Articles by Adam Browning

Introducing the ‘How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act’

Really.

Oh snap!

Readers of the Dallas Morning News were treated to a Texas-sized smackdown yesterday morning.

The backstory: TXU is trying to build 11 new ginormous coal-fired power plants in the state, and Gov. Perry is doing his damndest to jam them through in advance of carbon-capping legislation. The hurry is fueled by knowledge that any existing sources will have their emissions grandfathered into new legislation, at enormous competitive advantage.

That was the thinking, anyway. In an op-ed, Senators Boxer and Bingaman put those dreams of cashing in on carbon credits at the expense of the earth's future to rest, and did so in a way that can only be described as ... well, I'll let you choose the best adjective. But it rhymes with itchslap.

As the new Senate committee chairs engaged in the fight against global warming, we think it is important for investors to understand that there is little chance that the majority of such allowances will be allocated without cost and exclusively to large emitters of greenhouse gases.

In fact, companies that appear to be inflating their emissions right before legislation is passed are likely to find themselves in a position of having to make even larger emissions reductions than companies that do not attempt this strategy.

And in case TXU was still unclear on the message:

Any company planning to spend billions of dollars on new coal-fired power plants, and any investor in such a company, should think carefully about how to spend their funds so as to be part of the solution to climate change, not a part of the problem.

Read the whole thing. It just made my weekend.

It ain’t pretty

According to this video (below the fold), the Chevy Volt -- GM's much ballyhooed plug-in hybrid concept car -- sounds like a jet engine taking off as it tops out at somewhere between 6 to 7 mph.

Conspiracy theorists, start your engines.

Ex-Interior secretary may be facing jail time

First the good news: the Justice department recently had a sit-down with erstwhile mining lobbyist and ex-Interior deputy Stephen Griles and outlined the federal criminal charges he faces.

Presumably they also brought photos of his potential future roommate, Bubba, in an effort to get him to flip on his former boss, Gale Norton.

Now for the better news: