According to Joe Romm at Climate Progress, efforts by John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman to create an "economy-wide" energy bill are still underway.
This is a discussion of that news, plus some recent pushback on Cap & Trade from environmental groups, plus some other tidbits I found interesting.
According to Joe Romm at Climate Progress, efforts by John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman to create an "economy-wide" energy bill are still underway.
From that story:
Sen. Lindsey Graham may be under fire from conservatives back home in South Carolina. But the Republican got a personal assurance from President Obama yesterday that the White House is supporting his efforts to craft a sweeping Senate energy and global warming bill.
"The president told me personally he was very open, that nuclear power would be part of the mix, that clean coal would be part of the mix, that he’s for offshore drilling in a responsible way," Graham said today in describing his Oval Office meeting with Obama. "But we have to have a price on carbon, an emissions standard that’s real, that’s good for the environment and good for business. And I was very pleased."
Graham’s ties to the White House are pivotal for sponsors of an energy and climate bill as they search for more Republicans willing to work on a key feature of their domestic and international agenda. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) yesterday said he has "definite Republican votes" for the bill, though he would not name names or give exact numbers
It is becoming more and more apparent that the Senate's energy / climate change bill is going to require Republican votes. With Democrats like Jim Webb pushing back against the bill and offerring one that does not cap carbon, we will need to pick up some Republicans to get this thing passed.
It's also apparent that anything with a shot to get through this congress is going to need support of business. From the article:
"This country is in desperate need of a comprehensive energy and climate strategy," Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Co., told reporters after the meeting. "And if we get that done, we can do this in a way that can increase American jobs, will increase our energy security, will improve our balance of trade, and will protect our environment."
And unless there is a major change, the bill will contain some sort of cap & trade.
There are many environmentalists who disagree with this and think that any bill with a cap & trade mechanism for CO2 and the support of business is not going to get the job done as far as minimizing climate change. Annie Leonard, the creator of the popular footprint-reducing website storyofstuff.com, for example, has created a new video clobbering cap & trade. It's reviewed by Grist in a post that has received over 90 comments, which is a ton for Grist.
Many groups opposed to cap & trade favor some sort of carbon tax. Personally, however, I don't have a clue how any sort of new tax could pass this congress. Recall that ACES, which contains cap & trade, has already passed the House. Anything created in the Senate will need to be reconciled with the House bill and fundamental differences with that bill will make it that much harder to pass.
I'm certainly not an expert here, but I'd like opponents of cap & trade to explain how they would get a carbon tax, or whatever, through congress and when they would expect this to happen. If this doesn't get done in the first half of 2010, I don't know when it will. As we get closer to the mid-terms, major legislation will stall, and after those elections, there will probably be more Republicans in congress, and not the types that are likely to work on clean energy legislation.
These links are off topic, but I found them interesting:
Group promoting climate skepticism has ties to Exxon
A group promoting skepticism over widely-accredited climate change science has a web of connections to influential oil giant Exxon-Mobil, Raw Story has found.
The organization is called the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), apparently named after the UN coalition International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). An investigation into the group reveals its numerous links to Exxon-Mobil, a vehement opponent of climate legislation and notorious among scientists for funding global warming skeptics.
Republican Sen. Orrin Harch has referenced the NIPCC report, calling it a "Comprehensive scientific answer to the IPCC [sic] Reports." Various blogs, such the conservative Free Republic, have touted this report as evidence that "global warming is not a crisis, and never was."
Along those same lines, DeSmog Blog gives a good rundown of some of the groups who have been in the forefront of efforts to confuse the public about climate change here.
The most vocal organizations around the University of East Anglia hacked email story (aka. "climategate") have been involved in a decade-plus campaign to delay action on climate change.
And speaking of those emails, a Complete reading of the hacked emails shows:
Canadian Green party leader Elizabeth May has done, here what most journalists have not: she read ALL the leaked emails and comments on the basis of primary sources.
Her conclusion? We've been had.