legislation

Senate Dems falter on energy compromise bill

Both The Hill and Politico have reported that the Gang of 20 will not introduce a bipartisan compromise energy bill before the election. This is a huge triumph for McCain and major political blunder by Congressional Democrats. As I wrote Monday, the original compromise bill by the Gang “is the best chance — indeed, the […]

Senate settles on a grab bag of political favors in place of an energy policy

Next week, the Senate plans to consider the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, a hodgepodge of subsidies and tax credits that reflects the vacuum of long-term strategic thinking in U.S. energy policy. The bill is a classic Senate Christmas Tree, bedecked with tax breaks and loopholes for just about every energy-related industry under […]

Two reasons climate/energy policy assessments frequently undercount benefits

I forgot two other things I wanted to note about the CARB study showing that California’s climate program will positively benefit the economy and public health. First, and crucially, the press release notes that "the bulk of the economic benefits are the result of investments in energy efficiency that more than pay for themselves over […]

CARB shoots down the ‘economy vs. environment’ myth … again

The other day, contemplating an Economist story on geoengineering, Andrew Sullivan said, “I much prefer the idea of developing new non-carbon technologies or experimenting with technology to deflect or arrest warming to throwing the global economy into a permanent slowdown.” Sullivan has no particular knowledge of or expertise on climate legislation (not a dig — […]

House passes minor environment-related bills and works a bit on climate

The House got down to some business on Thursday, working to cross a few things off its list before time runs out on the 110th Congress. It passed the Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act, which would curb speculation in the energy-futures markets. The bill was approved by a vote of 283 to 133, and […]

Texas Rep. Joe Barton kills effort to clean up power plants

In 2003, a Dallas Morning News editorial dubbed Republican Congressman Joe Barton “Smokey Joe” for his efforts to protect Texas polluters from pollution control requirements. Now Smokey Joe is at it again. He has blocked an attempt in Congress to make at least some progress towards cleaning up coal-fired power plants. The issue involves a […]

House passes an energy bill that combines increased drilling with expansion of renewables

After a day-long debate over energy legislation, the House passed the Democrats’ “Comprehensive American Energy Security & Consumer Protection Act,” a bill that both opens up new areas of the country to oil extraction and increases support for renewables. “The energy bill puts us onto that path of independence by having a comprehensive legislation which […]

Markey on House Dems’ energy bill

The House just passed the Comprehensive American Energy Security & Consumer Protection Act [PDF] (more on that in a moment). In the meantime, here’s video of Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming Chair Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on the floor earlier with one of the more passionate speeches of the day:

Public transit and oil dependence

Those of you interested in strengthening the ability of public transportation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil should check out Congressional testimony from Brookings metropolitan policy expert Robert Puentes, entitled, um, "Strengthening the Ability of Public Transportation to Reduce Our Dependence on Foreign Oil." I’m not sure the general public — or even the […]