American Power Act
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What’s up with Murkowski and Graham? Formerly climate-conscious GOP senators flail around
He’s the senior senator from South Carolina, a smooth-talking one-time Air Force attorney and JAG instructor whom a lot of Republicans don’t trust and call a RINO (Republican in Name Only). She’s the senior senator from Alaska, first appointed to the Senate by her father, considered “squishy” on social issues like abortion by right-wingers, and […]
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Will the EPA score the true costs AND benefits of the climate bill?
This afternoon, the EPA is said to be sending its economic analysis of the climate bill proposed by Kerry and Lieberman to the Senators’ offices. It’s a scoring of how the legislation would affect the American economy. Hopefully that analysis will include the benefits, not just the costs of the measure. The agency has not […]
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Graham says he won’t vote for the climate bill he wrote
Lindsey Graham — an original cosponsor of the Senate climate bill — has been backing away from that bill for a while. Now, according to CongressDaily, he’s gone entirely: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., today said he would vote against a climate change strategy he helped develop with Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., […]
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CBD responds: David Roberts is right and wrong on the Clean Air Act and the Senate climate bill
When your house is burning down, you don’t debate whether grabbing a fire extinguisher is better than calling 911 or vice versa. You do both, and if you can, you drag out the garden hose too. Our global house is on fire. Congress and the president have answered the alarm by proposing a package of […]
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Five reasons why a comprehensive climate and energy plan beats the energy-only approach
As the Congress returns to D.C., President Obama and Majority Leader Reid will need to keep making the case to the Senate that a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill deserves their attention now, so the president can sign a bill this year. The president has been intensifying his rhetoric in support of climate legislation, […]
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Will Obama stand up to Big Energy in deeds as well as words?
Will the real President Obama please stand up?Photo: Mr. Wright via FlickrThis essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. —– Here’s the president on March 31, announcing his plan to lift a longstanding moratorium on offshore drilling: “Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs, and […]
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Schumer says the climate bill is toast [UPDATED]
Update below. This morning I identified five things that could affect the ultimate fate of the climate/energy bill in Congress. Some comments from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) this morning add a bit of a twist to the proceedings. On MSNBC this morning, Schumer said that Reid is likely to advance an energy bill modeled on […]
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Is the climate bill going to pass? Top five things to watch
People are constantly asking me, “Is the climate bill going to pass?” The answer is: I don’t know. No one knows. Confident predictions either way are mostly posing. The situation, like so much in politics right now, is incredibly fluid. There are five things to watch in coming months that will give us a better […]
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A closer look at the Clean Air Act provisions preempted by the Senate climate bill
I’ve argued that the Senate climate bill takes away some EPA powers under the Clean Air Act but overall gives the agency more power, and specifically that the bill preserves EPA authority to regulate both new and old coal plants, which is the power it most needs. Now let’s take a closer look at the […]