During Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, NBC’s chief environmental affairs correspondent Anne Thompson enthusiastically promoted the global warming agreement between the United States and China that was announced earlier in the day, but fretted that Republicans were “already putting up roadblocks if congressional action is needed.”
Anchor Brian Williams hyped that it was “[a] surprise announcement” and “a history making deal” that will “greatly reduce carbon emissions.” Those generous descriptions segued into Thompson’s report as she mentioned that deal was between the two nations that were responsible for “producing 39 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases last year." [MP3 audio here [1]; Video below]
Thompson then dove into the particulars of the deal, which included China’s ability to continually increasing its amount of pollution for another 16 years before it must then begin reducing emissions: "The U.S. promises to cut carbon emissions at least 26 percent by 2025, doubling its pace. China promises to cap its emissions around 2030 or earlier and bump up its renewable and nuclear energy use to 20 percent."
In contrast, CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett said during Wednesday’s CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley that the “deal requires faster cuts in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and commits China, for the first time, to reducing its own emissions, but not before 2030.”
Despite this deal, Thompson expressed concern that, back in Washington, “Republicans are already putting up roadblocks if congressional action is needed.”
She then aired a soundbite of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) criticizing the deal: “The agreement requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emission regulations are creating havoc in my state and other states.”
Before handing the program back to Williams, Thompson stated that 64 percent of Americans said [2] in a post-election Pew Research Center poll that they “support stricter emission limits on those power plants.”
While the number from the poll is indeed accurate, the question is then why did Americans reject President Obama and liberals who support such policies on the environment and global warming in the midterm elections and instead voted for Republicans that gave them majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate?
Just prior to that, Thompson glowingly pointed to other liberal environmental accomplishments by the President, including his executive order to double “the vehicle fuel efficiency standards by 2025 and directing the EPA to set limits on carbon emissions from power plants.”
The relevant portions of the transcript from NBC Nightly News on November 12 can be found below.
NBC Nightly News
November 12, 2014
7:00 p.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Clearing the Air]
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Also, clearing the air down here. A surprise announcement of a history making deal between the U.S. and China.
(....)
7:03 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Clearing the Air]
WILLIAMS: Back down here, those concerned about climate change are calling this the breakthrough they've been waiting for, a deal brokered between the U.S. and China to greatly reduce carbon emissions. Though critics are already questioning whether China got the better end of this deal. We get our report tonight from our chief environmental affairs correspondent Anne Thompson.
ANNE THOMPSON: China's pollution problem is plain to see. Obscuring tourist snapshots, forcing marathoners to wear a mask, even the police. The government tried to clear the smog for this week's world leaders meeting by closing factories and banning cars as it did for the 2008 Olympics. Both had limited success.
WILLIAMS [DURING 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS]: The air itself is just plain thick. The worst it's been here in days.
THOMPSON: Now after years of dragging its feet, China is pledging to reduce pollution by taking action on climate change with the U.S. The U.S. and China, the world's biggest economies, are also the world's biggest carbon emitters, producing 39 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases last year.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We have a special responsibility to lead the global effort against climate change.
THOMPSON: The U.S. promises to cut carbon emissions at least 26 percent by 2025, doubling its pace. China promises to cap its emissions around 2030 or earlier and bump up its renewable and nuclear energy use to 20 percent.
UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS’S ALDEN MEYER: It gives us a fighting chance of heading off the worst impacts of climate change if other countries around the world now join them.
THOMPSON: For China, it means kicking its coal habit. Coal accounts for 70 percent of China's energy and it's on track to build a new coal plant every ten days for the next decade, but with 1.3 billion customers, China could change the renewable energy landscape.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR JEFFREY SACHS: This is going to help reduce the costs of renewable energy for all users around the world.
THOMPSON: Here at home, Republicans are already putting up roadblocks if congressional action is needed.
SENATE MINORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY.): The agreement requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emission regulations are creating havoc in my state and other states.
THOMPSON: Now, already, the President has acted on his own doubling the vehicle fuel efficiency standards by 2025 and directing the EPA to set limits on carbon emissions from power plants. A Pew Research poll taken after the election shows that 64 percent of Americans support stricter emission limits on those power plants. Brian.
WILLIAMS: Anne Thompson on the big environmental story today. Anne, thanks as always.
— Curtis Houck is News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Curtis Houck on Twitter. [3]