legislation

The history of House Republicans on energy in the 110th Congress

As you contemplate the House Republican spectacle today, wherein they protest the "Democrat five-week vacation" in the face of high gas prices, keep a few things in mind. The 109th Congress — the first session of Bush’s second term — worked the least, and accomplished the least, of any Congress since the original do-nothing Congress […]

Should low-probability, high-impact risks govern policymaking?

All due respect to Paul Krugman, but the Weitzman thesis [PDF] has always made me a little uncomfortable. The idea is that it’s human nature to disregard unlikely risks, but if the unlikely risks are catastrophic enough then legislators should build policy around them. If there’s, say, a 2 percent chance that global warming could […]

Los Angeles utility starts to squawk as it stares down a $700 million carbon bill

Regulators have won praise for speed and thoughtfulness with which they have laid the groundwork for implementation of A.B. 32, the landmark bill that aims to bring California's greenhouse gas emissions down to 1990 levels by 2020. But even within a single state, climate change legislation creates winners and losers, and regional tensions are starting to show.

California's climate plan consists of a slew of new efficiency standards, regulations, and reduction measures -- as well as a cap-and-trade system to place a lid on total emissions. It's the cap-and-trade system that is part of the present pushback.

At issue in particular are the long-term contracts that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) has entered into for coal-based electricity. Although coal has kept L.A.'s electricity some of the cheapest in the state, the utility will have to pay enormous sums for carbon allowances under the new law.

It's always instructive to unpack some of the distortions that surround the politics of climate change legislation. Officials from L.A. seem to be trying out three different angles in their resistance to the bill. The first is that the steep cost of the allowances will divert money away from energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

EDF prez says we can’t afford to wait for the ideal first step

 

The following is a response to this post.

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Ken Ward tracks the evolution of EDF's position on climate legislation in search of evidence that we've relented on tough global warming pollution limits since making climate change a top priority more than ten years ago. He sees our support of the Climate Security Act as a retreat from bold action, as surrender to what's merely possible in Congress. Far from it.

What shapes our advocacy and our support for that bill is not, as Ken suggests, the limits of politics-as-usual in Washington. It's shaped by the urgent need to begin reducing global warming pollution -- and the fact that as a nation we have failed to take action despite two decades of evidence that we are in deep trouble.

Congress hopes to break energy deadlock before August recess — but don’t hold your breath

Members of Congress are desperate to pass anything something on energy this week before August recess begins on Friday and they head home to face voters restive over gas prices. But Democrats and Republicans are so bitterly divided over what to do that prospects for progress look uncertain at best. Democrats in both branches of […]

Sen. Robert Menendez chats with Grist about climate legislation

Sen. Robert Menendez. In the Senate debate over the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act last month, Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) stood out as one of the most vocal advocates for making polluters pay to emit greenhouse gases rather than giving them free carbon credits. He also spoke up about the need to spend more on clean technology […]

Michigan Lt. Governor John Cherry says the Great Lakes need help

This is a guest post from Michigan Lt. Governor John Cherry, who has been working recently to preserve and restore the Great Lakes.

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I'm especially pleased to be a guest blogger on Grist today, since earlier today legislation was introduced in the United States Senate and House of Representatives to ratify the Great Lakes Compact.  Now that the Compact has been ratified by the eight Great Lakes states, as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, it's time for Congress to take the next crucial step and grant its consent to the Compact.

 

All Michigan citizens have a deep personal connection to the Great Lakes.  I grew up in a culture where people worked hard and long during the work week, but when vacations or weekends came along they loved to get away "to the lake," "to the cottage," or just "up north."  And in the Legislature, as lieutenant governor of the state of Michigan, and as chair of the Great Lakes Commission (whose members are Great Lakes States in the United States and the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Provinces in Canada), I have been in positions to make a difference in preserving, protecting, and where necessary restoring the vitality of the Lakes.  Perhaps for these reasons, as well as because I personally enjoy spending time on the water, I have a strong sense of stewardship toward the Lakes.

The farm bill is over, so what happens next?

In a stuffy room on Capitol Hill last week, I joined a couple dozen activists and farmers to discuss the farm bill. Why would we bother to meet in hot-as-an-oven Washington D.C. to discuss the legislative mess that recently sputtered to an all too drawn-out end?

While the ink is barely dry on the new farm legislation, the campaign for the 2012 Farm and Food Bill has already begun. The group of grassroots advocates met in D.C. last week to wipe the sweat from their brows, roll up their sleeves, and begin to strategize a coordinated effort to ensure $14 billion of funding won in the new farm bill translates into real support for sustainable farmers, environmental stewardship, rural economic development, urban food projects, and other good food efforts.

The $14 billion worth of programs can grow and nourish sustainable food and agriculture efforts around the country and in doing so, build the power of the 2012 Farm and Food Bill movement along the way. One of the keys is getting the word out about these new programs so that farmers and organizations can benefit from them.

Bipartisan group of House members rolls out bill for gas-price relief

A bipartisan group of six House members introduced a bill on Wed. to help reduce the gas-price pressure on Americans by investing in transit alternatives and smarter city planning. “The Transportation and Housing Options for Gas Price Relief Act of 2008” (H.R. 6495) was introduced by Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), and is cosponsored by Chris Shays […]