legislation

Maryland Senator pushes for better transit, efficiency

Since he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1987, Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has been active on issues such as health care and retirement security. But since making the leap to the Senate less than two years ago, Cardin has emerged as a leader on some of the most nuts-and-bolts elements of policy […]

What the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner bill debate tells us

No, 450 is not politically possible today.

Okay, that was clear before. But the debate over the Climate Security Act made it clear that it won't be politically possible anytime soon, for two reasons:

1. The vast majority of conservatives have not budged an inch on climate science even in the face of now overwhelming direct scientific observation and a much deeper and broader scientific understanding of the dangerous impact of unrestricted human greenhouse gas emissions on the climate.
2. Equally important, conservatives now have a very potent political issue to beat back advocates of an economy-wide cap-and-trade system -- high gasoline prices. And gasoline prices are probably going to be much higher over the next few years (see "Must read CIBC report: $7 per gallon gas by 2010"). That is one reason I would leave transportation out of an economy-wide cap-and-trade, but that will be the subject of another post.

I live-blogged the debate at the time. Here are the highlights -- or, rather, lowlights -- from the GOP side that make clear just how far conservatives are from understanding climate reality:

Moyers talks to Boxer

Wow, you kinda forget what good TV journalism looks like until you watch Bill Moyers. He makes the cable babblers look like children. Don’t miss Moyers interviewing Barbara Boxer on the flame-out of the Climate Security Act. She’s really quite good on this, but in the end, as much as I kind of regret saying […]

A weekly roundup of greenish news from the Capitol

Some political news debris from this week: • The League of Conservation Voters announced today that they’ve created the first green bundling site. This allows folks to donate en masse to green candidates around the country. LCV will direct the funds to the candidates it will support this year in Senate and House races. • […]

Senate Republican tries to tack renewable tax extensions onto housing bil

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) is attempting to add the tax break extensions for renewables that keep failing in the Senate to a giant housing package. His attempts have stalled the housing bill, which would overhaul mortgage finance and create programs to help borrowers refinance. The Senate is supposed to go into recess today for the […]

New bill to support renewables offered in House

Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), and Mike Honda (D-Calif.) introduced legislation [PDF] yesterday to provide security for investments in the renewable-energy sector by guaranteeing rates for renewable-energy generation. The Renewable Energy Jobs and Security Act would provide guaranteed renewable-energy payments to small and mid-sized clean-energy suppliers (up to 20 megawatts). […]

House approves two measures to address energy prices, third fails

The House of Representatives took up a triumvirate of environment and energy-related bills today, passing two that would increase funding for mass transit and curb oil market speculation. A third, more controversial measure would have forced oil companies to drill on the land they already own. The votes highlighted the split between Democrats and Republicans […]

All new homes to sport solar hot water

Hawai'i is highly dependent on imported oil for its electricity needs -- I've heard Jeff Mikaluna, Director of the Hawai'i chapter of the Sierra Club, quip that the state is one supertanker accident away from becoming Amish.

Which makes this press release great news:

Select Committee acquires documents related to EPA’s proposals for rulemaking on auto emissions

We reported a few weeks ago that the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming had reached a deal with the White House to secure documents from the Environmental Protection Agency on its work in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in the case Massachusetts v. EPA. We also reported that The Wall […]