legislation

Notable quotable

“The [Lieberman-Warner] bill, as reported out of committee, would be the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States.” — an aide to Sen. Joe Lieberman

The latest on green tax breaks in the stimulus bill

I hope everyone saw Josh’s Saturday update on the green tax breaks that may or may not end up in the stimulus package. The L.A. Times has another update today. There are quite a few Dem heavyweights behind Baucus’ alternative stimulus bill, the one with green tax breaks, but its fate is unclear. The vote […]

No such thing as a feebate lunch

Remember that cool experiment in feebates that was about to pass through California’s Assembly? Guess not.

Barbara Boxer is on the hunt …

… for 60 votes (sub rqd) to overcome the inevitable filibuster of Lieberman-Warner. Meanwhile, Friends of the Earth — the only green group to come out against L-W early and consistently — has launched a “fix it or ditch” campaign on the bill. It’s running print ads in The Hill and Roll Call. Frankly, I […]

On letting the perfect be the enemy of good climate legislation

David Roberts has argued for waiting until 2009 to pass a climate bill. Environmental Defense is pushing hard for a bill this year, and I appreciate his invitation to explain why.

We agree that the political landscape in 2009 will be much like today's as far as climate change legislation goes: we'll have the same interest groups, a similar Senate line-up, and a crowded national agenda that threatens to divert politicians' attention. David outlined these challenges nicely a couple weeks ago, and we see things pretty much the same way.

So where do we part ways? The bill in play right now, the Climate Security Act, isn't perfect. Many think that if we wait until after the election, we can do better.

Or maybe not. We've been here before.

An account of a House hearing on auctioning permits under cap-and-trade

Last Wednesday, the House Global Warming Committee held a hearing on "auctions and revenue recycling in cap and trade," which took a close look at the advantages of auctioning (rather than giving away) pollution permits under a cap and trade system, and what might be done with the revenue. I didn’t manage to watch the […]

Notable quotable

“This is something that is very, very important, and I think it’s something the president would sign. We have to have it.” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, endorsing the fantasy that President Bush will sign Lieberman-Warner into law

Could Romney’s climate contrarianism come back to bite him in the general?

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Republican race is down to McCain and Romney, and they are rapidly escalating their attacks on one another. Romney is now using McCain’s climate legislation against him: In a new line of attack, Romney then tore into the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act. "Instead of seeing if there’s a way […]

What does the 2005 energy bill vote say about Obama?

It’s conventional wisdom that Clinton and Obama are fairly close on policy, so the choice between them will come down to "character" and theories of change. While I think that’s broadly accurate, there are some differences in their voting records, and recently Elana Schorr took a close look at them to find where the candidates […]