . Forest dwellers in
Southeast Asia, for example, use around 6,500 different plants to treat their ills. Shamans were the first medical
specialists in indigenous communities, and their traditional methods are known to be effective in treating both
The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent

of the people in developing countries still rely on traditional medicine for their
primary health care needs. Without money, access to, or faith in modern facilities, indigenous people
depend on shamans, herbal healers, and rainforest plants for their survival. Shamans also play a crucial
role in helping scientists to discover the potentials of plants. As one scientist has said,
"Each time a medicine man dies, it is as if a library has been burned down. There is
much yet to be learned from local shamans, yet their individual and cultural survival
is seriously threatened as modern loggers, miners, multinational corporations, and
landless farmers invade and decimate the forest.
physical and psychological ailments.
Amazon holds cures to diseases Certain herbs can essentially

cure diabetes and multiple other diseases
Schwontkowski 94 [Dr. Donna, Master degree in Herbology and internationally acclaimed for work
with Amazon herbs, Herbal Treasures from the Amazon, Healthy and Natural Journal, http://www.raintree.com/article0.htm#.U9mSdfldXuw]
Deo
a distraught 54-year-old woman, had just returned from an annual check-up

that uncovered a fasting blood sugar level of 190 mg/dl (normal levels are 80-120
mg/dl). Although she had no symptoms other than occasional fatigue, she was told
that she has a prediabetic condition; a condition which, if left unchecked for long
periods of time, can result in diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus affects about 14 million
Americans and is the fourth leading cause of death by disease in the United States . Diabetes takes the
lives of more than 150,000 people each year. It is a major cause of heart disease,
stroke and kidney dise ase, and is the number one cause of new cases of blindness
and amputations in the U.S. Everyone knows that there is no cure for diabetes and
that once told they have it, patients must learn to live with the disease . The overall
Anne,
objectives of treatment are to prolong life and improve the quality of life as much as possible. Treatment is directed
specifically toward: (1) relieving the symptoms; (2) improving the body's ability to metabolize glucose and
correcting faulty metabolism; (3) preventing or correcting complications; and (4) assuring adequate nutrition.
Anne's doctor sent her home with advice to lose weight, exercise, and "hope that
next month's blood sugar levels will return to normal." The Midwestern winter,
however, prevented her from long, regular outdoor walks-her only feasible method
of exercise . She felt she needed additional help. Anne came to me with the hope that
somewhere in the deepest jungles of the Amazon were plants that the natives had
discovered to treat similar conditions. She was willing to use these plants on a trial
basis to prevent diabetes from becoming a reality. My own research into the
medicinal effects of Brazilian and Peruvian herbs had uncovered several plants with
reported activities of lowering blood sugar levels, normalizing the frequency of
urination, and eliminating glucose in the urine of diabetics . Much of the research was
ethnobotanical; however, several scientific studies showed the effectiveness of these herbs in cases of adult-onset
Anne
took a combination of the herbs Pata de vaca, Pedra hume caa, Stevia and Cashew plant daily inbetween meals when her blood sugar levels needed regulation. (See Table 1 for scientific
names of these plants.) The results were qu ite exciting. After one month, her blood sugar
level fell to 140 mg/dl. After two months, it was down to 110 mg/dl (within normal
range), and it stayed there for her next annual checkup. She hadn't lost any weight
through dietary modification or exerc ise.Plants with blood sugar-regulating activity
are only one category of helpful herbs with medicinal effects from the Amazon. Of
the more than 200,000 plant species in the Amazon, many have been found to have
antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial a ctivity - activity which stimulates the body's
immune system. The most powerful immune-enhancing herb is Una de gato. Research from 1970
through the present (by Klaus Keplinger and others in Austria, Germany, England, Hungary and Italy) has
shown beneficial effects of Una de gato in the treatments f or cancer, genital
herpes, systemic candidiasis and AIDS. Six alkaloids isolated from the plant root
have been found to significantly enhance the ability of the white blood cells to
attack, engulf and digest harmful micro-organisms or foreign matter, th us assisting
the process of phagocytosis in the body. My own preliminary studies on the immuneenhancing properties of Una de gato have uncovered the following: An ability to stop viral
infections in the early stages (when an individual feels an infection starting and/or already has a fever,
fatigue, muscle aches and sore throat). One patient reported that his viral infection symptoms
cleared within 8 hours after taking Una de gato. An ability to help patients who are
chemically-sensitive, decreasing the fatigue which accompanies this problem and
reducing the severity of symptoms. An ability to significantly enhance emotional
stability, even in the midst of extreme stress from personal problems. One patient
commented, "I just can't get depressed anymore, no matter what happens. It's this Amazon herb!" An ability to
help the body fight infections better in AIDS patients . One patient reported, "I ran out of the
diabetes in reducing blood sugar levels, sometimes up to 35%. These herbs were true treasures for Anne.
fungicide for the skin rash on my face and used a bacteriocidal agent until I could get a new prescription. The
bactericide didn't work an d the rash started coming back. I used Una de gato and after just three days, the rash
An
ability to decrease the visible size of some skin, tumor or cyst growths within two
weeks.
cleared up on my face. I feel that it's my own body working against the fungus as a result of the Una de gato."
A2 Antarctica solve better

Antarctic weather makes is impossible for exploration
Kovich no date
[Kim, Can you survive in the Antartic?, no date,
Jia
Weather conditions in Antarctica are the harshest in the world. Vostok, Antarctica is where
the world's lowest temperature (-129 degrees F.) was recorded. Winds on Antarctica
have been recorded up to 200 miles an hour. Imagine the wind chills under these conditions. While
you might think it snows a great deal in Antarctica this is not true. Average precipitation at the South
Pole is equal to about one inch of water a year. Along the coast it is equal to 20 inches of water a
year. The snow that does fall, however, is always being blown around by the high
winds. The harsh conditions make survival on this continent a constant struggle.
During the Antarctic summer, conditions moderate from the ones described above. Traveling primarily
during the Antarctic summer, the Trans-Antarctica Expedition expects temperatures
in the -40 to -50 degrees F. range with wind speeds of 30 to 50 miles per hour. The
resulting wind chills will average around -100 degrees F.
http://www.globalclassroom.org/antarct8.html]
The risk of hypothermia in the Antarctic is too high

exploration cannot be sustained
Kovich no date
[Kim, Can you survive in the Antartic?, no date,
http://www.globalclassroom.org/antarct8.html]
Jia
A constant threat to the Antarctic explorer is hypothermia -- an abnormally low body

temperature (typically 93 degrees F. and under). If the drop in body temperature continues
unchecked, this leads to death. Even a two or three degree drop in body
temperature can be a serious because the first effect of hypothermia is a progressive inability to think
clearly. Hypothermia is the most common cause of death in any cold weather survival
situation. In fact hypothermia is not only common in exotic places like the Antarctic, but is real threat to anyone
caught in a winter snowstorm. A person can even become seriously hypothermic without recognizing the problem
early enough to take effective action. This is why prevention of hypothermia is so important.
A2 Permutation
Perm fails economy too weak to fund both
Schwartz 4/30
[Nelson, covered economics for NYT since 2012, Once More, Economy Exhibits Weakness,
New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/business/economy/us-economy-barely-grew-in-firstquarter.html?_r=0]
Deo
the economy turned in

another disappointing quarterly performance, surprising even the most pessimistic
observers as growth in the first three months of 2014 slowed to a near-standstill . But
As has happened so many times since the recovery began nearly five years ago,
looking past the weak report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday morning, policy makers at the Federal
Reserve said they believed that activity was already rebounding from the deep winter dive, and are sticking with
their plan to gradually reduce monthly bond purchases aimed at stimulating the economy. While that optimism was
the view in the rear-view mirror

was as bleak as a January walk along the Hudson River . In their initial estimate for growth in
reassuring for Wall Street, which rallied after the Fed announcement,
the months of January, February and March, government statisticians said output expanded at an annual rate of just
0.1 percent, although experts noted that figure was affected by one-time headwinds like unusually cold weather
and slower inventory gains after businesses aggressively built up stockpiles in the second half of 2013. With
midterm congressional elections on the horizon in November ,
the seeming inability of the economy

to gain any sustained momentum is also likely to weigh on the fortunes of
Democrats up for re-election on Capitol Hill , since their prospects are in many ways tied to voter
attitudes toward the performance of President Obama. His poll numbers have been sinking, and although there
have been some encouraging economic signs recently, like a surging stock market and a gradual fall in the
unemployment rate,
much of the electorate remains very skeptical that things are getting
any better. Part of the reason for that is because so much slack is left in the labor market that wage growth is
only improving very slowly. For example, a separate report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
on Wednesday on the employment cost index showed that private sector wages and
salaries in the first quarter of 2014 increased at the slowest rate since the bureau
began tracking the data in March 1980.
Aff - CP Fails --- Illegal

---The CP fails --- Brazilian law makes American research in the
Amazon impossible.
Grudgings 2009 Stuart, In Amazon, a Frustrated Search for
Cancer Cures, Reuters,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/17/us-amazonmedicine-idUSTRE5AG00V20091117
the
world's largest rain forest is a great cauldron of biodiversity that has already produced
medicine for diseases such as malaria. But finding the right material is no easy task in a
forest that can have up to 400 species of trees and many more plants in a 2.5-acre (1-hectare) area, and in a
country where suspicion of outside involvement in the Amazon runs strong . "If we had
About 70 percent of current cancer drugs are either natural products or derived from natural compounds, and
very clear rules, we could attract scientists from all over the world," said the doctor, Drauzio Varella, with a mix of
enthusiasm and frustration. "We could transform a big part of the Amazon into an enormous laboratory."
As it
stands, though, foreigners are barred from helping oncologist Varella and the
researchers from Sao Paulo's Paulista University, who are among a tiny handful of
Brazilian groups licensed to study samples from the Amazon .
---Takes out 100% of cp solvency --- Eliminates investment

incentives.
Grudgings 2009 Stuart, In Amazon, a Frustrated Search for
Cancer Cures, Reuters,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/17/us-amazonmedicine-idUSTRE5AG00V20091117
"It's a detective story and a jigsaw puzzle, but you don't know how many pieces there are or what the picture looks
like," he said. "In one teaspoon of soil from the Amazon, you find over a thousand microbes that have never been
Out of an estimated 80,000 species of flower-bearing plants in the Amazon,

only about a fifth have been identified. Newman said progress in Brazil has been
greatly hampered by the inability of companies to patent a natural product under
legislation passed in the 1990s, leaving no incentive to invest in research . He cited the
isolated."
example of a Brazilian viper snake whose venom proved vital to the development of blood pressure drug captopril
Further analysis of the promising

compounds found by Varella's team has been held up while the university waits for
access to a nuclear-magnetic resonance machine that can isolate the active elements. "We're still
in the 1970s, a find that might not have happened under today's laws.
a long way from discovering an actual medicine that could cure a type of cancer but we have strong signs that
some plants have substances that inhibit the growth of tumors," said Mateus Paciencia, a bearded 34-year-old
botanist.
Aff - CP Fails --- Delays

---Development delays make successful drug development
from Amazon exploration unlikely.
Foreman 2001 Judy, nationally syndicated medical journalist with
40 years of deadline writing under her belt. She was a staff
writer at The Boston Globe for 23 years, from 1978 through
2000, and a medical specialist and science writer since 1985,
Drug Hunters Cant See Rainforest For The Medicines,
http://judyforeman.com/columns/drug-hunters-cant-seerainforest-medicines/
But modern bioprospecting in rainforests, coral reefs, deserts and other exotic
locales has been slow going so far. Its partly because modern drug development is
such a costly, plodding process, often taking a decade or more to complete testing
and regulatory approvals before the first prescription is written. But the rainforest
fizzle also may reflect unrealistic expectations about companies abilities to turn the
folk remedies of people such as Carlos grandmother into the safe, reliable
medicines that Western consumers expect.
---CP fails --- No drug companies will use the cp --- Empirically
no new drugs have been developed and companies prefer to
build from scratch.
Foreman 2001 Judy, nationally syndicated medical journalist with
40 years of deadline writing under her belt. She was a staff
writer at The Boston Globe for 23 years, from 1978 through
2000, and a medical specialist and science writer since 1985,
Drug Hunters Cant See Rainforest For The Medicines,
http://judyforeman.com/columns/drug-hunters-cant-seerainforest-medicines/
The disappointing news, however, is that so far and it really is too soon to judge
bioprospecting has yielded no major new drugs . Some are believed to be in the pipeline, but
pharmaceutical companies remain close-mouthed. If they get a lead, they wont tell you, Janzen said. They
dont want the competition to know what area they are looking in. The industry trade group, Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America, has acknowledged that companies may be reticent to talk about
bioprospecting in part because they dont want to be perceived as stealing the flora or the intellectual property of
the lack of publicized results also reflects the fact that companies
are putting more effort into high-tech drug discovery using genomics to design
drugs from scratch rather than combing nature for medicine . In comparison to labbased genetic research, bioprospecting is a hit-or-miss proposition fraught with
obstacles, as biologist Steven King, chief operating officer of Shaman Pharmaceuticals in South San Francisco,
indigenous people. But
can attest.
Naval Power
1NC - Fund the Navy - CP Text

increase its funding for the United States Navy.
Solves Naval Power

Increased funding causes fleet expansion and effective
deterrence
Capaccio 7/7/14, [Tony, U.S. Navy Warns It Cant Meet 30-Year Funding Needs,
Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-07/u-s-navy-warns-it-can-tmeet-30-year-funding-needs.html] Wilary
The U.S. Navy cant meet its funding needs for surface warships and a new
class of nuclear attack submarines from 2025 to 2034, according to the services latest 30-year
shipbuilding plan.
the congressionally required blueprint, submitted late last week and obtained by Bloomberg
the Navys plan requires funding at an unsustainable level unless

spending on shipbuilding is increased. The document outlines challenges
facing the plan to increase the Navy fleet to 306 vessels from the current 289 while
building 12 new Ohio-class submarines, part of the nations nuclear triad of air,
land and sea weapons. The Navy report provides one services challenges beyond the
Pentagons current five-year funding plan in an era of declining defense spending. After 2019,
News, says
the Defense Department will confront a confluence of expenses that includes the new submarines, planned full
production of Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)s F-35 fighter jet and a new Long-Range Strike bomber. The average
cost of the Navy plan during the period when the service will be spending the most on the new submarine is $19.7
This
budget cannot be accommodated by the Navy from existing resources -particularly if the Pentagon remains under congressionally mandated automatic
cuts known as sequestration , the report said. The Navys historical shipbuilding budget has averaged
billion a year, including more than $24 billion at the peak year of fiscal 2032, according to the report.
about $13 billion a year, in fiscal 2014 dollars. Even if the Ohio-replacement program is removed from the Navy
plan, the average shipbuilding funding required beginning in fiscal 2020 is as much as $15 billion annually, the
report found.
Navy funding solves naval power Counters China Navy

ORourke 09,
[Ronald, Specialist in Naval Affairs, Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background
and Issues for Congress,http://books.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=GiMDs3NdgwoC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=navy+funding+key+to+naval+power&ots=96mbEkXrjW&sig
=D3fsTQqQ6jSLSDTntWgDm_uMCiY#v=onepage&q&f=false] Wilary
In the debate over future U.S. defense spending, including deliberations taking
place in the current Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), a key issue is how much
emphasis to place on programs for countering improved Chinese military forces in
coming years. Observers disagree on the issue, with some arguing that such programs should receive
significant emphasis. Others arguing that they should receive relatively little, and still others taking an
The question of how much emphasis to place in US, defense

planning on programs for countering improved Chinese military forces is of
particular importance to the U.S. Navy. because many programs associated with
countering improved Chinese military forces would fall within the Navys
budget. In terms of potential impact on programs and spending the Navy might have more at stake on this
issue than the Army and Marine Corps, and perhaps at least as much. If not more, than the Air Force, Decisions
that policymakers make on the issue of how much emphasis to place on programs
for countering improved Chinese military forces could significantly affect the future
size, composition, and capabilities of the Navy; Navy funding requirements,
and the shipbuilding industrial base. This report focuses on the potential implications China's
intermediate position.
naval modernization for future required U.S. Navy capabilities. Other CR5 reports address separate issues relating
to China. This report is based on unclassified open-source information, such as the annual Department of Defense
(DOD) respond to Congress on China's military power.' and published reference sources such as Janes Fighting
this report uses the term Chinas naval modernization to refer to

the modernization not only of Chinas navy, but also of Chinese military forces
outside China's navy that can be used to counter U.S. naval forces operating in the
Ships. For convenience,
Western Pact , such as land-based anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMS), land-based surface-to-air missiles (SAMs),
land-based air force aircraft armed with anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMS), and land-based long-range radars for
detecting and tracking ships at sea. China's military is formally called the People's Liberation Army, or PLA. Its
navy is called the PLA Navy, or PLAN, and its air force is called the PLA Air Force, or PLAAF. The PLA Navy includes
an air component that is called the PLA Naval Air Force, or PLANAF. China refers to its ballistic missile force as the
Second Artillery Force.
Funding key to US navy power

Eaglen and Mcgrath 11 [Mackenzie, worked on defense issues in the U.S.
Congress, both House and Senate, and at the Pentagon in the Office of the
Secretary of Defense and on the Joint Staff., Bryan, the founding Managing Director
of The FerryBridge Group LLC (FBG), a niche consultancy specializing in Naval and
national security issues, including national and military strategy, strategic planning,
executive communications, strategic communications and emerging technologies.,
Thinking About a Day Without Sea Power: Implications for U.S. Defense Policy,
Heritage foundation, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/05/thinkingabout-a-day-without-sea-power-implications-for-us-defense-policy] JB
America is a maritime power, and a strong U.S. Navy is both in Americas long-term
interest and essential to the nations prosperity. Yet U.S. sea power is in decline . If not
reversed, this decline could pass the tipping point, leaving the country economically
and strategically unable to reverse course, which would have profound economic
and geopolitical consequences. Members of Congress and the Navy need to work together to
develop long-range technology road maps, foster innovation, and properly fund and manage
shipbuilding to ensure that the future Navy has the size and capabilities
needed to protect and advance U.S. interests around the world.
Funding is key to Ohio class submarines---those preserve

nuclear deterrence
Pellerin 14, [Cheryl, Department of Defense Writer, Hagel Discusses Nuclear
Deterrence, Modernization, http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?
id=122636] Wilary
Hagel has made it one of his highest priorities to ensure the United States maintains
a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent. This includes commitments to modernizing the
nuclear enterprise infrastructure and maintaining a highly capable, skilled and motivated force. In early January,
Hagel traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for briefings at Kirtland Air Force Base and the Air Force Materiel
Command's Nuclear Weapons Center, whose responsibilities include nuclear system program acquisition,
modernization and sustainment for the Defense and Energy departments. While there, he visited Sandia National
Laboratories, where scientists and engineers develop, engineer and test non-nuclear components of nuclear
weapons. The next day in Cheyenne, Wyoming, he visited the Missile Alert Facility and Launch Control Center,
where he received briefings and had lunch with missile combat crew members and security forces. Afterward, at
nearby F.E. Warren Air Force Base, where the 90th Missile Wing operates 150 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic
missiles, he held a troop event for 200 service members. I
think its very important that all of us

who have some responsibility for the national security of this country pay attention
to every aspect of that responsibility, Hagel said in Cheyenne, and certainly the
nuclear component of our defense capabilities -- the deterrence capabilities that
nuclear gives us. Also in January, Hagel also called for an independent review of the strategic deterrence
enterprise as it relates to Defense Department personnel, and he since has continued to meet directly with officers
and enlisted personnel who have day-to-day responsibility for carrying out that mission, senior defense officials
said. I think you all know that I ordered an internal and external review of the nuclear forces a few months
ago, Hagel said here yesterday. Those internal and external reviews have come back. I've been briefed on the
reviews. The secretary added that he is working with DoD leaders to decide which recommendations the
department will adopt to strengthen the health of the nuclear workforce, strengthen the nuclear enterprise and
ensure that those involved in the enterprise have the resources they need to do their jobs. Over the last 13 years
as the United States was involved in two large land wars, we let our focus on the nuclear deterrence aspect of our
national security drift a little, Hagel acknowledged. Because of that, he added, priority was put on those wars in
funding, leadership [and] attention. The
nation, Hagel said, must now prioritize the

importance of the nuclear enterprise and what you represent and the
importance of what you do every day to deter aggression in the world and protect
our country and protect our interests around the world. I want you to know that. The
secretary also told the service members about the hour he spent in a private discussion with 14 female submarine
officers. In 2009, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced that for the first time in Navy history, women would be
assigned to serve aboard Navy submarines. The first contingent of 24 women who completed the Navys nuclear
submarine program met in May 2012 with the president and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House. Today,
more than 60 female officers serve aboard 14 crews on seven submarines, typically with at least three female
officers per crew. It was really a tremendous experience for me to listen to these young officers talk about their
experiences -- how proud they are to serve on submarines, Hagel said. The Navy has broken through on so much
of this over the last three or four years, he added, and as you know, we're in the process now of preparing to
integrate enlisted females on submarines. In May, the Enlisted Women in Submarines Task Force began planning to
introduce enlisted women into the submarine force over the next few years, officials said. The submarine force also
is in the process of assigning female officers to four Virginia-class submarines. In 2015, the USS Illinois and the USS
Minnesota are scheduled to become the first attack submarines with female offices on board, DoD officials said.
Hagel is the first defense secretary to visit a ballistic missile submarine since women began serving aboard them in
November 2011. Before he shook hands and took pictures with the troops, he invited them to step up to the
microphones in the audience and speak their minds. A Navy recruiting instructor from the Naval Submarine
Support Center asked if sequestration budget cuts, scheduled to return in fiscal year 2016 unless Congress acts to
stop them, would allow the department to continue to develop the replacement for the Ohio-class submarine. A
senior chief petty officer from the Coast Guard Maritime Force Protection Unit asked Hagel what kept him up at
night, given all the threats facing the United States. The topics differed, but Hagels answers arrived at the same
destination. DoDs
plans call for 12 Ohio replacement ballistic-missile submarines to

replace the 14 Ohio-class submarines now in commission. Because the new
submarines will have shorter maintenance cycles and more capability, 12 new ships
will replace the original 14. The presidents budget request meets DoD near-term
needs, defense officials say, but it will be difficult, and perhaps impossible, to
execute the shipbuilding plan if the harsh budget cuts of sequestration
are implemented. A key element of the shipbuilding plan is the Ohio-class replacement submarine. We
have every commitment to the projections to bring on that new class of submarines, Hagel told the recruiting
instructor. Yes, it's forcing us to make some hard choices in our budget. But I've been clear on this, the president's
we need a new generation of Ohio-class

submarines, and we're going to prioritize that. The naval submarine base and the expertise it represents
will continue to be important for the nations strategic interests, the secretary said. But the budget cuts
are presenting big problems, he added. There's only so much to go around, he said. You can't
been clear -- all of our senior leaders -- that
get any more. So its forcing us to prioritize. If we had more time to prioritize, it would be more responsible.
But unfortunately, that hasn't been the case, and it will not be the case if sequestration continues to hold. But
we
are continuing to be committed to a new generation of Ohio-class submarines . To

answer the up-at-night question, Hagel went back to the budget. There are threats everywhere in the world, and
many are external, he said. But [were dealing with] a lot of internal dimensions as well. The senior chief had
mentioned the National Defense Authorization Act when asking his question. Hagel mentioned the defense budget
in his answer. Sequestration has been devastating to this institution. It's something that our leaders and I work
with every day trying to convince Congress to change, the secretary said. We've
got a year or so to
help inform and educate and try to persuade the Congress to change that , he
continued. If they don't change that, we are going to be faced with deeper and bigger
cuts. We're continuing to be faced with deep cuts now.
That's what I refer to when I talk about
an internal challenge when you ask me what keeps me up at night.
Funding key to cyber-infrastructure

Panetta 12, [Leon E., Ex-Secretary of defense, Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century
Defense, http://www.public.navy.mil/fcc-c10f/Strategies/Navy_Cyber_Power_2020.pdf] Wilary
The advancement of Navy cyberspace

capabilities will need to come through reinvestment of resources gained through
Strategic Initiative 4.1: Integrate Cyber Requirements
efficiencies and tough fiscal choices. The Navy will establish processes to align and integrate cyberspace
operational requirements and ensure greater configuration management across the Navy. This will require the
establishment of transparency across Navy Programs of Record (PoRs) that contain cyber technologies and a
process for managing requirements. 8 Strategic Initiative 4.2: Integrate Cyber Funding Across Navy Budget
The Navy must ensure cyber funding is integrated across Navy PoRs to support
near-term cyber updates for all networked components. This integration will enable the
analysis of cyber funding, dependencies, and the impact of resource decisions
across Navy PoRs. Furthermore, it will cordon off sufficient resources to enable rapid updates and
modernizations of mission critical components/systems during the execution year. Strategic Initiative 4.3:
Advance Acquisition to Pace Industry The Navy must actively engage in Joint efforts to clarify, and where
This
acquisition model will balance the need for long-term cyber investments with
the ability to rapidly acquire cutting edge cyber technology that allows the
Navy to stay ahead of the threat. Additionally, this acquisition model must include measures to
necessary, redesign processes and authorities to
increase confidence in the IT supply chain
support a more agile DOD cyber acquisition model.
through enhanced visibility and vetting of vendors.
Decrease in funding most important cause to naval power decline- ships already
being taken out
Majumdar 14 [Dave, writer, Hagel: Navy to Lay Up 11 Cruisers, Carrier Cut
Decision Delayed until 2016 Budget, USNI news,
http://news.usni.org/2014/02/24/hagel-navy-lay-11-cruisers-carrier-cut-decisiondelayed-2016-budget] JB
The U.S. Navy will lay up half of the services fleet of Ticonderoga-class missile
cruisers under the Presidents fiscal year 2015 budget proposal. Half of the Navys
cruiser fleet or 11 ships will be laid up and placed in reduced operating status while they are
modernized, and eventually returned to service with greater capability and a longer lifespan, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told
reporters during a briefing at the Pentagon on Monday. This approach enables us over the long-term to sustain and modernize our
fleet of cruisers. According to a senior defense official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, the cruisers are among
a group of several older ships which the service had originally wanted to retire. However , because Congress denied the Navy
permission to retire the vessels, the Pentagon is pursuing laying up and modernizing the Aegis cruisers as an alternative.
Under the proposal, the cruisers would be modernized, but they would not be manned, which should result in cost savings, the
senior defense official said. Later, Aegis cruisers that remain operating would periodically be switched out with the inactive vessels
the fate of the carrier USS

George Washington (CVN-73) remains in limbo until fiscal year 2016. We will have to make a
final decision on the future of the George Washington aircraft carrier in the 2016
budget submission, Hagel said. If sequestration spending levels remain in place in Fiscal Year 2016, she would need to
be retired before her scheduled nuclear refueling and overhaul. Hagel said that the Navy would have no choice but to
retire the multi-billion dollar ship less than halfway through her lifespan under those
circumstances.
as needed as those operational ships age or require further modernization. Meanwhile,
Aff Answers - Fund the Navy CP

Navy has enough funding
Navy 14 [Navy, Department of the Navy Releases Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Proposal,
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=79466] JB
Navy released its proposed $148 billion budget for fiscal year 2015 (FY15),
March 4. The budget is part of the $495.6 billion defense budget President Barack Obama
The Department of the
submitted to Congress the same day. Rear Adm. William Lescher, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for
Budget, briefed media at the Department of Defense budget press conference about the Navy and Marine Corps
portion of the budget . "Our budget comes during a period of increased fiscal austerity and uncertainty, and at a
time when the Combatant Commanders' demand for naval forces continues at very high levels," said Lescher,
"There
were tough choices made in developing this budget, but it provides the
resources that allow us to preserve our warfighting advantage in a thoughtful,
responsible way." This year's budget submission prioritizes funding for forward
presence and continues to make critical investments in people and future
capabilities.
Navy has a big enough budget- making new ships

Jean 14 [Grace, writer, Pentagon budget 2015: US Navy prioritises shipbuilding at
expense of aviation procurement, Janes,
http://www.janes.com/article/34843/pentagon-budget-2015-us-navy-prioritisesshipbuilding-at-expense-of-aviation-procurement] JB
The navy is requesting a USD148 billion baseline budget , down from its FY 2014 budget request
of USD155.8 billion, which did not reflect the spending caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act. The base
budget breaks down into five spending accounts: USD38.4 billion for procurement; USD46.8 billion for operations
and maintenance; USD45 billion for military personnel; USD16.3 billion for research and development; and USD1.5
billion for infrastructure. "The department has put together a budget at a time of continued very high [combatant
commander] demand for naval forces that balances investment in presence, in capability, and in readiness that's
laser-focused on ensuring force wholeness and sustaining our war-fighting edge, in alignment with the strategy,"
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget Rear Admiral Bill Lescher told reporters during budget briefings
The navy's procurement request of USD38.4 billion comprises

USD14.4 billion for ships, USD13.1 billion for aircraft, USD3.2 billion for weapons,
USD1 billion for the US Marine Corps, USD800 million for ammunition, and USD6
billion for other naval acquisition efforts , which includes support equipment and communications for
at the Pentagon on 4 March.
the above. In its FY 2015 Future Years Defense Program (FYDP), which spans FY 2015-19, the navy intends to
the service plans to

procure seven new construction ships: two Virginia-class attack submarines; three
Littoral Combat Ships (LCS); and two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
acquire 44 ships - an uptick of three ships compared with the FY 2014 plan. In FY 2015
Soft Power
1NC Disband the NSA CP

Counterplan Text The United States federal government
should permanently disband the National Security Agency.
NSA spying kills US soft power internationally lack of trust
undermines diplomatic relations
Riechmann 13 (Deb Riechmann, Foreign Affairs reporter at Associated Press ,
NSA Spying Threatens U.S. Foreign Policy Efforts, AP, October 26, 2013,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/26/nsa-spying-foreignpolicy_n_4166076.html) Wang
Secretary of State John Kerry went to Europe to talk about Mideast
peace, Syria and Iran. What he got was an earful of outrage over U.S. snooping abroad .
WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP)
President Barack Obama has defended America's surveillance dragnet to leaders of Russia, Mexico, Brazil, France
the international anger over the disclosures shows no signs of abating

in the short run. Longer term, the revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward
Snowden about NSA tactics that allegedly include tapping the cellphones of as many as
35 world leaders threaten to undermine U.S. foreign policy in a range of areas. This
vacuum-cleaner approach to data collection has rattled allies. "The magnitude of the eavesdropping
is what shocked us," former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a radio interview. "Let's
and Germany, but
be honest, we eavesdrop too. Everyone is listening to everyone else. But we don't have the same means as the
United States, which makes us jealous." So where in the world isn't the NSA? That's one big question raised by the
disclosures. Whether the tapping of allies is a step too far might be moot . The British
ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, tweeted this past week: "I work on assumption that 6+ countries tap my
Diplomatic relations are built

on trust. If America's credibility is in question, the U.S. will find it harder to maintain
alliances, influence world opinion and maybe even close trade deals. Spying among
phone. Increasingly rare that diplomats say anything sensitive on calls."
allies is not new. Madeleine Albright, secretary of state during the Clinton administration, recalled being at the
United Nations and having the French ambassador ask her why she said something in a private conversation
apparently intercepted by the French. The French government protested revelations this past week that the NSA
had collected 70.3 million French-based telephone and electronic message records in a 30-day period. Albright
says
Snowden's disclosures have hurt U.S. policymakers.
2NC Solvency
NSA undermines US soft power credibility violations of
individual rights
Migranyan 13 (Andranik Migranyan, director of the Institute for Democracy and
Cooperation, professor at the Institute of International Relations in Moscow, former
member of the Russian Presidential Council, Scandals Harm U.S. Soft Power, The
National Interest, July 5, 2013, http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/scandalsharm-us-soft-power-8695) Wang
the spying scandals have seriously tarnished the
reputation of the United States. They have circumscribed its ability to
exert soft power; the same influence that made the U.S. model very attractive to the rest of the world.
This former lustre is now diminished. The blatant everyday intrusions into the private lives of
Americans, and violations of individual rights and liberties by runaway,
unaccountable U.S. government agencies, have deprived the United States of its
authority to dictate how others must live and what others must do. Washington can no longer
lecture others when its very foundational institutions and values are being discredited
On a practical geopolitical level,
or at a minimum, when all is not well in the state of Denmark. Perhaps precisely because not all is well, many
American politicians seem unable to adequately address the current situation . Instead
of asking what isnt working in the government and how to ensure accountability and transparency in their
institutions, they try, in their annoyance, to blame the messengeras they are doing in Snowdens case. Some
Senators hurried to blame Russia and Ecuador for anti-American behavior, and threatened to punish them should
they offer asylum to Snowden.
Restoration of US Soft power is impossible with the NSA

RPI 13 Rising Powers Initiative, POLICY ALERT: NSA SPYING PROVOKES REACTIONS
FROM RISING POWERS Nov 11 http://www.risingpowersinitiative.org/policy-alertnsa-spying-provokes-reactions-from-rising-powers/
Recent revelations of the U.S. National Security Agencys (NSA) wiretapping of world leaders
have generated enormous skepticism and criticism of the United States across the
globe. In this Policy Alert, we examine commentary from India, China, Brazil, Russia, Japan, and South Korea. The
Indian government chose not to join the chorus of international criticism against the United States. It stated that
there is no cause for concern that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been a target of NSA monitoring because
he doesnt use a mobile phone and he doesnt have an email account. This contrasted sharply from the
governments later announcement that it will unveil a new email policy devised for all government officials to avoid
major service providers-such as Gmail, Yahoo! or Outlook.com that have their servers in the United States. In fact,
according to the Hindu, of the five BRICS nations, the NSA spied on India the most. Overall, India ranked as the fifth
Indian media uniformly criticized the U.S. for its

intelligence gathering, calling for the Indian government to take a firmer stance on
the issue. The Hindu critiqued that U.S. soft power has lost moral credibility in the
light of NSA wiretapping, adding, just as Brazil has made it clear to the U.S. that its government must be
most targeted country by U.S. wiretapping.
treated with respectIndia should send a strong signal to the U.S. of its disapproval of these reprehensible tactics
that in effect violate the countrys sovereignty. Arun Mohan Sukumar, assistant editor of the Hindu, argued that
India must capitalize on the rare consensus that has emerged among the BRICS countries regarding concerns on
NSA surveillance. He urged these nations to devise multilateral diplomatic measures to curb excessive U.S.
spying. The Times of India criticized the U.S. for reckless and excessive spying in the name of a global war against
terrorism, calling for legislation in the U.S. that would regulate government intelligence gathering activities. Chinese
commentary lambasted the United States for its unchecked spying, attributing the wiretapping to an act of
American arrogance and predicting the United States eventual demise. Shi Yinhong, a senior expert on U.S. studies
at Renmin University wrote, Perceiving itself as a superpower, the U.S. holds the arrogant attitude that it is not a
big deal to steal other countries information. Li Haidong, an American studies researcher at China Foreign Affairs
University agreed, adding that the NSAs
extensive surveillance activities regardless of

friends or foes reflect its desperation to secure its global supremacy. The damage
caused has prompted the world to question the legitimacy of U.S. leadership. The
damage is increasing, wrote the government-run Xinhua. Just as the borrowing addiction is
shedding Americas economic credibility, the bugging obsession is draining its
political and security trustworthiness. U.S. unchecked spying bound to be selfdefeating, declared another commentary. The Brazilian government has announced an official decree
establishing a new government email system to safeguard the privacy of government communications. This follows
the September cancellation of Dilmas Rousseffs planned state visit to the White House. Most recently, government
officials are responding to allegations of its own espionage program against foreigners residing in Brazil. As a
consequence of both German President Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff being subject to
wiretapping, Estado de So Paulo reported that the two countries have united in a proposal to the United Nations
General Assembly for an agreement establishing fundamental rules regarding internet privacy. The Governments
Diario Official (Official Diary) decreed that all official Government communications will be required to use a new
government email service which will be created by government entities without bidding for national security
interests. Folha de So Paulo reported that Brazils Minister of Justice Jos Eduardo Cardozo defended the actions of
its Government, stating that the actions were undertaken as counterespionage and is a completely different
situation from the U.S. wiretapping of foreign leaders. The Russian media focused on the role of former NSA
contractor Edward Snowden in the wiretap revelations. Snowden was granted asylum by the Russian government in
August. The Moscow Times wrote, Russias enthusiastic support for NSA leaker Edward Snowden seems to be
Noting that Russias intelligence gathering abilities

lags severely behind the United States, the editorial opined that the Kremlin views
Snowdens cyber-vigilantism as a payoff because Russia still adheres to a Cold
War-era, zero-sum game: what is bad for the United States is good for Russia .
paying generous dividends for the Kremlin.
Wiretapping of EU officials by U.S. intelligence services is a manifestation of double standards, stated Konstantin
Dolgov, Attorney of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
NSA collapses US soft power relations with allies Germany,

Japan, Brazil, and Great Britain
Stokes 7/30 (Bruce Stokes, director of global economic attitudes in the Pew
Research Centers Global Attitudes Project, former senior transatlantic fellow at the
German Marshall Fund, former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Did
NSA snooping hurt U.S. image? Not so much, CNN, July 30, 2014,
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/30/did-nsa-snooping-hurt-u-simage-not-so-much/)
Publics around the world arent happy about NSA spying. In 37 of
43 nations outside the United States that were surveyed recently by the Pew Research Center, majorities
say American surveillance of ordinary citizens in the respondents country is
unacceptable. This includes 97 percent in Greece, 94 percent in Brazil and 91
percent in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. But it also includes opposition by important
U.S. allies: 87 percent of Germans, 85 percent of Japanese and 70 percent
of the British. Theres similar public opposition to U.S. spying on the respondents national
leaders. Majorities in 34 countries find such action by Washington to be offensive. This sentiment is
particularly strong in Germany, where the American government allegedly listened
in on German Chancellor Angela Merkels cellphone conversations. But there are similarly
overwhelming objections in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Venezuela, Greece and Brazil .
Make no mistake about it.
Publics around the world also generally oppose Washingtons surveillance of Americans. Majorities in 26 nations say
it is wrong. But such opposition is less intense than criticism of U.S. spying on non-Americans, while majorities in
the Philippines, Nigeria and Uganda actually back Uncle Sams electronic oversight of Americans. Spying on
suspected terrorists is another matter. Majorities in 30 countries surveyed voice the view that electronic oversight
of alleged terrorists is acceptable. Israelis, Italians and Kenyans are particularly supportive, as are roughly eight-inten Russians and Tunisians. Notably, Germans, who are particularly incensed about American spying on both Merkel
and on ordinary German citizens, have few qualms about U.S. eavesdropping on alleged terrorists: 70 percent
U.S. spying has tarnished Americas image as a staunch

defender of the personal freedoms of its own people , long one of the positive
attributes of U.S. soft power. Admiration for America as a defender of such civil liberties
has dropped significantly in 22 of 36 nations where there is comparable data for 2013 and 2014.
NSA actions have particularly hurt the U.S. reputation in Brazil , where belief that Uncle Sam
respects Americans freedoms is down 25 percentage points, and in Germany, where it is down 23 points. Drops
of 20 points or more are also found in El Salvador, Pakistan, Argentina, Spain and Russia .
support such efforts. But
NSA undermines international relations surveillance

problems
Bowen 2/10 (Grant Bowen, Project Manager at BPM LLC, The Long Term Effects
of NSA Revelations, Journal of High Technology Law, February 10, 2014,
http://jhtlblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/the-long-term-effects-of-nsa-revelations/)
Wang
Rolling scandal over National Security agency surveillance , triggered by a mass leak of
secrets by Edward Snowden, as well as further revelations of spying on allies, continues to follow
President Obama and the U.S. Government. Due to this, various experts are worried of two results:
the government is suffering in its relationships with allies and cryptography , which has
continuously formed the backbone of U.S. surveillance programs, and simultaneous the public may be damaged by
cloud computing surveillance. Primarily,
experts are concerned about the extent to which the

US can successfully exert soft power through political and cultural values , while
simultaneously lowering its military presence throughout the world. It was intended that through networks of friends
and allies, the U.S. could extend this soft power and influence more countries through peace, rather than war-
Maintaining and establishing more alliances through this method will help to
mitigate consequences of lessening military might . However, the current
surveillance problems do harm to this plan. In order to establish soft power
in the first place, there has to be a baseline level of trust . The global opinion of America is
tactics.
hardly positive at the moment, though. Coming off a long government shutdown, and repeated surveillance
scandals, American status has suffered. If the long-term plan is to carefully manage military decline, while
preserving maximum influence, surveillance issues cant continue. They repeatedly break down the requisite trust
NSA surveillance issues continue to wreak

havoc for the American public. Primarily, many organizations have noted access to
stored data in the public cloud, even though the U.S. insisted it was only doing so to
track suspected terrorist activities overseas. However, both Microsofts Office 365 and SharePoint
in order to successfully follow such a plan. Furthermore,
Online experienced NSA surveillance activity (whether they were accidents or purposeful is still disputed). Due to
the large universe of SharePoint and other online services (think Apples iCloud or Google Online Doc Suite), smaller
providers, cloud computing services and others are feeling the influence. They are putting their cloud migration
plans on hold, or simply terminating those already occurring. In fact, according to one study, nearly 35% of those
with plans to migrate to cloud computing are now in a holding pattern. It may need to go without say that there is
a question of whether the NSA security surveillance tactics raise issues of legality . According
to Congress, and the Supreme Court the processes employed by the NSA do not violate the 4th amendment as
long as the government can show that it is relevant to an authorized investigation into known and, significantly
legality, as determined by the government, does

not answer the question of what the long-term effects of such surveillance will be. As
we have seen already it could affect as much as international political relationships, or simply
public and commercial computing access.
unknown terrorists who may be in the United States. Yet,
2NC NB China Relations

Disbanding NSA would improve soft power- currently guts USChina relations
Li 13 Chen, director of the John L. Thornton China Center and a senior fellow in the
Foreign Policy program at Brookings. He is also a director of the National Committee
on U.S.-China Relations. Li focuses on the transformation of political leaders,
generational change and technological development in China. NSA Revelations
Have Irreparably Hurt U.S. Corporations in China December 12
http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/12/12-nsa-revelations-hurtcorporations-china-li-mcelveen
U.S. technology firms conducting business in China are used to being swayed by
geopolitical winds, but they will never fully recover from the irreparable damage left
by the devastating NSA revelations of 2013. After such a turbulent year, it is useful to
review what happened and determine how to move forward. As the first summit meeting between Chinese
President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama approached in June at the Sunnylands estate in California, the
Obama administration made every indication that cyber security would take top billing on the agenda. This was a
hard-won break from the past for U.S. corporations. After years of trying to elevate the issue of commercial cyber
espionage in the public consciousness, the business community was finally given a golden opportunity to push for
change as events evolved in its favor in early 2013. In February, U.S. cyber security firm Mandiant released a report
revealing that the Chinese government had infiltrated almost 150 major U.S. corporations and agencies over the
past seven years. The report narrowed the origin of these extensive online attacks to a Peoples Liberation Army
(PLA) operations center in the Pudong area of Shanghai. In May, another report emerged from the Defense Science
Board revealing that China had secured access to detailed designs of Pentagon military weaponry and aircraft. As
these events unfolded, President Obamas then National Security Advisor Tom Donilon began urging China to curtail
these activities and pushing for China to address them at the June Presidential summit. At the same time, though,
NSA contractor Edward Snowden was encouraging newspapers to publish accounts of NSA espionage. For the
The first story about the NSA

appeared in The Guardianon June 5. When Obama and Xi met in California two days later, the United
States had lost all credibility on the cyber security issue. Instead of
providing Obama with the perfect opportunity to confront China about its
years of intellectual property theft from U.S. firms, the Sunnylands
meeting forced Obama to resort to a defensive posture . Reflecting on how the tables
Obama administration, Snowdens timing could not have been worse.
had turned, the media reported that President Xi chose to stay off-site at a nearby Hyatt hotel out of fear of
eavesdropping. After the Sunnylands summit, the Chinese government turned to official media to launch a public
By
targeting Cisco, the U.S. networking company that had helped many local
Chinese governments develop and improve their IT infrastructures
beginning in the mid-1990s, the Chinese government struck at the very
core of U.S.-China technological and economic collaboration. The movement
campaign against U.S. technology firms operating in China through its de-Cisco (qu Sike hua) movement.
began with the publication of an issue of China Economic Weekly titled Hes Watching You that singled out eight
U.S. firms as guardian warriors who had infiltrated the Chinese market: Apple, Cisco, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft,
Oracle and Qualcomm. Cisco, however, was designated as the most horrible of these warriors because of its
pervasive reach into Chinas financial and governmental sectors .
For these U.S. technology firms,

China is a vital source of business that represents a fast-growing slice of
the global technology market. After the Chinese official media began
disparaging the guardian warriors in June, the sales of those companies
have fallen precipitously. With the release of its third quarter earnings in November, Cisco reported
that orders from China fell 18 percent from the same period a year earlier and projected that overall revenue would
fall 8 to 10 percent as a result, according to Reuters. IBM reported that its revenue from the Chinese market fell 22
percent, which resulted in a 4 percent drop in overall profit. Similarly, Microsoft has said that China had become its
weakest market. However, smaller U.S. technology firms working in China have not seen the same slowdown in
business. Juniper Networks, a networking rival to Cisco, and EMC Corp, a storage system maker, both saw increased
business in the third quarter. As the Chinese continue to shun the guardian warriors, they may turn to similar but
smaller U.S. firms until domestic Chinese firms are ready to assume their role. In the meantime, trying to
completely de-Cisco would be too costly for China, as Ciscos network infrastructure has become too deeply
embedded around the country. Chinese technology firms have greatly benefited in the aftermath of the Snowden
revelations. For example, the share price of China National Software has increased 250 percent since June. In
addition, the Chinese government continues to push for faster development of its technology industry, in which it
has invested since the early 1990s, by funding the development of supercomputers and satellite navigation
systems. Still, Chinas current investment in cyber security cannot compare with that of the United States. The U.S.
government spends $6.5 billion annually on cyber security, whereas China spends $400 million, according to
NetentSec CEO Yuan Shengang. But that will not be the case for long. The Chinese governments investment in both
cyber espionage and cyber security will continue to increase, and that investment will overwhelmingly benefit
Chinese technology corporations. Chinas reliance on the eight American guardian warrior corporations will
diminish as its domestic firms develop commensurate capabilities. Bolstering Chinas cyber capabilities may
emerge as one of the goals of Chinas National Security Committee, which was formed after the Third Plenary
Meeting of the 18th Party Congress in November. Modeled on the U.S. National Security Council and led by
President Xi Jinping, the committee was established to centralize coordination and quicken response time, although
it is not yet clear how much of its efforts will be focused domestically or internationally. The Third Plenum also
brought further reform and opening of Chinas economy, including encouraging more competition in the private
sector. The Chinese leadership continues to solicit foreign investment, as evidenced by in the newly established
Shanghai Free Trade Zone. However, there is no doubt that investments by foreign technology companies are less
welcome than investments from other sectors because of the Snowden revelations. As 2013 comes to a close, it is
now well documented and well-known that both the United States and China engage in extensive espionage efforts
for national security interests. But Chinas espionage efforts are different in one key respect: while it is generally
assumed that the U.S. government classifies the surveillance it collects on foreign firms and does not share
business secrets with U.S. companies, Chinese spies often readily hand over proprietary information from U.S. firms
to Chinese firms, breaching intellectual property rights and stealing the fruits of research and development on
the United States

must clearly indicate that its primary concern is Chinas commercial cyber
espionage and that its goal is to protect future U.S. innovation. This is a goal to
which both the U.S. and her allies can commit. By working to forge an agreement with
China on the enforcement of intellectual property rights protections, the
U.S. can proactively work to overcome some of the political obstacles
created by Edward Snowdens revelations. Even then, U.S. technology
companies must prepare for a new reality shaped only partly by Snowden
a greatly reduced share of the Chinese market wherein the enforcement
of IPR will only soften their downfall.
which American companies have spent billions of dollars. To address these concerns,
NSA harms US-China relations and American Soft Power

GB Times 13 NSA revelations threaten China-US ties, American soft power June
13 http://gbtimes.com/china/nsa-revelations-threaten-china-us-ties-american-softpower
Recent months have seen a torrent of US government allegations of Chinese state-sponsored cyber-hacking,
backing by fierce press coverage. It is unsurprising then that the hacking claims have generated massive attention
in China and a backlash from state media. Global Times says the allegations have confirmed speculation that the US
is playing up alleged China cyber-spying as a "fig leaf for its own cyber-warfare". Xinhua writes that, " The
massive US global surveillance program revealed by a former CIA whistle-blower in

Hong Kong is certain to stain Washington's overseas image and test developing
Sino-US ties." "For months, Washington has been accusing China of cyberespionage,
but it turns out that the biggest threat to the pursuit of individual freedom and
privacy in the US is the unbridled power of the government ," Li Haidong, a researcher of
American studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said. China Daily opines that cyber-spying on individuals is
useless against terrorist attacks such as the Boston marathon bombing in April. "It looks like a case of the pot
calling the kettle black, except the pot is a lot darker in this case," a commentary in SCMP said, also stating that the
US owes everyone an explanation. The Obama administration is committed to defending Internet freedom The
revelations come amid recent US rhetoric about keeping the Internet safe for Internet freedom, Bill Bishop, an
influential Beijing-based China Watcher notes. In May, Reuters, in: China, Russia seek greater control of Internet:
U.S, noted Alec Ross, the US secretary of state's senior adviser for innovation, as saying: 'The Obama administration
is committed to defending Internet freedom, described as a "pillar of America's foreign policy priorities".' We should
expect renewed calls from the PRC and Russia, among many other nations, for a global Internet oversight policy,
Bishop says.
China Digital Times looks at accusations that the US government is

behaving like the Chinese Communist Party, and notes that Ai Weiwei has expressed
his disappointment in the US.
2NC NB Agenda Politics

Politicians agree- NSA should be disbanded
Bukhart 13, Katie, Dennis Kucinich: NSA Should Be 'Abolished,' Snowden Should
Get A 'Ticker-Tape Parade' August 20
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/dennis-kucinich-nsa_n_3786071.html
Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) had some strong words for the National Security
Agency last week, arguing that the federal government should abolish it and
Former Rep.
throw leaker Edward Snowden a celebratory parade. Kucinich spoke following a Washington screening of "Terms and
Conditions May Apply", a documentary film about federal data-mining operations and online privacy. The film's
director Cullen Hoback asked Kucinich what he thought should happen to Director of National Intelligence James
"Clapper should be held responsible, but he

wont be, because thats the condition were in right now. ... In a just world,
Snowden, we'd be having ticker-tape parades for him. But that's not what's going to
happen," said Kucinich, in remarks flagged by Techdirt. "Frankly -- and I'm saying
this with a lifetime's experience in government here -- it's time to punch the
NSA's ticket here. They've ruined the brand. They've destroyed the idea of
privacy." Kucinich's comments came amid revelations from an internal audit that the agency has violated
privacy rules thousands of times since 2008, when Congress granted it broader powers. Despite President
Barack Obama's vow to increase oversight of the agency, the implications of the
information Snowden leaked has many members of Congress concerned. "We talk
about the death penalty for individuals, which I oppose, but I think ... for
government agencies that so broadly betray the public interest, there needs to be a
measure of responsibility," Kucinich said. "And if they go beyond the pale, which the
NSA has, they just ought to be abolished. We don't need the spying."
Clapper, who lied to Congress about NSA surveillance.
NSA unpopular with republicans 2 to 1 margin

Lee 13 (Timothy B. Lee, senior editor at Vox, former writer for Washington Post,
Ars Technica, and Forbes, Poll: Republicans hate NSA spying. Democrats are
ambivalent., The Washington Post, June 12, 2013,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/12/poll-republicanshate-nsa-spying-democrats-are-ambivalent/) Wang
A majority of Americans, 53 percent, disapprove of two National Security Agency
surveillance programs whose existence was reported last week. A Gallup poll found that just 37
percent approved of the NSA's efforts to "compile telephone call logs and Internet communications."
Interestingly, the most intense opposition to the programs comes from the
political right. Republicans disapprove of the program by almost a 2 to 1 margin.
Independents disapprove, 56 to 34 percent. But 49 percent of Democrats approve of the
program, compared with 40 percent who disapprove. Gallup says the partisan breakdown on the
issue has changed over time. When the polling organization asked a similar question in 2006, the NSA's
program had more support from Republicans than Democrats. Gallup believes the shift "reflects the party of the
president under whose watch the programs were carried out at those two points in time." Of course, the programs
in question were begun during the Bush administration. Americans were evenly split, 44 percent to 42 percent, on
whether it was right for Edward Snowden to leak classified documents to the press. A recent CBS poll found similar
58 percent of respondents disapproving of the government collection of

information about "ordinary Americans." That poll found the same partisan split, with Democrats
results, with
more likely to approve. In contrast, a Pew/Washington Post survey found that a majority of voters approved of
surveillance when told that the programs were supervised by the courts and intended to "investigate terrorism."
Disbanding NSA overwhelmingly bipartisan over 70% of both

parties oppose surveillance programs
Clement 13 (Scott Clement, survey research analyst for Capital Insight, chair for
the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)s Jourbakust
Education team, Concern over NSA privacy violations unites Democrats and
Republicans, poll finds, August 16, 2013,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/08/16/concern-over-nsaprivacy-violations-unites-democrats-and-republicans-poll-finds/) Wang
National Security Agency broke privacy rules threatens to fuel Americans fastgrowing concerns about civil liberties. But the surprising partisan consensus that programs trample on
Fresh disclosures that the
privacy marks a key feature of public assessments, representing a break from similar debates during George W.
Bush's presidency. A July Washington Post-ABC News poll before the latest disclosures reported by The Post
fully 70 percent of Democrats and 77 percent of Republicans said the

NSA's phone and Internet surveillance program intrudes on some Americans' privacy
rights. What's more, Democrats and Republicans who did see intrusions were about equally
likely to say they were "not justified:" 51 and 52 percent respectively. Nearly six in 10
political independents who saw intrusions said they are unjustified . There was less
found
partisan agreement in 2006, when news about the George W. Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping
program broke. That January, a Post-ABC poll found 73 percent of Democrats but only 50 percent of Republicans
said federal agencies were intruding on some Americans' privacy rights.
The NSA is unpopular- public disapproval of spying

King 13 Bernie, class action employment attorney in San Diego, California. NSA
Surveillance Scandal: The Polls Are In, and NSA Spying is Really, Really Unpopular
July 10 http://mic.com/articles/53767/nsa-surveillance-scandal-the-polls-are-in-andnsa-spying-is-really-really-unpopular
If you have been following the recent disclosures of NSA domestic surveillance, you might have noticed a wave of
media reports a week after the first disclosures claiming something like, The Majority of Americans Still Don't Care
About the NSA Spying on Them. Further examples can be seen here, here and here. If you were skeptical about the
polling data cited in support of these headlines, you were right. The polls cited as evidence of these claims were
wildly misleading and have since been flatly contradicted by the overwhelming majority of relevant polling data.
These headlines largely relied on two polls, one by Pew Research and the other by ABC/Washington Post. The Pew
Research poll, taken between June 6 and June 9, asked whether Americans thought it was acceptable for the NSA
to track telephone call records of millions of Americans in an effort to investigate terrorism. Fifty-six percent of
people found this acceptable. In response to a similar question, a second Pew Research poll on June 12-16 found
Americans were equally divided regarding their approval of the governments collection of telephone and Internet
data as part of anti-terrorism efforts. Unfortunately, neither survey distinguished between surveillance of terrorism
suspects and ordinary Americans. Thus, it is impossible to tell whether the respondents approved of collecting the
cell phone records for those not suspected of terrorism, or whether they merely approved of collecting this data for
terrorism suspects. Emily McClintock Elkins, director of polling for the Reason Foundation, reached a similar
conclusion in her recent critique of the NSA polling data. As the relevant issue is whether the NSAs phone-records
dragnet should extend to non-suspects, Pew Research offers little insight as to how Americans feel about their
government spying on them. The ABC/Washington Post poll, conducted between June 12 and June 16, asked the
following question: It's been reported that the federal governments National Security Agency collects extensive
records of phone calls, as well as Internet data related to specific investigations, to try to identify possible terrorist
threats. Do you support or oppose this intelligence-gathering program? Fifty-eight percent of those polled said they
supported this program. However, just like the Pew Research poll, the question does not say whether this program
collects data on all Americans, or just those suspected of terrorism. Indeed, the mere reference to extensive
records is insufficient to alert the respondent that the NSA is collecting phone records for almost every single
American. This poll is useless in answering the critical issue, i.e. whether people support intelligence gathering on
Americans who are not terrorism suspects. When the questions expressly distinguish between surveillance of
ordinary Americans and Americans suspected of terrorism,
a clear majority of Americans are
opposed to the NSAs surveillance of non-suspects . For example, a Rasmussen poll taken June 67 asked the following question: The federal government has been secretly collecting the phone records of millions
of Americans for national security purposes regardless of whether there is any suspicion of wrongdoing. Do you
favor or oppose the governments secret collecting of these phone records? Rasmussen specifically asks whether
59% of voters oppose

collecting telephone records of Americans not suspected of any wrongdoing . As further
they support surveillance of those not suspected of terrorism. Not surprisingly,
evidence of this trend, a YouGov poll taken on June 6-7 asked whether collecting and analyzing Americans phone
records is justified as a way to combat terrorism, or is it an unnecessary intrusion into Americans lives? Like the
Rasmussen poll, the distinction between surveillance of terrorism suspects and intrusions upon the privacy of
ordinary Americans is clear. As expected, a solid majority ( 55%)
stated such surveillance was an

unnecessary intrusion into American lives. Only 22% of respondents thought it was
justified. Similarly, a June 9-10 CBS News poll found that most Americans disapprove
(58%) of the government collecting the phone records of ordinary Americans , but
approve (75%) of its monitoring those suspected of terrorist activity. This poll further confirms that Americans
recognize an important distinction between surveillance directed at terrorism suspects, and dragnet surveillance of
ordinary citizens. Virtually every other poll validates the critical fact evidenced by the Rasmussen, YouGov, and CBS
polls: Americans are strongly opposed to being spied on by their own government. A Guardian/PPP poll taken June
10-11 revealed that 50% of Americans oppose the government collecting their phone and Internet meta-data, while
only 40% approve. A Gallup poll taken on June 10-11 reported that 53% of Americans disapprove of the NSAs
domestic surveillance, while only 37% expressed their approval. In a FOX News poll conducted between June 22-24,
61% of Americans disapproved of how the administration is handling the

government's classified surveillance program that collects the phone and Internet
records of U.S. citizens. Of course, public perception of these programs is bound to fluctuate as further
information is revealed and the NSA programs are explained in greater detail. At the moment however, we must
disabuse ourselves of the false premise that Americans approve of their government secretly collecting, storing,
and spying on the phone calls and internet activity of citizens who are not terrorism suspects. No evidence supports
the relevant polling data shows the majority of Americans soundly

reject the surveillance of non-terrorism suspects.
this claim, and in fact,
2NC NB Cyber Security

NSA damages cyber security preparedness and undermines
NIST credibility only the CP solves
This card can also be used as an answer to reforms
Otto 7/30 (Greg Otto, news editor at U.S. News & World Report, Is NSAs PRISM
program ruining cloud computings growth?, fedscoop, July 30, 2014,
http://fedscoop.com/nsa-prism-cloud-computing/) Wang
NSA has undermined the fundamental architecture of the
Internet by weakening the National Institute of Standards and Technologys cryptography
standards used worldwide. Weakening cryptographic standards demonstrably harms
Internet security, the report says. It also hurts the credibility of NIST, which has been directed
by President Obama to draft cybersecurity guidelines for critical infrastructure , including
telephone systems and power plants . OTI said the USA FREEDOM Act, which hit the Senate floor
The report also examines how the
Tuesday with revisions, would go a long way toward stemming the costs of the NSAs spying programs and
restoring trust in the American Internet industry. Ensuring that a strong version of USA FREEDOM becomes law is
only the first step toward repairing the damage that the NSA has done to Americas tech economy, its foreign
Castro said
even with meaningful reform, he doesnt think it will change the perception that
companies are fighting an uphill battle with NSA in order to protect their
products. I dont think the companies themselves can solve this problem, he said. The issue is that these
foreign and domestic buyers dont trust the U.S. government right now. Until there is a clear signal that
the intelligence community is turning the page through policies, I dont think we are
going to see a change in perception.
relationships, and the security of the Internet itself, said Kevin Bankston, OTIs policy director.
NSA practices hurts cyber security intentionally damages

security systems to improve spying capabilities
Kehl 7/31 (Danielle Kehl, policy researcher at the New America Foundations
Open Technology Institute, How the NSA Hurts Our Economy, Cybersecurity, and
Foreign Policy, Slate, July 31, 2014,
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/07/31/usa_freedom_act_update_how_
the_nsa_hurts_our_economy_cybersecurity_and_foreign.html?wpisrc=burger_bar)
Wang
Meanwhile, evidence of the costs continues to pile up . This week, two new reports were published
that demonstrate how surveillance reform is needed to protect fundamental rights here in the U.S. An in-depth
mass
surveillance undermines press freedom, the right to legal counsel, and other
essential elements of a healthy democracy. And a separate report from New Americas Open
Technology Institute examines how the NSAs programs are bad for the U.S. economy,
American foreign policy, and the security of the Internet as a whole. (Full disclosure: I am the
study conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch documents how
primary author of the second paper; Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State
University.) Its easy to get caught up in the simplistic debate that often dominates the surveillance conversation:
security vs.
privacy ignores the other negative impacts of NSA surveillance on our national
that this is about balancing national security and individual privacy. But the binary argument over
interests. The U.S. cloud computing industrya fast-growing and American-dominated marketcould lose
anywhere from $22 billion to $180 billion in the next few years as companies lose customers abroad and here at
foreign
governments are blaming the NSA for decisions to drop American companies from
huge contracts, as weve witnessed with Boeing in Brazil and Verizon in Germany. Beyond the dollars and
home. U.S. tech companies are facing declines in overseas sales due to the backlash, while
cents, the Snowden disclosures have accelerated data localization and data protection proposals from foreign
These proposals could

create significant economic and technological hurdles for American businesses : Its
governments that are looking for greater national control over their citizens info.
both more expensive and more difficult to house servers in specific countries in order to comply with data
localization laws. Whats more, mandatory data localization policies can have a negative impact on Internet
freedom and the protection of human rights in countries that do not have strong local protections against
surveillance. In fact, the Snowden disclosures could broadly undermine the entire U.S. Internet Freedom agenda,
which was a key component of American foreign policy under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Lastly, theres
NSA surveillance techniques are actually bad for

cybersecurity. As the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers recently explained: The United
States might have compromised both security and privacy in a failed attempt to
improve security. Weve learned in the past year that the NSA has been deliberately
weakening the security of the Internet, including commercial products that we rely on every
day, in order to improve its own spying capabilities . The agency has apparently tried
everything from secretly undermining essential encryption tools and standards to
inserting backdoors into widely used computer hardware and software products, stockpiling
vulnerabilities in commercial software, and building a vast network of spyware inserted onto
growing evidence that certain
computers and routers around the world. A former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Eileen
Donahoe, wrote a forceful article back in March about how the NSAs actions threaten our national security.
When you weigh these costs against the questionable benefits of the programs, the
need to rein in the NSA and restore international confidence in the U.S. becomes
obvious. The USA FREEDOM Act is historic not because it would solve all of our problems, but rather because it
would be a much-needed first step in the long road to recovery from the effects of widespread NSA surveillance.
2NC NB Economy
CP solves economy threat of NSA surveillance causes
economic decline offshoring US jobs
Gates 7/29 (Megan Gates, Co-chair of the Securities Practice, NSA's Actions
Threaten U.S. Economy and Internet Security, New Report Suggests, Security
Management, July 7, 2014, http://www.securitymanagement.com/news/nsasactions-threaten-us-economy-and-internet-security-new-report-suggests-0013601)
Wang
Direct Economic Costs to American Companies Since leaks by former NSA contractor Edward
Snowden were published about the NSAs activities, trust in American businesses has decreased .
Those facing the most acute economic fallout are cloud computing and
webhosting services as nearly 50 percent of the worldwide cloud computing revenue
comes from the United States, the report said. Just weeks after Snowdens leaks were reported, cloud
computing companieslike Dropbox and Amazonannounced they were losing
business to foreign competitors. Additional calculations predict that the cloud computing industry
will suffer anywhere from a $22 to $180 billion loss over the next three years
because of the NSAs PRISM program. These losses may already be playing out as a survey of 1,000
global information and communications technology (ICT) decision-makers found that the
NSA disclosures have had a direct impact on how companies around the world
think about ICT and cloud computing in particular. However, cloud computing isnt the only market at risk as
over the past year numerous American companies have reported declining sales
in overseas markets, loss of customers, and increased competition from
non-U.S. services marking themselves as secure alternatives to U.S. products. Cisco, Qualcomm, IBM,
Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard have all reported decreased sales in China due to the NSA revelations. Also, U.S.
companies are sometimes being left out of business deals because of the NSA
disclosures, especially in Germany. Following accusations of spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel, the
country said that it would not renew its contract with Verizon because of the NSA spying
allegations. Verizon had previously supplied the several German government departments with Internet service.
Economic and Technological Costs Since the creation of the Internet,
countries and activists have
expressed concerns with Internet jurisdiction . After the Snowden leaks, more than a dozen
countries have introduced or are contemplating data localization laws, which would prevent or
limit information flows, the report said. Germany is one of the countries considering such
legislation and Merkel has supported the concept to protect against NSA efforts to intercept information.
Brazil has proposed similar measures, asking Internet companies to establish local data centers to
force them to comply with Brazilian laws, and Greece, Brunei, and Vietnam have also introduced similar proposals.
Additionally, India has considered a policy that would force companies to maintain part of their IT infrastructure incountry, give local authorities access to the encrypted data on their servers for criminal investigations, and prevent
local data from being moved out of the country, according to the report. Until now, most foreign countries
the threat of NSA

surveillance may be the catalyst that pushes countries to invest heavily in
technology sectors that they would otherwise have left to the United States,
accepted Americas comparative advantage in the technology industry, but
including cloud computing and data storage, the report suggested.
NSA concerns shift US jobs out of the market threatens

competitiveness
Otto 7/30 (Greg Otto, news editor at U.S. News & World Report, Is NSAs PRISM
program ruining cloud computings growth?, fedscoop, July 30, 2014,
http://fedscoop.com/nsa-prism-cloud-computing/) Wang
Too often, we have discussed [NSA]s surveillance programs through the distorting lens of a simplistic security
versus privacy narrative, Danielle Kehl, a policy analyst at OTI, said in a statement. But if you look closer, the
were trading away not only privacy, but also

the U.S. tech economy, Internet openness, Americas foreign policy interests and
cybersecurity. The report says U.S.-based cloud computing companies are already
starting to lose market share and stand to lose more over the coming years if the government
more accurate story is that in the name of security,
doesnt institute reforms. The report backs a study done by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
U.S. cloud companies could lose $22 billion to $35 billion in foreign market
share over the next three years due to the scandal. OTI points to a number of surveys saying
that says
global IT professionals have changed their purchasing behavior or are currently not storing data in the cloud due to
people have initial concerns about deceiving U.S. technology ,

a lot of countries take steps to put policies in place that would really give
an advantage to domestic or block U.S. firms out of their market , Daniel Castro, author of
NSAs actions. Not only do
but weve seen
the ITIF report, told FedScoop. One U.S. company, Virginia-based Servint, said international clients have declined
by as much as half, dropping from approximately 60 percent of its business to 30 percent since the leaks began. It
NSA surveillance programs are currently having a

serious, negative impact on the U.S. economy and threatening the future
competitiveness of American technology companies, the OTI report says. Not only are
U.S. companies losing overseas sales and getting dropped from contracts with
foreign companies and governments they are also watching their competitive
advantage in fast-growing industries like cloud computing and [web-hosting] disappear, opening the door
is abundantly clear that the
for foreign companies who claim to offer more secure alternative products to poach their business.
AT: Perms
Perm links to the net benefit- the plan uniquely tanks US-China
relations because (insert analysis specific to the aff), which
means doing the plan under any circumstance will trigger the
impact. Disbanding the NSA is key to solve relations and avoid
the impact.
AT: Stops Terrorism

NSA terrorist spying ineffective false positives kill the system
BIALIK 13 (Carl Bialik, Journalist for the Wall Street Journal, co-founder of Gelf
Magazine, worked for Nate Silver, creator and writer of Numbers Guy Ethics Aside,
Is NSA's Spy Tool Efficient?, The Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2013,
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014241278873240495045785435422580
54884) Wang
Reports about the National Security Agency's program to collect vast amounts of data on personal electronic
statisticians and
security experts have raised another objection: As a terror-fighting tool, it is
highly inefficient and has some serious downsides . Their reasoning: Any
automated approach to spotting something rare necessarily produces false
positives. That means for every correctly identified target, many more alarms that go
off will prove to be incorrect. So if there are vastly more innocent people than would-be terrorists whose
communications are monitored, even an extremely accurate test would ensnare many nonterrorists. Hong Kong lawmaker Claudia Mo holds a copy of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' next to a
communications have created an uproar about the implications for privacy. But some
picture of President Barack Obama and Edward Snowden during a news conference in Hong Kong on Friday. She
A Ph.D. candidate in
computational ecology wrote on his blog last week that even a very accurate algorithm for
identifying terrorist communications could produce about 10,000 false
positives for every real "hit," creating a haystack of false leads to chase in order to
find every needle. Several media reports repeated the figure, and some experts agreed. " The false
positives will kill you in this kind of system, " said Bruce Schneier, a security technologist at
urged the president not to prosecute Mr. Snowden. Associated Press
U.K. telecommunications company BT Group BT.A.LN +0.23% PLC. Some statisticians, though, disagreedwhile
emphasizing that they were commenting on the question of whether the tool was effective and not on its
implications for privacy and civil liberties. They also said their answer depends in part on a host of questions that
the NSA won't answerfor instance, how effective its algorithm

is at distinguishing dangerous communications from innocuous ones . An NSA
either can't be answered, or that
spokeswoman declined to comment beyond recent statements released by the agency and the office of the Director
of National Intelligence calling its monitoring tools "effective" and "important." The value of these monitoring tools
also depends on another question, though, that can be addressed: whether sifting for terrorism could be similar to
screening for a rare disease. Corey Chivers, the fourth-year graduate student at McGill University in Montreal who
wrote the blog post noted above, based his calculation on assuming the two kinds of screening are identical
The thinking goes like this: If you apply a test for something very rare to
a population, even if it can be relied on to identify people who possess certain traits, there are so many more
who don't that the false positives will vastly outnumber the correct hits. The details of Mr.
mathematically.
Chivers's calculation were based on some assumptions he madefor instance, that just one in one million people
If the prevalence is higherdepending

on how one defines a terroristthere will be fewer false positive tests for every true
positive test. Mr. Chivers said he never intended his proposed ratio to be very precise. "I found it interesting
whose communications are being monitored are terrorists.
how a few people have picked up on the number itself," he said in an interview. "It's amazing how that will get
replicated out of context of it being a thought experiment rather than a hard estimate of a number." Still, he said,
his point stands: "Even
if those numbers were vastly different, you're still going to have a

large false-positive rate." Several statisticians agreed with his basic point. Even if the NSA's
algorithm "is terribly clever and has a very high sensitivity and specificity, it
cannot avoid having an immense false-positive rate ," said Peter F. Thall, a
biostatistician at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In his arena, false positives mean patients
may get tests or treatment they don't need. For the NSA, false positives could mean innocent people are monitored,
detained, find themselves on no-fly lists or are otherwise inconvenienced, and that the agency spends resources
inefficiently. Others, though, noted a key difference between terrorism and, say, a needle in a haystack: Terrorists
tend to talk to each other in a way that needles don't. So by analyzing a network of communications, the NSA could
be ferreting out clues from more than just the messages' particulars.
NSAs role in national security is exaggerated bulk

surveillance program contribution is minimal
Bergen et al 1/13 (Peter Bergen, print, tv, and web journalist, CNN national
security analyst, fellow at Fordham Universitys Center on National Security, editor
of South Asia Channel and South Asia daily Brief on Foreign Policy, adjunct professor
of the School of Advanced International Studies, David Sterman, research associate
at the New America Foundation, Emily Schneider, research associate for the
National Security Program at the New America foundation, Bailey Cahall, policy
analyst with International Security Program at the New America Foundation, content
manager for Foreign Policy, Do NSA's Bulk Surveillance Programs Stop Terrorists?,
New America Foundation,
http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/do_nsas_bulk_surveillance_programs
_stop_terrorists) Wang
the role that NSA bulk surveillance of phone
has had in keeping the United States safe from terrorism
shows that these claims are overblown and even misleading . An in-depth analysis of
However, our review of the governments claims about
and email communications records
225 individuals recruited by al-Qaeda or a like-minded group or inspired by al-Qaedas ideology, and charged in the
traditional investigative methods,

provided the
initial impetus for investigations in the majority of cases , while the contribution of NSAs
bulk surveillance programs to these cases was minimal. Indeed, the controversial bulk
United States with an act of terrorism since 9/11, demonstrates that
such as the use of informants, tips from local communities, and targeted intelligence operations,
collection of American telephone metadata, which includes the telephone numbers that originate and receive calls,
as well as the time and date of those calls but not their content, under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, appears
to have played an identifiable role in initiating, at most, 1.8 percent of these cases. NSA programs involving the
surveillance of non-U.S. persons outside of the United States under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act played
NSA surveillance under an unidentified

authority played a role in 1.3 percent of the cases we examined. Regular FISA warrants
a role in 4.4 percent of the terrorism cases we examined, and
not issued in connection with Section 215 or Section 702, which are the traditional means for investigating foreign
persons, were used in at least 48 (21 percent) of the cases we looked at, although its unclear whether these
warrants played an initiating role or were used at a later point in the investigation. (Click on the link to go to a
database of all 225 individuals, complete with additional details about them and the governments investigations of
Surveillance of American phone

metadata has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism and only
the most marginal of impacts on preventing terrorist-related activity , such as
fundraising for a terrorist group. Furthermore, our examination of the role of the database of U.S. citizens
these cases: http://natsec.newamerica.net/nsa/analysis).
telephone metadata in the single plot the government uses to justify the importance of the program that of
Basaaly Moalin, a San Diego cabdriver who in 2007 and 2008 provided $8,500 to al-Shabaab, al-Qaedas affiliate in
Somalia calls into question the necessity of the Section 215 bulk collection program. According to the government,
the database of American phone metadata allows intelligence authorities to quickly circumvent the traditional
burden of proof associated with criminal warrants, thus allowing them to connect the dots faster and prevent
in the Moalin case, after using the NSAs phone database to link a number in
the FBI waited two months to begin an investigation and wiretap his
future 9/11-scale attacks. Yet

Somalia to Moalin,
phone. Although its unclear why there was a delay between the NSA tip and the FBI wiretapping, court
documents show there was a two-month period in which the FBI was not monitoring Moalins calls, despite official
statements that the bureau had Moalins phone number and had identified him. ,
This undercuts the
governments theory that the database of Americans telephone metadata is

necessary to expedite the investigative process , since it clearly didnt expedite the
process in the single case the government uses to extol its virtues . Additionally, a
careful review of three of the key terrorism cases the government has cited to defend NSA bulk surveillance
programs reveals that government officials have exaggerated the role of the NSA in the cases
against David Coleman Headley and Najibullah Zazi, and the significance of the threat posed by a notional plot to
bomb the New York Stock Exchange. In 28 percent of the cases we reviewed, court records and public reporting
do not identify which specific methods initiated the investigation. These cases, involving 62 individuals, may have
been initiated by an undercover informant, an undercover officer, a family member tip, other traditional law
enforcement methods, CIA- or FBI-generated intelligence, NSA surveillance of some kind, or any number of other
methods. In 23 of these 62 cases (37 percent), an informant was used. However, we were unable to determine
whether the informant initiated the investigation or was used after the investigation was initiated as a result of the
use of some other investigative means. Some of these cases may also be too recent to have developed a public
record large enough to identify which investigative tools were used. We have also identified three additional plots
that the government has not publicly claimed as NSA successes, but in which court records and public reporting
suggest the NSA had a role. However, it is not clear whether any of those three cases involved bulk surveillance
Finally, the overall problem for U.S. counterterrorism officials is not that they
need vaster amounts of information from the bulk surveillance programs, but that
they dont sufficiently understand or widely share the information they already possess
programs.
that was derived from conventional law enforcement and intelligence techniques. This was true for two of the 9/11
hijackers who were known to be in the United States before the attacks on New York and Washington, as well as
with the case of Chicago resident David Coleman Headley, who helped plan the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai,
and it is the unfortunate pattern we have also seen in several other significant terrorism cases.
NSA role in terrorism prevention minimal at best only 7.5% of

cases
Scuiletti 1/14 (Justin Scuiletti, Digital Production Manager and Online News
Editor at PBS, NSA surveillance doesnt stop terrorism, report claims, PBS, January
14, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/nsa-surveillance-doesnt-stopterrorism-report-claims/) Wang
bulk surveillance of phones and emails by the
NSA does not heavily contribute to terrorism prevention . The report, published Monday by the
nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute, says claims by the government that suggested the usefulness of
the data, including four cases that were declassified in the wake of Edward Snowdens leaks, were
overblown and even misleading. For the report, the NAF conducted an analysis of 225 individuals,
A report from the New America Foundation says that
recruited by (al-Qaida) or a like-minded group or inspired by (al-Qaidas) ideology and charged in the United
NSA surveillance contributions to initial

investigations, the report states, were minimal. American telephone metadata was only
found to have played a role in initiating 1.8 percent of investigations , with a total
contribution from NSA surveillance to investigations coming to 7.5 percent of cases.
States with an act of terrorism post-Sept. 11.
Traditional investigative methods, however, including informants, community tips and targeted intelligence
provided 59.6 percent of impetus for those investigations. The widespread use of informants suggests that
if
there was an NSA role in these cases, it was limited and insufficient
to generate
evidence of criminal wrongdoing without the use of traditional investigative tools. The report also concluded that
telephone metadata also had no discernible impact on

terrorism prevention and only the most marginal of impacts on terrorist-related
activities.
bulk collection of American
Over collection of NSA intelligence renders antiterrorism

efforts useless
OCleirigh 6/30 (Fiona OCleirigh, masters degree in Middle Eastern media and
politics, Efforts to detect terrorism hampered by mass surveillance, says former
NSA technical director, June 30, 2014,
http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240223500/Efforts-to-detect-terrorismhampered-by-mass-surveillance-says-whistle-blower-in-CW-interview) Wang
The US National Security Agency (NSA)
is collecting too much intelligence data to analyse , one

of its former technical directors has warned. As a result, the agency could be missing
indications of the very terrorist threats it is attempting to counter . Bill Binney
is the former technical director of an NSA research unit that developed a targeted data acquisition programme,
But the NSAs decision to harvest

everything has swamped its analysts, causing them to miss vital intelligence ,
Binney said in an interview with Computer Weekly. Thats the problem, said Binney. Theyre
basically buried in information and thats why they cant succeed . Shortly after 9/11,
Thinthread, which was later shelved in favour of bulk data collection.
Binneys fellow NSA whistleblower, Thomas Drake, used elements of Binneys programme to discover that the NSA
had suppressed a report on Al Qaedas movements in the US before the attack on the twin towers. He also found
that the NSA had withheld key monitoring data on Al Qaeda. Make no mistake, Drake wrote in
an open letter to President Obama, that data and the analytic report could have, should have, prevented 9/11.
Drakes discovery led to an immediate clampdown. In spring 2002, the remnants of Thinthread were
unceremoniously put on the shelf in NSAs 'Indiana Jones data warehouse, never to be seen again, Drake wrote.
AT: Reforms
Reforms fail doesnt do enough to advance internet security
Menn 5/16 (Joseph Menn, Technology projects reporter at Reuters news service,
Author at Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords who are Bringing
Down the Internet, graduated from Harvard, Obama's NSA spying reforms fail to
satisfy cyber experts, Reuters, May 16, 2014,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/16/us-cyber-summit-reformsidUSBREA4F0MX20140516) Wang
Obama administration actions to change some of the N ational Security Agency's
surveillance practices after the leaks of classified documents by contractor Edward Snowden are
falling short of what many private cyber experts want. Top government experts told the
Reuters Cybersecurity Summit this week they would be more transparent about spying activity. Nongovernment guests, however, said the administration was not doing enough to
advance Internet security. For instance, last December a White House review commission called for a
(Reuters) -
drastic reduction in the NSA's practice of keeping secret the software vulnerabilities it learns about and then
exploiting them for spying purposes. White House cybersecurity advisor Michael Daniel said at the conference that
he would chair the interagency group charged with weighing each newly discovered software flaw and deciding
whether to keep it secret or warn the software maker about it. "The
policy has been in place for a

number of years, but it was not as active as we decided that it should be ," Daniel said.
Now, he said, "there is a process, there is rigor in that process, and the bias is very heavily tilted toward
disclosure." Commission member Peter Swire told the summit he was pleased by the formal process for debating
there were too many loopholes. In an April 28 White House blog post,
the
vulnerability would be discovered by others and how pressing was the need for intelligence.
"That is the loophole that swallows the entire policy, because there's always going
to be an important national security or law enforcement purpose ," Chris Soghoian, a
vulnerability use, but others said
Daniel wrote that the factors the interagency group would consider included the likelihood that
technology policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union said at the summit.
Senate reforms fail doesnt limit NSA action

Adelmann 7/30 (Bob Adelmann, American Libertarian journalist, former
businessman with a focus on economic issues and the Federal Reserve System,
Leahy Offers Weak Bill to Curb NSA Eavesdropping on Americans, NewAmerican,
July 30, 2014, http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/congress/item/18816-leahyoffers-weak-bill-to-curb-nsa-eavesdropping-on-Americans) Wang
Under the bill, according to The Guardian, the government will
still be able to collect phone data on Americans, pending a judges individualized order based
on reasonable articulable suspicion the standard preferred by the NSA (National
Security Agency) of wrongdoing. This is a far cry from the probable cause
requirement demanded in the Fourth Amendment, but thats only the beginning. The bill purports to
modify Section 715 of the Patriot Act while saying nothing about Section 702, which
allows worldwide surveillance by the NSA . The bill allows for the continuous
collection of Americans telephone records, according to the Open Technology Institute. Most
grievously, the bill extended the Patriot Act until December of 2017. Once the House passed its USA
That first step was more like a stumble.
Freedom Act, 303 to 121, those opposed, including Republicans Darrell Issa, Ted Poe, and Raul Labrador and
Democrat Zoe Lofgren expressed their disappointment with it. Said Lofgren, [ This]
bill will actually not

end bulk collection, regrettably. It shifts collection responsibilities from the NSA to the
telephone companies to which the NSA has virtually unlimited access, so its a cosmetic
change only. The bill requires the NSA to get permission from the FISA Court, but FISA is not known for having a
high regard for the freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights. When Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) saw what the
House had wrought, he said he was gravely concerned that the changes that have been made to the House
version of this bill have watered it down so far that
it fails to protect Americans from suspicionless
mass surveillance. Not surprisingly, the White House endorsed the watered-down version of the bill: The
Administration strongly supports ... the USA Freedom Act.... The Administration applauds and appreciates the strong
bipartisan effort that led to the formulation of this bill, which heeds the Presidents call on this important issue. The
bill ensures our intelligence and law enforcement professionals have the authorities they need to protect the
Especially grievous is
the power that continues to be granted to the so-called FISA court. " This is the secret
Nation, while further ensuring that individuals privacy is appropriately protected.
court that first came to light when Edward Snowden in 2013 leaked a top-secret order issued by the court requiring
a subsidiary of Verizon to provide a daily, on-going feed of all call detail records including those for domestic calls
to the NSA. As Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at Stanford Law School, explained ,
The
Administration and the intelligence community believe they can do whatever they
want, regardless of the laws Congress passes, so long as they can convince one of the
judges appointed to the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to agree. This isn't the rule of law.
This is a coup d'etat. Leahys bill allegedly will tighten up the House bill somewhat , creating
a special advocate for liberty at the FISA courts, and limiting the NSA from vacuuming up data from an entire zip
code or all the records from a communications service provider. It also declassifies some of those FISA court orders
which have remained sealed and protected from public view. In its tentative support for Leahys new offering, Nadia
The legislation may not completely

end suspicionless surveillance ... it allows the NSA to get a second set of records
(a second hop) with an undefined direct connection to the first specific selection term.
Because the direct connection standard is vague, the government may seek to
construe that phrase to mean less than reasonable suspicion . Translation: The NSA,
under Leahys new stronger, tighter, more restrictive language, may
continue to do whatever it pleases in collecting and storing for later use all private
communications from Americans. Leahys bill will probably never see the light of day in this
congress and will have to be reintroduced in the next session if anything is to be done to rein in the NSAs
Kayyall of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), said,
collection of data. In the meantime, the NSAs vacuuming of innocent Americans private communication continues
unabated.
Aff Answers - Solvency

Disbanding NSA doesnt solve soft power NSA no impact and
alt causes
Stokes 7/30 (Bruce Stokes, director of global economic attitudes in the Pew
Research Centers Global Attitudes Project, former senior transatlantic fellow at the
German Marshall Fund, former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Did
NSA snooping hurt U.S. image? Not so much, CNN, July 30, 2014,
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/30/did-nsa-snooping-hurt-u-simage-not-so-much/) Wang
half or more of the public in 33 of 44 nations surveyed still think that
Washington safeguards Americans freedoms . And the U.S. image as a protector of
personal liberties remains quite strong in a number of Asian nations : South Korea,
Philippines, Japan and Vietnam; and also in the Middle East, in Lebanon and Israel. NSA spying has also
helped erode President Obamas standing in some countries. A median of 56 percent in the 43
countries outside the United States have confidence in Obama to do the right thing
in world affairs, largely unchanged from last year. But his image is down 17 percentage points in both
Still,
Germany and Brazil, again the countries where Obama administrations alleged spying on their leaders was a major
revelations of NSA snooping have had no appreciable effect

on Americas overall standing in the world. A global median of 65 percent see the
United States in a favorable light. And the global publics judgment of the United States is largely
unchanged from 2013. The biggest dip in the U.S. image is in Russia , where it is down 28 points
since 2013. But that is likely to be largely driven by the confrontation over Ukraine . U.S.
favorability is down 8 points in Brazil, which may be a casualty of the NSA spying. But 65 percent of
Brazilians still hold the U.S. in high regard. Only just over half of Germans see America in a positive
domestic issue. But
light, down 13 points since 2009, but that decline began well before the NSA revelations, reflecting a more complex
set of German emotions about the U.S. The efficacy and morality of NSA spying will be widely debated for years. It
is clear that most publics around the world oppose it and that it has damaged Americas soft power image as a
foreigners opinions about the United States are

driven by numerous issues. And, to date, there is no evidence that widespread
revulsion against NSA spying is fueling a new rise of anti-Americanism .
defender of personal freedom. But
Aff - NSA K2 Terror Prevention

NSA programs are critical in the fight against terrorism foiled
over 50 terror attacks
Dozier 13 (Kimberly Dozier, APs intelligence writer, Bradley Chair at the U.S.
Army War College,NSA: Surveillance Programs Foiled Some 50 Terrorist Plots
Worldwide, AP, June 18, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/nsasurveillance_n_3460106.html) Wang
National Security Agency insisted on Tuesday that the government's sweeping
surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide in a forceful defense
echoed by the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee. Army Gen. Keith Alexander said the two recently
disclosed programs one that gathers U.S. phone records and another that is
designed to track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to
terrorism are critical in the terrorism fight. Intelligence officials have disclosed some details on
The director of the
two thwarted attacks, and Alexander promised additional information to the panel on thwarted attacks that the
The programs "assist the intelligence

community to connect the dots," Alexander told the committee in a rare, open Capitol Hill hearing.
programs helped stop. He provided few additional details.
Alexander got no disagreement from the leaders of the panel, who have been outspoken in backing the programs
since Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton, disclosed information to The
Washington Post and the Guardian newspapers. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the committee, and Rep.
programs were vital to the

intelligence community and assailed Snowden's actions as criminal. "It is at times like these
where our enemies within become almost as damaging as our enemies on the
outside," Rogers said.
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the panel's top Democrat, said the
NSA solves terrorism threats increasing

Edelman 5/18 (Adam Edelman, Founder, Co-Chairman & CEO at IMM, former
Managing Director at SES Americom, A lot more terror attacks coming our way:
former NSA chief, New York Daily News, May 18, 2014,
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/lot-terror-attacks-coming-nsa-chiefarticle-1.1797130) Wang
former top U.S. security official fears the nation could be attacked again by
terrorists. Gen. Keith Alexander, who retired in March as director of the National Security Agency after eight
years on the job, said the probability of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil is
increasing. The number of attacks that are coming, the probability, its growing, Alexander said in a New
A
Yorker magazine interview published over the weekend. What I saw at N.S.A. is that there is a lot more coming our
way. Were at greater risk, Alexander said. Look
at the way Al Qaeda networks. From Al Qaeda in

at the
number of jihadists going into Syria and what they want to do. When put all that together, you can say
those are distant countries, but a lot of these groups are looking to attack the
United States. I take that threat very seriously, Alexander added, stressing the need to use
controversial spying tactics to help combat terrorism . Alexander claimed that such tactics
including the agencys bulk-metadata collection program (which many lawmakers have claimed is
unconstitutional) have contributed to the disruption to at least 54 terrorist plots. The
program, along with another NSA strategy called reasonable articulable suspicion , may
the Arabian Peninsula, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb, and now in Syria, the al-Nusra front. Look
have even prevented the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks , Alexander said. We know we didnt stop 9/11.
People were trying, but they didnt have the tools, he said. This tool, we believed, would help them.
NSA key to terrorism prevention detects suspects abroad

Esman 6/24 (Abigail R. Esman, Special to IPT News, European Reports Show
NSA's Successes, June 24, 2014,
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4437/european-reports-show-nsa-successes)
Wang
results of some of those investigations are in. The findings: Washington was right
all along. NSA programs in Europe and specifically its PRISM project have now
been confirmed to have stayed dozens of terror attacks across the continent, and helped
America kill suspected terrorists abroad. Indeed, a report published last month by the Dutch agency
responsible for overseeing Dutch intelligence states clearly that " thanks to PRISM, 26 attacks (in Europe,
including one in the Netherlands), were neutralized." Details have not been released. And a report from
Germany's Der Spiegel shows that US/German cooperation on the PRISM program prevented
attacks on German soil, as well. All this comes just as Europol has released its terrorism findings for 2013.
Now the
According to that report, "the majority of EU Member States continue to consider religiously inspired terrorism as a
major threat," as evidenced by "two attacks and several disrupted plots in 2013 and an increase in arrests for
religiously inspired terrorism from 159 in 2012 to 216 in 2013." (Total terror-related arrests for 2013 was 535, 143 of
which involved religiously inspired terrorists in France alone.) It is worth noting that the number of religious-inspired
arrests in 2013 Europe-wide was nearly double the number in 2009.
Aff - AT: Cyber Sec NB

NSA key to protect against cyber vulnerability
Frink 13 Skyler, Web Content Producer at PerkinElmer, Web Editor at Captivate
Network, Assistant Editor at Pennwell NSA's cybersecurity program to protect
critical infrastructure revealed http://www.militaryaerospace.com/blogs/aerospacedefense-blog/2013/01/nsa-s-cybersecurity-program-to-protect-critical-infrastructurerevealed.html
Documents that detail the NSA program "Perfect Citizen" were recently released by the NSA. The program, which
was started in 2009 and ended up awarding Raytheon a contract in 2010, details the government's concerns on the
security of sensitive control systems (SCS). The document defines SCS as systems that "perform data collection and
control of large-scale distributed utilities or provide automation of infrastructure processes." The document goes on
preventing attacks on these systems is "crucial to the continuity of the

DOD, the intelligence community (IC), and the operation of SIGINT systems." The
program is detailed, and involves investigating SCS for vulnerabilities and then
developing best practices that defend against the vulnerabilities identified. In
addition to detailing the program, the released documents include information on
the positions available. From software and hardware production to penetration testers (also known as white
to say that
hats, or people who test for vulnerabilities by attacking systems). The program will have Raytheon employees
working on it up through 2014, but many pages of the documents related to the program are still classified, and
With our electrical grid having

been attacked recently , and new attempts to breach our critical infrastructure
occurring constantly, it is interesting to see that a program has been in place to
protect these vital assets for so long. The program clearly states that its goal is to
develop ways to prevent attacks, or to mitigate their effectiveness , but the program is
much of the information in the documents themselves has been censored.
relatively small for the task it has been given. The program is only valued at $91 million, and the work force for the
They are not only

expected to find vulnerabilities, but to also develop tools and best practices to solve
the problems these vulnerabilities cause . With the increased focus on cybersecurity, and the high
program is only 28 people. It seems like an awfully big task for 28 people to handle.
stakes for failing to protect ourselves from cyber attacks, I wonder if it will be long before we see the program
expanded.
No impact to cyber security usually only civilian targets

Sommer and Brown 11 (Peter Sommer, Information Systems and
Innovation Group at London School of Economics, Ian Brown, Oxford Internet
Institute at Oxford University, Reducing Systemic Cybersecurity Risk, 2011,
http://www.oecd.org/governance/risk/46889922.pdf) Wang
armed forces have a relatively limited role
in protecting nation states against cyber threats. Whilst the military undoubtedly rely on
computers and networks for their own operations and obviously need to protect them, many of the victims
of cyber attacks, or of outages of essential services dependent on the Internet and computers, are and
will be substantially civilian. Thus, greater emphasis on governmental civil contingencies
Downplaying the concept of Cyberwar also implies that
programmes and a more thorough examination of some of the tensions within so- called Public Private Partnerships
is desirable. More detailed recommendations are provided about the prospects for international co-operation,
objectives for further research, and the role of law and education; both to produce a cohort of skilled technicians,
computer and communications

technologies continue to evolve at a very fast pace. In general, long-term hardware and
but also to educate potential victims. Readers should be aware that
demographic trends are more predictable than those related to software
and social
change. Establishing the facts of certain crimes and other events may also be difficult: investigations can be
victims may prefer to conceal losses to

protect their reputation rather than cooperate with law enforcement agencies . There
is a considerable difference between the effects of possible and likely
scenarios.
technically challenging and cross national boundaries, and
Water
1NC Shock Electrodialysis CP Text

Text: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology should
develop commercial shock electrodialysis desalination
plants.
Shock electrodialysis solves for water crisis- all we need to do
is build desalination plants to implement the process
Rosen 14
(Len- Futurist, Writer and Researcher, contract writer for technology companies making a difference.
Former President & CEO of Len Rosen Marketing Inc., a marketing consulting firm focused on new business startups
and technology plays, Desalination Technology Key to Solving Freshwater Crisis, World Future Society, 2/13/14,
http://www.wfs.org/blogs/len-rosen/desalination-technology-key-solving-freshwater-crisis), Shapiro
Steam distillation and reverse osmosis are the common ways we desalinate water today. The former is
energy intensive. The latter is limited in terms of volume of production by the rate of
exchange through commonly used osmotic membranes . But with the increasing freshwater scarcity here on
Earth we rely on these less than perfect technologies. So what if we could come up with a better technology
that was less energy intensive and cheaper to operate ? Well it seems that researchers at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have done just that. The technology they are using is called
shock electrodialysis. Shock electrodialysis works a bit like reverse osmosis. It uses a membrane through which sodium and chlorine ions
pass when in the presence of an electrical charge. This leaves fresh, purified water on one side and the
sodium and chlorine on the other. In reverse osmosis there is an equivalent
molecular exchange but not at the rate of shock electrodialysis which deals with
much larger volumes of water. The downside of this desalinization process is, however, that impurities remain in the separated
freshwater making the water unfit for human consumption. So additional filtration has been needed when using electrodialysis in the past to ensure that
scientists at MIT
recognized they needed to make electrodialysis more effective so they created a
new twist. Using a membrane of porous solid made from glass they could not only
convert salt water to fresh but also eliminate dirt and bacterial impurities. The pore sizes in
the membrane they created are 0.5 micrometers. Dirt cannot pass. And the electroshock kills 99% of the bacteria. The combination of
filtration, separation and disinfection and deionization makes this a very promising
alternative technology for efficient water purification systems and may prove to be
revolutionary. Now the challenge will be to scale from the laboratory to a commercial
desalinization plant.
freshwater garnered this way can be made safe to drink. But that extra stage in the process added complexity and cost. The
Shock electrodialysis is more effective than regular

desalination- its cheap and does not require a lot of energy
Express Rec 14
(Express Recycling, Latest technique to Desalinate Water and Remove Harmful Particles,
Express Recycling and Sanitation, http://expressrecyclingandsanitation.com/2014/03/05/latest-technique-todesalinate-water-and-remove-harmful-particles/#sthash.xkmpO08d.wd07Q7bs.dpbs), Shapiro
One of the big problems with available desalination process is that they are either
expensive or are a very slow process. The most common method to clean saline
water is to distill water in a vacuum. However, this process requires a lot of energy and is not
cheap. Another process of reverse osmosis pumps water particles through a membrane that
does not allow chlorine and sodium to pass through them but the process is very slow
to be practical on a large scale. The third method is electro-dialysis, which is a cheap and fast
process but does not remove harmful particles from the water. Electro-dialysis works in the similar way
to reverse osmosis. They allow sodium and chlorine ions to pass through a membrane in the presence of an electric field, leaving purified water on the
, the process is faster than the reverse osmosis process that

effectively cleans the water. However, the problem is that electro-dialysis does not
remove dirt and harmful bacteria contained in the water . Shock Electro-Dialysis as an Ideal Solution
Researchers have come up with the perfect solution to find a way to clean saline
water quickly, cheaply, and effectively. The process is a variant of electro-dialysis
and is called shock electro-dialysis. Through this process, not only salt matter is removed
but many harmful bacteria and other particles are efficiently removed from the water. A top
official at MIT states that shock electro-dialysis process has a great potential to enable clean
and practical water desalination. The process works by allowing chlorine and sodium to pass through a membrane in the
other side. Since only ions are passed
presence of an electric field. This process leaves purified water that is free from harmful bacteria such as E. coli and many other contaminants.
Shock electrodialysis solves for desalination- clean and

purified water is the result of the process
AQUA 14
(Aqua solutions- laboratory water purification company, New Desalination Method to Disinfect Water
Developed, Lab Water Purification Weekly, Aqua Solutions, 3/21/14, http://www.aquaa.com/new-desalinationmethod-to-disinfect-water-developed), Shapiro
Shock electrodialysis has the potential to enable more compact

and efficient water purification systems to benefit the lives of millions of people.
Lack of access to drinkable water supply is still considered as one of the worlds
most urgent issues, especially in depressed countries and rural global areas. The raging dilemma is not the
scarcity of water but on the salinity of most water supplies. Contrary to another technique known as
reverse osmosis, electrodialysis functions by allowing salt (chlorine and sodium) ions to penetrate one side
of the membrane through an electric field, leaving purified water on the other side.
This process lacks the ability to eradicate impurities so there is a need for additional
stages including filtration and sterilization to make the water safe for drinking. Dengs team studied
how to produce potable water through electrodialysis in a single step. They discovered that
placing a layer of porous material adjacent to the cathode to function as a filter
prevents contaminants from passing through the micropores. These porous
materials are made of sintered glass particles to form a porous solid. The pore size
is approximately 0.5 micrometres (um) and anything larger cannot pass. While bacteria
tend to be tinier than 0.5 um, Deng says that they cannot penetrate the porous membrane as they either
get trapped or destroyed by the powerful electric fields close to the cathode. The process
allows the shock electrodialysis device to eradicate approximately 99% of viable E. coli bacteria
present in the feed water and deliver purified water.
According to Deng and his team,
Net- Benefits - Biofuels Bad Turn

Production of algae uses up water
Paulson|2012
(Linda Dailey Paulson is an experienced freelance writer and editor. She covers product safety issues here on US Recall News. Mrs.
Paulson has over 20 years of experience in journalism as both a writer and editor, which she brings to her articles about everything from
vehicle and product recalls to the BPA safety debate and fruity malt liquor.| November 7, 2012| http://www.rwlwater.com/mass-producingalgal-biofuels-unsustainable/| Report: Mass-Producing Algal Biofuels Unsustainable Process| AWEY)
A new report from the National Research Council contends algae biofuel production
is unsustainable and demands too much water in its production. Industry experts
counter that using non-potable water sources makes algal biofuels affordable and
sustainable. The Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels states commercial
production for use by the United States transportation sector would place
unsustainable demands on energy, water and nutrients if production were scaled
to meet 5% of the nations transportation fuel needs. This would be about 10 billion
gallons, or 39 billion liters, of algal biofuel annually, which would require up to 123
billion liters of water to produce. The council, in a press statement released with the
report, notes, these concerns are not a definitive barrier for future production, and
innovations that would require research and development could help realize algal
biofuels full potential.
The aff uses more water to produce algae as a biofuel, turns

their advantage.
BUCHELE| 2012
(Mose Buchele is the Austin-based broadcast reporter for StateImpact. He has been on staff at KUT 90.5 in Austin since 2009, covering
local and state issues. Mose has also worked as a blogger on politics and an education reporter at his hometown paper in Western
Massachusetts. He holds masters degrees in Latin American Studies and Journalism from UT Austin.| The Downside of Using Algae as a
Biofuel| https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/12/17/the-downside-of-using-algae-as-a-biofuel/|DECEMBER 17, 2012| AWEY)
It seems like everyones talking pond scum these days. This year, people ranging from the President of the United
States to this humble reporter, have spoken of algaes potential in creating a carbon neutral biofuel. A recent study
from the University of Texas showed how the tiny organisms could create 500 times more energy than they take to
grow. And the promise of the slimy green stuff is made even more enticing by the fact that it consumes carbon
dioxide, sewage, and fertilizer run-off. It could, theoretically, clean the planet even as becomes a new source of
A report by the National Academies of Science has identified

major road blocks to the widespread development of algal biofuel. Chief among
them is water use, says Paul Zimba Director for the Center of Coastal Studies at Texas A&M Corpus
Christi. Zimba took part in the study. He says as much as 3000 liters of water are required
to produce a single liter of fuel when algae growers use open pond systems in arid
environments. RELATED POSTS Tiny Algae Could Be a Big Source of Power Please Welcome Our New Algae
fuel. Now comes the downside.
Overlords Why the Next UT-A&M Rivalry Could Be Fought in the Lab TOPICS There are commercial operations, open
pond system operations in the southwest primarily, Zimba told StateImpact Texas. He says theres a general
feeling that water loss from those systems is too much to allow the development of large scale systems hundreds
of acres along this line. Water availability was just one of the challenges to widespread algae cultivation outlined in
the report. Others include finding space for large growing operations, and competition for fertilizer. There will be a
competitive demand for fertilizers that could affect food production in terms of being competitive cost-wise for their
fertilizer products, he said. Nonetheless, Zimba believes that algae holds promise as a fuel, and scientists are
working on ways to avoid the pitfalls illustrated in the report. They suggest or using sewage or agricultural runoff to
cultivate algae. And when it comes to water, theres a lot of research being done into saltwater or brackish water
cultivation.
Water Shortage strikes conflict over water

Goldenberg|2014
(Suzanne Goldenberg is the US environment correspondent of the Guardian and is based in Washington DC. She has won several awards
for her work in the Middle East, and in 2003 covered the US invasion of Iraq from Baghdad. She is author of Madam President, about
Hillary Clinton's historic run for White House| http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/09/global-water-shortages-threat-terror-war| Why
global water shortages pose threat of terror and war| 8 February 2014| AWEY)
On 17 January,
scientists downloaded fresh data from a pair of Nasa satellites and

distributed the findings among the small group of researchers who track the world's
water reserves. At the University of California, Irvine, hydrologist James Famiglietti
looked over the data from the gravity-sensing Grace satellites with a rising sense of
dread. The data, released last week, showed California on the verge of an epic drought,
with its backup systems of groundwater reserves so run down that the losses could be
picked up by satellites orbiting 400km above the Earth's surface. "It was definitely an 'oh my gosh moment',"
Famiglietti said. "The groundwater is our strategic reserve. It's our backup, and so where do you go when the
backup is gone?" That same day, the state governor, Jerry Brown, declared a drought emergency and appealed to
Californians to cut their water use by 20%. "Every day this drought goes on we are going to have to tighten the
screws on what people are doing," he said. Seventeen rural communities are in danger of running out of water
within 60 days and that number is expected to rise, after the main municipal water distribution system announced
it did not have enough supplies and would have to turn off the taps to local agencies. There are other shock
moments ahead and not just for California in a world where water is increasingly in short supply because of
growing demands from agriculture, an expanding population, energy production and climate change .
Already a
billion people, or one in seven people on the planet, lack access to safe drinking
water. Britain, of course, is currently at the other extreme. Great swaths of the
country are drowning in misery, after a series of Atlantic storms off the southwestern coast. But that too is part of the picture that has been coming into sharper
focus over 12 years of the Grace satellite record. Countries at northern latitudes and
in the tropics are getting wetter. But those countries at mid-latitude are running
increasingly low on water. "What we see is very much a picture of the wet areas of the Earth getting
wetter," Famiglietti said. "Those would be the high latitudes like the Arctic and the lower latitudes like the tropics.
The middle latitudes in between, those are already the arid and semi-arid parts of the world and they are getting
drier." On the satellite images the biggest losses were denoted by red hotspots, he said. And those red spots largely
matched the locations of groundwater reserves. "Almost all of those red hotspots correspond to major aquifers of
the world. What Grace shows us is that groundwater depletion is happening at a very rapid rate in almost all of the
major aquifers in the arid and semi-arid parts of the world." The Middle East, north Africa and south Asia are all
projected to experience water shortages over the coming years because of decades of bad management and
overuse. Watering crops, slaking thirst in expanding cities, cooling power plants, fracking oil and gas wells all take
water from the same diminishing supply. Add to that climate change which is projected to intensify dry spells in
the coming years and the world is going to be forced to think a lot more about water than it ever did before. The
losses of water reserves are staggering. In seven years, beginning in 2003, parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran
along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers lost 144 cubic kilometres of stored freshwater or about the same amount of
water in the Dead Sea, according to data compiled by the Grace mission and released last year. A small portion of
the water loss was due to soil drying up because of a 2007 drought and to a poor snowpack. Another share was lost
to evaporation from lakes and reservoirs. But the majority of the water lost, 90km3, or about 60%, was due to
reductions in groundwater. Farmers, facing drought, resorted to pumping out groundwater at times on a massive
scale. The Iraqi government drilled about 1,000 wells to weather the 2007 drought, all drawing from the same
stressed supply. In south Asia, the losses of groundwater over the last decade were even higher. About 600 million
people live on the 2,000km swath that extends from eastern Pakistan, across the hot dry plains of northern India
and into Bangladesh, and the land is the most intensely irrigated in the world. Up to 75% of farmers rely on pumped
groundwater to water their crops, and water use is intensifying. Over the last decade, groundwater was pumped out
70% faster than in the 1990s. Satellite measurements showed a staggering loss of 54km3 of groundwater a year.
The US security establishment is already

warning of potential conflicts including terror attacks over water. In a 2012
report, the US director of national intelligence warned that overuse of water as in
India and other countries was a source of conflict that could potentially
compromise US national security. The report focused on water basins critical to the
Indian farmers were pumping their way into a water crisis.
US security regime the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Mekong, Jordan, Indus, Brahmaputra

and Amu Darya. It concluded: "During the next 10 years, many countries important
to the United States will experience water problems shortages, poor water quality,
or floods that will risk instability and state failure, increase regional tensions, and
distract them from working with the United States." Water, on its own, was unlikely
to bring down governments. But the report warned that shortages could threaten
food production and energy supply and put additional stress on governments
struggling with poverty and social tensions. Some of those tensions are already apparent on the
ground. The Pacific Institute, which studies issues of water and global security, found a fourfold increase in violent
confrontations over water over the last decade. "I think the risk of conflicts over water is growing not shrinking
because of increased competition, because of bad management and, ultimately, because of the impacts of climate
change," said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute. There are dozens of potential flashpoints, spanning the
globe. In the Middle East, Iranian officials are making contingency plans for water rationing in the greater Tehran
area, home to 22 million people. Egypt has demanded Ethiopia stop construction of a mega-dam on the Nile,
vowing to protect its historical rights to the river at "any cost". The Egyptian authorities have called for a study into
whether the project would reduce the river's flow. Jordan, which has the third lowest reserves in the region, is
struggling with an influx of Syrian refugees. The country is undergoing power cuts because of water shortages. Last
week, Prince Hassan, the uncle of King Abdullah, warned that a war over water and energy could be even bloodier
than the Arab spring. The United Arab Emirates, faced with a growing population, has invested in desalination
projects and is harvesting rainwater. At an international water conference in Abu Dhabi last year, Crown Prince
General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan said: "For us, water is [now] more important than oil." The chances
of countries going to war over water were slim at least over the next decade, the national intelligence report said.
But it warned ominously: "As water shortages become more acute beyond the next 10 years, water in shared basins
will increasingly be used as leverage; the use of water as a weapon or to further terrorist objectives will become
more likely beyond 10 years." Gleick predicted such conflicts would take other trajectories. He expected water
tensions would erupt on a more local scale. "I think the biggest worry today is sub-national conflicts conflicts
between farmers and cities, between ethnic groups, between pastoralists and farmers in Africa, between upstream
users and downstream users on the same river," said Gleick. "We have more tools at the international level to
resolve disputes between nations. We have diplomats. We have treaties. We have international organisations that
reduce the risk that India and Pakistan will go to war over water but we have far fewer tools at the sub-national
level." And new fault lines are emerging with energy production. America's oil and gas rush is putting growing
demands on a water supply already under pressure from drought and growing populations. More than half the
nearly 40,000 wells drilled since 2011 were in drought-stricken areas, a report from the Ceres green investment
network found last week. About 36% of those wells were in areas already experiencing groundwater depletion. How
governments manage those water problems and protect their groundwater reserves will be critical. When
California emerged from its last prolonged dry spell, in 2010, the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins were
badly depleted. The two river basins lost 10km3 of freshwater each year in 2012 and 2013, dropping the total
volume of snow, surface water, soil moisture and groundwater to the lowest levels in nearly a decade. Without rain,
those reservoirs are projected to drop even further during this drought. State officials are already preparing to drill
additional wells to draw on groundwater. Famiglietti said that would be a mistake. "We are standing on a cliff looking
over the edge and we have to decide what we are going to do," he said. "Are we just going to plunge into this next
epic drought and tremendous, never-before-seen rates of groundwater depletion, or are we going to buckle down
and start thinking of managing critical reserve for the long term? We are standing on a precipice here."
Biofuels Bad Ext

Production of algae biofuels takes up water
Johnson|2012
(Fields of coverage: Government, including Dept. of Energy, Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board, and Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, as well as the general areas of energy, chemical accidents, plant security, nuclear waste, science, and technology.| October
29, 2012| http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i44/Algal-Biofuels-Ready-Scale.html| Algal Biofuels Not Ready For Scale-Up| AWEY)
Using todays technologies and knowledge, a scale-up of fledgling algal biofuel

production sufficient to meet even 5% of U.S. transportation fuel demand is
unsustainable, says a report released last week by the National Research Council
(NRC). The report examines the efficiency of producing biofuels from microalgae and
cyanobacteria with respect to energy, water, and nutrient requirements and finds
that the process falls short. The energy from algal biofuel, the report finds, is less
than the energy needed to make it. In terms of water, at least 32.5 billion gal would
be needed to produce 10 billion gal of algae-based biofuels, the report states. The
study also finds that making enough algal biofuels to replace just 5% of U.S. annual
transportation fuel needs would require 44107% of the total nitrogen and 2051%
of the total phosphorus consumed annually in the U.S.
Algae biofuels take up too much water use

Service|2012
(Robert F. Service writes about chemistry and materials science, delving into topics ranging from solar energy and fuel cells to
proteomics and artificial bone. Bob majored in psychology and international studies at the University of Oregon. From there he moved on
to work on a research project at Oregon Health Sciences University. After a short stint in research, Bob decided he preferred writing
about research to actually carrying it out. So it was off to New York University, where he earned a masters degree in journalism at the
schools Science and Environmental Reporting Program.| 24 October 2012| http://news.sciencemag.org/2012/10/large-scale-algae-biofuelscurrently-unsustainable-new-report-concludes| Large-Scale Algae Biofuels Currently Unsustainable, New Report Concludes| AWEY)
A report out today from the National Research Council (NRC) of the U.S. National
Academies says that large-scale production of biofuels from algae is untenable with
existing technology, as it would require the use of too much water, energy, and
fertilizer. To improve matters, the report's authors suggest that the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE), which supports much of the research in the field, should conduct
assessments of proposed technologies that examine sustainability at all stages of
fuel production, including growing or collecting algae and harvesting their oil and
converting it into transportation fuels. Efforts to make biofuel from algae have been
under way for more than 3 decades, and have picked up considerable steam in
recent years. Algae's big advantage is that unlike traditional biofuels, such as
ethanol made from corn kernels or sugar, algae wouldn't compete for agricultural
land with food crops. It also has the potential to produce as much as 10 times more
fuel per hectare, according to the DOE's 2010 National Algal Biofuels Technology
Roadmap. But there are many different approaches to growing algae, such as
growing the microscopic plants in shallow outdoor ponds, or in enclosed plastic
tubes called bioreactors. And the industry is far from settled on a single approach.
No matter what the strategy, however, the NRC committee concluded that current
technology scaled up to produce 39 billion liters a yearapproximately 5% of U.S.
transportation fuel needswould require an unsustainable level of inputs. Current
technologies, for example, need between 3.15 liters and 3650 liters of water to
produce the amount of algal biofuel equivalent to 1 liter of gasoline, the panel
concluded. (That's potentially less than the estimated 5 liters to 2140 liters of water
required to produce a liter of ethanol from corn, but more than the 1.9 liters to 6.6
liters of water needed to produce a liter of petroleum-based gasoline.) Growers
would also have to add between 6 million and 15 million metric tons of nitrogen and
between 1 million and 2 million metric tons of phosphorus to produce 39 billion
liters of algal biofuels. That's between 44% and 107% of the total use of nitrogen in
the United States, and between 20% and 51% of the nation's phosphorus use for
agriculture.
Algae biofuels are unsustainable

SciDevNet|2010
(SciDev.Net's website is the worlds leading source of reliable and authoritative news, views and analysis on information about science
and technology for global development. We engage primarily with development professionals, policymakers, researchers, the media and
the informed public.| 07/05/10| http://www.scidev.net/global/biofuels/news/biofuels-from-algae-plagued-with-problems-says-review-1.html| Biofuels
from algae plagued with problems, says review| AWEY)
Hopes that algae could become a source of biodiesel that is friendly both to the
environment and the poor may be premature, according to a review. When early sources
of biofuels mostly derived from food crops incurred widespread criticism for
being harmful to the environment, undermining food security, and being unlikely to
reduce overall carbon emissions, algae emerged as a potential biofuel source that could sidestep these
problems. But they have serious drawbacks that may mean they can never compete with
other fuels, according to Gerhard Knothe, a research chemist with the US
Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. "One aspect that has
received little to no attention in the rush to develop fuels from algae is fuel
properties," said Knothe. "Will the properties of fuels ultimately derived from algae be competitive with
the properties of existing fuels or biofuels? "Unfortunately, there are virtually no literature reports on the properties
of algae-derived biodiesel." When researching his paper, 'Production and Properties of Biodiesel from Algal Oils'
which will be published by Springer in a book, currently in press, entitled Algae for Biofuels and Energy, he made
Knothe found that "many, if not most" of the biodiesel fuels

derived from algae have "significant problems" when it comes to their ability to flow
well at lower temperatures ('cold flow') and they also degrade more easily than
other biofuels. This is because many algal oils from which the biodiesels are
derived contain relatively high amounts of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty
acids. Knothe said that researchers have been focusing on improving only the production of algae and fuels, but
the need to investigate the fuel properties is now "urgent". "The best production method may
ultimately not accomplish much if the fuel is not competitive in terms of properties,"
he told SciDev.Net. Luiz Pereira Ramos, chemist at the Federal University of Parana, Brazil, said Knothe was
"unexpected" findings, he said.
"absolutely correct. Most of the algae-derived biodiesel investigated to date are not suitable for fuel use." The
principal hope for overcoming the problem, both scientists said, is through genetic engineering of algae so they
yield oils with more useful properties. "However, this reality is still far away from anything practical," said Ramos.
But Steve Howell, president of the biodiesel consulting firm MARC-IV, and lead technical advisor for the National
Biodiesel Board in the United States, said that genetic expertise is advancing fast and changes such as these are
"infinitely more feasible than [they were] just a few years ago"
Algal biofuels are unsustainable- they take too many resources

to produce
Rampton and Zabarenko 12
(Roberta and Deborah- staff writers, Algae biofuel not sustainable nowU.S. research council, Reuters, 10/24/12, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-usa-biofuels-algaeidUSBRE89N1Q820121024), Shapiro
Biofuels made from algae, promoted by President Barack Obama as a possible way to help wean Americans off foreign oil,
cannot be made now on a large scale without using unsustainable amounts of energy, water
and fertilizer, the U.S. National Research Council reported on Wednesday. "Faced with today's
technology, to scale up any more is going to put really big demands on ... not only
energy input, but water, land and the nutrients you need , like carbon dioxide, nitrate and phosphate," said
Jennie Hunter-Cevera, a microbial physiologist who headed the committee that wrote the report. Hunter-Cevera stressed that this is not a definitive
algal biofuels, but a recognition that they may not be ready to supply even 5 percent, or
approximately 10.3 billion gallons (39 billion liters), of U.S. transportation fuel needs. "Algal biofuels
is still a teenager that needs to be developed and nurtured," she said by telephone. The National Research Council is part of the National
rejection of
Academies, a group of private nonprofit institutions that advise government on science, technology and health policy. Its sustainability assessment was
requested by the Department of Energy, which has invested heavily in projects to develop the alternative fuel. In 2009, the Department of Energy and the
Department of Agriculture awarded San Diego-based Sapphire Energy Inc more than $100 million in grants and loan guarantees to help build a plant in
New Mexico that will produce commercial quantities of algal biofuel. Two other companies received smaller amounts of federal assistance.
Net-Benefits - Environment Turn

Turn- Algae is harmful to the environment
Howell| 2010
(Katie Howell is a freelance writer and editor based in Washington, D.C. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today,
Scientific American, National Geographic Traveler, Kiplingers Personal Finance, Greenwire, nationalgeographic.com and Knitty.com.
Katie holds a bachelors degree in journalism and geology from Washington and Lee University and a masters degree in geology from
Louisiana State University.| Jan 22, 2010| http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/algae-biofuel-growth-environmental-impact/| Is Algae Worse
than Corn for Biofuels?| AWEY)
Algae production consumes more energy, has higher greenhouse gas emissions and
uses more water than other biofuel sources, like corn, switch grass and canola, Clarens and his colleagues found by
using a statistical model to compare growth data of algae with conventional crops. "From a life-cycle standpoint, algae are
not nearly as desirable as you would think they are," Clarens said . "And that was surprising to us."
The culprit, the researchers say, is fertilizer. Growing algae in open ponds is akin to
producing them in a shallow swimming pool, Clarens said, so all of the nutrients -nitrogen and phosphorus -- needed to keep them alive and boost their production
come from outside sources. And that fertilizer has an environmental impact because
it's often made from petroleum feedstocks, Clarens said . "If you grow corn, you rotate the field with
soybeans so you get nitrogen fixation," Clarens said. "You still have to fertilize a lot, but if you're growing algae ... all that fertilizer has to come from you,
and the fertilizing demands are much higher." Carbon dioxide also contributes to algae's environmental footprint. Algae use sunlight and water to convert
carbon dioxide into materials that can be easily converted into fuel. But that CO2 has to come from somewhere, Clarens said. And until it's economical to
Algae
production has some other negative environmental impacts, Clarens said. For one,
to convert algae into fuel, producers centrifuge the algae-laden water to separate
the two, and that takes "a fair amount of energy," Clarens said . But Clarens and his colleagues aren't
pull it out of coal-fired power plant smokestacks or other industrial sources, it comes from petroleum-based sources, as well.
writing off algae as a potential future energy source. "We wanted to point to areas where algae performs poorly so we'll have a bit of a road map if we do
decide to go down the algae road," Clarens said. The algae industry has called for life-cycle assessments and is working on its own complete analysis,
Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the Algal Biomass Organization, said in an e-mailed statement. She said her organization had not had time to fully
review the paper and could not comment on it specifically. "However, in general, the Algal Biomass Organization firmly believes life cycle assessments are
critical to the development of the industry, given the need to accurately assess and quantify the environmental impact of algae-derived energy," she said.
"Our membership supports the development of robust [life-cycle assessments], but believes that the process should include input from a multitude of
stakeholders, including algae technology companies, [nongovernmental organizations] and other scientists." The data used in Clarens' study came from
previously published work about algae growth demonstrations since the 1980s, he said.
Environment Ext
Production of algae biofuels harms the environment
Energy Justice Network|No Date
(Energy Justice is the grassroots energy agenda, supporting communities threatened by polluting energy and waste technologies. Taking
direction from our grassroots base and the Principles of Environmental Justice, we advocate a clean energy, zero-emission, zero-waste
future for all.| http://www.energyjustice.net/biodiesel/algae| Algae Biofuels| AWEY)
Algae biofuels have been explored for decades , with more attention in the past decade.
Fundamental problems keep it from making sense... mainly the need for a concentrated CO2 source and large
amounts of water and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous). One problem with commercially producing biodiesel
from algae is that it needs a concentrated and plentiful CO2 source. This requires hitching this "green" industry to
dirty pollution sources that ought to be rapidly phased out, such as coal power plants. This marriage of algae
biodiesel to coal has resulted in such public relations articles with titles like "Algae - like a breath mint for
massive amounts of
investment dollars would need to be spent on "clean coal" gasification systems
perpetuating coal use (and the related destruction from mining, burning and waste
disposal). Such money would go much further if invested in genuine clean energy
strategies. To make the industry commercially viable, researchers have pursued
biotech varieties, which could be particularly dangerous if released into nature.
Some algae biodiesel proposals involve aquaculture-style operations in open ocean
waters, which could have harmful ecological effects, especially if biotech algae is
used. Water and nutrient use would also be extreme, making any serious scaling up
of algae biofuels quite unsustainable. The National Research Council of the National Academy of
smokestacks. To obtain a purified CO2 source from power plant exhaust,
Sciences has explored this in a 2012 report called "Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels," which found the
Biofuels made from algae are gaining attention as a domestic source of

renewable fuel. However, with current technologies, scaling up production of algal
biofuels to meet even 5 percent of U.S. transportation fuel needs could create
unsustainable demands for energy, water, and nutrient resources. Continued research and
following:
development could yield innovations to address these challenges, but determining if algal biofuel is a viable fuel
alternative will involve comparing the environmental, economic and social impacts of algal biofuel production and
use to those associated with petroleum-based fuels and other fuel sources. This report was produced at the request
of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Politics
Private Sectors are distinct from the government
PrivacySense| No date
(PrivacySense is a unique website that provides free, informative resources on Canadian privacy legislation for individuals and
organizations. It enables both parties to understand Canadian privacy legislation and the rights and obligations imposed under
legislation like PIPEDA.| http://www.privacysense.net/difference-between-private-public-sector/| The Difference Between the Private and Public
Sector| AWEY)
The Private Sector private sector The private sector is usually composed of
organizations that are privately owned and not part of the government. These
usually includes corporations (both profit and non-profit), partnerships, and
charities. An easier way to think of the private sector is by thinking of organizations
that are not owned or operated by the government. For example, retail stores,
credit unions, and local businesses will operate in the private sector. The Public
Sector public sector The public sector is usually composed of organizations that are
owned and operated by the government. This includes federal, provincial, state, or
municipal governments, depending on where you live. Privacy legislation usually
calls organizations in the public sector a public body or a public authority. Some
examples of public bodies in Canada and the United Kingdom are educational
bodies, health care bodies, police and prison services, and local and central
government bodies and their departments.
CP has no effect on congress, we dont link to politics.
(S) Purification
Shock electrodialysis purifies water while removing pathogens
Jerome|2014
(Sara Jerome is a Freelance reporter| February 21, 2014|http://www.wateronline.com/doc/electrodialysis-the-future-of-desalination-0001| Electrodialysis:
The Future Of Desalination?| AWEY)
Is electrodialysis the next great desalination technology? Possibly, according to the

MIT Technology Review. Electrodialysis "works by allowing sodium and chlorine ions
to pass through a membrane in the presence of an electric field, leaving purified
water on the other side," the report said. But for this method to become viable, certain hurdles must
be cleared. "Electrodialysis has the potential to desalinate seawater quickly and cheaply but does not remove other
contaminants such as dirt and bacteria," the report said. Now, in a potential breakthrough, researchers at the
institute believe they have pinpointed "a way to produce clean drinking water in a single step using electrodialysis,"
the report said. Daosheng Deng and other researchers at MIT are examining this possibility. His team claims that
"the key is to place a layer of porous material close to the cathode which then acts as a filter and removes anything
The researchers said in the article:

We were able to kill or remove approximately 99 percent of viable E Coli bacteria
present in the feed water upon flowing through the shock electrodialysis device with
applied voltage. The backdrop: The most common method of desalination is
reverse osmosis (RO). "This works by pumping water through a membrane that
does not allow sodium or chlorine ions to pass. Thats significantly less energy
intensive than traditional desalination methods but is limited by the rate at which
water can pass through the membrane," the report said. Even without perfect
technology, how hot is the desalination market these days? It's getting hotter,
according to CNBC, as a result of the California drought. "In light of the extreme
drought in California, people are wondering how quickly desalination plants can
come on line," said Christiana Peppard, an expert on fresh water ethics, in the
report. "But desalination is not a panacea. It's only as good as the contexts in which
it is deployed and the goals that are set for it." Officials in California are watching Israel's track
that cannot pass through the micropores," according to the report.
record with desalination for hints on how to move forward, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. "In Israel,
desalination now provides about one-quarter of the countrys water supply," the report said.
Shock Electrodialysis is cheap and effective

World News Update| 2014
( Wednesday, February 12, 2014|http://1newsupdate.blogspot.com/2014/02/new-desalination-technique-also-cleans.html| New
Desalination Technique Also Cleans and Disinfects Water| AWEY)
Electrodialysis has the potential to desalinate seawater quickly and cheaply but does
not remove other contaminants such as dirt and bacteria. Now chemical engineers have worked out
how to do that too. One of the world's most pressing needs is to supply clean
drinking water to the its population. In rural areas, almost half the population does
not have access to clean water so the challenge is clear and present . The problem, of
course, is that most of the planet's water is saline. So finding ways to desalinate seawater is a key goal. Today,
Daosheng Deng and pals at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, say they've developed a new
way to desalinate water, known as shock electrodialysis, that not only removes salt but particulate matter and
'Shock electrodialysis has the potential to enable more compact and

efficient water purification systems,' they say. One of the big problems with desalination is its cost.
bacteria too.
The most common method is to distill seawater in a vacuum so that its boiling point is lower than usual. However,
this is an energy intensive process that is expensive. So engineers are constantly on the lookout for cheaper
methods. The most common of these is reverse osmosis. This works by pumping water through a membrane that
does not allow sodium or chlorine ions to pass. That's significantly less energy intensive than traditional
desalination methods but is limited by the rate at which water can pass through the membrane. So in recent years,
engineers have begun to study a process called electrodialysis. This works in the opposite way by allowing sodium
and chlorine ions to pass through a membrane in the presence of an electric field, leaving purified water on the
other side. Because only the ions, rather than the water molecules, pass through the membrane, the rate at which
this can desalinate is much higher than reverse osmosis. But there is a problem with electrodialysis. Although it
removes the salt from water, it does not remove other contaminants such as dirt and bacteria. So it requires
additional stages of filtration and disinfection to make the water drinkable. Now Deng and co say they have found a
way to produce clean drinking water in a single step using electrodialysis. The key is to place a layer of porous
material close to the cathode which then acts as a filter and removes anything that cannot pass through the
micropores. The porous material in question is fitted glass, which is made by sintering together glass particles to
form a porous solid. The pore size is around 0.5 micrometres so anything larger than that, such as dirt particles,
cannot pass. Bacteria tend to be smaller though. But Deng and co show that these do not pass through the material
either, probably because they get trapped or because they are destroyed by the powerful electric fields close to the
cathode. 'We were able to kill or remove approximately 99% of viable E Coli bacteria present in the feedwater upon
flowing through the shock electrodialysis device with applied voltage,' they say. Either way, the output from the new
device is purified water with little if any of the original contaminants. That's a useful machine. Anything that can
desalinate water while also filtering and disinfecting it is worthy of further study. Deng and co suggest that it could
be useful for chemical engineering. The bigger question, of course, is whether such a device could cost-effectively
purify water on a larger scale for those who need it most. That would mean using photovoltaic power, for example,
and producing reliable flow rates over an extended period of time. That's another challenge entirely. Turning a labbased prototype into a practical, reliable machine is just as hard again. But given the stakes, the lives of millions of
people, it's certainly worth aiming for.
A2 Technology is Inefficient
Shock Electrodialysis is an efficient way to desalinate water as
well as removing 99% of water pathogens.
Paulson|2/17/14
(Linda Dailey Paulson is an experienced freelance writer and editor. She covers product safety issues here on US Recall News. Mrs.
Paulson has over 20 years of experience in journalism as both a writer and editor, which she brings to her articles about everything from
vehicle and product recalls to the BPA safety debate and fruity malt liquor.| 2/17/2014| http://www.rwlwater.com/one-step-water-desalinationpurification/| One-Step Water Desalination, Purification Method Described| AWEY)
Clean drinking water access is a worldwide problem that is increasingly addressed

by desalination, which can take saltwater from the ocean, or groundwater that has
concentrations of salt that make it unfit for human consumption, and treat it to make it potable. Massachusetts
Institute of Technology scientists now say they have developed a new method for water
desalination that not only removes salt, but particulates and bacteria as well. Old
Process, New Twist Desalination is an ancient, low-tech water purification technology humans have long sought to
improve, including creating large-scale facilities although the technology originally met the water needs of a few
people. Common methods for desalination include distillation and reverse osmosis. Distillation is energy intensive
and expensive now costing between $1.52 and $2.05 per cubic meter, according to The World Bank, but as low
as between 50 and 65 cents per cubic meter at some facilities in Israel. Reverse osmosis is typically a more
Scientists have been investigating

electrodialysis, which allows sodium and chlorine ions to pass through a membrane
in the presence of an electric field, leaving purified water. The rate of desalination
using this method is much higher because only the ions pass through the
membrane. Electrodialysis does not remove or filter any other contaminants, requiring additional water
affordable technology, but it is a slower method.
treatment stages to make the water potable. Single-Step Treatment Daosheng Deng and colleagues say their new
method is able to produce clean drinking water in a single step using electrodialysis .
Shock electrodialysis,
or shock ED, uses a layer of porous material fitted glass placed near the
cathode for filtering substances from the water. The shock electrodialysis method
can also disinfect 99 percent of the bacteria found in the feedwater, according to
researchers. Bacteria, which are smaller, are either trapped or destroyed by electric fields near the cathode.
Because shock electrodialysis combines filtration, separation, and disinfection which are typically different stages
in the water treatment process with deionization, the researchers say their water distillation technology can
potentially lead to the creation of more compact and efficient water purification systems. Their next challenge is
scaling it up to work in a full-scale desalination plant.
A2 Permutation Do Both
Perm links to the net benefit- use of algae to desalinate water
results in environmental extinction, only the CP alone can
solve.
Perm fails- Algae fuels unsustainable
Stolte| 2012
(Researcher Daniel Stolte, The University of Arizona, Department of Communication, United States, Developmental Biology, Marine Biology and Zoology.|
November 7, 2012| http://www.futurity.org/is-biofuel-from-algae-green-enough-yet/| IS BIOFUEL FROM ALGAE GREEN ENOUGH YET?| AWEY)
U. ARIZONA (US) Algal biofuels are not quite ready for prime time, says Joel
Cuello, co-author of a new report evaluating the alternative fuels current drawbacks
and its potential. Increasing the production of biofuels made from algae to meet at
least 5 percent of US transportation fuel needs would place unsustainable demands
on energy, water, and nutrients, according to the report from the National Research
Council, or NRC. However, these concerns are not a definitive barrier for future production, and innovations
that would require research and development could help realize algal biofuels full potential. In other words , if
scaled up today, the resources that have to go into production would not be
sustainable, says NRC committee member Joel Cuello, a professor in the University of Arizona
department of agricultural and biosystems engineering. However, in our report we say that this not a show
stopper, because there are technology combinations that can be designed and developed to make the production
process more environmentally sustainable. For algal biofuels to contribute a significant amount of fuel for
transportation in the future, the committee says, research and development would be needed to improve algal
strains, test additional strains for desired characteristics, advance the materials and methods for growing and
processing algae into fuels, and reduce the energy requirements for multiple stages of production.
Algal biofuels are unsustainable- they take too many resources

to produce
Rampton and Zabarenko 12
(Roberta and Deborah- staff writers, Algae biofuel not sustainable nowU.S. research council, Reuters, 10/24/12, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-usa-biofuels-algaeidUSBRE89N1Q820121024), Shapiro
Biofuels made from algae, promoted by President Barack Obama as a possible way to help wean Americans off foreign oil,
cannot be made now on a large scale without using unsustainable amounts of energy, water
and fertilizer, the U.S. National Research Council reported on Wednesday. "Faced with today's
technology, to scale up any more is going to put really big demands on ... not only
energy input, but water, land and the nutrients you need , like carbon dioxide, nitrate and phosphate," said
Jennie Hunter-Cevera, a microbial physiologist who headed the committee that wrote the report. Hunter-Cevera stressed that this is not a definitive
algal biofuels, but a recognition that they may not be ready to supply even 5 percent, or
approximately 10.3 billion gallons (39 billion liters), of U.S. transportation fuel needs. "Algal biofuels
is still a teenager that needs to be developed and nurtured," she said by telephone. The National Research Council is part of the National
rejection of
Academies, a group of private nonprofit institutions that advise government on science, technology and health policy. Its sustainability assessment was
requested by the Department of Energy, which has invested heavily in projects to develop the alternative fuel. In 2009, the Department of Energy and the
Department of Agriculture awarded San Diego-based Sapphire Energy Inc more than $100 million in grants and loan guarantees to help build a plant in
New Mexico that will produce commercial quantities of algal biofuel. Two other companies received smaller amounts of federal assistance.
Aff - Algae Oil Good

Algae oil is the most effective renewable biofuel- easy to
produce
Abishek 14
(Monford Paul Abishek, Jay Patel, and Anand Prem Rajan- School of Bio Sciences and Technology,
VIT University, India, Algae Oil: A Sustainable Renewable Fuel of Future, Biotechnology Research International,
5/5/14, http://www.hindawi.com/journals/btri/2014/272814/), Shapiro
evergreen
renewable natural source, algae oil . Microalgae cover unicellular and simple multicellular microorganisms, including
In this paper, we have focused on addressing the global oil shortage by replacing nonrenewable source of oil reservoir by
prokaryotic microalgae that are cyanobacteria (chloroxybacteria) and eukaryotic microalgae for example, green algae (chlorophyta), and diatoms
microalgae are beneficial as they are capable of all year production [9];
they grow in aqueous media and hence need less water than terrestrial crops [10];
microalgae can be cultivated in brackish water on noncultivated land [11] and they
have rapid growth potential and have oil content up to 2050% dry weight of
biomass [12, 13]. Unlike other biodiesel corps microalgae does not require herbicides or pesticides [13],
microalgae also produce beneficial coproducts such as proteins and residual
biomass after oil extraction, which can be used as feed or fertilizer or can be
fermented to produce ethanol or methane [14]; the oil yield, can be significantly increased by varying growth
(bacillariophuta). These
conditions to modulate biochemical composition of algal biomass [15]. They also produce beneficial coproducts such as proteins and residual biomass
after oil extraction, which can be used as feed or fertilizer or can be fermented to produce ethanol or methane [16]; the oil yield can be significantly
increased by varying growth conditions to modulate biochemical composition of algal biomass [17]. The algal biofuel technology includes selection of
specific species for production and extraction of valuable co-products [18]. The algaes are bioengineered for achieving advanced photosynthetic
efficiencies through continued development of production system [19]. Challenges include, only single species cultivation techniques which are developed
Algae oil may be less

economically which includes techniques such as water pumping, CO2 transmission,
harvesting and extraction [21]. Fatal compounds such as NOx and SOx are produced in high concentrations as fuel gases, which are
not environmental friendly [22]. Microalgae are sunlight-driven cell factories that transform carbon
dioxide to potential biofuels, foods, feeds, and high-value bioactive. In addition, these
so far and are recommended to follow globally, but mixed culture may yield more algae oil than mono culture [20].
photosynthetic microorganisms are useful in bioremediation applications and as nitrogen fixing biofertilizers. This review focuses on microalgae as a
The idea of using microalgae as a source of fuel is not novel, but it is now taken
seriously because of the increasing price of petroleum and , more significantly, the emerging
issues about global warming and greenhouse effect that is associated with
incinerating fossil fuels. Thus, several companies are involved in the production of algal fuel in order to decrease global warming and
potential basis of biodiesel.
greenhouse effect. Biodiesel is an established fuel. In the United States, biodiesel is produced mainly from soybeans [23]. Other origins of commercial
biodiesel include canola oil, animal fat, palm oil, corn oil [24], and waste cooking oil. Microalgae offer several different kinds of renewable biofuels [25].
Aff - Not Economically Viable

---Fails --- Cant handle high levels of salt.
GWI 2014 Salt removal versus water removal, Vol 50, Issue 27
http://www.desalination.com/wdr/50/27/salt-removal-versusremoval
Salt
removal technologies are a natural thermodynamic fit for lower salinity

streams, but struggle to be competitive when desalting seawater and higher salinity
waters. Unfortunately, at very low salinities it is hard to drive high electrical currents
through salt removal systems and this reduces salt removal rates and increases
equipment size. For this reason, ED is more effective for applications requiring only partial desalination as
opposed to those requiring very low final product TDS.
---Fails --- Too energy intensive.

Holt 2006 Jason K., Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Desalinating water
cheaply - exploring technologies,
http://www.sciencearchive.org.au/events/lectures-andspeeches/26october06.html
Another membrane-based technology is electrodialysis. With this technique cation- and anion-selective
membranes, along with electrodes, drive the positive and negative ions to opposite sides, producing demineralised
permeate. Another technique, which is commonly used in arid regions like north Africa and the Middle East, is
thermal-based distillation, where heat is used to distil the water. Some of that heat is recaptured from vapour
condensation. Slide 9 (Click on image for a larger version) So what do the energy figures look like? This graph shows
the salinity, for both reverse osmosis and electrodialysis, plotted against the cost in megajoules per cubic
centimetre. Reverse osmosis, as I have mentioned, involves significant energy costs because of the
high pressures needed to push the saline water across the membrane. The natural osmotic pressure has to be
overcome, and the water needs to be driven across the membrane at significant flow rates: this is very energy
The membranes that are used are not very

permeable to the ions; they have high resistivity. And electrodialysis is not very efficient
except for brackish water. As you can see from the cost curves, at higher salinities, as represented by sea
intensive. Electrodialysis suffers from similar problems.
water, RO is the more cost effective alternative. The thermal methods require significantly higher energy expenses.
Theoretically, the minimum amount of energy required to separate water from the saline solution is about 1000 kW
per acre foot. The amount of energy needed to distil saline water is 800 times more than that. This is why thermal
distillation isn't plotted on the curve. It is the most energy intensive of all the techniques and is really only suitable
in regions like north Africa and the Middle East.
---Fails --- Too expensive.

Tarantola 2012 Andrew, Gawker Media, New Microbial Fuel
Cells Could Turn Sewage Plants Into Power Plants,
http://www.gizmodo.in/science/New-Microbial-Fuel-Cells-CouldTurn-Sewage-Plants-Into-PowerPlants/articleshow/19134294.cms
Microbial fuel cells are notoriously inefficient. Electrodialysis systems are notoriously expensive .
However if you combine the two and add some poo, they can turn waste water into a viable power source. The
future of green energy is brown.
Aff - No (S) Desalination Fails

---Desalination cant solve at all- the best method is to
regulate trade and improve water infrastructure.
Crews 13
(Wayne- VP for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, How to Have Enough Water for
Everybody, Competitive Enterprise Institute, 5/28/13, http://cei.org/2013/05/28/how-to-have-enough-water-foreverybody), Shapiro
Desalination does boast impressive working applications, but it is an energy-intensive, by-productladen way to make expensive potable water. Happily, water is not getting more scarce
overall; its an earthly constant. But pricing and allocation of that constant water supply do matter. We
should avoid having Government Steer While the Market Merely Rows. When linking any
research to human needs, private investors can test low-probability projects, counting on the rare success to offset multiple failures.
Federal funding, further, fosters

needless conflict: over the merits of basic vs. applied research, over government vs.
industry science; over assignment of intellectual property, and here, even over
coping with environmental harm associated with the sourcing and externalities of
desalination itself. Politics has trouble with tradeoffs: Why brackish groundwater desalination instead of seawater, or
We have to be good at killing bad projects. That requires market processes.
smaller scale solar still-type projects, or why not countless alternative water investments and strategies? The dilemma affects all
policy areas; Why not nanotech? Or biotech? Or methane hydrates? Or Robotics? Fortunately,
taxpayer subsidies appear not to alter the ratio of GDP spent on R&D. So we should avoid fostering any Declaration of
all innovations bring risks. Government funding can

magnify risks and environmental problems by propelling technologies ahead of the
free markets ability to properly assimilate them. In genuine markets, disciplines like liability, insurance,
Dependence on federal dollars in any sector. Also,
waste stream recapture and environmental stewardship must evolve alongside frontier technologies. Rather than the National
advocate the separation of water and

state. Water resources and environmental amenities should be better integrated
into the property-rights, wealth-creating sector, an evolution derailed in the progressive era. First,
better pricing of existing supplies can make shortages vanish. Despite everything, gallons
cost less than a penny, but they fill swimming pools and quench lush lawns in arid
areas. Second, improving water infrastructure can reduce the waste that now depletes
some 17 percent of the annual supply, as noted in a Competitive Enterprise Institute report by Bonner Cohen.
Research Councils recommendations and the National Labs roadmap, I
Third, better transport, including pipelines and canals, trucking, and crude oil carriers can secure supply more cheaply than
improved trades between cities, farmers and private conservation

campaigns can be essential to pricing and value. All these can supplement direct
sourcing alternatives including gray and wastewater treatment and reclamation,
storm water harvesting and surface storage.
desalination. Fourth,
---Desalination Fails --- High resource and environmental costs

make it not viable.
Nitz 2012 Brian, 5 Technologies to Make Desalination More
Efficient, http://www.greenprophet.com/2012/03/technologiesdesalination-efficient/
Regardless of which desalination technique is used, the concentrated salt removed
from the water must be disposed of or it could devastate marine wildlife in the
outflow region. Ideally the salt would be separated for industrial use. Otherwise its
return to the sea must be managed carefully to avoid poisoning sea life. There is no
quick fix on the horizon and even the theoretical ideal desalination plant consumes
quite a lot of energy and pollutes the sea. So water conservation will continue to be
important for the foreseeable future.
Deep Sea Bed Mining
1NC Canada Deep Seabed Mining CP

Plan: Canada should <insert plan> through Nautilus Mining
Inc.
Canada is global leader in deep sea mining-best tech
BCIT 14 [British Columbia Institute of Technology, Build Your Mining Career on a
Rock-solid Base: Start Here... Go Anywhere, 2014,
http://www.bcit.ca/study/programs/6610diplt] Mittal
The Mining and Mineral Exploration Technology program focuses on geology, mining methods, exploration
technology, surveying, and computer applications for mining operations and mineral explorations. Students learn
hands-on science and engineering skills, and complete an industry-standard report during the second year of the
Mining is a cornerstone
industry of many communities throughout BC and Canada and it is a major
contributor to our economy. Canada is recognized as a world leader in mineral
exploration and mining, and our expertise is exported around the world to help
discover, develop, and operate mines. As one of the largest users of hightechnology equipment and applications, the mining industry requires practitioners
who have the skills necessary to keep up with these advances. Virtually all technical
jobs within mining and mineral exploration, including geology, engineering, mineral
processing, environmental assessment and surveying , require post-secondary education. If you
full-time program. We also offer a variety of part-time and online courses.
are interested in a varied work environment, in the office, lab or field, and like solving scientific problems, this
program will appeal to you. Take the Mining and Mineral Exploration Technology program, the only program of its
kind in Western Canada.
<NB>
2NC Solvency
Canada is already deep sea mining- New Guinea project
Shukman 4-25 [David, Science Editor for BBC News, Agreement reached on deep
sea mining,
4-25-14, http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27158883]
Mittal
Plans to open the world's first mine in the deep oceans have moved significantly
closer to becoming reality. A Canadian mining company has finalised an agreement
with Papua New Guinea to start digging up an area of seabed. The controversial project
aims to extract ores of copper, gold and other valuable metals from a depth of
1,500m. However, environmental campaigners say mining the ocean floor will prove devastating, causing lasting damage to marine life. The company, Nautilus
Minerals, has been eyeing the seabed minerals off Papua New Guine a (PNG) since the
1990s but then became locked in a lengthy dispute with the PNG government over the terms of the operation. Under the agreement just reached, PNG will take a 15% stake in
the mine by contributing $120m towards the costs of the operation. Mike Johnston, chief executive of Nautilus Minerals, told BBC News: "It's a taken a long time but everybody is very
happy." "There's always been a lot of support for this project and it's very appealing that it will generate a significant amount of revenue in a region that wouldn't ordinarily expect that
to happen." The mine will target an area of hydrothermal vents where superheated, highly acidic water emerges from the seabed, where it encounters far colder and more alkaline
seawater, forcing it to deposit high concentrations of minerals. The result is that the seabed is formed of ores that are far richer in gold and copper than ores found on land. Mr
Johnston said that a temperature probe left in place for 18 months was found to have "high grade copper all over it".
Canada creating new deep sea mining projects-Solwara 1

approved by PNG
The Guardian 12 [a British national daily newspaper founded in 1821, Papua New
Guinea's seabed to be mined for gold and copper, 8-6-12,
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/aug/06/papua-new-guinea-deepsea-mining] Mittal
A "new frontier" in mining is set to be opened up by the underwater extraction of
resources from the seabed off the coast of Papua New Guinea , despite vehement objections
from environmentalists and local activists. Canadian firm Nautilus Minerals has been granted a
20-year licence by the PNG government to commence the Solwara 1 project , the
world's first commercial deep sea mining operation. Nautilus will mine an area 1.6km beneath the Bismarck Sea,
50km off the coast of the PNG island of New Britain. The ore extracted contains high-grade copper and gold. The
project is being carefully watched by other mining companies keen to exploit opportunities beneath the waves. The
Deep Sea Mining (DSM) campaign, a coalition of groups opposing the PNG drilling, estimates that 1 million sq km of
sea floor in the Asia-Pacific region is under exploration licence.
Nautilus alone has around 524,000 sq
km under licence, or pending licence , in PNG, Tonga, New Zealand and Fiji.
Canada is a global leader in deep sea mining-Nautilus Mining

proves
Nautilus Minerals 6-25 [Canadian Deep Sea mining company, Seafloor Gold and
Copper exploration, 6-25-14, http://www.nautilusminerals.com/s/Home.asp] Mittal
Nautilus Minerals Inc ("Nautilus")
is the first company to explore the ocean floor for

polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits. Nautilus was granted the first mining lease
for such deposits at the prospect known as Solwara 1, in the territorial waters of Papua New
Guinea, where it is aiming to produce copper, gold and silver. The company has also
been granted its environmental permit for this site . The Company plans to grow its tenement
holdings in the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu and New Zealand as well as other areas outside the Western Pacific. Listed on the Toronto (TSX),
Nautilus has among its cornerstone shareholders three of

the world's largest resource companies and its alliances and technical partnerships
and OTCQX (NUSMF) exchanges,
position it as the world leader in deep water exploration and development of

minerals systems.
Canada is currently exploring the Deep Ocean for minerals

Patching 13 [T.H, writer for Canadian Encyclopedia, Ocean Mining, 12-16-13,
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ocean-mining/] Mittal
Deep-ocean exploration has discovered jets and springs of hot water (to 350 C) rising
from fissures and vents in ocean floors. These emissions appear to occur mainly along major ocean ridges and
They may carry various

metals and other elements in solution which, on encountering cold ocean water,
precipitate as muds, layers, crusts or chimneys. Sulphides of copper, zinc, iron and
other metals have been found in such deposits. These discoveries provide new
information to geologists about the origin of hydrothermal mineral deposits. They
may also provide future sources of economically recoverable minerals, if deposits of
suitable size, grade and location are found. The recovery of such deposits and of other mineral
along fractures of the Earth's crust, such as in the Red Sea and off the BC coast.
deposits known to lie at some depth below the ocean floor and at considerable distances from the nearest land will
be difficult. Where the distance is too great to warrant driving long tunnels from shore-based shafts, it may be
necessary to adapt techniques for offshore PETROLEUM recovery. The difficulties are further complicated by the
need to establish national and international legal controls. The recovery of metal-bearing nodules - for example,
those occurring on the ocean floor in the mid-Pacific at depths of up to 5 km - is a challenge for the future. These
fist-sized nodules contain manganese, copper, nickel and cobalt. Recovery will depend on the development of
suitable technology and on the establishment of international agreements to regulate the work. Several
multinational groups have investigated methods of recovery, including use of continuous lines of buckets, drag
scrapers and suction devices. Research is also needed to develop suitable methods for processing nodules on boats
or barges at sea.
Canada leading the charge for new and innovative deep sea
mining-got the first lease for gold and copper mining
Jamasmie 4-24 [Cecilia, news editor at MINING.com. More than 12 years of
experience in print media, TV, online media and public relations. She holds a Master
of Journalism (MJ) from the University of British Columbia, Canada, First seabed mine
to go ahead as Nautilus solves dispute with PNG, 4-24-14,
http://www.mining.com/first-seabed-mine-to-go-ahead-as-nautilus-solves-disputewith-png-87314/] Mittal
Canadian seafloor miner Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS), which won the first lease to mine
the ocean floor for gold and copper, said Thursday it has resolved a long-dragged dispute with Papua
New Guinea. The deal, said Nautilus, allows its Solwara 1 gold, copper and silver
underwater project to finally move towards production. Under the agreement, the PNG
government paid Nautilus $7 million, which entitles it to a 15% stake in the project,
with an option to increase it by another 15% in the next 12 months . In October, an
arbitrator ruled in favour of the Toronto-based company in a dispute with PNG over the ownership of the project, set
to become the first commercial deep-sea mining in the world, after a nearly two-year battle. Aside from the
dispute, Solwara has been affected by weak gold and copper prices, but CEO Mike Johnson has repeatedly said that
has not yet risked the commercial viability of the endeavour. The Solwara 1 mineoriginally slated to begin
production by the end of 2013 is located in the Bismark Sea, north of Papua New Guinea.
Deep sea mining solves for laundry list of resource problems

Winston Tarere, 21 September 2012 Auckland Institute of Technology Studied at
Auckland Institute of Technology, freelance journalist, Self-employed, Deep sea
mining to drive green growth and economy Earth Journalism Network. 21

September 2012 URL: http://earthjournalism.net/stories/6713
Dr. Samantha Smith, environmental expert employed by the Canadian
conglomerate Nautilus Minerals Inc. is promoting deep sea mining at the IUCN World
Conservation Congress organized by the here in Jeju, South Korea, as the solution to the ecological
destruction of ecosystems by terrestrial mining operations on land. The world demand for
minerals is on the rise and with the land resources stretched and the grades of minerals declining, deep sea mineral
production offer sound environmental advantages. She said the green growth can only be sustained by deep sea
deep sea mining is needed now more than ever to drive the
growth towards developing clean technologies such as solar and wind energy. To
build just one wind turbine requires 500kg of nickel plus 1000kg of copper. This
means that a single turbine requires 12 times more copper to create 1 kilowatt of
power than fossil fuels, Dr Smith said. To put things into perspective, land only
represents 30% of the earths surface while 70% is submerged underwater. Today
100% of mining is done terrestrially on 30% of the earths surface while 70%
remains untouched on the seabed. Because most of these metals especially nickel are found in the
mining. Nautilus argues that
equatorial regions, it is argued that the further we delay mining the seabed, more virgin forests have to be
destroyed to make way for mining, destroying biodiversity and tropical ecosystem as well as the earths capacity to
absorb carbon emissions. With declining quality in the average ore grade to 0.61% grade on ore extracted on land
compared to a 7.2 % grade from samples obtained on the seabed in the Bismarck Sea in PNG, these large sulphide
deposits on the seabed will become the worlds major source of gold, copper, zinc and silver. Nautilus Minerals
argue that building electric and hybrid cars with low carbon emissions and costs will require more minerals such as
copper that terrestrial mining cannot offer without further destruction to the environment, loss of biodiversity and
livelihoods from climate change. The average car built in the US today has around 50-55 pounds or 22 to 24kg of
In a hybrid electric vehicle, this amount will double to 44 to 48kg of copper

and triple to 66 to 72kg of copper in a pure electric vehicle. The vehicles inverter
system alone which delivers power to the motors is connected to them by cables
containing 8-18 kg of copper. The trade off in using more copper in vehicles in the
US is 93% less smog-forming volatile and organic compounds and 31% less nitrogen
oxide, compared to a car on fossil fuels. The Copper Development Association Inc translates this into
a one-third reduction in use of oil if three-fourths of American vehicles were electric . Operating costs of
plug-in cars are likely to be significantly lower than those on fossil fuel-powered cars
because electricity costs three to five cents per mile with average electric rates, of
the equivalent of 75 cents to $1.25 per gallon of gasoline. The rationale used is that the green
copper.
economy will be driven by the use of renewable energy sources that has seen developed countries investing in new
technology that seeks to make them become less dependent on fossil fuels for their energy supplies, building
electricity based infrastructure for transportation. In-order to convert wind and solar energy directly into electric
energy requires large amounts of metals whose terrestrial extraction have been cause of much destruction of
natures biodiversity. According to a technical report prepared by SRK consulting (Australasia) Pty Ltd released May
this year for Nautilus Minerals Inc, it has made applications for prospecting licenses and mining leases in PNG,
Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga and New Zealand. Applications were made through Nautilus Minerals Offshore,
a company registered in Vanuatu and fully owned by Nautilus Minerals Inc. Nautilus has 41 granted Prospecting
Licenses in Vanuatu covering an area of 3630km2 on the eastern side of the main islands while there are 14 further
Prospecting License applications covering 1247km2 Safe and environmentally friendly Deep Sea Mining has been
hailed as the new frontier and the Solwora 1 site at the bottom of the Bismarck Sea is the experimental site and
the new Wild West that needs to be conquered and subdued. Dr. Smith said the deep sea mining is environmentally
friendly because they will be using technology that will scrape the top of the ocean floor getting metals like a
lawnmower cutting grass and transporting it in closed tubes back up to the to avoid spills and pollution to the
surrounding environment. In her presentation she said the mineral deposit under the seabed at the Solwora 1 site
in the Bismarck Sea goes down to a depth of 30 to 50 meters, however, there was enough deposits on the surface
to sustainably produce enough without having to dig. When pressed about the drilling below the seabed to meet
global demands she responded: Even if we have to drill, 50 meters is not deep enough into the earths crust to
trigger off a volcanic eruption, an earthquake or tsunami. The Solwara 1 deposit is a stratabound seafloor massive
sulphide that occurs on the flank and crest of a sub-sea volcanic mound which extends about 150m to 200m above
the surrounding seafloor. Despite the safety assurances, opposing groups argue that there is too much that is
unknown about seafloor mining to guarantee a full proof protection against any form of destruction of the marine
The irony of deep sea mining as a green solution to terrestrial

mining is that after we have extracted all minerals, leveled mountains and dig deep
holes towards the earths crust to milk every last bit of rock, we now want to shift
into the sea which truly remains as the last frontier . Perhaps after we have depleted all mineral
biodiversity and ecosystems.
resources at the bottom of the ocean, the new frontier will become the moon and Mars. Capitalism, modern
consumerism and our desire and wants to have more, bigger, better, faster, smaller and efficient has a funny way
of justifying greed for profit in a green growth and green economy framework.
2NC NB Environment
Canada worldwide leader in deep sea mining- avoids
environmental links and solves aff best
Kaknevicius 5-13 [Ariana, editorial writer for Canadian Geographic, Canadian
mining company could be involved in worlds first deep sea mine, 5-13-14,
http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/blog/posting.asp?ID=1160]
Canadian mining company has been approved to start extracting ores of copper, gold and other
Nautilus Minerals, reached an agreement
with Papua New Guinea to start mining within the next five years. Nautilus was
granted a 20-year licence to excavate at Solwara 1 , a site 30 kilometres off Papua New Guineas
coast in the Bismarck Sea. If this controversial project takes shape, it will become the worlds first
deep sea mine. Canada is known for being the worldwide leader in exploration,
says Mike Johnston, chief executive officer of Nautilus Minerals. Our project
combines a lot of new technologies, and Canada will be recognized for that
innovation. The deposits formed when hydrothermal vents spew metal-rich fluids into the ocean can yield ores
A
valuable metals on the Pacific sea floor. The company,
that are far richer in gold and copper than ores found on land. Copper grades on land, for example, are dwindling in
large part because all of the high-grade deposits have already been mined, and they are at about 0.6 per cent
compared to Solwara 1s 7.2 per cent. The ore that we are mining will be sold directly to China and there will be
no tailings at the end of the process, which is another first for a mining project that Im aware of, Johnston says.
According to Nautilus,
the lack of tailings, or mining waste, means minimal environmental
consequences.
U.S Deep Ocean mining harmful to the environment- only

Canada shields the net benefit
Eckert 74 [Ross, the Boswell Professor of Economics and Legal Organization at
Claremont McKenna College, the faculty of which he joined in 1979. He received his
degrees from UCLA, Exploitation of Deep Ocean Minerals: Regulatory Mechanisms
and United States Policy, April 1974, http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/724747.pdf?
&acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true] Mittal
The United States is the
world's major producer of virgin copper with nearly one-quarter of world reserves,
but our output is being increasingly restricted by environmental constraints on land
use and high-sulphur emissions . The U.S. now imports some copper that is cheaper or of higher grade
than domestic ores. Other producers are Chile, Canada, Zaire (formerly the Belgian Congo), and
Zambia. Western Europe and Japan import more than 75% of their copper, and world demand is expected to rise
The market for each of the four metals nodules contain can be outlined briefly.
by more than 4% annually for the next 30 years. None of the major non-Communist nations save Canada have
sources of nickel or cobalt, which are used in producing steel alloys, or manganese, which is also used to produce
The U.S. imported in excess of 90% of its demand for all three metals
in 1970, which Canada produced 45% of the world's nickel supply. It has been
estimated that only a substantial ocean mining industry, consisting of many
processing plants, could drastically affect world trade in nickel and copper. Each plant
dry cell batteries.
that processes one million tons of nodules per year will generate only a fraction of 1% of the total world production
of these two metals. But a small ocean mining and processing industry would probably produce enough cobalt to
lower its price to that of nickel for which it is a substitute in the production of high-grade steel alloys. Nodule ores
contain upwards of 20% manganese but it is in a form that is inferior to terrestrial sources for most industrial uses,
and some ocean miners do not intend to extract or sell manganese. The prices of copper and nickel will be the
driving forces of ocean mining for some time. See the Nat'l Comm'n on Materials Policy, Towards a National
Materials Policy: Basic Data and Issues: Interim Report 16, 18-20, 26 (1972); Wayne J. Smith, International Control
of Deep Sea Mineral Resources, 24 Naval War College Rev., June 1972, at 82-90; id., Economic Considerations of
Deep Sea Mineral Resources (mimeographed draft, Virginia Beach, Va., Oct. 1972); Philip E. Sorenson & Walter J.
Mead, A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Ocean Mineral Resource Develop- ment: The Case of Manganese Nodules, 50 Am. J.
Ag. Econ. 1611 (1968); Edmund Faltermayer, Metals: The Warning Signals Are Up, 86 Fortune, Oct. 1972, at 109.
Canadas new deep sea mining tech solves aff best and doesnt
effect the environment-Papua New Guinea project proves
Miner 13 [Meghan, Travel Reporter at U.S. News & World Report
Freelance Journalist at Freelance Journalist and Writer, was a Science Outreach
Specialist at COMPASS, Intern/Stand-In Assistant Producer/Transcriber at Living on
Earth, Assistant Researcher at National Geographic Traveler Magazine, went to
Boston University, University of Michigan, University of Cape Town, Will Deep-sea
Mining Yield an Underwater Gold Rush?, 2-1-13,
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130201-underwater-mining-goldprecious-metals-oceans-environment/] Mittal
the Papua New Guinean government granted the Canadian firm a 20-year
license to mine a site 19 miles (30 kilometers) off their coast, in the Bismarck Sea in the
southwestern Pacific Ocean. The company plans to mine the site, known as Solwara 1, by
marrying existing technologies from the offshore oil and gas industry with new
underwater robotic technologies to extract an estimated 1.3 million tons of minerals
per year. Samantha Smith, Nautilus's vice president for corporate social
responsibility, says that ocean floor mining is safer, cleaner, and more
environmentally friendly than its terrestrial counterpart . "There are no mountains that need to
be removed to get to the ore body," she says. "There's a potential to have a lot less waste ... No
people need to be displaced. Shouldn't we as a society consider such an option?" But mining a mile
Last year,
below the sea's surface, where pressure is 160 times greater than on land and where temperatures swing from
below freezing to hundreds of degrees above boiling, is trickier and more expensive than mining on terra firma .
Nautilus says it will employ three remote-controlled construction tools that resemble
giant underwater lawn mowers to cut the hard mineral ore from the seafloor and
pump it a mile up to a surface vessel. That vessel would be equipped with
machinery that removes excess water and rock and returns it to the mining site via
pipeline, an effort aimed at avoiding contaminating surface waters with residual
mineral particles. The company would then ship the rock to a concentrator facility to remove the mineral
from the ore
Canadas new deep ocean mining tech doesnt link to the net
benefit- no impact on the environment
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council 06 [NSERC researchers
build on Canadas long tradition of scientific excellence, NSERC aims to make
Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for the benefit of all Canadians, The
Dawn Of Deep Ocean Mining, 2-21-06,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060221090149.htm] Mittal
We're on the brink of the era of deep ocean mining, says a global pioneer in the
study of sea floor mineral deposits. Dr. Steven Scott, a geologist at the University of
Toronto, in Toronto, Canada says that advances in marine geology and deep ocean
technology have combined to make it realistic to go more than two kilometres

underwater for gold and other mineral treasures. It's a transformation that he
says has evoked a knee-jerk reaction over the possible environmental impacts of
this mining, which he believes could be less destructive than terrestrial mining .
Presently, the world's first two neophyte marine mining companies, Nautilus Minerals and Neptune Minerals are
actively exploring the possibility of mining deep sea floor deposits. Neptune is assessing deposits it holds the rights
Nautilus and its joint venture

partner Placer Dome, a Canadian gold mining company, are collecting samples from a deposit to
which Nautilus holds the rights in the Bismarck Sea off the eastern coast of Papua
New Guinea.
to in territorial waters off the north coast of New Zealand's North Island.
Canada solves Deep sea mining Environment concerns.

Firmin Nanol, et al Fri, 2 Dec 2011 Broadcast Journalist and Producer done
research in oceanographic studies for master degree. PNG undersea mining
project Asian Pacific News. Fri, 2 Dec 2011 URL:
http://abcasiapacificnews.com/stories/201112/3382494.htm.
A Canadian mining company planning to undertake the world's first deep sea mining
project in PNG waters has rejected environmentalists' criticism of its Environmental
Impact Study (EIS). The Canada-owned Nautilus Minerals project made the
statement after a report, called 'Out of Our Depths' accused the undersea mining of
producing unacceptable environmental and social impacts. Nautilus Minerals
expects to start mining gold and copper deposits under the Bismarck Sea, off the
north coast of PNG in 2013. But the company's vice president, Joe Dowling told
Radio Australia's Pacific Beat that the PNG government already approved of its EIS
before issuing its mining lease two years ago. "The authors have failed to
understand processes that are used in PNG and the detail in our project," Me
Dowling said. "For example, they've said we're beginning reproduction in 2012 and
they've called for a delay. Well, we're not even scheduled to being production until
the last quarter of 2013, so they haven't even got some fairly basic dates correct."
Out of Our Depths author, Dr Helen Rosenbaum says she is concerned that PNG is
the first country in the world to undergo deep sea mining, but its impacts on
communities are largely unknown. "To date, with this flawed Environmental Impact
Study (EIS), there is not enough information to understand the risks involved with
this Solwara 1 Project and the coastal communities,' she said.
Environmental collapse causes extinction

Diner, 93 [David, Ph.D., Planetary Science and Geology, "The Army and the
Endangered Species Act: Who's Endangering Whom?, April 93,
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a456541.pdf] Mittal
It may be difficult to accept that the snail darter, harelip sucker, or Dismal Swamp southeastern shrew, 74 could
species are useless to man in a direct utilitarian sense. Nonetheless, they

may be critical in an indirect role, because their extirpation could negatively affect
a directly useful species. In a closely interconnected ecosystem, the loss of each species
affects other species dependent upon it. 75 Moreover, as the number of species
decline, the affect of each new extinction on the remaining species increases
dramatically 76 4. BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY The main premise of species preservation is that diversity is
save mankind. Many, if not most,
better than simplicity.77 As the current mass extinction progresses, there has been a general decrease in the
world's biological diversity. This trend occurs within ecosystems by reducing the number of species, and within
species by reducing the number of individuals. Both trends carry serious future implications. 78 Biologically diverse
ecosystems are characterized by a large number of specialist species, filling narrow ecological niches. These
ecosystems are inherently more stable than less diverse systems: "'The more complex the ecosystem, the more
successfully it can resist a stress...[l]ike a net, in which each knot is connected to others by several strands, such
a fabric can resist collapse better than a simple, unbranched circle of threads- which if cut anywhere breaks down
By causing widespread extinctions humans have artificially simplified

many ecosystems. As biologic simplicity rises, so does the risk of ecosystem failure .
as a whole.",79
The spreading Sahara desert in Africa, and the dustbowl conditions of the 1930s in the U.S. are relatively mild
each new animal or plant

extinction, with all its dimly perceived and intertwined affects, could cause total ecosystem
collapse, and human extinction. Certainly, each new extinction increases the risk of disaster. Like a mechanic
examples of what might be expected if this trend continues. Theoretically,
removing, one by one, the rivets from an aircraft's wings, 80 mankind may be edging closer to the abyss.
2NC NB Economy
Canada has access to best mining tech for gold and coppersolves economy best
EISENHAMMER 4-18 [Brazil Correspondent at Reuters News Agency,
Correspondent at Reuters News Agency, Graduate Trainee at Reuters News Agency,
Co-founder and editor at Pulsamerica, University of Cambridge, University of
Cambridge, King's School Canterbury,
The robot is ready - so when will deep sea mining start?, 4-18-14,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/18/us-mining-deepseaidUSBREA3H06T20140418] Mittal
The world's first deep sea mining robot sits idle on a British factory floor,
waiting to claw up high grade copper and gold from the seabed off Papua New
Guinea (PNG) - when a wrangle over terms is solved. Beyond PNG, in international waters, regulation and royalty
(Reuters) -
terms for mining the planet's subsea wealth have also yet to be finalized. The world waits for the judgment of a
United Nations agency based in Jamaica. "If we can take care of the environment we have a brand new day ahead
of us. The marine area beyond national jurisdiction is 50 percent of the Ocean," said Nii Odunton, secretary general
of the U.N.'s International Seabed Authority (ISA). "I believe the grades look good, the abundance looks good, I
High-tech advances,
depleted easy-to-reach minerals onshore and historically high prices have boosted
the idea of mining offshore, where metals can be fifteen times the quality of land
deposits. In Newcastle, the "beasty", as engineer Keith Franklin calls his machine,
lies in wait, resembling a submersible tank with four meter wide cutting blades.
Built by Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD), it will put Canadian listed Nautilus Minerals
(NUS.TO) on course to become the first company to commercially mine in deep
water. Nautilus' primary resource, Solwara 1, about 1,500 meters underwater, is a
Seafloor Massive Sulphide (SMS) deposit, which forms along hydrothermal vents
where mineral-rich fluids spurt from cracks in the ocean crust. Equipped with
cameras and 3D sonar sensors the robot is driven by two pilots from a control room
on the vessel above, attached via a giant power cable. "The cameras aren't enough by
believe that money will be made," Odunton said from the ISA offices in Kingston.
themselves because the machine will be working by vents where black soot spurts from the ocean crust and it will
sometimes be near impossible to see anything," said Stef Kapusniak, business development manager for mining at
SMD. "The 3D sonar will allow it to make images and send it back to the control room." The machine then cuts up
the sea floor and sucks the rocks through a pipe to deposit it in mounds behind - "like icing a cake," Kapusniak said.
Another machine, yet to be built, will then help suck the ore to the surface .
Nautilus aims to produce

80,000-100,000 metric tons of copper and 100,000-200,000 ounces of gold equivalent to a modest onshore mine. It was supposed to be producing by now, but disagreements
with the PNG government over financial terms have set it back. Chief Executive Mike Johnston told Reuters he was
confident a resolution would be sorted out and the company would be mining within two to three years. Most of the
world's best deposits lie even deeper than Nautilus' Solwara 1, at around 6,000 meters in an area known as the
Clarion Clipperton Zone. Large numbers of manganese nodules - potato sized rocks rich in copper, cobalt and
nickel - lie across this 4.5 million square kilometer abyssal plain between Hawaii and Mexico.
URL: http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21587384-forward-march-globalisation-has-paused-financialcrisis-giving-way?zid=295&ah=0bca374e65f2354d553956ea65f756e0
Canada largest Mining Nation-State, and Key towards world

mining operation.
Government of Canada 13 The Government of Canada Canada is a Global
Mineral Exploration and Mining Giant Natural Resources Canada 2013-03-18 URL:
http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/media-room/backgrounders/2012/3237
Engine for Growth: Canada is one of the largest mining nations in the world,
operating in 100 countries in the world. There are more than 200 actives mines in
Canada, producing more than 60 minerals and metals. The total value of Canadian
mineral exports was $84.5 billion in 2010, accounting for 21 percent of Canadas
total exports. Key exports included aluminum, nickel, copper, gold, silver, uranium, coal, potash, zinc,
diamonds, iron, steel and iron ore. The mining and mineral processing industries made significant contributions to
the Canadian economy that same year, including more than $12 billion in capital investment, $35.1 billion in GDP
and $18 billion in trade surplus. More than 320,000 Canadians are currently employed in the mining and mineral
processing industries, creating employment opportunities from coast to coast to coast and in urban and rural areas,
Mineral Exploration: According to the Metals

Economics Group, over the past decade Canada has been the most preferred place
in the world for mineral exploration. Canada is also a world-leader in raising equity
for mineral exploration and development. In fact, in 2010, almost 60 percent of the worlds equity
including many Aboriginal and northern communities.
financing for mineral exploration and mining was raised by companies listed on Canadian stock exchanges.
Canadian-headquartered mining companies accounted for more than 40 percent of

budgeted worldwide exploration expenditures. Exploration expenditures are
expected to top $4.2 billion in 2012. Investing in Canadas Mining Industry Canada continues to
welcome foreign investment in minerals and metals industries. Since 2005, the value of direct foreign investment in
Canada has one of the lowest tax

rates on new business investment among the G-7. Strong incentives have been put
in place to encourage investment, such as the Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance
and the Canadian Exploration Expenses Tax Credit that allows for the
reimbursement of most capital costs prior to the payment of taxes.
Canadas minerals industry has increased by over 200 percent.
Canada is a Global Leader in Mineral exports, Key to Global

Economy
Economy Watch: 11 March 2010 This website is a comprehensive mix of news, analysis, reference,
articles, data, charts and tools. These have been provided both by our core team, by freelance contributors, and by
members of our extended community. Canada Economy Economy Watch. 11 march 2010. URL: better:
http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/canada/?page=full
Historically, much of Canadas exports have been derived from its natural resources.
Canada contains a rich abundance of mineral, forest and water-based resources
such as iron ore, nickel, zinc, copper, gold, lead, rare earth elements, molybdenum,
potash, diamonds, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal, petroleum, natural gas and
hydropower. Although fishing and forestry were once major Canadian industries, mineral and energy resources
have become the leading source of income for the nation. Canada is the world leader in value of
mineral exports with energy resources providing for a vast amount of profit. Canada is
a net exporter of energy, exporting 2.151 million barrels of oil per day and 94.67 billion cubic metres of natural gas
in 2010. As a result, Canada is the 10th largest exporter of oil and the 3rd largest exporter of natural gas in the
world. In addition, Canada has the 2nd largest proven reserves of oil in the world together with the 21st largest
Although energy and mineral resources have greatly

strengthen the Canadian economy, the emergence of these industries has led to an
economic imbalance within Canada. In recent years, Western Canada has seen rapid economic growth
proven reserves of natural gas.
with its abundance of oil. Central Canada on the other hand, contains much of its services and manufacturing
industries. However, the four Atlantic Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and
Newfoundland and Labrador have seen a major decline in its economic activity since the 19th century as its primary
focus is in the fishing industry. As such, these regions have begun to diversify their economy with Newfoundland
and Labrador leading the way in new oil and gas exploration.
Global economic collapse results in nuclear war causes North

Korean aggression, Afghanistan collapse, Russian
adventurism, and American isolationism
Friedberg and Schenfeld, 8 [Aaron, professor of politics and international
relations at the Woodrow Wilson School, Gabriel, visiting scholar at the Witherspoon
Institute, The Dangers of a Diminished America, 10/21/2008,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html?mod=googlenews_wsj]
Mittal
there are the dolorous consequences of a potential collapse of the world's
financial architecture. For decades now, Americans have enjoyed the advantages of
being at the center of that system. The worldwide use of the dollar, and the stability of our economy,
Then
among other things, made it easier for us to run huge budget deficits, as we counted on foreigners to pick up the
Will this be possible in the future ?

Meanwhile, traditional foreign-policy challenges are multiplying. The threat from al Qaeda and Islamic
terrorist affiliates has not been extinguished. Iran and North Korea are continuing on their bellicose
paths, while Pakistan and Afghanistan are progressing smartly down the road to chaos. Russia's new
militancy and China's seemingly relentless rise also give cause for concern . If America
tab by buying dollar-denominated assets as a safe haven.
now tries to pull back from the world stage, it will leave a dangerous power vacuum. The stabilizing effects of our
presence in Asia, our continuing commitment to Europe, and our position as defender of last resort for Middle East
energy sources and supply lines could all be placed at risk. In such a scenario there are shades of the 1930s,
when global trade and finance ground nearly to a halt, the peaceful democracies
failed to cooperate, and aggressive powers led by the remorseless fanatics who rose
up on the crest of economic disaster exploited their divisions. Today we run the risk
that rogue states may choose to become ever more reckless with their nuclear toys ,
just at our moment of maximum vulnerability. The aftershocks of the financial crisis will almost certainly rock our
principal strategic competitors even harder than they will rock us. The dramatic free fall of the Russian stock market
has demonstrated the fragility of a state whose economic performance hinges on high oil prices, now driven down
China is perhaps even more fragile, its economic growth

depending heavily on foreign investment and access to foreign markets. Both will now
by the global slowdown.
be constricted, inflicting economic pain and perhaps even sparking unrest in a country where political legitimacy
rests on progress in the long march to prosperity. None of this is good news if the authoritarian leaders of these
As for our democratic

friends, the present crisis comes when many European nations are struggling to
deal with decades of anemic growth, sclerotic governance and an impending
demographic crisis. Despite its past dynamism, Japan faces similar challenges. India is still in the early
countries seek to divert attention from internal travails with external adventures.
stages of its emergence as a world economic and geopolitical power.
AT: US no solve
Legal implementations prevent US from developing a deep sea
industry
Scott G. Borgerson May 2009 46 Scott Borgerson is a co-founder and managing
director of CargoMetrics. Previously, he was an Arctic and oceans policy expert at
the Council on Foreign Relations. The National Interest, and the law of the sea The
Consul for Foreign Relations
I lie second major economic issue that makes acceding to the convention urgent is the ongoing work of the
International Seabed Author- ity, which oversees the minerals regime established by the convention for seabed
areas outside national jurisdiction. The ISA's charter, as amended in the 1994 Agreement on Implementation,
governs the international seabed based essentially on free market principles. By remaining a nonparty, the
United States cannot fill its permanent scat on the ISA and is thus unable to
exercise its special veto power over decisions on certain specified matters. U.S.
deep-sea mining companies used to be among the world's most promising, but they
have withered away without the legal protection that would come with the United
States being a state parly. American energy and deep-seabed companies have been
put at a disadvantage in making investments for seabed minerals projects by the legal
uncertainty accompanying the United States remaining a nonparty. Furthermore, U.S. firms cannot obtain international recognition of mine sites or title to recovered minerals.
US requires a Legal establishment to mine or explore the deep

ocean
HARRY M. COLLINS 1981 Harry Collins is a British sociologist of science at the
School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Wales. Deep Seabed Hard Mineral
Resources ActMatrix for United States Deep Seabed Mining Natural Resources
Lawyer, Vol. 13, No. 3 pp. 571-580 American Bar Association. URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40922654?seq=5
Based on these factors and considerations, the legislation enacted by Congress was the Deep Seabed Hard Minerals
Resource Act that had the full support and blessing of the Carter administration." In addition, it achieved a near
the Act sailed through Congress with little

dissent. Structurally, the findings section of the Act notes the United State's need
for nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese; the necessity of continued technological
progress for exploitation; the U.N. General Assembly's Com- mon Heritage
Resolution and the interest of the United States and other nations in a "widely acceptable
Law of the Sea Treaty"; the fact that the pending negotiations may not be
"concluded in the near future." It concludes that "legislation is required to
establish an interim legal regime under which technology can be developed and the
exploration and recovery of the hard mineral resources of the deep seabed can take
consensus of industry and congressional support, and
place until such time as a Law of the Sea Treaty enters into force with respect to the U.S.""
AT: Perm
Perm fails- U.S Canada relations bad-keystone proves
Huffington Post 4-30 [a liberal American online news aggregator and blog,
Canada May Sue U.S. Under NAFTA Over Keystone XL: Report, 4-30-14,
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/04/30/canada-sue-us-keystonexl_n_5242405.html] Mittal
As the U.S. Senate inches closer to a vote that could force the White House to make
a decision on the Keystone pipeline, Canada may use the N orth American Free Trade
Agreement to sue the U.S. over the issue, according to news reports. The government of Prime Minister
Stephen Harper is mulling joining forces with Keystone XL builder TransCanada and oil companies to challenge the
Obama administration's repeated delays on a decision, the National Post reports, citing unnamed sources. The U.S.
State Department announced earlier this month it is delaying yet again a final decision on the controversial
pipeline, until a Nebraska legal challenge is settled. Any decision on the pipeline was effectively pushed off past the
The news comes as the U.S. Senate inches closer to a vote

on the pipeline that could potentially embarrass the White House. Senate Majority Leader
U.S. mid-term elections this fall.
Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, is in talks with Republican and Democratic senators about putting the Keystone XL
to a vote next week. The vote would take place in exchange for Republican support of a bipartisan energy efficiency
bill. According to news reports, Reid initially expected it to be a non-binding, symbolic vote that would likely show a
majority of U.S. senators in favour of the pipeline. But the latest reports suggest it could be binding legislation that
would require the president to make a decision. Allowing vulnerable Democrats to vote on a bill approving
Keystone could give them something to tout on the campaign trail, but approval of binding legislation could
former prime minister Brian

Mulroney, who first signed a free trade deal with the U.S., is among those arguing
Canada could successfully sue the U.S. over Keystone. Mulroney and others argue
that the delay amounts to a restriction on the export of Canadian energy to the U.S.
Under NAFTA, the U.S. was given unfettered access to Canadian energy, including in
emergencies, in exchange for which Canada was given full access to U.S. energy
markets. Under NAFTA, a bi-national arbitration panel has the power to make
binding orders on member countries. Derek Burney, a former Mulroney chief of staff who was
instrumental in NAFTA negotiations, said Canada would have a strong case at the arbitration
panel, but since the U.S. hasnt rejected Keystone XL and only delayed a decision,
the White House could argue it's simply following necessary procedures.
embarrass the White House, The Hill reports. The Post notes that
Aff Answers - Canada no Solve

Canada It-self does not understand environmental effects of
deep sea mining
Nick Parkins May 27, 2014 Parkins is a freelance writer based in England who
holds masters degrees in philosophy and oceanography. He can be reached at
nickparkins@hotmail.co.uk. Staking a claim: Deep-sea mining nears fruition
Geologic settings where volcanogenic seafloor massive sulfide deposits form.
Earth, Science behind the headlines. May 27, 2014. URL:
http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/staking-claim-deep-sea-mining-nears-fruition
Not all hurdles are technological, social or financial. Some are longer-term: namely, the potential environmental
The EIS submitted by Nautilus, upon which

the projects environmental credentials and feasibility largely rests, concluded that
any threat to seafloor ecosystems would be minimal and that exploitation and
sustainability could both be achieved. In 2012, then-CEO of Nautilus Stephen Rogers noted that the
impacts of mineral exploitation on deep-sea habitats.
mined areas would be damaged, but could recover. Nautilus forecasts even suggest that disturbance could be
beneficial. In ecology, disturbances are understood to be part of many natural cycles, but the timescale on which
they occur is an important factor. Vents and biological communities typical of island-arc systems like the site at
Solwara 1 experience higher rates of disturbance than slow-spreading mid-ocean

ridge sites, says Jon Copley, a marine ecologist at the University of Southampton.
Thus, they have evolved to mature faster and react quickly to change, which implies
a certain ability to withstand disruption. Mining removes the vent chimney deposits that grow
during vent activity, Copley says. It does not switch off venting at a site, as far as anyone is aware. Vent animals
colonized such sites once, and they should be able to recolonize them after a disruption, he says. Nautilus
researchers have studied how vent animals move among and populate the vents with a view to assigning a reserve
area off-limits to mining where Solwara 1 biota might recover. However, John Luick, a physical oceanographer at the
South Australian Research and Development Institute, says he is not convinced. The
EIS fails to provide

the basic information needed to assess the risk of pollution to the environment or
the risk to local communities, he says. The people of Papua New Guinea should
be able to feel confident that the approvals process is open and based on the best
available science. Part of the environmental debate is that different seafloor vent
systems appear to behave differently. The unknown potential outcomes are why
some scientists say mining should not start until its impacts are better understood.
What, for example, are the differences between sites like Solwara 1 and less robust slow-spreading mid-ocean ridge
systems? At such ridge systems, venting at individual sites appears to last for millennia, and colonies of marine life
may take a long time to mature, Copley says. We have not yet been able to follow [a vent system] from time zero
on a slow-spreading ridge. Equally worrying is the size of sites, Copley says. On small, slow-spreading vent sites, it
is all or nothing in terms of mining. These individual sites are not extensive enough to designate reserve areas,
How a site recovers after mining will depend on the connections of its
populations of vent animals to other sites in the region, and crucially, on the rate at
which vents are being disturbed by mining across the region. Consequently, the
approach taken by Nautilus at Solwara 1, if proven feasible in terms of
environmental recovery, cannot be applied to the mining of vent fields on slowspreading mid-ocean ridges, Copley says. I dont think we have sufficient
understanding of the dynamics of the communities of animals at vents on slowspreading ridges, he says, let alone connectivity of their populations, to predict the consequences of
Copley says.
mining such systems. Indeed, predicting what will happen at each site is quite difficult, but we do have some
knowledge on which to base an educated guess, says Cindy Lee Van Dover, a biological oceanographer at Duke
University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C. What is harder to understand are the cumulative impacts. Mining
manganese nodules will have very different potential environmental consequences from mining seafloor massive
sulfides, while mining cobalt crusts will have still another suite of potential impacts, Van Dover says. My primary
concern about deep-sea mining of any kind is that if we get it wrong, if we do serious harm to the environment, we
cant fix it, she says. If ever there were a time to use the precautionary approach, resource extraction from the
deep sea is it.
US Solves
US can solve Canada as easily as any other actor
Steven Groves 12 Bernard and Barbara Lomas Senior Research Fellow The
Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom The Davis Institute for National Security and
Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundationc Steven Groves works to protect and
preserve American sovereignty, self-governance and independence as leader of The
Heritage Foundation's Freedom Project. The U.S. Can Mine the Deep Seabed
Without Joining the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea The Heritage
Foundation. December 4, 2012 URL:
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/12/the-us-can-mine-the-deepseabed-without-joining-the-un-convention-on-the-law-of-the-sea
No legal barriers prohibit U.S. access, exploration, or exploitation of the resources of
the deep seabed. Deep seabed mining is a high seas freedom that all nations may
engage in regardless of their membership or non-membership in UNCLOS or any
other treaty. Like other high seas freedoms, the right to engage in deep seabed mining is inherent to all
sovereign nations under customary international law. Rather, it is the convention that attempts to restrict access to
the deep seabed and infringe on the intrinsic rights of the United States and other nations that have chosen to
remain non-parties. High seas freedoms are not conditional on membership in a treaty. Neither the United States
nor any other nation need be party to UNCLOS to exercise them. While the convention addressed and codified
various high seas freedoms, enjoyment of those freedoms is not conditional on membership. Rather, high seas
freedomsincluding freedom of navigation and overflight, freedom of fishing, freedom to lay submarine cables, and
the United States

and other UNCLOS non-parties based on their status as sovereign and independent
nations. More than 160 nations have chosen to ratify UNCLOS for their own reasons
and ostensibly for the purpose of advancing their particular national interests. The
United States and more than 30 other nationsincluding Colombia, Israel, Peru, and
Turkeyhave chosen not to ratify the convention. The nations that have joined UNCLOS cannot
freedom to engage in marine scientific researchare enjoyed and exercised regularly by
prevent the United States or any other nation from mining the seabed any more than they can prevent the U.S.
from exercising the freedom of navigation and overflight, the freedom of fishing, or any other high seas freedom.
UNCLOS does not, as some have

suggested, mean that the deep seabed provisions of the convention have attained
the status of customary international law. Even if those provisions had attained such
status, the regime would not apply to a state, such as the United States, that had
rejected it and had insisted on its right to mine the deep sea-bed under present
rules of customary international law.[6] The long-held U.S. legal position regarding
deep seabed mining and UNCLOS is unequivocal.
The fact that a substantial majority of nations are parties to
US doesnt need Access towards the Law Of the seas treaty to

do the plan,
Steven Groves 12 Bernard and Barbara Lomas Senior Research Fellow The
Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom The Davis Institute for National Security and
Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundationc Steven Groves works to protect and
preserve American sovereignty, self-governance and independence as leader of The
Heritage Foundation's Freedom Project. The U.S. Can Mine the Deep Seabed
Without Joining the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea The Heritage
Foundation. December 4, 2012 URL:
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/12/the-us-can-mine-the-deepseabed-without-joining-the-un-convention-on-the-law-of-the-sea
The United States can mine the deep seabed without acceding to the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). For more than 30 years, through
domestic law and bilateral agreements, the U.S. has established a legal framework
for deep seabed mining. In fact, U.S. accession would penalize U.S. companies by
subjecting them to the whims of an unelected and unaccountable international
bureaucracy. U.S. companies would be forced to pay excessive fees, costs, and
royalties to the International Seabed Authority for redistribution to developing
countries. U.S. interests are better served by not acceding to UNCLOS.
Environment
Nautilus mining operation causes deep harm to the
environment and locals.
Judith Butler February 6, 2013 an American continental philosopher and gender
theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics and the fields of
feminist, queer and literary theory. Papua New Guinea - Stop Dangerous Deep Sea
Mining Experiments care2petition site. URL:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/132/828/580/papua-new-guinea-stop-dangerousdeep-sea-mining-experiments/
Deep sea mining operations could cause immense destruction to ocean ecosystems
and the people who depend on them. This is probably the reason that the Canadian
mining firm Nautilus Minerals chose Papua New Guinea for a hazardous experiment
into deep sea gold mining. Papua New Guinea cant afford to monitor or regulate
this. Basically, Nautilus is free to do what it likes with little regard for the
consequences. Local people whose livelihoods are at risk and environmentalists
have objected furiously to the plans. Nautilus intends to extract gold and copper a mile below the
surface, beginning with the destruction of hydrothermal vents. The full environmental impact of these operations is
unknown, but even the best case scenario would involve the wholesale destruction of unique ecosystems. Ask the
Papua New Guinean government to stand up to foreign commercial interests and refuse to allow deep sea mining to
begin until there is a much better understanding of the potential impact.
Fishing
1NC Fishing Regulations CP Shell

Counterplan Plan Text- The EPA should create more Regional
Fisheries Management Organizations to implement fishing
regulations to solve overfishing.
CP crucial to solve overfishing rebuilds fish stocks
Plumer 14 [Brad, Senior Editor at Vox, How the US stopped its fisheries from
collapsing, Vox, 5/8, http://www.vox.com/2014/5/8/5669120/how-the-us-stoppedits-fisheries-from-collapsing] Li
We hear a lot of grim stories about overfishing and the decline of fisheries around
the world. Bluefin tuna is vanishing. Chilean sea bass is dwindling. Pretty soon, it
sometimes seems like, all that'll be left is the jellyfish . BACK IN THE 1990S, MANY OF THE US
FISH POPULATIONS WERE IN SERIOUS DECLINE So it's worth highlighting a country that has actually
done a lot to curtail overfishing and rebuild its fisheries in the past decade the
United States. Back in the 1980s and '90s, many fisheries in the US were in serious
trouble. Fish populations were dropping sharply. Some of New England's best-known
groundfish stocks including flounder, cod, and haddock had collapsed, costing
the region's coastal communities hundreds of millions of dollars. But the picture
has improved considerably in the last decade, thanks in part to stricter fishing
regulations. Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its
annual fisheries update for 2013 and the news was encouraging. Yes, progress has been
uneven. About one-fifth of assessed stocks are still overfished. But on the whole, US fisheries are steadily
recovering. Back in 1999, NOAA listed 98 stocks as "overfished." Today, that's down
to 40. What's more, 34 previously depleted fish stocks have now been "rebuilt"
meaning that they've rebounded to a level that supports the maximum sustainable
yield. Those numbers improved again between 2012 and 2013: Noaa_2013_fisheries See here for definitions.
NOAA This rebound has been a boon to the fishing industry: US commercial fishermen caught 9.6 billion pounds of
seafood in 2012, the second highest total in more than a decade (2011 was the highest year). The rebound in US
fisheries was also noted last year in a separate study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which studied 44
key fish stocks that had been seriously depleted and found that about 64 percent showed significant signs of
recovery. MANY FISH STOCKS ARE RECOVERING BUT SOME AREAS ARE STILL STRUGGLING The study did point
out some glaring exceptions. A few regions were struggling to rebuild their fish stocks: New England, the Gulf of
Mexico, and the South Atlantic. In New England, certain types of cod, flounder, and white hake simply weren't
There are also a bunch of unknowns here: NOAA only

assesses about 230 of the 478 types of fish that are under regulation . Steve Murawski, a
recovering. (More on this below.)
former scientist at the National Marine Fisheries Service, told me in an interview last year that assessments are
NOAA has to "triage" by focusing on the most economically

important species. Still, most experts struck a note of guarded optimism on the
state of US fisheries. "There are still a lot of areas where we'd like to see progress,
especially in New England," Ted Morton, director of the US oceans program at the
Pew Charitable Trusts told me. "But overall we're on the right track."
complicated and expensive so
Fishing regulations effective - fishers and conservationists

both support
National Geographic Education, 14 [Sustainable
Fishing,http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/sustainabl
e-fishing/?ar_a=1#page=2] Lin
Many individuals, communities, and nations continue to rely on fish and
other aquatic life as a source of food and raw materials. To maintain fish stocks, we need
to reduce overfishing and bycatch through fisheries management.
Managing fish populations is no easy task. It requires cooperation at all
levels of government, from local communities to nations across the globe.
Nations are responsible for regulating fishing in their coastal waters. In the
United States, NOAA Fisheries is responsible for fisheries management in waters 5-321 kilometers (3-200 miles)
from land. Local municipalities manage the ocean closer to shore. Of course, different stakeholders have different
Fishers themselves are interested in both

maintaining their livelihoods and ensuring that fish populations remain for
years to come. Conservationists work to protect marine and freshwater
environments, often seeking to prevent fishing and other activities that
remove wildlife from their habitats. Regular citizens want to continue to
purchase the seafood they love to eat. Scientists focus on ensuring the
health of fresh and saltwater ecosystems. A nations territorial waters do not encompass
perspectives on fishing regulations.
much of the huge ocean. The majority of Earths waters are the high seasinternational areas that do not belong
to one particular nation. Regulating fishing in international waters is tricky; it requires nations with competing
agendas and economic needs to agree on management approaches. There are many international agreements in
There are 17 Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs),

composed of nations that share economic interests in a particular area. When
member nations agree to RFMO regulations, they are bound by these rules, which
may include catch limits and specifications on the types of gear used. Evidence
suggests these regulations have led to decreased bycatch (such as dolphins in tuna
place, however.
nets), but maintaining healthy fish stocks has remained a challenge. Enforcing fishing regulations on the high seas
is extremely difficult, but member nations have worked to address the problem of illegal fishing and prevent
illegally caught seafood from being imported. One organization that has demonstrated enforcement success is the
North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC), which exists primarily to preserve salmon stocks. Member
nations are Canada, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. The commission prohibits catching salmon
on the high seas, which is primarily accomplished using drift nets. Drift nets float freely in ocean currents, usually
near the seas surface. They are used to catch schooling fish like salmon and sardines. Unfortunately, these nets
result in a lot of bycatch, ensnaring seabirds, marine mammals, and other non-targeted species. The goal of
fisheries management is to develop regulations based on scientific data. These regulations may be based on
knowledge of species life histories, migration patterns, or other information. Fishing for bluefin tuna, for instance, is
highly regulated in the United States. Fishers may only catch this species with a rod and reel or hand-thrown
harpoon. This regulation ensures they may only catch one fish at a time. To be taken from the ocean, a fish must
measure at least 185 centimeters (73 inches). The goal of this rule is to give fish a chance to spawn before being
caught. In addition, only a certain tonnage of fish may be caught each year. Once that quota is reached, the fishery
is closed for the season. Rules like these take into consideration a fish species biology and natural history in order
to maintain populations for the future.
EPA has the authority to do the plan independently - CP avoids

Congressional action
EPA, 14 [Laws and Regulations, 03/10,
http://www.epa.gov/hg/regs.htm] Lin
Laws and
regulations are a major tool in protecting the environment. Congress
passes laws (statutes) that govern the United States. To put those laws
into effect, Congress authorizes certain government agencies, including
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to create and enforce
regulations. Regulations provide specific rules and details for how to put
the law into practice. Under certain Federal environmental statutes, such as the Clean Air Act, Clean
Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, EPA has the responsibility to develop
regulations to control some mercury emissions to air, water, or from wastes and products. In addition, states
Sometimes mercury is released through emissions from manufacturing, use, or disposal activities.
also develop regulations to address mercury emissions.
Solvency
Fishing regulations are the only way to solve our depletion of
marine species.
National Geographic Education, 14 [Sustainable
Fishing,http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/sustainabl
e-fishing/?ar_a=1#page=2] Lin
Sustainable fishing guarantees there will be populations of ocean and
freshwater wildlife for the future. Aquatic environments are home to
countless species of fish and invertebrates, most of which are consumed as food. (Others are harvested
for economic reasons, such as oysters that produce pearls used in jewelry.) Seafood is respected all over the world,
in many diverse cultures, as an important source of protein and healthy fats. For thousands of years, people have
Demand for seafood and advances in

technology have led to fishing practices that are depleting fish and
shellfish populations around the world. Fishers remove more than 77
billion kilograms (170 billion pounds) of wildlife from the sea each year.
Scientists fear that continuing to fish at this rate may soon result in a
collapse of the worlds fisheries. In order to continue relying on the ocean as an important food
source, economists and conservationists say we will need to employ
sustainable fishing practices. Consider the example of the bluefin tuna. This fish is one of the
largest and fastest on Earth. It is known for its delicious meat, which is often enjoyed raw, as sushi. Demand
for this particular fish has resulted in very high prices at markets and has
threatened its population. Todays spawning population of bluefin tuna is estimated at 21 to 29
fished to feed families and local communities.
percent of its population in 1970. Since about that time, commercial fishers have caught bluefin tuna using purse
seining and longlining. Purse seine fishing uses a net to herd fish together and then envelop them by pulling the
nets drawstring. The net can scoop up many fish at a time, and is typically used to catch schooling fish or those
that come together to spawn. Longlining is a type of fishing in which a very long lineup to 100 kilometers (62
miles)is set and dragged behind a boat. These lines have thousands of baited hooks attached to smaller lines
stretching downward. Both purse seining and longlining are efficient fishing methods. These techniques can catch
hundreds or thousands of fish at a time.
Regs key sustainability of fisheries

Williams 13 [Joshua, Blogger, Stop Overfishing by Implementing laws and
Regulations, Assessing the Sustainability of Current Global Fisheries, 3/27,
http://blogs.longwood.edu/jwilliams/2013/03/27/assessing-the-sustainability-ofcurrent-global-fisheries-8/] Li
Policy/Reformist Sustainable Development perspective establishes
more political control and declares, dont change the system; adapt it to
meet the goals of the environment, economy, and social equity (Gould). This
The
policy can only be implemented by wealthier nations who can put in place programs that could fight pollution and
other environmentally destructive effects. For example, the Sustainable National Income ( SNI)
compares
actual levels of economic activity with sustainable levels of activity (Gould).
The SNI can have a substantial influence on the economic profit by
determining when fish are allowed to be harvested and how many. The SNI
can also set restriction on the number of boats allowed to fish and they
can also set a limit to how many fish they are allowed to catch. Even with
policies like the Sustainable National Income (SNI), many people believe that it will not be enough to make a
people advocate the Critical

Structural Approach to Sustainable Development, which states that as
long as free markets dominate, profits and economic development will
always win out over environmental and social concerns (Gould). The
Critical Structural Approach calls for dramatic changes to the structure of
the global economy, the goals that drive it, and the distribution of what it
produces (Gould). An example of this approach would be to make free
markets illegal and shut down global fisheries which main goal is profits
and economical development. It is not hard to see that this approach is very unpractical as a means
of solving the sustainability crisis. Actions and regulations must be implemented and
supported by society for global fisheries to be sustainable. The
development approaches established by Gould and Lewis is ideal for
sustainability, including: Free-Market Environmentalism, Policy/Reformist
Sustainable Development, and Critical Structural Approach to Sustainable
Development. Other actions are reforming policies about where and how
many fish can be taken from the seas, such as the no-take zones; lobbying
for appropriate laws, restoring collapsed fisheries, setting up protected
areas, and educating stakeholders and the general public, through
advertisements of all media types.
substantial change to the sustainability of fisheries. Instead,
Fishing regulations are efficient- with new data, changes can

be made
South Atlantic Ocean Conservation, 14 [Changing the Game: A New Approach
to Prevent Overfishing in the South Atlantic,http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/researchand-analysis/fact-sheets/2011/04/17/changing-the-game-a-new-approach-toprevent-overfishing-in-the-south-atlantic] Lin
New fishing limits cover dozens of species , ranging from the popular dolphinfish,
wahoo, king mackerel and cobia, to a seaweed called Sargassum, to little-known corals sold for aquariums. Most
of these species had no fishing limits in place . Some have size limits; others have bag or trip
At Stake
limits that restrict the take per fisherman but those rules alone do not adequately limit the overall amount of fish
The proactive plan is intended to help prevent

overfishing by setting cautious limits before some fish populations
potentially plummet to critically low levels. The strategy should avert tougher, more painful
removed from the ocean. Why It's Needed
restrictions in the future by managing fish populations wisely now. The idea is to avoid what happened with red
snapper. The fish is in such severe trouble that a total fishing moratorium was approved in 2010 to save the
species. Waiting for a crisis before acting is poor fishery management that has allowed overfishing to deplete too
many valuable fish species, including at least 10 in the south Atlantic alone, causing dire economic consequences.
This new approach would put fishery managers ahead of the curve. They can better judge when species are
declining so they can act in time. Limits can be adjusted as conditions change. This strategy also helps address
consequences of the red snapper fishing moratorium and additional protections approved in 2010 for about a dozen
other dwindling species such as red and gag grouper. Without those species to target year-round, anglers probably
will shift their focus to other fish, which could lead to unhealthy population declines. This comprehensive plan takes
a big-picture look at fish and fishing, helps avoid problems in the future and sets the course for a healthy, balanced
ocean ecosystem. HOW IT WORKS Keeping Track The new system will keep a tighter rein on how many fish are
caught. If fishermen catch more than permitted, managers may use a number of methods to keep future catch
within permitted levels or make up for the excess, including reducing limits in the short term or establishing shorter
In the past, rules were weakly enforced for fisheries that had
quotas and limits were routinely exceeded in some cases. With better
control, the limits have a stronger chance of keeping fish populations
healthy. Counting Accidental Catch In the past, bag, trip or other limits on single fish species have led
fishing seasons.
fishermen to throw back fish after they reached the quota for that species. Fish often do not survive catch and
To reduce the deaths and waste of fish,

managers may set limits for groups of fish that are often caught together.
release, and tens of thousands die this way each year.
That means fishermen won't have to throw back as many fish while trying to target a different species. For example,
instead of an allowance of one gag grouper and one black grouper per day, those two species could have a joint
limit of two. The limit would not be met until fishermen catch any combination of gag and black grouper. Under the
current individual species limits, a fisherman who caught a gag might have to throw back large numbers of gag
The new system should give fishermen more

flexibility and allow them to keep more fish while also maintaining healthy
fish populations. Setting the Limits Little data exist on some species that will get new limits because it is
impossible to count all those fish or study each species. Healthy fish populations and a
balanced ocean ecosystem require an overall management plan , however. With
while trying to get the black grouper.
some species for which little data are available, scientists have recommended setting limits close to today's
average catch with a cautious margin of error to ensure that enough fish remain for a healthy population. In some
cases, fishermen probably will see little change. For other species, determining the limits may be more complex and
as scientists complete more fishery studies, the

limits will change to reflect the most up-to-date information and allow as
much catch as possible while maintaining healthy fish populations.
may mean reduced allowable catch. But
Regs solve previous policies prove

Nasser 13 [Abdullah, Research Assistant at Harvard University, Overfishing:
Economic Policies in Finite Resource Biological Pools, Harvard Undergraduate
Economic Review, http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1222&context=uer] Li
fishing was considered an environmentally
sustainable activity. Ocean resources were treated as if they were infinite
and inexhaustible -even by prominent biologists like Thomas H Huxely (Kurlansky 1997). Primitive
fishing technologies as well as the relatively small number of fishermen
helped preserve local and global supply pools and lend credence to this
line of thought. Resource-depletion on the high seas was rarely an issue due to low fishing rates and the
small number of human populations dependent on the ocean for food. The turn of the 19th century saw
this view reassessed. The Industrial Revolution had brought new
technologies that transformed fishing into a more efficient and lucrative
trade. Steam trawlers made it easier to reach further into the sea, and
improved navigation facilitated the localization of fish populations (Payne,
2009). Over time, these technologies improved fishing beyond what is
biologically sustainable, threatening the livelihood of the very fishermen for whom these technologies
were invented. Realizing the danger, a number of countries including Canada
and the US founded the International Convention for the Northwest
Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) in 1949 (Anderson 1998). ICNAF's mission was
to monitor, research and preserve the fishing stocks of a large swatch of
the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, including all of New Englands fishing
zones. Over time, minimum mesh, fish, and net size standards were set
For the most part of human history,
and implemented. These regulations are believed to have helped reduce

exploitation and overfishing in those waters, although there were
deficiencies in monitoring and enforcement.
Regs solve Magnuson-Stevens Act

NRDC 12 [National Resources Defense Council, Environmental Action Group,
Conserving Wild Fisheries: Laws and Regulations Matter, 7/20,
http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/conserving-fisheries/regulations.asp] Li
In
1976, in response to widespread overfishing and increasing numbers of

foreign fishing vessels in U.S. waters, Congress passed the Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (since renamed the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act or the Magnuson-Stevens Act
for short, after two of its main sponsors). The law banned foreign fishing
vessels within 200 miles of shore and promoted the expansion of the
American fishing industry, leading to record catch levels in many ports. By
the early 1990s, with the industry overcapitalized and many fish stocks depleted, the catch of some of the most
commercially valuable fish -- such as New England cod and haddock -- had collapsed. Chronic overfishing was
"deep frying the goose that laid the golden egg," as former Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) once said.
Congress
responded by amending the Magnuson-Stevens Act to add a number of
significant conservation requirements, including to require the timely
rebuilding of depleted fish stocks. The new requirements led to the
rebuilding of a number of important fish populations, such as haddock and
sea scallops from New England, snow crab from the Bering Sea and
summer flounder from the East Coast. Chronic overfishing, however,
continued to hold back the recovery of other fish stocks. In 2006, Congress
once again strengthened the Magnuson-Stevens Act by requiring fisheries
managers to abide by the recommendations of scientists in establishing
annual catch limits that do not allow overfishing. Today, the MagnusonStevens Act has a clear track record of success and is frequently cited as a
model legal framework in other countries. Nonetheless, dozens of major
fish stocks remain depleted and are still subject to overfishing. According
to the National Marine Fisheries Service, about one in four stocks with
known status remain overfished, while one in five stocks are still subject
to overfishing.
Everyone, including the fishing industry, recognized the country's fisheries were in crisis. In 1996,
Regulations key eliminate subsidies

Dostal 6 [Derek J., University of Pennsylvania Law School, Global Fisheries
Subsidies: Will the WTO Reel in Effective Regulations?,
http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?
handle=hein.journals/upjiel26&div=28&g_sent=1&collection=journals#831] Li
lack of WTO regulations for global fisheries subsidies in the global

commons is a recipe for disaster. The stakes in global fisheries subsidies
are extremely high, not only because the fishing industry is an integral
part of many nations' economies, but also because of the overfishing
problem's magnitude337 Although previous international plans to reduce overcapacity in fisheries have
The present
been carefully considered and implemented, the effectiveness of such plans has been undermined by nations
WTO's elimination of those

subsidies that contribute to overcapacity is a necessary and critical first
step in rectifying the overfishing problem. The evidence that a WTO
mandate is needed to require nations to eliminate fisheries subsidies is
clear and unambiguous. Ninety percent of the large fish population is
overfished or depleted. Fisheries subsidies contribute to overcapacity and distort the natural market
continuing to subsidize their commercial fishing industries. The
equilibrium of the industry. These subsidies undermine many previously proposed and implemented governmental
mechanisms to cope with overcapacity. Additionally, by minimizing operating costs, subsidies encourage new
Admittedly, gradually
eliminating all fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and
overfishing will not be a cure for all of the oceans' ills. Nonetheless, the
eradication of subsidies is an essential step in reducing overcapacity. The
WTO is now well-poised to implement a strategy to cope with the
overfishing problem. WTO member nations have cast their baited lures into the political ocean in the
industry entrants who further aggravate the overfishing problem.
form of proposals for subsidies reform. Such proposals typically recognize the need for fisheries subsidies
regulations internationally.
The WTO should require all WTO member nations to

make a gradual, yet complete, eradication of those subsidies that
contribute to overcapacity, especially those subsidies that are directed
toward vessel construction. Moreover, given Japan's history of abusing research exemptions, the
WTO should specifically reject Japan's proposal of allowing "research" subsidies. Subsidies eradication is only the
first step in rectifying the overfishing problem. Once the WTO tackles the subsidies issue, the next-and perhaps
more difficult-hurdle will be allocating fishing rights to our world's oceans among individual nations.
Fisheries are on decline and regulation success will influence

developing countries
EDF, 14 [Environmental Defense Fund, Help us restore Belize's stunning coral
reef system, http://www.edf.org/oceans/help-us-restore-belizes-stunning-coral-reefsystem] Lin
The stunning Mesoamerican Reef is the largest barrier reef in the Atlantic Ocean, stretching for nearly 600 miles off
Coastal communities depend on the reef and

its fisheries for food and income, but today both are in significant decline
due to overfishing, coastal development and climate change. To solve the
problem, EDF is using a groundbreaking approach that could serve as a
key model for putting coastal fisheries throughout the developing world
on a sustainable path. Read about our work below, and then help us solve the problem by donating
today. What's gone wrong with the reef? Belizes fisheries are in serious decline and have been for
Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
decades. Fisheries there have traditionally been open accessmeaning nearly anyone could get a fishing license
As more people have turned to fishing to support

themselves, it has put unsustainable pressure on economically important
fisheries. Many fishermen say they now work an entire season to catch the
same amount of lobster they once landed in a week. Belizean conch are also
and catch unlimited amounts.
threatened by overfishing. This, in turn, has put enomous pressure on the

entire reef system. How we're restoring the reef EDF has been working in Belize since
2009 to restore fisheries to health and abundance. Building on the strong partnerships
we forged with Belizean fishermen, the government and local NGOs, in 2011 we launched an innovative fisheries
management system that combines marine reserves with catch shares (called managed access in Belize). This
approach is already showing great promise as a way to help rebuild lobster and conch populations, increase
fishermens profits, and curb illegal fishing. We still have a last chance in Belize. Catch shares is that option. Sonny
Garbutt Belizean fisherman We are beginning with pilot projects in two heavily fished locations, and at the Belize
governments request, have already begun planning a national expansion to all lobster and conch fisheries.
Rewarding fishermen for being good stewards The centerpiece of the new management system is called catch
shares, a system of rights, responsibilities, and rewards that gives fishermen a financial incentive to fish more
carefully and protect marine habitatan incentive absent until recently. Sustainable, science-based catch limits are
set for commercially important species, and fishermen receive access rights to specific areas. The majority of
fishermen at pilot sites are complying with size limits and seasonal fishery closures and submitting all their catch
data. This valuable information will help managers monitor fishery health and set ideal catch limits. Launching the
new model with our partners The transformation in Belize has grown from collaborations that EDF worked for years
to achieve. With the Belize Fisheries Department, Toledo Institute for Development and Environment, and Wildlife
Conservation Society, EDF is now launching the nations first combined catch shares-marine reserves system in two
vital fishing groundsGlovers Reef Marine Reserve and Port Honduras Marine Reserveusing a design that all
stakeholders helped create. Several important components of the system are already in place; it will be fully
operational by the end of 2013.Under the new system, Belizean fishermen are for the first time actively
participating in fisheries managementmonitoring their catch to improve information on fishery health, assisting in
enforcement, and verifying licenses. As EDF helps build their capacity, fishermen are emerging as strong marine
stewards. Their leadership is essential to successful small-scale fishery management because governments in
developing nations often lack adequate resources. Next steps: Beyond Belize With your help,
success to spread catch
EDF will use our
shares to the entire Mesoamerican Reef, and to other developing countries

where limited governance and fisheries data are common problems.
EPA can act independently

EPA protect and support marine wildlife-make regulations.
EPA, 13 [Shellfish Protection, 05/10,
http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/fishshellfish/] Lin
lead or participate in a variety of programs and activities that help
protect waters that support shellfish. This website is not a comprehensive list. If you have
We
specific questions or if you are not able to find what you are looking for, please let us know. We are directed by the
Clean Water Act to maintain "...water
quality which provides for the protection and

propagation of...shellfish..." (101(a)(2)). Rather than structuring its programs to protect particular living
resources, like shellfish, programs are structured by environmental media (e.g.,
surface or ground waters), sources of pollution (e.g., wastewater
treatment plants), specific types of pollutants (e.g., pesticides), and tools
to detect, prevent, or correct problems (e.g., water quality standards,
nonpoint source control, watershed protection, industrial discharge
permits, and financial assistance. Through these and other mechanisms, we are able to work with
other governmental and nongovernmental groups to reduce the impacts of pollution sources on the nation's aquatic
resources such as shellfish.
EPA makes regulations- protects all species, not just the ones
covered in past regulations.
EPA, 14 [Fish Consumption Regulaions and
Recommendations, 04/28, http://www2.epa.gov/new-bedfordharbor/fish-consumption-regulations-and-recommendations]
Since 1979, Massachusetts regulations have prohibited eating fish and/or shellfish caught in certain areas of New
Bedford Harbor. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection samples local fish and shellfish every
year to determine whether PCB concentrations are declining as a result of cleanup activities around New Bedford
EPA recommends that recreational fishermen, shell fishermen and

everyone else follow the Massachusetts regulations. In addition, we recommend limited
eating of certain species not covered by the 1979 state regulations.
Harbor. U.S.
EPA provides regulations.

EPA, 14 [Fish Consumptions Advisories, 07/10,
http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/fishshellfish/fishadvis
ories/]
some fish may contain chemicals that
could pose health risks. When contaminant levels are unsafe, consumption
advisories may recommend that people limit or avoid eating certain
species of fish caught in certain places. Every year since 1993, the EPA has made
available to the public a compendium of information on locally issued fish
advisories and safe eating guidelines. This information is provided to EPA by states, U.S.
Fish are a lean, low-calorie source of protein. However,
fish consumption advisories and safe

eating guidelines to inform people about the recommended level of
consumption for fish caught in local waters. EPA and FDA Advice about Eating Fish:
territories, Indian tribes, and local governments who issue
Availability of Draft Update - EPA and FDA have released for review and comment an update to the 2004 advice
contained in their jointly released document entitled What You Need to Know about Mercury in Fish and Shellfish.
The proposed update makes the advice consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010. The update also
contains additional information for those who want to understand the advice in greater detail.
2NC - Perm Answers

Perm doesnt solve Congress wont collaborate
Cohen 14 [Richard E., FCW contributing writer, has covered Capitol Hill for more
than three decades and is the author of several books on Congress, EPA and
Congress clash over regulatory authority, FCW, 4/30,
http://fcw.com/Articles/2014/04/30/EPA-and-Congress-clash-over-regulatoryauthority.aspx?Page=1] Li
For Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, getting to know Capitol Hill
has not been a pleasant experience. Her Senate confirmation process lasted more
than four months and required her to jump through multiple hoops for Republican
members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Her subsequent
attempts to work with the congressional GOP have not been much easier. In contrast to
the Defense Department's budget conflict, EPA is battling with Congress over its regulatory
authority. During recent House and Senate hearings, Republicans have challenged EPA's
initiatives -- mandated by President Barack Obama -- to reduce power-plant emissions that contribute to climate
change. House Republicans have responded with legislative efforts to stymie EPA . A leading House ally
of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told McCarthy that Congress is at war with her agency. Main Article
Coping with Congress Lawmakers have given agencies long-term funding clarity for the first time in years. But the
EPA have
been compounded by Obama's attempts to achieve through regulations what he
and congressional Democrats failed to achieve through legislation. In particular, Obama is
lack of budget drama could open the door to other conflicts. Republicans' wariness of an activist
seeking to salvage the global climate change initiative that he pushed during his first two years in office, when
there were strong Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. With close monitoring by senior White House
McCarthy has set an ambitious schedule to impose stronger rules to reduce the
adverse climate effects of new and existing power plants. The effort requires complicated
aides,
arrangements with state regulators, who have extensive authority over the utilities. In addition, McCarthy must
contend with climate-change skeptics among congressional Republicans and the certainty that EPA actions will force
extensive court challenges.
AT: Regs Hurt

Fishing regulations allow for a better economy and healthier
people.
Population Connection, 14 [Americas Voice For Population Stabilization, Fishing
for a Solution to the Population Problem,
http://www.populationconnection.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Fishing] Lin
Punta Allen, on the Yucatan Peninsula, residents have a strong understanding
village economy transitioned to one that
relies primarily on fishing when a cooperative was founded by 49 fishermen in 1968. Hurricane
In a small Mexican town called
of how family size impacts their livelihoods. The
Gilbert in 1988 devastated the lobster industry, dealing a blow to the local economy. The success of lobster
After suffering
through the economic damage of natural disasters, Punta Alleos came to
the realization that a smaller population lessened pressure on the lobster
population, ensured better harvests, and helped secure long-term
investments. Punta Allen invested in family planning efforts, and as of 2009, family planning was universal
harvests can be highly variable, but Punta Allens population size did not have to be.
in Punta Allen. Their financial success and small families are not coincidence, according to local residents.
Having
fewer [children] means giving them more, they say, noting that the
seafood catch from their regional waters can either inadequately support
a large population or enable a smaller population to thrive . At the same time that
birth control options expanded in their town, Punta Allen residents began stringent management of
when lobsters could be caught and which onesparticularly those with eggs should
be left in the sea. The towns strict regulations have made it the highest yielding
cooperative along the Yucatan coast. The results of this conservation initiative reveal the most
critical lesson in sustainable fishing: preserving a healthy population of sea life requires
maintaining a stable population of humans. Although coastal areas make up only 20
percent of the earths landmass, over 45 percent of the global population lives by the
sea. As the human population has skyrocketed from 1 billion in the early
1800s to more than 7 billion in 2011, the number of people living near and
depending on the ocean for food and livelihoods has also soared . For lowincome food-deficit countries, fish provides for about 24 percent of animal protein intake. In some countries, fish
protein can make up more than 50 percent of a persons protein intake. In addition, one in five people depends on
fish as his or her primary source of protein. This dependence on fish will soon be problematic, as overfishing
becomes an even more pertinent global problem. Beyond the Limits Throughout the world, fisheries are teetering
on the brink of collapse. Experts estimate that as of 2009, 57 percent of marine fisheries were fully exploited, and
species
that account for 30 percent of the worlds capture fisheries production
are fully exploited. This means that no increases in catch will be possible. Many are
overexploited, and production expansion will not be possible without
stock collapse. While the exact prevalence of overfishing may be
uncertain, a common trend is clearoverfishing has increased over time,
and it has had a sizable impact on ecosystems and the people who depend
on them. Experts predict that unless we change our habits, we may lose 90 percent of the oceans edible fish
around 30 percent of assessed marine stocks were over-exploited. The majority of the top ten species
and shellfish species by 2048. The decline in fish stocks has led to exorbitant prices for some species. In January of
2013, a 489 pound Bluefin tuna was sold for nearly $1.8 million the highest price set at Tokyos fish market
auction. Record prices have been set during these New Years auctions, in part as a way to celebrate the new year
or to attract publicity, but also in response to the alarming decline in fish stocks. Between 1997 and 2007, Atlantic
and Mediterranean Bluefin tuna stocks fell by 60 percent. Since Bluefin tuna fishing began, the population of fish at
a reproductive age has dropped by 96.4 percent. The Bluefin tuna is on the critically endangered list, and experts
say that current fishing levels are too high to help the species recover. The science is compelling, said Tom
Strickland, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. That species is in spectacular
decline. The overall annual wild marine catch has hovered between 80 and 90 million tons for a decade, with
production trends varying by species and fishing area.
AT:
Regs hurts environment
Regs reduce bycatch swordfish, red snapper, and lingcod

Tromble, Lambert, and Benaka 9 [Galen R. Tromble, Chief of Domestic Fisheries
Division at NOAA, Debra M. Lambert, Office of Sustainable Fisheries at NOAA, Lee R.
Benaka, Office of Science and Technology at NOAA, Prelude to Sustainability:
Ending Overfishing in U.S. Fisheries, Our Living Oceans,
http://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/olo6thedition/07--Feature%20Article%201.pdf] Li
The Secretary of Commerce (through NMFS) and the FMC's have implemented or begun development of
management actions designed to reduce or end overfishing on the

majority of the stocks that are currently experiencing overfishing . Typical
management actions include such measures as annual specifications, time/area
closures, bag limits, limits on days at sea, trip limits, size limits, gear
restrictions, and programs to reduce overcapacity. A few examples that highlight
recent efforts to end or reduce overfishing are described below. Overfishing of North Atlantic
swordfish occurred during 1998-2001, but ended in 2002 and has not
occurred since. Strong management measures implemented by the
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)
and NMFS led to an end to overfishing. Specifically, all ICCAT member nations agreed to adopt
a lower catch quota, and NMFS also closed nursery areas in the U.S. EEZ to pelagic longline fishing to protect
juvenile swordfish. To address overfishing of red snapper in the Gulf of
Mexico, NMFS not only implemented bycatch reduction measures
(described above), but it also reduced commercial and recreational quotas
for red snapper, reduced the commercial minimum size limit for red
snapper, reduced the recreational bag limit for red snapper, and
prohibited the retention of red snapper under the bag limit for the captain
and crew of a vessel operating as a charter vessel or headboat (through
the same final rule). In the Pacific Northwest, the lingcod stock was designated as
overfished in 1999, with overfishing occurring for several years. Lingcod is
one of more than 80 species managed under the Pacific Coast Groundfish
FMP. A broad array of management tools--e.g, quotas, trip limits, depth
restrictions, size limits, seasonal closures, and gear restrictions~ have
been applied in this fishery in recent years. Through a comprehensive
approach that addressed fishing mortality from commercial, recreational,
and tribal fisheries and also considered bycatch in nontarget fisheries,
NMFS successfully ended overfishing of lingcod in 2005. Although 2009
was established as the end date for the lingcod rebuilding plan, the
rebuilding target was reached several years ahead of schedule while
avoiding a complete closure of lingcod fisheries.
Aff - Regs hurt economy

Regs cause economic waste
Beck et. al. No Date [Simon, Northern Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Analysis Division, The Overfishing of Yellow Perch in Lake Erie: An Analysis,
economics.uakron.edu/Portfolios/.../OverfishingProbleminLakeErie.docx] Li
With the decline of the population of yellow perch in Lake Erie at its current state, actions may be necessary to
preserve the current ecosystem. While it may be argued to be more efficient to simply let the market decide on
fishing, the open access problem suggests otherwise; government is needed to step in and prevent overuse or
Policies regarding limiting the number of boats and

reducing the number of fishing days in a season would not be efficient
given the nature of Lake Erie. In private fisheries we are able to put in restrictions that would help
depletion of this natural resource.
safeguard the resources while being efficient but in a large ecosystem such as Lake Erie in which there are
regulations put in place by both Canada and the United States, such regulations would have to be coordinated by
While these regulations can stop overfishing, they would cause

too much economic waste due to fishermen trying to overcome these
barriers to entry. Such examples would be fishermen trying to maximize
revenue by hiring larger crew to man the boats to improve the number of
their catch or focusing their total effort into the limited fishing days to
maximize profits. Limits can be placed on gear as to minimize any negative impact to Lake Erie and
both nations.
increase the perch population. There must be an increase in the fishing of walleye which is a predator of perch.
Furthermore, there are many problems in Lake Erie that are outside of the
fishing industry, yet directly or indirectly affect it. Yellow perch only grow to a certain
and potential limitations on weight, length, and amount collected must be examined. Microcystis algae blooms
must be studied more intensively, the costs and benefits of further reduction of fertilizer runoff should be analyzed.
The pending threat of the invading Asian carp should be stopped before it damages the Lake Erie ecosystem as it
more precise cost-benefit analysis should be done in order

to find whether the costs of preventing the depletion of this natural
capital today would be less than the costs of attempting to reverse the
process later.
has elsewhere. Further,
Regs bad harms fishing industry

Hansen 9 [Don, past chairman of the Pacific Fishery Management Council,
Unnecessary regulations will harm fishing industry, Union-Tribune, 10/22,
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2009/Oct/22/unnecessary-regulations-will-harmfishing-industry/] Li
California has been establishing a
system of marine protected areas long California's coast to address the
fisheries crisis. The state is doing this largely by creating draconian no-fishing zones that prevent
recreational anglers and their families from going out for a day's fishing. The process, however, is costing
millions of dollars to implement and is having serious financial impacts on
coastal communities which depend on recreational fishing. All to address a
fishing crisis that simply doesn't exist. While there are examples of overfishing and declining
fish stocks in oceans around the world, such is not the case off the coasts of California, Oregon or and Washington .
The fisheries crisis that protected areas are supposed to solve simply
Over the past five years, under the Marine Life Protection Act,
doesn't exist. In these three states, there is not one marine fisheries stock
currently experiencing overfishing, and the few stocks still experiencing
stress can be found in abundance due to the strict management and
rebuilding plans established more than 20 years ago. For example, of the more than
90 groundfish stocks most likely to benefit from a marine protected area, only nine have been designated as
overfished. Two of those stocks have been declared rebuilt in the past five years, and the remaining seven are all
under strict rebuilding plans. In addition to these fishery management measures, prime marine habitat is being
protected via a ban on destructive commercial fishing practices such as bottom trawling. California's marine
fisheries and ocean resource management program is working. In addition, in a recent article in Science magazine,
professors Boris Worm of Canada's Dalhousie University and Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington state that
can have robust fishing

opportunities and healthy ocean ecosystems at the same time. In fact,
the arguments that were used to pass the protection act more than a
decade ago simply no longer hold true. Terrestrial pollution is having a far
more significant impact on our oceans. Climate change and ocean
acidification, global problems regularly associated with our oceans'
decline, have nothing to do with recreational fishing. Marine protected
areas will not solve these problems nor be an effective tool in mitigating
their impact. Designating protected areas in state waters will not cure the
ocean of what ails it. The key to solving our oceans' problems is to find a balance between extraction
California's fisheries are flourishing. The article proves that California
and conservation. This can be found in Proposal 2, one of the three currently before the Marine Life Protection Act
Blue Ribbon Task Force, which is meeting today in Long Beach. It is undoubtedly the best way to effectively manage
California's marine resources for human use while maintaining our fish stocks. California's policy makers need to
can our state afford to fix a crisis that doesn't exist? The hype
and noise about recreational overfishing is, quite simply, overblown.
ask themselves
Fishing regulations hurt the economy- fish are plentiful now.

Garman, 12 [Valerie, Panama City News Herald, Fishermen Say Rules Hurting
Business, 01/22, http://southerland.house.gov/index.cfm/in-the-news?
ID=044f84ea-308c-4d5a-9719-44395e2244b6] Lin
MEXICO BEACH Chip Blackburns boat hasnt gone out since September. Blackburn, captain of the charter boat
Miss Mary out of Mexico Beach, has seen a drastic change in the fishing business since he started chartering 25
fishermen, have watched their work

days deplete as a result of stricter regulations from the Gulf of Mexico Fishery
years ago. Blackburn, along with a host of other gulf
Management Council, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. At this point, I cant afford
to get out of the business, Blackburn said. We only had (48) days to fish for red snapper this year. Can you make
a living in (48) days? This years gag grouper season was also short, lasting only from Sept. 16 to Nov. 15.
Blackburn is part of a coalition of gulf fishermen fighting against further funding for catch share programs, a
controversial form of fishery management that dictates the amount of fish that can be caught through the
distribution of individual fishing quotas (IFQs) to fishery participants. Although the recreational sector that the
charter boats fall into is not bound by the catch share programs in place for commercial fishermen in the gulf, many
charter fishermen fear implementation of further catch share programs on the horizon, and see it as a way for
NOAA to privatize their right to a public resource. Blackburn fears that younger generations of fishermen will not
have a chance in the business, which he said is becoming more difficult to stay afloat in each year, and harder to
acquire the necessary permits to fish in federal waters, required for charter and commercial boats that fish more
than nine miles off the Florida coastline. Originally to get a federal fishing permit was no big deal, Blackburn said.
I dont want to see people not have the chance that I had to get into the business. With federal fishing permits on
a limited-access system, no new permits are issued, meaning a permit must be surrendered by a fisherman for
another to obtain it. Blackburn said while the 1,300 charter boats in the gulf depend on a clean environment and
healthy fisheries, there is an underlying fear among local fishermen that NOAA, backed by the Environmental
Defense Fund, is not interested in the health of the fishery, but rather in controlling access to a public resource.
Blackburn is one of many local fishermen who believe NOAAs regulations are based on invalid data and bad
science. Chuck Guilford, owner of Charisma Charters in Mexico Beach, also believes the regulations have nothing to
do with the health of the fisheries. The
biggest problem is that the government is

trying to regulate the fish out there in the gulf, and they operate without
sufficient data as to how many fish are actually out there, Guilford said.
Anything thats controlled by the forces of nature, theres no way that the
government can control it themselves. All things in nature, hot summers,
cold winters, hurricanes, red tide, they have more to do with the amount
of fish out there than the government ever will. Like Blackburn, Guilford has also felt the
pinch of less fishing days. Quite frankly, the government is just putting me out of business, said Guilford, a fourth
generation fisherman who has been in the charter business for 36 years. Guilford said his business has lost money
the past two years because of stricter regulations. Red snapper and grouper regulations in particular have hurt him;
both species he says are abundant. The
fish are so plentiful now, Guilford said. Right now,

because of the reproduction, we have more red snapper than you can count. You cant go fishing
without catching a red snapper. Guilford said five to six years ago he could fish 220 to 240 days per year. Now he
is fishing only about 80 days on his main boat and 57 on his second boat. To cover the cost of operations, Guilford
said he needs to operate at least five months out of the year. I spent 20 years in the military serving my
government, and now my government is the one thats putting me out of business, Guilford said. Im 81 years old.
I love what I do. I love to charter. Not the American way Panama City charter fisherman Bob Zales admits he would
probably be better off in a catch share system. But thats not the American way of doing business, Zales said. To
have the government say who can and cant fish is just not the way. Zales family has been in the charter business
for 46 years, a legacy that would make him a big winner in a catch share program, where businesses with tenure
receive the largest piece of the pie. However, its a system Zales will never support, he said. Zales is the owner of
Zodiac Charters in Panama City, president of the National Association of Charterboat Operators (NACO) and the
Panama City Boatman Association, and an advocate against sector separation, stricter regulations and funding for
more catch share programs in the Gulf of Mexico. Zales said implementing a catch share system among charter
fishermen in the gulf would virtually cut the fleet in half, leaving consumers with less of a choice and hurting the
local economy. The people who support (catch shares) are generally the ones that have the quota, Zales said.
Clearly the catch shares battle is a have-and-have-not fight. Zales said the organizations that support catch
shares, like the Gulf Fishermens Association, represent the have side in the red snapper shareholder alliance.
(The GFA) wont tell us where their funding comes from and they wont tell us how many members they have,
Zales said. Emily Muelstein, fisheries outreach specialist for the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, said
the GFA is made up of a group of large shareholders or businessmen in the commercial sector. A press release
from the GFA claims that commercial fishermen in the gulf are fishing more sustainably than ever, and not one
single fish has been taken from anyone for our programs. The release also stresses the GFAs stance that
classifying catch shares as a privatization of the resource is a mischaracterization. The release reads, Fishermen
dont own the fish; they simply have a fishing license proportionate to their investment in the fishery Income for
trading this privilege or catching the fish is all taxable income. Unlike open access fisheries, every single fish is
made available to American taxpayers through federally authorized seafood wholesalers. Like Guilford and
Blackburn, Zales also fished fewer days in 2011 due to stricter federal regulations. Any time you fish fewer days,
youre going to make less money, Zales said. All
of the federal regulations have impacted

us regularly. Our businesses are seriously affected by every move they
make. Zales top goal is for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and NOAA to complete a comprehensive
study on what a catch share program really does and how it affects the fishery, environment, economy and
community. Lets get a comprehensive study and lets show what the real impact is, Zales said. As taxpayers,
lets not spend any more time, money and effort on catch share programs until we know what the real impact is.
Its a fight Zales is not alone in. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, sees a dangerous precedent being set by
federal agencies like NOAA, whose regulations he believes are another attempt to take away individual rights.
Southerland serves on the Houses Natural Resource Committee and the fisheries subcommittee and, like Zales, is
dedicated to fighting against further funding for catch share programs and sector separation. I think anytime you
privatize a resource we have individual rights to, its very, very dangerous, Southerland said. Its a very
dangerous precedent when you cap an individuals right to fish and implement a trade, a privatization, of a public
resource. Southerland supports a variety of fisheries bills, like the Pallone Bill, that call for better research to be
done on the effects catch share programs have on a fishery. The science is speculative at best, Southerland said.
It aims legislatively to require (NOAA) to find proper science and have good data. The Pallone Bill, sponsored by
New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, also calls for incremental access to a fishery as its being rebuilt. Southerland is also
a sponsor of the RESTORE Act, which would require NOAA to dedicate a portion of funding to data collection to
research the economic impacts fishing regulations have on a community. The long-term goal, however, would be to
amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law governing marine
fisheries in the U.S. Magnuson-Stevens as it is is crushing our fishing industries, Southerland said. It needs to be
examined thoroughly and amended. For Southerland, the fight against onerous fishing regulations is one that
directly channels his political ideologies. He sees onerous regulations as a vehicle that is used to reduce personal
freedoms and liberties. My ultimate goal is to shrink the size of our federal government and expand the rights of
the individual American, Southerland said. To expand personal freedoms and personal liberties and produce a
healthy fishery. Natural
resources dont belong to the government, they belong

to the people. My constituents see how dangerous these policies are. If
people cant fish, they wont come here."
New restrictions hurt fishermen businesses drastically

Satija, 14 [Neena, Talk of Tighter Restrictions on Fishing Raises Questions,
01/16, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/us/talk-of-tighter-restrictions-on-fishingraises-questions.html?_r=0] Lin
Catching spotted sea trout and flounder along the Gulf Coast is more than just a point of pride for outdoorsmen in
Texas. The pastime attracts sporting fishermen from around the world, part of a renowned saltwater recreational
new
restrictions being placed on the saltwater fish has generated heated
discussion along the coast with some claiming that small-time
fishermen will be pushed out to make way for richer anglers. Its a big emotional
fishing industry that adds $2 billion to the Texas economy each year. So the mere suggestion of
deal, said Andrew Sansom, who led the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department from 1990 to 2001 and is now
executive director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University. (The Texas State
University System is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.) Flounder and spotted trout have been the subject of
strict regulation for 30 years, when their decimated populations prompted state officials to all but ban their
commercial harvest. Only a few dozen commercial licenses to fish flounder exist today.Last week, officials with the
Parks and Wildlife Department discussed the possibility of imposing additional restrictions on the two fish, which are
among the most sought after in Texas. In November, during flounders spawning season, fishermen can catch only
two fish per day. The department is considering lengthening that period of such a low bag limit, or maximum
allowable catch. In addition, the bag limit for spotted trout may be reduced to 5 from 10 year-round. Its really
about what we call helping the bag distribution, trying to get people to be able to harvest more fish, a statistician
for the department, Jeremy Leitz, said. He said that when it came to trout, not many people catch the current bag
limit at 10. Not everyone agrees. Theres nothing to show that changing these bag limits has increased the
pleasure, has increased the numbers, increased anything, said Johnny Valentino, whose family manages a fishing
camp on Galveston Bay that is popular with saltwater trout anglers. Its all about trophy trout fishing, he added,
referring to putting sport fishermen who want to catch the biggest fish ahead of anglers who just want to enjoy the
sport and put some fresh food on the table. Strong opposition to new regulations has been voiced from around
Galveston Bay. That is understandable, given that the bay is one of the most successful spots for landing trout, said
Everett Johnson, a retired fishing guide who is now the editor and publisher of the Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine.
They have substantially more freshwater inflow by virtue of their geography, Mr. Johnson said of Galveston Bay.
Trout do better in fresher water, so anglers there are the most likely to see no need for limiting an already-stellar
catch. But Galveston Bay might also represent a culture of fishing that has been slowly disappearing the angler
who fishes for food, Mr. Sansom said. Putting limits on their catch is a cultural assault. Mr. Sansom agrees that
such anglers would be hurt by additional regulation . But the threat to saltwater fish in
Texas from severe weather and increasingly advanced and better fishing techniques is real, he said, and regulators
should not wait until it is too late to protect them. Remember that all of these animals have to live in an
environment that sustains them, Mr. Sansom said. You cant affect the climate, and the state hasnt been very
forthcoming in setting rigorous inflow standards for freshwater, so lowering the bag limit is what youre left with.
Aff - Regs harm the environment

Regs fail bycatch wasted
Gogola 11 [Tom, Staff Writer, Bycatch 22, New York, 7/10,
http://nymag.com/news/features/bycatch-2011-7/] Li
While concerned consumers fret over which fish are correct to order at their favorite seafood restaurant, heading to
websites maintained by groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund for guidance on the eco-best and eco-
regulatory
framework designed to limit overfishing results in vast numbers of fish per
year being scooped up on boats and dumped right back off, dead, never
consumed by any human. Concerned about endangered bluefin tuna?
Tell it to the tuna long-liners whove had to cut loose untold numbers of
dead bluefins in recent years, owing to the restrictions that come with
winding up on the endangered-species list. A recent bycatch-reduction report issued by the
National Marine Fisheries Services says that bycatch is considered to be
one of the greatest threats to the sustainability of the marine
environment, and bycatch affects practically every species in the ocean.
worst fish to purchase, the truth about commercial fishing in the United States is that a
On this early-spring trip, the quarry would be whiting, a commercial food fish that goes into lots of frozen-fish
productsfish sticks and fish cakes and the like. The crew mustered on the dock at twilight, cast off the lines, and
started to sail out to the edge of the continental shelf. At daybreak, the crew dropped the net into the Atlantic for
our first dip. We towed the net for a couple of hours before hauling back, and that air of anticipation you
apprehend on Deadliest Catch as the crab pots come up was exactly the sentiment on deck as the gears groaned
under the stress of what would be a cod end bulging with fish. That first dip indeed yielded a teeming bag of fish
they were the wrong fish. Wed hit a pod of off-season summer flounder, or fluke. The
regulations allowed for a certain poundage of fluke that could be kept and
sold without risking finesa tiny fraction of what we caught, less than 100
pounds. We toted up our allowance and shoveled the rest of the fish back
into the brine, all dead or dying. This was a waste of time, effort, fuel,
and fish. The captain hightailed it from that piece of ocean in search of a
body of whiting we could scoop up. But our regulatory bycatch
frustrations were just beginning. During this three-day trip, I tallied about twenty species of
but
edible fish and other sea creatures brought up in the net. There were more summer flounder and other out-ofseason or less-desirable flatfish; there were piles upon piles of monkfish that got thrown back; and there were stone
crabs, lobsters, silver eels, shad, ling cod, John Dory, menhaden, and black sea bass, which at that time were in
season and had no minimum-size requirement to be brought to market. The monkfish, highly prized for their livers
and status as the poor mans lobster, were an especially memorable waste. I recall that we had around a 100pound bycatch limit on the monks, and on every dip I was ruefully shoveling at least twice that amount back into
the ocean. Then there were the requirements of our whiting buyer, explained the captain, which placed a minimum
length on the whiting it would be able to process. This meant we were throwing back every whiting that was below
the processors requirements. All of those fish were juvenilesnext years potential catch. As my old Montauk
buddy Mack used to say: Well, the crabs gotta eat too.
Regs bad other fish preyed on

Baker 12 [Zayida, Journalist, Southerland, Gulf Fishermen Cry War over Fishing
Regulations, 6/2, Tea Party Patriots, http://www.teapartypatriots.org/allissues/news/southerland-gulf-fishermen-cry-war-over-fishing-regulations/] Li
Southerland, who serves on the House Natural Resources Committees Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs
Subcommittee, marina manager Pam Anderson, and Captain Bob Zales, who runs boats for recreational fishers out
difficulties with current regulations under the 2007

reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and planned regulations
of Panama City, discussed
under President Obamas National Oceans Policy. They seek to reverse a cap and
trade system that is governed by catch shares, or assigned percentages of the total allowable catch.
Recreational fishermen must pay commercial fishermen for the right to exceed these allotments. The individual
Strict fishing-limits and

severely shortened seasons hurt tourism-related industries, such as
restaurants, hotels, marinas, shipbuilding, and sporting goods. Southerland,
quota for red snapper, the regions most popular species, is just two per day.
who fishes in the Gulf himself, told Tea Party Patriots in a video interview that Theres a real war going on right
sinister effort out there to cut off the fisheries, to shrink our
seasons, and to use bad data and bad research to create the fear that our
fisheries are dwindling. Southerland, Zales, and Anderson also confirmed that many fishermen and
now, . . . a very
boat captains will not speak out for fear of being targeted by environmentalists and enforcers at federal agencies
that environmentalists have infiltrated, according to Zales. As he pointed out, Jane Lubchenco, current head of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is former vice chair of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Anderson blamed environmental groups for the current restrictions: Congress
was under the

impression [from environmentalist accounts] that these stocks were
severely depleted, and they were notnot in 2006. They were rebuilding
gradually but very well. Now, she said, the red snapper population is
growing enough to prey on other species, such as triggerfish, gag grouper
and vermilion snapper. NOAA has declared two of these victim species
overfished. NOAA and the Gulf Council, which manages Gulf fisheries and has over twice as many federally
appointed members as state-appointed ones, are effectively subsidiaries of the Department of Commerce. The
council controls not only federal, but state, waters. Boats with federal permits cannot fish in state waters when
federal waters are closed, even if state waters are open. Anderson says the council also uses its leverage to shorten
fishing seasons in state waters. The red snapper season has shrunk since 2000 from six months to 40 days.
Anderson cited a 50-percent decline in business during the time of year

when fishing for red snapper was formerly permitted. The law was not
meant to eliminate jobs and businesses along the way; it was meant to
gradually grow the fishery. Zales noted that now Its tough for people
to make it. You do a host of things on the water [besides just fishing] to
keep people coming to your boat.
Fishing regulations actually ruin ecosystems- destruction,

habitat loss, and pollution
Spain, 00 [Glen, Northwest Regional Director, Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen's Associations, Rethinking Fisheries Management: Why Fisheries
Management Fails, http://www.pcffa.org/fn-aug00.htm] Lin
fisheries regulators are
less able to foresee, much less prevent, major stock crashes which
jeopardize fishing dependent communities and can bankrupt whole fleets.
The failure of fisheries management creates untold and largely
preventable suffering in fishing dependent communities that is
unforgivable. There are several little acknowledged but clear institutional
failures which have led to these problems, both in the US and internationally, which badly
Fisheries management today is in a perpetual state of crisis. Increasingly,
need to be addressed and corrected. Its time to shed some more light on these problems as well as some potential
The traditional role of fisheries

managers is merely managing fishermen, never fish ecosystems
themselves. Fisheries management thus typically glosses over the biological reality that fish populations are
solutions. Managing Fishermen is Not Managing Fish
Many
of these ecosystems themselves are now threatened with widespread
destruction caused by generations of habitat loss and increasing estuarine
and coastal pollution. These long term habitat loss impacts usually far
outweigh any possible impacts of mere fishing. For most species, all commercial and
supported and maintained by a highly complex and interwoven yet fragile coastal and marine ecosystem.
sportfishing combined usually accounts for only a very small portion of total human-induced fish mortalities, while
habitat loss, oil spills and other pollution, and (particularly in the case of salmon) total blockage of many major
spawning and rearing areas accounts for far more in terms of net losses and past extinctions. The trend toward
Since
fish managers traditionally have control over only one small portion of
these total impacts fishing harvests they are legally helpless to prevent
continuing declines of many commercial valuable species when the driving
force behind these declines is not fishing but widespread habitat loss. A
increasing habitat loss is often a far more insidious and far more lasting impact than transitory overfishing.
classic example is the current salmon crisis in many places along the US west coast, including Canada. In the
Columbia River, for instance, all sport, commercial and Tribal fisheries combined account for only an estimated 5%
of all human-induced fish mortalities within the system (less for some species), while the hydropower dams in that
basin account for almost 85%. Yet the most recent version of a Columbia River salmon restoration plan still has
federal fish managers attempting to squeeze yet more adult returns out of nearly nonexistent harvests but
unwilling (and unable) to deal with the widespread destruction of fisheries caused by too many dams, too many
water diversions, too much grazing and too many logging operations which have had far more negative impact. In
fact most commercial fished species are utterly dependent on inland and near shore habitats for at least part of
their lifecycle. In addition to salmon, pollock, crab, halibut, shrimp, and menhaden are all species that are very
wetlands dependent, yet coastal wetlands are disappearing rapidly everywhere. California, for instance, has lost
91% of its wetlands, Oregon 38% and Washington 31% and the remainder has been biologically compromised.
Coastal wetlands losses

have already had a dramatic impact on salmon and many other fisheries
throughout the west coast and the nation, costing tens of thousands of
jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars each year in loss of productive
fisheries capacity. (See for instance "Fisheries, Wetlands and Jobs"). Almost every coastal area is now
Counting coast wetland losses only, these loss figures would be even greater.
under massive assault by agricultural, industrial and residential development as well as victimized by widespread
pollution. Fisheries management can no longer be seen as merely the management of fishermen without reference
Fisheries management MUST deal with all impacts at

ALL stages of a species' lifecycle, or the species will inevitably fail because
nonfishing impacts remain uncontrolled. Unfortunately it is only when the federal Endangered
to all other biological impacts.
Species Act (ESA) kicks in that any of the many other non-fisheries impacts can come under any form of NMFS legal
scrutiny. Yet once a fish species is already so near extinction as to be listable as threatened or endangered, it is
often far too late to do much good with even the most stringent regulations. Some efforts have been made to
correct this problem. For instance, in the 1996 amendments which codified what is now the Magnuson-Stevens
Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) (16 U.S.C. 1801 et. seq.) was the new requirement, advocated primarily by PCFFA,
that fisheries managers designate "essential fish habitat" (EFH). Thereafter any federal agency whose actions
potentially would have impacts in EFH had to respond to any concerns federal fisheries managers raised about that
project's impact on EFH. Though certainly nowhere near as strong as the mandatory consultation and mitigation
requirements under Section 7 of the ESA, nevertheless this provision for the first time gave fisheries managers a
real say in what goes on in fish habitat. To date NMFS has poorly implemented this provision, but this was at least a
start in a positive direction in addressing lack of habitat protection authority for fisheries. In spite of industry
misgivings, the current fad concerning "marine protected areas"(MPAs) also may provide a potentially positive tool.
If used properly, and if drawn up in ways that involve and make biological sense for fishermen, MPAs may also
become an effective tool in sustaining our fisheries by protecting key habitat and nursery areas. The Pacific
Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) is now drawing up criteria for their assessment and implementation. (See
Fishermen's News, Feb. '99, "Marine Protected Areas: Friend or Foe?"). Another way, of course, is for fishermen
themselves to use other tools to protect the fish habitat that their industry depends upon. PCFFA and other
fishermen's associations are making increasing use in court of the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act,
the Oil Pollution Control Act and many other environmental protection statutes to protect fish habitat. Indeed,
fishermen have every reason to be far more aggressive defenders of habitat than any environmental group, since it
means protecting their jobs. (See Fishermen's News, April '99, "Greener than the Greens"). Finally, one of the most
important fields that fisheries economists need to pay real attention to are the emerging methods for quantifying
and thus internalizing environmental externalities through "environmental cost accounting." Environmental damage
costs (including damage to fisheries and other public resources) are usually externalized (i.e., ignored) in most
traditional costs vs.benefits analyses. Obviously such an approach is totally bogus, resulting in grossly overstated
benefits for proposed development projects that, considered as a whole, many be far more burden than benefit to
society generally -- which after all must ultimately pay for these environmental damages. In fact, once you
ascertain the full economic value of all the many environmental amenities Nature provides, and if full environmental
cost accounting were in fact used to assess the full range of social costs from the loss of these amenities, many
projects such as dams and wetland conversions would no longer be seen as even remotely economically justifiable.
(One good source on this developing field for Economists is the "International Society for Ecological Economics").
Fisheries
1NC ITQs CP
Text: The United States federal government should implement
a system of individual transferable fishing quotas in the United
States.
Studies show an ITQ system would solve fishery collapse
Costello et al 8 - Christopher Costello, professor of Environmental and Research economics at UC Santa
Barbara, Steven Gaines, professor of Ecology, Fisheries, and Marine biology at UC Santa Barbara, and John Lynham,
Assistant professor of economics at the University of Hawaii, MA and PhD in economics from UC Santa Barbara; This
paper was reviewed by Geoffrey Heal and Wolfram Schlenker in Nature; chosen by the editors of Nature as their
favourite Economics paper published in 2008. Selected for Faculty of 1000 Biology, Published in Science Magazine,
on the 19 of September 2008. http://gepv.univ-lille1.fr/downloads/enseignements/M1-S7/Dyn%20des%20pops/13Costello%20et%20al.%202008%20Science_all.pdf)
Although the potentially harmful consequences of mismanaged fisheries were

forecast over 50 years ago, evidence of global declines have only been seen quite
recently. Reports show increasing human impacts and global collapses in large
predatory fishes and other trophic levels in all marine ecosystems . It is now widely
believed that these collapses are primarily the result of the mismanagement of
fisheries. One explanation for the collapse of fish stocks lies in economics, perhaps it is economically optimal to
capture fish stocks now an incest the large windfall revenues in alternative assets, rather than capturing a much
smaller harvest on a regular basis. Although this remains a theoretical possibility for extremely slow-growing
species, (7) it remains rare in reality. A recent study reports that under reasonable economic parameter nation,
extinction is suboptimal (even with low growth rates) and that biomass under economically optimal harvest is larger
than that under maximum sustainable yield (8) If global fisheries contain large potential profits [perhaps a present
why are
actively managed fisheries systematically overexploited? The answer lies in the
misalignment of incentives. Even when management sets harvest quotas that
could maximize profits the incentives of the individual harvester are typically
inconsistent with profit maximization for the fleet . Because individuals lack secure
rights to part of the quota, they have a perverse motivation to race to fish to
outcompete others. This race can lead to poor stewardship and lobbying for ever-larger harvest quotas
value of SI trillion (9)]; yet the profits are only realized if the fisheries are managed sustainably,
creating a spiral of reduced stocks, excessive harvests, and eventual collapse. Examining specific cases,
rights-based fisheries
reforms offer promising solutions. Rather than only setting industry-wide quotas
fishermen are allocated individual rights. Referred to as catch shares or dedicated
access privileges, these rights can be manifest as individual (and tradable) harvest
quotas cooperatives, or exclusive spatial harvest tights: the idea is to provide
fishermen, communities, or cooperativesa secure asset, which confers
stewardship incentives. Most readily implemented within national jurisdictions (that
is, inside 200 miles), some international agreements attempt to serve a similar
function in international waters. Although both theory and empirical evidence suggest a robust link
Beddington et al. (II)), Ililborn et al (Il), Cirafton et al(12), and Griffith (13) argue that
between shares and economic performance of a fishery (14, 5), the link with ecological performance is more
tenuous. Even so, Sanchirico and Wilen (16) argue that it is widely believed and supported by anecdotal evidence
that once fishers have a financial stake in the returns horn sensible investment in sustainable practices they are
more easily convinced to make sacrifices required to rebuild and sustain fisheries at high levels of economic and
biological productivity. A recent report provides examples consistent with this widely held belief (17). We tested
the hypothetical causal link between the global assignment of catch shares and fisheries sustainability. Whereas
individual fishing rights have been implemented on small spatial scales in traditional cultures for millennia, the
adoption rate in major fisheries has accelerated since the late 1970s. To test the efficacy of catch shares, we
assembled a global database of l1,135 commercial fisheries and determined which fisheries had instituted catch
shares 1mm 1950 to 2003. We matched this institutional database to the same harvest database (18) used to
assess fisheries collapse by Worm et al. (6). Our objective is to answer the question: Can catch shares prevent
fisheries collapse? In their widely cited contribution, Worm et al (6) correlate the species richness of LMEs with
fisheries collapse. They define a fisheries collapsed year if the harvest in year is <10% of the maximum recorded
harvest up to year t. Using this definition. 27% of the worlds fisheries were collapsed in 2003. Extrapolating this
trend into the future, Worm et al (6) find that l00% of the worlds fisheries could be collapsed by 2048. Although this
highly controversial projection (19) captured most of the attention from this article, a larger focus of the work was
the role of ecosystem biodiversity in preventing collapse. Fisheries in more biodiverse regions were less likely to be
collapsed at any given point in history. Unfortunately, however, this greater resilience to human exploitation does
not change the ultimate conclusion. Biodiversity does not prevent collapse it merely delays it. In our analysis,
we expanded beyond the characteristics of the ecosystem to consider the characteristics of the regulating fisheries
institutions simultaneously controlling for the eco system genus and other covariates. To assemble our catch-share
database, we searched the published literature and government reports, inter viewed experts on global fisheries,
we identified 121 fisheries

managed using catch sharesdefined as variations on individual transferable
quotas (ITQs)by 2003 (20). These work by allocating a dedicated share of the
scientifically determined total catch to fishermen, communities or cooperatives. This
provides a stewardship incentive-, as the fishery is better managed, the value of the
shares increases by analyzing the data at the fishery level [rather than the aggregate level as
and vetted our final database with a diverse array of researchers. In total,
in (6)1. We facilitate inclusion of fisheries institutions as independent variables in our model specification. We adopt
the Worm et al (6) definition of collapse. Although a better measure would be based on stock (21), no systematic
database of global fish biomass exists. This collapse metric may overestimate the frequency of collapsed fisheries
(22), which creates a conservative test for tie benefits of catch shares. Sensitivity analyses that consider alternative
thresholds for collapse and address other potential biases yield unchanged or stronger conclusions (23). By 2003
the fraction of ITQ-managed fisheries that were collapsed (dotted line in Fig. lA) was about half that of non-ITQ
fisheries (solid line n Fig. lA). Accelerated adoption of LTQs began in the late 1970s (dashed line and right w axis in
Fig. IA). In the preadoption period would-be ITQ fisheries were on trajectories toward collapse, similar to non-ITQ
fisheries. In the adoption period, the two curves diverge as ITQs are increasingly adopted (24). This disparity grows
over time (23). Demonstrating statistically a causal linkage between rights-based management and fisheries
sustainability is complicated by three competing effects. First, the number of ITQ fisheries is grow mg. and new ITQfisheries are drawn the global pool with an ever-increasing fraction of collapsed fisheries. Random selection from
this global pool could mask some benefits of rights-based management. Second, the conversion of fishers to ITQs
may involve a biased selection. For example, ITQS might be managed disproportionately in fisheries than ones that
are already less collapsed, possibly giving a misleading perception of benefits from tights- based management
Finally, there may be temporal benefits of an ITQ (for instance, the longer an ITQ is in place in a given fishery. the
less likely that fishery is to collapse). All of these mechanisms would lead to differences between ITQ and non-ITQ
fisheries but only the last mechanism implies a benefit from the management change. An initial regression of the
data m Fig. I suggests that implementing an ITQ reduces the probability of collapse by 13.7 percentage points (23).
Because ITQs have been disproportionately implemented in a few global ecosystems such as Alaska, Iceland, New
Zealand, and Australia (25) regional or taxonomic biases could generate misleading results. To account for potential
selection bias, we used a variety of estimation strategies: (j) We restricted the sample to only those or taxa that
have experienced ITQ management. (ii) We used propensity score methods to match ITQ fisheries to appropriate
control fisheries (26). (iii) We used fixed-effects estimation to identify the benefit of TQs within each fishery. The
results are remarkably similar across all specifications and estimation techniques (23). The propensity score results
are summarized in Table 1. Consistent with Fig. I, ITQ fisheries perform far better than non-ITQ fisheries.
Switching to an ITQ not only slows the decline toward widespread collapse but it
actually stops this decline. Each additional year of being in an ITQ (row 2 of Table I) offsets the global
trend (0.5% increase) of increasing collapse in non-ITQ fisheries (23). Other estimation techniques
suggest even larger benefits. For example, fishery fixed effects results suggest that
ITQs not only halt the trend in global collapse, but they may actually reverse it ( 23).
Although bioeconomic theory suggests that assigning secure rights to fishermen may align incentives and lead to
significantly enhanced bio logical and economic performance, Evidence to date has been only case- or region-
we found a strong link: By 2003, the fraction of

ITQ-managed fisheries that were collapsed was about half that of non-ITQ fisheries .
specific. By examining 11.135 global fisheries,
This result probably underestimates the benefits, because most ITQ fisheries are young. The results of this analysis
suggest that well- designed catch shares may prevent fishery collapse across diverse taxa and ecosystems.
Although the global rate of catch-share adoption has increased since 1970, the fraction of fisheries managed with
catch shares is still small, We can estimate their potential impact if we project tights- based management onto ail of
the worlds fisheries since 1970 (Fig. 2). The percent collapsed is reduced to just 9% by 2003; this fraction remains
steady thereafter. This figure is a marked reversal of the previous projections. Despite the dramatic impact catch
shares have had on fishery collapse, these results should not be taken as a carte blanche endorsement. First, we
have restricted attention to one class of catch shares (ITQs). Second, only by appropriately matching institutional
reform with ecological, economic, and social characteristics can maximal benefits be achieved. Nevertheless ,
these findings suggest that as catch shares are increasingly implemented

globally, fish stocks, and the profits and harvesting them, have the
potential to recover substantially.
2NC Solvency
CP solves overfishing best
Grafton 05
(RQ, Asia Pacific School of Economics and government at the Austrailian National University,
Peer reviewed perspective piece, Incentive-based approach to Fisheries Management
http://www.water.anu.edu.au/pdf/publications/CJFAS_06.pdf 7 April 2005)
The alarming trends in the worlds fisheries demand a fundamental change in

management and fishing practices. As managers grapple with these problems,
many scientists are arguing for a new paradigm and, in particular, an ecosystem
approach to fisheries to overcome the failures of single of target-species
management. While the ecosystem approach and existing strategies that promote
sustainability are necessary, especially to account for fisheryecosystem
interactions, they are insufficient by themselves to address the key drivers of
unsustainable outcomes. i.e. inappropriate incentives for fishers and the ineffective
governance that exists in commercial fisheries regulated exclusively by input
controls and TACs. Evidence from more than a dozen natural experiments of
commercial, developed fisheries supports our conclusion: incentive-based
approaches that better specify individual and group harvesting rights and (or)
territorial rights, as well as price ecosystem services, promote both economic and
eco logical sustainability.
CP solves fishery collapse

Hilborn 06 (Ray, Professor at the School of Aquatic Fisheries and Science Complex at the University of
Washington, Article in Marine Policy, April 6, 2006)
The very
broad support being given to ecosystem management and widespread concern
about non-target species is indicative that societies have generally abandoned MSY as the sole biological objective. It has been shown that
attempting to maintain all stocks in a mixed stock fishery for groundfsh on the Pacific Coast at or above the level
that will produce MSY would likely lead to a loss of 90% of the potential yield in the fishery. yet the Pacific Fisheries Management Council is attempting to
prevent overfishing of all stocks [39]. The second major development has been a wide
and growing acceptance of economic rationalization of fisheries through dedicated
access privileges. including cooperatives, CDQs and ITQs as instruments of policy
designed to improve economic efficiency . New Zealand. Iceland and Australia all adopted these approaches as national policy in the
1980s and 1990s. Even the US. which legislated against ITQs from 1998 to 2004. is now
looking at ITQs for a range of fisheries, and the Commission on Ocean Policy has supported granting dedicated access privileges. While the
Around most of the developed world there appears to be two themes or trends. First, the protectionist objectives are clearly winning out over the traditional MSY.
dedicated access movement is not a full-fledged acceptance of pure MSY because it is often strongly tempered with elements of equity and concern about community impacts. it is none-
. While environmental protection and economic rationalization may

seem to come from greatly differing philosophical perspectives they have a great
deal in common, especially the desire to see high fish biomasses. stable catches
and low fishing effort [40.41]. The incentives that dedicated access provides for stock
rebuilding are particularly important because the shift to dedicated access moves
the objectives of the commercial fishing fleets from maximizing cash flow to a
concentration on asset value, high catch rates and catch stability [12]. Under these
economic objectives there are significant benefits to stock rebuilding. Certainly, not all fisheries with
dedicated access have moved dramatically toward lower exploitation rates and higher biomass . but it is a common
result [38] and the incentives are more likely to lead to lower exploitation rates than regulatory
the-less a major change in US policy
systems without dedicated access.
2NC Avoids Politics

Doesnt link to politics
Hilborn 06 (Ray, Professor at the School of Aquatic Fisheries and Science Complex at the University of
Washington, Article in Marine Policy, April 6, 2006)
As we look for successful fisheries to emulate we must recognize that one stakeholders success story may be a
failure to another. The history of heavy exploitation in most fisheries can be thought of as a successful compromise
The change in societal objectives from

maximization of yield to increased emphasis on ecosystem protection has brought
major conflict in the courts and in politics. While ongoing conflict does seem
inevitable, in a number of arenas there is a growing alignment between those
supporting more ecosystem protection and consumptive users looking for
profitability and stability. Proposed revisions to US legislation that are now working
through Congress with broad bi-partisan support promise to provide more dedicated
access systems that should increase this alignment. There is little hope in most countries of a
between maximization of yield and employment.
national fisheries objective reached by consensus that provides operational direction for fisheries managers. Rather,
the hope is that by changing the underlying governance system to dedicated access, and in particular eliminating
open access and Olympic systems that provide incentives for high exploitation rates, the general objectives of
many stakeholders will work through the political process to arrive at mutually agreed solutions. Under these
conditions, we may move to an era of lower exploitation, more profitability, more intact ecosystems and a new
consensus.

Fishing quotas and bans are unpopular
Nasser 13 [Abdullah, neurobiology degree candidate @ Harvard University, Overfishing: Economic Policies
in Finite Resource Biological Pools, Undergraduate Economic Review: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 9,
http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/uer/vol9/iss1/9, p. 11]//fw
More recent measures, including a 2010 moratorium on all lobster fishing from
Southern New England to North Carolina, are constantly debated. These
measures have proved to be extremely unpopular, but are essentially the only way to save
an overfished region.
AFF CP Cant Solve

ITQs fail theyre circumvented
Copes 06 (Percival, Dr., BA in economics from Cal Berkeley, Works in the department of Economics and
Commerce at the Centre for Canadian Studies, A critical review of the Fisheries Quota Management Feb 2006,
http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/menzies/q_cope.pdf)
promoting individual quota management is that

limited entry licensing is inherently deficient as a management device because of
the skill fishermen show in circumventing the rules or defying the intent of entry
limitation. The capital stuffing process, whereby additional capacity enters the industry despite, or because of
limited entry, is mentioned in evidence. Certainly, the externalities inherent in the common use of
a pool resource drive fishermen to act in accordance with their individual interests,
where often this is contrary to their collective interest. That they show great ingenuity in doing
One of the arguments that is often used in
so is beyond doubt. As a result one may well proclaim that fisheries are exceptionally vulnerable to Murphys Law:
Ironically, when it comes

to promoting individual quota management, its proponents often fail to apply the
sharp insights gained in exposing the deficiencies of limited entry licensing. There is
no reason to assume that fishermen, where confronted with the rules of individual
quota management, will lose either their ingenuity at circumvention or their
incentive to promote individual interest at the expense of collective interest.
If anything can go wrong with a new fisheries management scheme . . . it will.
Recognizing such to be the case, this paper will explore a variety of problems that should be anticipated with the
introduction of individual quota management. Without claiming to be exhaustive, problems will be identified in
fourteen areas under the following headings: (I) Quota Busting, (2) Data Fouling, (3) Residual Catch Management.
(4) Unstable Stocks, (5) Short- Lived Species, (6) Flash Fisheries, (7) Real time Management (8) High-Grading. (9)
Multi-Species Fisheries, (10) Seasonal Variations, (11) Spatial Distribution of Effort, (12) TAC Setting, (13)
Transitional Gains Trap, and (14) Industry Acceptance.
Cant enforce ITQ system

Copes 06 (Percival, Dr., BA in economics from Cal Berkeley, Works in the department of Economics and
enforcement is likely to be one of the most difficult problems with an

individual quota system
The
extent of compliance with quota limits will be influenced by such factors as
individual conscience, community culture and social sanctions, effectiveness of
official monitoring and enforcement efforts, severity of penalties on conviction for
infractions, and extent of gain from cheating on quotas
For many fisheries,
. Obviously, there is a material incentive for fishermen to engage in quota busting, i.e., catching a larger amount of fish than the individual quota al lows.
. Analysis of the trade-off between potential gains and losses from legal
infractions may be found in the literature on the economics of crime (see e.g., Polensky and Shavell 1979). In different fishing communities distinctly different attitudes towards enforcement of fisheries conservation and management
regulations prevail. Thus in the South Australia rock lobster fishery there is strong pressure from fishermen for rigorous enforcement of limits on the number of traps allowed to be fished, including severe penalties for infractions
(Copes 1978). In contrast, in the lobster fisheries of the Canadian Maritime Provinces infringement of the regulations on size limits and permitted number of traps is known to be endemic. Attempts by fisheries officers to en force the
Obviously, enforcement of
fisheries regulations is impeded if there is a noncooperative attitude towards such
enforcement by the community at large.
. Many of the factors underlying community
attitudes towards fisheries regulations are most competently analyzed by
anthropologists and sociologists. But one important factor should be mentioned
here. The attitude of fishermen is evidently influenced by the credibility of
enforcement, including particularly the likelihood of detection of infractions.
regulations have provoked violent reactions (e.g., Anon. 1983a). In the face of community pressure the courts there have dealt leniently with violators.
Where, on the other hand, the community favors regulations, enforcement is enhanced and may be reinforced by social
sanctions ap plied against violators, such as ostracism or reporting to the authorities of observed infractions
The early
experiments with individual boat quotas in the Bay of Fundy herring fishery were abandoned under pressure of skippers who knew that colleagues were cheating on their quotas without being caught (Anon. 1983b). The Director-
experience was that each

and every fisherman will attempt to cheat on his quota and processors promote
General of Fisheries for the re gion reported (Crouter 1983) that attempts to enforce vessel quotas proved to be largely un successful . He added that the
that attempt through collusion in falsifying records. The chance of detection of

quota busting is enhanced where, in relation to the size of the catch. the number of
vessels and the number of points of landing is small.
Thus a small number of inspectors can easily monitor the catches from the fleet of a
few hundred large groundfish trawlers operating on Canadas Atlantic coast. They must land their fish at one or another of a limited number of processing plants. It is difficult to hide a trawler-load of fish and penalties can easily be
made prohibitive for large fishing companies with substantial investments at risk. The cost of a few in spectors can be met easily from the public revenues generated by a high volume fishing operation. In contrast, consider the
British Columbia salmon fishery with over 5,000, mostly small boats. They can potentially land their catches at hundreds of places along an indented coast line that measures thousands of miles. While most salmon fishermen now
. Monitoring and
enforcing individual quota limits under those circumstances would appear well-nigh
impossible While the individual boat quota has been proposed for the British
Columbia salmon fishery, it is no wonder that it has not been accepted and
implemented. It is easy to conclude that the individual quota will be very difficult to
enforce in a fishery characterized by many small vessels, numerous actual and
potential marketing channels, and geographically widely dispersed activity.
sell to a few large companies, there are substantial numbers of smaller fish handlers eager to take their catch and they can sell also directly to the public at numerous wharves
AFF Perm Solves Best

A quotas only approach fails perm solves best
Copes 06
(Percival, Dr., BA in economics from Cal Berkeley, Works in the department of Economics and
The various problems that could arise with individual quotas, and their often serious
nature, suggest that great caution should be exercised when considering the
introduction of individual quota management in any fishery. But the same warning should be
heeded when contemplating any alternative management scheme. One might simply say that every fisheries
resource manager should be required to reflect carefully on Murphys Law before attempting any new move.
Experience so far suggests that we should be non-dogmatic in our choice of

management technique and that we should select from the array of available
fisheries management devices, the combination that is most beneficial and
least deficient in any particular set of circumstances. Above all, we must reconcile
ourselves to the fact that the best possible solutions will still be flawed .
REMs
1NC LOST CP
Text: The United States Senate should ratify the Law of the Sea
Treaty.
Ratifying LOST results in domestic mining of REMs
Haigler 12 Lauren, American Security Project The American Security Project (ASP) is a nonpartisan
organization created to educate the American public and the world about the changing nature of national security in the 21st Century. , July
16, http://www.americansecurityproject.org/the-us-needs-domestic-access-to-rare-earthminerals/
there is
something more important the Senate should do to make domestic mining a more
attractive investment: ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty. The Law of the Sea Treaty
would provide US companies the legal certainty they need to invest in deep-seabed
mining, where it is projected that vast deposits of rare earth minerals lie. Without
ratification of the treaty, companies are not willing to invest in the expensive
venture because the US would not have internationally recognized claims over the
resources in the waters. Mining for rare earths in the deep-seabed has economic and environmental
The legislation passed in the House but it is seen as unlikely to be taken up by the Senate. However,
advantages over land mining. Some research has suggested that deep-sea mining will be cheaper than land mining
and yield higher profits. Also, the seafloor deposits are much more concentrated than those on land and would
therefore take less processing to extract the minerals, which is the most environmentally destructive part of mining.
New technology has also reduced the environmental risk of deep-sea mining. More than one metal can be obtained
at one deep-sea site. Land mines leave a substantial footprint but deep-sea mines have no roads, surface oretransport systems, or other infrastructures.
2NC Solvency
Must ratify LOST to secure access to REM
Kerry 12 John, US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, May 23, Kerry Statement on The
Law of the Sea Convention: The U.S. National Security and Strategic Imperatives for Ratification,
http://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/chair/release/kerry-statement_on-the-law-of-the-sea-conventionthe-us-national-security-and-strategic-imperatives-for-ratification-
why consider a Treaty that's been untouched by the Senate for

the last five years, and been hanging around for more than 25 . I think the real question is
why we wouldn't have this discussion, now, when today, we have the worst of all worlds. Weve effectively
lived by the terms of the Treaty for 30 years but, as a non-party, were on the
outside looking in. We live by the rules but we dont shape the rules. It couldnt be
more clear. Without joining the LOS, we are deprived of critical benefits and
protections under the Treaty. Let me give you a few quick examples: Ratifying the Treaty will lock
Some may ask why now,
in the favorable navigational rights that our military and shipping interests depend on every single day. It will
strengthen our hand against China and others who stake out claims in the Pacific, the Arctic, or elsewhere. It will
give our oil and gas companies the certainty that they need to make crucial investments to secure our energy
future. It will put our telecommunications companies on an equal footing with their foreign competitors. And, it
will
help secure access to rare earth minerals, which we need for weapons systems, computers,
cellphones, and the like. It will also address issues of Military Effectiveness. As our national security focus shifts
towards the Asia Pacific region, its more important than ever that were part of this Treaty. China and other
countries are staking out illegal claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
Becoming a party to the
treaty would give an immediate boost to U.S. credibility as we push back against excessive
maritime claims and illegal restrictions on our warships or commercial vessels. There is no doubt in my mind that it
would help resolve maritime issues to the benefit of the United States and our regional allies and partners. We will
hear from every single former Chief of Naval Operations, and Commandant of the Coast Guard, to that effect. The
treaty is also about Energy Security. While we sit on the sidelines, Russia and other countries are carving up the
Arctic and laying claim to the oil and gas riches in that region. We, on the other hand, cant even access the Treaty
body that provides international legitimacy for these types of Arctic claims. Instead of taking every possible step to
ensure our stake in this resource rich area, we are watching others assert their claims and doing nothing about it
China currently controls

the production of rare earth minerals 90 percent of the worlds supply we are dependent on from
because we have no legal recourse. This Treaty is also about Rare earth minerals.
China. There is no way that enhances American security. We need this for cellphones, computers, and weapons
U.S. industry is poised to secure these minerals from the deep seabed, but
they cannot do so through the United States as it is because were not a party to
the Treaty.
systems.
2NC Politics NB
CP popular has the backing of multinational corporations
Cueto 12 board certified international attorney (Santiago, July 5, US Corporations Push
for Passage of Law of the Sea Treaty,
http://www.internationalbusinesslawadvisor.com/2012/07/articles/internationalinvestments/international-business-rallies-for-passage-of-law-of-the-sea-treaty/)
Lobbyists for some of the worlds biggest multinational corporations met in

Washington D.C. last week to steer members of the Foreign Relations Committee to
vote in their favor on the Law of the Sea Treaty. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS), as it is formally known, sets rules for the use of marine natural resources. It was signed in 1982 and
came into force in 1994, but was never ratified by the United States. The United States is the only industrialized
power which has yet to ratify the treaty. According to the United Nations, 162 countries including the European
As Politico reports, the

international treaty affects everyone from shippers to telecom companies, has
withered in the Senate for almost two decades. Ratifying the treaty, according to
the Foreign Policy article, would significantly increase the potential scope of U.S.
domestic energy production by expanding the definition of the outer continental
shelf. It would also give the U.S. greater access to undersea rare earth minerals ,
Community, China, Japan, Russia, Canada and India have signed the Treaty.
which are widely used in smart phones, flat-screen TVs, medical equipment and US defense systems.
AFF CP Cant Solve

Legal certainty is not the main barrier to domestic REM mining
CP cant solve
Murray 14 Iain, March 25, LOST at Sea, http://www.ncpa.org/pub/bg167
There are two main economic arguments advanced in favor of the United States joining LOST. The first is that
uncertainty is preventing the United States from developing natural resources, particularly in the Arctic. The
second, newer argument is that LOST would encourage the development of resources by instituting a sound
property rights regime in the seabed of the high seas. Neither of these arguments has merit. Can Resources Be
The first argument that LOST will advance the development of

the seabed is outlined in a letter from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sent to the U.S. Senate in July 2012:
Developed without LOST?
Americas extended continental shelf, which in some areas extends hundreds of miles beyond U.S. territorial
waters, contains abundant oil and natural gas reserves that can provide reliable, affordable energy to Americas
homes and factories for decades to come but only if the Senate acts to approve Law of the Sea. Likewise, by
joining the Convention, U.S. companies would gain exclusive access to abundant rare earth mineral resources that
are essential to high-tech manufacturing. China currently controls 90 percent of the world supply of rare earth
minerals. Law of the Sea represents Americas best opportunity to take control of its own resource destiny. No U.S.
company will make the multi-billion-dollar investments required to recover these resources without the legal
is demonstrably false. U.S. companies are

already successfully investing in an area of the extended continental shelf the
western gap in the Gulf of Mexico.31 There are two areas of submerged continental shelf in the Gulf ,
outside the Exclusive Economic Zones of both the United States and Mexico, known as
certainty the Convention provides.30 This argument
the Western Gap and the Eastern Gap. The Eastern Gap shares a nautical boundary with Cuba, and its precise
The boundaries of the Western Gap, however, were

defined by a treaty signed with Mexico in June 2000. This bilateral treaty has
allowed both nations to proceed with confidence in developing the extended
continental shelf in the Western Gap. No objections have been raised to the bilateral
treaty and none are expected. As a result, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management has sold development rights in the Western Gap in several auctions
since the treaty was ratified in 2001. Clearly, companies are willing to make
multimillion dollar investments to recover resources even without the legal
certainty the Convention provides, as the U.S. Chamber put it.
boundaries have not been negotiated.
AFF Answers
Note
Some of the affirmative responses to Advantage CPs are in affirmative case files.
Look in the relevant aff file, too.
Arctic OCS Standards CP
Doesnt Solve
Perception of regulations insufficientcementing US presence key
Ebinger, director of the Energy Security Initiative at Brookings,
6-5-2014
(Charles, The Way Forward for U.S. Arctic Policy,
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/planetpolicy/posts/2014/06/05-way-forward-usarctic-policy-ebinger, dobp)
The changing Arctic is outpacing the U.S. governments current policy . Russia,
Norway, Denmark and even several non-Arctic nations such as China and Japan, all
have Arctic strategies. Perhaps it is time the U.S. viewed the Arctic not only as a security threat in a strictly military and
geopolitical sense, but also as a safety threat in the context of climate change, sustainability of indigenous communities and the
Chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2015 will allow the U.S. to

take leadership in these important issue areas going forward, and we in ESI hope
that the U.S. will seize this opportunity.
protection of the environment.
Links to Politics
Regulations are unpopularseen as bureaucratic hurdles
Devon, writer for The Mudflats, 1-30-2014
(Jeanne, Shell Suspends Arctic Drilling, Begich Responds,
http://www.themudflats.net/archives/41815, dobp)
Shell announced that it will not drill offshore in the Alaskan Arctic this year .
after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal
agency in charge of issuing permits for offshore drilling in the U.S. intentionally
downplayed the risks and impacts associated with drilling in the remote and
vulnerable Chukchi Sea ecosystem off the northern coast of Alaska. The court ruled that the Bureau of Ocean Energy
This morning
The announcement comes
Management (BOEM) failed to conduct adequate impact assessments before issuing permission to drill. According to the findings of
the court, the BOEM based its decision on inadequate information about the amount of oil to be produced pursuant to the lease
sale 193. A full and fair discussion of the potential risks and impacts of drilling the leased area was therefore impossible, the court
said, when only the best case scenario for drilling was entertained, the dangers were downplayed, and the amount of recoverable oil
Senator Mark Begich

released a statement following the announcement . It is simply unacceptable that
judicial overreach is getting in the way of letting Alaskans develop our own natural
resources. Development in the Arctic has already been subjected to unprecedented
safety standards far more than domestic production anywhere else . Ive worked for years to
get all the federal agencies working together to permit Arctic projects, now we need to tackle the all too
common legal stonewalling by outside groups. Thats why I am re-introducing my legislation to ensure
estimated to exist in the lease area by the agency (one billion barrels) was chosen arbitrarily. U.S.
there is a judicial endgame for Arctic developers when they have invested billions of dollars in developing our resources. Ill be
talking with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell today and expect her agency to move quickly to address the courts questions and
concerns and do everything possible to get this process back on track. Alaskans know that energy development brings not only our
energy security but also our financial security, and no one knows about safe, responsible development like Alaskans do. It is worth
noting that Shell has faced more legal prosecutions for safety and environmental transgressions than any other major oil company
drilling offshore in the North Sea where it has vast holdings. And that the U.S. Coast Guards Admiral has warned repeatedly that
there is simply no infrastructure available to clean up a major spill in Arctic waters, with the nearest Coast Guard station about 2000
miles away. There are many reasons to be concerned, not the least of which is Shells inability to even get their drilling rig to the
Arctic without running aground and then running aground again as it tried to flee Alaskan waters in the face of an approaching
storm, to avoid taxes. When the EPA recently expanded and improved on a watershed assessment of Bristol Bay, and the impacts of
the proposed Pebble Mine project,
the Senator came out strongly against the mine . The Senator had
been reluctant to speak out firmly against the unpopular mine while the quality and extent of the study was under dispute. After
the final science was in on the potential impact of the mine on Alaska fisheries,
Begich called it the wrong mine in the wrong place.
BioD CP
2ac
1ac Evidence proves that MH370 is key to solve biodiversity
Parks dont solve biodiversity
Dan Bacher, July 28, 2011, Dan Bacher based his article off of a UN study and he
is a writer for Indy Bay, UN study says biodiversity loss unstoppable with protected
areas alone, http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/07/28/18686337.php
While some governments and environmental NGOs have pushed controversial "marine protected areas" in the U.S. and throughout
the world as the solution to "protecting" the ocean and maintaining biodiversity in marine ecosystems, a United Nations study
continued reliance on a strategy of setting aside land and marine

territories as "protected areas" is "insufficient" to stem global biodiversity loss . The
released on July 28 said
assessment offers a challenge to those who promote projects like Arnold Schwarzenegger's controversial Marine Life Protection Act
(MLPA) Initiative in California, a privately funded program that creates so-called marine protected areas that fail to protect California
marine waters from oil spills and drilling, wave and wind energy projects, water pollution, habitat destruction, military testing and all
Despite impressively rapid growth of

protected land and marine areas worldwide - today totalling over 100,000 in
number and covering 17 million square kilometers of land and 2 million square
kilometers of oceans - "biodiversity is in steep decline," according to a
comprehensive assessment published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. "Expected scenarios
of human population growth and consumption levels indicate that cumulative
human demands will impose an unsustainable toll on the Earth's ecological
resources and services accelerating the rate at which biodiversity is being loss ," stated
a news release from the United Nations University. The scientists say current and future human
requirements will also "exacerbate the challenge of effectively implementing
protected areas while suggesting that effective biodiversity conservation requires
new approaches that address underlying causes of biodiversity loss - including the
growth of both human population and resource consumption ." "Biodiversity is
humanity's life-support system, delivering everything from food, to clean water and
air, to recreation and tourism, to novel chemicals that drive our advanced
civilization," says lead author Camilo Mora of University of Hawaii at Manoa. "Yet there is an increasingly welldocumented global trend in biodiversity loss, triggered by a host of human
activities." "Ongoing biodiversity loss and its consequences for humanity's welfare
are of great concern and have prompted strong calls for expanding the use of
protected areas as a remedy," says fellow author Peter F. Sale, Assistant Director of the United Nations University's
other human impacts upon the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health. "While many protected areas have helped preserve some species at
local scales, promotion of this strategy as a global solution to biodiversity loss, and the advocacy of protection for specific
proportions of habitats, have occurred without adequate assessment of their potential effectiveness in achieving the goal." Drs.
Mora and Sale warn that long-term failure of the "protected areas" strategy could "erode public and political support for biodiversity
conservation and that the disproportionate allocation of available resources and human capital into this strategy precludes the
The authors based their study on existing literature and

global data on human threats and biodiversity loss . "Protected areas are very useful conservation tools,
development of more effective approaches."
but unfortunately, the steep continuing rate of biodiversity loss signals the need to reassess our heavy reliance on this strategy,"
stated Dr. Sale. The five limitations of reliance on protected areas The study says continuing heavy reliance on the protected areas
strategy has five key technical and practical limitations. The first of these limitations is that "protected areas only ameliorate certain
human threats." "Biodiversity
loss is triggered by a host of human stressors including

habitat loss, overexploitation, climate change, pollution and invasive species ," according
to the study. "Yet protected areas are useful primarily against overexploitation and habitat loss. Since the remaining stressors are
just as deleterious, biodiversity can be expected to continue declining as it has done until now. The
study shows that approximately 83% of protected areas on the sea and 95% of protected areas on land are located in areas with
continuing high impact from multiple human stressors." This conclusion by the scientists echoes one of the key criticisms of
California's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative - the "marine protected areas" created by this widely-contested process don't
comprehensively protect the ocean from the main threats to the ocean and marine life in California. These threats include massive
water diversions out of the Bay-Delta Estuary, water pollution, oil spills and drilling, wave and wind energy projects, military testing,
habitat destruction and all other human impacts other than sustainable fishing and gathering. Ironically, even before the imposition
of these largely redundant ocean closures that are now being contested by coalition of fishing organizations in court, California
marine and anadromous fisheries had the strictest recreational and commercial fishing regulations on the entire planet. MLPA
advocates refuse to acknowledge the existence of one of the largest marine protected areas in the world, the Rockfish Conservation
Area, that encompass the entire continental shelf of California from the Oregon border to the Mexican border! A second limitation
cited in the study is "underfunding." "Global expenditures on protected areas today are estimated at US $6 billion per year and
many areas are insufficiently funded for effective management," the assessment notes. "Effectively managing existing protected
areas requires an estimated $24 billion per year - four times current expenditure. Despite strong advocacy for protected areas,
budget growth has been slow and it seems unlikely that it will be possible to raise funding appropriate for effective management as
well as for creation of the additional protected areas as is advocated," according to the report. Again, the assessment echoes the
criticism by fishermen and grassroots environmentalists that there is not sufficient funding for enforcement of new marine protected
areas (MPAs) under the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. The game wardens refer to these new MPAs as "marine poaching areas,"
since they will only spread a force of wardens already unable to effectively monitor existing reserves even thinner. In fact, Jerry
Karnow, the president of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, has repeatedly asked the California Fish and Game
Commission to not create new marine protected areas unless sufficient funding is provided to hire new wardens. The three other
limitations pinpointed by the scientists are: the expected growth in protected area coverage is too slow the size and connectivity
of protected areas are inadequate conflicts with human development. "Humanity's footprint on Earth is ever expanding in efforts
to meet basic needs like housing and food," the scientists stated. "If it did prove possible to place the recommended 30% of world
habitats under protection, intense conflicts with competing human interests are inevitable - many people would be displaced and
livelihoods impaired. Forcing a trade-off between human development and sustaining biodiversity is unlikely to lead to a solution
with biodiversity preserved." Conclusion: biodiversity loss underestimated, effectiveness of protected areas overestimated. "Given
the considerable effort and widespread support for the creation of protected areas over the past 30 years, we were surprised to find
so much evidence for their failure to effectively address the global problem of biodiversity loss," Dr. Mora concludes. "Clearly,
the
biodiversity loss problem has been underestimated and the ability of protected
areas to solve this problem overestimated." The authors underline the correlations between growing world
population, natural resources consumption and biodiversity loss to suggest that biodiversity loss is unlikely to be stemmed without
directly addressing the ecological footprint of humanity. Based upon previous research, the study shows that under current
conditions of human consumption and conservative scenarios of human population growth, the cummulative use of natural
resources of humanity will amount to the productivity of up to 27 Earths by 2050. "Protected areas are a valuable tool in the fight to
preserve biodiversity. We need them to be well managed, and we need more of them, but they alone cannot solve our biodiversity
problems," adds Dr. Mora. "We need to recognize this limitation promptly and to allocate more time and effort to the complicated
issue of human overpopulation and consumption." "Our study shows that the international community is faced with a choice
between two paths," Dr. Sale says. "One option is to continue a narrow focus on creating more protected areas with little evidence
that they curtail biodiversity loss. That path will fail. The other path requires that we get serious about addressing the growth in size
and consumption rate of our global population." Tribal scientists and indigenous knowledge often ignored The conclusions of this
assessment will be debated widely in the months and years to come. However, one shortcoming of studies by these and other
scientists is that they persistently fail to include traditional knowledge and scientific data available from indigenous communities
throughout the world in developing solutions to protecting land-based and marine ecosystems. One of the most extreme examples
of this institutional racism and scientific arrogance is in California where MLPA and state officials refused to appoint any tribal
scientists to the MLPA Science Advisory Team (SAT), in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe alone has a Fisheries Department with
over 70 staff members during the peak fishing season, including many scientists. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force also didn't
include any tribal representatives until 2010 when one was finally appointed to the panel. Mike Belchik, senior fisheries biologist
from the Yurok Fisheries Program, dispelled the false notion that the MLPA is a science-based process when he gave a brief
presentation challenging the assumptions of the MLPA science at the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Stockton on June 29.
One of these assumptions is: For the purpose of comparison, an unfished system is a marine reserve that is successful in protecting
that ecosystem from all effects of fishing and other extractive uses within the MPA. With regard to local shoreline systems, where
there is access, there are no unfished systems, said Belchik. People have coexisted with these resources for many thousands of
years; the appropriate conceptual organization foundation is that systems have been managed, and what is seen is the result of
millennia of management." One key reason why marine protected areas aren't producing the results that scientists predicted is
because the governments and NGOs didn't consult with indigenous people who successfully managed marine and land ecosystems
for thousands of years. In the infamous case of the Chagros Islands Marine Protected Area, Greenpeace and other corporate
environmental NGOs collaborated with the British and U.S. governments to deny the native Chagossians the right of return to their
homeland. While US and British government and NGO representatives claimed that the marine protected areas were designed to
protect the ocean, US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks and published on the UK Guardian website reveal that they were
actually used to protect U.S. and British interests in the Indian Ocean. The use of a marine reserve to deny the Chagossians their
human rights has a direct parallel in efforts to deny indigenous people their rights in controversial marine protected areas being
implemented under the MLPA Initiative in California and in the Colorado River Delta in Baja California in the Biosphere Reserve of
the Upper Gulf of California. MLPA Initiative Background: The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray
Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA "Initiative" to "implement" the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.
The "marine protected areas" created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution,
military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and
gathering. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of "marine protected areas" included a big oil
lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis Boyd,
the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who is pushing for new oil drilling off the California coast, served as the
chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast. The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public
"partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense
criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas
under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish
and Game (DFG). Tribal members, fishermen, grassroots environmentalists, human rights advocates and civil liberties activists have
the
initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, has violated the Bagley-Keene Open
Meetings Act, Brown Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, American Indian
Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples .
slammed the MLPA Initiative for the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. Critics charge that
1ar Extensions
( ) Marine Conservation is the only way to solve for BioD-our entire
advantage explains why marine conservation is key to solve for BioD
Toropova 10
(et al; Caitlyn Toropova is a Reef Resilience Manager at The Nature Conservancy and holds and MA
Biology Humboldt State University Global Ocean Protection: Present Status and Future Possibilities. p.
1)
As our understanding of the many and synergistic impacts of human activities on

marine biodiversity and resources increases, so does the need for more innovative
and integrated approaches to ocean management. Indeed, management
approaches for the marine and coastal environment are rapidly evolving, including
the theoretical guidance and practical advice for effective implementation and
management of MPAs. MPAs have been used increasingly over the last century, and
they remain a fundamental tool that is widely recognized as one of the most
pragmatic and effective means for achieving ecosystem level conservation,
protecting marine biodiversity and sustaining local human communities. MPAs and
MPA networks that recognize and display connectivity are increasingly being used to
respond to some of the key threats and pressures on the marine and coastal
environment and resources. They are able to fulfil both broader conservation goals
and fisheries management objectives, as well as providing a foundation for
delivering ecosystem-based management (Agardy & Staub 2006; Compass 2004;
IUCN-WCPA 2008; Mora et al. 2006; Parks etal. 2006)
Desal CP
Doesnt Solve
Requires too much energy and insufficient technology
Gleick 8 (Peter, president of the Pacific Institute, Why don't we get our drinking
water from the ocean by taking the salt out of seawater?,
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-dont-we-get-our-drinking-water-fromthe-ocean/, ZS)
So why don't we desalinate more to alleviate shortages and growing water conflicts?
The problem is that the desalination of water requires a lot of energy. Salt dissolves
very easily in water, forming strong chemical bonds, and those bonds are difficult to
break. Energy and the technology to desalinate water are both expensive, and this
means that desalinating water can be pretty costly. It's hard to put an exact dollar
figure on desalinationthis number varies wildly from place to place, based on
labor and energy costs, land prices, financial agreements, and even the salt content
of the water. It can cost from just under $1 to well over $2 to produce one cubic
meter (264 gallons) of desalted water from the ocean. That's about as much as two
people in the U.S. typically go through in a day at home. But switch the source to a
river or an aquifer, and the cost of a cubic meter of water can plummet to 10 to 20
cents, and farmers often pay far less. That means it's still almost always cheaper to
use local freshwater than to desalinate seawater. This price gap, however, is
closing. For example, meeting growing demand by finding a new source of water or
by building a new dam in a place like California could cost up to 60 cents per cubic
meter of water. And sometimes these traditional means of harvesting water are
no longer available. As such, this cost figure is expected to continue to rise, which is
why California is now seriously considering desalination and why the city of Tampa,
Fla., decided to build the biggest desalination plant in the U.S. The International
Desalination Association says that as of 2007 there were about 13,000 desalination
plants operating around the world. They pumped out approximately 14.7 billion
gallons (55.6 billion liters) of drinkable freshwater a day. A lot of these plants are in
countries like Saudi Arabia, where energy from oil is cheap but water is scarce.
Environment DA
The counterplan results in ecological destruction destroys key
ecosystems
Francis 13 (Katie, Graduate environmental science UCLA, Desalination of
Seawater Can Do More Harm than Good,
http://greenopedia.com/article/desalination-seawater-can-do-more-harm-good, ZS)
As our climate changes and sea levels rise, there are less fresh water sources
available. And as our population grows, there is an even greater need for clean
drinking water solutions. One answer to this challenge is ocean desalination, a
process that removes salt and other minerals from seawater, making it safe to
drink. Desalination seems like a viable solution. But as it turns out, its
environmental effects can be devastating. The Effects of Treatment Plants in
the Ocean Ocean desalination plants are located just off the coast, where their
intake pipes suck in billions of fish, eggs, and other small organisms every day,
along with the seawater. Once these living organisms enter the machinery of the
desalination plant, they are killed. This represents a huge loss of life and could
potentially destroy entire ecosystems. Additionally, the high energy levels
needed to run these plants may also contribute to environmental problems. The
desalination process requires huge amounts of electricity to separate drinkable
water from dissolved salts and other minerals. Burning fossil fuels is the most
common method of attaining this energy, which, of course, contributes to air
pollution and the greenhouse gas effect. Mixing Brine Outflow with Natural Seawater
In addition to the machines themselves, another serious environmental concern is
the quality of the water put back into the ocean after the drinkable water is
collected. This outflow is called brine because of its extremely high salt content (all
of the non-salty water has been removed). Not only does brine have more salt than
natural seawater, it also commonly contains leftover chemicals and metals from the
treatment process. Components of brine and their related environmental issues
include: Chlorine: interacts with preexisting chemicals to form carcinogens and
mutagens. Acids: damage the tissues of organisms. Products used for machinery
upkeep: cause algal blooms and eventual loss of oxygen in the area. Heavy
metals: accumulate at the bottom of the ocean where sea creatures ingest them
and eventually pass them to humans, where they could be toxic.
1AR: Environment DA
It disrupts key ecosystems intake screens and salt dispersion
Cooley et al 13 (Heather Cooley, Newsha Ajami, Matthew Heberger, Head
editors, Pacific Institute, conduct interdisciplinary research and partner with
stakeholders to produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic
development, and social equity in California, nationally, and internationally, Key
Issues in Seawater Desalination in California: Marine Impacts,
http://pacinst.org/publication/desal-marine-impacts/, ZS)
Desalination, like other major industrial processes, has environmental impacts that
must be understood and mitigated. A new report from the Pacific Institute examines
effects on the marine environment associated with the construction and long-term
operation of seawater desalination plants, including withdrawing water from the
ocean and discharging the highly concentrated brine. If and when we build plants
in California, we must ensure that the plants are built to the highest standards given
what we know now, said Cooley. Additionally, monitoring of existing and proposed
desalination plants is crucial to improving our understanding of the sensitivity of the
marine environment and helping promote more effective operation and design to
minimize ecological and biological impacts in the future. Modern reverse-osmosis
desalination plants, such as those planned or proposed on the California coast, take
in large volumes of seawater generally two gallons are withdrawn for every gallon
of freshwater produced and pass it through fine-pored membranes to separate
freshwater from salt. The highly concentrated brine is then typically disposed of
back into the ocean. With the majority of desalination plants extracting water
directly through open water intakes in the ocean, there is a direct impact on marine
life. Fish and other marine organisms are killed on the intake screens
(impingement); organisms small enough to pass through, such as plankton, fish
eggs, and larvae, are killed during processing of the salt water (entrainment). The
impacts on the marine environment, even for a single desalination plant, may be
subject to daily, seasonal, annual, and even decadal variation, and are likely to be
species- and site-specific. These impacts, however, are not well understood. More
research is needed, especially to understand the long-term impacts. We do,
however, know that there are several operational, design, and technological
measures available to reduce the marine impacts of open water intakes. In
particular, subsurface intakes can virtually eliminate impingement and entrainment,
as they extract seawater from beneath the seafloor or a beach. The sand acts as a
natural filter, providing a level of pre-filtration that can reduce plant chemical and
energy use and long-term operating costs. Subsurface intakes are being used in a
growing number of plants around the world, as new drilling technologies like the
directional drilling that has made hydraulic fracturing possible have made
subsurface intakes possible in more locations. Now, even where the site is
surrounded by generally unfavorable conditions, it may be possible to find a pocket
with the right ones, said Heather Cooley, co-director of the Pacific Institute Water
Program. Another major environmental challenge of desalination is the disposal of
the highly concentrated salt brine that contains other chemicals used throughout
the process. Because all large coastal seawater desalination plants discharge brine
into oceans and estuaries, including all of the proposed plants in California, steps
must be taken to ensure its safe disposal; at this stage, we know very little about
the long-term impacts of brine disposal on the marine environment. Twice as saline
as the ocean, the brine is denser than the waters into which it is discharged and
tends to sink and slowly spread along the ocean floor, where there is typically little
wave energy to mix it. There are several proven methods to disperse concentrated
brine, such as multi-port diffusers placed on the discharge pipe to promote mixing.
Brine can also be diluted with effluent from a wastewater treatment plant or with
cooling water from a power plant or other industrial user, although these
approaches have their own drawbacks that must be addressed. The Key Issues for
Seawater Desalination series is an update to the 2006 Pacific Institute report
Desalination with a Grain of Salt, which has proven to be an important tool used by
policy makers, regulatory agencies, local communities, and environmental groups to
raise and address problems with specific proposals. Researchers conducted some 25
one-on-one interviews with industry experts, environmental and community groups,
and staff of water agencies and regulatory agencies to identify key outstanding
issues for seawater desalination projects in California. The resulting reports address
proposed desalination plants in California, costs and financing, energy and
greenhouse gas emissions, and marine impacts.
Current plants are a direct contributor to climate change increasing

desalinization creates a massive impact on ocean biodiversity
SA 9 (Scientific American, Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein, have
contributed articles in the past 168 years. It is the oldest continuously published
monthly magazine in the United States, The Impacts of Relying on Desalination for
Water, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-impacts-of-relying-ondesalination/, ZS)
The relationship between desalinization and climate change is complex. Global
warming has increased droughts around the world and turned formerly verdant
landscapes into near deserts. Some long held fresh water sources are simply no
longer reliably available to hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Meanwhile, expanding populations in desert areas are putting intense pressure on
existing fresh water supplies, forcing communities to turn to desalinization as the
most expedient way to satisfy their collective thirst. But the process of
desalinization burns up many more fossil fuels than sourcing the equivalent amount
of fresh water from fresh water bodies. As such, the very proliferation of
desalinization plants around the world some 13,000 already supply fresh water in
120 nations, primarily in the Middle East, North Africa and Caribbean, is both a
reaction to and one of many contributors to global warming. Beyond the links to
climate problems, marine biologists warn that widespread desalinization could
take a heavy toll on ocean biodiversity; as such facilities' intake pipes
essentially vacuum up and inadvertently kill millions of plankton, fish eggs, fish
larvae and other microbial organisms that constitute the base layer of the marine
food chain. And, according to Jeffrey Graham of the Scripps Institute of
Oceanography's Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, the salty sludge
leftover after desalinization for every gallon of freshwater produced, another gallon
of doubly concentrated salt water must be disposed of can wreak havoc on marine
ecosystems if dumped willy-nilly offshore. For some desalinization operations, says
Graham, it is thought that the disappearance of some organisms from discharge
areas may be related to the salty outflow. Of course, as supplies of fresh water
dwindle, the economic cost of desalinization especially in coastal areas with easy
access to ocean water begins to look competitive with traditional water sourcing. To
date there are about 300 desalinization plants in the United States, with 120 in
Florida and less than 40 each in Texas and California. Some 20 additional plants are
planned for the coast of California in the coming years, unless environmentalists
extolling the virtues of conservation and wielding low-flow shower heads and toilets
prevail.
Minimum Wage CP
We control the bigger internal link and our aff is uniquely key.
2ac
Minimum wage hurts the economy
Dustin Hawkins, No Date, Dustin Hawkins is a journalist and writer with a focus
on conservative politics, issues, and perspectives, 10 Reasons Raising the
Minimum Wage Can Hurt the Economy,
http://usconservatives.about.com/od/economytaxes/fl/10-Reasons-Raising-theMinimum-Wage-Can-Hurt-the-Economy.htm
According to the left, raising the minimum wage and providing a "fair wage" is the best way to eliminate poverty and address
doing so has consequences far beyond an employee simply getting

a raise on their paycheck one day and that's the end of it. We've already seen the
consequences of the poorly thought out, expensive, and lousily executed
Obamacare laws and drastically raising the minimum wage the way liberals are
proposing could lead to equally unfortunate outcomes for the very people the law is
supposed to help. 1. Attempting to artificially raise incomes through a minimum wage
increase is more about electoral politics than it is about actually helping people
achieve the "American Dream." Indeed, when polled people regularly support such a
raise, because who would oppose people making more money? But economics
realities are more than what sounds nice, and everyone would be better off by
supporting true pro-growth policies that open up opportunities for everyone willing
to work for the American Dream, rather than expect it be handed to them. Artificial
wage increases can set the economy back while not even finding true relief for
those the increase are intended to help . 2. If the goal is to lift people out of poverty,
this will not do that. Figure that a huge chunk of minimum wage jobs are part-time,
and the number of part-time jobs as a percentage of the workforce are only
increasing already because of Obamacare. How many people would rather make
$8.50 an hour and work 40 hours a week with a company-sponsored insurance plan
over making $10 an hour with hours cut back to 28 per week and left to "shop" at
an Obamacare exchange for excessive and costly insurance they might not need ?
"income inequality." But
(And even if the plans are "cheap" because of subsidies, the Obamacare deductibles are probably out of reach for these people
Do this math equation: Obamacare + Higher Wages for Unskilled Labor Cost to Replace Said Worker with a Machine = Adios jobs. The high costs of
Obamacare plus increased wages (which also means higher payroll taxes paid by the employer) makes it
more attractive to replace low-skilled jobs with machines. Self-service food-ordering
machines are already being implemented in many restaurants nationwide . 4.
Minimum wage jobs are typically low-skill or entry level jobs. If the costs to fill lowskill positions become to high, consolidation can occur and businesses are likely to
replace two or three employees with one employee who excels and can do multiple
jobs quicker. In other words, it would probably be more attractive to hire an
ambitious and talented self-starter at $18 an hour to replace 2-3 less ambitious or
inefficient employees making $10 an hour each. A business could even pay the one
employee some solid over-time and still be ahead in the end. The more an
employee is paid, the more is expected of them. Making jobs artificially more
expensive also makes employees with less skill or who are new to the workforce
more expendable. And these are the people the new laws are intended to help . 5.
Believe it or not, the money needed to pay these employees has to come from
somewhere. Retailers - who probably employ the greatest percentage or minimum
anyway.) 3.
wage earners - would simply be forced to raise the price of goods and services. So
even if someone makes an extra $28 bucks a week, how much more are the same
workers going to have to pay for food, gas, or clothing to make up for increased
labor costs? 6. Different states have different economies and the cost of living in New York is different than the cost of living in
Texas. It simply does not make sense to have a one-size plan for completely different
economies. This is why, of course, conservatives believe in federalism and believe that Alabamans have the right to live how
they want to and Vermonters have the right to live how they want to. Nationally centralized policies rarely work when their are so
Many small businesses already struggle to survive with the current

burdensome regulations offered up by the federal government. Many rely on parttime help from high-schoolers to scoop ice cream, work the car wash, or deliver
flowers. Small businesses are already at a disadvantage as they typically have
higher overhead costs and must make more margin on products sold just to survive.
This would only make it more difficult for them to succeed . 8. The minimum wage is
seemingly raised every few years, and it's never enough in the long run. After all, a
minimum wage at $10 is still a minimum wage. And if higher labor costs cause the
price of everything to go up anyway, the power of the dollar is merely weakened
and no progress has been made. Which brings us back to our first point: The
American economy needs true economic growth that enables people to succeed,
not a policy based on a bumper-sticker slogan that offers a temporary feel-good fix
that will be just as worthless and new minimum wage increase demands roll around .
9. Higher paid employees will want raises equal to those of the minimum wage
employees. If people at the bottom of the pay chain get a 20% raise, everyone who
makes more than that will also expect - and perhaps rightly so - a 20% raise as well.
Imagine having worked in a job for a few years and earned increases only to have
some guy hired at the same rate on day one because the government says so. Now
businesses either pay all of their employees more or enjoy a disgruntled workforce.
In the end, minimum wage increases go beyond increasing labor costs for just the
targeted group. 10. This is where the harsh reality sets in: Minimum wage jobs are not
intended to enable people to raise a family of five on. They simply aren't. Yes, there
are circumstances where people are forced to take jobs at minimum wage, perhaps
more now than ever. But minimum wage jobs are designed for entry-level workers,
kids in high school (who I'd assume shouldn't have the need for $20K/yr jobs), or those looking to add a
little extra money through a second job. The point is to move up from there into
intermediate jobs, and with enough hard work a very well-paying job. That's pretty
much the point of a minimum wage job, and the point is not to support families. It's
nice to say that a full week of work means everyone who does so gets a house, SUV,
and an iPhone (and how many struggling minimum wage workers have the last
one?), but the reality is that is not what those jobs are intended for. The problem
with the left's over-simplified solution to the economy is that the more expensive
these jobs get, the more likely those that need them will be able to get them. And
how does that help anyone?
many factors in play. 7.
1ar Extensions
Minimum wage hurts the economy
Doug Bandow, April 9, 2013, Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato
Institute, Raising Minimum Wage Will Hurt More than Help,
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/raising-minimum-wage-will-hurtmore-help
he wants to force other people to
give them a raise. Its a bad idea . In his State of the Union speech President Obama proposed hiking the minimum
wage to $9 an hour, a 24 percent jump. The problem is, companies must earn more than they spend.
Workers must produce more than they are paid. As government raises the minimum
wage, it prices people out of the market. The bulk of economic studies demonstrate
that raising the minimum wage destroys jobs. The minimum wage encourages
companies to automate and switch to fewer higher skilled, more productive workers
who are worth the higher rate. The Department of Labor concluded that the first minimum wage in 1938 cost the
President Barack Obama wants to give low-wage Americans a raise. Actually,
jobs of 30,000 to 50,000 of the 300,000 workers who had been earning below the new minimum. In 1977 Congress established the
Minimum Wage Study Commission, which concluded that the time-series studies typically find that a ten percent increase in the
minimum wage reduces teenage employment by one to three percent. It is time to bury this destructive economic panacea. A
2007 review by David Neumark and William Wascher found: The
oft-stated assertion that the new

minimum wage research fails to support the traditional view that the minimum
wage reduces the employment of low-wage workers is clearly incorrect. Indeed
the preponderance of the evidence points to disemployment effects . Minimum wage
fans largely ignored academic research until two decades ago when economists David Card and Alan Krueger
now the Presidents Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers concluded that a recent increase had minimal impact.
However, that rise was modest. Noted businessman Brandon Crocker: One reason why some have found the data from
the 1996-97 more ambiguous is that the minimum wage lagged behind inflation and real wage growth. Even Card recently
if the minimum was raised really high and enforced it would

likely be a problem. But at reasonable levels the minimum has negligible effects on
overall employment. Yet the lower the increase, the less likely that it will produce its
advertised benefits. Moreover, the Card/Krueger study has come under sustained fire. Neumark
and Wascher used payroll records rather than telephone surveys and reported that the results were generally
consistent with the prediction that raising the minimum wage reduces the demand
for low-wage workers. When jobs disappear, those with the least education,
training, skills, and experience suffer the most . Economists William Even and David Macpherson
admitted: Of course,
concluded of the 2005-07 increase: The consequences of the minimum wage for black young adults without a diploma were
actually worse than the consequences of the Great Depression. After the July 2009 increase, reported economist William
Dunkelberg, nearly 600,000 teen jobs disappeared, even with nearly four percent growth in the economy. Rep. George Miller, D-
its very unfair for people working for low wages who cant support
themselves. But what is fair about forcing other people to pay more? At least the
burden should be shared. The Earned Income Tax Credit has problems, but makes all taxpayers pay. Raising the
minimum wage would be both counterproductive and unfair. It is time to bury this
destructive economic panacea.
Calif., argued that
Raising the minimum wage would hurt poor people

Mark Adams, March 11, 2013, Mark Adams is a research fellow at the Mercatus
Center at George Mason University, Raising the Minimum Wage Hurts the Poor,
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2013/03/11/raising-theminimum-wage-wont-help-the-poor
When they respond to the president's plea to help hardworking Americans by raising the minimum wage, Congress should follow the
Government regulations, including the minimum wage, do

little to help the poor. If Congress and the president want to help the poor, they
should start by eliminating regulations that redistribute away from the poorest
families. The minimum wage is more likely to hurt the people it is supposed to help
by making it harder for them to find jobs. Minimum wage workers tend be young
and unskilled. Less than half of workers under the age of 25 are currently employed
and many rely on low paying opportunities to get their first break. The majority will
earn a raise within a year, but they currently lack the experience and skill to
compete for higher paying jobs. Raising the minimum wage makes it harder for
these inexperienced workers to find a job, because businesses will either eliminate
positions or choose to hire someone with more experience at the higher mandated
wage. Minimum wage jobs could also be a pathway to retraining for workers facing
a mismatch between their skills and available openings. A higher minimum wage
would limit such opportunities, and that's particularly dangerous during this
historically slow recovery If policymakers really want to help the poor, they should
seek to reduce the barriers to job creation, instead of adding to them by hiking
minimum wage. Job creators are already tangled in a forest of red tape: over
170,000 pages of regulations from the federal government alone. Complying with
these regulations is disproportionately burdensome for the small businesses that
create the majority of new jobs. The cost of regulation is not limited to business.
Perversely, this burden falls disproportionately on low-income families through lower
wages and higher prices to consumers. Wealthier households who are willing to pay
more for higher quality products and services actually benefit the most from
regulation but don't pay the full cost, which is spread across all households. For
example, one recent Department of Transportation rule requires that every car have
a rear view camera, currently an option only on luxury vehicles. The benefit largely
goes to the wealthier families who want the feature, but the cost to standardize this
feature is incurred by everyone. It's not just rear view cameras. Poorer households
end up spending a bigger portion of their income to pay for products they wouldn't
otherwise have purchased once we consider the cumulative impact of regulations .
president's intent and not his policy.
Diana Thomas, an economist at Utah State, found that health and safety regulations can cost poorer families as much as six to eight
times more as a share of income than wealthier families. One rule in many states forces parents who place their child in daycare to
pay for child-size toilets, which increases the costs of providing child care, and hence what parents pay for the service. High child
it directly reduces the money

they can spend on measures that they could take to make their family safer and
healthier. Just moving to a better neighborhood halves the chance of a child being injured. Instead families must spend that
care costs make it harder for parents to afford to go to work. And when they do,
money on regulations that provide one-fifth the health and safety benefits for each dollar spent that low income families could have
The first step in helping America's poor is to cut back on

costly regulations that burden job creators and leave the poorest families worse off .
achieved through their own decisions.
Satellites CP
Doesnt Solve
Satellite information is inaccurateensures blowouts still occur
Weaver et al., NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 2014
(C. Kiemle , S. R. Kawa , T. Aalto , J. Necki , M. Steinbacher , J. Arduini , F. Apadula , H. Berkhout , and J.
Hatakka, Retrieval of methane source strengths in Europe using a simple modeling approach to
assess the potential of spaceborne lidar observations http://www.atmos-chemphys.net/14/2625/2014/acp-14-2625-2014.pdf, dobp)
The model is unable to capture the minimum values at mountain stations: the
Jungfraujoch site (elevation of 3580 m), the Plateau Rosa site (3480 m) and Monte
Cimone (2165 m), all located in the Alps, and the Kasprowy Wierch (1989 m) station
in the Carpathian Mountains. One explanation is that the 0.5 resolution NOAA GFS
winds are not able to capture the actual wind patterns driven by the local complex
topography. Conditions of strong upslope and downslope winds increase the
influence of local CH4 sources. Indeed, at these sites the surface elevation above
sea level reported by the GFS meteorological fields is much lower than the actual
elevation of the station.
Prolif CP
2ac
NFU not sufficient to solve prolif- alt causes
Stanley Foundation 2008 (nonpartisan, private operating foundation that
seeks a secure peace with freedom and justice, report based on a conference
including such participants as Scott Sagan, Linton Brooks and George Bunn, THE
STANLEY FOUNDATION: A NEW LOOK AT NO FIRST USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS,
http://www.maximsnews.com/news20080822stanleyfdtnnuclearfirststrikedoctrine10
808221601.htm)
Some participants were not sure that NFU would measurably reduce the salience of nuclear weapons . For example,
nuclear weapons certainly affect the relationship between India and Pakistan, and their nuclear weapons are not even deployed. Moreover,
when Russia and India declared that they would no longer adhere to a NFU posture, the effectnegative or positive
on the international community was negligible. One participant recalled a meeting in Norway on reducing the salience of
nuclear weapons, in which the representatives of Asian countries were unenthusiastic about NFU. Instead, they said the key to delegitimizing
nuclear weapons was to get them out of the hands of the military and remove them from war plans. To that end, rather than changing
declared doctrine, the United States should focus on programmatic steps toward a less aggressive nuclear posture
cutting the Reliable Replacement Warhead, de-alerting nuclear weapons, developing conventional means to cover every possible
contingency except for nuclear attack, and so forth. The United States should strive to emphasize, with words and actions, that the purpose
of nuclear weapons is to ensure that they are never used. Participants said that such a policy would stated doctrine may be, the default US
nuclear posture is a defensive last resort simply because American officials would not consider using nuclear weapons except under the most
dire of circumstances. The 2001 Nuclear Posture Review, other nuclear planning documents, have the virtue of reducing the salience of
nuclear weapons while remaining more realistic and honest about possible nuclear use in extenuating circumstances. Many participants
emphasized the realists perspective that, despite our attempts to reduce the salience of nuclear weapons, many countries
do not see nuclear weapons as a tool to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used, but rather as an essential
guarantee of their security against conventional attack. For example, a US NFU doctrine will have no effect on
Israels nuclear strategy. Likewise, Russia sees its nuclear weapons as a way to offset the erosion of its
conventional military strength. This applies to states like North Korea and Iran as well. Their nuclear programs
are, in large part, a response to US conventional military might, so a change in US nuclear doctrine is unlikely to
affect their own nuclear decisions.
1ar
NFU doesnt solve prolif- nuclear threats against WMD countries
enhance nonproliferation efforts
Pilat 2005 (Joseph F., technical staff member in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Division
of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Reassessing Security Assurances in a
Unipolar World, The Washington Quarterly 28:2 pp. 159170, Spring,
http://www.ciaonet.org/olj/twq/spr2005/spr2005j.pdf)
Critics fear that arguments for new weapons, including mini-nukes and bunker-busters, underscore and even increase the prestige and value
of nuclear weapons and could undermine nonproliferation efforts by making nuclear weapons more attractive to potential proliferators. In
essence, these critics believe that U.S. nuclear weapons are driving proliferation abroad. The relationship between
U.S. nuclear weapons and U.S. nonproliferation policy, however, is not as clear and simple as critics have
claimed. The notion that todays U.S. nuclear policy has driven North Korea or Iran to develop nuclear weapons
is not a legitimate one. These countries programs predate current U.S. policy and have advanced during a period
of undeniable progress in arms reduction. In any event, would these states really forgo the bomb if the United States
disarmed? On the other hand, if the United States were no longer able to offer nuclear assurances to its allies, what would the
consequences be in key regions around the world? In contrast to the view that U.S. policy undermines nonproliferation efforts, holding
states at risk of nuclear attack if they use WMD may underscore the importance of and enhance nonproliferation
efforts.
Blanket NFU kills nonproliferation norms- perceived as rewarding North

Korea
Pilat 2005 (Joseph F., technical staff member in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Division
of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Reassessing Security Assurances in a
Unipolar World, The Washington Quarterly 28:2 pp. 159170, Spring,
http://www.ciaonet.org/olj/twq/spr2005/spr2005j.pdf)
The security assurances to these Soviet successor states were a response to an unprecedented historical event. Nonetheless, such
arrangements may again be useful today to convince other states to forgo nuclear weapons. North Korea, for example, has demanded a
nonaggression pact with the United States and is likely to push for security assurances in any agreement to end its nuclear weapons program
that might result from the six-party talks. It is certainly possible that North Koreas stated position may merely be rhetorical and not reflect
genuine security concerns. It is also possible that rewarding North Koreas nuclear threats and brinkmanship by improving
its security could ultimately serve to undermine the NPT.24 As a consequence, in North Koreas case, any proposal must
ensure that security assurances are tied to its disarmament as well as to its return to the NPT fold . This should
take care of any negative regime consequences. Earlier deals with the nuclear inheritors could in principle provide a useful
model for a proposal to test the security concerns of North Korea, as well as other proliferating states. This issue has also already been raised
in the context of European diplomatic efforts to address the Iranian nuclear program.
First use option needs to be available, checks prolif, India proves

The Express Group 11, two-time winner of International Press Institute's India
Award for Outstanding Journalism, Kurt Shorck Award for International Journalism,
Natali Prize for Journalism and the International Federation of Journalists - Journalism
for Tolerance Prize, 3-16-11, Revise no-first-use n-policy: Jaswant,
http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/revise--nofirstuse--npolicy-jaswant/763040/.
Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh on Tuesday said that the government should revise
India's nuclear doctrine framed during the NDA regime after broad consultations,
given the change in situations. "I am of the view that the policy-framework that the
NDA devised in 1998 is very greatly in need of revision because the situation that
warranted the enunciation of the policy of 'no-first-use' or 'non-use against nonnuclear weapons', 'credible deterrence with minimum force', etc. has long been
overtaken by events," the former external affairs minister said, initiating the
discussion on demand of grants for Ministry of External Affairs in the Lok Sabha.
"You cannot continue to sit in yesterday's policy. We need to re-address it.
Therefore, I ask you to please hold broader consultations with whosever you want
but do revise this policy," he added. He, however, underlined that it was his
personal view and not that of his party as he had yet not discussed this issue within
BJP. While Singh underlined his association with the global initiative to eliminate all
nuclear weapons, he did not spell out his vision of revision of the doctrine even as
he contrasted India's position with Pakistan, whose nuclear missiles are largely
derived from Chinese and North Korean systems. "There is another important and
vital reason why I say this to be done. It is not good enough now.... Pakistan is
already in possession of about 100-110 nuclear warheads that are deliverable
whereas I know that India has 50 to 60. I do not know why we are keeping these
facts hidden.... The US does not know where the nuclear weapons of Pakistan are
kept. It has better delivery system transported by China and North-Korea... time will
not wait for us," Singh said. Concerns regarding Chinese ambitions vis a vis Indian
interests emerged as the common thread among the MPs ranging from Singh to
Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Sharad Yadav (JDU), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD) and
Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) among others.
Renewable Tax Credits CP
Doesnt Solve
No solvency bucket list of reasons
Opalek 4/28/14 (Charles S. Opalek is a registered Professional Engineer with a Bachelor of Science degree in
Mechanical Engineering, April 28, 2014, Liberty and Prosperity, Wind Power Fraud: Why Wind Wont Work,
http://libertyandprosperity.org/wind-power-fraud-why-wind-wont-work/) IF
Wind power is
unsustainable and a total waste of resources. This the book exposes the utter uselessness of wind power, including
how: Wind turbines rarely produce their advertised full power. On average, wind turbines only produce about 20% of their nameplate rating . Wind
power is unreliable and undispatchable. When it is needed most, it will likely be unavailable to provide any
power when it is needed most. Wind power is not clean. It takes a lot of dirty energy to
make the materials, manufacture and install a wind turbine facility. Wind turbines are
not environmentally friendly. They are noisy, unsightly, kill bats and birds, interfere with radars, and have been shown to be
Everyone believes alternative energies are the answer to all our power problems, with wind power leading the way. The truth is:
responsible for a slew of health problems. Wind turbines consume electricity whether operating or not. Often this power is not even metered. Care to
guess who is paying the bill for this power? In theory, if 20% of US electric generation was replaced by wind power, the decrease in CO2 emissions would
be an unnoticeable 0.00948%. In reality, wind power doesnt reduce CO2 emissions at all, because backup fossil power plants have to cycle wildly and
inefficiently trying to keep up with erratic wind power output. Wind power will not replace fossil fired power plants. Germany estimates that by 2020 up to
96% of its wind power capacity will need to be backed up by new coal fired power plants. Wind power will not reduce US dependency on foreign oil
. If
wind power replaced 20% of US electric generation, the resulting decrease in oil
imports would be a measly 0.292%. Wind turbines have an embarrassingly low Energy
Returned On Energy Invested value of 0.29. The manufacture, installation and operation of wind power
facilities will consume more than 3 times the energy they will ever produce.
Limited foundation technology

Giordano 10 (Michael, JD, served four years of active duty in the United States Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer where
he gained unique training, experiences, and insights for working with people and solving complex problems ALLEN CHAIR ISSUE
2010: ENVISIONING ENERGY: ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMICS, AND THE ENERGY FUTURE: COMMENT: OFFSHORE WINDFALL: WHAT
APPROVAL OF THE UNITED STATES' FIRST OFFSHORE WIND PROJECT MEANS FOR THE OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY INDUSTRY, 44 U.
Rich. L. Rev. 1149)
One of the things keeping the offshore wind energy industry from growing is a lack
of sufficient technology. Expanded growth of the offshore wind industry will depend on research, development, and innovation. 46
Areas of technological need include improved reliability, greater environmental
compatibility, and cost reduction. 47 Technological advances must address these
areas of need with regard not just to the design of turbines but also to the
installation process and maintenance.
At present, offshore wind turbines are basically larger versions of onshore wind turbines that have been adapted to the marine environment. 48 The
current foundation system for offshore wind [1156] turbines consists of large steel tubes called monopiles, which are typically embedded twenty-five to
thirty meters below the mud line. 49 Monopile designs are considered appropriate for waters up to thirty meters deep. 50 Offshore wind farms use large
turbines "ranging from the Vestas V-80 2 MW turbine to GE Wind's 3.6 MW turbine to Repower's 126 m diameter, 5 MW turbine." 51
Present foundation technology limits the offshore wind energy industry's ability
to harness the full potential of offshore wind energy. The strongest and most
consistent winds blow above waters deeper than thirty meters. 52 A marginal "10% increase in wind
speed creates a 33% increase in available energy." 53 Thus, meaningful growth of offshore wind energy is
dependent upon the research and development of new technologies that enable
developers to place turbines in deep water. Some anticipate the creation of "stiffer, multi-pile configurations with
broader bases suitable for water depths up to 60 m or greater." 54 From there, many expect that foundations will
transition even further, toward floating turbine structures that would be fastened and secured to the
ocean floor by wires. 55 Such a transition would have to make use of existing technologies from the oil and natural gas industries, which already use
floating platforms. 56 Unlike oil and gas projects on the OCS, wind projects require fast, modular installations that can be replicated easily due to the
Researchers believe that "the biggest challenge [1157] for

deepwater wind turbines will be to merge the mature but expensive technologies borne
anticipated frequency of maintenance. 57
of the oil and gas industry with

energy industry." 58
the experience of low-cost economic drivers fueling the shallow water
offshore wind
Limited turbine capacity

Rich. L. Rev. 1149)
Present constraints on turbine capacity also limit the amount of wind energy
that can be harnessed for electricity. The power and productivity of wind turbines
increases as turbine tower height and the area swept by the turbine blades increase .
59 For example, an increase in rotor diameter from ten meters to fifty meters "yields a 55-fold increase in yearly electricity output" because of the
increase of the tower height and the size of the swept area. 60 Added costs due to the construction and operation of offshore wind farms can be absorbed
Most believe that offshore wind projects will

need 5 MW or larger turbines to capture wind power and reach the economies of scale needed to make long-distance
more easily if the wind farm is able to generate more electricity.
offshore sites financially viable. 61
No installation vessels
Rich. L. Rev. 1149)
The installation process also brings technological challenges to the offshore wind
energy industry. In order to install offshore wind turbines, developers will need to hire
a fleet of vessels including "barges with compensated cranes, leg stabilized feeder fleets, oil and gas dynamic positioning vessels, and
floating heavy lift cranes." 62 "This imposes a limitation on American offshore wind development,
since all vessels used for construction and operations and maintenance (O&M) have
been European," 63 and United States law mandates that only United States-based
vessels may work in United States waters, with little exception. 64 Thus, growth of
domestic offshore wind energy also depends on the construction of new, customized
vessels in the United States. Technology must also find ways to address uncertainties associated with connecting to the electrical grid and finding
ways to [1158] assemble turbines at nearby land locations just prior to installation in the seabed .
Stakeholder opposition
McDonnell, 13 (Tim, 2/28/2013, Why the US still doesn't have a single offshore wind turbine; Here's a look at the top
four reasons why offshore wind remains elusive in the US, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/28/windpowerrenewableenergy)
2. Blowback from "stakeholders": Whale and bird lovers. Defenders of tribal lands.
Fishermen. The Koch brothers. Since it was proposed in 2001, Cape Wind, a wind
farm whose backers say could provide 75 percent of Cape Cod's energy needs, has
been run through a bewildering gauntlet of opponents and fought off more than
a dozen lawsuits on everything from boat traffic interference to desecration of
sacred sites to harming avian and marine life. Just down the seaboard another major project, Deepwater Wind, had
to negotiate concerns that its turbines would throw a roadblock in the migratory pathways of endangered right whales. Alliance for Nantucket Sound, Cape
Wind's main opposition group, claims the project "threatens the marine environment and would harm the productive, traditional fisheries of Nantucket
Sound." Last summer's "Cape Spin" is an excellent "tragicomic" rundown of the controversy: Of course, there's another powerful factor at play here:
NIMBYism. No one could put it better than fossil fuel magnate Bill Koch, owner of a $20 million Cape Cod beachfront estate and donor of $1.5 million to
ANS: "I don't want this in my backyard. Why would you want to sail in a forest of windmills?" Why indeed. But Catherine Bowes, a senior analyst with the
National Wildlife Federation, says while there are legitimate concerns for wildlife, Cape Wind and Deepwater have both bent over backwards to
"I think there's an attempt at hijacking" the wildlife message by the

NIMBYers, she says. "Wildlife issues are often used as a reason to oppose a project even
accommodate them.
by those who have never cared about animals before. " Many of the nation's leading environmental
organizationsincluding the NWF, Greenpeace, and the Sierra Clubhave come out in favor of the project. It's easy to see why, Bowes says: "We know
that the biggest threat to wildlife is global warming."
Offshore wind is not competitive --- will kill investment

Taylor, 12 (8/10/2012, Phil, E&E reporter, OFFSHORE WIND: With advance of tax
credit and OCS leases, optimism builds in nascent U.S. industry,
http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/08/10/1)
Still, skeptics of Interior's offshore wind energy program, known as "smart from the
start," include the Institute for Energy Research, a think tank led by a former oil
industry lobbyist, which last month criticized the cost of new projects. "It is 'dead in
the water' because offshore wind energy is 3.4 times more expensive than onshore
wind energy," the group said in a July 26 blog post, "making it not a prudent
investment compared to other renewable alternatives for electricity generation."
Links to Politics
Links to politicsperceived as a government handout
Neuheuser, reporter for U.S. News & World Report, 7-17-2014
(Alan, 2014, Dead Air: End of Tax Credit Deflates Wind Power,
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/07/17/dead-air-end-to-tax-credits-takes-big-biteout-of-wind-power, dobp)
This time around, it was a coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats,

many backed by the fossil fuel industry , that killed the incentive. Arguing that wind's
precipitous rise and fall demonstrates the industry is wholly reliant on government
handouts, they asserted that wind producers simply cannot turn a profit without
help, and therefore are not worthy of further government support . It should go, Sen. Joe
Manchin, D-W.Va., himself a leading defender of coal subsidies, said of the credit last month at a policy dinner hosted by The Hill, a
Capitol Hill newspaper. Hell, your mother only carried you nine months. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who counts oil and gas among his
top campaign donors, offered a similar argument. " Wind
power generation is no longer an infant

industry. It's no longer in need of federal support ," Flake said during debate in the Senate in May.
Increasing tax credits triggers a fight

Coile 8 - journalist and reporter
(Zachary, San Francisco Chronicle, Lexis
Even as lawmakers of both parties talk about the need to shift the country toward clean, renewable energy
, Congress is in danger of
letting key tax credits
at the end of the year. The Senate failed for the
that have fueled the growth of wind and solar power
expire
. The tax incentives

have strong bipartisan support, but they have been caught up in a fight between
Democrats and Republicans over how to pay for them. Last month, the House approved a bill to extend
second time in a week Tuesday to pass a bill to help businesses and homeowners switch to renewable energy
the credits by delaying an obscure tax break for companies with foreign operations and closing a tax loophole for hedge fund managers. But
Republicans objected to what they called a stealth tax increase, and the Senate's
52-44 vote Tuesday.
Any evidence to the contrary is just political posturing

Coleman 8 - Washington Correspondent of the Albuquerque Journal
(Michael, political news journal, Congress in Clouds on Tax Credits,
www.abqjournal.com/opinion/coleman/2293354opinion06-22-08.htm)
Talk about fiddling while Rome burns. At a time when gas prices have soared past
$4 per gallon and OPEC countries are signaling that oil production may be peaking,
Congress keeps stumbling and bumbling and failing to pass simple legislation to
move us toward new, clean energy sources. Virtually every member of Congress
claims to support extending tax credits to the fledgling wind and solar industries.
But despite a halfdozen chances and a 90 percent level of support for renewable
energy development, our elected officials in Washington just can't seem to get
the bill passed. The latest attempt came last week, when Republicans objected to closing a tax loophole for hedge-fund managers to help
pay for the $18 billion clean energy tax breaks. Meanwhile, Congress wonders why the American public holds them in such contempt. But Republicans
don't deserve all of the blame. Democrats, who control both chambers of Congress, couldn't resist larding up last week's Senate bill with a $1.6 billion
giveaway to trial lawyers. In the process, they also gave Republicans some political cover for voting against the bill. New Mexico Sens. Jeff Bingaman,
chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Pete Domenici, the panel's top Republican, both support the renewable energy tax
breaks. But they parted ways in their votes last week. Bingaman, who has voted for the wind and solar tax break proposals with and without budget
offsets, voted for them again last week. In an interview, Bingaman told me the latest proposal to shut the hedge fund loophole to pay for the tax breaks
was "eminently reasonable." Earlier this year Bingaman also voted, along with Domenici, to pass the tax breaks without any budget offsets. That bill
passed, but the House, led by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, shot the proposal down, insisting that the tax breaks be paid for somehow because fiscal
discipline is important, we should try to reign in the deficit. The House stripped that unpaid for proposal -- which passed the Senate 88-8 -- out of a larger
a
recent House proposal to rescind $18 billion in tax breaks for oil companies to pay
for wind and solar failed in the Senate because Democrats didn't have enough votes
to override a Republican filibuster. Republicans argue that stripping oil companies'
tax breaks will force them to cut back on expensive exploration and technology.
Nobody wants that. Seriously. We need all the oil we can produce, too. Maybe some
of those Big Oil executives who make $30 million annually could help foot the bill?
Domenici, once an outspoken deficit hawk, voted against taking either the Big Oil
money, or the hedge fund money to pay for the renewable energy tax incentives. As
he sees it, the energy tax breaks will create investment and create jobs and pay for
themselves. Maybe so, but doesn't it make sense to at least try to offset the
revenue loss? "I don't think we will ever pass this package of taxes as long as the
Democrats insist that we place a tax on someone or some business," Domenici told
me. Republicans also maintain that the solar and wind tax breaks weren't paid for
initially, so they need not be paid for now.
housing bill Thursday. "The House is right," Bingaman told me. "The responsible thing to do is make up the revenue somewhere else." Meanwhile,
Even internal executive decisions on offshore wind cause partisan

bickering accused of picking winners
Colman 13
(Zack, Interior Dept. plans for offshore wind leases draw GOP fire,
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/303321-interior-dept-offshore-windplan-draws-partisan-fire)
GOP lawmakers on Tuesday sharply criticized the Interior Departments move to
hold the nations first offshore wind lease sale. Sen. David Vitter (La.), the
Environment and Public Works Committees top Republican, said it amounted to the
Obama administration picking energy industry winners and losers. Interior
announced on Monday that it would hold an auction on July 31 for 164,750 acres off
the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which has the potential to generate
3,400 megawatts of electricity enough to power 1 million homes. Interior
Secretary Sally Jewell called the pending lease sale which has drawn interest
from nine firms history in the making. She said the July bidding could be a
bellwether for future offshore wind lease sales, though she noted it might take time
for a commercial industry to develop because the projects are expensive and
difficult to finance. Democrats applauded the move as a strong step toward
developing alternative energy sources. Offshore wind is a win for American jobs, for
American energy security, and for our environment, and it will start off the coast of
New England. With lease sales in federal waters, offshore wind will also be a boon
for U.S. taxpayers, Rep. Edward Markey (Mass.), the top Democrat on the House
Natural Resources Committee, said in a Tuesday statement. For Republicans, the
milestone is more of a boondoggle.
Russian Relations CP
2ac
US not key and they wont pass it
Jason Miks CNN editor and journalist interviewing, Fareed Zakaria the lead
international journalist at CNN; 7/24/14; CNN World; Why Europe is wary over
Russia sanctions?; http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/24/whyeurope-is-wary-over-russia-sanctions/
President Obama is facing pressure, from Democrats and Republicans, to really up
the ante. But the United States can only do so much because it's not one of the
main trading partners with Russia. Germany, as you know, is the biggest European
trading partner with Russia 36 percent of its natural gas and almost 40 percent of
its oil comes from Russia. If you're German and you put tough sanctions on Russia
and they retaliate, your people are going to be really upset this winter. Its not only
Germany thats just one perfect example. So Germany, as you say, would literally
not be able to heat its homes. Remember, Chancellor Angela Merkel just said no
nuclear after Fukushima, she said the country was going off nuclear. So that
means an even greater dependence on natural gas. The Netherlands is another
major Russian trade partner Rotterdam is a place that imports more Russian oil
than any place else in the world. They import it, they refine it, and then they sell it.
Shell, the big Dutch company a kind of iconic company has huge investments in
Russia. So the Europeans have over the last decade, as Russia has grown as an oil
country, gotten themselves so intermeshed that it's very tough for them to do it.
1ar
Germany wont agree to sanctions
The Moscow Times; 7/24/14; EU Drags Feet On Tougher Russia Sanctions;
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/eu-drags-feet-on-tougher-russiasanctions/504005.html
One reason it has been so difficult for EU governments to agree to target sectors of
the Russian economy with sanctions is that they fear some EU countries could suffer
more than others from lost trade or from possible Russian retaliation. The package
of measures proposed by the foreign ministers was designed to balance the pain
among EU member states. But data indicates that Germany and Italy have most to
lose if the EU makes good on its threat, while Britain's overseas territories are
soaking up the lion's share of capital streaming out of Russia. If ambassadors agree
to the sanctions, it remains uncertain whether EU leaders would have to call an
extraordinary summit meeting to approve them or whether governments would
approve the decision in writing, without the need for a meeting.
Germany is the key player

Linda Killian Journalist and Senior Scholar; 7/23/14; The Wallstreet Journal;
U.S.-Germany Tensions Sway EU Sanctions on Russia;
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/07/23/u-s-germany-tensions-sway-eu-sanctionson-russia/
Significant sanctions against Russian technology, energy and other economic
sectors will only work if the EU takes part. Germany, with the fifth largest economy
in the world and a significantly larger GDP than Great Britain or France, is the EUs
power player. No significant changes in EU sanctions against Russia will be
approved without German support. And until Germany is satisfied there have been
policy changes in U.S. intelligence gathering and the U.S.-German relationship is
repaired, theres almost no chance they will favor harsher Russian sanctions.
AT: Cyber-attack
No Cyber-warfare from Russia
Doug Drinkwater Senior Reporter; 7/22/14; SC Magazine; Could MH17
sanctions push Russia to cyber warfare?; http://www.scmagazineuk.com/couldmh17-sanctions-push-russia-to-cyber-warfare/article/362085/
But Jackson's comments were questioned by Thomas Rid, professor of security
studies at King's College London, who said that there is a lot of hype' on such
claims, adding that there is no evidence of cyber warfare brewing. If anything, it is
remarkable how little cyber-attack activity we have seen in Ukraine. I mean Russia
is the El Dorado of cyber-crime. And they can't even pull off a cyber-attack worth
mentioning? Rid told SC. It's safe to say that there's significant frustration from
inside the intelligence community because there is so much hype, and so many
people overstating what's happening, adding that there is money to be made by
such hype. Rid said that DDoS attacks and defaced websites have been the most
popular type of attacks since the Crimea, and says that bar the Stuxnet incident
that saw Iranian centrifuges damaged there haven't been any notable acts of
cyber warfare since the US Air Force spoke on cyber threats in 2006. Instead, Rid
said that most activity was on covert' operations, such as the intelligence
operations uncovered by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden.
Warming
2ac
No bipartisan support for carbon tax
Christopher Flavelle 14, writes editorials on health care, economics and taxation.
He was previously a senior policy analyst for Bloomberg Government. He also
covered the 2009 stimulus package for ProPublica, 7/21/14, A Carbon Tax Even
Republicans Can Support, Bloomberg View,
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-07-21/a-carbon-tax-even-republicanscan-support
A new survey suggests the conventional wisdom about carbon taxes is wrong:
Promising to give people their money back with rebate checks isn't the best way to
win public support. Polling by the National Surveys on Energy and Environment, a
joint project by the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy and the
Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College, shows that Americans in general
(and Republicans in particular) still don't like the idea of a tax on carbon emissions
in general. Democrats are evenly split, and Republicans overwhelmingly oppose it.
Carbon Tax fails- cant solve in the long term

Brad Plumer 12, reporter focusing on energy and environmental issues. He was
previously an associate editor at The New Republic, 11/20/12, Would a carbon tax
cut emissions drastically? Not on its own., Washington Post,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/20/would-a-carbontax-reduce-emissions-sharply-not-on-its-own/ ||RS
Lately, the White House and Congress have been talking up tax reform. And that's
given policy wonks an excuse to revisit one of their favorite environmental
proposals the carbon tax. The government would slap a fee on greenhouse-gas
emissions to offset tax cuts elsewhere. It would boost the economy and address
global warming. What's not to love? Well, set aside the fact that there aren't yet
any prominent politicians touting the idea. It's still worth discussing on its merits.
And one of the biggest questions here is whether a carbon tax would actually
reduce U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions significantly. Is it a comprehensive solution
to climate change? Or just a small first step? Many economists would argue that it
could indeed be a comprehensive solution on its own. If you tax oil, coal, and
natural gas and make them all more expensive, then people and companies will
either use fewer fossil fuels or they'll seek out alternatives. Markets will adjust to
the change in price. That's the standard theory: If you price the carbon externalities
correctly, markets will adjust. But not everyone's convinced. Over at the Brookings
Institution, Mark Muro recently argued that a carbon tax, by itself, might not be
enough to make a significant dent in U.S. global-warming emissions. Sure, in the
near term people would cut back on fossil fuel use and companies would find
innovative ways to reduce emissions. This is what appears to be happening in
British Columbia, which levied a carbon fee in 2008. That's a start. But modern
economies are so heavily dependent on fossil fuels that there's only so
much we can reasonably cut back. Alternatives aren't readily available yet. One
way to see this, Muro says, is to ask carbon tax advocates what they think will
happen. Sebastian Rausch and John M. Reilly of the MIT Global Change Institute
recently put forward a proposal for a $20/ton carbon tax that would rise 4 percent
each year, starting in 2013. (The funds would be used to offset taxes elsewhere.)
Here's what their economic model predicts would happen to U.S. greenhouse-gas
emissions: With a carbon tax in place, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions do start
declining quite a bit (this is the green line). But by 2030, emission levels stall, even
though the carbon tax keeps rising and rising each year. The United States wouldn't
get anywhere near the 80 percent cut by 2050 that the White House has
envisioned. One explanation here is that MIT's proposed carbon tax just isn't high
enough. But Muro favors another possibility--that a carbon tax alone isn't enough to
drive deep reductions. The private sector tends to under-invest in energy R&D and
key bits of infrastructure such as transmission lines. Without further policies, it's
unlikely that we'll see a sweeping transformation of our energy system to give
people alternatives to coal plants and gasoline-powered cars. That's why Muro
argues that a portion of the revenue raised by a carbon tax should be used to fund
public clean-energy R&D. The country won't wean itself off oil solely because carbon
gets taxed. We'll also need public-transit alternatives, or electric-vehicle
infrastructure, or futuristic new hydrogen cars. And in many cases, he notes, the
government may have to help bankroll this infrastructure.
REDD programs have a negative impact on Indigenous peoplemoral

obligation to vote affirmative
Holly Brentnall 14, writer for The International, 1/28/14, The International, N.REDD program criticized for negative impact on Indigenous communities,
http://www.theinternational.org/articles/487-un-redd-program-criticized-for-negative
||RS
According to a report by GenderCC-Women for Climate Justice, with the support of
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), indigenous people in Kenya
were arrested and evicted from 21,000 hectares of land in 2009 alone. On Brazils
Atlantic coast, it has been reported that REDD is also permitting the
destruction of lands inhabited by indigenous peoples, who REDD deny ever
owned the land in the first place. One man was arrested and held at gun-point by
government officials for cutting down trees to fix his mothers house. In Panama,
economic growth was at first privileged by REDD over the rights of indigenous
peoples such as the Guna, Ngbe, Bugl, Naso-Tjrdi, Bribri, Ember and Wounaan.
When the National Coordinating Body of Indigenous Peoples in Panama (COONAPIP)
voiced its concern for the encroachment onto their territories, a report was filed and
REDD was forced to address indigenous concerns, an issue which they are still
working on. While pressurizing activities can in some case force REDD to confront
their short-fallings, conservation has been translated by the indigenous rights
report, as meaning forced eviction in order to make way for commercial forestry.
REDD itself admits on its website: there is widespread concern that REDD activities
may inappropriately impact Indigenous Peoples and local communities. It is only in
Panama, after external reports were filed, that the program has done anything to
address these unintended effects, engaging in extensive consultations with
indigenous people about how to improve their strategy.
Alt Cause- Indonesian deforestation rate is the highest

John Vidal 14, Guardian's environment editor, Rate of deforestation in Indonesia
overtakes Brazil, says study, The Guardian, 6/29/14,
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/29/rate-of-deforestation-inindonesia-overtakes-brazil-says-study ||RS
Indonesia has greatly under-reported how much primary rainforest it is cutting
down, according to the government's former head of forestry data gathering. UN
and official government figures have maintained that the country with the third
biggest stretch of tropical forest after the Amazon and Congo was losing 310,00
hectares of all its forest a year between 2000 and 2005, increasing to 690,000
hectares annually from 2006 to 2010. Exact rates of Indonesian deforestation have
varied with different figures quoted by researchers and government, but a new
study, which claims to be the most comprehensive yet, suggests that nearly twice
as much primary forest is being cut down as in Brazil, the historical global leader.
Belinda Arunarwati Margono, who was in charge of data gathering at Indonesia's
Ministry of Forestry for seven years and is now on secondment at South Dakota
university, calculates that nearly 1m extra hectares of primary forest may have
been felled in the last 12 years than was recorded officially. In the paper in the
journal Nature Climate Change published on Sunday, Margano says primary forest
losses totalled 6.02m hectates between 2000 and 2012, increasing by around
47,600 hectares a year over this time. Because previous estimates of forest loss
have included the clearing of pulp plantations and oil palm estates the real loss of
primary forest has until now been obscured. In 2012, she calculates, Indonesia lost
840,000 hectares of its primary forest, compared to 460,000 hectares in Brazil,
despite its forest being roughly a quarter the size of the Amazon. This, says
Margano, was the most lost by any country.
1ar
REDD fails- too many loopholes
Global Justice Ecology Project, No Date, explores and exposes the
intertwined root causes of social injustice, ecological destruction, and economic
domination, Why REDD is worng?, http://globaljusticeecology.org/why-redd-iswrong-2/ ||RS
The UN definition of forests is vague enough to include monoculture tree plantations
(such as oil palm, pine, eucalyptus), as well as clearcuts (termed temporarily
unstocked areas) and genetically engineered (GE) trees[xv]. While forestdependent peoples are reduced to wage-labor, national and corporate entities will
be enabled to temporarily unstock forests before planting new trees. Californias
forest protocol allows for clearcutting (called even-aged management);
Californias international REDD protocols may have similar loopholes.
Changing the definition of forests is a prerequisite to effective REDD

REDD Monitor 9, aims to facilitate discussion about the concept of reducing
deforestation and forest degradation as a way of addressing climate change, REDD
will fail with the current definition of forest, 9/8/9, REDD Monitor, http://www.reddmonitor.org/2009/09/08/redd-will-fail-with-the-current-definition-of-forest/ ||RS
The photograph on the left was taken by Global Witness in 2006. It shows an area of
illegal logging inside the Bokum Sakor National Park in Cambodia. Heres the
problem: What area should be delineated as forest? You might think thats easy. The
area covered in trees is forest. Isnt it? Yes, obviously. But according to the
UNFCCCs definition of forests, the logged over area is also forest. The UN describes
this sort of destruction as areas normally forming part of the forest area which are
temporarily unstocked as a result of human intervention. In the looking glass world
of the UNFCCC, then, a clearcut is a forest. And a monoculture eucalyptus plantation
is also a forest. A recent report in Conservation Letters focusses on the weak
definitions of forest and forest degradation in the global climate change
agreements. The authors, Nophea Sasaki (of Harvard University and the University
of Hyogo) and Francis Putz (of the University of Florida) argue that under the current
definitions, great quantities of carbon and other environmental values will be lost
when natural forests are severely degraded or replaced by plantations but
technically remain forests. They explain that their concern is that while forest
degradation is recognized as a major problem, it is mostly being disregarded by the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) partially
because of the way they define forest. Below are the current definitions of
forest, deforestation, forest management, reforestation and afforestation
as agreed under the UNFCCC. (Source: Annex to decision 16/CMP.1, Land use, landuse change and forestry.) Forest degradation is not included, for the simple reason
that there is no agreed definition. Lack of a universally agreed-upon definition of
forest degradation will cause complications when REDD projects are implemented,
Sasaki and Putz note, with academic understatement. Negotiations on this
agreement are scheduled to be completed by December 2009, which means that
discussions about the broader issue of defining forests and debates over the
inclusion of forest degradation need to be resolved very soon, Sasaki and Putz
write. As REDD-Monitor has previously pointed out, the way that forests are defined
is crucial to whether REDD helps preserve or destroy forests. Without a definition of
forests that differentiates between forests and industrial tree plantations, REDD will
spell disaster.

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Aerospace

1NC R&D Tax Credit CP

U.S. firms, which produce the worlds most reliable aerospace

(Department of Transportations recommendations via the Future of Aviation Advisory Committee to

A concerted research and development (R&D) effort is needed to accelerate

Tax credit key to aerospace industry and U.S. economy

CP starts solving in a matter of weeks

which an expanded credit helps reduce in terms of either being able to

would begin to be felt in a matter of a few years.

2NC Avoids Politics

In a boon for entrepreneurs and the technology industry , Congress last-minute,

The retroactive extension of this tax credit to January 1, 2012 is a good

Making the credit permanent would cost an estimated $85

the ability of the current credit to stimulate research may

composition of research activity,

planning stages, further complicating a companys analysis.

AFF - Links to Politics

The document includes dozens of

White said the Navys new projection was aimed

He said he realized U.S. military budgets

AT: Science Coop Solves

precious Arctic mineral and oil and gas resources will

AFF CP Cant Solve

AFF Links to Politics

Military funding sparks fights recent defense budget cuts

Arctic OCS Standards CP

1NC OCS Standards CP

Arctic OCS standards would provide consistent requirements on

Redundant systemsincluding blowout

include Arcticspecific requirements and codifying temporary guidance into regulation.

Absent improved regulations, spills are inevitablecompanies

Only proactive measures can solve for spill trajectory

Biodiversity parks solve

improve properties for wildlife conservation and sustainability. We perform various

Only parks can save biod

parks are performing relatively

43% of the parks have had no net

Change in the area of natural vegetation since

parks were in significantly better condition than their

The Convention on Biological Diversity is the flagship international convention for

the Rio Conventions provided a framework for an integrated response to

The US already makes

Life on earth as we know it is under siege. Significant and probably irreversible

AFF CP Cant Solve

AFF- US Already Abides by CBD

These articles and

Although the U.S.

. There were a total of 91 cases where a state minimum-wage increase

minimum-wage increases during high

. A few states, including Alabama and Tennessee in 2009, saw

. Following the minimum-wage increase that year,

a majority of states that raised their minimum

. Furthermore, a separate analysis of minimum-wage increases that occurred as

When the economy is doing poorly,

. Even though these workers likely become more productivelabor

give a boost to hardworking Americans

Raising the minimum wage is the most direct and

that a substantial portion of the cost to employers of minimum wage increases is

Minimum wage would help the economy

labor market absorbs the minimum wage," said

there is nothing else putting upward pressure on wages ."

a time like this,

Raising the minimum wage allows for lives to get better

Raising the minimum wage would increase the economy