Word: rasmussen
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...change talks in December - where the world hopes for a successor to the expiring Kyoto Protocol - and the global recession beginning to hit environmental plans in capitals everywhere, Denmark's example couldn't be more timely. "We'll try to make Denmark a showroom," says Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "You can reduce energy use and carbon emissions, and achieve economic growth...
Within Denmark, critics worry that the current government is squandering energy leadership. When Rasmussen's conservatives took power in 2001, they scaled back subsidies for wind and other renewables. New wind installations dropped precipitously, and between 2004 and 2006 CO2 emissions increased by 3%. "They stopped everything," says Auken. One high-ranking official admits the pullback was a mistake, and last year the government released a new policy that sets sharp targets for improving energy efficiency, increases the CO2 tax and promotes the development of new offshore wind turbines. Nonetheless, the Finnish consultancy Poyry argued in a recent report that...
Denmark's own challenges are small compared to the gargantuan task of trying to get more than 190 nations to agree on new carbon-cutting targets. (Rasmussen, an avid cyclist, compares the Copenhagen summit to the Tour de France's punishing Alpe d'Huez climbing stage - which he tried for himself last summer.) But the country does have the power of its example, showing that you can stay rich and grow green at the same time. "Denmark has proven that acting on climate can be a positive experience, not just painful," says NRDC's Schmidt. The real pain could come...
...some are Heritage employees, others work for nonprofits, and still others are just passionate people with extra time on their hands - have finished their first run through of the bill. While readthestimulus.org enters the second, fact-checking phase, some volunteers have taken on side projects of their own. Kristina Rasmussen, director of government affairs at the National Taxpayers Union, has been cross-referencing the federal agencies mentioned in the bill with U.S. Office of Management and Budget's program assessments and has found a number of programs that are receiving money despite poor performance reviews...
...wait a second - $14 million for the Accountability and Transparency Board members' travel expenses? There is also a clause that requires all infrastructure projects to be made with U.S. steel, unless it ends up costing 25% more than foreign materials. "Is that the best deal for American taxpayers?" asks Rasmussen, "making people pay more for these infrastructure projects...